Army Showcase- Deathwatch Army

I recently completed my Deathwatch army, so here are some photos of the entire force. I started this army at the end of last year, and managed to get a fair amount painted up in the past year. With this army, I really wanted to push my painting skills and try to put together a nice looking force of Space Marine Veterans. 

The army comes in at just under 4000 pts (3977 pts including modelled upgrades), so there is a lot of scope for customisation at the standard level of 2000 pts. 

As this is an army showcase, I thought I'd answer the standard questions for my Army Showcase series. 

1. What drew you to the army?

I purchased the 7th edition Deathwatch codex when it was released. My original plan was to review the codex for the blog and then sell it off on ebay. However, after reviewing the army, I found it to be a unique and interesting force with some great rules and units, so I decided to start an army. The models were also a great motivation, as they are some fantastic and really detailed figures. 

2. What is your favourite model in the army and why?

Watch Captain Artemis is my favourite model. I really like the posing on the model, as he is charging towards the foe with his cape billowing. When painting him up, I knew I wanted to try and do the model justice, so I checked out a great tutorial on youtube to get the best out of the model. 

Without a doubt, this was the longest I have ever spent on a single model, really pushing my painting skills to try and create a centrepiece model for the army. I was very happy with how he turned out. 

3. Is this a gaming army or just for show?

Definitely a gaming army, just like all my armies. I actually had a fair amount of success with the Deathwatch in 7th edition, winning my first ever tournament at the Birthday Bash in February 2017.

In 8th edition, I have actually found the Deathwatch to struggle, so am looking forward to when they finally get a codex to see if the army improves any.  

4. Any tips or tactical insights into using the army?

The Watch Master is fantastic. He provides some great re-roll buffs and is a solid character in combat, able to take on the toughest of foes and come out on top. If you are looking for more tips, check out my battle reports and army reviews. 

5. Were there any special processes or techniques you used on the army?

This was my first attempt at doing edge highlighting on infantry models. Previously, I had only done some light edge lighting on larger vehicle models. 

Normally, I used drybrushing to highlight my models, but this time I decided to do some edge highlighting to really show off the black armour on the models. My first few attempts were absolutely abysmal, so much so that I had to paint over them to fix my mistakes. I almost gave up, but with perseverance and practice I was able to improve my skills and create a unified force.  

I also decided to mix in parts from the standard Space Marine kits to give a bit of variety to the army (as nice as the Deathwatch kits are, they are a bit limited if you have a lot of models). 

So that is my Deathwatch force, I hope you enjoyed it. Here are some more photos. 

If you have your own army you would like to showcase and talk about, please get in touch at corrm83@gmail.com