If you were to.make a marine for a game of deathwatch, what type of marine and what chapter would you like to.play?

Me, I like to go techmarine even if they don't get the omnissiah axe as staring gear. I just like the smart techy types. Especially the kind no one dares make fun of for being a tech nerd.

I'm.not too big on the main chapters, I usually go with a mentor legion type chapter since I was shown a link to making marines from their chapter a while back.

I am curious on what people here like to play.

I s'pose someone will ask why I'm not big on the main chapters. Let's see...

Ultramarines:Yeah, you know if you'd pull the rod out of your ass you might be able to adapt to new tactical situations faster.

Dark angels: IT'S BEEN TEN THOUSAND YEARS, GET OVER IT AND STOP PUTTING YOUR FEUD WITH THE FALLEN AHEAD OF YOUR DUTY!!! Plus, seriously, robes on a battlefield??

Space wolves. A fun bubch of guys but not really into the hairy barbarian thing. Plus I don't like fleas...

Blood Angels. Beautiful vampires in training. Yeah, I went thru my Anne Rice phase a while back.

Storm wardens. Meh....

If I was creating a PC (instead of GMing), I'd go with an Ultramarines Tactical, for the 'classic' gimmick-free Space Marine experience. Not an 'optimized' choice, since Tacs in this game aren't really as flexible as they should be, but I wouldn't want my speciality to shoe-horn me into a single role; I also don't want my Chapter dictating my character's personality.

I've played all sorts. First Founding chapters, successors, custom chapters. A bunch of different types of tactical marine, as well as at least one example of every base specialty. I get a kick out of trying out different character ideas and I find them easy to come up with for Deathwatch games.

Possibly my very favourite was a loyalist Alpha Legion tactical marine and his abundant sneakiness - for the right causes.

For my next one, whenever that is, either a White Scars with maxed out Agility and using sheer speed as a tactic, or some manner of librarian. Possibly a subjugator if I want to ruin daemons and witches.

If I was creating a PC (instead of GMing), I'd go with an Ultramarines Tactical, for the 'classic' gimmick-free Space Marine experience. Not an 'optimized' choice, since Tacs in this game aren't really as flexible as they should be, but I wouldn't want my speciality to shoe-horn me into a single role; I also don't want my Chapter dictating my character's personality.

If you want yout vanilla tec marine to have a little more flexibility without breaking the game, you could house rule that tac marines get a little more freedom of choice on some basic equipment. Like specialized bolter rounds. I'm not saying he has unlimited access to all special bolt rounds, of course, but some more flexibility in choosing some of the more commonly available special bolt rounds. Ditto for grenades.

I might also be inclined to make it easier for the poor oaf to take a combibolter if he wanted, again not really OP but just more flexible.

Speaking of marines and specialized bolter rounds, a neat trick is to issue him the special bolter rounds in a pistol. That way if he needs to put a special round into something he can just sling his bolter and grab his pistol. Plus putting them in a pistol makes him get closer to a target so he's less likely to miss, and if he needs to use one in his bolter he can manually take on from his pistol and load it into his bolter in a few actions.

Hope those ideas give you an option to give your tac marines a little more flexibility while still keeping them fairly general purpose.

as a player, a raptor tach marine. does great as a lone sniper, and almost complete disregard for the codex really gets any ultramarine jimmes up lol

Re the ultramaines, I remember how they we're before and during the heresy. I mean talk about rigid tactics. Guilleman was very arrogant towards alpharius when he pointed out that the ultramarine doctrine was too rigid, then later when alpharius and guilleman faced each other it was obvious that alpharius let guilleman kill him in irder to price that his tscitcl and strategic ideals were so superior to the rigid uktramaribes that they could defeat ultramarine dogma even if he wasn't there to.lead them and guilleman wsd there to.lead his legion.

As you read the account kept by that UM sarge alhe could do was whine about 'djshonorabke' and 'cowardly' the AL was, yet it was apparent that the AL was basically wiping it's ass on the UMs. Yet all the UMs could do was whine about how the AL didn't fight the right way while the AL was devestating them.

I will give old gilly credit, though. Maybe he learned something from the pasting the AL gve him and his legion, something about stubborn, stupid pride. Maybe that's why he defied dorn's demand and fought his way into the iron cage to rescue what was left of the imperial fists from the iron warriors.

as a player, a raptor tach marine. does great as a lone sniper, and almost complete disregard for the codex really gets any ultramarine jimmes up lol

While iron warriors are my favorite csm legion, I do admit that the alpha legion has what may be the best possible tactical and strategic ideology for a space native chapter. Their whole combat philosophy is ideally suited to a force consisting of a small number of highly elite and well equipped and extremely well trained troops.

I have always wanted to play a gregarious, charismatic Ultramarine Tactical marine that is basically a Cohesion battery. I want to make him so friendly that it's hard for people to reasonably dislike him. Also it would subvert the traditional stereotype that Ultramarines are stuck-up assholes.

My second choice is a Raven Guard Assault marine, because I like the idea of a giant in power armor sneaking up on people and gutting them with a chainsword...

My #1 is the Celestial Lions. Not only do I dig their "knightly" blue-gold colour scheme and insignia, but they also have a rather dramatic background where the Chapter displays its honourable attitude, and gets horribly punished for it -- coz this is what happens (or perhaps rather should happen) in a setting that is so messed up like Wh40k.

So last time I played DW, I had a battle brother seconded to the Ordo Xenos before the whole Armageddon business (disclaimer: that campaign took place in 999.M41) where his Chapter was wiped out, making him the only survivor .. with the dark secret obviously being that it was an Inquisitor for his Chapter getting destroyed in the first place. I doubt he'll ever find out, but heads will roll if he does.

Him being the only Lion left also made for a neat "wandering paragon" kind of narrative where he feels he has to represent all the Celestial Lions are supposed to be about, the legacy of his Chapter resting on his power-armoured shoulders alone.

On the other Chapters ...

I actually think the Ultras are getting a lot of unnecessary flak because they've been GW's posterboys for so long. Their codex actually mentions that they are quite adaptable to changing situations, just that they have a list of rules and drills and methods. In terms of engagements, they are basically the modern-day US Marines, whilst the other Chapters more or less "wing it" with a bigger focus on individual performance and various crazy ineffective opinions that would be more at home in a medieval setting.

With the Blood Angels, I was for a long time biased against them due to the whole "vampire" shtick they have going on, but ever since reading that story about Captain Tycho's death in White Dwarf, I've developed a much better understanding for the potential surrounding their drama.

I also have a penchant for the Black Templars, if only because I've always been somewhat fascinated by all the religious fanaticism in the 40k setting -- though you have to admit that their colour scheme and knightly insignia is attractive as well. Plus, the Chapter has links to the Ecclesiarchy, another faction I like, so writing up a character background would allow me to tap into multiple favourite topics of the setting.

The least chance for a character played by me would have to be reserved for the Space Wolves, which is actually kind of sad, as it is a result of how a great idea (vikings in space!) has been poorly executed by so many writers trying too hard to make them "cool" and "edgy". Maybe some day I'll just flesh out my own headcanon for them (the basic concept *is* sound!), but for the time being, they're just too much over-the-top for me.

As for the type of Marine, though? No idea. The personality would obviously be influenced by Chapter choice, and class-wise I'd have to take into the account what the others are playing. That being said, I suppose I would gravitate towards Tactical, Devastator or Assault - in this order - rather than one of the other classes. Maaaaybe Apothecary, too, though it'd depend a lot on other factors.

I love the Celestial Lions background. I'm currently playing in a Deathwatch game where our killteam is one of a few who are *very* quietly investigating what happened and who is to blame. It's been a lot of fun. I'm playing a tactical marine of a custom Imperial Fists successor (but of unknown pedigree) who wants to learn tactics. All of them.

as a player, a raptor tach marine. does great as a lone sniper, and almost complete disregard for the codex really gets any ultramarine jimmes up lol

While iron warriors are my favorite csm legion, I do admit that the alpha legion has what may be the best possible tactical and strategic ideology for a space native chapter. Their whole combat philosophy is ideally suited to a force consisting of a small number of highly elite and well equipped and extremely well trained troops.

That's a good point but the other legion tactics are not without merit. Systems would rather fall back in line immediately than face the Night Lords, with their well-earned reputation. And sheer head-on assault can break the bodies and morale of enemies (many legions).

I don't have a specific speciality that I like, but I tend to favor successor chapters over the nine founding ones. The reason for this is that I find it so tiresome to see the same couple of chapters over, and over, and over and over again in PCs and NPCs when there's supposed to be something like a thousand Chapters providing marines for the Deathwatch.

I really liked my Storm Warden Assault Marine.... he was hell of a fighter, always looking out for the best duells. Sadly, out of his control the imperium's view on him turned to the wrong side, so he chose to die facing enemys in superior numbers.

Out of all my current characters my Salamander Apothecarius is my favorite. Tough like hell (once he kept on fighting after he lost both his legs - good thing he got a jet pack at the time), skilled tank driver and tech affine, he's really fun to play. He's just really versatile, which finally made an Apothecarius fun to play. Sadly, he just got one point of fate left right now, so he isn't played that much anymore because I'm too afraid to lose him as well.

@Adeptus-B:

Ultramarines Tacticals are really evil. With the right wargear, they look at 10-15 cohesion and eventually reduced cohesion costs for squad modes (e.g. Gilded Boltgun). Add Ultramarine Squadmodes from First Founding, and you have the perfect Squadleader! Squadmode spam, here we go!

I played the UMs in 2ed table top so i grabbed one sight unseen when invited to play deathwatch. Even as a devastator, we never had to worry about cohesion after the first mission. Between the passive giving 5 and the talent that gave me 5 per fate point, we were rolling in cohesion so much that in one boss fight we literally kept changing the marked target for whoever's initiative was up.

I think a Dark Angels tactical could be a lot of fun