So I've picked up a great collection of Deathwatch books on clearance (see below).

I won't be playing the RPG (coz... reasons); but I love 40K's fluff and play it in an number of other forms; have half baked plans of tweaking 40K miniature rules into something decent (beyond the very tired IGOUGO); very much enjoy Shas'o R'myr's work on 1d4chan and look forward to diving into these books for some illumination, escapism and inspiration.

I would be very grateful for the community's advice on what order I should read them. Thoughts?

Deathwatch - Core Rulebook

Ark of Lost Souls

Honour The Chapter

Achilus Assault

Emperor Protects

The Emperor's Chosen

The Outer Reach

The Jericho Reach

Mark of the Xenos

Deathwatch - Core Rulebook

Setting:

Achilus Assault

The Jericho Reach

The Outer Reach

Bestiary:

Mark of the Xenos

Character options:

Honour The Chapter

Adventures:

Emperor Protects

Ark of Lost Souls

The Emperor's Chosen

Enjoy!

Thanks Decessor. Any particular favourite gems? Such as Characters/NPCs, crazy kit, cool mini story arcs?

You kinda need rites of battle. Also get the living eratta. If you have to get rites of battle as a pdf from rpgnow, do that even tho the pdfs are high.

As to stuff on your list read the outer reach. I say that because I'm a necron fan and it adds necrons, Also if/until you get rites of battle it has some vehicles rules.

@ Trevor Goodchild ...

In terms of book release order, but also a general overall Deathwatch timeline & progression...

DW 01 - Deathwatch Core Rulebook (Introductory Adventure: Extraction)
DW 02 - Deathwatch Game Master's Kit (Adventure: Shadow of Madness)
DW 03 - Deathwatch: The Emperor Protects (Campaign Adventure; takes place after Shadow of Madness, recommended minimum Rank 2)
DW 04 - Deathwatch: Rites of Battle (Players' Guide)
DW 05 - Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos (Creatures Manual)

DW 06 - Deathwatch: The Achilus Assault
DW 07 - Deathwatch: First Founding (Adventure: Traitor's Dawn)
DW 08 - Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach (Adventure: Fall Into Darkness)
? ~ ? ~ ?
DW 10 - Deathwatch: Rising Tempest (Campaign Adventure, recommended minimum Rank 3)

? ~ ? ~ ?
DW 12 - Deathwatch: Honour The Chapter
DW 13 - Deathwatch: The Outer Reach
DW 14 - Deathwatch: Ark of Lost Souls ("Space Hulk" Campaign Adventure; takes place after DW-10: Rising Tempest , recommended Rank 4+)
DW 15 - Deathwatch: The Emperor's Chosen (Adventure: The Longest Watch, recommended for Deathwatch "Veteran" Kill Teams, meaning recommended Rank 5+ )

That is the complete list of the book series. I do not know why they (FFGames) skipped numbers 09 and 11.

In terms of DL Content...

1. Deathwatch Living Errata
2. (Introductory) Adventure: Final Sanction (part 1/2 of "The Avalos Intervention"; occurs after DW-01: Extraction, but before DW-02: Shadow of Madness)
3. (Introductory) Adventure: Oblivion's Edge (part 2/2 of "The Avalos Intervention"; occurs after DW-01: Extraction, but before DW-02: Shadow of Madness )
4. Know No Fear (Jericho Reach Timeline, from the Age of Apostasy up to the start of DW-01 Core Rulebook)
5. Deathwatch: The Nemesis Incident (Storm Wardens fluff)

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

Hope this helps.

Thanks Decessor. Any particular favourite gems? Such as Characters/NPCs, crazy kit, cool mini story arcs?

I do second the notion that getting Rites of Battle is a good idea.

The Emperor Protects is a very decent adventure arc, played most of it through in a Jericho-based Rogue Trader game. It does benefit from a killteam who have had a little experience and especially one who invests in a broad range of skills.

The background books have tonnes of story hooks. I made good use of the Canis salient ideas in The Jericho Reach in my own Deathwatch campaign.

My favourite NPC? Ebongrave. His paranoia has consequences for the entire Canis salient. And to a point, he's justified. There's more on him in the Rising Tempest adventure book.

Thanks Decessor. Any particular favourite gems? Such as Characters/NPCs, crazy kit, cool mini story arcs?

I do second the notion that getting Rites of Battle is a good idea.

The Emperor Protects is a very decent adventure arc, played most of it through in a Jericho-based Rogue Trader game. It does benefit from a killteam who have had a little experience and especially one who invests in a broad range of skills.

The background books have tonnes of story hooks. I made good use of the Canis salient ideas in The Jericho Reach in my own Deathwatch campaign.

My favourite NPC? Ebongrave. His paranoia has consequences for the entire Canis salient. And to a point, he's justified. There's more on him in the Rising Tempest adventure book.

Yes!!!! When I first read about Ebongrave I thought he was just a paranoid idiot. Later I switched to it's justified and started to like him. By now even the Kill Team tends to favour his views

Sounds like I'll have to keep my eyes open for a second hand copy of Rites of Battle...

Ebongrave sounds intriguing, nice to have those characters that aren't binary and your perception of them evolves.