Greetings Deathwatch Fans!

Today I have a special designer diary to share with you, announcing the all-new Space Marine Chapter for the Deathwatch RPG: The Storm Wardens! Enjoy!

I have to admit, I kind of like the new chapter. They have a good base to start with. The mystery of what happened to them does allow for allot of RPing and STing avenues. They give you a chapter that focuses on debating. I never thought I would see one that comes out and says it like that. Very good idea. I like the color scheme allot, though the white hands do remind me of Michael Jackson a bit.

No, seriously.

I really liked this DW diary best thus far. At least something new and refreshing. DW has sparked my interest again now.

The writing irked me in a few places, but overall they look like a pretty decent chapter. Kudos on that.

I'm still going to play a Black Templar Librarian, though.

Hm, if this was a fanmade Chapter I wouldn't comment about it, however as it's one of the 6 pc Chapters ... I have to say I'm not overly impressed.

First off the general concept's good; ie a border based Chapter, that traditionally campaigns along the edges of the Halo Stars Warp Storms.

There are some other okay ideas in there too, debating-philosophers, lovers and keepers of secrets, etc.

However, my overall reaction upon reading the DD was 'meh'. Perhaps it's just worded rather drily, but it's certainly not helped by a dull 'job-description' Chapter name, a lazy White Scars rip-off Chapter badge, and a dull Ultramarines-alike colour scheme. It all just feels a bit flat and dull to me.

There are some points which seem borrowed from other Chapters, and their standoffishness seems yet another problem to integration into a DW team.

Nice that Ross mentions he had fun creating the Chapter, shame we won't share that opportunity for fun for some time, due to the lack of rules to do so in the corebook.

So at last the six are identified...

Curiously the fluff in the DD seems average (heard it before), chapter records go missing during during the Age of Apostacy, rreputedly insular and reclusive (a la Dark Angels), yet tactically inclined and what accounts exist of their endeavours purport to clashes with xenos (again similar to the Ultramarines). Colour scheme comes across as almost bland (similar to Ultramarines) - yet next to the other chapters I find them an acceptable addition.

Saying that the chapters were not the most important facet of DW to me...after all FFG could have gotten creative and started afresh with 6 all-new chapters rather than go with the 5 'codex' chapters and one all-new.

No, the more important portions would be for me on what it means to play such a 'titan' and interacting with his peers within the team, What is Deathwatch up to within Jericho Reach, what mechanics are in place to accentuate the power-level of such a servant of the God-Emperor and the mythology of the setting...which includes how DH/RT fit into the whole metaplot. If all are balanced right then DW will be something unique, like DH and RT, which if the developers follow form it should be...

Debating philosopher Astartes? Whatever. I genuinely expected to see a Chapter specializing in tech or infiltration/commando raids, as those niches are lacking in the current lineup. Three out of six are Chapters that can be described as close combat specialist ( BA, BT and SW ) so the overall variety is a bit limited.

"Aloof" plus "distant"? Didn´t we already have these in the DA and BT?

A mystery in the Chapters history and unknown Geneseed legacy? I guess it provides some character on a completely new Chapter but still...the problem is that it is almost a cliche.

My first impression is best described as "indifferent".

I'm sorry but this is a joke.

So now we have another insular, stand-offish Chapter, making it 3 out of 6. Beyond that this Chapter is just a mish-mash of ideas from other Chapters. Any of a dozen already existing Chapters would've been more interesting and added more variety to the pathetically sparse Chapter choices. This Chapter just feels like an Ultramarines/Dark Angels hybrid. I just don't get it. My hopes for this game just keep dropping.

Could be a little more...I dunno...original...or impressive.

Oh, and maybe have expanded into some kind of new area for focus. I mean, we have

Blood Angels for close quarters psychopaths (god how I love em for it to)

Black Templars for close quarter zealots

Dark Angels for the dark brooding angsty types who fight by the book

Ultramarines for the straight man by the book types

Space Wolves for the meaner and more cunning as we get older hero types (which, lets face it, is fun).

And for the custom chapter they design we get...a hodgepodge of all of the above...

While I realize stealth is something most space marines get drilled into them early (Wolves obviously an exception) and tech savvy is something all chapters have through their techmarines, it would have been nice if the chapter they came up with had a different tactical focus than the other 5. While all chapters may have some overlap, having different specialties chapter-wise is good in my opinion. The lack of a hit and run chapter, like the Scars or Ravens, or a defensive chapter like the Imperial Fists, or even a chapter that focuses kinda heavy on psychics (ala THQ's Blood Ravens) just seems a little...meh to me I suppose. It'd be like GW putting out a whole new Marine chapter codex that has everything the vanilla codex does with one or two minor alterations (and I do mean minor, like mainly just redoing the fluff and changing special chars).

I've been holding out some hope, and hopefully the diaries to come will give me a little, cause this one just kinda makes me want to wait and say hrmmmm...

The chapter history sounds like bad fan fiction.

They like to craft debates... Space Marines are psycho indoctrinated into believing what they need to think.

They forgot their Primarch... wow just wow... They only venerate the guy every single day holding him only below the Emperor of Mankind. Explain to me how you forget who he is.

Nemesis Incident... Synonym for Bad Stuff Incident am I right.

I mean seriously you get the chance to craft a cool back story and you go for really smart guys with amnesia. How generic is that.

Jude Order said:

LOL

Have to say it's about on par with GW's writing lately. That's anything but a compliment.

Oh I don't think they are all that bad, and I quite like their basic function (patrolling the Halo Stars warp storms), it's just beyond that good start so far there doesn't seem much else.

Though I don't like the name much, or the badge, or the colour scheme. All of which feel like easy choices (for example, given a minute to create a Chapter badge for a Chapter called the Storm Wardens ... what would you come up with? - A lightning flash is the very first thing that would surely spring to mind.). I also think the 'argumentative, stroppy, git' model of marine is already over-represented in the 'paltry 6'.

Maybe they will get increased info in the book that will make them come to life more.

Adam France said:

They aren't that bad for a DIY on B&C (the fact that Ross actually referenced them made me cringe honestly). In fact, they're pretty good by those standards. But this isn't the appropriate place for some game designer to dump his half-baked DIY Chapter (at least not in my opinion). Not when there are only six freakin' choices!

It isn't the quality of the Chapter I really have problems with so much as the fact that it appears to really offer nothing particularly unique versus the other five. I would've far preferred a Chapter that offered a different slant on things than the 'argumentative, stroppy, git' model, as you put it, or the 'Codex adherent, blue-armored' model. Instead they just married the two. Somehow I can't help but feel like we actually have fewer than six choices at this point, and six already seemed pathetically thin to me.

I have to say that I'm extremely disappointed in how FFG went about choosing the playable chapters, it would've been far better in my opinion to simply use Gene-Seed as a sort of homeworld choice, and leave chapter specific intricacies for those chapters that act significantly different than their founding chapter to a later supplement as purchasable starting packages. Thumbs down.

Oelber said:

That would've been far preferable I agree.

this chapter looks very interisting i cant wate to try it out

Atheosis said:

Ditto.

Well, I don't think that the Storm Wardens are that bad. Sure they are a walking stereotype, but still a step above the typical Ultra-clone chapters (with exceptions).

The choices made show clearly that we need a chapter book ASAP. Because otherwise the game will face problems due to previously mentioned by others holes in chapter types (defense, infiltration/ambush). This book really lacks the Salamanders and the Raven Guard to be good (or the White Scars and the Imperial Fists ).

Jude Order said:

If they´re a later founding isn´t it possible they weren´t told?

Heavy indoctrination makes people inflexible, and thus not useful for the kinds of high-stakes, high-pressure missions that the SMs undertake. The SMs have to be well-educated (at least in military science and heavy doses of intelligence on the enemy) because their purpose is to make small, surgical strikes at high-value targets in a rapidly-shifting environment. You can do heavy indoctrination on the IG if you have to because they move slowly in large groups and take and hold territory. Their need-to-know is fairly low, and they don't spend tons of time behind enemy lines.

Also, SMs have their own command structure, strategists, etc. They have to know what's up, you can't program them into being killbots.

Well considering that this is the cookie chapter that shows us how the chapter generation rules work it should be fairly simple and easy to access and understand as it is used as a model, its perfect for that.

Arag said:

There are really no Chapter types. Some Chapters have a heavy lean towards one style of fighting, but they all do everything. They wouldn't be effective if they couldn't. Also space marines have personality so even a marine from the Space Wolves or Black Templars might prefer standing back and shooting.

Yes it's cannon that they use psycho-indoctrination to speed-teach (almost matrix style but not as fast) their skills and precepts the marine will need. They also use it for mind cleansing marines that might have seen "too much." Unlike say, an Imperial Guardsman who is unlucky enough to fight something truely evil (like a daemon incursion), space marines are too valuable to just kill for knowing too much (ref: armaggedon 1). However, this does not neccessarily elminate individual thought, how far the indoctrination goes is chapter dependant, with Ultras probably being at the top of the wipe out individuality and space pups at the bottom. Sons of Dorn I think is the only SM book I can immediately think of that gives us a view of what their psycho-indoctrination does (as much as I didn't like the book itself and thought it was the first time BL has put out Imp Fists that I didn't almost immediately like).

As for the Storm Warden chapter, have you not noticed that the "official" DIY chapters seem to be combo chaps? The Blood Ravens from THQ are a mix blood angels/dark angels chapter, these look like mix ultras/dark angels, nothing wrong with that. In fact, in what, the last 5 chapter revelation threads people wanted exactly this, NOT one of the normal 1st founding chapters but something FFG made. Ta-da! This isn't your standard DIY chapter either, as he worked with GW to make it, which would make it as official as you can get.

BrotherHostower said:

The Blood Ravens are hardly a combination of Dark Angels and Blood Angels. They have their own distinct identity that has very little in common with either (almost nothing in common with the Blood Angels in fact, aside from their name and appearance).

The Wyzard said:

Errr... I don't think that the statement about "heavy indoctrination" really stands up to reality. Of course, this is 40k and people often say that you should leave reality at the door. I believe that if FFG goes with the "human Marines" model that it would be a weakness rather than a strength, at least from the background perspective. On the other hand? You would get some very Horus Heresy -esque characters.

Kage