How are GMs handling kill team transportation and monitoring in long term campaigns? I don't really want a Watch Captain orbiting above them giving them orders and monitoring them. I may use that trope from time to time, but it won't be the norm. I also don't want them to have unlimited mobility.

From what I've read so far, I think I will handle it like this: The Watch Captain has multiple kill teams under his command. The Watch Commander passes multiple objectives to the Watch Captain, who assigns them to the various kill teams (the players among them), then plots a course for the transport ship that encompasses the various mission locations.

The transport will pull into orbit and disgorge a drop ship, likely a Thuderhawk or other ship specifically designed for this purpose. The player Kill Team will be inserted using this ship in neutral zones, or inserted using drop pods in hot zones. The transport ship will then proceed to the next location to deliver the next kill team.

The players will work on their objectives. Once they are complete, the drop ship will extract them, where they will wait for the transport ship to come back around and pick them up.

This allows me to put the players in situations where they are completely alone (with only a servitor operated drop ship for support), or have a Watch Sergeant orbit above them in a drop ship providing them with telemetry and situational awareness. For very important missions, the Watch Captain may actually stay and monitor the Kill Team.

How are others handling this?

If you're feeling mean, RoB has rules for requisitioning transport and tactical advice / intel from orbit.

Personally, I do whatever the plot requires; but players are very much 'on their own'. Typically, I see Watch members being transported by whatever they can hitch a ride on and generally not having any command influence on the ship that transports them. However, there's mention of the Watch having numerous very small ships, so it's possible that the PCs travel in that manner and are essentially in charge of (well: later on) a very small ship.

It does seem a bit odd that the Watch has all those little stealthy doomsday ships with automatic systems and doesn't use them more for kill team transport. I'd personally consider allowing those to be used as transport.

I don't see it as a Watch Captain's job to sit in orbit offering advice. The Captain stays in Erioch, and the PCs have to think for themselves. However, I guess that some teams need to be kept on a short leash, so the answer is: whatever works for you!

Personally I wrote in that my Watch Captain has control of a small ship (Which in Warhammer technically means it's huge, but I digress), and from there he has the capability of launching the group via pod or thunderhawk as is needed. Though he has other kill teams, the players are essentially his 'new guys', and he's keeping an eye on them. However, usually when they're on mission, he and the team that he leads are usually doing something else on planet.

Later on, they'll probably dead head a ride on an imperial transport, as Siranui was saying. When they're old enough

The smallest "warp"capable thing around it the Cobra Escort.
On could have the Squad be under command of a Deathwatch Keeper which is in turn commander of the ship.
Take a servitor crew and pods and you should be good.

Pretty much as mentioned above. The Watch Captain rarely leaves Erioch; instead spending his time coordinating various kill teams. The KT is transported with whatever fits the plot. I've had them arrive via Hunter-class Frigate and it remains while they do their work, I've had them be left with just a Thunderhawk, etc.

There are quite a few options for transport:

1. Deathwatch ship: Frigate and Destroyer class ships. They may or may not remain depending on the mission. Usually dropping the KT via pot, Thunderhawk, or Stormraven.

2. Inquisition ship: Similar to above only non-Astartes. Insertion would be via guncutter, lander, etc.

3. Rogue Trader ship

4. Imperial Navy ship

5. Other Astartes ship

Mix and match as needed for the mission at hand. You could even have them taken to a planet/system via Deathwatch vessel, left to do a mission, then ordered to be moved to another hotspot via Imperial Navy ship, or whatever.

I try to make this portion of the game as interesting as possible. Ships have names, and unique captains. Otherwise it feels a bit generic to have them always just "show up" to start the mission. Plus, being aboard the ship beforehand is a great chance for RP.

Cobras are the smallest listed navy warp-capable vessels. There's nothing to say that they are the smallest warp-capable vessels. Indeed; it's inferred that the kill-drone-ship things that DW has are smaller, I believe.

My game’s set up seems to be the norm that most people have mentioned. The players are one of two kill-teams on a small escort size vessel. I recall reading somewhere in the background fiction that Astartes ships were highly automated/servitor staffed, so the crew numbers under 500 (small for a warp-faring vessel). The commander on ship (The Vigilant) hands out assignments to the kill-teams on board, and from the ship they secure transport, or get dropped off in orbit or whatever. It gives the feel that the DW can be wherever they need, and that they have lots of resources, but they are few in number and are stretched thin.
Multiple kill teams on the ship lets me fill some of the party’s holes in Astartes infrastructure. For example, the PC Apothecary is the only one on ship, so monitors all the battle brothers during downtime. The team visits the NPC techmarine when they need to requisition repairs or ask about armor and what not. The NPC kill team also has a friendly sort of mission rivalry going with the player’s team, which has served me well so far.
As GM it lets me put the ship wherever I need it, without it being a solution the players can rely on. The ship is not at their beck and call, most of the time it drops them off and then leaves. Some times it hangs out in orbit to coordinate the efforts of both teams. Of course if I really need to, I could always have the Vigilant show up and throw down some orbital bombardments, or have the other team to show up to help the PCs out or serve as the arriving cavalry when dramatically appropriate. I like to keep my options open…

My players are in control of a ship that they use to travel from planet to planet (as and when they need to). For missions they have a Thunderhawk, Drop Pod or Teleportarium to move them to or from the ship. It works fairly well and provides them with some freedom of where they can go.

In my campaign, the Kill team uses a wide variety of means of transportation. For teir first mission (Exctraction) they were on board of the Tunder'S Word. p from then on the are "guests" of a Rogue trader ship on various Battleship of the Achillus Crusade and now they are trapped on a hive ship.

Personally i think voyages on ships as an occasion to explore the complexity of the 40k universe. And i don't have used yet the Forge Ships......

In the current mission I'm running the Kill team dropped from a small local transport with Grav Chutes. I had them make agility tests to land where they wanted, which could have been fun if they had been seperated.

Once the mission is finished they'll call for pick up...

I will use whatever is needed. At the moment they were dropped off by a Hunterclass spaceship.

The first mission was to rescue an inquisitor from a system. A Tau fleet could or could not have been in system so the spaceship only dropped in system just ong enough to off the killteam in a thunderhawk.

After rescue the Killteam was asked to protect another system who holds something of great value for the Tau. They have to incite the inhabitants to protect them against a Tau incursion. The decision to go was up to the killteam to go or not. the Inquisitor feared tht any transmission would have alerted the Tau. In system they were dropped off in their Thunderhawk. the Spaceship left to bring reinforcements.

I like to keep my killteam free to act on their own. The watch captain only gives them their objectives. How they reach them is up to the killteam. So the Watch captain remains at Erioch while the team goes out to do their thing.

Depends very much on mission in hand. My group is currently attacked to a modified Cobra class Inquisitorial Escort ship which can launch pods from its macrocannon and also had one Thunderhawk and one Aquila lander on board. Options for insertion are:

1) Drop Pod

2) Aquila lander

3) Thunderhawk

4) Grav Chute drop

5) Land Speeder drop

6) Teleportation

Options for exfiltration are:

1) Aquila lander

2) Thunderhawk

3) Teleportation

What is used depends wholly on the mission. I usually like to players on planets where the ship cannot stay to hover above them all the time and thus they won't be actively monitored from orbit. Instead their contact to Inquisitor or Watch Captain is through telepathy only. If you assume the mission had a ship actively hovering above the kill team (and thus, by extension, assume full air superiority) monitoring every step and being in active two-way communication all the time, it quickly raises the question of orbital support in various forms from "Can we get a shuttle lift from place A to place B?", through "Can we put our devastors on hovering shuttle to provide airborne support fire from safe place with a view?" to "Can we get a lance strike to coordinates XY?"

Sure, I can do that if it suits the mission, but I don't want my team whining for orbital strike all the time. Besides, I rather like it that planning safe insertion and exfil is a major part of the mission planning.

Polaria said:

I think we can safely add Stormraven to this list. Basically a squad sized Thunderhawk with pretty good firepower too. Its a newer model in the TT game and so far only the Blood Angels and Grey Knights have them. the GK having them is a good argument that the DW would have them too.