Hello everyone, I just wish to say that i am new to Deathwatch and new to this forum.

I recently brought the rulebook for deathwatch, read it a few times, and played my first game with a friend today (Jan 7th)

However when playing, a large number of issues, confusion etc all came up, causing the game to as i like to say, flop.

Now luckily my friend was as new as me, and being the gm you have more responsability. So i thought id start with the basics and come on here and ask for help. And on doing this, i came across this topic : http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=212&efcid=3&efidt=597781 which helped me figure out ranged combat (for example i got the dos completely wrong, forgot about penetration, and toughness bonus) lol.

So i was wandering if melee is the same, but close combat? Below is an example of stats, and a scenario + what i think happens/ used today/

Space marine Invictus - ws-40, bs37, s-42, t45 - weapons - bolt pistol and chainsword

termagant - ws33, bs - 36, s-31, t-30, w-21, ap = 3

(Please note these stats are made up)

S Invictus moves into combat with the termagant, and launches a normal attack. You then:

Roll a ws test - scoring 25, which is a pass with 1 dos - correct? However if i remember right, the chainsword has the balanced rule, which grants +10ws bonus, so therefore it would become 3 dos - is this part correct?

so because i hit, with at least 2 dos, would i get another hit like you would shooting? or does it remain as 1, or is it an extra attack for each dos??

anyway say we went like shooting, it would be 3 hits in total. I would then roll the damage die 3 times (1D10+3 each), 1 for each hit. I score a 8, 5, 4 (including the +3)

SO would i then do the following for each damage: 8 = ap - 4 (chainsword penetration is 4) = -1 (0), toughness bonus (3) - 8 = -5 so therefore it would take 5 wounds?

hit 2 - 5 damage - ap-4 = -1(0), toughness bonus - 5 = -2 so therefore 2 wounds of damage, and the third resulting in 1 damage, totalling up as 8 wounds.

Would this be correct?

Thanks and sorry for any mistakes i have made

-25 isn't a pass with 1 DoS on a target number of 33, it's just straight success. You get +1 DoS for every 10 rolled under the target number, in this case 33. So 1 DoS would be 23, 2 DoS would be 13, 3 DoS would be 3. If you had +10 WS from, say, Hatred: Tyranids, your target number would be 43 (33+10) and you would have 1 DoS rolling 25. To have 2 DoS with a WS of 43, you need to roll 23 or lower.

-Balanced gives +10 to WS for Parrying only. Not attacks.

-In melee against a solo enemy, one hit is one hit, period the end. In melee against a Horde, every 2 DoS on the attack roll is another hit and another chance to deal Magnitude damage, which is different from regular damage.

-If this termagant is a solo unit, which it appears to be from how you styled it, no, you get no additional hits. Even if it was a termagant Horde, you wouldn't get additional hits because you only got straight success, and you need at least 2 DoS total to do another hit in melee against a Horde. So I'm going to ignore your paragraph of "if it's like shooting," because it's not; you'll get no additional hits against a solo unit and you can only get additional attacks against it if you have Swift Attack or Lightning Attack, which you don't.

-After you hit, you roll damage. For melee damage you add your Strength bonus to the weapon damage. Space Marines have Unnatural Strength (x2) meaning that a Marine with 40 Strength has a Strength bonus (SB) of 8 (this is not taking into account the bonus to Strength from wearing power armor, for the sake of simplicity). So with a chainsword, your Brother Invictus deals 1d10+11 damage (1d10+3 is chainsword damage, +8 for the SM's [strength Bonus x2]). Let's say you roll a 9 on your d10, so you're deal 9+3+8 = 20 damage.

-You have 20 damage. Termagant has AP 3 and Toughness Bonus 3, chainsword has Penetration 4. The attack fully penetrates AP, so the termagant's AP doesn't mitigate the attack at all. Only its Toughness Bonus (TB) does, which is unaffected by Penetration. With Toughness Bonus of 3, you deal 17 damage (20-3) to it.

Does that make sense?

Kshatriya said:

I want to say a big thanks to your explanation. I clearly get it.

balanced only works for parrying

when attacking, use opponants ws to determine a hit and how many dos. dos only helps against hordes for every 2 dos, 1 additional hit happens, not single enemies.

for damage, i add the attackers strength bonus (normally 4, but 8 due to unhuman strength x 2) + power armours strength when i takethat into account

even if a weapons pen is higher thean the enemies ap, it only takes off ap so i got that part right, and the rest was ok just missed adding users strength

Thanks for the help. Please note in the next day or 2 il be posting more scenarios up etc as this is really helpfull

Many thanks again

justin-gregory2011 said:

Not quite here.

You don't worry about the target's WS unless they go for a parry. DoS are determined by how much YOU roll under YOUR Characteristic. Not by the opponent's characteristic at all. If YOUR WS (after all modifiers) is 40, you need to roll 40 or below to hit at all; 41+ is a miss. If you roll 40, that's just success. If you roll 30, that's 1 DoS. If you roll 20, that's 2 DoS. If you roll 10, that's 3 DoS.

justin-gregory2011 said:

Small aside with the +Strength from power armor: it is applied AFTER the Unnatural Trait modifies hthe base Strength of his body

So say you have an SM with 40 Strength in power armor. His Strength is 40 (base) + 20 (power armor) = 60 Strength. His SB is 10 [(4x2)+2]. It is NOT 12 [[4+2]x2). Hope that's clear!

justin-gregory2011 said:

No problem!

Ok so any test i make always goes on my stats unless specified, right?

and the damage = 40+20 for pa, so bonus are 8 (starting bonus x 2) + 2 bonus for the extra 20 from pa = at Sb = 10 (4x2+2)

Sorry acidentally sent the thing lol

Thanks again, and iv sent you a friends request lol - later today i shall be posting up my next puzzle lmao

justin-gregory2011 said:

There are plenty of contested actions, but you are correct in that if it is not specified, the test is against your own characteristic.

Your Strength Bonus equation is correct, with Strength 40 SB is 10 in standard Power armor.