So I own the Deathwatch corebook and was thinking that'd be all I get for the time being.

But I took our tax stuff to our friendly accountant today, and the return she told us we'd get made me go "Really?!"

While most of it's going to go toward paying some bills and replacing a conked out mower and bread maker, I might be able to divert enough to cover a supplement or maybe two ( Death Angel and the upcoming Android: Netrunner are seriously tickling my fancy as well, so I might just go with one).

So which book do you reckon is a Must Buy, and which would be Almost As Handy?

Rites of Battle is a good first expansion, First Founding is pretty good as well. Give the players a lot of options. Jericho Reach is an excellent book and easily one of the best background books that FFG has published, I have high hopes for Outer Reach as well.

I would have to say that you should get yourself Rites of Battle, and not even consider any other supplements before that book. I can't imagine playing Deathwatch without Rites of Battle.

On a side note, Death Angel is a lot of fun and very portable so I would certainly recommend looking into it.

Rites of Battle is just necessary by my reckoning, like it's the second part of the Core Book.

If you really want enemies, go for Mark of the Xenos.

If you want all dem First Founding Chapters, well, it's obvious which book to get. Have it before Honor the Chapter, as First Founding fills out more of the Core Book Chapters than HtC does. Honor the Chapter is still incredibly sweet, though, but we're talking necessity.

If you want setting fluff (with bonus crunch), grab Jericho Reach for things immediately relevant to your Kill-Team (and a slew of Tyranid), or Achilus Assault for the overall picture (and plenty of Heretic stats). To fill out your collection of Chapters, grab Honor the Chapter.

Obviously, get The Emperor Protects and Rising Tempest if you need missions.

After Rites of Battle, it depends on your preferences and capabilities as a GM, if, in fact, you're being a GM. If not, then, uh, the preferences thing changes a lot.

I agree with Rites of Battle being the second-most-important book after the Rulebook . After that, I find Mark of Xenos most useful.

If you can't afford First Founding right away, and you have players who want to play Marines from the Chapters contained therein, you can save yourself some money by urging them buy it themselves; there's more stuff for PCs than GMs in that one…

I may be considered harsh for saying this, but Honour the Chapter is not put together nearly as well as First Founding. First Founding does a 'good' job of expanding on Chapters already seen, while Honour the Chapter does merely a 'fair' attempt at adding new Chapters.

Rights of Battle and Mark of the Xenos, followed by First Founding and Honor the Chapter. In that order of priority.

You don't need First Founding or Honour the Chapter to run or play the game.

Mark of the Xenos makes it easier with enemy stats. Rites of Battle is nice for both the player and GM side with mechanics and plot ideas.

Jericho Reach and Achilus Assault are cool, but not necessary if you have enough world/plot/mission ideas yourself.

The Emperor Protects is an excellent mission trilogy. Rising Tempest is…okay.

As has been already stated, Rites of Battle is a must have. After that, I would say either Mark of Xenos if you want more variety in the enemies you use or First Founding if you want more variety in your PC's. I have to agree that while Honor the Chapter isn't bad, it didn't wow me as much as First Founding did, so you should get FF first.

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone!

Re. Rites of Battle : Wow! You’re all near unanimous on this one! Just what makes it such an essential purchase? What material in it has made your games richer / easier than they would have been with the core rulebook alone?

I know it has vehicles, but after fiddling with vehicle combat in other RPGs, I have to say I much prefer personal scale stuff.

Re. Mark of the Xenos: I do feel as though the core rulebook is light on enemies. I’m one of these folks who feels as though his ability in mathematics and probabilities isn’t quite up to creating stats for new creatures, so I’d feel more comfy having an alamanc of adversaries created by those who know the system.

As to chapters and fluff… well, I’ve been down that road before. Back in the day, I used to collect the books for a game called Heavy Gear . I loved the pants off its sheer, living, breathing detail and its simultaneously epic and very personal metaplot.

Problem was, I spent so much time collecting, reading and studying that I barely played, and when I did, I was too tied up in making sure Everything Was Right to actually have fun GMing. My campaign lasted for about three sessions and then collapsed.

I’m a bit over that nowadays, which is why I’m largely happy to stick with the core rulebook. I also find myself subscribing to an idea I came across in a couple of indie RPGs, which is to enable the group to come up with their own fluff during play. I posted a house rule that I wrote up over here.

I’ve come to the belief that the group will be more interested in the fluff that we create over someone else’s idea that we had to pay for. As long as we’re on the same general page about the broader setting and mood, we should be fine.

I also think that if we have a bunch of PCs and NPCs who Want Something They Don’t Have, missions will write themselves.

So setting and adventure books, I’m not too worried about.

Oh, Adeptus-B: Yeah, I think a couple of my players have already splurged on the sourcebooks with the Chapters they’re keen on! I'm cool with them using them, as long as they manage the particulars themselves!

Mark Of Xenos and Rites of Battle are really Core Books Part 1 and 2.

Unholy_Ravager said:

Pretty much, though I'd say MotX is more important for lots of antagonists than RoB is. You don't *need* advanced specialties or deeds or reserve requisition. Distinctions might be a little more necessary to show that extra oomph of gaining favor and power. I'm curious why people say it's the Core part 2 so often?

And ignore the Imperial Fists rules. Awful.

It also has Vehicle rules.

Unholy_Ravager said:

Oh right, that. Yeah, that's pretty good.

Rites also has the Create-a-Chapter rules, and if the rather popular home-made chapters on 1d4chan are any indication, those are worth having. Also, successor chapters, deeds, distinctions, advanced specialties, and a nice big Armory chapter, plus the aforementioned vehicles.

Unholy_Ravager said:

So, sort of like the DM's Guide and Monster Manual, really?

Gaire said:

Does Advanced Specialties include… Chaplains?

If so, that makes it bloody tempting…

Techincally no… You don't have to have those two, while you need the DMG the MM to play.

That said… the stuff in MoX and RoB are really really nice. Including Vehicles rules, alternate ranks, the ability to use requistion to get assistant from other imperial forces, and also a large ammount monster varity.

SlamDance said:

Full list of advanced specialties: Deathwatch Black Shield (more an alternate chapter option), Deathwatch Champion (anti-xenos melee specialist, honestly a better advance for non-assault marines), Deathwatch Chaplain, Deathwatch Dreadnought, Deathwatch Epistolary (advanced Librarian), Deathwatch Forge Master (advanced Techmarine), Deathwatch Keeper (hard to actually describe that one, I don't know it that well), Deathwatch Kill-Marine (solo operative), Watch Captain, and First Company Veteran.

SlamDance said:

Here, let me help with that.

www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/deathwatch/news/rites-of-battle/Rites%20of%20Battle%20Preview%201%20%28Web%20Quality%29.pdf

Why, thank'ee, sir!

I assume the Crozius Arcanum and Skull Helm are in RoB, right?

SlamDance said:

yes, they are

More like the player guide and monster manual

Gaire said:

Out of all that I'd say the most necessary thing is the Vehicles. Everything else is nice but you can play an entire campaign without it and without missing it.

I'll probably be alone in this but I think that Mark of the Xenos should be the first buy. For being a very action-oriented game the Deathwatch book has rather few enemies and having a whole book full of them don't hurt, and will allow you to play more varied missions also without the rules from Rites of Battle (which should be the second thing you buy).