I am trying to make a guesstimate of the number of Deathwatch marines there are in the Jericho reach fighting along side the Achilus Crusade. Here are some numbers I have put toghether. Any input from the developers or other gamers to help fill some numbers would be appreciated.

watch station arkhas: can house a dozen (12) battle brothers, Core book indicates 1 astropath in residence, a pair of deathwatch surfs, and a dozen tech priests.

watch station midael: 1 lone battle brother

watch station Oertha: 20 battle brothers along with 50 Storm Wardens

watch station Skapula: unattended

Thunders World: Can transport a "handfull" of battle brothers

Watch Fortress Erioch: 10 members of the Chamber of Vigilance, 3 personalities in the core rulebook, 3 Dreadnoughts, 9 personalities in Rites of War, 4 outlined in Game masters Kit. Has suggested that once there has been as many as 200 marines on Eroich but mostly feels empty. Suggested 26 mentioned plus 3 dreadnoughts

According to Achilus Assault, "dozens" of battle brothers have been recruited directly from the assault's allied chapters suggesting a major recruiting drive. Dozens over 40 years still suggests only about 1 or 2 a year making deathwatch secondment relatively rare, even during a major crusade.

Watch station Androbicus: can support dozens of kill teams

watch station phaedas: can support 10 astartes

6 personalities outlined in Jericho reach book.

4 members of the dead Cabal.

The literature suggests that Deathwatch are pretty rare and it would seem to me about 50 to 100 operate in the Jericho Reach at any given time, if even. However, they are an efficient fighting force and are able to do a great deal with few members. The literature suggests that they are capable of amassing forces for major engagements such as the 50 marines involved in the scouring of Herisor

Well, good luck.

I've reported your double post, please use this one.

well, that was obtusely non-helpful…..

nice work, sir! you've done a fine work of compilation and deduction; i like what you've come up with! Your numbers seem quite cromulent to me, and i thank you for your efforts!! This will prove helpful for those of us who appreciate the Big Picture…..

Good on you, sir!

Your numbers are spot on as far as I could tell. In my last DW game I set the number of active DW marines operating in the reach at about 100 but that was just a number I liked that took into account some watch stations that ( I assume) did not make it into books. Its just a guess that I was comfortable with using for my setting I built at the time. In this case I'm not sure there is a number that we can point to within cannon, so the best we could do is extrapolate. And I'd say you did that wonderfully.

Thanks for the props

Here is some more data that I was able to uncover

Watchstation Iobel: At one time had 2 battle brothers in residence, plus serfs. Now it seems to have been greatly expanded and is now the main jumping ground into the Hadex Anomaly

watch captain Andar Scarion is said to manage a half dozen kill teams in the Canis Salent against the Tau. If he is the overall commander for the salent than that would suggest somewhere between 30 to 40 Deathwatch marines for the whole salent (assuming an average kill team of about 5 to 7 members).

Addendum: It was suggested that Watch Station Mirabel was swallowed up by the Hadex Anomaly (I forget where I saw that). That may suggest that the fate of the lone battle brother is unknown.

Watch Station Epsilon: 5 Apothecaries work around the clock to create a poison to destroy Hive Fleet Dagon once and for all

****Dead Stations******

Watch station Cressid: One brother came to visit and drove back some Chaos Renegades. It seems uninhabited but with a very effective self defence mechanism

Watch Station Kabiri: 6 battle Brothers (a half dozen) were sent to monitor

The Iron Bastion: Has at least a half dozen inhabitants making it one of the more heavily populated dead stations

Watch Station Castiel: Has one battle brother doing a vigil at any given time

The Forever Hold: This mobile library in space is operated by 1 inquisitor, possibly with a small retinue

Sedu: This planet is interesting for what it does not have. On the maps of the Jericho reach on the inside covers of all the books, Sedu has a big inquisitorial sign suggesting a Watch Station. However, the writeup of the planet suggests no deathwatch presence. My guess is maybe one unmanned watch station keeping an eye on the planet.

Since the arrival of the Achilus Crusade, the ranks of the Deathwatch have grown to accommodate an increase in their combat operations. Whereas for years each Watch Station was manned only by a handful of Battle-Brothers and a limited number of specialised vessels, now they have the ability to field entire companies should the need arise. Many of these new recruits to the Deathwatch have been drawn directly from the Adeptus Astartes Chapters present within the Crusade.
Over the last forty years, dozens of Battle-Brothers have been seconded at the behest of the Deathwatch, after crossing the Warp Gate under the banner of their own Primarch. Thanks to their ancient agreements with the Ordo Xenos and the Space Marine Chapters, the process is usually a smooth one.

Deathwatch: The Achilus Assault, page 33, "Recruitment in the Field"

The key here being " now they have the ability to field entire companies should the need arise ". So we can conclude that there are literally hundreds of combat-ready Astartes seconded to the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach. Personally, I am assuming that this count only includes active Kill-Teams, and not the support personel such as the Forge Masters maintaining the ships and equipment and the Apothecaries constantly researching the Tyranid threat in the Research Station Epsilon on Treyen.

Has there ever been anything said about the number of Deathwatch marines on average in the rest of the Imperium? I think it's important to understand that Jericho Reach is a fairly large exception in terms of the number of Deathwatch marines in one location. I imagined the presence of a watch fortress is most important and in locations where deathwatch bases are limited to strike cruisers or smaller, the number of total marines would be far less.

There are quite a few, with deplyments of 600-1000 DW marines mentioned fairly frequently in the fluff.