iv been meaning to look into Blackstone/Killteam and see how they function, what do you run your deathwatch with?
So,
Blackstone Fortress? If you're making your own characters- Deathwatch or otherwise, it's not really a big deal what they're armed with. Go nuts-make a "cool space marine" model to play around with, even if his loadout isn't even real or valid. I use a converted Infiltrator model (which aren't even usable as a 40k Deathwatch unit), and I've got Intercessors with shotguns, power axes, dual bolt pistols, storm bolter gauntlets, power glaives (force halberds from Grey Knight kits), power claws, whatever- the point is
"make whatever you want that looks cool".
The rules for Blackstone Fortress aren't focused on your weapon stats, it's more simple.
You have 4 regular D6's that you roll. You keep them and you spend them on actions on your turn, and some things require you to have a certain number rolled (a basic attack is 1+, but something complex like a special attack would be 4+ or higher).
Essentially there are 3 range bands- 1 hex, 2-3 hexes, and 4+ hexes.
There are 3 types of dice you roll for attacks, and they're non-standard dice with sides for fail, succeed, or crit. The D6 is the weakest, the D8 is average, and the D12 is stronger. If you have an attack or action where you roll 2 of them, you just keep the better of the two you roll. That's it, there's nothing else to how "good" a weapon is.
You use those same weird attack dice for skill checks like defense (armor save), agility (various challenges make you do this) and vitality (for healing wounds). Our Marines are using D12 Defense, D8 Agility, and D12 Vitality. Also, if they get a critical success on a Vitality check, their "grievous injury" becomes a regular wound (grievous injuries stay and can't be healed normally, they fuck you over).
In
Kill-Team? If you're playing the game right, the loadout depends on who you're up against. Don't put anyone with plasma or other armor-slaying weapons against someone who's running a lot of squishy dudes that are just gonna overwhelm you. I tend to usually always have an Infernus Heavy Bolter and a Frag Cannon in the mix, and a Reiver for moving around and grabbing objectives because he can Batman-move over terrain. I avoid using a Deathwatch regular marine with a bolter when I can just use an Intercessor with an Assault Bolter. I will say that even if you're going up against TEQ, there's not a lot of reasons to use Heavy Thunder Hammers when you can give a Blackshield 2 Power Mauls and make him the Combat Specialist.
Sorry for the double post, but to add to the Blackstone Fortress custom character thing:
A good way to decide what you want is to just determine what you want the guy to be good at, rather than what he should have.
A shit attack would be the D6 combat dice. Less shit would be 2 of them, because you're still throwing the weakest dice but you keep the better of 2. Average would be the D8, above average would be 2D8. Stronk would be the D12, and 2D12 is brutal as fuck.
Then decide whether the attack is better at adjacent enemies, people 2-3 hexes away, or 4 or more hexes away. They should be more or less effective at different ranges.
So don't think of it as much based on the weapon specifically, but how effective that combo he has is more effective at certain ranges.
For example I have this-
Adjacent Hexes: D12, 2-3 Hexes: D8, 4+ Hexes: 2D6
That could be a guy with two bolt pistols, or a dude with a badass melee weapon and a regular bolter.
The thing you want to focus on is a"special attack" and that's all about what you think is cool and you gotta be creative. If you have an idea, let me know. I can also point you to blank character cards you can print.
