Deathwatch Box Set

 To add to the Combat Patrol Box, I purchased the Deathwatch box which bolsters up my starting Salamander force. Briefly mentioned in my previous post, I have finally put it all together.

The contents on the box looked really nicely sculpted and detailed and I gravitated towards it out of a few I looked at. As Salamanders are typically into flame-like weapons, I couldn't resist the Aggressors at all. They are a perfect addition to the existing force and are backed up by a Squad or two - depending on the size you run them - Intercessors. It seemed like the perfect choice, so I went with it.

To start, I went ahead and built the Lieutenant with Power Sword. There's really nothing special about this model, he has a typical Space Marine look to him, just wielding a Sword that is charged by some kind of power gem thing. Needless to say, I really like it. He doesn't need to be doing much else. It's a simplistic look, but draws the eye in with his pose, almost spurring his Battle-Brothers on. So here he is..

To support him is the Apothecary. This is another model I really like the look of. Again, it's something I have no idea how it plays in the game, but that doesn't matter as it's another simplistic, yet interesting model. He's covered in many instruments for his craft and other ornate trinkets that manifest the harsh realities of the 41st Millennium. He appears to be standing atop a fallen Battle-Brother, retrieving his Gene-seed in some kind of pod vessel thing.
Something I find interesting and perhaps unique with the Salamander Lore is that should a Brother fall in battle, he is not left to rot in some distant corner of some forgotten Galaxy only to serve as a memory to those who knew him. Rather, they endeavour to return their own back to their Homeworld - Nocturne; where they are placed into the fire pits of Mount Deathfire. They believe in some kind of reincarnation where they return back to the very soils of which they grew up on. It's quite an interesting take on the otherwise hellish nightmare that is Warhammer 40K.

Next up are the Intercessor Squads. I designed them using varying bits off both the Deathwatch sprues and the Salamander accessory sprues. As part of the Promethium Code, Salamander's are expected to perfect their Forgery skills, either repairing and maintaining their Armour, or crafting very unique and special weapons. This can mean that a warrior can hold onto items that could be thousands of years old, so it allows for some creativity or variety within the army, which I really like. I tend to get bored of rank and uniform, which often killed my drive painting WW2 miniatures. So I am hoping this will keep some creativity flowing. There's nothing too unique going on, however, just mixing and matching ornaments and trinkets, thinking how each Brother may have obtained said item. Something else I like with Salamanders, very much like Dwarfs in any Fantasy setting, they love trinkets and magical Rune artefacts. Salamanders are no different, so I went ahead and added extra bits here and there, just for flash.

This is the first Squad of Five. They can be run - like the Infiltrators - as two Squads of Five, or one Squad of Ten. I split them just for the sake of pictures and a post.. On the far left, the Brother still retains his Mk. VI shoulder pad. I like to think he has been around since the Horus Heresy era and as such, has managed to look after that piece and has kept it as a mark of his time spent serving the Emperor. He has also removed his Battle Helm as he prefers to fight without it. Although he doesn't gain benefits from the Ocular Battle Systems and Re-breather apparatus, he's a hardened warrior and takes on the fight regardless.

For the second Squad, they aren't too flashy or unique, other than the guy in the very middle with the slightly different helm. Probably not correct, but that's ok with me. I really liked the look of it. It's menacing, and I like to think that he forged it himself as an addition to his helm to look more intimidating, or perhaps to mark him more clearly as the Sergeant, Either way, the Squad is fairly stock-standard here. By this point I was struggling somewhat with the instructions not being clear and I was tiring of trying to put everything together properly as I found the legs were extremely fiddly. But that's ok because I now have a Squad of Intercessors to play with.

Finally, I have the very thing I wanted the box for.. The Aggressors.... Aaaaaah, these big, hulking, menacing BBQ maniacs of reinforced adamantium nightmarish pains in the fucking arse to fit together. My god, I thought the Suppressors were bad from the Combat Patrol box, but I had no fucking idea about these fucking things. I guess it depends on which version of Aggressor you want to fit together, but needing fire in my force, I was always going to select the Flamer version. Fitting these things together was a massive ballache as once again, the instructions were not clear and mislabeled. I have no idea how or why, but they were. So it was through trial and error - a lot of error - did I learn how to fit them together. It is the propellant tubes that I really struggled with. But I eventually got there. Now I have three and look forward to seeing how well they play.

Again, and it might be hard to see with the pictures, but I added a few extra artefacts and trinkets to them, as they are blessed by Vulkan himself, giving them strength to continue taking the fight to the Xenos scum..

Finally, I decided to take some piccies of the box laid out, posing together as an effective force.

And all of my completed Army standing together..

As a little bonus to the post and not included in the box itself, my boy Greg very kindly 3D printed me a bunch of Salamander guys he found stl's for online. Some I had to throw as they were too brittle and wouldn't glue properly or even stand correctly, something he is aware of and plans to work on. But I managed to salvage two.
One is Forge Father Vulkan He'stan. Bearing the Spear of Vulkan and the Gauntlet of the Forge and wearing the Drake-skin cloak known as Kesare's Mantle, all artefacts of the Primarch, Vulkan himself. He'stan carries them into battle, supposedly giving him nice buffs when attached to varying units. I can't say anything on this, but I do admit, the model looks great.

The second is a generic looking Space Marine, which I think is big enough in size and looks cool enough as a model that he could serve as a Captain or some other higher-ranked unit. Either way, he looks great.

Again, it's a great kit over-all, even if the instructions are wonky. I'm not sure why this is, but it's not the end of the world. A great addition to what I previously worked on and I can now run a proper game with Greg. I will probably build upon this, either looking for further box set deals as I would like to have some other cool units like Dreadnaughts, etc. Or I may just very slowly chip away with individual boxes. I will need some more flamer type guys for the army. But for now, these two boxes are complete and I need to start painting them..... 😅🤪🙄🙃