Nimon said: One thing that needs to be said to all GMs out there that haven't read every 40k book, and might only know the material from Dawn of War ect.. Do not get disheartened by those that have. They obviously do not get the big picture. The fact is there is countless solar systems not to mention the whole concept of the "Warp". So if you put something in your game and they think "but that doesn't exsist in 40k blah blah, and quotes some book by one of the dozen authors of 40k material." Guess what It Does Now. You can not tell me that in the year 41,000+ something somewhere Can Not exist. Here on earth we went from charriots to space travel in a fraction of that . Now granted the 40k atmosphere is what draws people in, but don't let it limit your creativity. You don't like something change it and move on, players don't like it have them GM and you play. Just some advice to those that I notice on the forums that have alot of questions and not many answers, make the answers and stick to them and it will work out. Amen to that! I try to stick to the "canonized" version of 40k since my players are 40k-geeks, but once in a while I throw them an "impossible" item just to unnerve them.

Personally I'm quite happy with FFGs take on the Wolves. The SW talent/skill list portray the mentality of the Wolves in a nice and "fluffy" way, but I DO miss something that'll portray them as the ferrocious close quarters fighters they're supposed to be. But the things you've written in this thread is over the top (IMHO). I wouldn't want the Wolves to be just another battle-frenzy-monster chapter. They're much more versatile than that. I love their solo ability and find it very useful and wouldn't change it for the world, but he Fel bonus is just... wrong though. I give my SW players +5 WS instead. And to represent their talent, instincts and ferociousness in combat I've added Combat Sense for 500 (very nice with the solo mode ability) and Street Fighter for 400 to the SW list. And that's it.

I like your take on the scouts Nimon. The characteristics and the skills/talents looks really nice and well thought out. I'm not too sure about the two specialty talents though. Even though they're good, I can see issues with them. Compare the "One shot, one kill" talent with "Bolter mastery". Both get +10 BS, but +2 damage vs T-30 or die? A bit too nasty at rank 1. I'll wrap my mind around it and see what I can come up with. And as stated elsewhere I think your take on the sniper rifle is a bit over the top for my taste. Personaly I want the Vindicare assassins to be the unrivaled snipers and astartes scouts with that rifle with kick the assassins off their pedestal. But that's my two cents.

I'd go for charm and a psy-focus. The rest have to depend on the mission. Specialty items like harnesses, grenades and ammo comes to mind.

Thank you all for your very informative answers. I humbly bow to your wisdom. The Ultramarine Librarian that I will introduce to the players will have the Deathwatch left arm/shoulder, black power armour with deep blue highlightings, a crux terminatus pendant around his neck, the yellow (highly decorated) tabard and a right pauldron with an open book inside the "inverted omega". And ofcourse some extra bling like purity seals and the like. I am pleased. Thank you all for helping me on this.

Thank you for your comments. I'll go with the "highlighting option" as seen in the book. But it still leaves a few questions. Left shoulder=DW insignia. No problem Right shoulder=Chapter or Librarian insignia? Either way, some "vital" part is left out. And what happens if the librarian gets terminator honors? The crux terminatus is placed on the left shoulder (and the DW insignia is then placed on the right as per the book) The reason I'm asking is that a really, really "by-the-book-kinda-guy" ultramarine librarian is going to make an appearance in my campain and I'd like for him to look the part without any room for the players to question that it's correct. (4 out of 5 players are genuine 40k geeks that know the canon verbatim. But me? Nah! I'we read my share of books and played the TT since Rogue Trader, but I'm kinda the "Screw the Codex" Space Wolf myself)

I've tried to gather solid intel on what a Deathwatch librarian's armour would look like. As we all know, when a marine enters the service in DW, his armour is painted black apart from the left arm and both pauldrons. The right pauldron is sporting the original chapter insignia while the left one is inscribed with the DW symbol. So far so good. As per the Codex Astartes, a librarian's armour is blue, regardless of his chapter's colours, to differentiate him from the others. His left pauldron sport the chapter symbol while his right one bears the Librarian symbol. Right. So what happens when a librarian enters the service of the Deathwatch? Deathwatch pauldron to the left, Librarian pauldron to the right, Chapter symbol... lacking? Paint the armour black... or keep it blue as per the codex? Is there an expert in the house that can help me with this?

Daisuke said: One small problem with that being that just like everything else on the Space Wolf Advances, Hardy is on the General Advance Scheme. And this is what causes the Space Wolves to be "shafted", the fact that there is nothing they can do that another chapter can't, and usually better more oft than not. True. But the Space Wolves can get it at rank 1 for 400 exp, while everyone else have to wait until rank 5 and pay 1000 exp. But I do agree that they are a bit shafted RAW-wise. I'm a huge Space Wolves fan and have been since I first came in contact with 40k in the Rogue Trader days. They were MY marines! With names and a background I could relate with. I'm from Sweden and my father told me and my brothers the old norse sagas (Beowulf, the aesir gods, the giants...) instead of the more "traditional" bedtime stories. Anyway... I give the Space Wolves Combat Sense in their advancement scheme for 500 and call it a day. It gives them an edge in close combat early on. And I give them the Paranoia talent (not that they are paranoid and twitchy though) effects together with the Heightened Senses (Smell) trait. Even if they're not activelly searching for a certain smell, they'll unconsciously notice it. Other that this, I do like how FFG designed them.

I agree that the Astartes Sniper Rifle looks a bit (a lot) week compared to the Exitus rifle. But that's as it should be. It's like comparing a handgrenade with a 12cm grenade. Both are lethal but made for different purposes. I imagine the Deathwatch (or any Chapter for that matter) would consider the job to be done when they descide which weapons to use. Assassinate someone without a trace? Astartes sniper rifle. The corpse wouldn't even have a noticable wound. Assassinate an ork warboss and sow confusion (and hopefully fear) into the mob? Stalker pattern boltgun. The boss' head would suddenly explode and the other orks wouldn't even see where the shot came from (and would probably start a fight over the possition as boss!) Kill a Hive tyrant from a distance? Possibly stalker bolter, but most likely lascannon or missile launcher. Destroy an advancing horde of genestealers/orks/mutants etc.? Heavy bolter, flamer, assaultcannon... Anything BIG and rapid firing Taking out a Demon Prince? Two words. Orbital bombardment. Or if that doesn't do it: Exterminatus or maybe sending a message to the Grey Knights. Demon princes are WAY out of the average marines league. Back to the OP's animosity towards the needle rifle. I wouldn't give a projectile of frozen poison penetration. It's far to brittle. But with the Accurate rules it doesn't really need penetration to be lethal. With a fair shot you'll do 3D10 damage (aprox. 17 on average). If you hit an eldar with mesh armour you'll deal 14 wounds to the poor sap! And if he then fail with his T-70% roll, he'll get another D10. One shot. Most likely one kill. Even without Righteous Fury. Against a traitor marine (8 AP, TB 4 - no unnatural since the weapon is Felling) you'd deal 5 points of damage and with a failed T-25% roll (one re-roll due to oolitic kidney but no +20 from the promnor since the toxin isn't ingested) he'll recieve 1D10 more. Not enough to kill him, but not entirely useless. You'll hit him again next round without him knowing where you are! And the next, and the next...