Death Guard Testing - Volume 2

 

Got another round in with these guys - and got my Helbrutes painted.  Remember, the mantra for painting chaos is "...where did all this trim come from?!"

The List

The Ferrymen

Lord of Contagion - WL Trait "The Droning", Relic "Ferryman's Scythe"

Malignant Plaguecaster - Relic - Putrid Periapt, powers - Gift of Plagues, Miasma of Pestilence, Curse of the Leper

3x Helbrutes (Multi-melta, combi-bolter, fist)

2x3 Deathshroud Terminators

15 Pox Walkers

14 Pox Walkers

2x5 Plague Marines (Blight Launchers)

2x Bloat Drones (flesh mowers)

5 Chaos Spawn (Grandfather's blessing stratagem)

2x Plagueburst Crawler (entropy cannons)

The Plan

Deathshroud Terminators can start on the board, or drop in where needed.  If the opponet leaves a place to drop them near a backfield objective, I can scramble, I can save a CP for a charge re-roll, or force the opponent to commit something more important than a random backfield squad to hold that objective, since these guys should be able to mulch most objective squads solo.

The Helbrutes and Lord of Contagion are a solid anchor against a variety of targets, and I need the anti-vehicle firepower.

Spawn are hilariously annoying to kill.

I need Crawlers for actual shooting attacks.

My troops hold objectives and take up space.

The Periapt is in there because Gift of Plagues isn't super-relevant after a turn or two, and I'd like to try to use another psychic power after that.  Maybe Curse will do more damage than smite for that CP.

The Lord of Contagion is there because it'll hand out re-rolls and do respectable damage.  I sat around trying to figure out how to make a reasonably kill regular Lord, and they aren't a ton cheaper than this guy.  I go with a couple lightning claws, and...eh?  I take a balesword and a relic for a 2 damage one, which isn't bad.  Or I just go ahead and lean into damage and durability, and the ability to drop this guy elsewhere.  Plus, I wanted to try that silly "swing 15 times with cleave" relic.

Part of my plan was to use the Bloat Drones, Flash Outbreak, and The Droning to try to pin down a chunk of the other army.

The Opponent

I went up against Black Templar.  At a glance, the list included outriders, storm-shield-laden vanguard vets, biker chaplain, a trio of dreadnoughts around a master of the forge (2 venerable multi-melta guys, one plasma redemptor), a brick of hammer/shield terminators in front of Grimaldus and an Apothecary, and a trio of Crusader squads camping in the back.  See Also - half of us will be in your face now, and the other half, immediately thereafter.  Plus I guess some guys brought guns.

Game Summary

I went second - I deployed a touch too far forward, and this let his outriders and vanguard vets get into my lines on one side, annihilate a poxwalker screen (OH NOES!) and tie up a Plagueburst Crawler (...oh, no.).  I also screwed up deployment and lost a Bloat Drone turn 1 (...well, [REDACTED]).  I broke those guys free eventually with the help of the Spawn, and some Blightening and Trench Fighters on the Plague Marines.

Dreadnoughts traded blows in the middle; mine blew up first but had some truly garbage dice.  My Deathshroud secured his home objectives, so he swung into the midfield ones.

By the end, I lost by a few points.  I took Assassinate, Engage on All Fronts, and Scramblers to his Scramblers, All Fronts and Oath - Oath of the Moment racked up the points.  We both Scrambled, and we both did well on objectives and All Fronts, and I'd managed to nail three out of four characters.

Lessons Learned

Plagueburst Crawlers - These are now in the 'hard to leave at home' category.  We need the firepower.  Badly.  We just don't have guns.  T8, 3+/5++ makes them hard to kill - I lost one right at the end when a venerable dread finally got into 12" range and ran hot, and just  barely killed it.  Go ahead and pay 175 for the entropy cannons.

Bloat Drones - Expect these to get prioritized.  Anyone who's played against them more than once knows what they can do - they're fast, they mulch infantry, they heal, they can chew on vehicles, AND they can project Contagion auras.  Also, I have a hard time not starting with two.  I also don't really see the point of the sprays or the gun; the mower is just so much nastier and lets you heal in melee.

Plague Marines - even a five-man squad can spike damage for a few CP.  The Blightening is hilarious when you're engaged - the visual of three guys just dropping grenades at their feet is both great, and getting 18 auto-hitting S4 hits in melee is solid.  Trench Fighters is another winner.

Deployment In General - This army does not forgive deployment errors much at all.  My losses have in part been due to my screw-ups with deployment.

Plague Company Choice - As neat as The Droning sounds as a Bloatie + Flash Outbreak + Gift of Plagues combo, I'm not sure it's as cool in practice.  It goes off on turn two when everyone's moved up, and unless you're locking down slower troops, it's 'eh'.  If it's slow assaulty troops, they may be just fine punching the drone to death - a 2-3" move and an assault is probably still good enough.  

I feel like there are more reliable Contagion auras.  If I keep the Lord of Contagion, I'd tech into the relic Plague scythe that loses the -1 to hit, perhaps.

Lord HQs - I'm still trying to figure out why we'd bother with a regular lord, unless you kept it super-cheap at 85 points.  If so, you're purely getting a re-roll aura and a dude with a chainsword, which is hilariously lackluster.  Demon Princes are expensive, but bring out a ton of lethality and utility between psychic powers and the re-roll aura, and a nice heap of 3-damage attacks.  The Lord of Contagion is, for once, a decent middle-of-the-road choice.  He's about ~20 points more than a regular Lord with a weapon, he's got a neat upgrade, and he starts with a melee weapon that's solidly Death Guard.  Really, you only take a regular Lord or Terminator Lord if you want a combi-weapon.

Death Guard - First Game in, First Impressions

 I threw dice with the new book.  Unlike 95% of the community, I didn't drop Mortarion on game one.  I hit up an old buddy's Black Templar.  My list was a little something like this -

Mortarion's Anvil - Battalion

Winged Demon Prince - 2x Claws, Warlord - Gloaming Bloat, Warp Hive, psychic power - Putrescent Vitality

Malignant Plague Caster - Gift of Plagues, Miasma of Pestilence

5 Deathshroud Terminators

2x5 Blightlord Terminators - Flail, Blight Launcher

Plague Surgeon - Fugaris' helm

Foul Blight Spawn - Revolting Stench Vats

Helbrute - Multi melta, missile launcher

Helbrute - Multi melta, fist, combi-bolter

2x5 Plague Marines - blight launcher

2x Pox Walker Blobs

2x Bloat Drones w/ Flesh Mowers

BLACK TEMPLARS at a Glance

Primaris Biker Chaplain

Grimaldus

Primaris Techmarine (master of the forge, relic of 4++ invuln for a turn)

Blob of Hammer/Shield Assault Terminators

Apothecary (WL trait for free revives)

Blob of storm shield vanguard vets w/ a few hammers and a Sword of Judgment

2x MM/bolter Venerable Dreads, Ironclad w/ Hurricane Bolter, 2x Hunter-killer missiles

3x Crusader Squads to babysit objectives

Suppressor Squad

2x Outrider Squads

IMPRESSIONS

OVERALL - This army is slow, durable, and requires careful deployment - unless you're deep-striking or coming in from strategic reserves, you're not going to go that far.  We don't have a lot of shooting or long-range assets, so be prepared to protect those.  Being tough doesn't mean you break cover and walk in the open, daring the enemy to attack you.  2+ saves like cover just like everyone else.

By Assets

Demon Prince - I realize claws are now AP-1; I realized this when I charged storm shield terminators.  I'm lucky I'm not dead.  The sword is 100% the way to go on these guys.  Wings are expensive, but I like the FLY keyword.

Psychic Powers - Miasma's basically an auto-take.  Gift of Plagues depends on your warlord traits, but debuff contagion auras (and Flash Outbreak) along with this are dumb.  Gift of Plagues can do work even as turns tick over, since debuffs are great!

Blightlords - mine are modeled with axes.  I am still reasonably pleased with axes - S6, AP-2 means I'm hitting on 3s and wounding on re-rolling 2s vs most infantry and swords are 3's and 3's.  S6 also lets me grind at vehicles in a pinch.  I'll see if I keep that opinion, but the flail and the blight launcher are obvious keeps.  I'd considered a combi-weapon or two, but didn't miss it much - we're so slow that you might get one productive melta shot, or a turn or two of plasma plinking at best.

Deathshroud - If you're going to bring a brick of terminators and characters, you're bringing a unit of these.  They're murder, though the spray pistols need contagions to kick in for that S3 to be meaningful.  No one really wants to get close to them.

Pox Walkers - if you've got enough other threats out there, people probably aren't going to waste the volume of fire necessary to kill 15-20 of these guys off an objective.  If you're going to tie up stuff, don't be like me and derp out and forget dreadnoughts with hurricane bolters can fire those in assault.

Plague Surgeon - take Fugaris' helm.  That is all.  Seriously.  

Foul Blightspawn - take revolting stench vats.  Seriously.  A 6" no-charge bubble is a lot more user-friendly and harder to avoid than a 3" targeting "you fight last" power.  The spray is a mop-up ability here.

Helbrutes - we get our big guns where we can.  I think most of my lists will start with either a couple of these or a couple Blight Haulers.  These things get terrifying if someone chips a wound off them; Fire Fever means I'm hitting on 2s (and possibly re-rolling 1s) then I'm wounding most armor on a 2 (and re-rolling 1s if wounded).  I really don't care if I have to put a combi-bolter into an armored target for those bonuses.  One of mine got popped early after whiffing, and another smoked the Ironclad, then almost beat a second dread to death (..before someone made a couple 6s to shrug).

Bloat Drones - Our book needs mobility badly - this is an option.  Again, if I'm not taking Blight Haulers, I'm probably take a couple of these.  The heavy blight launcher isn't bad per se, but the flesh mower is just terrifying.  One guy tanked dreadnought multi-meltas (more luck than anything else) and then delayed them; another used the "eat guys for wounds" stratagem, and managed to do some solid work and last the game.  Any sane opponent with guns is going to do their level best to murder these to deny you options.

Hilariously, bloat drones are allergic to AP-1 bolt guns, or 1d6 damage weapons.  

Death Guard - First Impressions of Plague Companies

 

So, we have a pretty solid new codex - and unlike, say, most other books, we're just one chapter.  However, we have seven options for companies.  Each plague company offers us a unique warlord trait, a relic, and stratagem.

So, what do we want to do with these?  Note we already have some solid warlord traits and relics, so you may just be looking at stratagems.

First Company - The Harbingers

SHORT VERSION - The Harbingers are melee-oriented, with a stratagem for helping Pox Walkers and a so-so relic and warlord trait.

LONG VERSION

The meat here is The Wrathful Dead - for a CP, your poxwalkers re-roll hits.  Throw that on top of the Mutant Straint stratagem, and suddenly you're fishing for 6s to hit for mortal wounds with poxwalker mobs.

The Warlord trait is 'eh' at best - it's not bad if you're around multiple minimum-sized units since stuff in Contagion Range (other than vehicles) takes mortal wounds in the opponent's movement phase on 4+s.  You can luck out and drop d3 mortals.

Infected Remains is gimmicky at best - your relic-bearer drops it on an objective marker, which then has a contagion aura as long as the character lives.  Not saying this can't be useful, but we've got a ton of cool relics.

Second Company - The Inexorable

SHORT VERSION - This company's pretty utilitarian; the stratagem is solid for a melee army.  The warlord trait is neat if you're helping out plague marines, and the relic can actually help heal vehicles - which is kinda rare for this book.  (We're more about just not dying, rather than getting better.)

LONG VERSION

Ferric Miasma is 1CP for a flat -2 to charge - you REALLY get to laugh at stuff trying to charge you from deep strike; hitting a 9 isn't bad, but hitting 11s is...unlikely.  Anyone with charge buffs will need them, and anyone without them is in some shape.

The Warlord Trait is useful IF you tech into a quantity of low AP attacks - it's an aura of +1AP equal to your contagion range.  Terminators don't really care about it, but other stuff does.  It's build-specific, but don't keep The Inexorable for just plague marines.

The Leechspore Casket is...I dunno.  You want someone already killy to carry it, and they need to punch models to death in order to heal a vehicle for some wounds.  If you're going to support some front-line demon engines (anything other than your mortars, really) it's an option, but maybe not the first option.

Third Company - Mortarion's Anvil

SHORT VERSION - This has a hilarious durability warlord trait, a defensive strategem, and a hard-to-fight relic.

LONG VERSION

Gloaming Bloat is just sick - it turns off re-rolls to hit and wound in Contagion Range.  You really want to bring Gift of Plagues for a boost to that range.

Relaptic Assault is a neat stratagem because it's going to make folks be careful about positioning - if you've got multiple units next to each other, it's going to be very hard for them to just hit one in assault.

The Warp Insect Hive is good for full hit/wound re-rolls.  A Demon Prince with two claws and Virulent Fever would like this.  A LOT.

Fourth Company - The Wretched

SHORT VERSION - The stratagem and warlord trait aren't terrible utility, but the relic is 'meh' and other stuff has more straightforward utility.

LONG VERSION

You get a Requisition Stratagem - one psyker gets another power, and one free re-roll a turn.  You'll definitely get some economy out of that.  This might let you get away with one psyker.

The Warlord Trait is good for auto-wounds on sixes in contagion range - so it's a turn 2-3 melee buff unless you commit to Gift of Plagues (...which you should.)

Your relic buffs the Pestilential Fallout on a Malignant Plaguecaster.  These guys aren't super durable, and I'd really rather keep 'em away from the front - and real talk, we've got better relics.

Fifth Company - The Poxmongers

SHORT VERSION - Are you leaning into demon engines like the Blight Hauler or Defiler?  Look at these guys.  Otherwise, skip.

LONG VERSION

Your stratagem is all about letting that demon engine fire at point blank range with blast weapons, and a nice +1 to hit as a bonus.  The Defiler and Blight Hauler find this hilarious.

Your Warlord Trait is so-so at best, since it's a leadership debuff and a combat attrition debuff - small beefy units don't care about it, even if we do have a neat -4LD stratagem laying around.

The Relic leans into your demon engines - someone gets a 4++ instead of their 5++.

Sixth Company - The Ferrymen

SHORT VERSION - There's a bonkers warlord trait, a decent buff stratagem for your elites, and a decent relic for your scythe-wielding guys.

LONG VERSION

The Droning is one of the ugliest-looking warlord traits we have - 1/2 movement to enemies in your Contagion Range.  Gift of Contagion is a hard must here, and you need this on a mobile warlord to throw at the enemy - you may lose it (unless it's Mortarion) but you can potential hobble an enemy army for a turn, so there's that.

The stratagem is pretty reasonable - +6" to your FOETIED VIRION (aka - your elite buff guys) auras is a tool you can find a use for - IE, a 9" range for your "you can't fight 'til we're done here" off the Blightbringer is ugly.

The relic isn't quite as insane as some - it's a manreaper that lets you crank three swings on scything swings instead of two, but you also can't dump one of our plague upgrades on it.  Considering our other stuff, eh.  Not too worried, and we have other relics.

Seventh Company - Mortarion's Chosen Sons

SHORT VERSION - Do you like sprays?  Are you bringing lots of Death Shroud?  Then this is your company.

LONG VERSION

The stratagem is pretty specific, and very ugly - plague belchers, spewers, and plaguespurt gauntlets are damage 2.  A unit of five Death Shroud can crank out 6d6 shots (admittedly at S3, but -1T is a thing) and stuff's gonna notice.

The Warlord trait, Nurgle's Fruit, is pretty utilitarian - it turns cover off in Contagion Range.  Not bad, but we're also not the shootiest army - I feel like we can kinda skip this.

Vomitryx is a hilarious-sounding relic - it's a flat 7 shots at AP-3, 2 damage - cool, right?  There is literally only one problem - it replaces a plague sprayer, which means it goes on a Foul Blightspawn, which means it competes with Revolting Stench Vats.  What do you want more?  A really neat flamer, or a an aura of "you didn't charge, you don't fight first" in a slow army. If you're taking two of these guys, maybe this would be cool - but eh.

The Wrapup

Some of these companies lean into certain builds - the first helps your Poxmongers, the Seventh Company is tailor-made for Deathshroud terminators, and the Fifth is all about Demon Engines.  The fourth is...well, it's a plague company.  The remaining ones offer different types of utility, but don't necessarily scream for one type of unit over another.