Tuesday, January 26, 2021

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.

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