Gaming Death Guard Again

[Loyalist]

Death Guard was my first 40K army and got quite a bit of use two Chaos Space Marine Codices ago. The force did well against Black Templars, Eldar, and Imperial Guard at the local GW store and in private games. Cities of Death came out shortly after I started gaming and the Death Guard were good at close quarters combat. Then came the 5th edition codex with the Chaos Warband fluff and rules changes I didn't care for. I disliked the codex so much I stopped playing Chaos and went for the Imperial Guard instead.

 

Last year I bought the current Chaos SM codex for a nephew and after reading it again this week bought a copy and decided to give the Death Guard another try. Last night I unboxed everything and worked out the points. I have too many Plague Marines squads to field in a force under 2500 pts. and don't have any of the new options such as the two 'fiends' and the 'drakes' (I really don't like that model's design. Something along the lines of the FW Hell Blade would have been far better.)

 

Fortunately all of my Death Guard had been painted except for one Rhino. The list I came up with last night is based on models I have:

 

HQ 1: Chaos Lord in Terminator armour, power weapon and combi-melta, MoN                            120

 

Troop 1: Champion + 6 PMs, 2 Plasma guns, Icon of Despair                                                           242

 

Troop 2: same as Troop 1                                                                                                                  242

 

Troop 3 same as Troop 1&2 except 2 Melta guns                                                                              232

 

Dedicated Transports: 2 Rhinos with Havoc Launchers @ 47 each                                                    94

 

Elite 1: Dreadnought (aka Helbrute - silly name imo), TL Lascannon, Missile Launcher                    140

 

Elite 2: Dreadnought with Reaper autocannon, Missile launcher                                                       120

 

Fast Attack 1: 6 Raptors, 2 Plasma Pistols, Power fist for Champ. and MoN                                      185

 

Heavy Support 1:  Obliterator Squad (3 Oblits.)                                                                                   210

 

Heavy Support 2: Predator, Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons                                                         115

 

Heavy Support 3: Defiler with Reaper autocannon, TL Heavy flamer                                                 195

 

 

                                                                                                                                       Total: 1995 points  

 

AA is limited: Reaper autocannons and Flak missiles for the Havoc missile launchers. None of the walkers have very good armour in the newer 'shooty' environment. I don't know if the Defiler will be worthwhile. The Predator has performed well in the past and has the best armour in my detachment.

 

The Raptors and Obliterators will likely do as well as they used to. The Lord will be with a Troop in a Rhino and one Troop will foot slog or hang back around the Dreadnoughts or Defiler, which should be shooting from range and in cover. The Reaper and Missile Launcher combo for the Dreadnoughts seems the best alternative to the dual TL autocannons we can't take, but I need another TL auto cannon from FW to replace the TL Lascannon on one Dread. Shame my dual FW Chaos chainfists option is not allowed. 

 

I'll give this force a try. Comments and advice are welcome. The detachment can be increased well above 2500 pts. by two more Plague Marine squads of 7 figs. each, a 5 man Chosen Squad, second Predator with TL Lascannon turret and Hvy. Bolter sponsons, Typhus, Sorcerer and Power armour Lord HQ options, and 5 Terminators as bodyguards to Typhus or the Lord in TDA. A Hell Blade will be added (~130 pts.) and could replace a Dreadnought in the 2000 pt. detachment. According to Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition it can be used in 40K games.                   

[infyrana]

Always nice to see 7x PMs with dual specials, pretty much a staple.  You get a like from me simply for wanting to try and add dreadnoughts in the list :D

 

Correct me if I am wrong and things changed, but a Terminator cannot ride in a tiny Rhino, so your lord would have to foot slog.  May I recommend a Sorcerer on foot to go in there instead ?  Cheap as chips if you buy one of the Dark Vengeance chosen models from the well known auction site and convert it.  For the raptors, I am not sure 2x plasma pistols sells them for me, now if you put in 2x Melta guns for tank hunting, it would look a lot more practical :)

[Loyalist]

I wasn't going to put the Lord in TDA and terminators in a Rhino - they're an option for a larger force and would Deep Strike and foot slog because I don't think the Chaos Land Raider is worth the points. I have a metal Sorcerer model that was 'nurglified' years ago - he's bargain points-wise so i'll probably follow your advice. Good idea for replacing the Raptors' plasma pistols with melta guns too. They had the plasma pistols for the second CC attack. I used them like standard Assault Marines in the past.

[Castellan Cato]

Raptors aren't that good now, and neither are the Icons. Most people around here keep their PMs pretty cheap. Dreads, defilers and termis have fallen out of favor because they tend to die easily. This chaos book has some really solid choices, but a lot of filler that borders useless.

 

The amount of AA you need depends on your play group.

 

Sorcs are great, but you will still need a Nurgle lord to unlock the PMs as troops.

 

Welcome back and may the plague god bless you with many disgusting victories.

[Loyalist]

Thanks for the advice. What would you take instead of the Raptors and icons? Deleting those items would give me 220 pts, which would pay for a second unit of Obliterators and leave 10 pts spare.

 

I'll keep the Defiler for now because it gives the force its only artillery template, but could eliminate the Dreadnought with TL Lascannon, saving 140 pts. With the extra 10 pts from getting a second unit of Oblitertors as above I could add 35 Cultists (I have 36 of the old metal ones) for 150 points, or get a Sorcerer with 1 extra Mastery level, TDA, Spell Familiar and MoN for 140 its. 

[trevoroftzeentch]

Instead of raptors take 4-6 bikes with Mark of Nurgle and 2 meltaguns. T6 bikers are much better and only slightly more expensive.

 

In my opinion the most optimal load out for a nurgle lord looks like this.

Mark of Nurgle

Sigil of Corruption

Bike

Powerfist

Lightning claw.

The bikes are his retinue.

 

Helbrutes aren't worth it.

 

Defilers are super expensive fire magnets and they die with relative ease. Too expensive for what they do.

 

Definitely go with more obliterators. You really can't go wrong with them considering they do everything.

 

I would give your obliterators Mark of Nirgle so they don't get instant killed by S8 weapons. I also would consider giving them veterans of the long war they're not fearless and with that +1 LD it might keep them around longer.

[oreaper84]

NIce list, unconventional and great fun it seems. As has been stated earlier the Termi cant go in the rhino but it can slog with one of your plasma units of plagues. Take the ap3 on the lord and pass on the rest. I unfortunatly cannot get behind 2 dreads....1 yes i often use one a dread TL las and power flail i call ole-rusty. But 2 is a point sink. With that extra 100-125 point you could fill out your plague foot sloggin unit or add other fun stuffs.

 

Upgrade the pred with TL las....you'll be glad you did. A single non-TL auto cannon doesn't do much and i have popped oh so many fliers with tl las that i dont even bother bringing flakk/agis/allied fliers. Just my personal opinion though.

 

With you lack of up front power armour pressure your raptos will draw a lot of fire, so just be aware. Things that cannot pop tanks WILL target these guys till they vanish. Id either be reall carefull with them using rhinos and cover to the max (usually slows em up a bit) or opt for an escorting sorc. All of these are less efficient than bikes but if you like the figs (which i do) then i can understand wanting to use em.

 

Defilers are fine, they are tough enough for what they do and have the ability to wreck havoc if they are not dealy with and with they prev of the new eldar, armour 13+ is less appealing anyway. At lesast the def gets a deamon save!

 

Btw i saw you list was 5 pts short and your lord does not have blight gernades.......fix this plz b-nades are great. Good luck with the list.

[Loyalist]

Thanks for the advice. I've been repainting the original Death Guard force for the last few weeks and just completed it. Love the new rust effects paints from GW but was careful not to overdo it.

 

I've added blight grenades to the Lord, got rid of the TL Lascannon Dreadnought, the Raptors and the 3 Icons of Despair. I'm using the TL Lascannon turret option for the Predator and have another that's been sitting in a box partly finished for a few years. I've bought a Heldrake and am working on a conversion: fewer wings and different position, deleting the dragon head and neck and installing a chin turret under a cockpit that will be added forward. 

 

I've got four HQ choices repainted: a Lord in TDA modified from Typhus, a Lord and a Sorcerer in power armour, and an original Ultraforge Plague Demon (multiple differences from the latest version) that will be a Daemon Prince. A sorcerer in TDA modified from the plastic kit with greenstuff and a single horned nurgle head is being painted. The last two HQ options are Typhus (primed) and a second Ultraforge Plague Demon that's waiting for a set of Ultraforge Demon wings to arrive. Another squad of Obliterators was bought on ebay. Now I need 35 Plague zombies but have 36 of the old metal cultists and could paint them in 'decaying' colours.

 

Lots of options to consider for a 2000 pt. list!

[Castellan Cato]

Wow. Pretty speedy work! Put up some pictures when you can.