How many plague marines squads are enough ?

[eurieus]

Hello brothers ! 

 

So i'm still planning my burgle CSM army, and i came to a halt asking myself the question in the topic name. 

 

I have a box of PMs and two squads of DV chosen that i was planning on converting with GS and parts from the spellcrow plague legion (http://www.spellcrow.com/plague-legions-c-9_37.html ). 

 

But, maybe 3 squads is a bit too much in , let say , 1500 pts games and lower ? How many do you use from 1500 and up ? 

 

Should i keep at least on of the chosen squad ? Are they useful ? 

 

Complete Chaos noob here, thanks in advance for any advice :) 

 

Brother Eurieus

[Plaguecaster]

Really depends on what else you are wanting to have in the list unfortunately plague marine squads can be quite expensive so sort of depends on what squad size and load outs you want. I'd say three probably would be the max number of plague squads especially in 1500 mainly just they are a generalist unit, too much and you don't have enough for your more specialised units.

Any idea on what else you would have in the list

[Dallas Drake]

3x6 w/plasma x2, fist/axe & Rhino sounds about right at 1500 mate.

[the jeske]

3 in 1500 is not too many. And no you should not be taking chosen.

[General Ravensong]

at lower point games I usually run 3 squads of 7-8 in rhinos with double special weapons and a fist on the champion. Chosen are cool for very specific purposes. A group of chosen all kited out with plasmaguns hopping out of rhinos can be a pretty scary threat... but you can accomplish the same thing (-1 plasmagun) more cost-effectively with havocs. If you're running the Crimson Slaughter supplement you can pay the points to upgrade your chosen to Draznitch's (sp?) Ravagers to give them preferred enemey and you can reroll your 1's to hit and to wound, letting you pretty reliably point-click-destroy most anything foolish enough to stay out of cover with a much lower risk from gets hot.

[Kaldoth]

Three squads actually sounds about perfect.  I would definitely give them some Rhinos with Havoc Launchers.  No sense and not making it a poor man's Razorback for only 12 points. I'd take two squads with plasma guns and meltabombs, and one squad with meltaguns and a power fist.  You can run them MSU pretty reliably because of the increased toughness and FNP, but I always like to have an extra wound or two lying around just in case. Just my preference though ^_^

Cheers,

-Kal

[Iron Skull Mask]

I sing with the choir on 3 units at 1500, but I would advise against the havoc launchers. 36 points is a lot (12 a piece). If you have that many spare points left at the end of army building, better buy combi-weapons for champs. In regard to rhino upgrades I'd consider adding dozer blades first.

 

Chosen can have their use, but they need to be equipped carefully and then will be expensive. As they are still rather fragile they need buffs like psychic powers from a sorcerer to be durable. As a sacrificial unit they are too expensive in my opinion. An idea I'm fooling around with sometimes is using 2 units of 5 with 3 special weapons and a rhino for each in an army led by Huron... Bottomline, Chosen only make sense if chosen for a special purpose in the army design.

[Lagrath]

I wish Plague Marines werent so overpriced, like all Cult troops. Just compare how many Kroot you can take for 1 Plague Marine!

 

I am crossing my fingers that within the next 12 months, we either get a new CSM codex that drops prices on stuff, or we get Nurgle Daemonkin that at least gives some army-wide bonuses that make the existing high points costs for PMs (and obliterators, etc.) somewhat worth it.

[Kilofix]

Nurgle prefers Squad sizes of 7!

 

But yeah 3 Squads sounds right for 1500. Gives you room to fill out with other stuff.

[tdemayo]

I like four squads of 5 with 2 plasma each in Rhinos. 7 in a squad is too expensive this edition, I think. Then I usually take 2 cultists blobs of 20-30. The plague marines are mobile, durable, and have reasonable firepower, and can support an advance or reinforce cultists in the backfield.

[Chaeron]

You can never have enough if we're talking a collection... or at least, that's what I have to tell myself.

 

I prefer a minimum of three squads, seven strong and kitted appropriately, near irrespective of what point value games I'd be playing.

[Aspiringchaoschampion]

I generally run 2 squads at 1000 points 5 man dual plasma

[Lord Kallozar]

so would you guys always always take rhinos with plague marines and never foot slog them in units of 7?

[Aspiringchaoschampion]

I give both of my squads a rhino but i also run 5 man squads

[tdemayo]

Footslogging is a death sentence for any squad trying to cross the board, even PMs. I routinely use a transport for every squad. Even the Rhino's paper thin armor helps keep a squad alive in the face of massed fire. Plus the extra movement gives flexibility.

[bozo69pd]

I like 3 squads of 7 footslogging. I don't bother with rhinos and plasma guns because I don't have the points and also because I really just use my plague marines for face tanking and tar pitting. Usually my lists aim to look something like this as mono nurgle:

 

nurgle lord on bike with fisticlaws

pm x7

pm x7

pm x7

 

3-7 nurgle bikers maybe with pfist and or meltaguns

5 nurgle spawn

5 nurgle spawn

 

3 nurgle oblits

maulerfiend or oblits

maulerfiend or oblits

 

allied daemons

 

herald of nurgle or great unclean one for summoning in plague bearers

nurglings for troop tax and deep striking onto a reserve or linebreaker

nurgle soul grinder with torrent

 

I have never ever been tabled following this guide line but the games always go very long and I win by attrition and points.

[eurieus]

Wow all those replies !

 

Awesome thanks a lot for all the advice ! Well i guess i'm gonna convert all those chosen to make some kickass PM's ;) Also got some old school loyalist rhinos i'm gonna strip and nurgleifie to death :D 

 

I'm going with a themed army mostly, PM's, typhus, lots of zombies, oblits , spawns and mawlerfiends and the helbrute deepstrike formation ( can't remember the name ) , i really like the helbrute model :D 

 

I thought about bikes, but after almost 2000 pts of ravenwing, i never want to paint bikes ever again :D 

 

Cheers !! 

 

Brother Eurieus.

[bozo69pd]

I use my ravenwing as fallen bikers for my nurgle army. Same for my oblits I traded for alot of asscan termies and greenstuffed them into oblits. Nurgle Spawn are OP.

 

I got a typhus than I run with zombies and do love, the problem is getting typhus in combat where he NEEDS to be and also I really don't recomend a bunch of zombies AND a bunch of PM. They do kinda the same thing. Zombies are for back field objectives and to soak up lots of shots while sitting in cover by using models. PM are for pushing in while soaking lots of shots using their high resilience. All my games both units just end up tarpitting for like 3 full turns.

 

You can read one of my quick and dirty 750 point write ups in the battle reports section that is a pretty basic run down of what you always see happen as mono nurgle.