Death Guard 3k The Reaping

[Herald of Magnus]

Firstly, please don't judge me too hard. I wanted this to be a bit of a fun list, however I'm hoping to tailor it in a couple ways to make it at least a tiny bit more viable. I don't want to spend money getting models that don't work well together. 

 

The list's aim was originally to bombard the enemy, soften them up, whilst the outflankers, assault marines and the spartan get to enemy lines. Use the HS squads to take out high priority targets, use the veterans to mop up what's left. However I feel like the force has become much more melee oriented, however I'm unsure as to whether I need some more big guns or not, yet managing points here seems quite hard! I've never played a game near this size but a few points firstly:

 

Playing against a 40k Ultramarines gunline army. Flyers most likely will not be included in that list. It will probably be a static gunline, a few shooty dreadnoughts and potentially drop pod Iron-clads. Obviously I'm unsure of specifics but these are my guesses... Either way, moving on!

 

Troop:

Assault Squad x 15, 2 power axe, combat shields, power scythe serg, artificer armour

​Assault Squad x 15, 2 power axe, combat shields, power scythe serg, artificer armour

 

Veteran squad x10, 2x heavy flamer, artificer armour, power scythe, rad grenades

Veteran squad x10, 2x heavy flamer, artificer armour, power scythe, rad grenades

 

Heavy support squad x5, lascannons

Heavy support squad x5, volkite Culverin (unsure about these against marines)

 

 

Lord of War - Mortarion.

 

Elite:

Deathshroud x10

Apothecary x2, jump pack, power sword, rad grenades (in assault squads)

 

Heavy support:

Spartan Assault Tank, Ceramite, Flare shield

Whirlwind Scorpus

HQ:

 

Praetor, Jump Pack, scythe. (Kept cheap and cheerful cause Mortarion is my big boss really)

 

 

Veteran squad x10, 2x heavy flamer, artificer armour, power scythe, rad grenades

[Jarkaira]

Seems nice but somehow assault squads with Death Guard don't suit my view of them atleast unless modelled to be heavy hitters.

 

Don't worry about Volkites against marines as they do work very effectively even against terminators :)

 

'X+Y in a Spartan' lists always work :)

[Herald of Magnus]

See I wanted to run a list of termies but I couldn't really get it to viably work without finding different ways for them to cross the board (I'm not shelling out for more termies) I did want to fit a squad of Grave Wardens in too but I'm unsure.

The assault marines probably aren't the fluffiest of death guard but they'd still have them. I figured with the shields they'd be pretty cool. I'm still not so sure about them but I'm unsure of what else to use to fit in with the army. Tactical squads are fine and all but I'm unsure, they'd save points for terminators but I'm unsure of how to use them as I said. I do have the Calas Typhon model I could use with a Grave Warden squad? Unsure really!

As I said, the original premise I wanted was bombard them while advancing slowly, remove threats as termies reach their lines, but I can't think of how to make it work

Edit: Unless two squads of 10 boarding marines work as a decent troop base?

[Jarkaira]

I am pretty sure that your Spartan with it's contents work as a good distraction Carnifex and soak fire unless your opponent is a smart one and deals with assault squads first and then starts pounding rest of the marines.

 

Shields do make those assault squads a more Death Guard like. I would model them with less dynamic poses to suit for the relentless slow advance theme.

 

If you go higher points you could add some artillery to your list but currently imo you can't take out some portions of your army and add big guns instead as it would hamper the idea you have.

[Herald of Magnus]

Do you think it'd be better to just take the big guns out completely however and go for melee based tank killers like dreadnoughts etc?

[Jarkaira]

If I were doing that kind of list I would leave Spartan and it's contents out and use points for big guns and dreads but this isn't about me doing a list.

 

I do think that you have an idea which should be pursued upon and tried on a battlefield. What you are doing is a bit different than usual reaping lists and I do like the flavour you have added to that list.

 

Please let us know how things went if you plan to build that list.

[Herald of Magnus]

Thank you for showing an interest! I love the rest of the list, its a shame I can't put more termies in for sure and use Calas but, alas, it happens! 

 

To be honest the only thing I'm still considering IS the assault marines, swapping them with breacher squads is more fluffy however they don't seem too great for what they are? I'm really unsure, they're averaging at 17.5 points a model but they just don't seem too great? Am I missing something here? Is the idea to take a squad of 20 and then the only traditional way to remove them is blast, however due to their reroll saves they're good vs blast? I'm confused, wouldn't the counter be AP3 which is the marine counter anyway?

 

Assault marines seem more viable while breacher squads seem more 'fluffy' and cool for the image in my mind.

 

 

Oh, the one other thing that some people put forward before is running that erm, the mist right of war? I forget the name. But then run a footslog heavy army that abuses the cover save from that. It gives the same image in my head, of all of the terminators appearing out of a fog, but I'm unsure!

[Jarkaira]

Swapping assault marines to breachers would be a tradeoff between speed and resilience. You currently have two waves of attack as assault squads will be first in the battle and then veterans mop up the rest and this is done while your heavy support helps them.

 

You might be disappointed to Spartan's contents unless you are facing similar threats. This is why I would take heavier guns instead but if you are insisting on wielding them it will be a choice you make.

[infyrana]

Assault troops are no less fluffy than any other generic marine unit in the chapter, especially given that Morty liked to rely on his infantry (to which Assault troops are infantry, but with a rocket strapped on their backs!).  I say go for it and let us know!  Magnetise the arms/jump packs so you can make them into bolter marines etc if needs be.

 

Would the Serg for your assault squads be better with the Scythe and Combat Shield instead of AA?

 

My breachers are still unmade which, considering they were one of the first units I purchased, says a lot about the rules for them within the DG.  I'm trying to work out whether I want to paint a shoulder pad blue and give them swords or yellow and buy Pollux to make them into allies.  At least this way they'd have worth while rules.

[Herald of Magnus]

Thank you for saying that at the start there, that gives me a lot more hope and respect for my list knowing that it's actually fluffy. I was really debating it for ages trying to make sure it'd make sense. 

 

The sergeant already has a combat shield for the whole squad has been upgraded to get it, sorry I didn't make that clear! I wasn't too sure if he could use it and the scythe, does it not take up a hand? Either way he has it point-wise since I paid 45 points for the squads to get them.

 

Breachers just seem odd, they don't seem to add enough resilience to make them worth well, anything? Assault marines being around 15 points each on average is impressive to me! 

 

 

It's just the Heavy support squads and the whirlwind that I'm iffy about now! Should I swap them for even more melee and just go full ham on that? Or is it still worth keeping a couple squads back home like I've got already. It just feels like I've got such a 'meh' amount of firepower back at deployment that it won't be useful?