Foetid Bloat-Drone vs Myphitic Blight-Haulers

[Jbird]

Hey all, wondering what peoples thoughts are on Foetid Bloat-Drone vs Myphitic Blight-Haulers?  It seems like Haulers win out to me, they don't deteriorate as they lose wounds, same 10 inch movement, more weapons, more abilities / buffs and 22 pts cheaper than drones with heavy blight launchers, and they get perks for taking 3 of them, downside being 2 less wounds.  I am struggling to see the reason to take drones over haulers?

 

Also, anyone thought of converting drones to haulers?

[Lord Marshal]

They're like apples and oranges I think, serving different roles that depend on how you've built your force.

 

Haulers are dedicated anti-tank that move up in support of your mainline. Drones run up the sides and harass the enemy whilst your forces get into a better position. If you're running a lot of Plague Marines/Poxwalkers then Haulers are probably going to do great, but if you're focused on rushing Morty-chan or 'Plaguewing' not so much. Haulers can only be anti-tank, so if you need to shore up your infantry-killing power you'd want one of the Drone's two melee variants.

 

I like them both. The problem is that stacking three Haulers to get the +1 WS/BS is a huge point sink in an army that is already so expensive. 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Lord Marshal

[Bulwyf]

I can't see going the 3 haulers for a very expensive army. I also agree the two units are for different purposes. You can use the drones to tie up an enemy vehicle, sure, but the hauler will be the one to actually kill it.

[Ammonius]

Blight Drones have the FLY keyword, which gives them a few options that the haulers don't get.

[TURBULENCE]

Yeah I'll have to chime in with the rest and say they serve very different purposes. The hauler is mid range anti tank and infantry support, where add the drone is more of a vanguard harassment unit(which in my last game it did a very good job of)

[Azekai]

I think I'd only get one hauler rather than three. Since they are pretty small, it might be easy to block LoS with a rhino or two and then advance things like poxwalkers and other infantry elements behind the armored spearhead.

I really like foetid blight drones. I have two but I would like to field more. They are very good at shredding crappy infantry and no one wants to charge them. 

[DuskRaider]

Two completely different battlefield roles, as has been mentioned earlier. Technically both can take on the role of anti-tank to an extent... the Bloat Drone being more of a light duty tank hunter with the Heavy Blight Launcher compared to the Blight-Hauler's dedicated role.

 

The biggest difference between the two is the Blight-Hauler also has an infantry buff and gets better with larger numbers whereas the Blight Drone doesn't care if you field more. Honestly, the limited range of the Blight-Hauler is a factor in my opinion too. The Bloat Drone will almost always be in the enemy's deployment zone turn two and are MUCH cheaper.

 

Both have a role in the army, both are great.

[TempestBlade]

Question on the bloat drone: what weapons? I have 3 dual flamers painted up but the fleshmower looks fun too. Maybe outrider detachment with 3 flamer drones and 1-2 mowers and 1 heavy blight launcher in the back....

[DuskRaider]

Fleshmowers and Plaguespitter Drones will were great as a team / group. The problem is, the Fleshmower is obviously CC only, so there's a chance it won't even make it to combat. Personally, I really like the Heavy Blight Launcher and intend to use it in tandem with the 3 Plaguespitter Drones I currently have.

[Urauloth]

I'm torn on drone loadouts. I have a trio of spitter drones (like many of us, I see) and those seem like very solid options, but it's th heavy blight launcher I really want. Not sure how many of those. I'm holding off on building one of the DI spitters until we have details of the full kit, though, in case it's possible to swap the front armour panel or re-arm it.

 

The fleshmower has the potential to deal incredible damage, but it looks like a huge fire magnet and I'm sure half the time it would be murdered before it got to use its weapon. Then again, you could take a couple of them. Seems like somthing most opponents would be forced to react to, which is valuable.

[Panzer]

I'm torn on drone loadouts. I have a trio of spitter drones (like many of us, I see) and those seem like very solid options, but it's th heavy blight launcher I really want. Not sure how many of those. I'm holding off on building one of the DI spitters until we have details of the full kit, though, in case it's possible to swap the front armour panel or re-arm it.

 

The fleshmower has the potential to deal incredible damage, but it looks like a huge fire magnet and I'm sure half the time it would be murdered before it got to use its weapon. Then again, you could take a couple of them. Seems like somthing most opponents would be forced to react to, which is valuable.

Everything worth the points is a huge fire magnet. You just have to give your opponent more targets than he can manage. I heard Terminators and Daemon Princes work well for that. :P

[Isolia]

Agreed, they are complementary but very different. They can work very well together though providing diversions to each other.

 

I plan on using the hauler with my poxwalkers moving upfield while taking care of immediate heavy threats, while the drones will buzz about harassing the enemy lines.

 

I also like the idea of pairing the fleshmower with the double flamer Drone so that it can reach action safer, while the one with the heavy blight launcher will solo or duo with another flamer fly somewhere else.

 

The idea is to divert attention to the flying circus while the hauler gets where it needs to. It will be backed by a backfield plagueburst crawler with the entropy cannon load out, so that the lack of redundancy is compensated by another heavy duty unit.

[HeresyBeliever]

Two completely different battlefield roles, as has been mentioned earlier. Technically both can take on the role of anti-tank to an extent... the Bloat Drone being more of a light duty tank hunter with the Heavy Blight Launcher compared to the Blight-Hauler's dedicated role.

 

The biggest difference between the two is the Blight-Hauler also has an infantry buff and gets better with larger numbers whereas the Blight Drone doesn't care if you field more. Honestly, the limited range of the Blight-Hauler is a factor in my opinion too. The Bloat Drone will almost always be in the enemy's deployment zone turn two and are MUCH cheaper.

 

Both have a role in the army, both are great.

Much cheaper?? 

The Hawler is cheaper in points and moves at 10 what ever the wounds.

 

They look much better to me! For 137 points. 3 guns and a combat weapon. no shooting negative when moving, just a shame they don't have weapon options. 

If you are going against a hored the Drone with plague splitters are good but are 158 points. 

[Jbird]

That's what I was thinking, drone is much more expensive! Only thing they really can't do the same is have an auto hit or assault weapon

[SkimaskMohawk]

The thing is though, theyre for completely different roles. Haulers are for infantry support and need three to get the most out of their single shot weapons. Drones are for flanking and infantry shredding, with a moderate anti air capability with the spitters and their own fly keyword.

 

Haulers are annoying because you have to fully kill them and they're just a big nuisance in the middle of the army that's difficult to kill. Drones are annoying because they can put out a lot of damage against things (especially close to an arch contaminator), fly and put a lot of forward pressure on the opponent.

 

In a direct comparison Haulers get bogged down vs the drones. Those ruins are essentially impassible; barricades and defence lines take 2" off their move; tying them up in combat prevents their fire power and their melee attack is bad enough to not worry too much. They also are always only good against single targets, since their guns pierce armour and the majority do multiple damage. Drones have versatility on their options and each weapon is good at multiple things; spitters can put a lot of wounds on everything by dint of high potential shots, Armour piercing and auto hits; Blight Launcher can kill tanks or elite units; mower can kill tanks and shred infantry

[happyslugger]

I have two of the drones currently with spitters and think they work very well, especially accompanying a DP for example.  

 

4xD6 auto hits are great (esp with fly keyword).  I have another two ready to convert when I pick up a box so I can have the other weapon options also.

 

The fleshmower looks awesome and no doubt I will run that one coupled with the others armed with plaguespitters.  

 

I am undecided on the hauler at this point, but will pick one up to test out anyway.  

[Wayniac]

 

 

Two completely different battlefield roles, as has been mentioned earlier. Technically both can take on the role of anti-tank to an extent... the Bloat Drone being more of a light duty tank hunter with the Heavy Blight Launcher compared to the Blight-Hauler's dedicated role.

 

The biggest difference between the two is the Blight-Hauler also has an infantry buff and gets better with larger numbers whereas the Blight Drone doesn't care if you field more. Honestly, the limited range of the Blight-Hauler is a factor in my opinion too. The Bloat Drone will almost always be in the enemy's deployment zone turn two and are MUCH cheaper.

 

Both have a role in the army, both are great.

Much cheaper??

The Hawler is cheaper in points and moves at 10 what ever the wounds.

 

They look much better to me! For 137 points. 3 guns and a combat weapon. no shooting negative when moving, just a shame they don't have weapon options.

If you are going against a hored the Drone with plague splitters are good but are 158 points.

Just a note, Haulers are 142 points, not 137 (Battlescribe for a bit wasn't adding the bile spurt). Still cheaper than the Bloat Drone, unless you're going with Fleshmowers. For me, I'm still kinda torn but I'm thinking of doing 2x Blight-Haulers just for extra anti-tank, which is something I think Death Guard doesn't have a lot of otherwise.

[DuskRaider]

Yeah, looks like I did the math wrong. Still, they're two separate battle roles IMO. The Drone is a harrier and will get to the enemy first if you're using the Hauler to cover your infantry.