Blight Hauler or not Blight hauler that is the question

[Wayniac]

That's sad.  I hate zombie spam with a passion; it's gimmicky and doesn't at all feel like Death Guard to me :(

[BlackTriton]

The tragedy of death guard is (to me) that Morty dosent play well with plague marines.

He want to rush in melee and is better with stuff that do the same.

The creeping advance of infantry and artillery at the core of the death guard fluff creates lists where morty dosent fit.

Question is then how to build a list with haulers and plague marine?

[Wayniac]

I think the obvious solution would be to not take Morty as a default include.

[Plague _Lord]

I like the idea behind them and am trying to put them into my list but am comming to the conclusion that the +1 to hit is just to big a point sink.

 

For me they are there to buff my plague marines with cover and give them antitank support, while a big unit of 3 is just putting a "shoot here" sign on them.

 

I'm thinking of taking 2 units of 1 and attach them each to a unit of plague marines in a supporting role.

[Wayniac]

I like the idea behind them and am trying to put them into my list but am comming to the conclusion that the +1 to hit is just to big a point sink.

 

For me they are there to buff my plague marines with cover and give them antitank support, while a big unit of 3 is just putting a "shoot here" sign on them.

 

I'm thinking of taking 2 units of 1 and attach them each to a unit of plague marines in a supporting role.

I would be curious to see how this pans out; I originally thought the +1 to hit for 3 was a trap.

[bozo69pd]

 

I like the idea behind them and am trying to put them into my list but am comming to the conclusion that the +1 to hit is just to big a point sink.

 

For me they are there to buff my plague marines with cover and give them antitank support, while a big unit of 3 is just putting a "shoot here" sign on them.

 

I'm thinking of taking 2 units of 1 and attach them each to a unit of plague marines in a supporting role.

I would be curious to see how this pans out; I originally thought the +1 to hit for 3 was a trap.

 

It is and isn't a good idea at the same time. 3+ to hit for 3 of these guys is obviously better, you can space them to wrap larger units in for cover, and you can buff that 1 unit of haulers easily. Definitely want Miasma on it. Use the stratagem to make a blob of PM (feels like you have to run 20 of them to really be a true threat) untargetable. I would probably want daemon allies so I can heal the haulers with fleshy abundance.

 

Or you could do MSU marines in rhinos with a hauler hiding behind each of them (LoS maybe?) because you really want to jam them at their 10" across the board asap. Then when the marines unload from the rhino they have a cover save. No matter what, using them you are going to need a bunch of CP's.

Edited December 5, 2017 by bozo69pd

[Plague _Lord]

 

 

I like the idea behind them and am trying to put them into my list but am comming to the conclusion that the +1 to hit is just to big a point sink.

 

For me they are there to buff my plague marines with cover and give them antitank support, while a big unit of 3 is just putting a "shoot here" sign on them.

 

I'm thinking of taking 2 units of 1 and attach them each to a unit of plague marines in a supporting role.

I would be curious to see how this pans out; I originally thought the +1 to hit for 3 was a trap.

 

It is and isn't a good idea at the same time. 3+ to hit for 3 of these guys is obviously better, you can space them to wrap larger units in for cover, and you can buff that 1 unit of haulers easily. Definitely want Miasma on it. Use the stratagem to make a blob of PM (feels like you have to run 20 of them to really be a true threat) untargetable. I would probably want daemon allies so I can heal the haulers with fleshy abundance.

 

Or you could do MSU marines in rhinos with a hauler hiding behind each of them (LoS maybe?) because you really want to jam them at their 10" across the board asap. Then when the marines unload from the rhino they have a cover save. No matter what, using them you are going to need a bunch of CP's.

 

 

I don't think you can heal the hauler with nurgle heralds since it's faction keyword isn't a nurgle daemon it's nurgle heretic astartes.

 

I think the cloud of flies on plague marines is a waste, unless you are using a really big blob. I find it hard to get more than just around 6 CP in my lists

[Cleon]

 

 

 

I don't think you can heal the hauler with nurgle heralds since it's faction keyword isn't a nurgle daemon it's nurgle heretic astartes.

 

 

This is where keywords get horrible.

 

According to the index Plaguebearers (for example) have:

FACTION KEYWORDS: CHAOS, NURGLE, DAEMON

KEYWORDS: INFANTRY, PLAGUEBEARERS

 

And the Hauler in the codex has:

FACTION KEYWORDS: CHAOS, NURGLE, HERETIC ASTARTES, DEATH GUARD

KEYWORDS: VEHICLE, DAEMON, DAEMON ENGINE, MYPHITIC BLIGHT-HAULERS

 

The spell says:

pick a NURGLE DAEMON unit within 18" of the psyker.

 

Now no unit has "Nurgle Daemon" as a single Keyword entry.

Plaguebearers have "Nurgle" & "Daemon" as Faction Keywords, but the Hauler has "Nurgle" as a faction keyword and "Daemon" as a generic Keyword..

 

Does that mean the spell can't ever work, works on one, the other or both.

 

I don't even want to guess. 

Edited December 5, 2017 by Cleon

[BlackTriton]

I understand it as any unit with both NURGLE and DAEMON kewords.

So it would apply to blight hauler, for example.

I am not aware of any distinction ever made as to what kind of keyword you are using.

It would be hard to argue that a blight hauler is not a NURGLE DAEMON.

[Lagrath]

GW already clarified that once the game starts, faction keyword is no different than unit keyword.

[bozo69pd]

They can be healed just fine. IMO 5-7 man PM squad is useless. Too many points to be effective backfield objective camper, not big enough unit to survive the rush to center (unless you have a rhino, but then that's more points too). Next time I use them I am going to field one blob of 20 with as many bubonic axes as possible.

 

I always bring 2 battalions... I feel that just plays pretty well, so always 9 CP.

[Ishagu]

They can be healed just fine. IMO 5-7 man PM squad is useless. Too many points to be effective backfield objective camper, not big enough unit to survive the rush to center (unless you have a rhino, but then that's more points too). Next time I use them I am going to field one blob of 20 with as many bubonic axes as possible.

 

I always bring 2 battalions... I feel that just plays pretty well, so always 9 CP.

5 Plague Marines can be equipped with 3 Plasma Guns, right?

 

Two 5 man squads in Rhinos can be durable and damaging. They are pretty good value all things considered.

[Wayniac]

Sadly I am no closer to coming up with a viable decision comparing the different options.  I think I can rule out the Helbrute, as in a Death Guard force IMHO you want to capitalize on the resilience aspect, and while Helbrutes aren't exactly pushovers, they aren't playing to that strength.  Same goes for the Contemptor (which I forgot was a thing), although the Leviathan fills that role but at basically twice the cost.

 

The Defiler I think sits in a weird spot.  It's more resilient than the Helbrute due to having the 5++ and healing, and can put out some decent firepower, but it's a relatively expensive option compared to the others and it has the drawbacks of the Crawler (5+ if it moves) while also not getting indirect fire and having a much larger model.

 

So, IMHO the tossup is still between the Blight-Hauler and the Crawler, and that race is basically neck and neck.  Either you want longer range and the opportunity to indirect fire, or you want the ability to cover some of your units and advance forward daring the enemy to attack you.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Wayniac

[bozo69pd]

 

They can be healed just fine. IMO 5-7 man PM squad is useless. Too many points to be effective backfield objective camper, not big enough unit to survive the rush to center (unless you have a rhino, but then that's more points too). Next time I use them I am going to field one blob of 20 with as many bubonic axes as possible.

 

I always bring 2 battalions... I feel that just plays pretty well, so always 9 CP.

5 Plague Marines can be equipped with 3 Plasma Guns, right?

 

Two 5 man squads in Rhinos can be durable and damaging. They are pretty good value all things considered.

 

Yeah in retrospect I wish I put some PG's in my PM unit... however they got massacred on turn 3 by flyers so I am not sure they would have killed enough to make their points.