Advice for a New Recruit

[Dark Disciple]

Hey Guys, I've been out of the hobby for a few years and after my family surprised me with the Dark Imperium box I've tried a couple of  50PR games against friends with the Death Guard half of the box that haven't ended to well. I haven't picked up the codex yet but after 2 tabelings I'm on the fence.

 

The first game was againts T'au - an etheral, 2 x 10man Firewarrior Teams, 20 x Gun Drones, a Ghost Keel with Shield Drones and a Riptide

 

The Second was against Dark Angels - Beliel, Terminator Librarian, 2 x 10man Tacical Squads, 10man Devastator (4 Lascanons), Venerable Dreadnaught with TL Autocannon and TL Lascannon and a Predator with Lascannon sponsons and an Autocannon.

 

In the second game his first turn killed off my Bloat-Drone, half the Pox Walkers and 5 of my Plague Marines leaving me toothless. The only thing saving me from total embarrassment was my Lord of Contagion teleport striking in a killing Belial.

 

Would getting the codex help level the playing field? I know that some of the points came down but I feel like it would take a huge drop in points to be competitive against them. I'm also not sure how I could build on the starter force, any advice would be a big help.

 

Thanks

 

Disciple

[Ishagu]

The points have actually dropped significantly, and are dropping further in Chapter Approved.

 

Death Guard can bring the fight to DA and Tau with no problems :-)

The models in the starter set are a great beginning to an army but are quite limited in some ways - lack of range or high strength weapons for example.

 

The codex is full of useful units, characters and psychic powers.

[Marshal Loss]

Getting the codex will definitely help level the playing field. Especially when combined with the new chapter approved book, the points reductions are also very significant. Are you using the Index or the mini-dex? From memory, in comparison to the points costs in DI:

 

- Lords of Contagion are 39 points cheaper than they were in DI

- Blightbringers are 6 points cheaper than they were in DI

- Plague Marines are 4 points cheaper each than they were in DI

- Foetid bloat-drones are 44 points cheaper each than they were in DI

 

etc, etc, there are a fair few more. If you're using the index, the points are already a bit lower there, but the codex helps significantly.

 

To build on your army, you're going to want to focus on units that have the ability to get into range quickly. Consider Blightlord Terminators, more Foetid bloat-drones with plaguespitters, a winged Daemon Prince, etc. Plagueburst Crawlers are also insanely resilience and still provide great firepower so they wouldn't hurt. But a little more experience and some extra units added on top of Dark Imperium and you'll be able to take them on, no problem.

[Panzer]

Hey Guys, I've been out of the hobby for a few years and after my family surprised me with the Dark Imperium box I've tried a couple of  50PR games against friends with the Death Guard half of the box that haven't ended to well. I haven't picked up the codex yet but after 2 tabelings I'm on the fence.

 

The first game was againts T'au - an etheral, 2 x 10man Firewarrior Teams, 20 x Gun Drones, a Ghost Keel with Shield Drones and a Riptide

 

The Second was against Dark Angels - Beliel, Terminator Librarian, 2 x 10man Tacical Squads, 10man Devastator (4 Lascanons), Venerable Dreadnaught with TL Autocannon and TL Lascannon and a Predator with Lascannon sponsons and an Autocannon.

 

In the second game his first turn killed off my Bloat-Drone, half the Pox Walkers and 5 of my Plague Marines leaving me toothless. The only thing saving me from total embarrassment was my Lord of Contagion teleport striking in a killing Belial.

 

Would getting the codex help level the playing field? I know that some of the points came down but I feel like it would take a huge drop in points to be competitive against them. I'm also not sure how I could build on the starter force, any advice would be a big help.

 

Thanks

 

Disciple

Hm T'au Gun Drones are brutal but in a Power Rating game they actually aren't that great for their price anymore. Not sure about the Riptide in Power Rating games but in Point games it's one of the most overpriced units T'au currently have. It's extremely durable but does laughable damage for its points. The Ghostkeel and Firewarrior are decent tho.

 

May I ask what your battle plan was (target priority and such), mission played and how the board looked like (Line of Sight blocking terrain is extremely important in 8th edition. The more the better!).

 

Can't say anything about Dark Angels tho. Haven't heard much about them and haven't played against them yet in 8th. ^^

[Dark Disciple]

Thanks for your responses, it's reassuring to know that the codex costs are lower than the ones in the mini-dex that comes with Dark Imperium.

It was really disheartening to see what they could get for the same points value.

 

The first game against the T'au was an objective secure mission with 3 objectives along the middle of the table. I deployed the Pox Walkers, Lord of Contagon and Blightcaller on the right flank and the Plaguemarines, Plaguecaster and Drone on the left to threaten the ghostkeel and fire warriors. I didn't realise how brutal the drones shooting would be and lost almost all of my Pox Walkers because of a failed charge. Once I got the Lord and Pox Walkers into combat things die very quickly. The bloat drone shrugged off everything that the T'au threw at it but couldn't kill the Ghostkeel, partially due to bad rolling and partly due to me not realising I could fire both plaguespitters and my friends not pointing it out. I lost the game by pointing out to my opponent that he could advance on 2 of the objectives to secure them. If I'd had another turn I would likely have taken them back and killed his warlord but such is life.

I learned a lot about 8th in that first game and that Pox Walkers need the -1 to hit power cast on them to not die.

 

In the second game the Dark Angels Lascannon Alpha Strikes killed everything thanks to Belial's re-rolls.

 

We don;t have a whole lot of terrain between us and most of it is ruins that only give cover rather than blocking line of site. Both of them tend to set up gun lines and shoot anything in range....their movement turns are fast!

 

Would you recommend that I look into adding some Blightlords, a 2nd Bloat-Drone or a Plaguehauler to help protect my Pox Walkers?

 

Thanks again for your help.

[happyslugger]

My personal opinion is if you are taking poxwalkers then take typhus - auto S4, T4 and can be boosted to S5, T5 with the right spell (I forget the name).  I find this can make them a real pain to deal with.  I play mainly against marines (GK and Ultras) so they tend to need 5s to wound :-).  People might say they are slow, but throw in a cheap N.Blightbringer and now they can advance, roll 2 dice and pick the highest...This can make them pretty quick.

 

March them in front of the plague marines and use the cloud of flies strategy (irc) so that the enemy has to shoot the poxwalkers if they are in front of the marines.  

 

I always run two drones with a DP and that can really dish some pain out, and stops the DP from being shot at prior to making it into combat.

Edited November 30, 2017 by happyslugger

[Azekai]

If you need terrain, just use whatever is lying around the house. I have used the contents of the spice rack and a pile of discarded airsoft armor to clutter up a battlefield. It might seem silly, but it really does make for a better game than the Cold Harbor reenactment that is open battlefields in 8th ed.

I often run twinned drones. I really like plaguespitters, but my local meta also involves fighting Khornate units a lot, so being able to melt berserkers, hounds and cultists on the charge is pretty rewarding. Don't be afraid to advance your drones basically all the time, since you don't suffer -1 to hit penalties. As long as you aren't intending to assault anything, foetid drones always should be getting that +1d6 movement, which makes them unpredictably fast. 

If you want your walking dead to keep walking, consider Typhus, as happyslugger suggested. Cast miasma on them, and they get annoying to kill. That having been said, I never really manage to kill much with 'em, since many of my opponents don't play T3 armies. T4 3+ save marines are difficult for the zombies to scratch in any case, but that really isn't why zombies exist. Poxwalkers are great for gumming up objectives, tying up shooty things, and forcing the opponent to eradicate them to the last. Killing stuff is better left for special weapon-toting plague marines, drones and daemon princes.