Is it all about the Poxwalkers?

[Prot]

I've had another game where pretty much the Poxwalkers won it for me. This is probably the third game in a row where I've won, and I can give credit to the Poxwalkers for most of the win.

 

So I'm not trying to start anything here by asking this... legitimately I'm curious if you guys are finding the army functions with a sense of competitiveness without Poxwalkers, or with less concentration on them. What's your finding?

[Wolf Lord Loki]

Who was the game against this time?

[Archaeinox]

One of my customers who has a core of vanguard Blightlord Terminators spamming combi plasma is pretty hard to deal with. He has plague marines on foot. I think he has a predator or two. So, no poxwalkers. He does alright against lists far more competitive than mine.

Edited January 17, 2018 by Archaeinox

[happyslugger]

I've always done well with mine, usually 2x20. Stick Typhus and that's 40 T4 bodies to clear. But..I always run a noxious blight bringer in the middle so I can advance faster. With the right psychic support and VOTLW they can dish out some pain I think. Edited January 17, 2018 by happyslugger

[SkimaskMohawk]

I do a similar list to the above but one unit of 20 with 40 cultists close by for more dead walk again (also the blightbringer). Always fantastic and can really sneak up on an opponent who's trying to deal the drones and princes and the like

[Prot]

Who was the game against this time?

 

Should I tell or do a quick batrep of it?

 

One of my customers who has a core of vanguard Blightlord Terminators spamming combi plasma is pretty hard to deal with. He has plague marines on foot. I think he has a predator or two. So, no poxwalkers. He does alright against lists far more competitive than mine.

 

I LOVE the Blightlord Terminators. They feel like Terminators should to me. Plus the weapon load out is potent for an army that is inherently kind of slow as heck.

 

Personally my Plague marines do extremely little in my games.But success with no Poxwalkers is interesting to hear.

 

 

I do a similar list to the above but one unit of 20 with 40 cultists close by for more dead walk again (also the blightbringer). Always fantastic and can really sneak up on an opponent who's trying to deal the drones and princes and the like

 

 

Yea those lists seem like the core of success. Unfortunately after painting 20, and looking at the other 16 I just assembled, and the next 10 or so I have to buy.. ugh. Enough already.

 

So I kind of sidestepped into Cultists with Dead Walking strat.... and Cloud of Flies if necessary.

 

Even though it does work.... with a Blightbringer to be safe, it is a little less 'marine-ish' than I was hoping for. I find as time goes on I keep putting more effort into reinforcing that part of the list.

[SkimaskMohawk]

I mean unfortunately the only marines we have are plagues, possessed and the terminator units. Now you can do a bunch with plagues and blightlords to a lesser extent, but there's just not that many "marine" units.

[Prot]

I understand and agree. I guess what I’m saying is I want to feel like the marine element us winning* me the game, not just along for the ride.

 

The more I make my lists Poxwalker centric the more successful they become. Coincidence?

 

So far a horde of Poxwalker supported by marines ( Blightbringer, Tallyman, Typhus, Psykers, and Foul Blightspawn) are making the Poxwalker better. The Blight Haulers cover the formation, and the Plague Marines just don’t seem to do a heck of a lot.

 

Again this is just how my list is evolving.

 

With my Thousand Sons the Tzaangors are no slouch but what they really do is protect very potent Disc Sorcs until they can peel off and eat grass. The marine element of my Thousand Sons is supported by the chaff.... my Deathguard seem to operate the opposite.

[SkimaskMohawk]

Plague marines can do a lot, but it really depends how the squads are built. Pox walkers are great because they counter chaf and tie-up units, which allows the rest of the list to have breathing space

[Prot]

Plague marines can do a lot, but it really depends how the squads are built. Pox walkers are great because they counter chaf and tie-up units, which allows the rest of the list to have breathing space

So what’s your recipe for making Plague Marines more relevant/potent in your lists?

[SkimaskMohawk]

Msu. Plasma on the champ, Blight launchers for the squad. Power armoured chaos lord with arch contaminator to back them up. You can have something like 5 squads going for under 600. 5 plasma guns and 10 Blight Launchers

[Prot]

I will have to try this one day with my trio of Blight Haulers. Do you ever put any cc weapons in the PM’s? Like flails or Axes?

[Wolf Lord Loki]

Both! I wouldnt mind reading a batrep either. I dont get many games in and ot helps me learn.

 

Ive recently been given a nugle daemon starter set so im going to drop my pox walkers infavour of a separate nurgle daemon detatchment

My plan is to use a daemonic screen followed by plague marine heavy hiters (flails, plasma etc)

[DuskRaider]

I wouldn't say it's all about Poxwalkers... they're a great spam and cover unit but unless you're investing more points into them like dedicated Typhus buffing them and a Blightbringer herding them along quicker, I can't see much of a point to them. As-is they don't do much damage, their unit out of the box is quite small for a swarm option, and their stats leave much to be desired. 

 

Now buffed they're a bit better, but I still wouldn't build my list around them as many had said they would in the beginning. They can be a bitch to wipe with S/T 5 and a couple other random buffs for sure, but there's no guarantee you'll get that every turn or you'll even see the majority of them make it into combat. Against elite armies they're just okay... they can tarpit those expensive units, but at the same time they're usually not killing anything. 

 

I look at them more thematically or used as filler / meat shields / distractions. A lot of times your opponent is going to see Typhus strolling up the board with 40+ zombie buddies bubble wrapping him and make that a priority if only for the numbers alone. If they're playing massed weak infantry like IG, GSC or even Orks then they probably have a legitimate concern, but MEQ / TEQ have little to fear except for Typhus himself. At least that's my experience and when I play them they're ALWAYS a bullet magnet but if they do manage to get into CC they do little more than tarpit... which I guess is still good.

[Panzer]

Well I think a big part of your 'problem' is that 8th simply favours horde units (especially immune to psychology ones) while more elite units have a harder time to pull their weight against those. So it's basically the same issue as why shooting always feels better than melee in 40k.

[Warpmiss]

Just chiming in to say thanks for this thread and to all the responses! Everyone's input is being very helpful to me as well.

[Archaeinox]

Blight Launchers are absolutely nuts. More shots at range, so much more dangerous to Rubrics than overcharged Plasma from a plague marine squad at range.

 

If I was a DG player I would only attempt plasma plague marines if I could ensure that there were a few Chaos Lords nearby for the re-rolls

Edited January 18, 2018 by Archaeinox

[SkimaskMohawk]

I will have to try this one day with my trio of Blight Haulers. Do you ever put any cc weapons in the PM’s? Like flails or Axes?

For 5 mans? No. You're taking full advantage of their ranged special weapon options while keeping costs as low as possible so you can include more stuff

[McElMcNinja]

If I take Poxwalkers, I bring 2x20 units w/Tyhpus. If I don't run Poxwalkers I don't bring Typhus. To me that's a 415 point "unit", it's all or none. My other choice would be 2 Plaguecasters (1 w/The Pandemic Staff) and 2x20 Cultists, for 380 points. I enjoy watching my opponents get hit with Pestilential Fallout plus Smite, lots of unsavable wounds.

[bozo69pd]

I think it depends on how many pox walkers you bring vs how many PM you bring as well as what you face. DG is an army that wins through objectives and attrition not killing power (unless your opponent is a fool and lets Mortarion or other big bads in the front door). 3 msu PM squads are going to require a lot of bolter shots to put down. If the enemy is packing plasma spam or other high ap weapons though they are worthless. Go ahead, roll out who wins Dark Angel plasma spam vs a load of Plague marines, regardless of their loadouts. Then if you bring 3 full units of pox walkers they can tie up the bolters (but the bolters will still chew through them), and the plasma guns are totally wasted.

 

So you can basically risk taking PM who may do well against certain match ups, or you can just spam pox walkers who are good against everything.

[McElMcNinja]

I agree with Bozo (I think), 2 big units of Poxwalkers (w/Typhus) are going to take a lot of fire power to bring down. Now if they aren't in cc they aren't causing damage. The same fire power (or more) is required to bring down smaller units of PM's, but the PM's can dish out damage without having to be in cc. So both are good, just in different ways. Edited January 19, 2018 by McElMcNinja

[happyslugger]

I agree with the above comments.  2 x 20 plus Typhus and a Blightbringer and they can advance pretty swiftly, most people do not realise how quickly it can be sometimes.

Edited January 19, 2018 by happyslugger

[philsminions]

I'm leaning towards a ten man pox squad, buffed by Typhus (and maybe a few other characters: Necrosius, Tallyman, Epidmius), and bubble wrapped with 40 cultists.  Obviously the plan is to gum up the center with the horde and use Strategems/Buffs to make them a bit scarier.  Hoping that Cloud of Flies and Dead Walk Again will gain another twenty to thirty walkers.  My concern is this:  will a smart player just ignore those units on turns where we spend CPs on those strategems and concentrate on the more killy stuff?  I know a 40 man Cultist squad with autoguns cannot be completely ignored, but I have a feeling that may be a decent strategy to get around the blob for a few turns.

[Sheesh Mode]

You fight a lot of close combat oriented light and medium infantry hordes, Prot. Those Pox Walkers preferred targets. 

[Plaguecaster]

I'm just taking two squads of 14 in most of my lists (unless it's 2.5k in which I take more) and just have them advance each as a part of my force with a Contemptor and plague marine squad behind each poxwalkers unit they always sue horribly though they do let my dreads and marines get into combat easier especially when they bog down some squad that assaulted them to be finished off by the dread and marines