Kill Team Tactica: Death Guard

[Ronin_Cerastus]

The specialisms definitely take on a grander effect during campaign progression.

 

I’m trying out a new list this Sunday (hopefully), building off the success of my last one, well particularly the success of the flail. I’m gonna experiment with a predominately melee list and as that was a question with regard on how to build a DG KT, I’ll let folks know how it goes.

 

 

++ Kill Team List (Death Guard) [99pts] ++

 

+ Configuration +

 

List Configuration: Matched Play: Kill Team

 

+ Leader +

 

Plague Champion [16pts]: Leader, Plaguesword, Plasma pistol

 

+ Specialists +

 

Plague Marine Fighter [19pts]: Flail of Corruption, Zealot

 

Plague Marine Fighter [19pts]: Combat, Flail of Corruption

 

Plague Marine Gunner [18pts]: Blight launcher, Heavy

 

+ Non-specialists +

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

Poxwalker [3pts]

 

++ Total: [99pts] ++

 

Basically everyone will have at least a two poxwalker meat shield and one lucky contestant will have 3. My opponent will have to take out 7 models before forcing a break test.

[Ronin_Cerastus]

As an aside, is there a separate thread for posting pictures of DG kill teams?

 

I know this game variant has inspired me to create/paint all new models, instead of using my existing death Guard and I’d love to see what others have done or are working on.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I've been thinking of jumping in my with DG, using no poxwalkers to keep the numbers low and this is what I'm looking at for a list right now:

 

Plague Champ: plague sword, plasma pistol

Plague Gunner: blight launcher

Plague Gunner: plague spewer

Plague Fighter: Flail of Corruption 

Plague Marine

Plague Marine

 

And it comes to 100 pts exactly. 

[Ronin_Cerastus]

I’d be curious how the list fares and who it goes up against. There’s no question about DG’s inherent resilience, but morale could be an issue fast.

 

I am only one of two DG kill team players in my group, and the other fields mostly shooty units with poxwalker screens, so I’ve yet to see a list of strictly Marines.

[Orpheus108]

The specialisms definitely take on a grander effect during campaign progression.

I’m trying out a new list this Sunday (hopefully), building off the success of my last one, well particularly the success of the flail. I’m gonna experiment with a predominately melee list and as that was a question with regard on how to build a DG KT, I’ll let folks know how it goes.

++ Kill Team List (Death Guard) [99pts] ++

+ Configuration +

List Configuration: Matched Play: Kill Team

+ Leader +

Plague Champion [16pts]: Leader, Plaguesword, Plasma pistol

+ Specialists +

Plague Marine Fighter [19pts]: Flail of Corruption, Zealot

Plague Marine Fighter [19pts]: Combat, Flail of Corruption

Plague Marine Gunner [18pts]: Blight launcher, Heavy

+ Non-specialists +

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

Poxwalker [3pts]

++ Total: [99pts] ++

Basically everyone will have at least a two poxwalker meat shield and one lucky contestant will have 3. My opponent will have to take out 7 models before forcing a break test.

Ronin_Cerastus, I'd like to hear how you go with so many poxwalkers due to the chance of breaking losing over half of the unit

[DuskRaider]

I can say that the first game I played both my opponent and I miscalculated our totals. I took 7 Poxwalkers against Tau and it did actually hurt me, both by morale and through the scenario itself. Also remember, they're only Toughness 3 in Kill Team.

[Orpheus108]

I can see the benefit to having a good group of meat shields and on top off that having disgustingly resiliant, is great but i wouldnt rely on that, it's just to easy to get taken down quickly with some good dice rolling and concentrated fire and then your breaking pretty quick.

 

But let's us know how the list goes, I'd love to hear having 9 pox walkers goes

[Ronin_Cerastus]

I definitely will let you know how it goes; I’m curious myself. I’ve seen the flip side (low model count) go horribly wrong very quickly as well.

 

Aside from T3, the worst part of poxwalkers in KT is their loss of “mindless”. Which I get from a balance perspective, but Ld 4?! Gimme a break, at least Ld 6 I think would have been a fair down grade.

[Panzer]

Actually I think mass Poxwalker or only Marines teams look quite good. Better than a team with only few Poxwalker at least.

 

For example look at the following scenarios:

 

Mixed team

1 Plague Champion, 3 Plague Marine specialists, 1 Plague Marine non-specialists, 4 Poxwalker non-specialists = 9 models.

Kill/injure the 4 Poxwalker and any of the Plague Marines and the Death Guard player has to do Break tests. Also since the 4 Poxwalker are rather easy to kill the penalties for dead models for Nerve tests stack up quite quickly.

 

Mass Poxwalker

1 Plague Champion, 3 Plague Marine specialists, 9 Poxwalker = 13 models

Here the Plague Marine is replaced with 3 Poxwalker that need to get killed/injured before the Death Guard player has to do Break tests. However the penalties for dead models would stack up even easier.

 

only Marines

1 Plague Champion, 3 Plague Marine specialists, 2 Plague Marine non-specialists = 6 models

To force break tests one would have to kill/injure 4 Plague Marines and the penalties for dead models for Nerve tests would stay quite low. The downside is that each kill/injury would reduce your teams strength significantly ... unlike with the above lists where the opponent might focus on Poxwalker to force tests leaving your Plague Marines intact for longer.

 

 

So to me it looks like you either take lots of Poxwalker or better none at all.

[Orpheus108]

Awesome, looking forward to reading it

[Tokugawa]

@sfPanzer yes, 9 model team has a moral problem,enemy only need kill 1 PM to force a break test. If simply remove 1 poxwalker, the team is a 8 model team, enemy need kill 2 PMs for test.

 

It is weird.

[Mr. Funktastic]

I've been thinking of jumping in my with DG, using no poxwalkers to keep the numbers low and this is what I'm looking at for a list right now:

 

Plague Champ: plague sword, plasma pistol

Plague Gunner: blight launcher

Plague Gunner: plague spewer

Plague Fighter: Flail of Corruption 

Plague Marine

Plague Marine

 

And it comes to 100 pts exactly. 

 

I was thinking about dipping into DG after finishing my Ad Mech KT and this is pretty much exactly the list I came up with, BL being a Heavy, Plague Spewer is a Demo, and Flail is either Combat or Zealot. A little disappointed I couldn't squeeze in a Plasma Gun on the Plague Champion but the Plasma Pistol should suffice.

 

On the subject of Poxwalkers, imo it doesn't make much sense for an elite DG kill team to have Poxwalker nobodies in the squad, I'd want keep it strictly marines personally  Plus if you want to use Poxwalkers to screen your melee guys with Cloud of Flies, I don't see it being effective since they're slower than the marines and they're easy to kill.

 

In any case, let us know how this list goes, would love to hear a battle report.

Edited August 12, 2018 by Mr. Funktastic

[Orpheus108]

@Brother Chaplain Kate

 

That's very close to my list, my champion has plasma pistol And power that instead, I dropped one PM and added a few pox walkers.

 

But I want to play pure DG, no pox walkers

[mel_danes]

Straight Plague Marines will be expensive, like Death Watch and Gray Knights.

So 5 to 6 models.

I like the idea of tough as nails elite Death Guard infiltrating and sowing disease.

My fear is with a low model count, board control well be nearly impossible.

How have you guys done so far?

[Prot]

My DG have cleaned up so far. I’ve done some reporting on it. I think the angle I recommend most is not over doing the Poxwalkers. I think the thing is to learn how to use them for obstruction, while rushing combat Flail dudes, whom are absolutely brutal in CC.

 

I actually think the DG are one of the easier to play, multifunctional, survivable factions at this early stage so far.

 

At my store there has been a strong shift to the little DG box sets. It’s so easy and economical to make a cheap, functional DG Kill Team.

[mel_danes]

That 3 man "easy to build" kit is a bang out winner. Everything you need is in that box.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

As an aside, is there a separate thread for posting pictures of DG kill teams?

 

I know this game variant has inspired me to create/paint all new models, instead of using my existing death Guard and I’d love to see what others have done or are working on.

 

There is this thread: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/345280-kill-team-returns-show-me-what-you-got/ - its for all types of kill teams.

 

It may also be appropriate to put photos of a given faction in their factions thread (so, death guard in this thread) - but you would need to talk to a mod to know for sure.

[Ronin_Cerastus]

Sorry for the delay, I didn’t get my games in over last weekend as planned because something came up(the joys of home ownership).

 

Last night however I was able to try out the big list with 9 poxwalkers, but under kinda weird conditions. I was supposed to teach a friend how to play KT and then another friend showed up so we ended up playing a 3-for-all. Not sure if anyone else has tried this yet (this was my second 3 person game) but KT is ideal for 2 or enjoyable with 4. But 3, lets just is not the magic number when it comes to KT.

 

We played the Terror Tactics mission, my DG versus Tau and Khorne CSM. At the start I gave my zealot flail the tactic adding +1 to hit and wound, also in the scouting phase I chose forward positions. Because of this my zealot & 2 poxwalkers were able to charge turn 1. Killing the stealth suit leader and a pathfinder and tying the rest of his markerlights (3) and a gun drone.

 

The CSM player went to work on the opposite flank killing two other Tau. The Tau were obliterated by turn 2. Turn 3 the CSM were broken. My poxwalkers unstatistically weathered a storm of firepower from both forces. My DR rolls went from disgusting to frustrating my opponents. In the end I only lost 3 poxwalkers and two others were flesh wounded.

 

I believe the outcome would’ve been quite different 1v1 against Tau. CSM 1v1 might’ve been the same or close to it, as the bulk force was mainly cultists. I may run this list at least once or twice more just for fun just to see what happens in a more typical setting; however with GW’s upcoming KT campaign, I’m likely gonna field a cheap PM champ, along with double flails and double blight launchers, with 4 poxwalkers. All in All DG has proved to be quite formidable and I’ve been happy with my builds.

 

Also, Dr_Ruminahui, thx for link!

[Orpheus108]

@Ronin_Cerastus, cool report. I haven't done a 3 or player game yet. But I agree with you that a 3 player game would end up being very 1 sided because one poor guy always gets picked on. And once they are taken out one of the other sides is pretty much done for.

 

Was the game on a double board or just single?

[Ronin_Cerastus]

The store was a bit crowded so we only had room for a single board, but it was densely populated with terrain.

 

One of the things I was thinking of to help balance 3 or 4 player games was a modified night fighting/search light mechanic. I’ve only used this once before in a 3 player Shadow War Armageddon game, so it’s not really been playtested, but the idea is that each model rolls a scatter dice at the start of the movement phase to determine who they move toward/engage. If you’re within 12” of an enemy then you no longer roll as they become the clear & present threat.

[Prot]

 Kill team nearly finished:

 

Sorry bad pic. Low light, but I'll try to take more once these  are done.

 

Had a few more games if anyone is interested...

 

http://prot40k.blog/2018/08/18/kill-team-update-death-guard-and-ultra/

Edited August 18, 2018 by Prot

[Orpheus108]

Awesome looking KT @Prof, I like the brighter green on the marines, a nice change and the dark purple make the pop even more. Nice job

[Prot]

Thank you. This is my second go around with DG and that was the different look I was going for. It’s always amazing to me how much detail is on these figs.

[Orpheus108]

@Prot, the models do have amazing details, it always amazes me when finishing a model and taking a closer look to see if you have missed anything to find some detail you missed and seeing the detail in that little peice

[mel_danes]

@Prot great report as always.

Your DG team inspires me to get building my own. I have avoided poxwalkers, sold all the ones that came with Dark Imperium. Now with Kill Team I think a box of easy to build may need to come home.