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A trio of Blight Haulers


Barnie25

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They are a mixed bag for me.

 

They perform... okay, but their weapons are really a problem for me. I feel like they are a dreadnought that got confused with spare parts from a Bloat Drone making machine. It really doesn't do either role very well. It's not a dread, and it's not a drone. But it has weapons from a dread, and looks like a Drone while keeping the Daemonic aspect of a drone.

 

The cover part is okay but you need a good sized squad of PM's to take advantage of it, and that means they ALL have to be -within- 7".

 

The Haulers have bad BS, and I personally don't like babysitting them with Psychic powers. Once you lose one, it's really, really hard to get mileage out of. I just keep going back to Bloat Drones over these. They're nice for a change of pace though. You'll have the odd game where the Melta will annihilate something, but overall I think they're pretty lackluster.

 

They are a fun unit for everyday play though. Great at tying stuff up too. (-1 to hit in assault)

They are a mixed bag for me.

 

They perform... okay, but their weapons are really a problem for me. I feel like they are a dreadnought that got confused with spare parts from a Bloat Drone making machine. It really doesn't do either role very well. It's not a dread, and it's not a drone. But it has weapons from a dread, and looks like a Drone while keeping the Daemonic aspect of a drone.

 

The cover part is okay but you need a good sized squad of PM's to take advantage of it, and that means they ALL have to be -within- 7".

 

The Haulers have bad BS, and I personally don't like babysitting them with Psychic powers. Once you lose one, it's really, really hard to get mileage out of. I just keep going back to Bloat Drones over these. They're nice for a change of pace though. You'll have the odd game where the Melta will annihilate something, but overall I think they're pretty lackluster.

 

They are a fun unit for everyday play though. Great at tying stuff up too. (-1 to hit in assault)

 

 

Yeah the bad BS is something of a downer, 3 of them with prescience hit on 2's in the early game which is very good ofcourse, but them going down hill fast is definitely a downside. I do think that if you run them next to a big fire magnet of the LOW kind that when their shooting starts to diminish you can turn them into a tarpit that is either -1/-2 to hit with T7.

 

For pure competitive games they might not make the cut, but everything below they are probably a fun unit that you can utilize in a number of ways. But it is important to keep in mind that I would only use them when taking allies, either daemons or thousand sons.

There are some downsides to them as people have mentioned, but I think their are some positive things about them that make them useful.

They move 10" and suffer no hit penalties for moving and shooting. They can get into 1/2 range of their meltas quickly (usually by turn 2) for more damage potential.

They can be used for anti infantry and anti tank in the same shooting phase or go all in for anti tank. 3 multi-meltas and 3 krak missiles can take a knight down quite a bit. They don't have to destroy the knight, just reduce its effectiveness and let something else finish it off.

They count as 1 drop, which not only helps you go first, but taking out all 3 is not an easy task. A safe equivalent would be 3 hellbrutes, that's 3 drops and when counting units destroyed means extra victory points for your opponents.

They give a cover save to units out in the open. First turn your PM's have a 2+ base save, second turn you drop you Terminators next to them and your looking at a 1+ base save for them. By then their bile-spurts are in range to clear out any chaff units.

So in the right list they can be very effective.

The problem with them is that Multimeltas and missile launchers aren't very good. If this were 5th ed, Blight Haulers would be one of the best units in the game. If missiles and meltas ever get some love, they'll be a solid unit. Right now they are just okay. And the sorts of lists that they lend themselves to aren't going to do super well in the meta right now. They are good for covering lots of small squads of plague marines, but the current meta rewards skew lists either towards hordes or massed t8 and other super tough units (plague burst crawlers).

The problem with them is that Multimeltas and missile launchers aren't very good. If this were 5th ed, Blight Haulers would be one of the best units in the game. If missiles and meltas ever get some love, they'll be a solid unit. Right now they are just okay. And the sorts of lists that they lend themselves to aren't going to do super well in the meta right now. They are good for covering lots of small squads of plague marines, but the current meta rewards skew lists either towards hordes or massed t8 and other super tough units (plague burst crawlers).

 

6 S8 shots with decent AP and damage isn't too bad! Certainly something DG lacks overall!

  • 2 weeks later...

 

The problem with them is that Multimeltas and missile launchers aren't very good. If this were 5th ed, Blight Haulers would be one of the best units in the game. If missiles and meltas ever get some love, they'll be a solid unit. Right now they are just okay. And the sorts of lists that they lend themselves to aren't going to do super well in the meta right now. They are good for covering lots of small squads of plague marines, but the current meta rewards skew lists either towards hordes or massed t8 and other super tough units (plague burst crawlers).

 

6 S8 shots with decent AP and damage isn't too bad! Certainly something DG lacks overall!

 

 

It's not good once you factor in their cost vs other units (plagueburst crawlers) or allied units.

 

 

The problem with them is that Multimeltas and missile launchers aren't very good. If this were 5th ed, Blight Haulers would be one of the best units in the game. If missiles and meltas ever get some love, they'll be a solid unit. Right now they are just okay. And the sorts of lists that they lend themselves to aren't going to do super well in the meta right now. They are good for covering lots of small squads of plague marines, but the current meta rewards skew lists either towards hordes or massed t8 and other super tough units (plague burst crawlers).

 

6 S8 shots with decent AP and damage isn't too bad! Certainly something DG lacks overall!

 

 

It's not good once you factor in their cost vs other units (plagueburst crawlers) or allied units.

 

 

Bingo.

 

In a glass jar the unit is great. I love the look and feel of it. I've said before it is a bit of an odd duck in that it isn't really a 'daemon engine', and it really isn't a 'dread' either. So it's kind of stuck in this nether region like Defilers are where you're not quite sure if it's worth it, but when the stars align it kind of does good things.

 

Then you pull it out of the glass jar and you look at Bloatdrones, and PBC's and you start to wonder why these things are so expensive.

 

I would have loved them if the cloud they emit... the Fart Karts as they're nicknamed, actually encompassed them and they would therefore by -1 to hit, and so would infantry within their gassy clouds (7")

 

It can actually be really tough keeping it all together too. I've tried many games where I simply had to give up an idea because I couldn't get the whole circus to navigate properly. It's not terrible but can be awkward at times.

 

Just to me personally the Fart Kart is so close to being a really fun, utilitarian unit but it just falls a touch short. 

I think the consensus comes down to them being good, but you can get far better bang for your buck elsewhere, in an already points expensive codex.

 

I fully expect Chapter Approved will reduce them down though (and probably shunt Plaguebursts up to the point of uselessness). I absolutely love the fluff and mechanical aspect of them being mobile platforms that support the Plague Marine advance. It just fits with the imagery and tactics so well, whilst being a uniquely Death Guard vehicle rather than something dragged over from the Heresy/Space Marines. I love them in more casual games, but I can cram in so much more - like an entire Nurgle Daemon Battalion - for the same points cost as a trio.

  • 4 weeks later...

My problem with the Fart Kart is that it feels incomplete. Like, there is supposed to be a separate multipart kit planned, but we just never got it (and I doubt we ever will). 

I feel like the Drone should have been the Easy to Build kit with just Spitters option, and the Hauler should have had the multipart kit with extra weapon options. The Hauler just having every day weapons (Multimelta/Missile Launcher) seems odd... It really should have had more Nurgly Death Guard weapons. IMHO the Fleshmower would have made more sense on the Hauler than on the Drone... Fleshmower Drones feel disjointed.

  • 3 weeks later...
A big selling point for me is that they don't degrade. Compare that to the Bloat Drone where every weapon option except the heavy blight launcher is tied to a degrading strength characteristic and the Blight Hauler just feels like a more consistent choice. A points decrease and more weapon options wouldn't go amiss though.

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