Gellarpox Afflicted

[Doom Herald]

I understand the rogue trader set for kill team has 40k rules for the gellarpox afflicted. Has anyone picked it up and found any of the units useful for 40k? This seemed like the most appropriate place to ask since they aren't CSM and probably not exactly daemons.

[Mr Farson]

I picked up the rules today, they arent all that great tbh. The only keyword they share with other factions is chaos, because of their battlefield role they need to be put in a patrol detachment or else they wont meet any detachment requirements. Finally all the models have to be deployed within 6 of the boss hulk or they are destroyed. Stat wise the hulks are good but suffer from a 6+ save. If the unit sizes could be bulked up they would be much better.

[Doom Herald]

That's disappointing. Any enemy Ld debuff or Ld interactions? A fear army is a pet project of mine.

[Mr Farson]

I think either the brutes or hq give a -1ld to enemies within 6

[happyslugger]

I picked up the box and have played one game against my son with the new models and won (although he is 11 so we classed it as a draw).  I only picked them up as I liked the look of the models and figured I would use them in place of the awful new nurgle beasts (we play casual so there wont be an issue in me doing so).  My son then decided he wanted to try kill team and whooped me with his grey knights vs my death guard (terrible rolling on all fronts for me and smite is harsh when you only have a few models).

[N1SB]

Hi, split a box with a friend, I took the Gellerpox Infected Nurgle dudes and bugs and stuff.  Studied the stuff...noticed a thing that I hope is a typo, but to start:

 

That's disappointing. Any enemy Ld debuff or Ld interactions? A fear army is a pet project of mine.

 

I think either the brutes or hq give a -1ld to enemies within 6

 

Brother Farson is right on both counts.  The big models are basically Plague Ogryn variants including 1 HQ and an Elite unit of 3, both the HQ and Elite unit have Horrific Visage which is -1 to Ld with 6".  I'm just not sure if they stack or not.

 

+++++

 

I'll just share my impressions thus far, having looked at the rules.  My overview:

 

Gellerpox Infected are basically variants of existing units, in small numbers due to being a Kill Team.  MAY be good utility models to fill out remaining points in a list.

 

 

+++++

 

Quick breakdown of the units, and you can take ONLY ONE of each and they have max unit sizes (so really designed for Kill Team), you've got:

 

(HQ) Vulgar Thrice-Cursed - a Plague Ogryn variant with 4 Wounds, a 5+ Daemonic invuln save, 5+ "Feel No Pain", Horrific Visage, a flamer and a AP -2/Damage 2 melee weapon, and a re-roll to hit for other Gellerpox Infected units, at the points cost equivalent to a Death Guard Elite like a Plague Surgeon or Noxious Blightbringer.

 

(Elite) The Hulkbreakers - a unit of 3 Plague Ogryn variants with 4 Wounds, 5+ "Feel No Pain", Horriffic Visage, AP - 2/Damage 2 in melee, but no Daemonic invuln save nor ranged.  A little under the cost of a Chaos Spawn each, but they only move 5".  I can see these are quite tough to take down in Kill Team, but in larger games, too slow and no invuln save.

 

(Troops) Vox-Shamblers - a unit of 3 Plaguebearer variants with metal heads, with 5+ invuln save and 5+ "Feel No Pain".  A special rule of a roll of 6 on their invuln save in close combat causes the enemy a Mortal Wound.  Also carry Frag Grenades.  1 point more than a Plaguebearer.  Basically a small Plaguebearer unit.

 

(Troops) Glitchlings - a unit of 4 Nurgling-like things, except instead of a swarm, it's just four individual models with 1 wound.  Cannot infiltrate up the field, but they do cause a -1 to ranged attacks at whatever distance, like they're glitching out their enemies' targeting systems.  The whole unit of 4 cost a little less than a single Nurgling Swarm base...it really is like if you managed to divide a single base full of Nurglings into individual 1-wound models.

 

(Fast Attack) A Bunch of Insects - you got flies, worms, etc.  Each is a unit of 4 models that each cost about the same as a Grot.  The fastest of them move 10".  Some gimmicky rules like one insect type infest a slain model with maggots, that at the next of the next turn create another model of flies for that unit.

 

+++++

 

So what does the Codex offer a Nurgle army?

 

1st, I was constantly reminded that these Gellerpox Infected were meant for Kill Team.  Kill Team doesn't have Daemons YET and these are the closest equivalent.  But I can see, at that scale, things like the Plague Ogryn variants maybe be quite effective, especially with their effect on Leadership (which matters a lot in Kill Team).  On a larger battlefield, they're not as relevant.  So we look to what else the Codex offers offer...

 

And the 2nd thing interested about them is these are small units (only 3 or 4 models per unit) of very cheap models.  So you want something to sit on a home objective that you don't think anyone will ever reach.  Normally, you plant the cheapest thing you got, like 10 Chaos Cultists.  Well, now you can plant those Nurgling variants for less than half the points, and they have -1 to hit, and still an invuln save and their limited "Feel No Pain".  That's actually really useful for me.  Or you got a dozen points left over that can't be put anywhere else, so buy some insects to be an initial Wounds shield for your flying Daemon Prince.

 

In conclusion, I kept on calling these guys "variants" because they're all just basically gimmicked versions of existing units, but it's never quite different enough to be a game changer.  Like Plaguebearers with Frag Grenades and a weird save...that's nice, but since they can't scale up more than 3 guys, it won't be much more than a novelty.  Every unit is kinda like that and it's more for flavour and just cool models.  Thus, their biggest benefit is to take them as MSU for a specific purpose, like to sit on a home objective or as a screen of Wounds for character models.

 

And this leads to 1 thing I hope is a typo, or otherwise a lot of this might be totally irrelevant...

 

+++++

 

For some reason, all these units have "Nurgle" as a regular Keyword instead of as a Faction Keyword.  And I think it is a typo because "Nurgle" is only ever listed as a Faction Keyword until now.

 

With the the most recent 40k Big FAQ "Battle Brothers" rule, you basically need to share a Faction Keyword beyond just "Chaos" or "Imperium", etc.  That's how we can take Nurglings and Plaguebearers in a Death Guard Detachment from the Death Guard Codex, for example, as they have "Nurgle" as a Faction Keyword.  The Gellerpox Infected lists "Nurgle" in the wrong place, so unless this gets errata'd, it dramatically limits the utility of this codex.

 

And this is a real issue as the Codex is really for utility, it doesn't boast any awesome units, just curious ones, and their value is mainly that they should be easy TO FIT into existing Nurgle lists with their low model units at low points.  If we're forced to take a whole detachment of them, it kinda defeats their purpose (even in the Codex, it suggests that is NOT mandatory as their 1 HQ is described as a voluntary "if you take him" pick).  So I'm looking forward to that being fixed soon soon.

 

+++++

 

Just my take for right now, as I'm analysing this to supplement my Patient Zero Renegades & Heretics army.

[Doom Herald]

Well, I hope it is an error as you say and corrected soon, that NURGLE is not a faction keyword. I suspect the -1Ld abilities don't stack since they have the same name and would probably then be "identical". It would be nice to make a NURGLE dettachment with the HQ, Blightbringers, and DG Plagumarines with icons. That would fit necely in my army.

[Closet Skeleton]

I picked up the rules today, they arent all that great tbh. The only keyword they share with other factions is chaos, because of their battlefield role they need to be put in a patrol detachment or else they wont meet any detachment requirements. Finally all the models have to be deployed within 6 of the boss hulk or they are destroyed. Stat wise the hulks are good but suffer from a 6+ save. If the unit sizes could be bulked up they would be much better.

 

Sound a lot like the White Dwarf Tryst Dynasty rules for the Deathwatch: Overkill models. If these are going to get a proper release they'll fix those issues.

[Doom Herald]

I doubt they will get a propped release though.

[Kinstryfe]

I'm kind of disappointed in the rules almost entirely because the units are limited in size to what's in 1 box. If you could take proper swarms of bugs and glitchlings, I'd be all over it...