No interest in the Gellerpox?

[Wolf Lord Loki]

Hi everyone.

 

Been keeping an eye stalk out for tips on including the Gellerpox Infected in death guard list and I'm vague surprised no one seems interested

 

Obviously the unit sizes are restrictive but surely there must be some use.

 

Myself I've considers a Keyword NURGLE Out riders detachment with a selection of fast attack from Daemon, death guard and gellerpox (the eyestingers and parasites being an irritating distraction from the drones and rot flies)

[happyslugger]

I purchased the Kill Team set but I am yet to paint or play with them in a 40k game.

 

I would also be interested to see if others have used them and how.

[N1SB]

Hi Fraters,

 

This is just my honest take, having split the box with a friend, studied the mini-Codex, and am awaiting a FAQ to clarify an issue: whether or not Nurgle is a Faction Keyword.  This is not to shoot down anyone else's ideas, just my thoughts then and now.

 

Basically, and it sounds like you already noticed this in your copy, Nurgle is a Keyword, but not a Faction Keyword.  So playing Rules As Written, we'd have to have a separate Detachment drawing just from this Codex.  That's a limitation because the only really interesting things are the Glitchlings, basically 1 Wounded Nurglings that are ideal to sit on home objectives and the Flying insect units like Brother Loki mentioned (I absolutely agree with you there).  Being forced to pay an HQ tax, which is basically for the Plague Ogryn variant that's the only HQ available for this faction, for these low-cost units is a bitter pill (and in our case, the new beta Detachment limits too).

 

In short, would love to draw from some of the cheap units here as utility units, when/if the Faction Keyword issue is clarified.  Instead, I'll probably use the models for Kill Team.

 

The long version is here:

 

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.

[Charlo]

No doubt they'll be expanded to a fuller faction in due course, until then as N1SB so excellently put they're quite gimmicky.

 

However, they seem useful at the objective game, being very easy to hide and score points on the down low. The Ogryns really needed a 5++ to be useful.

[BlackTriton]

They can only be taken in a special detachment of themselves, they may not be mixed with other faction.

They are not meant to be 40k models.

They are not meant to be a 40k faction.

They have rules because everything must have rule in 40K, same with the rogue trader half.

The smaller specialist game are meant to be a gateway into the larger game. To ease the process it make sense that every model has rule in the larger game.

But to avoid disrupting the balance of the game, these rules are restrictive and not very good.

Thus, there is not much intetest for these models outside of kill team and conversions.

[Panzer]

They have rules because everything must have rule in 40K, same with the rogue trader half.

The smaller specialist game are meant to be a gateway into the larger game. To ease the process it make sense that every model has rule in the larger game.

 

 

Oh really? Where are the 40k rules for the Necromunda models then? 

[BlackTriton]

Cultist and guardsmen

[Panzer]

Cultist and guardsmen

 

So why did get the Gellerpox new 40k rules instead of just letting people use them as Plaguebearer, Nurglings and Plague Ogryns? You see, it's not as simple as that. ;)

[BlackTriton]

There is a few school of though that I could find:

either Necromunda did not get rules in 40K because the forces they use are normal human with no interesting or distinctive feature to represent on a 40K battlefield,

or (more likely) Necromunda is simply a remake of an old game and not a part of larger 40K, similar to how bloodbowl is not a part of WH fantasy.

 

Kill team is played with "normal" 40K model, so kill team model "must" translate to 40k. similar to how Shadespire (WH underworld?) gave its warbands rules for age of sigmar. 

Still, I will concede the point, not all model they make fit in the larger game. 

 

I heavily doubt we will ever see a return to those mini faction, they are done and over with. 

[Brother Tyler]

We're off topic.

 

The topic is about using the Gellerpox Infected in a Death Guard army.