Plagueburst Crawlers: which load outs do you take

[firestorm40k]

Hello, I'm considering which army I'll build first for 9th (probably not till next year), and Death Guard is one of the options. (In a nutshell, after picking up the minis from a combination of Dark Imperium, Know No Fear and Conquest, it's one of 3 armies I could build.)

 

I can do a 2000 point force if I pick up a couple of Plagueburst Crawlers, but I was just wondering how more experienced DG players equip theirs? Would you recommend doing one of each load out (e.g. Entropy Cannon + Heavy Slugger, the other Plaguespitters + Rothail Volley Gun) - or both the same?

 

Do players tend to prefer one option over the other? I know that Entropy Cannons have better range, but Plaguespitters can potentially take out more infantry at close range. However, I see these tanks as playing a longer ranged role, due to their Mortars (i.e. sit back in cover and pound enemies closing on midtable/my deployment).

 

Thanks in advance for any advice and feedback! :)

Edited August 7, 2020 by firestorm40k

[Karhedron]

Speaking from the other side of the table, I fear Entropy Cannons more. They pose a serious threat to vehicles at significant range. Death Guard have plenty of messy anti-infantry weapons in their arsenal.

 

Having said that, Reserves look like they will be more effective in 9th edition meanig infantry squads may be more likely to pop on from a board edge near the PBCs. You can use something cheap like Zombies to screen out Reserves or you could go for Plague Spitters to protect them from uninvited guests.

 

Having said that, Plaugue Spitters cost more than Entropy Cannons so I think I would rather go with cannons for some proper anti-tank and invest in a screening squad of zombies to keep Reserves away for a turn.

[Special Officer Doofy]

It's a matter of opinion. I personally take spitters, Daemon engines 4+ BS just sucks for 2 entropy cannon shots. Plus you can kit out a defiler for 135pts with the reaper auto cannon and havoc launcher, more shots and cheaper by a decent amount.

 

My brother's strategy with his admech and necrons was to always ignore my PBC's when I had entropy cannons cause they always miss and T8 3+/5++/5+++ 14w is alot to chew through, and their output was pretty bad. But when I put spitters on them and put them out front near an arch contaminator warlord, he had to address them properly instead of ignoring them.

 

That was all pre PA. Either load out is good as long as you use them properly.

[Plague _Lord]

Haven't played 9th yet but in 8th I used 2 with spitters. I played them aggressively and tgey did work but mainly as unkillable firemagnets. Now that tgey can fire into combat they are much better. I plan to thrust them into my opponents deployment zone and let tge flamers reap havoc. The mortars never really did much damage in my tournament games but the do pose a threat psycholigically - no los shooting will put them on top of your opponent kill list.

 

I don't rate the entropy cannons much as I have AT in the form of lascannons.

[Karhedron]

The fact that vehicles can now move and shoot without penalty does make it more tempting to get them in the enemy's face.

[Plague _Lord]

The fact that vehicles can now move and shoot without penalty does make it more tempting to get them in the enemy's face.

Yeah and PBC get a big boost thanks to having 2 really strong flamers they can now shoot into combat. In 8th if my pbc got tagged by a guard squad and my other squads were in combat it was over. I actually had this situation in a tournament when the imperial guard player threw his guardsmen at my tanks after killing my screens and rendered them pretty much useless - now there is no chance a 10man guard/gretchin squad is surviving a round of overwatch and a round of shooting into combat.

 

Another boon is blast on the pbc mortar. 10man incursor squad? Here's 6 shots from my mortar ;)

[firestorm40k]

Thanks for your replies, plenty to think about there! I certainly would intend to use a PBC with spitters to get up close as possible to the enemy, it's great that the assault changes now mean my opponent would have to worry about me charging their unit, and not the other way round!

 

I had overlooked the daemon balistic skill issue with regards to the entropy cannon, however now they can move and shoot without penalty helps. I also think there's something psychological about being presented with two of these tanks, one a threat to infantry, the other to armour. Someone might think they can ignore the entropy cannons, but imagine how disheartening it'd be as a Primaris player, taking MSU to avoid blast weapons, and suddenly you've lost an entire squad in one turn, thanks to fortunate damage rolls. It might be useful for causing opponents to manoeuvre their force in certain ways, to avoid it.

 

Any thoughts on Heavy slugger (looks like heavy bolters + to me) or Rothail Volley Guns?

[Special Officer Doofy]

Any thoughts on Heavy slugger (looks like heavy bolters + to me) or Rothail Volley Guns?

In the past I was always a heavy slugger guy, more range, more shots, and in 8th was half the points. The slugger is free now and the rothail is only 5 pts. Maybe do slugger if you do cannons because of the range and sitting in the back and do rothail on the spitters because they will be closer and more aggressive.