New to DG. Questions!

[Boomkapow]

Hello everyone,

 

     I am just getting in to Death Guard. I was just wondering how people run their Plague Marines. I am thinking of doing a Poxmongers list with the Ironclot Furnace DP and some Plagueburst Crawlers, but obviously in 9th, durable Ob. Sec. units are great! What loadouts do you take with them? I like having trhe options but it is a bit overwhelming to start. Thanks for the responses!

[Marshal Loss]

I'd really recommend holding off making any purchasing or loadout decisions for a few weeks. We're due to get our new codex in the next month and don't know what parts of PA will be kept (e.g. the Ironclot Furnace) and what Plague Marines are going to look like after stat and weapon changes. Currently some weapons (e.g. the Cleaver) really suck, but could be completely different in only a few weeks. Unless you're planning on magnetizing everything, it would be best to wait!

[Boomkapow]

Makes sense. I will for sure wait then. That having been said, how do people run them now? I am playing a game soon so some insight on how people run them would help. Thanks for the reply!

[Marshal Loss]

If you're looking to get the most out of them now, you're usually going to run Plague Marines one of two ways: in a large blob of at least 10 strong to maximise stratagems, or MSU to take advantage of their ability to spam special weapons (2x blight launchers/plasma guns & a plasma gun on the champion in a 5 man squad). Keeping units cheap to hold objectives can also work really well if you have other units ready to pick up the slack.

 

Plague Marines can also be one of the best melee units in the game but it's easy to spend too many points on them. Flails are amazing and massively increase their melee damage output but other melee upgrades (axes, maces, cleavers) aren't generally worth it. You also have to worry about getting into combat because we're very slow. Rhinos help here. If you spend lots on fancy melee weapons, be sure to have enough 2x plague knife toting meat shields to soak up your opponent's ire.

 

Long story short it's an insanely flexible unit. A lot will depend on what other choices you have in your army (e.g. do you want your Plague Marines to be a big threat in their own right, an efficient special weapons platform, or an object holder/troops choice filler? Etc, etc) and what Plague Company you choose to take. If you're playing prior to our new book it'd be worth looking through - but not purchasing - War of the Spider to check out the stratagems in there to see if there's anything that takes your fancy re: Plagues. Other sites like the competitive community on Reddit have some useful advice that might pique your interest.

[Special Officer Doofy]

I second everything Marshal Loss said. I would personally wait for the codex if I were you. I also love the 4++ Daemon engine save relic and my list uses that, some Daemon engines (duh) and some plague marines.

 

I typically use 5 man squads with two blight launchers. I personally avoid plasma, with plague marines going to 2W they will be pretty expensive point wise, and the last thing you want to do is overcharge and roll a 1 and toss a 20pts+ 2W T5 3+ 5+++ model.

 

Their flexibility is great, but don't invest too many points in them. Do the best upgrades first on a melee squad, 2 flails > powerfist on champ > all other upgrades.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Putrid Choir

[Boomkapow]

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone! Really helpful for beginners like me!

[Ishagu]

I imagine the Plague Marines and Bightlord Terminators will be massive winners. It's pretty much a given, with their jump to 2 and 3 wounds respectively. T5 infantry with 3 wounds and a 2+ save and an invul will be durable against basically everything in the game.

[aberrant_unc]

With the reference to the lord of virulence boosting daemon engines, you can bet some of the other daemon engine boosts like the ironclot furnace is likely to change

[Iron Sage]

Makes sense. I will for sure wait then. That having been said, how do people run them now? I am playing a game soon so some insight on how people run them would help. Thanks for the replyWhat

What you can safely build, are bolter marines (and use those cool grenadier poses). But like Marshall Loss says, wait with the rest. But in your army, you want to have options to have some bolter plague marines and we can be pretty definitely sure that there will be synergy with stratagems. But wait to see the cost of special weapons and various melee weapons before building anything more.

So you can certainly start collecting and have a good time building and painting some Death Guard models, but maybe build and paint only standard load-out marines, save some marines for when the codex comes out, and paint some characters. Our characters are all useful and are most probably going to continue to be useful in various builds, so a safe bet I would think.

 

As for what people run them with now, for me it varies as to the list, but I have both bolter squads and one melee specialist squad. Size varies a bit. As for hybrid, I don't think it is very good or works, but maybe it works for someone.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Iron Sage

[Boomkapow]

Thanks Aberrant_unc and Iron Sage and Aisha hi. Yea the bolter marines seem like an easy in. I’m excited to see what happens with the rest. Only model I have so far is one plague burst crawler. Excited to see what happens next! Iron sage, do you not run flails in your booster squads? They seem so good and I’ve heard of people using squads with and without. Edited November 26, 2020 by Boomkapow

[Iron Sage]

Thanks Aberrant_unc and Iron Sage and Aisha hi. Yea the bolter marines seem like an easy in. I’m excited to see what happens with the rest. Only model I have so far is one plague burst crawler. Excited to see what happens next! Iron sage, do you not run flails in your booster squads? They seem so good and I’ve heard of people using squads with and without.

I guess flail is the only thing really to consider (of melee hybrid options that is,alongside the power fist on a champion) on bolter squads. I usually do not take flails on bolter squads, but it is arguably a decent option if you plan to move the unit to the mid of the table where it may be involved in a fight later on.

But generally, bolter squads are probably best run with only bolters (previous de had bolter synergy with strats) and previously blight launchers used to the the best spez weapon, though some used plasma.

A flail costs a lot, makes an individual model far better in a fight, but he loses a bolter and ends up costing more than half an extra marine. With less melee strength (far, far less) overall in a shooty squad compared to one kitted for pure Close Combat, the individual model with the flail is unlikely to do that much on his own. I don't think it is cost effective in probably 90% of scenarios or more.

So nah, flail is probably not a good choice for small or medium sized marine bolter squad (although you should generally always take a pair of spez weapons that synergises with your intended battlefield role for the unit (but maybe wait with that until the codex arrrives) . On a large 20 man it may be different but I don't run 20 man squads currently.

[McElMcNinja]

I believe a flail in each unit is a good thing. A Bolter (without buffs/strats) is S4/0AP/1D and maybe 2 shots. While a flail is useless in the shooting phase, he may get off a grenade once in a while. With the current missions, people are moving more, which helps PMs get into combat. A single flail can do a lot of damage, especially against imperium units. Most players recognize this and to me that’s an advantage.

Now that most marines are 2W, that will reduce some of its effectiveness, but still better then a bolter.

[Iron Sage]

Fair points. I guess they can be good on bolter squads as well. I just rarely have the points and almost always tend to run a melee specialist squad in any case. I guess I have made having my melee squad hit very hard be a priority.

Edited November 26, 2020 by Iron Sage

[McElMcNinja]

What I usually start with is a 10 man, 2 flails and bolters on the rest. Then if I have points to spare I add blight launchers first and plasma to the champion.

I have played all melee units, but usually by the time I’m done rolling 2 flails, there isn’t much left. Again this wasn’t against 2W marines so that might change. I’ve also noticed with our Strat, smart people stay 12+” away, so some shooting is better then none.

Now if we end up getting something that helps us make charges, I may break out the melee unit again. It does suck I finally got my drill and we no longer can use it. I have also thought about starting a CoB army and put him in the drill with my melee marines. Going to wait for the dex first.