Deathmarks - How to use effectively?

[Axilleas]

I've heard Deathmarks are pretty good now, but my experience with them was sub-par. Granted, I've only got a couple games with them in a unit of 5, but they've done absolutely nothing so far.

 

In both games I was shooting what I thought were ideal targets, ork/chaos characters with low wounds & no invuln, but failed to cause any wounds in either game.

 

Terrain was definitely a factor, with -1 to hits, but still, you'd expect a few wounds to get through.

 

Do they require a unit of ten to be truly effective? Is character support a must? Or was it simply just (really) bad luck on my part?

[Tyriks]

While they did get better than their old profile with the new codex, they still just aren't that good.  They either need more shots or higher S and AP to be effective, or to come down a lot in price so you can justify bringing more of them.  As they are right now, for that 100 points you might kill something like a Platoon Commander (already not very impressive cost ratio) but you could just as easily bring more Warriors or Immortals or something and just kill the unit the Platoon Commander was there to give orders to.  

 

For example, assume five deep strike (since that's about their only strength over things like Immortals).  Against a marine character with no special armor or invuln, they average only one failed save (and more often than not, no extra mortal wounds). With a full squad of ten that's still less than 3 wounds on average.  And that's for almost 200 points.  

[Miek]

I plan on using them by 5 late in the game to deepstrike into useful spots. With the immovable phalanx dynasty and in light cover, they'll get +2 on their armor save rolls (of 3+) against 1 dam attacks, so I expect them to be quite annoying to remove. I don't expect them to kill much but who knows... They could be useful to finish a character off. Edited December 10, 2020 by Miek

[Get Thokt]

I feel the effect of Deathmarks is largely dependent on terrain. No doubt there'll be characters around the midboard so the factor is whether your opponent can protect them with obscurance, healing, or other unit abilities (similar to what Cryptothralls and Lychguard do).

 

Their versatility, being infantry and deepstrike, has me considering them as of late.

 

Running some quick maths:

10 Deathmarks put out an average of 4 wounds vs T3/T4 3+ (no invuln), or 3 wounds with 4++.

 

An average of 3 wounds vs T5 3+, 2 wounds for T5 3+ 4++.

[Ahzek451]

I've rolled enough dice and tested some scenarios to know they are not reliable character killers. Maybe give them another turn and they can get the job done. My tactical theory, however I wish to use their real strength by deep striking them in areas of the board my army is unlikely to reach. Say a back empty corner in the enemy deployment zone to capture that far flung off objective/table quarter. This is the real reason to take them. After that, with the improved range on the guns just sit still and plink away at targets. If you can kill a character, bonus. Otherwise just psyching your opponent out knowing one of his crucial aura spitting models could potentially die could either well...simply get killed or flush it into an unwanted position.  

[Axilleas]

Some good points made on utilizing their deepstrike ability. I think that will be the key to getting the most out of the unit, with character killing a bonus if managed.

[01RTB01]

I honestly preferred them with 2 shots (rapid fire) as there was twice the chance of mortal wounds. As they are, they're very poor snipers imo.

 

Afterthought. If they capped the unit at 5 man and upped the damage to 2, I'd use them. As is, seems that you need ten just to scratch something and then it's a chunky points investment for return that would be easier from elsewhere imo.

Edited December 26, 2020 by 01RTB01