Proposed Army List- Is it any good

[MoarBarmu]

I am trying to get back in the game in the United States, where the game is not what it once was- and I want to create a Loyalist chapter using Death Guard rules. The fluff is the fun part and I have that all set if you want to hear it. As a result, I have made fluff-based decisions that are relevant to game-play. First of all, the only "demonic" stuff allowed in my army are Devoted Squads (Possessed), Pazuzu-class Dreadnoughts (Defilers) and Skunkbattle tanks (Plagueburst Crawlers). I cannot have any other Daemon Engines or Daemon Princes, no Summoned Demons, and no Poxwalkers. Also, the Chapter always uses Third Company (Mortrarion's Anvil) rules. With these limitations, I hope to one day play in a local campaign on the Imperial side. As it is extremely expensive to buy the list I am proposing, I wanted to workshop it or even play-test it online before I buy it. The list is a 2000-point list.

Stone Serpents Chapter, Third Company (Loyalist Death Guard, Third Company Rules)- 2000 points

HQ- 250 points

Company Captain- Stone Lord-Captain Moar Agban Barmu (Lord of Contagion)- 125 points with Orb of Desiccation

Company Librarian- Epistolary Hepuri Uni Barmu (Death Guard Sorceror in Terminator Armor)- 125 points with combi-melta and power fist

Troops- 1260 points

Fire Support Squad Shutruk (Plague Marine Squad)- 210 points- Sergeant Shutruk al-Anshani (Plague Champion) with Daemonic plague blade, power fist, and plasma gun, 9 Plague Marines with 2 plasma guns, Sigil of Decay, 2 blight launchers and 5 bolters and plague knives

Fire Support Squad Upelluri- 210 points- same as above

General Support Squad Ullikummi- 210 points- same as above, but with all 9 Plague Marines having bolters.

Close Support Squad Ishara- 210 points- same as above, but there are 4 bolters, 2 plague belchers, 2 plague spewers, and a blight launcher

Close Assault Squad Kar-Duniash- 210 points- same as above, but with 2 bubotic axes, 2 maces of contagion and bubotic axes, and 1 great plague cleaver instead of the blight launcher, the Sigil of Decay, and the bolters

Foot Assault Squad Gilgamesh- 210 points- same as above but instead of the ranged weapons on the Plague Marines,, there is asecond trooper with a great plague cleaver, two troopers with a flail of corruption, and one trooper has two plague knives

Elites-

Terminator Squad Burna-Buriash- 420 points- 10 Terminators, including the Champion with 2 combi-plasmas and 2 reaper autocannons

Tallyman- 70 points

Total- 2000 points

[Special Officer Doofy]

First of all, welcome back to the hobby. 

 

The only thing I can think of that might throw a wrench in your plans is 10th edition is rumored to drop in about 4 months. I doubt plague marines are going to keep free wargear, that was just a balance issue created by the codex creep of 9th edition, I don't think that will roll over into 10th edition. So by the time you buy and paint the army, 10th will probably be here and I'm sure the point costs on everything will be different.

 

I see you didn't include any vehicles, but plagueburst crawlers are one of the best vehicles in the game. If you do decide to include any, they are generally worth the points. Defilers suck in Death Guard. They do not get disgustingly resilient and scream shoot me with your 2D+ weapons and get shot off the board easy. Another stupid thing is Defilers do not get any sort of legion trait with Death Guard either, but they DO get a legion trait if taken with regular chaos marines (hopefully something that gets addressed in 10th edition).

 

Lastly, I'm curious when you say: "I am trying to get back in the game in the United States, where the game is not what it once was". What did you mean by that?

 

[MoarBarmu]

The game is not as strong as it was in the US, in fact the hobby of tabletopgaming is much weaker than in Britain and while it has always been weaker than in Britain, the gap has grown. Finding gaming stores in New Jersey  is not easy. In a place with 9 million people, there might be 3-5 stores where people play the game. It is definitely  in decline. The expense is a major reason. I find the expense a major issue, but so is the painting. I would probably try to buy a poorly-painted army on EBay for cheap. 70 marines is expensive. I can use crawlers, but it is harder to fit in my fluff than Defilers are. Plus, I love the look of Defilers. They look like Mesopotamian-themed Dreadnoughts, which is what I want them to look like. I frankly really want to workshop the  army online, but Tabletop Simulator is 20 dollars and I have read that it is disfavored to use it. Part of me thinks that I need to find a group in New Jersey to play with before I do anything. The thing that I am curious about is whether lots  of Plague Marines will be as powerful as I think.

[Special Officer Doofy]

I hate to argue with you, but GW's US sales number would prove otherwise. The hobby is larger now in the US than ever. Of course it is larger in Britain, it's a British company and GW doesn't rip them off with terrible exchange rates / VAT tax like they do everywhere else in the world. I live in a town of only about 12,000 people and covid closed our only hobby shop, but I have well over 10 FLG stores within 30 miles. Two GW shops in the 30-40 mile range. That might be a regional issue.

 

You are one of the few people I have heard that like the looks of defilers. Their large size creates issues with terrain and being screened easily. At any rate plague marines are pretty strong right now, but they sucked all of 8th and the first half of 9th. Like I said 10th could throw a wrench in everything. I don't want to give you advice to just have it all become invalid in a few months.

 

I think finding a place and people to playtest with is a wise decision. I have 0 experience with tabletop simulator, so I can't help you there.

[MoarBarmu]

What are FLG stores? Our region does not have as many specialty stores I think and our region has less connections to Britain than many states. New Jersey just not seem to have many tabletop enthusiasts. Also, the tabletop culture used to be better  here. The Midwest probably has a different pattern, but I have no idea if you are in the Midwest. In the Us, we do not have a name for the hobby. Looking up tabletop games  or tabletop wargaming and Warhammer 40k does not automatically come up on US sites. It  is not a strong part of our culture. The expense is a huge deal. Plus, the secondary companies are having trouble. I think that the hobby is too connected to Britain. If a truly American game came out, that would be interesting,

[Special Officer Doofy]

12 minutes ago, MoarBarmu said:

What are FLG stores? Our region does not have as many specialty stores I think and our region has less connections to Britain than many states. New Jersey just not seem to have many tabletop enthusiasts. Also, the tabletop culture used to be better  here. The Midwest probably has a different pattern, but I have no idea if you are in the Midwest. In the Us, we do not have a name for the hobby. Looking up tabletop games  or tabletop wargaming and Warhammer 40k does not automatically come up on US sites. It  is not a strong part of our culture. The expense is a huge deal. Plus, the secondary companies are having trouble. I think that the hobby is too connected to Britain. If a truly American game came out, that would be interesting,

 

FLG store is a "friendly local gaming" store. A hobby shop that's not gamesworkshop (so they would sell magic cards, D&D and stuff as well most likely). I'm in Michigan, which is technically the Midwest (not if you look at a map though haha). I mean the US is just larger and more diverse then Britain so it will be all over the place. The US invented D&D, which was the largest table top game for the longest time and inspired so many more. I believe that's what gamesworkshop started as, 3 British dudes in an apartment importing D&D and selling it locally because there was not alot of distributors in Europe for it. Then they started making models for other games (like D&D) and from there made their own games and models. 

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/store/storefinder.jsp

 

I typed in new jersey and within 25 miles and 12 stores came up, 11 hobby shops and one GW store. You can filter it by gamesworkshop stores or just random hobby shops. I recommend finding a couple close to you and checking to see if they have a website or possibly a Facebook or something (I don't have social media so I can't help you there either). Now some of those can be like a really old hobby shop that sells model trains and planes, they technically sell Warhammer but might not have gaming tables or a community attached to it. Worth a check though, 1/12 will hopefully work for you.