We saw on Wednesday what new tricks the World Eaters have learned in their forthcoming Codex. Today, Tallyman Aiden Smalley of the Disgustingly Resilient podcast and Vanguard Tactics YouTube channel gives us his take on what’s competitive with the new Death Guard.
The Death Guard are easily one of the most thematic and unique factions in Warhammer 40,000. Waging war against such a foe is a battle of endurance and attrition. They advance slowly, shrugging off firepower that would fell lesser beings, bringing a medley of diseases to all who dare come close. The new Codex: Death Guard returns the sons of Mortarion to their rightful position as masters of debilitation.
Army rule
Let's talk Plagues. The army rule Nurgle's Gift remains from the Index, providing all Death Guard units with a growing aura that reduces the Toughness of all enemy units within Contagion Range – but that’s not all.
The Plagues previously only available to the Plague Company detachment are now an extra part of our army rule – allowing you to pick from three additional modifiers, chosen at the start of the game. There’s a penalty to Hit rolls, the chance to reduce your opponent’s Objective Control (as well as their Move and Leadership), and the ability to turn armour into rust, three effects with a huge impact on how the army plays. What’s more, any enemy unit within range of this aura will now be Afflicted, which has many in-built synergies within the Codex and your units…
This flexibility rewards players who truly seek to master this Codex. Understanding the right Plague for the right match-up can be the critical difference between victory or defeat. Power armoured armies can be intimidating – but suddenly reducing your Space Marines to the effectiveness of a T’au Fire Warrior by sheer proximity can produce results even from low AP weaponry!
There are six unique Detachments in the book, with archetypes ranging from shambling swarms of Poxwalkers through siege bombardment and armoured spearheads, to a host of Nurgle’s true daemonic children. Let’s take a glance at some of my personal favourites.
Virulent Vectorum
The Virulent Vectorum is a fantastic choice for a well-rounded force with a tool for every situation – and it’s a favourite of mine. While this Detachment does not lean into a specific style of warfare, it does bring a take-on-all-comers approach and supports a variety of lists.
The Detachment rule itself grants every unit in your army the ability to retain control of objective markers even if no unit remains in range, and the marker also gains the army rule and projects Plagues. For a slow army that wants to be advancing inexorably, this rule provides the ability to keep the pressure on the enemy, rather than having to commit units to holding objectives for the entire game
The bearer of Revolting Regeneration gains a 5+ Feel No Pain, which is a great way to increase the durability of key characters in general, but I really like it on a Daemon Prince. Rocking a newly improved Toughness 12, 2+ Save and a 4+ Invulnerable Save, this enhancement brings him to the same durability as Mortarion himself!
Lords of Contagion are already known for their damage output, and Furnace of Plagues makes them even meaner with +1 Strength and Attacks, and Devastating Wounds. Lords of Contagion also now give their squad Sustained Hits 1 and Lance – now that’s a lot of damage!
Returning from the Index, and improved, for 2 CP Disgustingly Resilient reduces all damage taken by one unit for a phase. So what's changed? It now works in the Shooting or Fight phase! Pair this with a Daemon Prince – who allows a unit within 12” to reduce the cost of a Stratagem by 1 once per battle round – and your 4 Wound Deathshroud Terminators become extremely durable at a key moment.
Creeping Blight provides full re-rolls to Hit and Wound when one unit targets an Afflicted enemy unit. This Stratagem boosts your infantry ranged output to insane levels. My favourite combo is 10 Plague Marines with a Biologus Putrifier and a Malignant Plaguecaster. The former provides Lethal Hits on every weapon and Critical Hits on a 5+, while the Plaguecaster adds Sustained Hits 1 against Afflicted units. Not much will be left after a well-targeted volley from these guys.
Shamblerot Vectorum
Do you like Poxwalkers? Have you ever wanted to drown your opponent in a sea of mindlessly groaning plague zombies? The Shamblerot Vectorum is the Detachment for you.
The Numberless Horde detachment rule allows you to add a fresh unit of 10 Poxwalkers to your army in reserves on Battle Rounds 2, 3 and 4*. In addition to this, Poxwalker units also gain the Battleline keyword! Six squads of 20 Poxwalkers in a 2,000 point army with an additional 30 throughout the game is an intimidating prospect for sure, but at least they are slow… right? Surely they can’t Infiltrate? Uh oh…
A Noxious Blightbringer with the Witherbone Pipes enhancement allows you to make a blob of Poxwalkers with additional OC to clog up any objectives they want. And with +1 Movement and re-rolls to Advance and Charge from the Blightbringer, this makes a great second wave while your opponent is still trying to cut their way out of the first waves of Infiltrating undead.
The Lord of the Walking Pox enhancement allows his unit to treat the Battle Round as the third for purposes of Reserves, which means you can have a unit of 20 Poxwalkers showing up anywhere on the board from the outset, or even Rapid Ingress if you are going second! Did your opponent just spend all their turn breaking through a line of Poxwalkers to leave their deployment zone? Treat them to a fresh unit of 20… and Nurgle help them if they left a Poxwalkers-sized hole in their backlines!
Hidden Amongst the Dead allows you to deep strike an unattached unit of Poxwalkers from reserves onto the board. This is brilliant for scoring Secondary Objectives with those free units of 10 Poxwalkers you get. Did you draw Deploy Locus? Deep Strike and score it! Don’t want 20 Poxwalkers sat on an objective unable to move up? Drop 10 more onto the objectives and allow your shambling horde to move forward without worry.
What’s more fun than forcing an enemy to commit one of their most powerful melee units to kill some worthless zombies? Making it so they’re debilitated for the rest of the battle! Use Smeared With Filth when a Poxwalker unit is destroyed in combat to Afflict the unit that destroyed them for the rest of the battle. This is already frustrating but what if we turned this inconvenience into marking that unit for destruction?
Deathshroud Terminators may now deep strike more than 6” away from an Afflicted unit… and yes they can still Charge. What was now an inconvenience has become a death sentence as a squad of Deathshroud will arrive with a very easy Charge to dispatch those who dared to strike down your mindless hordes.
This Detachment is the perfect way to trap your opponents and dominate board control, maximising your score while hampering your adversary. I love it.
Thanks Aiden! For more information on high-tier play with Mortarion’s finest, the Disgustingly Resilient Podcast is on YouTube. He’s been the top-ranked Death Guard player in the ITC rankings, and works with Vanguard Tactics to teach others how to play the army he loves the most…
* In a Strike Force game. If you’re playing Incursion games, it’s battle rounds 2 and 3, while huge Onslaught games give you a new unit in each of battle rounds 2-5!
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