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hey guys/gals,

ive been looking at my next army, and im leaning heavily towards death guard. i like their resilience and their back ground, i want to be fluffy and competitive.

im looking on some ideas for tactics and successful builds. thanks in advance

Are you looking for pre or post-heresy Death Guard?

post i want the rotting putrid vomiting variety

You should be able to find some usefull info here...
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?s=236ee2f5de2023ac7f9d5b8d6cf56d41&showforum=101

If you are looking for a general strat I am very defensive with mine they are great resiliant fighters that can preform any task and depending how you equip them can out shoot or out close quarters most armys. Use Oblits and rhinos heavily and your good

i know the codex killed alot of the fluffy of most cult armies but are oblits fluffy for death guard?

Idk exsactly bout deathguard never saw anything for or against it but last edition nurgle was the only one who had them so go figure. As far as oblits go usually nurgle is associated with them i just dont know bout death guard in particular.

im thinking LR and rhino spam is the best route to take

1. Have your deathguard find a foxhole near an objective.

2. Have them sit there for 5-7 turns

3. ????

4. Profit!

Deathguard are well known for having a single unit of zerkers as allies, as well as following 2 Slaaneshi demon princes into battle at all times. They also have close ties to the iron warriors, apparently when the legion disbanded the oblits all joined the death guard.

Eidolon wrote:Deathguard are well known for having a single unit of zerkers as allies, as well as following 2 Slaaneshi demon princes into battle at all times. They also have close ties to the iron warriors, apparently when the legion disbanded the oblits all joined the death guard.

It would seem so

I'd go for nurgle DP's, lord or sorc for a HQ. Sorcerers and lords are pretty happy chaps with a plague marine bodyguard (champ with a fist for scary MC's ), and a nurgle DP can be a good fire magnet/stomp-you-if-you-don't HQ choice. I'd still stick with warptime over Rot, but Nurgles rot is pretty fun against horde/low toughness opponents. Give it a whirl, see how you like it vs Warptime.

My elites would be chosen or terms. Terms in a landraider is good, but since you won't be taking oblits, i'd go for 2 termicide squads and a 5 man squad in a landraider. Nurgle icon in the land raider for toughness/deepstrike guiding/fluff Chosen with a nurgle icon also can fill the fluff quite well, also guiding deepstrikes. Possessed are cool for fluff, but kind of a flop. Get a box for conversions if you want though.

Troops, i would have 3 types- CSM, CSM with a nurgle icon (pre death guard!) and plague marines (real death guard!). Give 'em flamers or meltaguns and Roll 'em around in rhino's to get into deathguard optimal range of 12" Plasma guns are tasty on plague marines because of FNP, but i prefer meltaguns. YMMV.

Fast attack is your choice, if you take it- i find myself usually taking FA in bigger games, I'm not sure how big you're planning this army. Nurgle icon raptors, or plain raptors if you want, and Nurgle bikers can be a to take down. Also good for getting a champ/icon in the enemies face to drop some daemons/greater daemons.

I wouldn't take oblits in a fluffy Deathguard army. I'd take Havocs, give 'em ML's/AC's, Transport/MC popping goodness. If you want, have your sorcerer/lord riding around in a landraider with some plague marines- true style for the Harbringer of the Plague God . Vindi's i would take over preds for competetive value, but a dakkapred is often useful against hordes, and a Lascannon sponson/AC turret Pred can work well taking out transports too. Vindi's probably more competetive, so YMMV.

Don't forget plague bearers (summoned daemons) and the great unclean one (greater daemon) for fluff goodness

Well here's the thing.
There is no 'real' fluff anymore.
It's all about self-restrictions.

It's only limited by your imagination. Just because Oblits, Zerkers, Lash princes don't have mark of nurgle doesn't mean someone can't make it fluffy.

Oblist: converted pus cannons/corpse throwers.
Lash Prince: Over bloated sorcerer with Nurgle's Dance power.

Etc.

I believe GW has voiced their 'ok' for these kinds of approaches to army building.

2x DP, MoN, Wings: [310]

2x/8x Deathguard Plague Marines squads: [512]: Champ, PF, 2x melta, Rhino

2x/8x Khorne Berzerker squads: [486]: Champ, PF, Rhino

2x Dakka Predators: [200]: Autocannon, 2x heavy bolters

Something like this would work well.

Greenstuff the zerkers and make them Nurgle fighters or something.

This has worked well for me:

DP, wings.
DP, wings.
10 Plague Marines, Fist, 2 Meltas, Rhino.
10 Plague Marines, Fist, 2 Meltas, Rhino.
10 Plague Marines, Fist, 2 Flamers, Rhino.
3 Oblits.
3 Oblits.
1675.

When it goes to 2000, I have 2 options:
1. 10 Raptors, IoCG, Claws, 2 Meltas.
2. 3 Personal Icons: Single 20 Lesser Daemon Squad.

Sanctjud wrote:This has worked well for me:

DP, wings.
DP, wings.
10 Plague Marines, Fist, 2 Meltas, Rhino.
10 Plague Marines, Fist, 2 Meltas, Rhino.
10 Plague Marines, Fist, 2 Flamers, Rhino.
3 Oblits.
3 Oblits.
1675.

When it goes to 2000, I have 2 options:
1. 10 Raptors, IoCG, Claws, 2 Meltas.
2. 3 Personal Icons: Single 20 Lesser Daemon Squad.

Would 7 PM per squad not be sufficent?
How about 1750 pts?

7 Would be a decent number in fluff and effectiveness. But I use 10 man squads because I modeled them as 10 man squads.

And I rather use all the models i've converted over using the effective squad number.

10 man squads have a charm of their own: maximise the carrying capacity of the rhino and are big beefy squads.

1750.../shrug...generally we play at 1850 in my area, which means throwing in a Defiler for kicks and an giggles.
For 1750...I guess another oblit...

Well, in case of 7 PM's per squad, there would be room for some Termicides.

Meh, I don't like them personally.
They are good at what they do, but I much prefer my 3.5 dex Termies...tank hunting reapers with multiple champs all with chaos spawns....

It brings me to tears just thinking about it.
_+________________

As I said, 7 man are pretty good, but I'm sticking with 10 man because I've spent so much time converting each model, it would be a crime to not use them as they were supposed to be.

But, more about 3.5, I've never really used 7 man squads before.
I went with 14 man squads in codex 3.5, and now since rhino's are so good, 10 man is max I can fit in there.

ok thanks for all the feed back so far, i am reallly wanting to use vindicator(s), but im not sure if they would be effective or if they arent worth their points. any thoughts on these?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
ok have an army listed posted in the army list section please review and comment there

Vindicators are well worth their points.
But then you should go for a mechanized army.
Let the Vindicator(s) move along with the Rhinos.
Then the enemy must decide what to shoot;
this will eventually dilute his shooting.

Problem is...
Mobile armies can get to side armor shots.
Rhinos with troops going to the enemy and Vindis' shooting move at 2 different speeds.

In addition, different weapons are better for different AV values...so it 'may or may not' dilute his shooting.

It makes sense to give each unit a role.
PM units with two meltas mounted in Rhinos can eventually get close to the enemy in order to target tanks or MC's.

Indeed, Rhinos and Vindicators move at different speeds,
but PM's are not assault troops anyway.
So the speed is not a key issue.

Well, they may not for your, but everyone can agree that they are close range shooters...which requires mobility to get there.

And the chance for only 5 turns a game means you want to be there faster and earlier to do as much damage as they can.

They are both hammers and anvils, not scalpels that can wait longer to commit.
At least that's how I view/play it.

Sanctjud wrote:Well, they may not for your, but everyone can agree that they are close range shooters...which requires mobility to get there.

And the chance for only 5 turns a game means you want to be there faster and earlier to do as much damage as they can.

They are both hammers and anvils, not scalpels that can wait longer to commit.
At least that's how I view/play it.

I agree that PM is both a hammer and anvil unit.
If mounted in Rhinos they will eventually take two or three turns to get close.
Thus a Vindicator can partially keep up with them.
The enemy will think twice what to shoot, Vindicator or PM's mounted in Rhinos.

How are Oblits not fluffy? They sell their services to the highest bidder... a single oblit cult (1-3) would be alright imo (not my HS choice though), but 9 oblits is straying a bit. But according to my 'dex they are highly valued Merc's to CSM

barring some stiff criticism, im gojng to say oblits are required to best use the current chaos codex.

saying that i am a deathguard player who has fought off using oblits for the last 2 books, but they really are necessary for the current meta. same with with demon princes, i dont really like using them, but until i get a proper lord, the Dp's will stay.

i love my deathguard, the playstyle i like as much as the modeling and painting opprotunity. im currently painting a second DG army to replace my old army that has some pretty average painting. my current list (at 2500 points) is:

Demon Prince, Wings, MoN, Warptime
Demon Prince, Wings, MoN, Warptime

7 PlagueMarines, Champ with fist and combi melta, 2 melta guns, rhino with dozer blades

7 PlagueMarines, Champ with fist and combi melta, 2 melta guns, rhino with dozer blades

7 PlagueMarines, Champ with fist and combi melta, 2 melta guns, rhino with dozer blades

7 PlagueMarines, Champ with fist and combi melta, 2 melta guns, rhino with dozer blades

7 PlagueMarines, Champ with fist and combi melta, 2 melta guns, rhino with dozer blades

7 PlagueMarines, Champ with fist and combi melta, 2 melta guns, rhino with dozer blades

defiler, extra CCw's

2 oblits

2 oblits

I've been running footslogging PM's for many years now and I'm finally considering Oblits. My army marches slowly, laying down plenty of plasma and mid field fire. Oblits are looking like a better fit for that, and I can make them fluffy.

i too ran footslogging DG for a long time, but in all honesty the rhinos just work better for me, if i can get one good move they paid for themelves.

my favorite list was 6 slogging squads and a fat squad of termies, no heavies, no vehicles.

Running non-god aligned stuff in a "cult" list doesn't seem so culty. It's like that one guy still standing after everyone else drank the kool-aid. "I just wasn't that into it..."

Plague marines are super tough and pretty much easy button once mounted. Oblits aren't suddenly necessary in the new chaos codex. Plague marines got huge buffs in this incarnation.

Running a fully mech plague marine list backed by oblits and calling it fluffy would pretty much get you the stink eye. I mean, at that point, just add a three eyed lash prince. Do what you will with your toy men but I have a feeling your opponent will think your fluff list is a hard as nails tournament list after he receives his beating.

Aren't Oblits caused by a disease...? Sounds kinda Nurgle-friendly to me!