Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello! All the subject says I am going to purchase my first 30 k army doing Death Guard.
I live close to adepticon and plan on ordering stuff due to the free from FW to the event so I can skip that nasty 15% shipping fee.

Deadline for the shipping is the 7th though so I need to hurry.

I plan on buying BaC at some point and bought a squad of deathshroud from a recanted and 3 of the elite termies that are like mortarions right
hand guys. So with those contents in mind where should I go from there.
I also bought a complete unit of tac marines off eBay and a 5 man flames support squad. Is the flames squad worth it?
Currently in the cart I have

DG contemptor without weapons

5 man destroyer squad

Deimos pattern vindicator

So with trying to keep this list fluffy I'm not sure what else is good?
Also I'm just looking to get stuff that will give me a good starter army to build off

Maybe more destroyers? Or seige breakers?? No clue like I said need as many suggestions as possible but not trying to spend hundreds and hundreds

Hey, Awesome plans you got their. The Flamer Special Weapon Squads are super nice in Death Gaurd, because of the chem-flamers. They do need a Rhino in all honesty.

I would maby sujest checking out the Vindicator Laser Destroyer instead of the normal Vindicator. One thing I have noticed is that alot of people coming into 30k off the BaC set is that they can struggle with not having alot of anti-tank options out of the box.

As for the other choices, my question is do you plan on eventually using the DG special rite of war "The reaping"? Because if you want to use the reaping this sould probly influence your purchases.

Well destroyers are Fluffy for DG, they don't actully benafit from your rite of war any. =/ They already have access to rad Gernades, and the restrictions to movement with no run, flatout, or deep striking means just fewer options to get them into CC. Instead of Destroyers I would actually sujest ordering Heavy-weapon sets to use on more BaC marines, since your RoW lets you take Heavy Support Squads as non-compulsory troop choices. This is a huge deal, because in 30k only troop choices can score objectives. Giveing you awesome objective sitters. This also leaves your heavy support slots open for tanks and other fun heavy support units.

Medusa with Phospex Shells is a pretty fluffy choice actually for Death Gaurd, and a realy solid choice.

The Reaping is also one of the few Rites of War that still lets you take Fortifications. Bassicly the DG's Reaping is based around making your army into a slow and super shooty army.


I would also sujest considering considering the new Upgrade packs FW put out for the plastic cataphractii, since it helps give you the gear options missing from the plastic BaC termies.


I hope that helped. But my thoughts on the subject.


edit: Forgot to ask, what are you planning for your compulsory troop choices? I've seen alot of new 30k players mess this up, accidental taking none-compulsory troops with out filling their requirements. Since your Building off BaC I assume tacs, but other 20 on foot or 10 in a rhino. (Unlike other Rites of War, "The reaping" doesn't need any extra compulsory troops after the 1st two.)

I can say the siege breaker is a good HQ to have if you like heavy weapon squads and medusas. It is often my go-to consul. Even in bigger games where I have Rask or another HQ i still often find myself taking one as well.

hmmmm interesting

ok so I keep seeing the whole 20 man tac squad with Apoc everywhere

so im guessing thats basically 2 20 man squads with just bolters??

also what weapons should I give the Cataphractis and Contemptor??

yekram10 wrote:
hmmmm interesting

ok so I keep seeing the whole 20 man tac squad with Apoc everywhere

so im guessing thats basically 2 20 man squads with just bolters??

also what weapons should I give the Cataphractis and Contemptor??

whatever weapons you want to, 30k isn't nearly as competitive or "min-maxy" as 40k is. the more common load out for Contemptors is dual kheres (since it is a very good load out)

I run my cataphractii's as mainly P.fists with heavy flamers (we're death guard, burn everything! ) though I do have a full squad with claws and 2 H. flamers.

As for the tactical squads: As Death Guard, the single most fluffy unit in our legion is a 20 man tactical squad with apothecary (Morty liked multiple's of 7, and in fluff, every tac squad had an apothecary), DG don't really benefit from transports (barring negating a round or two of shooting), so it's almost always better as DG to run a full 20-man squad, with apothecary and extra CCWs (Mortarion loved the idea of "well equiped" infantry men, and every DG core unit was trained for every "generic" role)

yekram10 wrote:
hmmmm interesting

ok so I keep seeing the whole 20 man tac squad with Apoc everywhere

so im guessing thats basically 2 20 man squads with just bolters??

also what weapons should I give the Cataphractis and Contemptor??

Tac Squads can only take bolters. The only upgrades they can take are a banner (+1CC res), Vox (Used to draw LoS to minus BS from barrage Weapons), and CCW's. Then the Srg gets a list of upgrades.

If you want a tac squad that is equipped more like a "modern" tacical squad you want the Veteran Tactical Squad. They are elite choices, but become troops in the Pride of the Legion and Chosen Duty Rites of war. But keep in mind their are requirements that must be met to use any rite of war and be aware what they are. But I would consider doing your Reaping Rite of war. It's a very fun and fluffy rite of war the fits the slow advance feel of the Death Gaurd. That and being able to give any charater in the army rad gernades (enemy is -1T in CC) is amazing, alonge with the Heavy Weapon Squads as troops.


Don't feel you have to do the 20 man blob squad. For my Iron Warriors, I run a 10 man squads in rhinos. To give a idea of what that looks like it's:

example wrote:-10 man squad upgraded to have Bolter/Bolt pistol/CCW
-Srg
--artificer armour*
--Combi-Plasma
--Bolt Pistol
--Power Axe

Rhino with a Heavy Flamer pintel mount and Twin-linked bolter. (I don't take much more then this to keep the load outs on my rhinos down due to the low AV)

*This upgrade if points allows.

I would Imagen something like this would be even better in the DG army thanks to your chem flamer rules. But also I'm Iron Warriors with my 4 heavy support slots and free extra-armour, so I have alot of tanks on the board. My Rhinos probably lasts abit longer then most other people.

 Lockark wrote:

yekram10 wrote:
hmmmm interesting

ok so I keep seeing the whole 20 man tac squad with Apoc everywhere

so im guessing thats basically 2 20 man squads with just bolters??

also what weapons should I give the Cataphractis and Contemptor??

Tac Squads can only take bolters. The only upgrades they can take are a banner (+1CC res), Vox (Used to draw LoS to minus BS from barrage Weapons), and CCW's. Then the Srg gets a list of upgrades.

If you want a tac squad that is equipped more like a "modern" tacical squad you want the Veteran Tactical Squad. They are elite choices, but become troops in the Pride of the Legion and Chosen Duty Rites of war. But keep in mind their are requirements that must be met to use any rite of war and be aware what they are. But I would consider doing your Reaping Rite of war. It's a very fun and fluffy rite of war the fits the slow advance feel of the Death Gaurd. That and being able to give any charater in the army rad gernades (enemy is -1T in CC) is amazing, alonge with the Heavy Weapon Squads as troops.


Don't feel you have to do the 20 man blob squad. For my Iron Warriors, I run a 10 man squads in rhinos. To give a idea of what that looks like it's:

example wrote:-10 man squad upgraded to have Bolter/Bolt pistol/CCW
-Srg
--artificer armour*
--Combi-Plasma
--Bolt Pistol
--Power Axe

Rhino with a Heavy Flamer pintel mount and Twin-linked bolter. (I don't take much more then this to keep the load outs on my rhinos down due to the low AV)

*This upgrade if points allows.

I would Imagen something like this would be even better in the DG army thanks to your chem flamer rules. But also I'm Iron Warriors with my 4 heavy support slots and free extra-armour, so I have alot of tanks on the board. My Rhinos probably lasts abit longer then most other people.

Rhinos are "eh" for DG as with the DG RoW they cannot go flat out, so basically all you are doing is crippling your infantry by having them be such a small squad. the DG RoW makes vet. tacs. troops, but honestly, I think using Veterans as your core is a poor idea as 10-man squads are just to "meh" in a 30k environment.

I like combi-flamers on my srgts. (shredding goodnes, though gets hot is lame), and Legion vexillas let you reroll Ld, not +1 to combat resolution.

 Brennonjw wrote:

 Lockark wrote:

yekram10 wrote:
hmmmm interesting

ok so I keep seeing the whole 20 man tac squad with Apoc everywhere

so im guessing thats basically 2 20 man squads with just bolters??

also what weapons should I give the Cataphractis and Contemptor??

Tac Squads can only take bolters. The only upgrades they can take are a banner (+1CC res), Vox (Used to draw LoS to minus BS from barrage Weapons), and CCW's. Then the Srg gets a list of upgrades.

If you want a tac squad that is equipped more like a "modern" tacical squad you want the Veteran Tactical Squad. They are elite choices, but become troops in the Pride of the Legion and Chosen Duty Rites of war. But keep in mind their are requirements that must be met to use any rite of war and be aware what they are. But I would consider doing your Reaping Rite of war. It's a very fun and fluffy rite of war the fits the slow advance feel of the Death Gaurd. That and being able to give any charater in the army rad gernades (enemy is -1T in CC) is amazing, alonge with the Heavy Weapon Squads as troops.


Don't feel you have to do the 20 man blob squad. For my Iron Warriors, I run a 10 man squads in rhinos. To give a idea of what that looks like it's:

example wrote:-10 man squad upgraded to have Bolter/Bolt pistol/CCW
-Srg
--artificer armour*
--Combi-Plasma
--Bolt Pistol
--Power Axe

Rhino with a Heavy Flamer pintel mount and Twin-linked bolter. (I don't take much more then this to keep the load outs on my rhinos down due to the low AV)

*This upgrade if points allows.

I would Imagen something like this would be even better in the DG army thanks to your chem flamer rules. But also I'm Iron Warriors with my 4 heavy support slots and free extra-armour, so I have alot of tanks on the board. My Rhinos probably lasts abit longer then most other people.

Rhinos are "eh" for DG as with the DG RoW they cannot go flat out, so basically all you are doing is crippling your infantry by having them be such a small squad. the DG RoW makes vet. tacs. troops, but honestly, I think using Veterans as your core is a poor idea as 10-man squads are just to "meh" in a 30k environment.

I like combi-flamers on my srgts. (shredding goodnes, though gets hot is lame), and Legion vexillas let you reroll Ld, not +1 to combat resolution.

fair enough. I even admit my rhino squads probly work better for my iron warriors in general because of how many tanks I'm putting down.

As for the Vet squads, I felt it was best to mention so he at least knowns the options, but i agree they have alot of draw backs. Vet-tac squads is that they can get very expensive fast. But at the same time if you just equip them like you would a normal 40k tac squad and keep their points down they can realy mess with people in 30k due to one reason. They are one of the only Fearless units in 30k. If you can take a squad of them as troops they can make very reliable objective sitters.

I forgot the Reaping allowed you to take them as non-compulsory troop choices. 10 vets with fearless+2 missile launchers might not be a bad choice to consider. (In addition for 20 man foot slogger blobs) but that can be easily built from the contents of BaC so no big deal.

But I want to point out agien, I would get some heavy weapon sets from FW and take advantage of heavy support squads as non-compulsory troops. That's crazy eff'in good.

ok so how about this

2 20 man tac squads with apocs

and support squad of flamers? (10 man???)

I heard something about how missile launchers give buffs to DG too??
so would that be a 10 man squad I should go for??

and I guess destroyers arent worth it since they mainly only give you rad grenades which DG can get anyways?

definitely thinking the medusa would be fluffy as well so thats something I might switch from instead of the Vindicator

yekram10 wrote:
ok so how about this

2 20 man tac squads with apocs

and support squad of flamers? (10 man???)

I heard something about how missile launchers give buffs to DG too??
so would that be a 10 man squad I should go for??

and I guess destroyers arent worth it since they mainly only give you rad grenades which DG can get anyways?

definitely thinking the medusa would be fluffy as well so thats something I might switch from instead of the Vindicator

If you take mortarion, "frag" weaponry can be poison 4+, that's the buff for ML

destroyers are worth it since they have fleshbane, AP: 3 -1 T for the rest of the game missiles AND they can bring phosphex grenades.

10-man flamer sections are some of the more fun things since you can purge anything with fire, and then charge, or have some of the deadliest overwatch.

Medusa's are fun, though they work best with good vox support. and if you are gonna be having good vox support, Quad mortars work well when paired with medusas

 Brennonjw wrote:

yekram10 wrote:
ok so how about this

2 20 man tac squads with apocs

and support squad of flamers? (10 man???)

I heard something about how missile launchers give buffs to DG too??
so would that be a 10 man squad I should go for??

and I guess destroyers arent worth it since they mainly only give you rad grenades which DG can get anyways?

definitely thinking the medusa would be fluffy as well so thats something I might switch from instead of the Vindicator

If you take mortarion, "frag" weaponry can be poison 4+, that's the buff for ML

destroyers are worth it since they have fleshbane, AP: 3 -1 T for the rest of the game missiles AND they can bring phosphex grenades.

10-man flamer sections are some of the more fun things since you can purge anything with fire, and then charge, or have some of the deadliest overwatch.

Medusa's are fun, though they work best with good vox support. and if you are gonna be having good vox support, Quad mortars work well when paired with medusas

Keep in mind phosphex medusas are direct fire;
I still do second having a vox or two on the field if you have any barrage weapons or even deep strikers. That being able to draw line of sight from say a siege breaker hanging out on top of some ruins with a hvy support team or a tac marine in the enemy's backfield is amazing.

Ok so the wish list so far

Contemptor with 2 autocannons

2apothecarians

5 man destroyer squad

Deimos vindicator orrrrrr medusa

Do the vox have their own models or are they just upgrades?

Also what does direct fire mean? And is the medusa better than the basilisk ?

Also should 5 destroyers be enough?

yekram10 wrote:
Ok so the wish list so far

Contemptor with 2 autocannons

2apothecarians

5 man destroyer squad

Deimos vindicator orrrrrr medusa

Do the vox have their own models or are they just upgrades?

Also what does direct fire mean? And is the medusa better than the basilisk ?

Also should 5 destroyers be enough?

direct fire: I see you, I shoot you
indirect fire (what medusa's, basilisks, and the like do: I am behind a wall, but I can still bomb you.

there are command upgrade kits for each MK of armor, the vox bits are in there. 5 destroyers should be more then enough. I like running either 2 5-man squads (double the phosphex + rad missiles), or 1 big 10-man squad that a mortait can run with (also known as a bullet magnet )

Medusa has a shorter range, but higher S and AP. the Basilisk is a Leman Russ battle cannon, but with stupidly long range. the 3rd option (i forget the name) is S: 6 AP: 3 Ignores cover. so it's up to you on which tank to use, depending on what roles you need to fill.

Ok guys

I think I'm going to go with a Medusa and have a siege breaker in the army so they can have the phosphex bombs which to mean seems pretty fluffy and also pretty strong.

secondly 2 20 men blobs with apothecaries

Now with tac marines it allows you to take a combat blade for 2 points extra. However since that just gives you the same stats as if you didn't have it is there a point to bringing them?
thinking about equiping each squad with a nuncio vox
not sure on how to equip the sergeants

Im hearing mixed things about the veteran squad so maybe I wont make that??

a 10 man flamer squad to purge the enemy clean and bath in the chem flam glory

a contemptor with maybe a power first and melta for anti armour?

5 man destroyer squad

if i get a heavy support squad I was thinking maybe heavy flamers, autocannons or culverins?

I think thats going to be the forge world order unless someone can sell me on some other awesome stuff that wont break the bank

yekram10 wrote:
Ok guys

I think I'm going to go with a Medusa and have a siege breaker in the army so they can have the phosphex bombs which to mean seems pretty fluffy and also pretty strong.

secondly 2 20 men blobs with apothecaries

Now with tac marines it allows you to take a combat blade for 2 points extra. However since that just gives you the same stats as if you didn't have it is there a point to bringing them?
thinking about equiping each squad with a nuncio vox
not sure on how to equip the sergeants

Im hearing mixed things about the veteran squad so maybe I wont make that??

a 10 man flamer squad to purge the enemy clean and bath in the chem flam glory

a contemptor with maybe a power first and melta for anti armour?

5 man destroyer squad

if i get a heavy support squad I was thinking maybe heavy flamers, autocannons or culverins?

I think thats going to be the forge world order unless someone can sell me on some other awesome stuff that wont break the bank

Well, Extra CCWs jump up your 20-man tactical squads from 40 attacks on the charge, to 60, which is a HUGE difference if you pair with the DG RoW. Also, I don't get how they would have "the same stats" since +1 attack is kinda important. Remember that they have bolters AND bolt pistols base.

Typical "auto-includes" for srgts. are artificer, and then personal preference (I like P. fists, or occassionally p.sword + combi-flamer)

I run 3 10-man heavy support squads: Autocannon, Missile launcher, and Heavy flamer. they all have uses. If you want versitility, take MLs, if you want anti vehicle/mechanicum take autocannons, and if you want anti-infantry tank H. flamers.

hmmm ok I wanna say thank you first off for all the help!!!! Im sure ive asked some dumb questions but I just wanna get this all right so Im not wasting my money on expensive stuff!!