Death Guard Tactica

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**DudleyGrim**

Grotrebel wrote:
Are you guys using the Blighthaulers a lot?
And if yes - mostly for their damage or to add durability to your footsloggers?

Slowly expanding my Death Guard army and thought about adding some to get my 3 squads Plague Marines with 2 blight launchers each some mobile cover.
Not sure if they are worth the investment because i feel like if i take them i should go for 3 to get that +1.

Another option would be drones but i am still not a 100% convinced about the damage output.
Yeah that flamer is kinda cool but i don´t really see those ~4 wounds if i get anywhere doing a lot for me.

Or simply max out crawlers instead?

Rest of the army is a Leviathan, a Contemptor, a crawler, 10 Blightlords and some characters.

Haulers are ok, but don't expect a lot out of them. They can surprise you from time to time, but really are outshone by our PBCs and Drones.

As for Drones, try them out with Fleshmowers and screen a Daemon Prince with Arch-Contaminator behind them. They will seriously push some damage with all their high strength, multi-damage, attacks.

Lastly, running 3 PBCs is always a good decision.

**Ian Sturrock**

How are Drones with a mix of fleshmowers and plaguespitters? I have three of the easy build ones and am contemplating doing some converting, but not wanting to do too much.

Got two assembled already -- is it worth scratch building a mower for the 3rd? Perhaps with magnets? Or do I need to go all in an convert the other two to mowers too, before I start painting?

**Jidmah**

Somewhere in this thread, someone did the math for flesh mowers - if you bring a daemon prince (arch contaminator not required), they will out-damage pretty much anything, even the prince himself. They are a bit slower and have less range though since they can't advance, and if you are stuck in combat, you can't leave.
Spitter are better for all-round purposes, mowers for flat damage output.

**Ian Sturrock**

Thanks Jidmah. Sounds like a good mix for Arch-Contaminator Prince would indeed be 2 spitters and 1 mower, then. Keep people a bit wary of charging too...

**DudleyGrim**

Ian Sturrock wrote:
How are Drones with a mix of fleshmowers and plaguespitters? I have three of the easy build ones and am contemplating doing some converting, but not wanting to do too much. Got two assembled already -- is it worth scratch building a mower for the 3rd? Perhaps with magnets? Or do I need to go all in an convert the other two to mowers too, before I start painting?

I too bought the ez build drones, and they are pretty easy to convert. I just drilled under the spitters and used a plastic cylinder (got mine from receipt tape from work), drilled that out, and voila, it fits and doesnt ruin the model if you want to use the spitters.

Mine is still very much a WIP though, still got to make the cylinder look like a spiky, steamroller of death and gore.

Edit - Yes I used some 2mm rare earth magnets to hold it in place

**Ian Sturrock**

Good call Dudley -- I may try something similar!

**Jidmah**

Apparently there are new stratagems in the current conquest magazine.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/deathguard40k/comments/f6oain/new_dg_stratagems_from_conquest_magazine/

**lindsay40k**

Hmm. Foetid Mire could be fun with bloat-drones. Powerful counter to Possessed bombs. Dissolver Spores is interesting. Best used on something big; a horde of fearless MEQs, a lord of war.

Still needs to score a hit, and it affects a single model’s two shot weapon, so very susceptible to hit modifier lists. Nurgle soup might want to keep Prescience in mind.

Hmm. -1 to saving throws. Does... does that apply to invulns?

**Brymm**

It appears to apply to every save that unit has to take after it is hit by a blight launcher until next turn.

**Jidmah**

It does.

**Brymm**

Oh I see what you mean! A single model that shoots a Blight Launcher, meaning you need to pick one dude to shoot his two shots when you spend the CP. Two shots at BS 3 with a lord reroll is probably fine for most meat and potatoes armies but like you said, hit modifiers... does give us a big boost in anti tank and anti Knight in my opinion, areas where pure DG struggles.

**lindsay40k**

I don’t think it’s that useful an anti Knight asset. All DG guns that Knights fear already make them rely on their shields. Only really benefit is it makes it a bit less of a crapshoot to sandpaper away a critical last wound with bolters.

Pretty decent as part of a chaos army. Autocannons and reaper chaincannons will definitely appreciate it.

In a civil war, it affects LEGION lords of war less than it does knights, as they can more easily stack hit modifiers.

**Jidmah**

It reduces both the armor and the invulnerable save though - that's great for pretty much every weapon we have.

**BleachHawk**

Underwhelming.

Dissolver spores could help chip off those last few wounds of a big target, but chances are I will be out of CP at that point anyway. If it also increased strength or range or affected a unit (so two blight-launchers) I could see myself using it.

Foetid mire would be good if it didn't have that awful within 6" of any Death Guard model, that is already making countless traits and strats way worse than they need to be.

**Pandabeer**

No one noticed this bit of weird wording in the Dissolver Spores stratagem? "If it hits, the weapon deals damage as normal". RAW those Blight Launcher shots deal the equivalent of Mortal Wounds because you skip the wound and save rolls. 100% not RAI but it's yet another sloppily written bit that will have to be FAQ-ed

Anyway, I think the Foetid Mire strat can be quite useful to prevent enemy CC units from reaching your shooty dudes when used on something like a nearby Bloatdrone or DP. Also quite useful to prevent enemy units from kiting Terminators and choppy Plague Marines.

Edit: Spores is also nice to give Blightlords some extra punch when the come in. Deepstrike, us the Blight Launcher and afterwards all their Combibolters are at a virtual AP-1.

**agony.deluxe**

Dissolver spore :
deathguard levi/deredeo butcher array + miasm sorcerer + stock lord, +2x msu blightlauncher squad as standard in chaos soup list.

alpha legion's msu squad in cover is roughtly as resiliant as plague marines in cover.

no one noticed but foetid mire can be very tricky.

if you are standing on top of a ruin 6" away (horizontaly) from an enemy unit you can use the strat but you are not easy to catch.
let's say we have a flying unit with 2 autohit weapons ignoring vertical movement and msu squads blight/plasma bitching 100% of the game in cover, so maybe this stratagem will be more usefull than you may think.

**Brymm**

If it wasn’t for needing to hit with a specific Blight Launcher, it would become our second best offensive strategem behind VotLW. Costing 2cp is appropriate for being able to lower all saves by 1. I’m excited to try it out.

**Jidmah**

Pandabeer wrote:
No one noticed this bit of weird wording in the Dissolver Spores stratagem? "If it hits, the weapon deals damage as normal". RAW those Blight Launcher shots deal the equivalent of Mortal Wounds because you skip the wound and save rolls. 100% not RAI but it's yet another sloppily written bit that will have to be FAQ-ed

I'd argue that "as normal" would involve rolling wounds and saves.
In any case, if you get too anal with RAW, your opponent might just tell you that conquest is not a valid rule source. Good luck if it ever gets FAQ'ed.

Anyway, I think the Foetid Mire strat can be quite useful to prevent enemy CC units from reaching your shooty dudes when used on something like a nearby Bloatdrone or DP. Also quite useful to prevent enemy units from kiting Terminators and choppy Plague Marines.

It's also quite good in combination with drones falling back from combat to flame something - that way you can hinder units without charging them.

**Ian Sturrock**

Which issue of Conquest is it in, BTW?

**Pandabeer**

Jidmah wrote:
Pandabeer wrote:
No one noticed this bit of weird wording in the Dissolver Spores stratagem? "If it hits, the weapon deals damage as normal". RAW those Blight Launcher shots deal the equivalent of Mortal Wounds because you skip the wound and save rolls. 100% not RAI but it's yet another sloppily written bit that will have to be FAQ-ed

I'd argue that "as normal" would involve rolling wounds and saves.
In any case, if you get too anal with RAW, your opponent might just tell you that conquest is not a valid rule source. Good luck if it ever gets FAQ'ed.

Anyway, I think the Foetid Mire strat can be quite useful to prevent enemy CC units from reaching your shooty dudes when used on something like a nearby Bloatdrone or DP. Also quite useful to prevent enemy units from kiting Terminators and choppy Plague Marines.

It's also quite good in combination with drones falling back from combat to flame something - that way you can hinder units without charging them.

"Dealing damage as normal" to me means that it deals it's normal, unmodified damage, it doesn't have anything to do with rolling to wound or saves. So yeah, "If it hits the weapon deals damage as normal" to me means you skip wound and save rolls. But no, I'm not the kind of guy that's asinine enough to use the stratagem like that because RAI is obviously to make normal wound and save rolls. I play by common sense and decency, not by being a WAAC TFG.

**Jidmah**

Nope, we have plenty of weapons that work like that and they all clearly tell us to deal mortal wounds instead of normal damage.

In addition, unless specified, you do not have permission to end the attack sequence unless the stratagem says otherwise (see flakk missile).

So dealing damage without wound and save roll is not normal at all, therefore you cannot legitimately claim that it works like mortal wounds.

**Pandabeer**

Jidmah wrote:
Nope, we have plenty of weapons that work like that and they all clearly tell us to deal mortal wounds instead of normal damage.

In addition, unless specified, you do not have permission to end the attack sequence unless the stratagem says otherwise (see flakk missile).

So dealing damage without wound and save roll is not normal at all, therefore you cannot legitimately claim that it works like mortal wounds.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then.

**Jidmah**

Feel free to take it to YMDC if you think the rule is unclear. This is not the place for that.

**TonyH122**

Hey guys, just a random one while we're waiting for some PA news. I don't know if this has been mentioned, but has is truck anyone that the Plague Surgeon model is weirdly out of scale with the rest of the new DG range? I just painted mine up, and stuck him together, and just noticed that he's a head taller than all of the other models. He's basically as tall as a terminator.

**Abaddon303**

Jidmah wrote:
Somewhere in this thread, someone did the math for flesh mowers - if you bring a daemon prince (arch contaminator not required), they will out-damage pretty much anything, even the prince himself. They are a bit slower and have less range though since they can't advance, and if you are stuck in combat, you can't leave.
Spitter are better for all-round purposes, mowers for flat damage output.

Hey i might be missing something here, why do you say you can't advance and you're stuck in combat? is there a special rule with the mowers I'm not seeing? Thanks,

**BleachHawk**

Abaddon303 wrote:
Hey i might be missing something here, why do you say you can't advance and you're stuck in combat? is there a special rule with the mowers I'm not seeing? Thanks,

If you advance you're not allowed to charge, same if you leave combat.
So there are no rules restricting you from doing that, but you won't be able to utilize the mowers for that respective turn.

**ArcaneHorror**

BleachHawk wrote:
Abaddon303 wrote:
Hey i might be missing something here, why do you say you can't advance and you're stuck in combat? is there a special rule with the mowers I'm not seeing? Thanks,

If you advance you're not allowed to charge, same if you leave combat.
So there are no rules restricting you from doing that, but you won't be able to utilize the mowers for that respective turn.

It's a shame that DG don't have access to the Soulforged Pack specialist detachment, because if they did, bloat drones and other DG daemon engines absolutely could advance and charge in the same turn.

**Grotrebel**

So are those new strategems legal for matched play right now?
Any ruling by GW in those Conquest magazines or anywhere else that i missed?

Might just be a "preview" for our PA book as well.

**Nightlord1987**

Those are stratagems for that specific mission.

**lare2**

Been a while since I've tried competitive 40k so went last weekend with a mono-DG list. Man, we're in a bad way. Had a great day but lost all 3 and to be honest, I didn't come close to winning a game. Some of the abilities out there now for other armies are just nuts. I'm reluctant to soup but the way things are it's either that or die very quickly. Roll on PA. We need something good to mix it up.