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My Kids have brought the dark imperium box set to start playing which is a great low cost way to start playing. The one playing death guard wants to expand his army but we're getting a little confused which sets of figures go with the death guard, we haven't got hold of the index yet, looking for a cheap one. They're probably only going to play informally so it doesn't matter but I thought it best to start looking at figures that are supposed to go together in case he does end up doing more and playing in a club or something.

Not even 100% sure this is the right question

First suggestion is to buy Codex: Death Guard if you want the most up-to-date rules for the army.

Here's a link to the product:

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Codex-Death-Guard-hb-2017-eng

It can be had for a bit cheaper on eBay, or perhaps a local shop that sells products below MSRP.

And then there's the Space Marines codex for the other army in the box, same story:

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Codex-Space-Marines-hb-2017-ENG

They're also available in digital format for slightly cheaper.

You can filter the GW site to only display models from a certain faction. Go into the 40k section and click "Death Guard" from the Armies column. You'll still need the index (although ideally the Codex) to be able to play with all the rules, but at least this way you can start picking up a few models knowing they are for DG.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warhammer-40-000?N=1125463923+3516457728&Nr=AND%28sku.siteId%3AGB_gw%2Cproduct.locale%3Aen_GB_gw%29&Nrs=collection%28%29%2Frecord%5Bproduct.startDate+%3C%3D+1520801700000+and+product.endDate+%3E%3D+1520801700000%5D

Go to games-workshop.com and tick the respective army (death Guard, don't confuse it with Chaos Space Marines). It'll show you everything that is playable in the codex.

I did have a look at GW with the filter but got confused because it doesn't have most of the character figures that come in the box set, lord of cantagion, noxious blightbringer, malignant plague caster.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I should have said he's only 12 so keeping it simple and cheap, pocket money is limited :(, makes sense, hence index not codex, which he wouldn't read 90% of anyway.

edgarina wrote:
I did have a look at GW with the filter but got confused because it doesn't have most of the character figures that come in the box set, lord of cantagion, noxious blightbringer, malignant plague caster.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I should have said he's only 12 so keeping it simple and cheap, pocket money is limited :(, makes sense, hence index not codex, which he wouldn't read 90% of anyway.

Those characters are currently exclusive to Dark Imperium which is why you can't see them separate on store (Lord of Contagion is available in Know No Fear too I think?)

Index is fine for now, contains everything they need to play the basics. The codexes will contain everything the index does and extra stuff so not needed until he gets into it more later on (if still interested. Kid's interests are as fleeting as the wind sometimes)

As a rule of thumb, the spiky ones are generally chaos.

I love it......i'll keep an eye out for the spiky ones.....

Thanks for clearing that up.

The folks who've already posted have given good information, but I'd also like to say thanks for making the effort to get it right for your son. I imagine from the outside the whole mess of factions and indexes/codexes must be a bit baffling.

While Index Chaos is a good starting point, please bear in mind that it does not contain rules for some of the newer models. The Death Guard range is largely new and some of the models were released more recently than the Index, so the Index doesn't contain everything that he would need. However the model kits should include rules for the units alongside the assembly instructions which would get you by for informal games. Codex: Death Guard contains rules for the whole model range, since they were released at the same time. The disadvantage of going with the Codex is that it's a bit more expensive and is Death Guard specific, while the Index covers the whole of the 'Chaos' faction. If he wanted to he can ally other Chaos things with the Death Guard - e.g. other Chaos Space Marines or Daemons, and if you're doing that with Index then it's all in one book, but with the Codexes it's multiple separate books.

If he gets into any more 'serious' play he'd probably be expected to have the relevant codex(es), but then if he sticks with the hobby long enough to get into more serious games then you know it's a worthwhile investment by that point!

As has been said, some of the models in Dark Imperium are only available in that box, which is why they don't appear when you filter to Death Guard on the GW website. If you get the rules and see some entries that aren't shown on the Death Guard section of the GW website (e.g. Cultists, Chaos Rhino, Defiler, Chaos Predator, Chaos Land Raider) then they'll be under the Chaos Space Marines filter since they're available to a wider range of the Chaos Space Marine sub-factions.