Source of the first set of images
Right so I will do my usual. This is warhammer 40k and this is a preview of the Death Guard rules for 10th edition. The Death Guard are Chaos Space Marines who serve Nurgle, the Choas God of disease and decay.
In the case of this Review, I have the usual bit of rules. Some MORE rules have dropped for us to look at. I better speed up my posting this once and do as many as I CAN.
Well. It IS a bit of work and I DO need to try raise funds for more Warhammer stuff! I need to get this done!
Right, let's do the first section.
Eye Candy
Mortarion, the Daemon Primarch of Nurgle. Much like Angron, he is an absolute Daemon!
Army Rule
So any Death Guard army has this, they put out an Aura of sickness called Nurgle's Gift. In the first battle round it has a 3" range from models, 6" in battle round 2 and 9" in battle round 3 onwards.
While enemy models are within the range of Nurgle's Gift, they suffer a -1 Toughness modifier! Thus making it easier for their weapons to do damage.
Detachment Rules
Right so there is a lot of words here but in a nutshell, any of your units that control an Objective INFECTS it. This means the objective is sticky and you keep it till an enemy takes it away from the Death Guard.
The objective also puts out its own Nurgle's Gift aura. Of course, you can take the Objective over when you are within 3" but on Battle Round 3 onwards that Nurgle's Gift is at 9" so they could possibly shoot you off before you get there!
Unit Spotlight - Blightlord Terminators
Nurgle Terminators come in two disgusting flavours. This one is the ranged Terminator option.
Even more toughness than a Space Marine Terminator - 6 instead of 5. One model in a 5 man unit will be wielding a Flail of Corruption for loads of D2 hits while the rest all have Bubotic Blades.
All these close combat hits have Lethal Hits, meaning 6s to hit auto wound.
For ranges I assume Plague Combi-bolters will be the base gun, 2 shots at 24", 4 shots at 12" and Lethal hits again. Otherwise they are Storm Bolters. We need the other side of the datasheet to know how many of the other guns they can hve.
Blight Launchers have higher strength, Plague Spewer are like Plague flamers and the Reaper Autocannon seems to be a must have to me for fire support with both Sustained Hits and Devastating wounds.
The unit's special rule is Blistering Fusillade. When targeting the closest enemy unit with shooting, they re-roll Wound rolls of 1.
Altogether solid unit.
Unit Spotlight - Malignant Plaguecaster
The Plaguecaster is a psychic support unit. A fair bit of combat prowess for a smelly wizard and the Plague Wind shooting ability.
He is further useful for Gift of Contagion. This allows you to target an enemy unit within 18". On a dice roll of 1, you do damage to yourself (D3 mortal wounds). On a 2+ the enemy unit will be weakened in Close Combat. Melee weapons subtract 1 from their Wound rolls.
Paired with the Death Guard's already heightened Toughness, this would be ridiculous! And disgusting! Say a Space Marine with Strength of 4 hits a Death Guard unit with T5 or T6 he would need a 5+ normally to wound. With Gift of Contagion, that unit would need a 6+ to wound with Strength 4!
But that is not all!
Pestilent Fallout is another ability used in the Shooting Phase. If he scored a wound on a target with his Plague Wind, that unit gets -2 to Move, -2 to Advance and -2 to Charge rolls!
This could cause some serious problems for the enemy!
Assassinate this Leader as fast as possible!
Weapon Spotlight
This weapon is found on a Plagueburst Crawler.
Besides the rules and stats and much longer range I think... Spore-Laced Shock Waves cause units hit by this unit to take a Battle-shock test.
Stratagem Spotlight - Plagueburst Mortar
Thus Stratagem is used in the Fight Phase. One unit with 1CP gains Sustained Hits 1. IF they are within range of an INfected Objective Marker you control, they gain Sustained Hits 2 instead!
This means more hits when rolling 6s to Hit.
Right... this is already much to think about... here comes more.
Section 2 - As seen on Warhammer +
Unit Spotlight - Plague Marines
This is a rare one, seeing both sides of a Datasheet for a unit with all the rules out plain.
Plague Marines form the Backbone and High OC of the Death Guard army. They are less likely to fail Battle Shock tests while within range of an Objective marker. They are a little slower than most Marines.
Plague Bolters and their close combat weapons seem all to come with Lethal hits. They can have a MASSIVE amount of special weapons in a 5 man and in a 10 man unit.
Even their close combat loadout is great. Heavy Plague Weapons seem to basically represent anything form a Power fist to anything you say is a Heavy CC weapon, such as a massive axe.
Unit Spotlight - Mortarion
Rules for the Daemon Prince Mortarion... well... there is a lot to cover.
On base stats and abilities he is an absolute unit with T12, W16 a 2+ save and 4+ invulnerable save. He also has Lord of the Death Guard, which is a 6" Aura that allows him and any nearby Death Guard to ignore modifications to their base stats and/or abilities that modify their dice rolls, except for saving throws.
He has a crazy pistol, a powerful psychic shooting attack and the usualy big-monster Strike or Sweep options for melee.
Finally, like most units that are his peers, Mortarion chooses one of 3 abilities to be active each Battle Round with his Host of Plagues ability.
This can give him one of the following auras:
- Units within 6" get Benefit of Cover
- Units within 6" re-roll Wound rolls of 1
- Units within 12" add 3" to their Contagion range (so 12" then...)
As an Epic Hero we won't see much options on him but we do need to know his points!
Unit Spotlight - Typhus
Typhus! Another Epic Hero of the Death Guard.
He is like a Nurgle Deathshroud Lord. He CAN lead a unit of Deathshroud or Blightlords or Poxwalkers (which are like diseased zombies).
In Close combat he wields a Master Crafter Man-Reaper, the weapon of the Deathshroud.
He confers a -1 to Hit to the enemy hitting him and the unit he Leads with The Destroyed Hive.
He also has a Psychic ability. No rolling to Hit. Just roll a single die. On a 1, Typhus' unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. On a 2-5, the enemy unit within 18" suffers D6 mortal wounds. on a 6 the enemy unit suffers D3+3 mortal wounds!
Dangerous!
Unit Spotlight - Death Guard Daemon Prince
The Death Guard Daemon Prince grants Feel no Pain to allies within his Contagion area. He is also tough and deals massive amounts of damage in melee. He is also armed with a Plague Spewer (like a flamer)
Unit Spotlight - Deathshroud Terminators
And here is the OTHER flavor of Terminators. They also have Manreapers that have two striking profiles and gauntler flamers.
But their most crazy ability is the Silent Bodyguard rule. While they have a character leading the unit, they gain this ability and I think, that makes it a no-brainer.
When the Strength characteristic of a weapon hits them that is GREATER than their Toughness of 6, reduce the Wound roll by 1!
This is nuts as you can hit them with S7-S11 and you only wound them on a 4+, S12 and above need a 3+ and there is no 2+ to Wound until there is no more Character in their unit!
Unit Spotlight - Myphitic Blight-Haulers
Myphitic Blight-Haulers are tank hunting daemon engines. They are armed with a Bile Spurt, a Missile Launcher and a Multi-Melta. They get plus 1 to Wound Vehicles! Dangerous!
A T9, 10W, a 3+ Save and a 5+ Invulnerable save, they aren't going to be blown away quickly.
Unit Spotlight - Plague Surgeon
This... is a crazy support character. While no slouch himself, the Plague Surgeon has an amazing set of abilities. Essentially a corrupt Apothacary. He returns 1 bodyguard unit back to the squad he is leading in YOUR command phase.
At the end of your Movement Phase you can restore 3 wounds to a Character within 3" of this model!
Synopsis
The Death Guard are looking terribly strong in 10th edition! This is going to hurt since my friend Nic plays these disgusting traitors and thus I will need to face them constantly. I will have to learn to deal with them!
Thank you for reading this long post! This was quite a bit of effort! Haha!
Enjoy and happy gaming in 10th Edition!
