Games Workshop dropped its Q2 Balance Dataslate for 40k in mid-April, dramatically changing a number of key factions. Astra Miliatrum, Marines and Sisters were buffed, Harlequins, T’au, and Custodes were nerfed, and some key game rules were changed. Now with Tyranids looming on the horizon, we’re looking at several key factions and examining their place in this new emerging meta.
In this article, we’re joined by Don Hooson and we’ll be looking at the Death Guard, who got a significant boost from the new Armour of Contempt rule.
Faction Overview
Coming into April, the Death Guard were hurting. Once a steady upper mid-tier performer, the February points update hit them unreasonably hard, and that coupled with a rash of overpowered codex releases left them hovering below a 50% win rate. The new dataslate improves Death Guard dramatically with two changes:
- The new Armour of Contempt rule gives all HERETIC ASTARTES units – in this case every unit in the army that isn’t a Poxwalker or Cultist – the ability to reduce the AP of all incoming attacks by 1.
- Blightlord and Deathshroud Terminators gained the Objective Secured rule.
These are huge. Armour of Contempt gives the army a large durability boost, particularly for its terminators, who can comfortably enjoy a 0+ save while in cover, ensuring that your opponent will need AP-4 shooting to even get them to their 4+ invulnerable save. Likewise, this durability boost makes plague marines and the army’s already-durable vehicles even tougher to crack. It’s solid stuff all around, and you’ll be much less likely to have to rely on your 5+ invulnerable save with Daemon Engines or watch Plague Marines get picked up from a single volley.
Objective Secured on the Terminators massively changes how the army plays, putting the terminator units front-and-center. Blightlords and Deathshrouds were always good at bullying units off objectives and holding them in the open, but suffered substantially from not being able to hold them against a single ObSec Custodian or marine. Now that’s no longer an issue, and they also gain the ability to lock-in control of objectives on missions that have that rule.
If there’s a downside to Armour of Contempt, it’s that it cuts both ways – Death Guard will now struggle more against marine targets, where their AP-2 bubotic axes will seem less effective and Plagueburst Crawlers, already hit by the nerf to indirect fire, will now struggle to get any AP on their shots against marines in cover. This makes baleswords worth a bit more consideration, though having S6 on the attack is likely still a better option, and makes it worthwhile for the army to rely more heavily on tossing out mortal wounds.
Following these changes, the new Death Guard will rely much more heavily on Terminators to hold objectives around the table, Plague Marines as their Troops support, and a mix of Volkite Contemptors and Myphitic Blight-Haulers as their ranged support against heavier targets while continuing to lean on the same characters they always have.
Don: The changes to the Death Guard have breathed new life in to the faction. The Terminators having ObSec makes them very useful for taking and holding objectives or doing actions that complete easier from having said rule. The Armour of Contempt changes help everything in our codex, aside from Cultists and Poxwalkers. Expect the real death guard to stick around a bit more.
The Matchups
As the new meta unfolds, there are some good and bad matchups for Death Guard to consider.
The Positive
With Disgustingly Resilient, Armour of Contempt, and Obsec on their marine bodies, the Death Guard will once again match up extremely well against the Adeptus Custodes, who are clearly on their way down after their nerfs. The army will potentially hold up well against Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, Orks, and Drukhari, and vehicle-heavy lists will likely do well against Genestealer Cults while Terminator-heavy lists should do well against T’au and Craftworlds Eldar.
The Struggle
Other marines are going to be a big challenge for Death Guard, particularly Salamanders, who can now prevent plague weapons from re-rolling 1s to wound. Sisters are also going to be a challenge, particularly if they’re also using the same rule, and both Thousand Sons and Grey Knights are going to give Death Guard fits, particularly lists that can’t take the Abhor the Witch secondary objective. Finally new Tyranids are also going to be an uphill battle for the faction. Essentially any faction that can still throw out a lot of mortal wounds is going to be a problem for the new Terminator-heavy meta.
The result is that Death Guard feel like a strong mid-tier faction now with some interesting options, but not a faction that is likely to dominate.
Building for the new Meta
Rob: The big change here is Terminators, but that’s not the only way to build a Death Guard list – vehicles also benefit from Armour of Contempt. With more armies favoring shooting and the need to double down on durability, it’s likely that Mortarion’s Anvil will replace The Inexorable as the Plague Company of choice, in order to get the Gloaming Bloat contagion to turn off re-rolls.
Don: I do think the changes actually favor Ferric Blight over Gloaming Bloat. The defense has already increased and that also means that against Armour of Contempt opponents, our AP has dropped down. Ferric Blight helps to compensate for that. Both Inexorable and Mortarion’s Anvil provide strong contributions.
Don’s List
Don’s list is an evolution of the vehicle-heavy lists he brought to tables in 2021, though he’s lightened up on the Daemon Engines in favor of Forge World units.
+++ Inexorable Vanguard Detachment (2,000 Points, 3 CP) +++
HQ: Malignant Plaguecaster, Miasma of Pestilence, Curse of the Leper, Plague Skull of Glothila
EL: Biologus Putrefier, Arch Contaminator
EL: Tallyman (Warlord), Ferric Blight, Tollkeeper
EL: Contemptor, 2x Twin Volkite Culverin, Cyclone Missile Launcher
EL: Contemptor, 2x Twin Volkite Culverin, Cyclone Missile Launcher
EL: 10x Blightlord Terminators, 6x Combi-Bolter, 2x Blight Launcher, 8x Bubotic Axe, 2x Flail of Corruption
FA: 2x Myphitic Blight-Haulers
FA: 2x Myphitic Blight-Haulers
HS: Sicaran Punisher, 2x Lascannon Sponsons
HS: Sicaran Punisher, 2x Lascannon Sponsons
This list eats a lot of CP to start, 3 for a Vanguard, 4 for Martial Legacy, 2 for extra relics. This mean the list starts on 3CP. The list has plenty of mobility, especially compared to foot-heavy Death Guard lists, and buckets of shots to beat up most foes – even the Sicaran Punisher can combo with Ferric Blight to get some additional chip damage through Armour of Contempt or lay waste to hordes of lesser-armored foes. The 2+ save on the Sicarans goes a good ways toward helping them survive as well, as it means they’ll have a 4+ armor save against Lascannons and other AP-3 shooting and a 5+ against Lance and Melta weapons.
This list is built to be tough, decently fast, and difficult to steal kills from. It should play well against Thousand Sons, particularly if they make the mistake of trying to take Wrath of Magnus. There are other list types out there. See what works for you.
Rob’s List
Ferric Blight is neat but it requires having fast units that can press into an opponent (read: Suicide) early on to give you an AP boost. I’d rather focus on the Blightlords and while I think Plaguecasters are great, Miasma usually doesn’t do quite enough for me and losing access to Abhor makes the Grey Knights and Thousand Sons matchups even harder. So I’m going back to Mortarion’s Anvil and loading up on Terminators.
++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Death Guard) [56 PL, 11CP, 1,145pts] ++
Plague Company: Mortarion’s Anvil
- HQ [6 PL, 125pts] +
Lord of Contagion [6 PL, 125pts]: Gloaming Bloat, Manreaper and orb of desiccation [5pts], Warlord
- Troops [6 PL, 105pts] +
Plague Marines [6 PL, 105pts]
. Plague Champion [21pts]: Blight grenades, Boltgun, Krak grenades, Plague knife
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun [84pts]: 4x Blight grenades, 4x Boltgun, 4x Krak grenades, 4x Plague knife
- Elites [30 PL, -1CP, 655pts] +
Blightlord Terminators [20 PL, -1CP, 440pts]
. Blightlord Champion [-1CP, 42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Champion of Disease [-1CP], Combi-bolter, Plague Skull of Glothila
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [47pts]: Bubotic Axe, Reaper autocannon [5pts]
. Blightlord Terminator [47pts]: Bubotic Axe, Reaper autocannon [5pts]
. Blightlord Terminator [47pts]: Flail of corruption [5pts]
. Blightlord Terminator [47pts]: Flail of corruption [5pts]
Blightlord Terminators [10 PL, 215pts]
. Blightlord Champion [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [42pts]: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator [47pts]: Flail of corruption [5pts]
- Fast Attack [14 PL, 260pts] +
Myphitic Blight-haulers [14 PL, 260pts]
. Myphitic Blight-hauler [7 PL, 130pts]: Bile spurt, Gnashing maw, Missile launcher, Multi-melta
. Myphitic Blight-hauler [7 PL, 130pts]: Bile spurt, Gnashing maw, Missile launcher, Multi-melta
++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (Chaos – Death Guard) [48 PL, -3CP, 855pts] ++
Plague Company: Mortarion’s Anvil
- No Force Org Slot [10 PL, 165pts] +
Biologus Putrifier [4 PL, 65pts]: Hyper blight grenades, Injector pistol, Krak grenades, Plague knife
Foul Blightspawn [6 PL, 100pts]: Blight grenades, Krak grenades, Plague sprayer, Revolting Stench-vats, Unholy death’s head grenade, Viscous Death [1 PL, 10pts]
- HQ [5 PL, -1CP, 90pts] +
Death Guard Chaos Lord [5 PL, -1CP, 90pts]: 4. Arch-Contaminator, Blight grenades, Combi-bolter, Krak grenades, Lightning Claw [5pts], Plaguechosen [-1CP]
- Troops [6 PL, 105pts] +
Plague Marines [6 PL, 105pts]
. Plague Champion [21pts]: Blight grenades, Boltgun, Krak grenades, Plague knife
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun [84pts]: 4x Blight grenades, 4x Boltgun, 4x Krak grenades, 4x Plague knife
- Elites [13 PL, 235pts] +
Deathshroud Terminators [9 PL, 165pts]
. Deathshroud Champion [55pts]: Manreaper, 2x Plaguespurt gauntlet
. 2x Deathshroud Terminator [110pts]: 2x Manreaper, 2x Plaguespurt gauntlet
Tallyman [4 PL, 70pts]: Blight grenades, Krak grenades, Plasma pistol
- Fast Attack [14 PL, 260pts] +
Myphitic Blight-haulers [14 PL, 260pts]
. Myphitic Blight-hauler [7 PL, 130pts]: Bile spurt, Gnashing maw, Missile launcher, Multi-melta
. Myphitic Blight-hauler [7 PL, 130pts]: Bile spurt, Gnashing maw, Missile launcher, Multi-melta
I’m giving up on the Battalion for now and going with a double Patrol detachment to avoid taking any Psykers; a single Plaguecaster just isn’t worth losing Abhor against some of the hardest matchups. The basic idea here is to flood the board with ObSec Terminators: One 10-model blob to eat the middle of the table, and two other units to move around and sweep up, or funnel opponents back toward the middle. The list trades on Stranglehold and Grind Them Down, and its softest targets are the 5-model Plague Marine units, which are still hard-as-nails backfield objective holders. The Blight-Haulers are there to deal with bigger targets and heavier armor, where 8 multi-melta shots + rockets help take down things that the blight lords might struggle with.
That said, this list is a work-in-progress. I went back and forth on this list for a while deciding whether I wanted 20 blightlords and if I wanted a Lord of Contagion. There’s a version I’ll test at some point that runs two chaos lords, 20 blightlords, and gives them a little more in the way of upgrades. And if mortal wounds become a real issue, I’ll likely swap in one or two single-model units of Chaos Spawn to run ahead and be the closest visible target come the enemy psychic phase.
Bonus List: Aiden Smalley’s 6-0 Death Guard List
If you’re looking for something a little more battle-tested, consider Aiden’s Death Guard list, which he piloted to a 6-0 finish over Craftworlds at the Gravel Pit GT, the first event using the new dataslate. You can find the full write-up in that week’s Competitive Innovations article.
Wrapping Things Up
That wraps up our look at Death Guard but we’ll be back with more Faction Focus articles looking at how things have changed, taking a look at how many (but not all) of the game’s major factions have shifted following the Dataslate. And we’ll have some of the Art of War crew drop by to give thoughts as well, so stay tuned!
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
