In our Faction Focus series we take a look at the game’s factions and talk about their rules, their units, how they play, and what competitive lists for the faction look like. This is part of a larger series of articles in our Start Competing series. In this article we’re looking at how the Death Guard play in the Boarding Actions game mode.
The Death Guard are an interesting and powerful faction in Boarding Actions; while they’re fairly slow compared to other factions the smaller table size makes that less of an issue and their toughness, while less of a factor in larger games of 40k, becomes a real asset when there aren’t many guns to point at them. They’re also very versatile when it comes to how you use them, able to both punch hard and spit out a ton of [ANTI-INFANTRY] firepower that has a ton of value in a format with very few VEHICLE or MONSTER units.
Army Rule: Slow Decay
In Boarding Actions, Death Guard units replace their Nurgle’s Gift rule with this one, which still gives them Contagions but at a shorter range – 1″ in the first battle round, 3″ in the second, and 6″ in battle rounds 3+. The upside is that while your distances are shorter, you ignore walls and closed hatchways when measuring said distance, so your stink is so bad it goes through walls. This is huge for manipulating hatchways – your units are either T5 or T6 and with -1 Toughness for whoever is on the other side of the hatch you’ll always be at an advantage, and often that advantage can be as much as +4 if you’re trying to manipulate a door against someone who’s normally T3. So while your guys may not specialize in zipping around the table, when you want a door open or closed, it’s going to be your call.
On top of that, -1 Toughness is just always solid for your melee combatants, and helps make the smaller melee weapon options stand out in this mode.
Rules Adaptations
Most of the rules adaptations for Death Guard are pretty straightforward, and revolve around your characters losing various abilities which either don’t apply in Boarding Actions (Putrifiers can’t throw out free grenades, and there’s no Grenade Stratagem here anyways), or removing abilities which would otherwise just be bonkers powerful – Chaos Spawn don’t renegerate and Typhus can’t just trivially toss out D3+3 mortal wounds every turn to anything he can see.
Death Guard Boarding Actions Detachments
The Death Guard have three Detachments in Boarding Actions, each for a different type of list. We’re covering those in more detail in their own articles, but here’s the basic rundown of each:
Vectors of Decay
Your “general” detachment for Death Guard, this is primarily going to be your Plague Marines Detachment, since it’s the only place you can take them. Plague Marines are pretty strong in Boarding Actions, and the ability to take both multiple torrent weapons per unit and also good melee options means they can do some real damage once they hit the middle of the table. Your best options here involve taking four units of five Plague Marines.
Unclean Uprising
This Detachment is all about Poxwalkers and Cultists, and gives you your horde list. Although slow and fragile compared to your other options, the Detachment Stratagems give you the ability to Deep Strike and gives you some solid Movement and combat tricks.
Arch-Contaminators
Arch-Contaminators Detachment Focus
This is your elite Detachment, where you’ll basically take a bunch of Terminators. Death Guard Terminators are very slow but make up for it by being able to Deep Strike and also being implacable threats once they’re on the table. They’ve got good shooting and melee and dislodging them from anywhere is a huge undertaking.
Playing This Army
The Death Guard are slow in Boarding Actions but make up for it by being both incredibly tough and incredibly versatile. The Slow Decay army rule is always relevant, and means that you can essentially close off entire sections of the table on some missions, even with say, Chaos Spawn, while every detachment has units which can both shoot and fight reasonably well. Plague Marines and Deathshroud/Blightlords have exactly the kinds of ranged weapons you want for Boarding Actions, and can throw out a ton of small 1-damage attacks to cleave through smaller foes, making them ideal for handling most threats in the space. Even in the Unclean Uprising, Slow Decay makes Chaos Spawn, Poxwalkers, and Cultists hit surprisingly hard, and the fact that Poxwalkers don’t split into separate units is a big help for mitigating your numbers.
When it comes to mitigating your speed, your biggest friend there is going to be the Deep Strike rule, which is going to be how your Terminators and, in an Unclean Uprising, your Poxwalkers, get into position quickly enough to make a difference. In that regard the Vectors of Decay list may have the most trouble, as Plague Marines give you lots of units but you’ll likely spend the first two battle rounds Advancing toward a key point on the table, with little help in the way of ASSAULT weapons.
As Death Guard, your biggest threats are likely to be enemies who can move quickly enough to bottle you up and stuff you in your deployment zone early. Eldar and Daemons can do this very well, and Flesh Hounds may be one of the most dangerous units in the game for you – while they aren’t super tough to punch through, being T4, 2W non-Infantry units who can move fast and set up easy turn 1 charges (and move through walls in a Khorne detachment!) makes them a real threat, and the Eldar ability to manipulate doors as they move can cause you some real headaches. In those matches you’ll likely find yourself falling behind early and catching up late in the game as you pile up the diseased bodies of your foes.
One key thing to remember when building for Boarding Actions is that a lot of the wargear you’d leave by the wayside in Strike Force/competitive games are much more viable in Boarding Actions. Plague Belchers as anti-infantry, ignores cover flamers are very potent, and when you don’t have to worry about vehicles and lots of tougher targets the bubotic weapons become much more viable, as getting 4 attacks which hit on a 3+ has a lot of value when more of your targets are only 1 wound and T4 or below. That said, 2-damage heavy plague weapons are still what you want for removing marines a lot of the time. But plasma guns tend to take precedence over melta at this level. Ultimately Death Guard are priced like one of the game’s worst armies in 40k from a datasheet strength perspective and while that was necessary to keep them in the competitive conversation that plays into their strengths in Boarding Actions, where they’re a deadly, durable, versatile threat and their speed isn’t nearly the handicap it is on a 60″x44″ table.
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