In our Detachment Focus series we take a deep dive into an army’s Detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games. In this Detachment Focus we’re looking at the Flyblown Host from the Death Guard.
The 2024 Grotmas Update introduced Death Guard players to the Flyblown Host Detachment, giving them a way to play focused around infantry. This Detachment trades off vehicle support for better protection and movement on your Infantry. It was solid upon release but following the release of Codex: Death Guard, the Detachment has improved substantially.
Changelog
- 4-26-2025 (Latest): Updated for the 10th edition Codex
- 12-1-2024: Initial Publication
Detachment Overview
The Flyblown Host Detachment is intended to buff your infantry, giving them an early game speed boost and durability buff – even at ranges they normally wouldn’t get protection from a Plague giving enemy units -1 to hit. The Stratagems here are all locked to INFANTRY units in the army, making this ideal for an army going heavy on Plague Marines, Deathshroud, and potentially Poxwalkers. With the new book moving the Plagues to the Army Rule, this detachment can really shine. It’s stratagems are cheap and affordable and its Detachment Rule is very strong.
The Video Version
You can find our video version of this Detachment focus below:
Detachment Rule: Verminous Haze
Death Guard INFANTRY units from your army that are not embarked within Transports have the Scouts 5” and Stealth abilities.
Norman: This is a great ability for some of your best units. Foot slogging Terminators get a lot of value out of this, making their already strong defensive profile that much stronger, and Poxwalkers get a ton of value out of both scout and stealth in addition to their ability to infiltrate. With the new book, this is one of the strongest picks for a detachment to run.
Enhancements
You get a great suite of enhancements to go with your great army rule. They can’t go on a Daemon Prince, but they’re a lot more meaningful than the Plague Company set.
- Droning Chorus (15 Points) – (Infantry model only) Ranged weapons in the bearer’s unit have the [ASSAULT] ability. Nice on a unit of Blightlords if you’re taking them.
- Insectile Murmuration (20 Points) – (Infantry model only) Every time the bearer’s unit attacks a unit within Contagion range of any Death Guard units in your army, re-roll wound rolls of 1. This is a solid way to get this ability without relying on a Lord of Virulence, and in that sense has value on something like a Lord of Contagion, where you can get the value he adds to a unit of Deathshroud without losing out entirely on wound re-rolls.
- Rejuvenating Swarm (10 Points) – (Infantry model only) At the end of each phase, the bearer regains all lost wounds. This is VERY funny on a Lord of Contagion running around solo. When he gets back up with his rule he immediately fills back to full.
- Plagueveil (25 Points) – (Infantry model only) While the bearer’s unit is within range of one or more objective markers you control, opponents cannot target that unit with ranged attacks unless they are within 18”. This one is money, and is almost always worth taking.
Norman: There’s a lot to like here. Almost all of these are interesting and useful in some way and very much worth taking.
Stratagems
The Flyblown Host Detachment has some solid Stratagems, all of which are geared toward use on INFANTRY units. They’re strong and reasonably priced, with none costing you two CP to use.
- Nauseating Paroxysms (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – At the start of any Fight Phase, one enemy unit within engagement range of an Infantry unit must take a Battleshock test at -1 to the roll.
- Vermin Cloud (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – An Infantry unit can Pile-In and Consolidate 6” instead of just 3”.
- Eye of the Swarm (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – In your Shooting Phase, 1 Infantry unit gains the Pistol ability on all of their ranged weapons, excluding Blast weapons.
- Droning Horror (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – In your Shooting Phase, one Infantry unit can reroll Hit rolls of 1. If the target is within half range, you can reroll all Hit rolls.
- Enervating Onslaught (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – In your Charge Phase, you can roll a d6 for every model in an Infantry unit within engagement range of an opposing unit after it ends a Charge Move. For every 5+ (adding 1 for non-Poxwalker), the enemy unit suffers 1 MW (to a maximum of 6 MW).
- Myphitic Invigoration (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – In the opponent’s Shooting Phase, one of your Infantry units within 6” of a Myphitic Blighthauler is -1 to Wound as long as the opponent’s Strength is higher than your Toughness.
Norman: There’s a lot to like here. Vermincloud is great for getting your Poxwalkers where they need to be early to spread contagion as far as you can, Droning Horror was practically made for the new Blightlords datasheet, and Myphitic Invigoration makes your tough stuff that much more annoying to remove.
Playing This Detachment
Norman: This one’s simple: take infantry. In my tests I’ve found a mix of Terminators and Poxwalkers with backline shooting support to work best, but there’s absolutely a list here that leans harder into Plague Marines or even just 60 Poxwalkers. Ideally you want to keep Blighthaulers near your more elite Infantry to keep them in game.
Strengths
- Big benefits for Infantry units, especially Deathshroud Terminators
- Strong Stratagems and Enhancements
- Solid burst of speed with Scout and durability buff with Stealth
Weaknesses
- Incentivizes foot slogging instead of deepstriking or using transports
- No buffs for Vehicles or Monsters
- You’re not that fast and you’re not that tough
A Sample List
The list - click to expand
The general idea here is to rely on that Scout move early to get your models into position on two of the midfield objectives, or at least to let them stage for a counter-attack. Deathshroud become very hard to move with Stealth and access to -1 to wound through the Blight-Hauler. The list relies on your backline shooting to shore up the weaknesses of your infantry and keeping your stuff as durable as possible.
Final Thoughts
Norman: This might be the dominant detachment once the book is out in the wild. There’s a lot of strong buffs here and the units they benefit are just so good. There’s also an opportunity for Poxwalker jail with stealth and scout. There’s a ton of great builds here and I think we’ll see plenty of this detachment.
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