Welcome to War Zone: Nephilim! There’s never been a shake-up this large during an edition of 40k, and in June Games Workshop dropped a new missions pack with all-new secondaries, changed how CP works in games, published new, all-digital points for the first time ever, and published a new balance dataslate, dramatically shifting the power levels of some armies.

With any big changes comes a new series of Faction Focus articles and we’re doing the same for Nephilim as we did for Nachmund. In this article TheChirurgeon is talking about the Death Guard, covering how the faction changed, what it means for playing them, how they’re likely to fare in the new meta, and writing a list with some thoughts on playing them.

The Death Guard were done incredibly dirty by the February FAQ, Dear Reader, and for a while there things got pretty dire – while we eventually got Armour of Contempt and ObSec Terminators, Death Guard quickly fell from “struggling to stay in the middle of the pack” to “one of the game’s worst factions.” The Nephilim changes give the faction a massive overhaul, making me once again hopeful for their chances competitively.

The Notable Changes

Death Guard received a one-two punch of secondary improvements and major point adjustments in the Munitorum Field Manual, both of which make the faction substantially stronger.

Improved Secondaries. While everyone can take advantage of of being able to take three faction secondaries, that only matters if your secondaries are actually good. And the Death Guard now have one great secondary (spread the sickness), and two decent ones that are a bit more situational. And while we lost Stranglehold, we weren’t scoring it very often at the end of Nachmund anyways.
Point drops. All of those insane point hikes on Poxwalkers and Terminators back in February? Reverted. Plus, additional point drops on a ton of key units like Blight-Haulers, PBCs, Deadly Pathogens, and Mortarion give the faction more to work with.
Free plague marine weapons. This is the biggest change by far – Plague Marine weapon upgrades are now free. That means a unit with double flails, double maces, double cleavers, double meltas, and a power fist champion that previously cost 270ish points now only costs you 210. I love this change because it incentivizes big squads over taking other units. Fully kitted-out Plague Marines are a very nasty melee threat.
CP changes. Notable here because of the large number of Death Guard armies that relied on 1-2 Volkite Contemptors. Those armies will now be starting on 1-2 CP. Not necessarily backbreaking, but not ideal. The upside is that the Tallyman is even more useful now, and has somehow become even more of a must-include.

Ultimately Nachmund Death Guard suffered from having anemic damage output and being too slow to rapidly react to threats and challenge enemies downfield, making them utterly predictable in their game plans and easy to outmaneuver and pick off, despite their durability. They also suffer from an acute vulnerability to mortal wounds and while that’s still around, their durability elsewhere can make up for it and the ability to take more fast and screening units can help prevent them from being smote off the board.

With these changes, the look of a Death Guard army has changed substantially. While ObSec Terminators are still a valuable piece of the puzzle they’re no longer the build-around units they were, instead acting more as durable mid-table objective holders. The real rock stars here are Plague Marines, who can put out frightening amounts of damage to both larger targets and hordes using the Haze of Corruption Stratagem. They’re still very slow however and so you’ll need a way to get them into combat. You basically have four options here:

Rhinos are the cheapest and likely most common option of the bunch, offering some OK durability and good speed, plus they have contagions, which makes them good units for Despoiled Ground if they survive to late-game – something that becomes more likely if your opponent doesn’t pop them before their marines get out.

Dreadclaw Drop Pods give you a reliable turn 1 Deep Strike option to plant your warriors deep, and then sticks around to be vaguely threatening to enemy units and vehicles afterward. Note that making a 9” charge is still unlikely even with a re-roll however and these do not have contagions.

Termite Drills are similar to Dreadclaws only more dangerous and durable, but they don’t fly and can’t arrive turn 1. They also do not have contagions. But what they do have is a transport capacity of 12 models, allowing them to hold a unit of 10 Plague Marines and 1-2 of your favorite Foetid Virion to buff the unit.
The Land Raider got a points drop, making it a potentially attractive transport option for the Death Guard, where a T8 2+ save transport with Armour of Contempt and four lascannons isn’t too shabby as something to tool around in. However, it’s worth noting here that the Land Raider only has 10” movement and that drops to 5” once it takes 8 wounds, making it just as slow as a Plague Marine. That’s not really ideal when our primary need for a transport is more “adding speed” than “protecting the contents.”

Essentially I think we’re going to see 2-3 units of Plague Marines in rhinos work their way into regular use in Death Guard armies, or 4-6 units if it turns out that lots of 5-man units are a better play (this will depend on how often you need to CP boost them to make them work). The big downside here is that you can only fit 10 bodies into most Chaos Transports, which means you can’t put a full unit with upgrades and a buffing character in with them, but my take here is that this isn’t super necessary – focus on the unit as a nasty trading piece. Rhino units give the army some powerful outside play with support from Fleshmowers while your terminators – likely 1-2 units of 5 deathshroud – can hold center objectives with support from characters and poxwalkers screen and hold backfield objectives.

Speaking of, Poxwalkers are back to being a great unit at 5 points per model, and they’re going to be integral to both screening your terminators from psychic mortal wounds in some matchups and scoring Spread the Sickness, which you’ll seldom want to have marines or terminators doing. Having cheap Poxwalkers and Obsec Terminators also finally reopens the door for Terminus Est armies to return, though without vehicle support there and fewer starting CP to work with, you’ll likely be relying more on Poxwalker hordes and Possessed as your primary army pieces rather than deep striking Plague Marines. That said, this may also finally be the time where the Noxious Blightbringer has play, giving your marines +1” movement, but as he doesn’t buff Poxwalkers, he may just be a play for standard DG armies that don’t want to run transports.

As much as I want to run Mortarion, even with the 40-point drop he’s still overcosted compared to a knight and there’s too much shooting that can just take him off the board early, plus he’s not quite fast enough or killy enough to make up his points against many armies.

Playing Nephilim Missions

One of the more positive aspects of the Nephilim missions pack is that the missions haven’t changed much; more than half the missions offer Death Guard forces a mid-table objective to take and hold, something that Death Guard terminators specialize at doing, particularly if they go second and the opponent makes the mistake of giving them a free charge move.

When it comes to Objectives, pretty much every Death Guard army will want to run Poxwalkers and Spread the Sickness, which now represents a relatively easy 11 VP in most games and 7 at worst, particularly now that enemy units can’t stop you from contaminating an objective. After that we have Despoiled Ground and Fleeing Vectors, two options that are more matchup-dependent, but still good in their own right.

Despoiled Ground is less of a “win more” secondary now, rewarding you for spreading out across the table late-game, and will play better against armies that want to play a more hands-off, finesse game and avoid your tougher units. It will also be easier to score on maps with table quarters deployment, since you’ll have an easier time getting into three table quarters and the opponent’s deployment zone. It’s also great on Secure Missing Artefacts, where your play will be to move objectives closer to each other to keep them in Contagion range.

Fleeing Vectors is likewise situational; it’ll depend on your ability to churn through models and units, and will be more valuable against hordes or armies with more fragile models, and if you’re running Terminators you’ll want to keep CP around to fire off Break Their Spirits to score the bonus points and force morale failures. Note that Chaos Spawn are also a good pairing for this, as their Fearsome aura gives enemy units -1 Ld within 6”, helping grease the wheels on those tests.

Outside of the faction secondaries our options are limited but not terrible; To the Last is gone but Grind Them Down can occasionally be a decent pick. And while Miasma of Pestilence and Curse of the Leper are solid, they aren’t lynchpins for the army or anything, which makes Psychic Interrogation a decent pick if you aren’t up against an opponent who can easily deny your attempts. It’s also a decent pick if you’re running a Daemon Prince and a Plaguecaster, since the DP only gets one cast anyways.

While this slate of Secondary Objective choices isn’t as strong as some others, you’ll generally find that scoring VP as Death Guard is much easier than it used to be and you have more proactive choices to take, even if your opponent isn’t giving up max points for a kill secondary.

Squaring Up Against the Meta

The Death Guard are still a relatively slow army, but now they’ve been incentivised to actually take the units that can help them be more mobile, since those units can now be a credible threat. This gives them more play against some armies, though there are still some areas they’ll struggle.

The Positive

The matchups that work for Death Guard haven’t changed that much though there are more of them and they’re more positive. Custodes are still on the whole a positive match-up and things have shifted firmly back into the Death Guard side of things; Disgustingly Resilient and Contagions take away a major advantages of the Custodes and it’s still a matchup where Death Guard can outnumber Custodes and steal objectives. Most marine armies will also be a positive matchup for Death Guard, where they haven’t gained enough value post-Nephilim on a per-unit basis, and their ability to forward deploy with Troop units is a double-edged sword when it gives the Death Guard free movement. Death Guard will also have an easier time against armies with lots of 1-wound models, where they can make better use of high volumes of D1 firepower and score points for Fleeing Vectors.

The Struggle

There are still some big hurdles for Death Guard in the meta, and those will often be dealing with large multi-wound units that can shrug off lots of AP0 firepower and fight back effectively in combat after weathering a turn of attacks from plague marines. Knights/Chaos Knights in particular represent a challenge for the army, where you’re unlikely to take down bigger knights in a single round of combat without real help and some favorable dice, and the price for failure is losing a lot of marines and watching the knight walk away the following round. Big bug Tyranids are also likely to be a problem, particular in Leviathan. And Death Guard still have no way to mitigate mortal wounds, making the matchups against Grey Knights and Thousand Sons a toss-up at best and dependent on the army’s ability to use Chaos Spawn and Rhinos to screen out damage.

Finally, factions that can turn off re-rolls to wound like Salamanders will be a pain in the ass for Death Guard as well, though how much varies by army.

Building Lists

A Death Guard faction focus wouldn’t be complete without some lists and as usual I’ve asked Don Hooson to stop by and provide a list as well. He’s still on more of a skew bent (as always), but he’s finally ready to leave daemon engines on the sidelines.

TheChirurgeon’s List

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Death Guard) [112 PL, 4CP, 1,999pts] ++

Plague Company: The Inexorable

HQ [11 PL, 215pts] +

Lord of Contagion [6 PL, 125pts]: Ferric Blight, Manreaper and orb of desiccation [5pts], Warlord, -1 CP

Malignant Plaguecaster [5 PL, 90pts]: 2. Gift of Contagion, 5. Curse of the Leper

Troops [39 PL, 680pts] +

Plague Marines [12 PL, 210pts]
. Plague Champion [21pts]: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. Plague Marine w/ blight launcher [21pts]
. 2x Plague Marine w/ cleaver [42pts]: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Great plague cleaver, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ flail [42pts]: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Flail of corruption, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ mace and axe [42pts]: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Bubotic Axe, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Mace of Contagion, 2x Plague knife
. Plague Marine w/ special weapon [21pts]: Meltagun
. Plague Marine w/ special weapon [21pts]: Meltagun

Poxwalkers [3 PL, 50pts]
. 10x Poxwalker [50pts]: 10x Improvised weapon

Elites [26 PL, -1CP, 435pts] +

Biologus Putrifier [4 PL, -1CP, 65pts]: 4. Arch-Contaminator, Plaguechosen [-1CP]

Deathshroud Terminators [18 PL, 300pts]
. Deathshroud Champion [50pts]: Plaguespurt gauntlet
. 5x Deathshroud Terminator [250pts]: 5x Manreaper, 5x Plaguespurt gauntlet

Tallyman [4 PL, 70pts]

Fast Attack [24 PL, 429pts] +

Chaos Spawn [3 PL, 69pts]
. 3x Chaos Spawn [3 PL, 69pts]: 3x Hideous mutations

Myphitic Blight-haulers [14 PL, 240pts]: Myphitic Blight-hauler [7 PL, 120pts], Myphitic Blight-hauler [7 PL, 120pts]

Myphitic Blight-haulers [7 PL, 120pts]: Myphitic Blight-hauler [7 PL, 120pts]

Dedicated Transport [12 PL, 240pts] +

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]

+++ 1,999 points, 3 CP +++

This is the first pass on a list I’m aspiring toward. The general idea is that the Deathshrouds will hold midtable objectives – something they’re still great at – while the PM Rhinos offer a significant amount of mobile punch to travel around the table, backed up by blight-haulers that can drop support against harder vehicle targets. Ten Plague Marines outfitted with melee weapons can hit like a freight train, and with AoC they’re durable enough to weather a bit of return fire even once they’re out of the rhino, particularly if you can keep them in cover.

There’s one caveat here, which is that I’ll likely test first with 2x plague marine units and rhinos, since I have two rhinos and two squads’ worth of weapons ready to go now. That gives me 290 points to play around with in the interim, and I’ll likely fill that gap with another unit of terminators – potentially running 2×5 Deathshrouds – and either a fleshmower for speed or a PBC for ranged support. I’m also not averse to the notion of doing 2x MBHs/ + 2x PBCs, and playing more aggressively with the PBCs than I used to.

Don Hooson’s List

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Death Guard) [110 PL, 2CP, 1,996pts] ++

Plague Company: The Inexorable

HQ +

Lord of Virulence [7 PL, 135pts]: Ferric Blight, Virulent Fever, Warlord

Malignant Plaguecaster [5 PL, 90pts]: 5. Curse of the Leper, 6. Gift of Plagues, Plague Skull of Glothila

Troops +

Plague Marines [12 PL, 210pts]
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. 2x Plague Marine w/ blight launcher: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Blight launcher, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ cleaver: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Great plague cleaver, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ flail: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Flail of corruption, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. Plague Marine w/ icon
. Plague Marine w/ special weapon: Meltagun
. Plague Marine w/ special weapon: Meltagun

Elites +

Biologus Putrifier [4 PL, -1CP, 65pts]: 4. Arch-Contaminator, Fugaris’ Helm, Plaguechosen

Fast Attack +

Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 23pts]: Chaos Spawn
Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 23pts]: Chaos Spawn

Dedicated Transport +

Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]

++ Total: [110 PL, 2CP, 1,996pts] ++

Don’s list skews hard into the new Plague Marines, filling up a Battalion with six units of them in Rhinos and minimal support otherwise – but he’s got plenty of ObSec muscle to throw around.

Lukas Wobak’s Terminus Est List

This list is the first official TiWP for Death Guard of the Nephilim season – Lukas took this list to a 6-1 finish at the Alpine Grand Tournament in Salzburg, starting 6-0 and losing in the top 8 cutoff rounds to Harlequins.

+++ Death Guard Battalion Detachment (0 CP, 2000 pts, 123 PL) +++

Army of Renown: Terminus Est Assault Force
Plague Company: The Harbingers
2x Gifts of Decay [-2 CP]
1x Champion of Disease [-1CP]

No Force Org: Foul Blightspawn: Deadly Pathogen: Viscous Death [5pts], Gifts of Decay[1CP]: Revolting Stench-vats [95 pts, 6 PL]

HQ1: Malignant Plaguecaster: Smite, Miasma of Pestilence, Putrescent Vitality [90 pts, 5 PL]
HQ2: Malignant Plaguecaster: Smite, Gifts of Decay [1CP]: Filth Censers, Lungrot, Rotwind [90 pts, 5 PL]
HQ3: Lord of Virulence: Deadly Pathogen: Virulent Fever[15pts], Warlord: Arch-Contaminator, Relic: Fugaris’ Helm [135 pts, 7 PL]

TR1: Poxwalkers: 20xPoxwalker [100 pts, 6 PL]
TR2: Poxwalkers: 19xPoxwalker [95 pts, 6 PL]
TR3: Plague Marines: Plague Champion (Boltgun, Power fist), Plague Marine w/ blight launcher, Plague Marine w/ cleaver, Plague Marine w/ flail, Plague Marine w/ Bolter and Plague Knife [105 pts, 6 PL]
TR4: Plague Marines: Plague Champion (Boltgun, Power fist), Plague Marine w/ blight launcher, Plague Marine w/ cleaver, Plague Marine w/ flail, Plague Marine w/ Bolter and Plague Knife [105 pts, 6 PL]

EL1: Blightlord Terminators: Blightlord Champion (Combi-bolter, Balesword), 3xBlightlord Terminator (Combi-bolter, Balesword), Blightlord Terminator (Flail of corruption) [205 pts, 10 PL]
EL2: Blightlord Terminators: Blightlord Champion (Combi-bolter, Balesword), 3xBlightlord Terminator (Combi-bolter, Balesword), Blightlord Terminator (Flail of corruption) [205 pts, 10 PL]
EL3: Blightlord Terminators: Blightlord Champion (Combi-bolter, Balesword), 3xBlightlord Terminator (Combi-bolter, Balesword), Blightlord Terminator (Flail of corruption) [205 pts, 10 PL]
EL4: Deathshroud Terminators: Deathshroud Champion (2xPlaguespurt gauntlet), 4xDeathshroud Terminator [250 pts, 18 PL]
EL5: Deathshroud Terminators: Deathshroud Champion (2xPlaguespurt gauntlet), Champion of Disease[1CP]: Reaper of Glorious Entropy, 4xDeathshroud Terminator [250 pts, 18 PL]
EL6: Tallyman [70 pts, 4 PL]

+++ 2,000 points, 2 CP +++

There’s one big caveat to this list, which is that the Alpine event used up-to-date points and dataslate changes, but not the army construction changes or missions from Nephilim, meaning that during the event Lukas was playing with 9 CP instead of 2 to start, but would have gained less during the game. That said, this has the construction hallmarks of a Nephilim list and while it may cut out one relic in Nephilim (probably the Filth Censers), it’s not incredibly CP-dependent.

This list just trades on a ton of terminator beef, using the new lower point costs to run a staggering five units of Terminators – 3×5 Blightlords and 2×5 Deathshrouds. These are supported by two large Poxwalker blobs that can dash forward using the Unleash the Horde Stratagem, but they can also Spread the Sickness if something happens to the two 5-model Plague Marine units, which can hold their own against incoming threats.

Wrapping Things Up

That concludes our look at the Death Guard, but we’ll have more over the next few weeks as we cover each of the game’s factions and some of the subfactions. Until then, if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.

Nephilim Faction Focus: Death Guard

The Notable Changes

Playing Nephilim Missions

Squaring Up Against the Meta

The Positive

The Struggle