Traitor Legions: Sons of Mortarion

[andozane]

First run at a new Death Guard list using the new Chaos Traitor Legions book (it is a very cool book)

 

Death Guard Vectorium

 

It is a tight squeeze, but I can take the Terminators bare bones and make the Vectorium Formation.

Everyone is Mark of Nurgle

Everyone is Veteran of the Long War

Everyone has Feel No Pain

Everyone rerolls 1's for FnP

Everyone gets Stealth if being shot at from 18" or more away

 

Have to toy around with the distribution of special weapons and what not.

I know there is no anti air, but wow, this just really makes me feel like I could run a fluffy Death Guard list.

It always bothered me that I could take Terminators with Mark of Nurgle, but they didn't have Feel no Pain.

Now they do :)

That being said...this is like...60 Toughness 5 dudes...49 of which are Plague Marines, the rest in Terminator Armor.

All have Feel No Pain

Just feels like a fun Nurgle list for me :)

 

Total Roster Cost: 2000

 

Vectorium

 

CORE

 

Plague Colony(50#, 1556 pts)

   1 Typhus, 

   6 Plague Marines, Meltagun x2 

      1 Plague Champion, + Power Sword x1

   6 Plague Marines, Meltagun x2 

      1 Plague Champion, + Power Sword x1

   6 Plague Marines, Meltagun x1

      1 Plague Champion, + Power Sword x1

   6 Plague Marines, Meltagun x1 

      1 Plague Champion, + Power Sword x1

   6 Plague Marines, Meltagun x1

      1 Plague Champion, 24 pts

   6 Plague Marines, Meltagun x1

      1 Plague Champion, 24 pts

   6 Plague Marines, Meltagun x1

      1 Plague Champion, 24 pts

 

AUXILIARY

Terminator Annihilation Force

HQ: Chaos Lord Terminator Armor

   1 Chaos Lord, + Mark of Nurgle + Power Axe x1 + Combi-Meltagun x1 

Elite: Chaos Terminators (3#)

   2 Chaos Terminators, + Mark of Nurgle

      1 Terminator Champion,  + Mark of Nurgle

Elite: Chaos Terminators (3#)

   2 Chaos Terminators, + Mark of Nurgle

      1 Terminator Champion,  + Mark of Nurgle

Elite: Chaos Terminators (3#)

   2 Chaos Terminators, + Mark of Nurgle

      1 Terminator Champion,  + Mark of Nurgle

 

 

[AbusePuppy]

I wouldn't do Power Swords on the champions; when you're Initiative 3, the Sword just isn't very good at anything. An Axe, a Maul, or a Fist would be better.

 

Some Meltaguns are good to have, but I would go with more Plasma if you can manage it. Plasma is great for Plague Marines.

 

I think you really kinda want Rhinos for the Marines, if that doesn't completely break your vision of the army. Five Plague Marines inside a Rhino are incredibly annoying to get rid of- they shoot out the top hatch and when you wreck the transport, they fall out behind the chassis so you can't shoot them. Plus, the same guns that are good at killing Plague Marines are the guns they want to be shooting at your Rhinos.

 

The Terminator Annihilation Force wants more Combi-meltas. Dropping in, vaporizing a target, and then hitting another one is a great way to use them; it also might be nice to slip one or two Power Fists in there.

 

Since you're gonna be scraping for points in a number of places, the only realistic option I see would be cutting the squad sizes down below seven- sad, I know, but it will help a lot. Is Typhus required for the core formation? Some of them let you take a generic Chaos Lord instead, and I don't remember whether that one does.

[VonVilkee]

Death guard march not ride!

[andozane]

I wouldn't do Power Swords on the champions; when you're Initiative 3, the Sword just isn't very good at anything. An Axe, a Maul, or a Fist would be better.

Yeah, the power swords were just a filler for points distribution, I absolutely agree, axes are the way to go.

 

Some Meltaguns are good to have, but I would go with more Plasma if you can manage it. Plasma is great for Plague Marines.

Very true...Relentless plus plasma is win win.

I think you really kinda want Rhinos for the Marines, if that doesn't completely break your vision of the army. Five Plague Marines inside a Rhino are incredibly annoying to get rid of- they shoot out the top hatch and when you wreck the transport, they fall out behind the chassis so you can't shoot them. Plus, the same guns that are good at killing Plague Marines are the guns they want to be shooting at your Rhinos.

Nope...I mean, sure, I do...but trying to make a fluffy list...so they march...yes, this army will be slow.

The Terminator Annihilation Force wants more Combi-meltas. Dropping in, vaporizing a target, and then hitting another one is a great way to use them; it also might be nice to slip one or two Power Fists in there.

Yeah...I'm thinking of dropping this formation, and choosing the spawn one instead. Plus, the spawn can move fairly fast, and still be kind of Fluffy...not sure on the Aux choice yet, or I just might do something different.

Since you're gonna be scraping for points in a number of places, the only realistic option I see would be cutting the squad sizes down below seven- sad, I know, but it will help a lot. Is Typhus required for the core formation? Some of them let you take a generic Chaos Lord instead, and I don't remember whether that one does.

True as well, but I'm going to toy around with my Plague Colony, I really like it as is. I might replace Typhus with a Chaos Lord...and actually drop one of the squads down to 6 Plague Marines, as the Lord will be the 7th man in that squad.

 

I really want the 3 Vindicator Formation...but the Warpsmith Tax is killing me.

 

Going to play around with it some more :)

[andozane]

So, another twist...if I don't go Vectorium/Plague Colony route...

 

This loses a lot of the side benefits, like rerolling 1's for FnP, Gaining stealth against shooting from 18" or further away, and the enemy units being at -1 WS, I and T at the beginning of the Fight Sub Phase if within 7" of a Plague Marine unit.  SO...lose a lot of little benefits that are pretty cool....

 

BUT...this gives a lot more options, and those Havocs are Relentless.  Well, everyone is Relentless.  Which is cool :)

 

I might play around with points...if I want to upgrade a few things I will drop the Havocs down to 5 strong and take those points for upgrades elsewhere.

 

Sons of Mortarion

 

Combined Arms Detachment (59#, 1993 pts)

   1 Chaos Lord + Mark of Nurgle + Power Axe x1 + Combi-Meltagun x1 + Blight Grenades

 

   5 Plague Marines + Plasma gun x2

      1 Plague Champion + Power Axe x1

 

   6 Plague Marines + Plasma gun x2 

      1 Plague Champion + Power Axe x1

 

   6 Plague Marines + Meltagun x2

      1 Plague Champion + Power Axe x1 + Combi-Meltagun

 

   6 Plague Marines + Meltagun x2

      1 Plague Champion + Power Axe x1 + Combi-Meltagun

 

   6 Plague Marines + Flamer x2

      1 Plague Champion

 

   6 Plague Marines + Flamer x2

      1 Plague Champion

 

   6 Havocs + Mark of Nurgle + Autocannon x4

      1 Aspiring Champion + Mark of Nurgle

 

   6 Havocs + Mark of Nurgle + Autocannon x4

      1 Aspiring Champion + Mark of Nurgle

 

   Chaos Vindicators

      1 Chaos Vindicator + Siege Shield

      1 Chaos Vindicator + Siege Shield

 

   Chaos Hell Blade (IA) + 2x Hellstorm Autocannons

[alexcragg]

So why are you sticking with Plague Marines?  You get almost the same value out of Nurgle Marines for 16 points instead of 24

[andozane]

So why are you sticking with Plague Marines?  You get almost the same value out of Nurgle Marines for 16 points instead of 24

 

A very valid question...

 

First and foremost, Fluff.  I don't want to play Chaos Warriors who have succumbed to Nurgle over the centuries of war...I want to play the Plague Marines, those who in my mind are truly Mortarion's children :)

 

Second, Fearless, though not as important as it once was, is still important and I like that in Plague Marines.

 

Third, Gear.  Plague Marines get Blight Grenades, which are awesome.  They can also equip two special weapons in squads less than 10 strong.  

 

But, you have raised a very fair point...trimming that many points in this list, losing fearless and blight grenades and the extra special weapon...I just might have to toy with that idea :)

[alexcragg]

Can't argue with most of that, except you get Fearless and Feel No Pain on all your dudes with Veterans of the Long war.

 

16 point marines: T5, Feel no Pain, Fearless and Relentless (drive around in rhinos and shoot auto-cannons).  No blight grenades or Plague Knife.

really solid

[andozane]

Can't argue with most of that, except you get Fearless and Feel No Pain on all your dudes with Veterans of the Long war.

 

16 point marines: T5, Feel no Pain, Fearless and Relentless (drive around in rhinos and shoot auto-cannons).  No blight grenades or Plague Knife.

 

really solid

 

Oh wow, I totally spaced the VotLW part...and that is pretty much required.

So, yeah, Blight Grenades, Plague Knives (Which I had forgot about) and the extra special weapons are the loss.

 

I may end up with a "Fun" list and a "competitive" list so to speak....Thanks for pointing that out.

[VonVilkee]

You could mix and match rather than all of one squad type take a mix for different jobs... Couple of plague squads to push up and hunker down with the betterequipment. A marine squad or two for more suicide type jobs. Really some nice point options there

[AbusePuppy]

Actually the Plague Colony gives a good reason to run Plague Marines over CSM: it has a 7" aura of -1 Toughness, Initiative, and Weapon Skill, making the PM a lot scarier in close combat. It isn't necessarily better than the Chaos Warband, but it does have a nontrivial benefit to using them. (Getting two special weapons at minimum size is also worth a fair bit.)

[alexcragg]

Sure, but I feel like if you are dumping points into expensive marines that are 'meh' in close combat you don't need incentive to go into close combat.  I prefer the flexibility of the ObSec Warband.  And ObSec havocs lumbering around with relentless is awesome!  Or driving around in a rhino, firing two autocannons out the hatch or two melta guns (incase that Knight gets close).

[AbusePuppy]

Sure, I'm not saying that the Chaos Warband is bad; in fact, it's likely better than the Plague Colony overall. But -1 Toughness is a pretty big debuff; it can, for example, allow you to Instant Death T6 models and T5 models much more easily via a Power Fist and allows you to trigger the reroll on their poisoned weapons against all enemy MEQs. It does some pretty unique stuff that shouldn't be underestimated, even if it's probably not tournament-worthy at the end of the day.

 

Heck, if all you want is the FNP and Relentless, there's no need to even go for the Warband- just take a CAD so you have access to all of the cool Forge World toys and aren't forced to take those overpriced Bikes/Raptors.

[winterman]

I dunno I think reroll 1s on FNP and the 18" stealth on all models (including those rhinos people wanted to take) is well worth giving up FW resin.    You also gain obsec on the havocs/chosen and their rides which are better than troop CSM for leveraging relentless.

 

And if an obsec 3+ jink T6 bike unit with FNP rerolls 1sis my tax?  I'll pay it.

[andozane]

 

And if an obsec 3+ jink T6 bike unit with FNP rerolls 1sis my tax?  I'll pay it.

 

Always wanted to do some Nurgle Bikers...same with Terminators.  Always seemed a shame in the old rules you couldn't get FNP on them...one of the reasons I'm really loving this new book.

[scottshoemaker]

If Death Guard aren't 7 men, they have no place in a Nurgle army.  Just sayin'

 

 

 

btw, I'm old...

[andozane]

Hmm...going all Plague with the Chaos Warband in mind...

 

This is just a rough list by the way, Vectorium.

 

Chaos Lord in Termi Armor, MoN 

 

4 Units of CSM with MoN, these can either be 7 strong (fluffy) or 10 strong for the second weapon.

 

1 Unit of CSM Terminators with MoN, 7 strong (actually, probably do 6 and put the Lord in here to get my 7)

 

1 Unit of CSM Bikers with MoN, 7 strong of course.

 

2 Units of CSM Havocs with MoN, 7 strong, autocannons or something else, but Autocannons seem pretty good

 

The above is the Chaos Warband

 

Then you do a unit of Spawn with MoN, 5 strong (can't do 7 sadly) to fulfill the Aux choice for Vectorium

 

So, if doing 7 man squads on the troops...and some basic war gear on everyone...that runs about 1811 points ...

 

Leaves me almost 200 pts for more gear and other options.

 

And everything except for the Spawn is Obj Sec, that is pretty cool :)

[winterman]

4 Units of CSM with MoN, these can either be 7 strong (fluffy) or 10 strong for the second weapon.

 

Take just the min two units of these and take chosen or havocs instead.  Can get more specials that way.  Its all still obsec.  Only negative is when using havocs in big guns mission or paying a bit extra for chosen (which actually isn't much of a tax at 5 man, but is significant at 7).

[Guest]

As long as the goal is a fun and fluffy list, why not add a Chaos Daemon allied detachment with a GUO and some plague bearers/nurglings? If you don't have any, Bryan might loan you some....

[andozane]

As long as the goal is a fun and fluffy list, why not add a Chaos Daemon allied detachment with a GUO and some plague bearers/nurglings? If you don't have any, Bryan might loan you some....

 

Because...points.  That sounds fun and good ...but in an army where you are already scraping for points, I don't see  the need to stretch them even further.