# Is Death Guard still a viable army choice in 6th ?



## Gomolon (Oct 2, 2010)

I havn't played in ages, i sort of play on and off, but I really want to get into 40k, starting with chaos space marines (as i have some figures and inks from previously, but not much). I havnt played in 6th, nor seen the 6th rulebook/6th chaos codex. So is death guard still an effective army choice ? how has 6th/new codex affected it ? the main disadvantage i can see is plague marines as elites, meaning less chosen/terminators but I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially on whether to take an ally/which army to take as a death guard ally ?


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## Dies Irae (May 21, 2008)

I think Death Guard is still very viable in 6th. Your Plague Marines switch from Elites to Troops if you have a Nurgle marked Lord, and now they have poisoned CC weapons (but they cost 1 point more). They are still in my opinion the best objective holders in the game. 
Going Death Guard also gives you an alibi to field Bikes with Mark of Nurgle who are pretty good, as they are almost invulnerable to small arms fire and can be led by a Lord with the Burning Brand for a mobile AP3 flamer (immune to Instant Death). 
And finally you can ally with Daemons and bring Epidemius on the table, and rack up kills for the Tally in no time. 

All in all I think the Death Guard is the most favored Legion in the new Codex.

PS: there is also Typhus who is quite awesome, turning Cultists into Zombies (think 100 points for 20 Feel no Pain and Fearless guardsmen)


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## andygorn (Apr 1, 2011)

Hi + welcome back, Gomolon!
There's more on DG and the new codex in the chaos tactics threads here which go into more specific detail, but it depends on what do you mean by a DG army being ''effective''?
Also, what do you want in your army? Only Marines? Or the full load of things like daemon-engines and cultists, too?

From what I've read here: 
If you mean "Will a Nurgle CSM army be top-tier in tournaments?" I have no idea.
If you mean "Is a Nurgle army the strongest in the new CSM Codex?" I have no idea.
However, if you mean "Can I make a CSM army which is Nurgle-only?" Yes, as a Nurgle HQ unlocks Plague Marines as Troops choices.

Nurgle now changes the toughness stat, so you get Instant Death'd by less things. Plus, you can give it to bikers (who are now cheaper in points), so they're even better at resisting hits.

The Feel No Pain save roll got worse, but (I think?) this is negated less often now, so it might balance out. 

You can take Nurgle marks for other units like Obliterators.

I always liked the "unleash bolter hell" concept of Death Guard, so the 6th Ed changes to rapid fire should help, I think?

If you want cultists, Typhus can turn them into plague zombies (i.e. no guns, but a bit more resilient).

Not sure, but GW might say that Epidemius' "Tally" only increases due to wounds from Nurgle Daemons, rather than Nurgle CSM's?

Hope these help a little.
These may be a bit vague, but I wasn't sure what you're intending to use/asking and CSM Tactics should have more specific answers for you (i.e. about the pro's and con's of individual units & lists), so I hope you find the answers you're looking for there.


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## Antonius (Jan 10, 2012)

As a (relatively) independent observer (My armies are SM and IG, but am well informed of the CSM dex). I think its less a "THOU MUST TAKE DEATH GUARD TO BE COMPETITIVE" with the new codex, than the previous. Its not that they have taken a hit, but everything else around it has gotten better relative to their previous positions (Bikers, basic CSM). If you look at all the previous edition's powerbuilds /netlists, they were all of the form "x units of 7 Plague Marines with Plasmaguns in rhinos, with extra toppings", so if anything i can imagine CSM players rejoicing in OPTIONS that almost present themselves as equally viable. Yes FNP has been Nerfed (slightly, i think it was largely simplified to get rid of so many pissy exceptions), but correct me if im wrong, but hasnt a lot of the CSM codex (including PMs) received a nice hefty price cut across the board, so with one hand GW take, but on the other they give you so much extra.

My tuppence worth
Antonius


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## Putrifectus (Jul 11, 2011)

That depends completely on what you mean by Deathguard. If you want to go all out on DG-fluff you'd be restricting yourself a lot, like only taking PMs for troops and no normal cheap CSMs even with mark of nurgle, as little fast attack as possible (which hurts as fast attack is one of our better slots now, with cheap bikes, better spawn than before, and the new helldrakes), no oblits, etc. So doing an actual Deathguard army that is still competitive can be hard. 
But if by Deathguard you only mean a mono-nurgle army you are very able to make it competitive. MoN is probably the most solid mark in this codex, especially as you can put it on stuff like obliterators, and only pay about 26 pts each (if i remember correctly) for nurgle bikes (T6!). 
But as I said it's all up to what you define as DG. For an army strictly following actual DG-fluff it'd be hard to justify taking stuff like the bikes, oblits, helldrakes etc.

Also, I just bumped a thread from last year (and still only 7-8 days), does that get me banned?


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## notsoevil (Nov 30, 2010)

Nurgle Bikers. T6. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Typhus and zombies. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Nurgle is good. Nurgle is grand.


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

I think it's a bit depressing that you seem to be (at a glance) picking an army on how competitive it is.

Granted, no-one wants to be stomped... but still.


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

Orochi said:


> I think it's a bit depressing that you seem to be (at a glance) picking an army on how competitive it is.
> 
> Granted, no-one wants to be stomped... but still.


He wants to start CSM and wants to know if the one he wants to do is competitive at all. Say you have an awesome idea for a themed list of Coteaz and his 100 Banishers in Razorbacks. You don't want to buy 101 Finecast or OOP Metal models and their 10 Razorbacks or embark on 100+ significant conversions and end up with an army you'll find it difficult to win with. After asking around the forums, you realise you probably don't want to commit to that army, awesome though the idea may be.

No harm in asking if something's any good before you buy it, especially something as time-consuming or expensive as GW.

Midnight


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