Remorseless. Relentless. They come for you, and nothing can stand before Death.
Of all the legions the Death Guard are the most centered around the use of the infantry. As a former infantry Marine myself this is one of the main things about this legion that got me into it. I am reminded of a quote from Major General William Phillips “Where a goat can go, a man can go and where a man can go, he can drag a gun”, this sums up the Death Guard rather well. At its core the legion operates with around the infantry squad everything else is there for support. This is evident in the legion doctrine and reflected in rules. Units of the Death Guard and the rules that they possess can be seen to reflect the doctrine of giving the infantry all the tools and weapons need to accomplish the mission.
I have been playing Death Guard for many years now both in first and now second edition with a collection that reflects both my own personal lore and take on them as well the ability to make a list I can see Mortarion himself walk with. Here you will find my thoughts and opinions of the Death Guard based on years of game play, events such as Adepticon and NOVA Open as well pouring over the Horus Heresy novels and tomes (book 1 Betrayal). We will discuss this below as well as sum up the legion Rites of War, special units, and how to make a lore accurate army on the tabletop.
When it comes to building an army you need a few things in mind to be set up for success; a story or bit of lore, a rite of war, and the models to build it out. For me it’s always been about the story, like the name of the captain leading this company or the company itself. Who is he? What’s his service record? Why is he in command? What company is it? Where has it been? What ship is it based off of? For me these tend to be questions I come up with and answer as I build the models up. That being said I know not everyone is like that when it comes to their forces and that is awesome, I don’t know how you do, but its awesome. Others will focus on a named character and work on a force they would lead with so cool to see that on the table.
The Death Guard do tend to lack in that category not entirely but it does box you in to certain paths. You have Calas Typhon for the Traitors and then Cyrsos Morturg for the Loyalists but other than them not much. Yes, there is Rask but he suffers from Ferrus Mannus syndrome (He doesn’t make it out of the first engagement). The reason I bring this part up is because if you want to make your own lore and characters the Death Guard are a great canvas to use. With few named characters with rules means more for you to fill in and to make epic on your own. Having ranks after ranks of faceless nameless warriors is also very Death Guard so lore wise you really can’t go wrong. If you are looking for inspiration in the novels I recommend Path of Heaven, Vengeful Spirit, Buried Dager and Warhawk. As well as Book 1 Betrayal because it is a holy tome.
Once you have your Master of the Legion picked out you need to make a choice of what Rite he will take. The Death Guard have two that accurately portray them and plays to their strength. The first of them is The Reaping, a fitting name for what it does and what it does is awesome. Do you like heavy weapons? Do you like to send rounds down range? Do you want to shoot move repeat as you lay enough lead out that you can walk over it? Well if you do then the Reaping is for you. With making Heavy Support Squads non-compulsory troop choices and the Death Guard rule for always be considered as stationary when making shooting attacks that means every turn you will be able to lay the hate down range.
If you want to play pure Death Guard the trinity of weapons were bolter, flamer, and melta and you can easily take squads of those. There isn’t much in the game that can take overwatch from a ten-man multi melta squad and come in unscathed. This list does prevent you from making moving Movement reactions (so no running) which means you are not very fast. You don’t have to be when every turn you are sending autocannon shots while displacing. Now lists using this rite of war can easily be abused and turned into hard hitting lists very quickly.
It comes down to you to police yourself. Not everyone wants to play ten-man lascannon teams every time so be smart with your selection. My reaping lists will usually have a ten-man missile launcher team and either ten-man heavy bolter or autocannon. I do have ten multi meltas to build but I tend to balance it out with other choices.
The other Rite of war unique to them is Creeping Death. In first edition this was a lack luster but in the current edition it had a glow up. The XIV legion was known for operating in the most hostile environments and this rite does just that. Making all Death Guard automatically pass Dangerous terrain tests and then making all area terrain dangerous is big in Heresy games. With games usually having lots of beautiful terrain on it this makes any army now think twice about using that ruins as cover. With no real draw back on this rite of war besides making you take a siege breaker you can quickly turn any board into a radioactive hellscape. While this will be great against armies with big units like solar aux or militia; against mech or custodes who either don’t care about the danger or have the saves for it, it will struggle. Both rites embody the Death Guard with the Reaping showing off the infantry as the base of fire for the legion and being able to fight in any clime or place where they can take a gun. To Creeping Death which shows off the effects of the weapons wield by the legion and turns the battlefield into the very war zones the legion became infamous for.
Not one to embellish or favor any sort of unit the Death Guard special units are not as special as other legions. With only three units unique to them and one them being an Exemplary unit they hold to true to the fact the basic infantry man is what the legion is known for. The first of the units to talk of is the most specialized of them an honor to be yes, it is the legendary and mysterious Deathshroud Terminators. Mortarion’s own silent guardians that two of them must always remain within 49 paces of him at all times. These are the coolest bodyguards in all the legions, and I will die on that hill. Rules wise they are the best bodyguard unit in the game. With a strong 3 wounds each and battle-hardened these are some of the tough units to kill. Really the only downside to them is their power scythes, while cool weapons they have a tough time cutting down anything with a 2up save. However, this is helped when you run them as a retinue to a character that usually has an AP2 weapon (Paragon blade, thunder hammer or Silence). While they can be taken as elites and run on their own their place is by the primarchs side. In my armies I rarely run them unless with Mortarion or Calas. I have converted up some Deathshroud to protect Calas as he would have his own take on them.
Speaking of the 1st Captain our next unit is from his own Grand Company, the Grave Warden. This unit as well as the Mortus Poisoner squad are really just basic units with lots of equipment. When I say lots in the case of the Grave Wardens I mean lots. Having two weapons for shooting attacks and then one of them being able to have different ammo these boys are able to put some fire down at close range. Gone are the days of the small blast for them instead each gets 4 shots of the toxin grenades which I can say I am a fan of. As I said though these squads are just that lots of equipment because they have your standard terminator stat line. No bonus to shooting or weapon skill, no extra wound or toughness. Now that’s not to say they are a push over each of these have power fists base and a 2+/4++ means they are not going anywhere fast. Especially when you charge them it is always considered disordered, which means it will take that much longer to get rid of them.
Along similar veins are the Mortus Poisoners, meaning they are just more kitted out Destroyers. Coming armed with bolter, rad grenades, counterattack and stubborn these are destroyers and tacticals mixed together. Able to take Alchem flamers to make them more toxic they can play an interesting role. Most effective in close quarters or on the defensive they can shine to bring flavor to a destroyer heavy force or a Reaping list.
Having decided who is going to lead and what they are to lead it now comes time to assemble the scions of the Barbarus. I will not claim to be a master painter by any stretch of the imagination I do not consider myself that. The Death Guard have allowed me to grow in my painting more so in my weathering of them. If you have clean Death Guard you’re not you are clearly an Alpha Legion operative. The XIV legion are functional over flaunt and won’t repair their armor unless its integrity is compromised. This means you will have units with chipped, rusted and dirty plates.
If you have been wanting to learn how to weather and rust your models, then the Death Guard are for you. Something simple as sponging on some rhinox hide paint or using Dirty Downs Rust (Highly Recommend) the world is your oyster when it comes to being dirty. So have fun with it build it up and experiment with what you like. It’s a great project to learn a new skill on. There are plenty of more qualified painter out there to help you learn and I will not do them justice hear so get out there and make Mortarion proud.
If you have read this far, I commend you and hope that if you are on the fence about starting a Death Guard project that you are now going to pull the trigger on it. Painting and building my Death Guard as well as writing lore and telling a story with them has really what’s kept me in the hobby over the years. I do hope to share that with you all in the future. SO please go forth my fellow hobbyist and may you drink well, play great and let the dice roll.
Tim
You’ll hear him before you see him. His voice bellows out challenges barks out war cry’s and will always be the loudest in a toast. There are some who call him Tim and he’s an over caffeinated war gamer that has spent far too much time and money into collecting tiny plastic toys. A former host of the Legion Speakeasy and co-founder of New England 30k he has been a dedicated to the Horus Heresy for well over a decade now. Tim has always and will always be down to throw dice against any army anytime and you can be sure that no matter how the dice roll their will be laughs and heroic moments. Not one to hold back but also not one to play the objectives he can be sure a game against him will be one you remember.
