Faction Focus: Death Guard

Okay!  I'm a day late, but I've still managed to avoid all spoilers!  Let's see what GW has in store for The Sons of Mortarian!

Oo!  "The Rotted Brotherhood!"  I like it!

NURGLE'S GIFT

Okay, this is just Contagions of Nurgle but themed more around the Plague God's identity as a giver of life.  This is something I noticed in the lore for Codex Tyranids.   GW seems to want to write their rules more from the perspective of the faction they're writing for, not just the Imperium.  So while the Loyalists see these diseases as contagions, to Nurgle's followers they're "blessings."

SPREAD THE SICKNESS

Okay cool!  Death Guard definitely need sticky objectives!  Their whole schtick is inexorably advancing forward.  So it's good that they can keep advancing and spreading their Gifts throughout the board without stopping.

I'm not sure about giving the objectives Gifts, though.  If you're standing on the objective, you've got Gifts and are reducing your opponent's Toughness.  But if you've left the objective behind, Gifts goes away as soon as its captured.  I guess there's potential for Death Guard to shoot the enemy off it before it flips, so then Gifts will work.  But while fun and fluffy, I don't think this part of the rule will matter much.

BLIGHTLORD TERMINATORS

Toughness 6!  You are definitely going to need to pull out the big guns on these guys.  Though it should be noted most AP-2 weapons I've seen will still wound both these and regular Terminators on 4s or 3s.  No Disgustingly Resilient, though, either as a -1 to Damage or FNP . . .  These are going to be tough and, if damage still doesn't spill over, a lot of damage potential from many weapons will be wasted.  But I'm not sure these are actually tougher than they currently are, even with the reduction in AP.

Lots of weapon consolidation on this datasheet.  Just blades and flails now.  Surprising no one, there's a nice sprinkling of Lethal Hits on these weapons, as well as Anti-Infantry and Devastating Wounds.

4" movement, though, and no assault weapons in sight!  Yikes!

MALIGNANT PLAGUECASTER

We get to see another Psyker!  Still, I'm betting Death Guard players are feeling let down we're not seeing Morty.  First Primarch to be AWOL in a Faction Focus.  Maybe it's because he didn't want to share the spotlight with a witch.

The Plaguecaster gets another focused psychic attack, allowing it to just perform some anti-infantry casting or risk the mortals to go after something bigger.  Gift of Contagion is a nice debuff when we're already looking at a base T5 army.  But a failure inflicts D3 mortals.  This guy only has 4 wounds.  You could easily blow him up in a single turn.  And Pestilent Fallout definitely makes you want to take that risk on Plague Wind, since it only works if you wound the unit.

THE PLAGUEBURST CRAWLER

Going with a staple for this next reveal!  Man!  What is it with the high Strength anti-infantry weapons!  If you're T4 or lower, you definitely don't want to be hit by this thing.  Fitting for Chaos, and just how devastating this weapon is, it also forces a Battle-shock test.  Plagueburst Crawlers are still nasty.

SANGUOUS FLUX

Interesting, going for Sustained Hits here.  I would think those weapons would be better served with some type of Anit-X ability, or anything else that produces more criticals.  Still, more hits does equal more damage, and Death Guard are renowned for laying down withering fire as they steadily advance.

FINAL THOUGHTS

For the first time I'm genuinely feeling underwhelmed.  Morty not showing up definitely doesn't help things.  But the problem Death Guard have right now is that 40K is won in the Movement Phase.  10th doesn't look like it will change that.  Sticky objectives will help Death Guard stay moving, but they'll also need numbers to make sure those objectives aren't just yanked out from under them.  I'm still flabbergasted that Blightlords don't have some form of Disgustingly Resilient!