How to use Plaguebearers

[Shiboinky]

I've recently been converting my 30k death guard over to 40k and have been including a battalion detachment of nurgle daemons in most of my recent games.

 

I've been running a pack of 30 plague bearers and have tried a couple different deployments from holding a flank, occupying the center, and deepstriking right in front of the enemy. I recognize their survivability and all, but have been very disappointed in their damage output. Are they there simply to tie up enemy shooting or can they be killy as well?

 

Any suggestions on how best to use these guys?

[Doom Herald]

Keep them with a Poxbringer (virulent blessing for psychic power) and a Spoilpox Scrivener, keep the dettachment Nurgle for locus. You'll get +1 STR, +3 to wound. Potentially, you can get 3 damage per wound and double attacks for each natural wound roll of 4+, with some extras still for natural wound rolls of 3+.

 

Edit: I misread a few things... those guys are still the way to go but one of those effects applies to hit rolls, not wounds. Still would be the way to go though.

 

+1 Str

 

+2 to wound roll, 3 damage on natural wounds rolls of 5+, 2 on 4+.

 

+1 to hit, extra attack on natural hit rolls of 6+.

 

With the Plague Banner strategem, it is potentially 5 damage per attack.

 

The lack of AP does suck though.

[DeStinyFiSh]

Like Thanatos said, use the buff HQs.

 

Spoilpox is the most important, followed by Poxbringer with either Miasma for more survivability or Virulent Blessing for more punch.

Princes help as well with the reroll to hit, as does Epidemus (who gets better the bigger the games are and the more Daemons you take).

Icons get better with a Bilepiper, but this is more for fun than competative gaming.

 

All in all they are better in receiving damage than dealing it, but they can hurt a lot thanks to hit buffs, wound buffs, reroll hits, reroll wounds, additional attacks and so on. The only thing mising is a decent AP.

[Doom Herald]

With the Daemon Prince, you can just use a Deathguard Daemon Prince, and it will still give the buff to the plaguebearers and Death Guard.

 

With all the buffs and re-rolls, AP shouldn't be a huge problem against basic units, power armour would be annoying though. Against units with high Invuln, the AP is irrelevant anyway. A 3 damage, or 5 damage, hit when you do break through the saves will hurt characters and more durable units.

[Shiboinky]

Thanks everyone! It sounds like deepstriking them is separating them from the buff characters too much. I'll probably just run them up the field from now on.

 

Semi related question: do the poxbringer's buffs apply to daemons from the death guard codex (bloat drones in particular)?

[Doom Herald]

I don't have the Codex on hand, but if the rule says NURGLE DAEMONs or NURGLE DAEMON units, then it applies to any unit with those keywords, both faction and regular keywords. The only exception is strategems because of that FAQ (which is really mislabeled errata) that states specifically that Daemon strategems only apply to units with DAEMON as a faction keyword.

 

Edit:

Poxbringer will buff CSM NURGLE DAEMONs, such as possessed, for certain. I was thinking of the Scrivener when I saw your post for some reason.

[DuskRaider]

He will buff Bloat Drones, Blight Haulers and Plagueburst Crawlers AND Mortarion as well. Epidemius does too, which is why if you're using a combined army ALWAYS take him.

[Sheesh Mode]

Plague Bearers are designed to hold the mid-field against advancing enemy units. Used in conjunction with Death Guard they will soak a lot of fire power while your marines shoot at valuable targets. It is very fluffy.