PSA: Death Guard Blightgrenade Bomb

[mattblowers]

Just an FYI: beware of the blightgrenade bomb from deathguard. Faced the list last night and ho-boy did it crush me. The gist is it uses a character that allows them all to throw a grenade. My opponent had a unit of 20 and he split fire so it was 2 rounds of 10 D6 shots at S:4 that do mortal wounds on a 5+ in addition to normal damage and normal wounds on a 4+. It absoutely annihilated 2 of my flyrants in one go. The unit has a power or strategem on them (can't remember which) that basically makes them a character so you can't target them. It is a real challenge.

DG is more resilient than I gave them credit for. A single Daemon Prince tanked 3 smites, 1 psychic scream, and 72 dev shots. Gross.

And of course he had Mortarion who is a beast.

I know we have tools to deal with this and I could have played it better, but don't be fooled, this is a tough list to handle. Don't believe the internet hype, a DG army in the hands of a competent player can bring a real tough game to your door.

Thoughts on dealing with it:

I probably should have used my gargs to deepstrike in and charge the bomb to take out their shooting. He had them pretty well surrounded, but it would have been my best shot. Lesson learned.

Target priority between getting to the bomb and Mortarion is a hard choice as they both can ruin your day and single handedly wreck your army.

Genestealers feel like they are made of paper against this list, I might as well have not even had them.

I had units of 25 termagaunts and 15 gargs, more would have been better.

I should have kept the flyrants out of range but since he was one big blob I would have struggled to kill anything.

[mattblowers]

This is the guy that makes the list work.

[darthweezy]

The Biologus Putrifier is pretty nasty and a good Elite choice (and you could take more than 1 I think). Using the Veteran of the Long War for 1CP and the Grenade Stratagem (can't remember the name) for 1cp is a devastating combo. I'm glad they FAQd his Hyper Blight Grenade not being able to have the extra S and Dmg. Filthy Death Guard...

[almostmercury]

I’ve heard about it, but how does the grenade get +1 to wound?

[mattblowers]

Dec 13, 2017 19:23:29 GMT almostmercury said:

I’ve heard about it, but how does the grenade get +1 to wound?

Strategem that gives it to 1 unit of Death Guard infantry. It works in CC or shooting. It's nasty.

It's 3 CP:

1 lets everyone throw a grenade
1 adds +1 to wound
1 makes them untargetable.

One of the best uses of 3 CP in the game.

[almostmercury]

Seems good. +1 to wound is bonkers in 8th.

[killercroc]

Have you tried a carpet of gargoyles (since they have the largest base they can block the most area) to make it so nothing could get close and then just like Kronos bio-bugs? Even against DG things like Exocrine, Biovores and Stranglethorn fex/tyrant should give him a hard time.

[N.I.B.]

Dec 13, 2017 15:39:34 GMT mattblowers said:

Just an FYI: beware of the blightgrenade bomb from deathguard. Faced the list last night and ho-boy did it crush me. The gist is it uses a character that allows them all to throw a grenade. My opponent had a unit of 20

A unit of what?

Dec 13, 2017 20:04:29 GMT almostmercury said:

Seems good. +1 to wound is bonkers in 8th.

Yup, prepare for the Red Thirst.

[almostmercury]

Dec 13, 2017 22:25:26 GMT killercroc said:

Have you tried a carpet of gargoyles (since they have the largest base they can block the most area) to make it so nothing could get close and then just like Kronos bio-bugs? Even against DG things like Exocrine, Biovores and Stranglethorn fex/tyrant should give him a hard time.

I just played a match against death guard and I realized how important multi damage weapons are against them.

I mean, I knew this already from genestealers with catalyst being nigh unstoppable against 1 damage anything. But two damage... ouch.

I didn’t bring anything any multi damage outside of hive guard and HVCs on flyrants. I really could have used an exocrine or spray fex.

[killercroc]

Yeah that Disgustingly resilient is such a pain to get around our multi-wound weapons become so much better. I mean Exocrine are already good but having the 2 dmg plasma can burn right through plague marines, or using the +1 dmg stratagem on MC's turning a Dakkafexes devourers into 2 dmg is pretty nasty. Stranglethorns, Hive guard really anything. Kronos relic becomes really handy too.

As for Catalyst, I need better dice because I did the same 5++ 5+++ on stealers but my dice are still so bad that I fail all the saves. last game had to make 8 and with 5+ twice I still only made 2... and it was constant all game long, constant on all my games actually.

Against those DG is basically comes down to S6 or higher, at least ap -1 and 2 dmg or else you'll just never kill anything all game long. We're lucky that we do have the option codex wise for lots of multi-damage weapons.

[almostmercury]

The ones that seem likely to make the biggest impact are the acid spray and bio plasma cannon. Mostly because of volume of fire.

[mattblowers]

Dec 13, 2017 22:30:35 GMT N.I.B. said:

Dec 13, 2017 15:39:34 GMT mattblowers said:

Just an FYI: beware of the blightgrenade bomb from deathguard. Faced the list last night and ho-boy did it crush me. The gist is it uses a character that allows them all to throw a grenade. My opponent had a unit of 20

A unit of what?

Death Guard troops. Are they still called plague marines? If so, then plague marines. If not, then whatever name replaces them.

[mattblowers]

Dec 13, 2017 22:59:31 GMT killercroc said:

Against those DG is basically comes down to S6 or higher, at least ap -1 and 2 dmg or else you'll just never kill anything all game long. We're lucky that we do have the option codex wise for lots of multi-damage weapons.

Neophytes might be a good match up. Their S:3 weapons don't care at all about the higher toughness of DG. DG are a good counter meta army. I don't know how strong they would be in general, but they bring a really different twist that is hard to deal with.

[killercroc]

Honestly Neophytes would be a huge waste against DG. I can see where you're coming from with the increase T doesn't matter against S3 but factoring in that DR meaning you need a 4+ to hit, 5+ to wound, 3+ save then 5+++ save on average 40 Neophytes with autoguns in double tap range will one kill. To me spending 100 points to kill a 17 point model is a bad investment. Honestly if you were wanting to spam S3 Spinegants might be better cause they're a point cheaper and get S3 so they ignore that T buff but you get 25 instead of 20 cultists for the same points which gives you a slightly bigger meat shield.

But minimizing the amount of S4/S5 stuff you bring is a good way to overcome Death Guard.

I haven't played him since the codex drop but the local DG player does about 2 zombie blocks 20 strong buffed by Typhus. Mortarion with Terminator guard, 2 squads with blight launcher spam and then 3 drones and 2 mortars. I do not look forward to playing it because the codex looks powerful. I should look it through and build a counter army.

[mattblowers]

Dec 14, 2017 16:04:15 GMT killercroc said:

Honestly Neophytes would be a huge waste against DG. I can see where you're coming from with the increase T doesn't matter against S3

I was thinking more about the bodies to slow down the already slow DG to dance around them and outscore them. They always struggle to kill tough things, but this gives them a purpose. DG are quite nasty but rare enough no one really builds against them.