Welcome back to our dive into the Death Guard. Today we’re looking at the lords and sorcerers we find in the Death Guard HQ section. Plus, no discussion of Lords of the Death Guard would be complete without looking at our blighted Primarch.
Lords of the Death Guard
The very first thing we need to deal with is the Lord of the Death Guard keyword. When constructing your army, each Death Guard detachment may include no more than 1 Lord of the Death Guard. Likewise, each detachment may include no more than 1 Daemon Prince. If you want many lords in your Death Guard HQ you’re going to need multiple samll detachments. On the other hand you’ll easily have room to include psychers in your list.
Typhus
The definitive Lord of the Death Guard, Typhus comes with a variety of powers highlighting his power and lore. As the Herald of Nurgle, he may find his way into any Plague Company. However, only with the Harbingers will he carry a contagion. With his Vector of Disease adding 3 inches to their range you’ll want him to have that contagion. Likewise, the Master of the Dead Who Walk aura adds to the effectiveness of Poxwalkers and combines effectively with The Wrathful Dead company stratagem.
For the remainder of his abilities, he shares the Lord of the Death Guard aura with most of the other lords, boosting CORE units in melee. This ability will push him to close with your opponent! The Host of the Destroyer Hive has him handing our mortal wounds to nearby enemy units, again encouraging you to close the distance. Finally, his weapon loadout, master-crafter manreaper and blight grenades, make him an effective fighter against both hard and soft targets.
Take Typhus in your Death Guard HQ when you want to play Harbingers plague company with lots of poxwalkers. Take him when you want to have an iconic character as your leader. Finally, take him when you need a hard as nails leader to get stuck in!
Death Guard Chaos Lord
Choosing a Death Guard Chaos Lord for your HQ means you’re running your plague company on a budget. He has a basic profile in power armor, broad selection of ranged and melee weapons, and Lord of the Death Guard aura to boost his followers in melee. A 4+ invulnerable from the Sigil of Corruption never is out of style either.
While cheap, this Chaos Lord does not have a dedicated model at this time. The Plague Marine Champion from the Chosen of Mortation set makes an adequate proxy. You might also find him second hand from the 8th ed Dark Imperium set. With this model, you’d go with power fist and balesword / power sword as his armament.
Alternately, here’s an excellent opportunity to practice your converting skills. You get just the loadout you want and unique appearance. He’ll be yours and yours alone!
Death Guard Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor
This choice takes the Chaos Lord above and plops him into a set of Terminator armor. While your weapon selections are more limited, you do have some good melee options with a chainfist, power fist, or even twin lightning claws.
However, there is no currently available model for this option and no good proxies. Instead, start chopping on the Blightlord Terminator and Chaos Space Marines Terminator sets. The first gives you the basic body, the second many of the weapon options you’ll want. You’ll need to add a few “extras” to mark out your lord. I like to create a “trophy rack” with 3 Space Marine helmets in a triangle to honor nurgle. Bonus points if the heads still in them, Reiver and Infiltrators are good for that.
Lord of Virulence
This lord was in very high demand when released. The Lord of Virulence carries the same suite of abilities and stats as a Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor. However his weapons and Master of Destruction aura make him strictly better.
His plaguespewer fires at Heavy 2D6 with auto-hits out to 12 inches. Naturally, it is a plague weapon with a heavy flamer profile. His plague claw hits like a powerfist, but again plague weapon for the win. Finally, the Master of Destruction aura improves the AP of nearby ranged plague weapons by 1 on wound rolls of 6. It makes for a solid buff for all almost all of your heavy and special weapons in CORE units.
Lord of Contagion
Ah, the Lord of Contagion. He’s a common figure on the tabletop as this was the commander from the Dark Imperium set and nearly everyone had a model. You may still find him second hand, but GW does not have him available for sale.
He is a close combat brute with a manreaper; effective against both hard and soft targets. His Lord of the Death Guard aura combos well with Vector of Disease as they both encourage you to close the range for maximum benefit.
He’s also one imposing figure, towering over nearby marines and poxwalkers alike.
Lord Felthius and the Tainted Cohort is your other option for a Lord of Contagion. He was released in this set with three Blightlord Terminators. His abilities are identical, but he has a different weapon loadout. His plaguereaper is an extra damage power fist with plague weapon. Meanwhile, the orb of desiccation is a once per game grenade with 3D3 attacks and the Biologus Putrifier’s hyper blight grenade profile. Very nice.
Death Guard Daemon Prince
This strange looking mutant is the end goal of many a Chaos Lord, a Daemon Prince. While he shares most of the standard abilities, he loses out on a point of Invulnerable save. He makes up for that with avastly improved stat line and cost. If what you’re looking for is a, relatively, fast moving assault HQ, then the Daemon Prince is your man…. er …. thing.
Unfortunately, he’s only available as a mono-pose resin model from GW direct. His hellforged sword hits hard and the malefic talons grant an extra attack, so that’s good. IF you feel good about converting, you may replace and upgrade with a plague spewer, daemonic axe, or even wings! Just be careful when working with resin, you don’t want to breath in the dust.
Did I forget to mention he’s a psycher as well? Yes, he is a Toughness 6 psycher with 8 Wounds and 6 Attacks. Worth taking if you can make the model yours or settle for the stock option. Beware his evil eye!
Psycher Madness
Our next section takes us away from the power driven Lords of the Death Guard. Now we get to add some warp spawned madness to list with a pair of psychers to fill the rest of our Death Guard HQ slots.
Malignant Plaguecaster
The only currently available model, you’ll find the Malignant Plaguecaster in the Chosen of Mortarion set. Armed with a bolt pistol and corrupted staff, he’s much better in a fight than shooting. But you weren’t taking him for the shooting phase.
In the Psychic phase he may manifest 2 powers and deny 1. He knows Smite and two other powers from the Contagion Discipline. As if that weren’t enough, Pestilential Fallout lets him hand out a mortal wound on Psychic tests of 7+. More blessings from Grandfather!
Death Guard Sorcerer in Terminator Armor
While possessing the same number of Psychic powers and manifestations as the Malignant Plaguecaster, the Sorcerer in Terminator Armor feels like a bit of a letdown. Probably because he loses Pestilential Fallout in exchange for increased shooting, fighting, and cost. He’d make a good support unit for a Teleport Strike.
Now, the Sorcerer’s weapons options are a direct copy of the Terminator Chaos Lord above. However, he loses out on the Lord’s improved WS, BS, Wounds, and Attacks.
Likewise, there is no longer an official Death Guard model. Instead, he does give you the opportunity to build an unique unit from the same bin of parts as the Chaos Lord. You’ll need to find something suitable cool for the force stave or axe. They’re traditional and you don’t want to minus to hit from a fist.
Lord of War
Normally, one would not expect to find a Lord of War leading an army. But the Death Guard don’t have a Baneblade, Knight, or Gorkanaut. For our final stop of the Death Guard HQ tour, let’s deal with a Primarch.
Mortarion
If you’re playing with a Battle-forged army, Mortarion will be your warlord. He’s an imposing 25 Power, but the things you get! Here’s his sheet from our previews article on Death Guard.
He’s fast, especially on 9ths smaller boards, Toughness 8 with a 3+/4++ Save, and 18 Wounds. His weapons, while short-ranged, pack a devastating punch. Silence’s eviscerating blow hits at Strength 16 and laughs at armor. The reaping scythe turns each attack into 3 at Strength 8. Of course, he can mix and match those attacks at will.
Further on, he starts with 3 Warlord traits (see page 49) and Host of Plagues adds another. His Contagion range starts at 9 inches thanks to Toxic Presence. Even if you manage to remove him from the board he may leave a parting gift of mortal wounds from Putrid Explosion. Mortarion is the gift of Nurgle that keeps giving!
Did I mention he’s psychic? He knows Smite and 3 powers from the Contagion Discipline. He may manifest 2 and deny 3 per turn. I suppose we should be thankful he doesn’t have Pestilential Fallout as well.
Overall, Mortarion is the ultimate Death Guard leader. His high cost, both in points and real cash, prevent him from seeing common play in smaller games. However, if you have the time for a high point game, he’s the one to pull off the shelf. Or choose him for open play. Just check that your friend has more than a Combat Patrol. Ok?
Other Resources
Thank you for checking out our range of Death Guard leaders and mages. I hope you found something to your liking.
For a look at the Troops, click over to our earlier article –
Death Guard Troops; Plague Marines and Followers
Elites and Characters are the subject of our second article –
Death Guard Elites: Terminators and Characters
In our next piece, I’ll be taking a tour of the vehicles, daemonic engines, and spawn employed by the Death Guard.
