Continuing the look at upcoming new rules for Death Guard, today we get a chance to see the Contagions of Nurgle that weakens enemy units.
Right from the get-go, this powerful ability has a 1″ radius. This may not seem that impressive at first, but it will kick in against any enemies foolish or unfortunate enough to be engaged with your units during the opening round.*
As the battle unfolds, this debilitating contagion will only become harder for your enemies to avoid. By Turn 4, it’s entirely possible that the Toughness value all of your opponent’s units will be reduced by 1. This really suits the Death Guard style of play – an inexorable advance that the enemy will struggle to repel before they’re eventually overwhelmed by your forces at close-range.
The key here is that almost all of your attacks will be more effective against enemies that are within range of Nurgle’s Gift. For example, a Toughness 4 Space Marine will be reduced to Toughness 3, meaning your boltgun fire and melee attacks will be wounding them on a 3+ instead of 4+, and Plague Weapons will be even more effective.
Fast and durable units such as Myphitic Blight-haulers, Foetid Bloat-drones, and even Mortarion himself are great options for making the most of this ability. They can quickly close with the enemy battleline and start spreading the contagion as soon as possible, ensuring any target units near them have an even greater chance of taking damage from your ranged fire.
Another useful means to spread Nurgle’s Gift is to field a Miasmic Malignifier. Not only can it be set up a mere 12″ from your opponent’s deployment zone, but it always counts as the fourth battle round for the purpose of determining the range of its Contagions of Nurgle ability. It’s a subtle but effective means of area denial – while it may not directly harm any units that advance into range, these enemies will be considerably more vulnerable to attacks made by your other units.
