Death Guard Heavy Support Pt 1

Obliterators

Originally, the Obliterator cult was a fairly specific group of warriors, but with the new book we find more ambiguity in whether the Obliterators are infected with a virus, or just daemonically possessed. Either way, its definitely clear they came from the Dark Mechanicus. Since most Death Guard armies would have Dark Mechanicus connections, the idea of Nurgle marked Oblits running around is fairly fluffy, assuming you are willing to accept the older fluff going away, something I think is ok considering that marks wouldn't fit the idea of the independent role originally imagined for them.

These guys are great, 2 wounds, T5, tons of shooting options. They did get some downsides, they are no longer fearless and took an LD drop, plus they can't shoot the same weapon 2 turns in a row. Even still, you will be advancing and shooting, so alternating weapons will not be too big of a problem unless your opponent stays to lascannon range, something most armies can't accomplish.

Take in units of 2-3, 1 on their own is workable too, and in some lists with minimal heavy support, I will take 1 in each empty slot, allowing me to target multiple opponents and forcing my opponent to over-commit to shooting one unit or the other to wipe them out. 

Havocs

The swiss army knife of the book, Havocs don't benefit THAT much from T5, because most likely they aren't taking that much small arms fire. That said, its the fluffy thing to do. The best guns for your money are autocannons (2 S7 shots with decent range, not too shabby), and missile launchers, which have the option of Flakk missiles for 10 points each. Honestly, people dismiss ML, but the ability to instant-death most marines, lay down a blanket of templates on top of a hoard, and also shoot flyers at BS4 makes them quite capable. I would lean toward taking a unit of ML in lists without a lot of other flyer defense. I often take a Rhino with this squad, because it is a useful way to ensure your havocs aren't wiped out first turn, just block LOS with the rhino, if your opponent shots an empty rhino to get at your havocs, sure you lose a turn of shooting getting around the cover, but the rest of your army should be moving into place in that time anyway.

There is another approach to these guys, and its pretty effective. Slap 4 of your favourite special weapons in the squad and give them a Rhino (or use Lord of Deception to infiltrate them, muahahaha), and you've got an inexpensive way to deliver a ton of melta, templates, or plasma. This is definitely effective, I would say though, that there are at least other ways to do this without burning a heavy slot, such as taking guard and running melta vets in chimeras, since you can get them cheaper and their tank is tougher, and they score. 

Either way of running them is effective, and they are more durable than a predator, but they drop in effectiveness pretty fast when they have to move. Definitely a core unit, they will show up in most of your lists.

Forgefiend

The Dark Mechanicus were busy for this Codex release, this is the 2nd of 4 daemon engines in the book, and one that I think fits well with the aesthetic of the Death Guard. the fleshmetal aesthetic, the stand and shoot playstyle, the big freaking guns with skulls on the gun barrels, with just a little bit of work the Forgefiend is a perfect complement to the aesthetic of a corrupted nurgle army. It easily looks at home with Blight Drones and Heldrakes alike. Once again, this is a unit that is appropriate if only because it makes sense that the Death Guard would deploy with engines of war corrupted by the dark gods. Unfortunately I don't have any further fluff background on this particular beast because there isn't that much fluff for it!

The Forgefiend is an odd duck as far as units go, it has a lot of rules that add to its survivability (daemon, it will not die), but then is an AV 12 walker with 3 hull points. Anyone who has run a rifleman dread (the closest equivalent to this model I can think of) understands how easy 3 hull points are to strip off av 12. Autocannons glance on a 5, and other forgefiends glance on a 4, plasma melts it and on a 6 has a decent chance of dropping a weapon or blowing it up, etc. AV 12 is great when you have a flyer (hello Heldrake) or when a unit is cheap (chimeras, rifleman dreads) but when you have to pay 175 points (more than the old defiler, which I won't even get into now) you wind up with a unit that isn't really a deal. 

That said, there is much to like about the forgefiend. Hades autocannons are 36" S8 heavy 4 weapons, some of the best dakka imaginable. The fact that you get 2 of them on this monster is great, especially since it has BS 3, which any IG player can tell you needs weight of fire to balance out. This guy can really be effective shooting at anything. Point it at a flyer in a pinch, it will land at least one hit most likely, and possibly 2. S8 hits the ligher AV of flyers pretty hard. It won't drop it in one round most likely, but this is a decent way to force a flyer to jink or strip a final hull point. Point it at a non-eternal warrior special character's unit, and pop soulforge so you can reroll to wound rolls. S8 instant kills most SM HQ's. Point it at heavy tanks like predators or land raiders and hope for some lucky hull point damage. Point it at enemy transports and watch them explode. 

The only area you really don't do well with is high save units like Terminators and hordes of cheap infantry. For those situations, the 3 plasma cannon option is decent, but man, the drop to 24" range hurts. You will find yourself in range of a lot of plasma as you cross that line, so I would run that configuration only if supported by some high power long range shooting (like maybe an auto-las Predator or two).

Maulerfiend

The Maulerfiend, brother of the Forgefiend, is our third and final new daemon engine. Essentially a close combat specialist walker, this fiend is a wonderful addition to the book, providing a dedicated and incredibly fast assault unit. I think it fits the Death Guard playstyle, if only because its a great countercharge unit, or a good tie up that allows your other units to advance and charge into assault after it. The fluff of the Maulerfiend is similarly new, but it should be fairly easy to make it work with a Death Guard list. 

At 125 points, the Maulerfiend is a much easier choice than the more expensive Forgefiend. You are, however, burning a heavy slot, meaning this is a model that doesn't shoot in a primarily shooting slot, so you should have the heavy and special weapons you need covered before making this commitment. This monster is going to eat a TON of shots if you rush it forward, and most likely your opponent will kill it. This is probably ok, because they are going to shoot with a lot of anti-tank weapons, meaning a rushing Maulerfiend will give cover to the rest of your army. This is primarily going to help foot lists and close combat lists. Alternately, run it in the rear and pounce on your opponent when they get close. Either way, the Maulerfiend is a great support unit that must be in a list that needs a close combat walker that will draw fire.

That wraps up the first few slots, the rest will be dealt with in the conclusion of this series.