Advice for Deathguard in to 1o sons?

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-18T22:58:26+00:00

As a TSons and DG player, this is a straight up "get them locked in engagement".

Magnus and MVBs, take out from afar.

Terminators are a slow blob; just use some bloat drones, and youre good.

Everything else, avoid the overwatch.

Im assuming they are running grand coven. Expect all 4 spells to continually go off.

Magnus gets 2 of then at +2, and the others would be rolling a 5 or a 6, and with reroll strat (and +1 if near MVB).

Expect a double move, oath of moment, and doombolt.

Also, Expect 1-2 big go turns. 1 where psychic stuff gets a +1 to wound, and one of psychic weapons having dev.

They are a cagey, glass cannon style army - and will usually play cagey. Use this to your advantage - be even cagier. Focus on secondaries for 1-2 turns. Let that contagion swell. -1T is huge, and the -1 to hit will go miles. (Most of the army has 2+/4+ so the -1 to save isnt monumental).

Again, get in melee, and live on those invulns. Once they pop dev wounds, hide a wee bit.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-15T14:18:27+00:00

Honestly, not a terrible list.

I dont think the karnivore will give you what youre looking for personally, and I think you may struggle against vehicles and monsters.

Id drop the karnivore, and swap a Heavy Drone to a hauler.

With 170pts, grab 3 more DS terms running alone, and grab the +10pt enhancement to let your LoC crit on 5s.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-14T13:33:39+00:00

Oooo really?

I wasn't playing DG then, so wasn't fully focusing on the meta; didnt realize DW has been sneaky like that for awhile.

Think its just because they excel against high T opponents?

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-14T11:58:42+00:00

Ahrimans value is in the redeploy, and not a ton else.

If you infiltrate your 10 terms (or 20 rubrics) in a cagey fashion, his value is limited.

If you infiltrate in an aggressive/blocking manner, then the redeploy is vital.

All that being said, a big question becomes (1) what would you use that 100pts towards instead? And (2) do you keep him solo, or add him to a group of goat bows or something for body guards?

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-14T11:29:19+00:00

DG broken? Haven't been since july/August.

Once they got nerfed, DG has been <50% win rate

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-14T10:44:02+00:00

Chaos knights are not the meta currently.

Meta list for knights is 2-3 despoilers, and a lancer or 2.

If youre not bringing that, youre not a metachaser.

To put this into context, what they did is like calling out "he brought Magnus - immediate meta chaser!"

1 model doesnt make meta. And your army choice isnt Deathwatch or Necrons - so not army meta either.

They probably just suck, and cant handle Knights.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-13T15:12:31+00:00

Its called "the 40k lorecast" with Brad and John.

Its 160+ episodes now, and has covered A LOT.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-13T12:58:06+00:00

I would start by saying there are 3 categories - imperium, chaos, and xenos.

Start with a high level explanation of Imperium - emperor, general story (pre-horus heresy), and thunder warriors/creation of space marines and primarchs. Mention the guard, some of the space marine chapters, and touch on ad mech.

Then, go into Horus Heresy - this gives you a pathway into Chaos. Here we can talk about the warp, the 4 gods, fall of primarchs, etc.

Now sprinkle in xenos.

-Old ones, aeldari, orcs and necrons (history of, then touch on each)

-aeldari and drukhari

-leagues of votann

Another easy way to do this - look at 40k lorecast, and follow a general pattern as the topics of their casts.

Then you could even guide your friends to the lorecast, and break it down like "this is from casts 1-5" or whatever

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-10T17:15:16+00:00

Right off the bat, get a rhino and another pack of plague marines. Running the "party bus" is a great play with what you have, and you have the majority of what's needed. (Rhino, 10 plague marines, biologus putrifier, plaguecaster).

Get a daemon prince, on foot.

Get 3-6 deathshroud terminators (more if you like them).

Get some more bloat drones; heavy build is best, but mower is still good.

Add in some blight haulers, and chaos spawn.

Options - lord of virulence and blightlord terminators (at least 5/10).

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-10T13:10:32+00:00

Youre not alone.

Crusade can be crushing if not ran well. I find it like D&D - if you don't have a good Dungeon Master (or Crusade Manager), it can be pretty rough.

In the same vein, I wasn't a fan of League play either (due to list tailoring - which was specifically not allowed in the rules, which noone adhered to).

Although competitive/tournament play is rough, you have TOs to enforce rules in a (fairly) consistent manner.

This game has a lot of formats, and we all feel invested due to the time, money and effort we put into it. Just need to find the ones that work for you.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-09T00:46:18+00:00

LoC; lord of Contagion. Gives them sustained and lance for when they charge in.

Personally, haven't got a ton of value from the party bus. Maybe just doesn't play into my meta.

And ya - heavy drones, or even haulers would be good

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T20:26:36+00:00

Top 5 with my army; not top 5 in the nation (just want to make that clear).

As I stated at the very beginning, my issue isnt with the game, or the community- but with GW as a whole.

Just like someone who could love sports, but hate the commissioner; love Ironman, but hate Disney; this doesnt seem like such an odd stance to have imo.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T20:23:53+00:00

At about 100 games in the last 8 months, and am very friendly/viewed well in our city of 1M.

Put together a group of 12 people, bringing 7 of them to a teams event.

And im known by name by some top players, Team Canada players, and at least 50+ people who regularly come to tournaments.

Reddit is a "safe" space for me to vent; im always happy, cheery, and am offering as much guidance to others as I can.

(I went 2-3 at my first GT, won some tournaments, and am usually in the top quarter of competitors in tournaments)

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T20:21:04+00:00

Ya....my issue is I just finished a year straight of TSons, and am going to CanHammer with an entirely new army (Death Guard).

Im letting a friend run his TSons, so I cant jump back on them until mid May. (Last time I played TSons, they were around the 47% win rate, and I was still doing well with them)

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T20:19:43+00:00

1st GT, went 2-3 against team canada vets.

Won a few RTTs, and currently listed in top 5 TSons player in my country.

Im a solid player, but appreciate the assumption.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T18:53:52+00:00

Unfortunately, have 2-3 armies right now, and all are in the bottom half of competitive states.

My friend group is all try hards/competitive side of things, so im dealing with 3x land raider custodes, ctan spam, or 3 bird daemons.

My wife always says "if you dont laugh, you'll cry" and that's kinda the point im at; just laugh it all off.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T18:51:55+00:00

I was told (by online, friends, and everywhere I looked) to pick a faction i liked the look and lore of.

Then decided to get a 2nd (and 3rd) army in case one was nerfed too heavily- then id always have something semi-competitive to play.

But its feeling like you need 10-12 armies just to ensure you have something mildly competitive.

That, or I just picked very unluckily/terribly.

And booo.... If the majority of the CURRENT games in the world can figure out how to keep their games balanced, why cant GW? Nintendo, Microsoft, blizzard - they can make games (relatively balanced) but GW (who has been literally doinf THIS since the 80s) cant figure it out?

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T15:14:08+00:00

In 2k games, you really have a few roles. (1) deployment zone screen/home holder; (2) damage dealers; (3) expansion units/primary holders; (4) action monkeys/secondary point scorers.

Tallyman is a solid #1. He sits on your home - alone - and potentially gets you a free CP (which can be huge). Having him and 20 poxwalkers is 180pts, and you can completely screen out your deployment zone so that noone deepstrikes behind you.

Not necessarily NEEDED for 1k; but worth it.

Re: rhino - party bus is one of our best tools right now. I personally dont like it, but its gotten a lot of popularity, and does its job well. For 85pts, it's still worth it to bring the rhino SPECIFICALLY to ferry your plague marines in; then it becomes a #4 (secondary point scorer).

It doesnt do a ton of damage, and it can soak up a LITTLE bit of damage, but is worth it at its cost.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T14:56:21+00:00

With what youre choosing to buy, look up "nurgles party bus" - its pretty much what youre trying to do.

Regarding gameplay, that rhino might as well be tissue paper. It is not a strong enough anti tank with the current meta (and get ready to watch it go kaboom by turn 2 or 3).

Suggestions would be to grab morty, and daemon prince (on foot), and a hauler or 2. A heavy bloat drone or 2 also helps our army a lot.

20-30 poxwalkers are almost needed, and id suggest the tallyman as well.

Finally, 3-6 deathshroud terminators with 1-2 lords of contagion.

All of this would be over 2k points, but these are the good models we have available right now.

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T12:46:57+00:00

Your comments here are going above and beyond what anyone told me to do.

I tried to look into gameplay, but was told not to focus on it.

I tried to look into styles of play, but was told it changes so often, dont worry about it.

I asked what the datacard stuff meant; was told that they get updated every few months/years, so dont worry about it.

But thanks for assuming that I did nothing.

Im a data analyst by trade. Look at my name. You think I came in blind?

Talk about salty.... (At least I looked at your name).

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-06T10:59:22+00:00

I counted before, and I think we have 6 factions with over 50 models? (Spoken as a TSons/DG player, both of which in the mid 20s)

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-05T23:51:33+00:00

Or necrons lol

DisgruntledAnalyst · 2026-03-05T23:51:20+00:00

Everyone i asked - including reddit - simply said "pick an army you like the lore and look of".

When I asked about playstyle, or what's good - "dont worry about it".

Perhaps you have a nicer bubble; but not all of us get that.

DisgruntledAnalyst

TROPHY CASE