Mortarion's minions have long been a staple in the ranks of Chaos Marine players, and has garnered a die-hard following, and we're gonna look at why.
To truly understand the love that Chaos players have for Nurgle's favoured sons, we have to go all the way back to 3rd Edition 40k (an edition from an age before a lot of us got into the game at all). In that glorious age, chaos players were gifted with the Chaos Marine Codex against which all to follow would be compared to. It was revolutionary for its time, with rules and war gear specific to each of the original nine traitor legions. Iron Warriors had access to the then-incredibly brutal Basilisk, Khorne Daemon Princes were almost guaranteed Turn One charges, the list goes on. Sounds powerful, right?
It was! It was the vessel through which Chaos Marines ascended to complete domination of the game, so much so that it was partly responsible for the swift introduction of Fourth Edition, and a dial down of Chaos. From this massive high, Traitor Marines plummeted off the top tier, thanks to a combination of bland codexes and editions that favoured assault armies less and less. This left CSM players in a very tricky place, as they were naturally drawn toward "Min-Maxing" (the concept of taking the most points-efficient compulsory units to leave as many points left over to spend on "Best in Slot" powerhouse units. In this time, Plague Marines naturally climbed to the top of the ladder when it came to boots on the ground; they were tough as nails, had good options, high toughness, Feel No Pain (in some iterations) as well as the option to double up on weapons such as Plasma Guns with next to no real risk.
That's not to say that other Legions didn't get a look in, but one reason that Death Guard claimed top spot was that not only were they great in game, they were dripping (literally… Gross!) with character. Where some legions were only denoted by the colour of their armour, when you saw a Death Guard army, you knew exactly where its allegiance lay. The iconic green with flashes of gore, pus and sores would always stand out. From the bloated infantry to the dilapidated, rusting vehicles and decaying monsters, they were distinct in their origin.
Slowly, they began to grow some traction within the community as well as the design team. The Typhus model is iconic, and the Nurgle Daemon Prince released in the first wave of the Medusa V campaign still stands tall amongst the greatest chaos models ever made.
They continued their domination (maybe not in the game overall, but certainly within Chaos) into the 6th/7th Edition Codex, where Plague Marines were oft overlooked for the more affordable Cultists, but Nurgle Bikers and Nurgle Spawn formed the foundation of some very scary and extremely difficult to kill Death Stars in the Age of Deathstardom.
This strength and durability was only compounded and intensified by the release of the short-lived glory that was Traitor Legions Supplement.
And that leads us to the present time, mere weeks after 8th Edition has dropped, launching the ever-present and stubborn Death Guard, an army that refused to be held down by the rules and the meta, once again into ascencion to the forefront of Chaos players' minds; and they are recruiting new followers every day!
This new wave of Death Guard models is out of control. For years and years (and I do not exaggerate at all!), people have been crying out for plastic Plague Marines to replace the ageing metal/plastic then fine cast/plastic Seven Man kit. And they have not been disappointed. We haven't even seen the multi-part kit yet, but the Easy to Build and Dark Imperium models are on a completely different level! The detail is absurd, from divets and rust spots on the armour, to slugs, tentacles and entrails bursting forth from the damaged Mk3 armour (a mark of armour iconic to the Death Guard).
And that's just the rank and file. The Lord of Contagion in his archaic suit of Cataphractii armour to the ominous, floating disease machine that is the Foetid Bloat-Drone, and the lumbering Noxious Blightbringer are all amazing models, not to mention the many maniacal sculpts of Poxwalkers.
One model that I disliked when I first saw it is the Malignant Plaguecaster. That was until I assembled and painted it, and now it is easily one of my favourites.
And this is all just from the starter kit. We've seen teases of the multi-part Plague Marines, a kit that makes massive corrupted Terminators (or their infected equivalent), one of the coolest looking artillery vehicles ever gifted upon Chaos, and of course, the big man himself.
The Daemon Primarch, Mortarion.
To say that I'm excited about Death Guard is an understatement of biblical proportions. For the longest time, I had packs of Death Guard upgrade kits from Forgeworld, just waiting for the right time to make a Death Guard army; and well… I don't think anyone can fault me for saying that now is the time. With my Grey Knights approaching the level where I can play any sized game with painted models, I've been diverting a small portion of my allocated painting time to the Sons of Mortarion.
And before anyone goes and accuses me of "Band-wagoning", I'd like to take the time to politely tell you that that would be 100% true. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Nurgle armies (see Daemons of Nurgle and Clan Pestilens), as well as Chaos in general, so it didn't take much to convince myself to dive in head first.
But now that I've decided to go for it, I feel like the release will take an absolute eternity to arrive.
What do you think of the Death Guard? Will you be joining the ranks of Nurgle? If not, how are you planning on taking down the pestilent hordes of Pox Walkers shambling in your direction?
Thanks for reading, as always.
Gabriel
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