Darkest Heresy

Okay, first I’ll say that as a datafax this is intended for Apocalypse games, so it was intended to be mighty powerful. After all, small bonuses don’t exactly affect apoc games too much.

Take the Necron phalanx (I think… it’s the one that gives 3+ WBB rolls and reduces strength of incoming fire) or the SM linebreaker squadron as examples. I believe those are both 100pts + models.

As for how it works, you are required to take a minimum of 3 Plague Marine units in the formation, and as per the The Blight rule you can upgrade a plague marine from each unit to a blight marine.

Now I’m not sure if you thought this was intended for regular 40K games (in which case you would be very justified in your reaction), but if not I think you’re over estimating the effect this could have in an apoc game.

Any armies that have no save against the attacks have the models to spare dying to the blast. They would also more than likely have no save against AP5 or AP6. Armies that do have a save against the noxious vomit attack survive a third of the time.

The chance of many models being ‘turned’ by the Plague Spreader rule is generally going to be rather smaller than you seem to be assuming. 5 models maximum can surround an enemy in assault, and that would assaume that you have killed of the rest of the Plague Marine squad, still have 5 models left yourself, and the Blight Marine survived the turn so you could move up. Most of the time in assault you see 2 or, rarely, maybe 3 models in BTB contact.

All that said, I did consider a 100pt starting cost with maybe a 20pt upgrade cost. 3+ units for the formation pretty much means 400pts+ in models and basic wargear in addition to the formation cost.

Compare that to a Linebreaker Squadron at about 400pts that can wipe out every model in the Blight Marine formation with one strength 10, AP 2, 10″ blast attack. No saves, no Feel No Pain, instant death.

Something I did note though was that I forgot the basic rule of apoc datafaxes. That is to say that units stay within 6″ of a ‘commander’ unit (so no spreading them accross the field).

Another thing I considered was a wave of zombies being created from the Plague Spreader rule, instead of the Blight Marine. It would have to hit more models to generate a reasonable number of zombies, but they would be something like lesser daemons in stats (fairly weedy).

-J

The 3-5 limit makes sense, so I’ve changed that and added the Commanding Plague rule.

Also made it a flat 100pts + models to keep points simpler. That works out a little more expensive per Blight Marine, unless you take the full 5 squads, in which case it’s about the same as before.

Sods Law could have some, uh, interesting effects… managing to get your elite assault unit wiped and replaced with 3 or so Blight Marines would be something of an “oh poop” moment I think!

You  mean this plague of zombies? http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1180078_Chaos_Space_Marines_Datasheet_-_Plague_of_Zombies.pdf

I like the formation, and I like Nurgle… But to make it really fun you need a lot of zombies, in the region of £60-£80 worth if you include a box of guard for bits. I would need at least a few big themed games lined up to make that investment I think!

Still… it would be nice to see my ravenous dead consuming my enemy