Deathshroud Terminators

 So finally,

I painted my first three Deathshroud terminators in August of 2019 and now ... I finally have 3 units of 6 completed!

Yes Indeedy, 18 of these boys have been painted by my hand adding a whooping 990pts to my Death Guard army. As ever with 40K 9th edition, the devil is in the detail, and these boys are no exception...

Negatives

These boys are slow ...very slow. And with the reduced board sizes in 9th, it's extremely difficult to deep strike them where you need them. AND EVEN IF YOU DID, you still need to roll a 9+ on 2D6 to charge. As these are very much a combat formation, it doesn't give them flexibility which 9th craves which is why, a lot of Death Guard players leave them on the shelf and go for Blightlords. I'll tell you why you shouldn't...

Positives

Durability:- At 3 wounds, toughness 5, 2+ save and a 4+ invulnerable, these guys are hard to hit. With a -1 to an enemy weapons AP, and a -1 to damage, a formation of 6 of these is as solid as a rock.

Obsec :- these boys have objective secured.

"But so do the Blightlords" I hear you cry. So below is where things change:

Plaguespurt Gaunlet might not look much but, with 7D6 shots from a unit of 6 (2 for the champ) hitting on 3+ at Str 3 you are going to clear those pesky blocking units, put in your way so your Deathshrouds can't charge more juicy targets (remember contagions. With the chimes adding 3", and your terminators contagion range and arriving turn 2 or 3, your enemy is likely to be -1 toughness meaning that you are either wounding on 4+ or 3+ re-rolling 1's for plague weapon. Caught a few opponents out I must say).

The scythe attach in combat: Okay so let's take a unit of 4 of these boys. With the scythe attack the unit is making 34 attacks! Hitting on 2+ with a str 5 -1 AP and 1 damage. This will carve through light infantry blocks like a scythe through wheat. Remember that you re-roll 1's to wound for Plague Weapons.

Cleave: The cleave gives the bearer 4 Str 7 attacks hitting on 3+ (there is a -1 on this weapon to hit ... no idea why), -3 AP and 2 damage re-rolling 1's to wound for plague weapons.

So if you take the cleave option and have a lord nearby (as these units are core). You are likely to do the below damage from a unit of 5 onto a knight:

21 Attacks hitting on 3+ re-rolling 1's = 16 hits

Str 7. Adding the -1 toughness for the contagion and possibly 'Eternal Hatred for 2CP' (+1 to wound) you are looking at 3+ to wound = 13 wounds with a re-roll for Plague Weapons.

It's -3 AP so most knights will be on a 5+ save of some kind meaning that 9 wounds would go through, which equals 18 damage!

These are knight killers. After one round a knight is either dead or on it's final bracket. I believe that this makes the Deathshroud terminator the Death Guards best combat unit.

Though the Landraider is not the best tank in the world, I would take it as a delivery system for these terminators as it prevents the dreaded roll of an 8 when you land from deep strike.

Right that's it today! 5 more Blightlord terminators and I'll have 31 of those to show you.

until later

Toodle Pip!