World Eaters vs Death Guard

Last week I had the opportunity to test the new Death Guard against a friend's World Eaters. Both of us were very keen to give the new rules a spin and to see how the two Legions compared.

I brought a Death Guard Vectorium Detachment with 2 squads of Chaos Marines in Rhinos, Chaos Chosen in a Rhino, Raptors, Autocannon Havocs, Terminators, a Biker Lord with a big squad of Chaos Spawn and a Flying Psychic Daemon Prince. It gave me some really solid Objective Secured infantry, a big smashy toughness 6 Spawn squad and a nice hammer like Daemon Prince.
I rolled the Warlord Trait that improved my Chaos Lords squads poison, though I forgot about it all game, and some decent Nurgle Powers. I didn't get the two Nurgle Powers I really wanted (Fleshy Abundance to regenerate Spawn and Curse of the Leper for even tougher units) but that's dice rolls for you.

The World Eaters also used a new Detachment, the Butcherhorde and the angry red dudes brought with them 2 squads of Chaos Marines, Possessed, Chaos Bikers with a Bloodfeeder Lord, Khorne Spawn with a Juggerlord, a Hellbrute and a Renegade Knight.

The game was a fight over the Relic and we deployed from the Short Table Edges. The World Eaters had the first turn and used their Blood Mad rule to surge forward all but guaranteeing they would be able to get the relic first. The Khorne Spawn managed to mangle one of the Nurgle Rhinos with an easy first turn charge taking First Blood but stranding them in the Nurgle lines while the red tide followed in their wake. The Death Guard retaliation was bloody, just like Khorne likes it, as the Nurgle Marines prepared to open fire into the gibbering Spawn. The Nurgle Daemon Prince set himself up to finish them off but in a stroke of poor luck suffered a Perils on his first power and removed himself from the game. Despite this the Nurgle Spawn charged in and destroyed the Khorne Spawn but neither Chaos Lord could damage the other.

In the following turns Nurgle blessed his follower's dice which had my opponent cursing my Feel No Pain rolls. The Khorne Bikers had to rescue their Juggerlord from the Nurgle Spawn while the Possessed hacked hopelessly at the Chosen of Nurgle and the Nurgle Terminators took out the Knight with a perfect Combi-Melta Deep Strike before taking the relic away from the last of the Khorne Marines.

In the end the two Khorne Lords spent most of the game carving up incredibly tough Nurgle Marines until they eventually managed to steal back the relic on the last turn.

Overall I really enjoyed how both Legions performed and loved how different they were even though they are essentially both Chaos Space Marines. The Nurgle units were incredibly tough, standing up to whirlwind charges of the frenzied World Eaters with frustrating resilience. It was a pity that the Deamon Price died so easily but the fight was neck and neck creating a very enjoyable battle.

I am looking forward to my next battle where I plan to try incorporating a Cult of Destruction for some dam tough Obliterator support in place of the Terminators and Daemon Prince.

How have you found the new Traitor Legion rules in your games?