Games Workshop just dropped another teaser showing off Mortarion’s stats, the Death Guard and their upcoming codex release at the end of the week.
The latest teaser from Games Workshop is giving us our first look at the stats for Mortarion, as well as a new video. Let’s see what they had to say about it all.
The new Death Guard codex is dropping next week, and alongside it is what we’re sure will be the centrepiece kit for many a Death Guard army – the phenomenally imposing new Daemon Primarch Mortarion. Accompanying these will be a Plague Brethren collector’s set of 3 never before seen Death Guard Plague Marines packaged with exclusive content, providing a fascinating insight into the design process of these and the entire Death Guard miniatures range.
Anyone who wants the codex will have a few options – the hardback and digital copies, of course, and for the truly dedicated, there’s also the limited edition Codex: Death Guard, packed with exclusive goodies like art-cards, trackers and datacards, all presented in disgustingly lavish fashion.
Mortarion is, of course, the plague-ridden star of this army release, whether as the leader of a Death Guard force on the battlefield, as an incredible miniature to add to your collection, a painting project, or just for what his return means for the galaxy of the 41st Millennium – he’s sort of a big deal.
As one of THE major players in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, you’d expect Mortarion to be a powerful force in the game, and you would not be disappointed.
His full datasheet and rules are in Codex: Death Guard of course, but since we like you guys, here’s a bit of a preview what the Death Lord can do:
With 18 Wounds and Toughness 7, Mortarion is unbelievably durable – anyone who’s played against his Brother Magnus, who has a similar statline, can attest to that. This is further augmented with a 4+ Invulnerable Save and your Death-Guard-standard Disgustingly Resilient rule, making the Death Lord one of the hardest models in the entire game to kill. Offensively, Mortarion is very different from his brother Primarchs. While Guilliman is a talented commander and Magnus a master of the magic, Mortarion is an altogether more sinister figure. Toxic Presence reduces the Toughness of anyone foolish enough to stand close to him by 1, while Host of Plagues allows him to stack up a growing tally of Mortal Wounds on nearby enemies.
Once Mortarion has closed the gap on his enemies, their demise is all but assured, winnowed away slowly both by his attacks and the supporting fire from his army. We haven’t even got into the deadliness of his scythe, Silence!
These are just the beginning: the new Death Guard are about to be realised in more disguising detail than ever before. You can look forward to the return of classic units like the Plague Marines, as well as unit’s we’ve never seen before, including new Elite troops, characters and vehicles – all benefiting from a whole epidemic of special rules in the codex, to help represent your army on the tabletop.
Death Guard fans out there should be feeling the excitement after seeing Mortarion’s stat line and abilities. This is going to be one amazing model, as all primarch’s should be, with 18 Wounds, a 2+ for both WS and BS, Strength 8, Toughness 7, Leadership 10, 3+ Save, and a 4+ Invulnerable Save.
Host of Plagues is going to be an amazing ability that lets you roll a dice for each enemy unit within 7″ of Mortarion, and it does D3 mortal wounds on a 4+ at full health, 5+ at 5-8 remaining wounds, and a 6+ at 1-4 remaining wounds. All in all you won’t see a drop in his stats until he has taken at least 10 wounds, he will be fighting at full power for more than half his total health.
But Mortarion wasn’t the only thing that GW talked about. They also brought up that we will be seeing the return of the Plague Marines, as well as new units we haven’t seen yet. Could they be talking about the new Death Guard Terminators that have been making their appearance throughout the previews? Or are we all in for a big surprise? We’ll just have to wait and find out.
Make sure you check back in with us Tuesday when they’ll be revealing Stratagems, Warlord Traits, and Relics from the new Codex: Death Guard.
What do you think about the latest announcement for the Death Guard? Are you going to be getting a Mortarion model for your army? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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About the Author: James Rodriguez
