Foul Blightspawn lore is all about the most fanatical Plague Marines who want nothing more than to watch the enemies devolve before them.
With the Death Guard Codex getting a reveal recently, we wanted to look at one of the most interesting and fun units of the Death Guard. The Foul Blightspawns are so in love with pestilence they even have to go to college (sort of…) to learn how to better do it! Get out your rattiest blanket and let’s learn about them!
The Most Blessed
Becoming a Blightspawn is no small feat. Just even getting recognized as a candidate can be hard, but that doesn’t stop these obsessed Marines! They generally rise up through the ranks of the Plague Marines, big shocker there… But they take the love of watching the enemy suffer through pestilence to a whole new level. While most of Nurgle’s children understand plagues, they create their own and take a strange satisfaction at the results they can achieve.
When one becomes a Blightspawn, their flesh quickly expands and bubbles with putrid growths. Being around plagues all day long may not be good for you as it turns out… Their eyes turn into a black goop and they rely on nothing but warp energy to see the world. The smell that seethes out of their every popping pore is enough to make their fellow Plague Marines blush.
Only through endless dedication can the plaguecraft flow freely through their warped minds. A single-minded devotion to pestilence is all-consuming for them. However, the joy they receive from seeing their creations work is worth every second poured into the craft.
Learning the Craft
When a higher-up finally notices a worthy Marine, they send them off for secondary education. Maybe more like a trade school than a college, if trade schools were based on Plague Planets that is. The new Blightspawn gets shipped to one of the many disease factories spread across the Daemon worlds of Nurgle and takes the first steps towards infamy.
Day one is not pretty in plague school. To help them in their craft, gears and churn are forcibly driven into the new recruit’s body while an incubatum is affixed to their armor.
Once they have the gear, they are ready to learn. The oldest and most pestilent of the order run the schools and impart their knowledge to the newbies. It takes years and years to learn enough to be considered ready for battle. Once they have proven their knowledge of disease beyond reproach, they are reenlisted into a Death Gaurd Company and can finally unleash their own inventions on the enemy.
Testing Their Creations
There is no greater pleasure for a Foul Blightspawn than getting to test his inventions on unsuspecting enemies. They churn new diseases all day and night before a battle, laughing at the carnage they are about to unleash on their foes.
The Imperium has been on the brunt end of many new diseases but that doesn’t mean they won’t try things out on Xenos as well. In battle the Blightspawn chuck their creations at the enemy, watching with bated breath. Hoping beyond hope their new disease works the way they intended. When the enemy begins to fall in droves, the Blightspawn knows he’s done his duty. A job well done for papa.
That does it for these nasty beings! Such cool and fun little characters who never saw much play in 8th. Maybe they’ll see a resurgence in the coming days.
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
