Primarily Assault

Plague Marines armed with bolt pistols are used primarily for assaulting the enemy at close quarters. But apparently Plague Marines can once again not have bolt pistols. They can't have flamers and only the champion can have plasma pistols. These squads will be the first I revise. The Internet seems to think two blight spitters and then a plasma gun for the Champion is the business, or was in 8th Edition. Now we have arrived at 9th Edition and yet another new codex. I care less and less what the "experts" on the Internet think. I haven't played in years and there is literally a pandemic on, but I will try to resume painting and once I finish my Necromunda gang and maybe a few more goblins and Nurglings these three squads will form the core of my army.

I have instantly decided to do the 7th Legion, the Sons, so I will include the shooty plague weapons where I can, including on vehicles and terminators. I am not sure optimal squad size, when I first read the 9th Edition rules I thought we'd see a lot of five man squads, then the pandemic hit, so I've not played at all. I used to run 7 model squads to be fluffy, but the rules are written where you need five or ten models to get stuff, so I'll probably have a ten man squad, then maybe two five man squads. I have so many models painted already, I'll mainly be painting special weapons and new champions.

Green I: The Burning Sores

This squad started it all. Originally used as allies back in the black codex days, from humble beginnings the entire chapter was born. The first batch was made up of converted plastic loyalists with chaos backpacks with a smattering of metal chaos models. Much of my army is made that way. Today with actual plastic Chaos marines available, plague marines even, it would be a lot easier to realize my vision. I try not to have two models look alike thus the poseable plastics are a great aid.

This model although out of print was painted after third edition was released. It is painted in a newer but not my latest style. Infuriating Owen I've taken to painting lots of tiny little lines as far as I know this was something I came up with on my own, examples of this style will be scatter around the site. All the Green squads have green (Bilious) ensignia and eyes. They should have purple tubing for the most part. This squad had three flamers to help kill infiltrators and jet bikes in second edition, that was how they earned their name.

In the latest edition of the Death Guard Codex which I just got, this squad will get the flamer like plague weapons. I'm thinking two plague belchers, but apparently you can have two little and two big plague flamers. I still haven't had much time to think but it seems like you can arm plague marines many different ways, such that no two are alike. The Internet "experts" probably won't do that, they'll spam their "optimal" squad. I think I'll just make this first squad cool and armed to the teeth with plague weapons. I'll definitely have an Icon of Despair but maybe not a Sigil of Decay.

Green II: The AXE Gang

This squad's previous name never caught on but after the latest Death Guard codex came out I decided they would become the AXE Gang as they like Kung Fu fighting and AXE Body Spray obvously. I will likely repaint a bunch of kneepads to get the models armed with axes including the new special Nurgle Axes in this squad.

This model was painted while I lived with Owen, it is pre tiny line style. None the less it is well painted with nice work on the face and plasma pistol. This is perhaps the best model of this period of plague marines released by GW. This is usually used as an aspiring champion but as I often forgot, technically a regular plague marine was able to be armed with a plasma pistol for many a year.

Newly renamed this squad will of course get all the axes, they might not even have any guns but then again I might have a bolter guy or two just for variety and besides guns a cool, but no special weapons that would be a bold choice. I've ran squads that way before including gasp Khorne guys. Maybe I'll give these guys a melta gun and something else just for variety. I like variety. I have so many champs and character models painted already, they keep changing the rules. They have the Elite champion characters now which seem to be a step up from the unit champions, I plan to make heavy use of them.

Green III: Gangrene

This is another clever name. In third edition it was used as my Lord's retinue on occasion as many of the older models could only be fielded as aspiring champions. I've since moved models around between the three green squads and stripped a few models, a few too many perhaps with the release of a fourth Chaos Codex allowing Nurgle renegades with heavy weapons.

This model actually shows how the Diseased Sons ensignia ties in with the plague knifes. This model was painted a fairly long time ago based on the way the backpack was done and the minimal highlights. This model was painted for 2nd edition back when swords were better then other CCWs. I'm partial to melta guns because they can hurt vehicles and they kill foot soldiers dead.

With the arrival of fourth edition I began to expirement with bolters on my plague marines again. This is the assault squad that can have bolters instead of bolt pistols. They generally ride around in a Rhino and along with the Burning Sores are integral to my proposed third GT Army. Bolt pistols are out, this may become the blight launcher squad or perhaps they'll be the flail squad.

I'm going to have to count bolt pistols as bolters afterall it is impossible for a Plague Marine to have a bolt pistol and I have way too many painted, most of the guys in Squad I and II have bolt pistols, but going forward I'll have to paint Plague Marines either with special weapons, two H2H weapons, one big H2H weapons or bolters as bolt pistols are right out but if I ever run these guys as renegades of Nurgle then I can hopefully use the flamers and bolt pitols maybe even the combi-flamers.

Assault | Primarily Assault | Tactical | Support | Fluff