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"Mighty Nurgle! Festering Grandfather of Plagues! Hear your servant's prayer! Look upon the devastation I have wrought, the diseases I have spread, the unbelievers I have infested with your suppurating truth. I beg of you your favour and your boon, that I might strive all the harder to spread your blessings across the stars."

— Vulguthrot, Lord of Contagion
Death Guard Lord

A Death Guard Lord (Lord of Contagion)

A Death Guard Lord is a type of Chaos Lord who exists exclusively within the ranks of the Death Guard Traitor Legion and takes on command positions within its various formations. These Chaos Lords have earned the right to rule through their mighty deeds of destruction, corruption and endurance.

In accordance with their Daemon Primarch Mortarion's proscribed Mantles of Corruption, even his most gifted gene-sons who rise to become Chaos Lords are expected to choose the path that best suits their Nurgle-given talents, and assume one of several Mantles that will allow them to receive the blessings of the Plague God, and thus, raise them up higher along their path to ultimate glory in the eyes of the Plague God.

These Mantles include the roles of a Lord of Contagion, a Lord of Poxes or the Lord of Virulence. There are several other Mantles of Corruption that are only taken up rarely, though it is rumoured that one Mantle exists which none have ever been worthy of, and that it would transform its bearer into a being of pure, malefic entropy.

Role[]

Many and varied are the diseased Chaos Champions who lead the Death Guard to war. From single colonies, through vectoriums and sepsis cohorts, right up to the Plague Companies and the warships of the Plague Fleets, it is the Death Guard Lords who hold positions of command throughout the Traitor Legion's ranks.

As with all aspects of the Death Guard, Mortarion has retained an iron grip upon the doctrines and dispositions of his champions. He expects even his most gifted gene-sons to choose the path that best suits their talents, and then to cleave to it. In this way Mortarion ensures that even as the Lords of the Death Guard win the favour of Nurgle and progress along the path to glory, they still integrate with the pragmatic, infantry-based tactics of their fellow warriors.

Mantles of Corruption[]

In accordance with this philosophy, Mortarion created the Mantles of Corruption, which have become redolent with power and menace over the millennia. The strategies and armaments of each are as instantly recognisable as the revolting symptoms of Nurgle's greatest plagues:

  • Lord of Contagion - The most aggressive and belligerent Lords of the Death Guard take up the Mantle of Contagion. Lords of Contagion lumber into battle in filth-smeared Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour, wielding either snarl-toothed axes taller than a man or two-handed scythes that sweep aside the foe. They tend towards direct strategies with little in the way of cunning or subtlety, and are pugnacious commanders, supremely confident in their followers' ability to absorb the worst the enemy can throw at them and still prevail. They embody the swift-spreading plague that tears through a crowd, killing indiscriminately and leaving mounds of bodies in its wake.
  • Lord of Poxes - Lords of Poxes favour the spreading of airborne miasmas and the merciless, attritional erosion of the enemy.
  • Lord of Virulence - Lords of Virulence are masters of massed bombardment, hammering their enemies with heavy firepower and decimating their ranks in the manner of a lethal infection laying its victim low.
  • Other Mantles - Some Mantles of Corruption are taken up only rarely, and by the most unusually gifted individuals. The Mantles of Parasitism, Withering and Flux are among such infrequently bestowed rewards.

Wargear[]

Death Guard Lord[]

  • Combi-weapon (Combi-Flamer, Combi-Melta or Combi-Plasma as optional replacement for Bolt Pistol)

Death Guard Lord in Terminator Armour[]

Lord of Contagion[]

  • Plaguereaper - A Power Scythe infected by the corruption of Nurgle, revolting toxins and infectious slime weeps from this weapon in a ceaseless stream. Even shallow cuts or glancing blows will leave the enemy's flesh seething with incurable diseases.
  • Manreaper (Optional Replacement for the Plaguereaper)

Lord of Virulence[]

  • Plague Claw - A Lightning Claw infested with Nurgle's pestilential "gifts."

Sources[]

  • Codex Death Guard (9th Edition), pg. 67
  • Codex Heretic Astartes - Death Guard (8th Edition), pp. 21, 30, 71-72
  • Warhammer 40,000 - Index: Chaos (8th Edition), pg. 58
Chaos Space Marine Forces
Command Chaos LordExalted ChampionChaos ChampionAspiring ChampionSorcerer LordDaemon PrinceDaemon Prince of NurgleDaemon Prince of TzeentchDeath Guard Lord
Specialists Exalted SorcererSorcererWarpsmithDark ApostleMaster of PossessionMaster of ExecutionsLord DiscordantWarsmithDeath Guard SorcererLord of ContagionMalignant PlaguecasterPlague SurgeonTallymanScarab Occult SorcererScarab Occult Terminators
Troops Chaos Space MarinesHavocsChosenChaos TerminatorsPossessedGreater PossessedKhorne BerzerkersPlague MarinesNoise MarinesRubric MarinesObliteratorsMutilatorsChaos SpawnFallen AngelsNoxious BlightbringerFoul BlightspawnBiologus PutrifierBlightlord TerminatorsDeathshroud
Fast Attack Chaos Space Marine BikersChaos Space Marine RaptorsWarp Talons
Chaos Dreadnoughts HelbruteFerrum Infernus DreadnoughtChaos Contemptor Pattern DreadnoughtSonic DreadnoughtBerserker DreadnoughtLeviathan Dreadnought
Vehicles and Daemon Engines Chaos RhinoChaos PredatorInfernal Relic PredatorChaos VindicatorChaos Land RaiderChaos Land Raider ProteusInfernal Relic Land Raider AchillesLand Raider Hades DiabolusRelic Sicaran Battle TankMaulerfiendForgefiendDefilerBrass ScorpionBlood SlaughtererBlight DroneFoetid Bloat-droneKytanPlague HulkVenomcrawlerMyphitic Blight-hauler
Heavy Vehicles and Daemon Engines Spartan Assault TankFellbladeDecimatorTyphon Heavy Siege TankLord of SkullsDeath WheelPlaguereaperPlagueburst CrawlerSilver Tower of Tzeentch
Aircraft HeldrakeStormbirdThunderhawkChaos Storm EagleChaos Fire RaptorHell BladeHell TalonHarbingerChaos DreadclawKharybdis Assault ClawFire LordDoom Wing
Summoned Daemons BloodlettersPlaguebearersHorror of TzeentchDaemonetteNurglingsBeast of NurglePlague DroneFlamerScreamer
Lost and the Damned Chaos CultistsPoxwalkersPestigorPlague ZombiesPlague OgrynThrall WizardTzaangorTzaangor EnlightenedTzaangor ShamanDark Disciple
Champions Magnus the RedMortarionAbaddon the DespoilerKharn the BetrayerTyphusAhrimanHuron BlackheartFabius BileCypherHaarken WorldclaimerInvocatus
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