40k: Death Company – worth it?
Plenty of people dismiss the Death Company (myself included) as they seem to be over priced for what they do and come with a few flaws, not including the obvious ones 😉 Mercer here from I.D I’m going to look in deeper to these crazed loons of the Blood Angels
The Death Company cost 60 points for a unit of three and then 20 points per Marine after that, which clocks in at 100 points for a decent size unit. What you get in a Death Company Marine over a normal one is WS5 2 attacks which isn’t bad, special rules you get black rage (talk on that later), fearless, feel no pain, furious charge and relentless – quite a few goodies there.
The squad doesn’t come with jump packs which is annoying and these cost 75 points for a squad of 5 Death Company, that’s 175 points for 5 dudes! But lets take a closer look here. A squad of 5 Assault Marines are 100 points and come with jump packs already. Lets take a Priest to give them the F.C and FnP bonus like the Death Co have already, of course the Priest has a pack too. The total of those two units comes to; 175 points the exact same as Death Company.
Comparing the Death Company to the Assault Squad with the Priest you get a single less kill point and the feel no pain and furious charge benefit cannot be lost, unlike the Assault Squad if the Priest dies. The Death Company also will hit mostly on a 3+ and can take bolters because they’re relentless laying down some rapid fire death and then can assault after, best part is in combat they would get the same amount of attacks as a Assault Squad would more or less – depends if the Priest moves into combat.
Now it’s not all rosey in the Death Company camp they do have two flaws (apart from the Black Rage and Red Thirst!) which is thanks to the black rage special rule; they cannot claim objectives and are affected by the Rage universal special rule. The Rage rule basically makes them move (full distance) towards the nearest enemy, you don’t have to run so can still shoot with bolters, though you must consolidate towards the nearest enemy unit – which means you could be victim of a counter attack next turn. The problem with Rage is the Death Company would be assaulting something you don’t want them too i.e a Monolith or some kind of monstrous creature or a massive horde. You can control Rage by throwing them inside a vehicle and a Rhino isn’t expensive so throw them in one of those. Sure they cannot assault out of it and perhaps a Land Raider would be better but it would make very pretty expensive…
Death Company Dreadnought
The Death Company Dreadnought is pretty much the same as the Death Company infantry – with the same extras over normal Dreadnoughts and more or less same special rules as the Death Company (where applicable). Perhaps the biggest special rule which gets over looked is this bad boy has fleet! That means this Dreadnought could have a 18″ assault range if done right! It also ignores all crew shaken and stunned results, pretty cool.
Like Death Company infantry, the Dread has the same problems, and perhaps one more. It has Rage which unlike the Death Company cannot be controlled so easily. Sure you can throw it in a Storm Raven but it will have to get out sometime just like the Death Company. The bigger problem isn’t that it doesn’t claim objectives (vehicle don’t claim objectives anyway so that’s a moot point) but rather that you need to take a squad of 5 Death Company in order to get the Dreadnought. That’s at least 100 points extra on top of the Dreadnought’s price just to use it in the army and two troop slots taken by none scoring units and with Marines units are pretty pricey which means you spend more on troops to get those scoring units means points are going else where.
Chaplain
Summary
I think many people overlook the Death Company (myself included) and concentrate on the negatives – Rage and the inability to claim objectives. Rage can be annoying no doubt about it but it can be controlled to some degree. On the plus side, the last thing most foes want is a unit rampaging around the board like the Death Company causing all kinds of trouble. This places them high on the “must kill” lists which can be used to help shape and control a battle. Non-scoring status isn’t a massive deal if you get the scoring troops sorted first, Marines typically need three scoring units, really. If you’ve got room in your army for them I would consider them, after all they’re the same price as a Assault Squad with a Priest with what I consider to be more benefits than downsides.
The Death Company Dreadnought is a tougher choice. The base points of the Dreadnought is ok but you need that 5 man Death Company which makes that Dreadnought cost 225 points before you’ve even started. A Furioso is pretty much the same as a Death Company Dreadnought with a cheaper cost and similar wargear, but trading out the noshaken/stunned effect for AV13. So like I said, a tough choice.
Finally on that Chaplain. He’s a great DC force multiplier and I would recommend him if you have the points to spare.
What are your thoughts on the Death Company? Love or loathe them? If you haven’t given them a spin the the table, give em a shot.
