Lictor; make sure you read the rules. You need to put your vote in bold, and unfortunately you need more than just one line talking about your vote.
Well.. it's come to the final round. This is going to be a close one, I can feel it.
Death Guard
1) Lord + Retinue - Not quite as effective as they would have been vs. the Dark Angels, they can still make for a nice fire-soaker as well as a good damage-dealer. Can get a decent position and can survive vs. everything but the Starcannons.. they'll do their job reasonably well, but I wouldn't count on them to win the day.
2) Marines - They can take objectives quickly due to Infiltrate, and they can hold their ground very well due to high toughness and easy access to cover. Any vehicles that get close to them will get roasted by the Melta Guns; the most probable occurence of this, I believe, will be vs. the Scorpions, as when they unload, they won't have the speed to charge straight into CC; meaning they won't be able to stop the Death Guard's Melta weapons from shooting at the Wave Serpent. Overall, I think they'll be able to withstand a high amount of punishment; as Katalyst said, the Eldar CC units won't be ultra effective vs. the high toughness and good saves. Not to mention, most of the DG units should (would) be in cover, so they will strike first; while that's not a whole lot, it could potentially ruin the Eldar's day (at least a bit).
3) Havocs - I pity the squad trying to charge these guys, unless they are the Banshees (who are capable of unloading, and getting to combat).. if the Scorpions try to get it against them, they will most probably get roasted with all of the rapid firing plasma that these guys can unleash on them. Great objective holders and able to get out a very nice amount of close to medium ranged fire (up to 24"), they can cause some damage on everything; the War Walkers will probably fall relatively easy against them.
Overall, I don't see that the Eldar's CC capabilities will help them that much; the Bright Lances are incapable of being all that effective, as they are wasted when not against tanks, really (everyone has this problem vs. these Death Guard.. huh). The DG have enough units to space themselves out well enough to make sure that even if one of their units is caught in CC, and dies, the enemy won't be able to easily get into another squad. The infiltrating will seriously help them with objective-based missions (some of them, anyways). The War Walkers aren't much of a threat if they can position themselves well enough; heck, they can get within 24" pretty easily of a War Walker with Infiltrate and be able to take them out with massed plasma fire.
The DG's biggest weakness is against the Wave Serpents and Falcon; however, I'm sure it won't be too hard to stay away from these guys; i.e., get behind cover, close firing lanes, and use cover saves as often as they can. If a WS venture within a certain distance, unleash as much anti-tank as possible. Also, the Lord + Retinue could (maybe) take them out relatively easily; the Power Fists, even when hitting on 6's, should receive a decent enough amount of attacks to make taking at least one or two down not too bad of a problem. The Vyper Jetbike is a joke, though; if it even thinks about getting too close, it will get plasma'd to death; not to mention, it can't even really kill effectively (as TheWamp showed in his statistics).
Really, it probably won't be as one-sided as my explanation might seem; however, I think that if the Death Guard are used right, they can put up one heck of a fight and deal enough damage to the Eldar to take the win.
My vote goes to the Death Guard. |