Death Guard

The Death Guard are one of the eight Space Marine Legions which betrayed the Emperor during the Horus Heresy, becoming Chaos Space Marines. They worship the Chaos god Nurgle and in return he infests their armour with pestilence and disease. The Primarch of the Death Guard is Mortarion, who has been elevated to Daemon Prince status and their home-world in the Materium, Barbarus, has been destroyed.

History

Pre-Heresy Death Guard space marine in Mark IV power armour with armorum ferrum helmet.

Prior to the Emperor's discovery of the legion's primarch, they were known as the Dusk Raiders legion. Their signiture strategy had been to attack their foes at nightfall. The Dusk Raiders' armour was a dull white colour but with their right arm and both shoulders coloured crimson.¹

When Mortarion was given control of his legion, he told them: "You are my unbroken blades. You are the Death Guard." The legion's name was then changed in accordance with this decree.

Before the Horus Heresy, the Death Guard differed from the other 19 legions in that they had only seven Great Companies, although these held far more men than those of other legions such as the Ultramarines or Space Wolves. There were three privileged titles held by captains of the Death Guard. The captain of the first company was known as the First Captain, the captain of the second company was known as Commander, and the captain of the seventh company was known as Battle-Captain.

The Death Guard tended to be organised into units of foot-slogging infantry, rather than mechanised squads. Mortarion ensured that his men were well-equipped and highly-trained. He also ensured that they could fight in almost any kind of atmosphere, and placed little emphasis on specialised units using jump packs or bikes. The Death Guard did not have dedicated Assault and Tactical squads. Every marine was equipped with a bolter, pistol and close combat weapon and told to fight with whatever weapon circumstance dictated. The legion was also well known for its use of Terminator armour. Possibly as a result of this, the Death Guard were highly successful at high-risk boarding and close-quarter operations such as space hulk clearance.

At the beginning of the Horus Heresy, many loyal Death Guard were massacred on Isstvan III by their fellow space marines.

During the Horus Heresy, the Death Guard joined Warmaster Horus in many battles and raids on the Imperium. When Horus led his forces against Earth and the Emperor, the Death Guard's First Captain, Calas Typhon (now known as Typhus), killed the Navigator of their capital ship. Pretending that they were still loyal to the Emperor, Typhon led the chapter's fleet into the warp but instead of going to Holy Terra to defend the Imperium, the ships became trapped and unable to return to real space. The destroyer hive flooded the ship while they were trapped in the warp. The stinking pestilence flooded the gut and distended the flesh, while the marines were blacked out the destroyer hive swarmed over them and laid eggs inside the sores of the marines. Craving salvation, the Death Guard called upon Nurgle to help them. Nurgle corrupted them beyond measure, transforming them into the grotesque warriors they are now. Typhon then inherited the destroyer hive: having already sacrificed his soul to Nurgle. The flies entered Typhon and thus Typhus, Herald and Champion of Nurgle, was born.

A number of Death Guard marines, led by Battle-Captain of the 7th Company Nathaniel Garro, remained loyal to the Emperor. They formed part of the crew of the Eisenstein, a ship which ran the traitor blockade in the Isstvan system in order to bring news of Horus' descent into Chaos to the Emperor on Terra.

After Horus' defeat, Mortarion led his Death Guard in a campaign of destruction over a score of planets, until finally retreating into the Eye of Terror. Here he received Nurgle's ultimate reward and became a full-fledged Daemon Prince, ruling over one of Nurgle's greatest Plague Worlds in the Eye of Terror. Mortarion sends out fleets of Plague Ships into the Warp to carry their contagions throughout the galaxy.

Organisation

A Death Guard force is largely made up of Plague Marines, and still follow the doctrines that their primarch Mortarion taught them. Their tactics are based on the use of footslogging infantry, and the hardy use of their Bolters. Any vehicles that were in posession of the Death Guard at the time of the Horus Heresy have since fallen into disrepair, or have been commandeered by cheeky Nurglings.

The Death Guard make full use of Nurgle's gifts, spreading turmoil, advancing solidly amidst a mist of choking disease, surrounded by Nurglings at their feet and summoning horrific Plaguebearers from the Warp. In larger battles where the outcome is of dire importance, a decaying Daemon Prince may take the reigns of the army, or a Great Unclean One may posess a Champion.

The Death Guard organizes squads by multiples of seven, based on the sacred number of Nurgle.

Fleet

During the Horus Heresy the Death Guard are known to have possessed the following vessels:²

• Capital Ship - Terminus Est
• Capital Ship - The Indomitable Will
• Capital Ship - The Spectre of Death
• Capital Ship - Endurance
• Capital Ship - The Undying
• Battle Barge - Reapers' Scythe
• Battle Barge - Stalwart
• Strike craft - Barbaros' Sting
• Type unknown - Lord of Hyrus
• Frigate - The Eisenstein (destroyed)
• Supply hauler - Valley of Haloes (destroyed)

All of these vessels are likely to have been stranded in the warp following Typhon's treachery. The Terminus Est still exists, as does at least one other capital ship known as the Plagueclaw. It is possible that this is another of the ships listed above which has been renamed in honour of the chapter's chaos worship.

Sources

• ¹The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow
• ²Horus Heresy: Visions of Death by Alan Merrett
• Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter