A note from the editor – Thanks to Games Workshop for the supply of the preview codex for review. This review is from a young teen hobbyist, our son, still new to the lore and surrounding context of the greater Warhammer 40,000 narrative – we tasked him to take a read of the lore and give his first impressions as well as write an army list and explain why he wrote that list. This is part one of that series – Mike
DEATH GUARD 2021 CODEX
Thanks to Objective secured, I was able to read the new Death Guard codex early; with a budding death guard force of my own, I was excited at the chance of writing this overview.
The codex is 95 pages, each brimming with artwork of the death guard and its putrid followers, with large sections on not only the rules vital to use them in Warhammer 40k, but the lore and background of the 14th legion as well.
Ok, that’s enough introduction. Let’s move on to main part of this overview.
The first half of the book is dedicated to the lore of the death guard and its followers, detailing the aspects of the death guard on their grand adventures to spread plague throughout the galaxy
The book details key characters in the legions history, the different plague companies and every other aspect of what makes the Death Guard so unique as a Traitor Legion, from the most insignificant of nurglings to the origin of their Primarch; Mortarion, this book includes details on many characters from the death guard and its history.
With many a page dedicated to expanding the world, and the practices of the marines from the legion and those important to its past, the pages illustrate the inner workings of the legion from its own perspective.
As I personally have not yet read the Horus Heresy series, this book is a great starting point for who and what the death guard are and why, it includes a vivid, detailed overview of the rise and fall of the legion, with tales ranging through all parts of the legion’s history, from the days as the dusk raiders while their Primarch was still loyal to the imperium, to the rotting, nurgle aligned legion we see wreaking havoc throughout the galaxy today.
This new codex is a great jumping in point for not only playing the death guard in Warhammer 40k, but enjoying the stories and lore connected to them through the heresy and modern era.
Not only are the stories included gripping, but they leave you wanting to read more about the legion and 40k, not only this but the images and illustrations in the book are a sight to behold in and of themselves.
Overall, it’s great to read and fun to explore through each page of detail and lore, each page telling more about the legion. The next article will cover my first planned army list to try on the table!