Mortarion's Hammer: The 11th-Edition Death Guard Armour Detachment

At the start of the battle round, select a number of enemy units more than 12 inches away from every model from your army that is on the battlefield. Until the end of the battle round, those enemy units are Afflicted. The number scales with battle size: 1 at Incursion, 2 at Strike Force, 3 at Onslaught.

The distance condition is the rule, and it works the opposite way round from how people usually read it. It does not reach further than your aura as a bonus; it reaches only where your aura does not, because the moment a unit is within 12 inches of any of your models it stops being a legal selection.

That makes this detachment the long half of a two-part answer. Nurgle's Gift Afflicts what is close. Miasmic Bombardment Afflicts what is far. Between them there is very little left un-Afflicted, and every Death Guard effect that pays per Afflicted unit gets more expensive for your opponent.

It also means the rule stops working on the units you are actually fighting, which is a real cost in a grinding army. Do not plan a fight around it. Plan the shooting phase around it, and plan the fight around the six stratagems.

At 2 DP it leaves 1 DP spare at a 2,000-point game.

Six, and four of them target a DEATH GUARD VEHICLE unit specifically, which tells you what the detachment expects to be in your list.

• Stinking Mire (1CP, start of opponent's Charge). Rewritten by Faction Pack v1.2, and the change is worth knowing because older summaries describe something else. It now targets one friendly unengaged DEATH GUARD VEHICLE unit, and you select one visible enemy unit within 12 inches of it; when that enemy unit declares a charge, it has -1 to charge rolls. The pre-errata version applied a bigger penalty but only against charges aimed at your own unit.
• Blighted Land (2CP, end of your Movement). A DEATH GUARD VEHICLE names a terrain feature within 24 inches and visible; until the start of your next turn, enemy units within 3 inches of it are Afflicted. A second way to Afflict things your aura cannot reach, and this one can sit on an objective in cover.
• Relentless Grind (1CP, your Movement or Charge). A DEATH GUARD VEHICLE that has not moved or charged can move horizontally through terrain for the phase.
• Font of Filth (1CP, your Shooting). A DEATH GUARD VEHICLE that has not shot gains [ASSAULT] on its ranged weapons for the phase.
• Drawn to Despair (1CP, your Shooting). A DEATH GUARD unit that has not shot can re-roll the Hit roll against a visible enemy unit, excluding Aircraft, inside your opponent's deployment zone. The one stratagem here that is not vehicle-only, and another rule that pays for shooting long.
• Eyestinger Storm (1CP, opponent's Command). A DEATH GUARD VEHICLE names a visible objective marker; each Afflicted enemy unit within range of it must take a Battle-shock test, and those units do not need to take any other Battle-shock test that phase.

The chain worth learning: Blighted Land on the terrain feature your opponent is holding, then Eyestinger Storm in their Command phase on the objective it covers, because the second stratagem only works on units that are already Afflicted and the first is how you make sure they are.

Four, and two of them are locked to a specific model.

• Eye of Affliction (20 pts). DEATH GUARD model only. Ranged weapons in the bearer's unit have [IGNORES COVER] while targeting an Afflicted enemy unit. In a detachment whose whole job is Afflicting things at range, that condition is nearly always met.
• Bilemaw Blight (10 pts). MALIGNANT PLAGUECASTER only. At the start of your Shooting phase, add 12 inches to the Range of the bearer's Plague Wind weapon for the phase.
• Shriekworm Familiar (15 pts). DEATH GUARD model only. Once per battle round, target the bearer's unit with the Fire Overwatch stratagem for 0CP. Once per round, not once per battle, which makes it one of the better command point engines in the faction.
• Tendrilous Emissions (30 pts). LORD OF VIRULENCE only. While within 3 inches of one or more friendly DEATH GUARD VEHICLE units, the bearer has Lone Operative, and each of those vehicles can re-roll a Wound roll of 1 against enemy units visible to the bearer.

Tendrilous Emissions is the one that shapes a list, because it is a spotter mechanic: the Lord of Virulence hides among the tanks, survives because of Lone Operative, and improves everything they shoot at.

(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)

The Munitorum Field Manual v1.3, read on 27 August 2026, lists no Unique Tag on this detachment and prints an explicit UNIQUE TAG REMOVED note against it. The community mirror, which is a revision behind, records this detachment as carrying UNIQUE: ENGINES, shared with Contagion Engines (1 DP), and Faction Pack v1.2 still prints the ENGINES banner on that detachment's page and restates the restriction in its rule text.

So on the older reading, Mortarion's Hammer plus Contagion Engines is illegal, and on the current Munitorum Field Manual reading it is legal. The pairing costs exactly 2 + 1 = 3 DP, which is a full 2,000-point budget, and it is the obvious list for anybody who owns a lot of Death Guard vehicles.

We do not state which reading is correct, and we never suggest that pairing anywhere on this site. Check the Warhammer 40,000 app before you commit, and ask your event organiser rather than your opponent.

The practical loss is small. Flyblown Host and Paragons of Putrescence both cover the near half of the board that Miasmic Bombardment cannot, which is the actual hole in this detachment, and neither is affected by the question.

• Plagueburst Crawler is the signature vehicle and the unit that shoots the far half of the board this detachment Afflicts. The pack gave it the FRAME keyword.
• Lord of Virulence is the only legal Tendrilous Emissions bearer, so he is a purchase rather than an afterthought.
• Defiler now has a full datasheet with Death Guard faction keywords, printed in Faction Pack v1.2, and appears in the matched-play points list.
• Chaos Predator Destructor is a DEATH GUARD VEHICLE four of the six stratagems can target. The pack gave it FRAME and changed its predator autocannon to Strength 9.
• Chaos Rhino is a cheap vehicle that unlocks Relentless Grind and Blighted Land while carrying the infantry holding your own objectives. It gained FRAME too.
• Plague Marines are still necessary, because the rule Afflicts what is far away and does nothing about what is near.

One planning note: the detachment is named for Mortarion but does not require him, and none of its six stratagems names him. Take him because you want a centrepiece, not because the detachment asks for one.

Take it when your collection is vehicles first, when you want a Death Guard list that shoots rather than grinds, or when you want the army rule applied to targets you will never physically reach.

Be clear-eyed about the limits. The rule Afflicts 1 to 3 units depending on battle size, and only ones more than 12 inches from everything you own, so it does nothing for the fight you are actually in. Four of the six stratagems need a vehicle. And it is a codex detachment: the pack rewrites one stratagem but does not reprint the rest, so most of what is below rests on community mirrors.

Sample gameplan: pair it with Flyblown Host (1 DP). Infiltrate two Plague Marines squads onto the midfield so your ordinary Contagion Range covers the near half, and use Miasmic Bombardment on the enemy units sitting more than 12 inches back. Put Tendrilous Emissions on a Lord of Virulence tucked among your tanks and Eye of Affliction on a character with the infantry. Use Blighted Land on the terrain your opponent wants, then Eyestinger Storm on the objective it covers in their Command phase, and keep a point for the rewritten Stinking Mire when a charge is coming.