Citadel Journal 21 (1997), p66 — Dealing with the Damned Part II: Chaos Space Marines

Plague Marines

These are rarer than the Berzerkers, and are often found alongside Nurgle daemons, where they provide a strong link for summoning and preventing banishment.

Besides this, their +1 toughness means that they can absorb a lot of basic weapons fire without keeling over at all, and can only be wounded by a heavy bolter on a 4+. They aren't as deadly in close combat as the Berzerkers. However, they are still fearsome opponents, being alarmingly hard to kill and with the Plague Knife automtically killing living targets on a 6 if it wounds, they can be used to bring down hard, multi-wound characters as second or even third attackers. However, the knife can't be used to parry and only has S4, so it is a little weak.

In a similar vein to the Berzerkers, the best method of stopping Plague Marines is to engage them in close assault with well-equipped squads, and preferably not multi-wound characters, who can be taken down by the Plague Knife. In common with the Berzerkers, they are extremely hard to stop with fire power.