Anyone got any ideas? I have the dark imperium DG to work with but they have lost every game they have played in. I only need a 1000 point list and any advice is appreciated!
Are you open to buying more stuff? It's hard to build a decent army with just the DI box. You'll do fairly well against some armies but anyone who can out manoeuvre and/or out shoot you will crush you.
I've had some luck with a sort of boarding oriented list, i.e. lots of Blightlords and Deathshroud dropping in on turn one. My last game was 2000p and for that I had 7 Blightlords, 3 Deathshroud and Typhus, all dropping 9" away on turn one versus an AdMech gun line. Even though I messed up a bit I still managed to draw the game which isn't bad when you go up against quite a filthy gun line with a slow foot slogging force.
The plan with an army like this is to ideally get a charge or two off from deeptrike turn one, which is doable with a little bit of luck and maybe a command point spent. If you manage that you can at the least tie up or hopefully even kill off some choice targets. Even if you fail to get your charges off all is not lost since your Terminators are super durable. In my game my opponent managed to kill about half of my deep striking models but that wasn't enough to cripple the assault and it also meant the rest of my army (Plague Marines, Poxwalkers, Plaguebearers et. c.) were free to advance up the table unharmed.
Also, the threat of that deep strike can force your opponent into a non ideal deployment since they'll want to screen stuff. This forces him or her to either deploy units towards the front of his deployment zone or castle up in the back. In the first case the distance your footsloggers have to cover is reduced and in the second he's giving up mobility which will prove disastrous if your deep strike charges connect.
In short, try to counteract your inherent weaknesses (slowness, lack of long range shooting) by focusing on mobility and playing agressively. You will never out gun or out manoeuvre your opponent but if you put enough preassure on him or her in round one and keep it up your army will be in that magical 12" range soon and that's where the Death Guard really shine.
This strategy is definitely valid at 1000p too. I would suggest getting Typhus and a unit of 3 Death Shroud. That's about one third of your points in deep strikers so you're still essentially a in infantry list which is the fluffy way to play the DG. Also, those models are beautiful. The rest of your army can be pretty much whatever you like. The Bloat Drone from you box set is a great pick for an army like this because of its speed and durability so I would probably take that and then put the rest of the points into a Plague Caster, some Plague Marines and maybe Poxwalkers if you feel like you need cheap objective holders.
I hope this helps you spread that glorious plague.
Well I do love those models so I'm definitely open to giving it a shot! Thanks for the advice
Please note that the big FAQ GW just released changed the rules for deep striking. You might want to reconsider my advice. :(
EDIT: It can still work of course. However, since you now have no chance to get even one first turn charge off you start from the "all is not lost" position which isn't exactly ideal. On the other hand, you do save that command point you would have used to reroll a charge dice. That's nice, I guess.