Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Maggotkin of Nurgle

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Warscrolls

Leaders

Named Characters

Epidemius: A Herald of Nurgle +1, with two more wounds and a Nurgling base's worth of extra attacks. Doesn't sound like much until you get to his Nurgle's Tallyman ability and realize he's the best force multiplier in the game. You keep a tally of how many models your Nurgle models killed and as it rises, they get bonuses. How's that so great? Because it doesn't specify Nurgle Daemons, just Nurgle. So this guy buffs your Plague Monks, your Blightkings, Glottkin, the Maggoth Riders, Plague Drones, you name it. And since Nurgle has even a few fast hard hitters like Daemon Princes, those bonuses should start adding up fast.

• If you really want to stack up his bonus fast, bring a couple Clan Pestilens Plague Claws. If the opponent isn't playing a super low-model count army, you'll rack up the model kills fast and apply it to your whole army before they even get to combat.

The Glottkin: This count also as Behemoth. The big bad bad guys of Nurgle are back. And this time, no bullshit Purple Suns exist that can cascade them out of the game in a single turn. And without that annoying weakness, they are absolutely devastating. 18 freaking Wounds with an automatic Regen of D3 Wounds per friendly Hero Phase, basically Terror and the fact that enemies can take Mortal Wounds simply for being charged by the Glottkin combine with magic and very powerful attacks to make something truly nightmarish. Their unique spell is very situational, but can make a bunch of Marauders into the single most immovable tarpit in the game - for a turn. They also have a really awesome Command Ability that grants one extra attack to every melee weapon of every Nurgle unit within 14" of them. Yes, this includes Nurgle Daemons and Clan Pestilens. Additionally, they have a shooting weapon that is easy to hit with, has a high Rend and inflicts a whole lot of damage, but unfortunately, it only Wounds on 4+, which makes is quite unreliable.

• Protip: in the right army, Fleshy Abundance is the best defensive spell of the game. Using it on 1-Wound models effectively means giving them a 4+ save-after-the-save (and unlike it, it doesn't depend on a dice roll, it always reduces your losses to half). And the targets aren't limited to Nurgle units, too, but it's even better if they're, because then they will be affected by the Glottkin's awesome Command Ability. Plaguebeareres and Chaos Marauders become much better, but glass cannons like Plague Monks, and specially Plague Censer Bearers become ridiculously good.

Bloab Rotspawned: This count also as Behemoth. Of the Maggoth Riders, Bloab is the only Wizard, but in exchange, he has a worse save than the others, makes less attacks with his (still decent) weapon and projects several annoying auras. He has a fly swarm that can cause penalties To Hit to enemies in a large area and his bells lower enemy casting rolls by 1. His Maggoth also has by far the best shooting attack of the three. Finally, his unique spell is potentially devastating: It affects one enemy unit. At the end of every phase in which the unit lost Wounds, roll a D6. On 2+, the unit takes another D3 Mortal Wounds. Keep in mind, this happens on a per-phase basis. Basically, if you cast this spells, you need to invest into it. Every phase you have to strip off at least one Wound off that unit. Otherwise, just use Arcane Bolt and have done. Other than that, Bloab is simply very versatile. He is strong in melee but not stellar, good at shooting but not the shootiest Hero in the game, can cast but not terribly well and can fuck with the opponent with all his auras and unbinding.

Morbidex Twiceborn: This count also as Behemoth. The guy who loves Nurglings, because they love him. Of the Maggoth riders, he has the worst shooting attacks, projects Nurgle's Rot and has a regeneration effect in each friendly Hero Phase. On 4-5 he heals a Wound. On 6, he heals D3 Wounds instead. He can also spawn D3 Nurgling swarms per turn, either making new units or adding to pre-existing units and grants a +1 To Wound for Nurglings around him. Considering how hard Nurglings are to kill, this guy can swarm the board with little gribblies. He's pretty good in close combat, arguably better than his boss Orghotts. Use him to lead your charges, because he's tough, powerful and really fast for Nurgle's standards.

Orghotts Daemonspew: This count also as Behemoth. Supposedly the strongest of the Maggoth riders. He damages enemies who punch him, his Maggoth has an okay shooting attack (though with abysmal range) and his Command Ability lets a friendly Nurgle unit reroll To Wound. His main ability is that if he misses with at least half his attacks, he gets to swing D6 more times with his Axes and gains +1 To Wound when doing so. Since you have to miss at least half your strikes for this to happen, just see this ability for what it is: A safety blanket. If you roll real bad, you get more attacks to turn the situation around.

Gutrot Spume: This guy has pretty much the most hilarious Command Ability in the game. If his health gets too low, he can use his ability: If he inflicts at least 7 Wounds in combat, he heals all lost Wounds because Nurgle is pleased with him, but if he inflicts less, he takes a Mortal Wound on top because Nurgle punishes his arrogance. This ability comes on top of his decent survivability (7 Wounds and a 3+ save). Inflicting 7 Wounds is probable for Spume, but by no means assured, so you need to gamble with it. Ideally, you want to use it when he has 2 Wounds left, so that you get a lot out of it but don't die if you fail. He can also use his tentacles to wrench enemy weapons off them, making him even tankier.

Festus the Leechlord: Festus is a support Hero, pure and simple. He heals a Wound a turn and can either heal a friendly model for D3 Wounds or give out D3 Mortal Wounds to an enemy model, though for both he needs to be within 1" of whoever he wants to affect. His unique spell is pretty much a reverse of Mystic Shield, lowering enemy saves by 1 PERMANENTLY. And nowhere does it state this doesn't stack. However, for all this awesome, his close combat potential can be very generously described as lacking, at least compared to melee characters. Compared to most other Wizards, he's exactly twice as strong.

Others

Great Unclean One: Your Greater Daemon and one of the best choices to evoke other units. Your standard general on bigger games. Don't let his meh Wound-count of 10 fool you, the GUO is still one of the toughest fuckers around. He has the same basically-40k's-Feel-no-Pain rule of a 5+ save after his save but for him, if he rolls a 6 and is in melee, he actually inflicts Mortal Wounds. He also has a regeneration of D3 Wounds per turn, has a strong though short-ranged shooting attack and a melee profile worthy of a monster, but what really makes him shine is his unique spell, a 14" line that damages enemy units under it and heals Nurgle units under it. It can't resurrect, but is perfectly able to make the obscenely tough Plague Drones even harder to remove. Also his command ability gives every Nurgle Daemon in play an extra melee attack if that unit rolled a 7 when charging. NICE.

• • [https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/fw_warscrolls/AOS-Exalted-Daemon-of-Nurgle.pdf Exalted Daemon of Nurgle: Add 5 wounds, 3+ Save, call it a day.

Herald of Nurgle: Your gamechanger. Compared to a Herald of Khorne, he has less attacks that are harder to hit and can't deal Mortal Wounds, but do D3 wounds if they go through. On average they should do about the same amount of damage, but the HoN will last much longer because he's Disgustingly Resilient and can sometimes get healed by a nearby unit dying. If you play any Nurgle Daemons, at least have one of these guys in reserve so that you can summon him if need be. Beasts of Nurgle especially turn from okay to murder on no legs if a Daemon Hero of Nurgle is nearby. If relying on him for synergy, keep him away from combat(and out of range of enemy ranged units) and take advantage of his synergy bubble.

Lord of Plagues: Blessed with a bunch of Wounds, automatic regeneration of 1 Wound per Hero Phase (not specifying whose, so he heals in your opponent's Hero Phase as well) and a decent weapon. Also projects Nurgle's Rot (non-Nurgle units within 3" take D3 Mortal Wounds on a D6-roll of 6) and as a Command Ability can make another (friendly or enemy) unit within 21" project it. Generally, you take a Lord of Plagues because he is about as non-threatening as you can get. His damage output is lacking and he moves extremely slowly. This also means that, combined with his excellent survivability, he will survive most games. Generally, if you can spare the extra points, bring a Harbinger of Decay instead.

Harbinger of Decay: Pretty damn killy and with a one-use ability that can cause extra Mortal Wounds. However, despite the mount, his Movement is stuck at 7". He makes up for that with his Command Ability, though, since he projects basically 40k's Feel No Pain to all Mortal Nurgle units within 7". Makes tough Nurgle bullshit even tougher, which is excellent for keeping your Blightkings alive that much longer. Another thing to consider: Thanks to his Mount, he has the DAEMON keyword. His mount lets makes him a useful utility hero as he can move relatively quickly to shore up Mortal Nurgle units with his command ability, while also letting him trigger Daemons' Locus abilities, as those only need a NURGLE DAEMON HERO to trigger. Let him run after your Plague Drones, which he can keep up with, and suddenly your Fly Riders deal a bunch of Mortal Wounds in addition to their normal damage.

Rotbringers Sorcerer: Pass. Even worse than the normal Sorcerer Lord in melee (which is saying something) and he gives away the awesome Oracular Visions rule for... the ability to heal/gain a Wound on 4+ after successfully casting a spell. Yeah. His unique spell is also awful, being basically a harder-to-cast, shorter ranged Arcane Bolt with a more consistent damage output. However – if you are playing in a game which allows the classic free PDF warscrolls go check out the "Nurgle Chaos Sorcerer" this mini is based on. Now you get all his abilities with one major exception: Your 3 mortal wounds spell doesn't have any range limit as it's based on sight only. Yes – you read this right: Stand at the very back on your side of the battlefield and kill those pesky artillery crew on the far end of the table on a roll of 6. Still, most of the time, you're better served with the support that a Nurgle-marked Chaos Sorcerer Lord from the Slaves to Darkness can dish out.

Troops

Putrid Blightkings: The super-hardy infantry Glottkin gave us. Same profile as a Skullreaper but with one more Bravery and an almost identical weapon. Their shtick? If they score a 6 To Hit, you don't hit once. You hit D6 times. Yes, they don't have Rend on those weapons, but with that many hits, you don't need it. Even more FUN*, every unit within 3" of them (including themselves) rolls a D6 in your Hero Phase. On a 6, they take D3 mortal wounds. Unless, that is, they have the Nurgle keyword, in which case they heal D3 wounds instead. Make sure you let multi-wound Nurgle stuff hug your Blightkings and you're golden. Also remember that this affects Nurgle units, not Mortal Nurgle. Chaos Lord of Nurgle? Great Unclean One? Plague Furnace? All of them can be healed by the aura these guys have. Generally though, unless you're counting on stacking auras with Blightkings and Nurgle's Rot, this is more of a gimmick. Just use these as powerful infantry, leave the healing to Festus. If even just half of your Blightkings make it into melee, they will earn back their cost and then some, so just make sure you get them there.

Plaguebearers of Nurgle: Basic Nurgle troop. Really hard to kill but not so good in melee (average of 0,33 damages). Take 30 in every unit to make them harder to be hit. Reroll 1s in save rolls with Daemon Heroes of Nurgle nearby, which makes them a fantastic bubble wrap for any of the Nurgle Heroes.

Plague Drones of Nurgle: Your flyers. Their 8" movement sounds promising, but since they are almost the only Nurgle unit with a missile weapon, they will rarely run, so the movement evens out. The missile weapon is rather meh, but combined with the 5 (!) assured attacks per Plague Drones, it adds up. They also hold the distinction of being ridiculously tough to kill, especially with a Banner or two. Make sure to keep a Daemon Hero of Nurgle close to them for those bonus Mortal Wounds.

Nurglings: These things are weak: no save but they heal every wounded model at the end of the turn. Yes, the opponent either does 4 Wounds on them or it was for naught. They also have 5 attacks with bad Hit and Wound rolls, but if you manage to inflict a wound they could do D3 mortal wounds after a 5+ roll. So, you have a unit that deals very little actual damage, but is amazing at making the opponent dedicate unreasonable amounts of resources to removing them, because shockingly, their 5" move makes them rather fast for Nurgle. It's the only troop that doesn't get any buff close to a Daemon Hero of Nurgle.

Beasts of Nurgle: With an average of 1,82 damage per round, the beast of Nurgle isn't very damaging, and it's 5" movement is piss-poor as well. Why would you even take them? Because they can run and charge and even flee and charge, will not ever be charged because they basically make Deadly Terrain for enemies who charge them. Also, with a Daemon Hero of Nurgle closeby, they will deal quite a bit more damage since they double any wounds they do on a 6.

A couple units that are not in the Daemon of Nurlge category, but are worth discussing.

Daemon Prince: Not technically a Daemon of Nurgle, but he's a Daemon and if you mark him Nurgle, he basically is. Pretty tough for his pricepoint, and gets 3+ since he's Nurgle. His damage output is pretty solid, so use him to rack up the Epidemius points, and he's fast enough to keep up with (or outpace) Beasts and Plague Drones and activate their abilities.

Soul Grinder: Another neutral Daemon that can be marked Nurgle. He doesn't get any bonus for the mark, but he is a nasty model that you should consider. Big, ugly, and killy, he fills the hammer role that Nurgle lacks. Plague Drones and Great Unclean Ones do good damage, but this guy will run roughshod through units and put out good ranged shooting simultaneously. Bonus points if you manage to hit him with Stream of Corruption from a Great Unclean One and heal him while the opponent cries.

The Glottkin: Although not a daemon, the Glottkin is the ideal Nurgle general for higher points games where you don't need a faction allegiance. With a command ability giving +1 attack to EACH MELEE WEAPON of any unit with the NURGLE keyword, it doubles plaguebearers' attacks (your tarpit now has teeth), and raises plague drones' attacks from 5 to 8 while also increasing the chance of dealing mortal wounds. Glottkin's unique spell also is useful casting on your plaguebearers, effectively halving the casualties they take each turn, further increasing their usefulness at holding ground.

Also, SEE Clans Pestilens for more units with the NURGLE keyword

Battalions

Blightguard:

Found in Grand Alliance: Chaos - min. 1020pt., max. 3080pt.

A Lord of Plagues and a Rotbringers Sorcerer take 4 units of Putrid Blightkings. Everyone can reroll every 1 to wound and gets a permanent -1 to hit (shooting and combat) debuff to attackers.

Blighted Warband:

Found in "Realmgate Wars" - min. 940pt., max. 3100pt. Realmgate Wars Battalions are illegal in Matched Play

A Lord of Plagues takes 4 units of Putrid Blightkings and 2 Chaos Spawn. All enemies have a penalty to hit against these units, and have a chance to ignore (mortal wounds).

Torglug's Foulblessed:

Found in "Balance of Power" - min. 640pt., max. 2260pt. Realmgate Wars Battalions are illegal in Matched Play

A Lord of Plagues 3 units of Putrid Blightkings. The Lord re-rolls to wound, and gains additional damage to his weapon, and heals an additional wound. The Blightkings get a minor bonus to save rolls if they are near the Lord, and are immuune to Battleshock if within LoS.

Bloab's Swarmbrothers:

Found in "Godbeasts" - min. pt., max. pt. Realmgate Wars Battalions are illegal in Matched Play

Bloab Rotspawned takes some friends, meaning 2 units of Putrid Blightkings and 2 units of Plague Drones.

Nurgle's Deluge:

Found in "The Quest for Ghal Maraz" - min. 680pt., max. 1940pt. Realmgate Wars Battalions are illegal in Matched Play

Morbidex Twiceborn, a unit of Blightkings and 3 units of Nurglings. The nurglings can 'rain' onto the battlefield, and do damage in the shooting phase for each unit 'rained' unto the battlefield.

Plaguetouched Warband:

Found in "Everchosen" - min. pt., max. pt.

A MORTAL NURGLE HERO takes 7 MORTAL NURGLE units. Any units with 7 models at the start gain an ability to inflict a Mortal Wound to any enemy that wounds them with a 6+, while the leaders of these units (if they have one) inflict a Mortal Wound on any shmucks within b2b on a 4+. To make things even worse, enemies have to suffer -1 to hit these bastards thanks to the flies! Generally, the sacred number buff is not worth it, except for units that come in multiples of 5, where you can buy a unit of 15 and then leave one model at home. Then again, is a low chance of dealing Mortal Wounds worth wasting a Blightking?

This ability is great on large blocks of Chaos Maruaders where you pay for 30 but field 28. Thereby only "shorting yourself" a measly 2 marauders. Coupled with a Glotkin's unqiue spell to add 1 wound for a unit, and they become a defensive unit thats also a tarpit and kick back mortal wounds as they take damage.

Army Building

A little disclaimer: you will probably use this models as allies of a DAEMONS OF NURGLE army with the Plaguebearers as Battleline unit. If you still want to play with one of the most elite army in the game solo style, read on. Also If you want to keep the NURGLE MORTAL allegiance, just forget about the spare points ore use them for summoning.

1000 pt.

At 1000 pt. you have a Battleline core tax of 360pt, the price of two minimum units of Blightkings.

Now, you can add the Glottkin as leaders instead of a basic hero, and this will leave you with 160pt. An alternative concept is using two of Maggoth riders (namely Orghotts Daemonspew and Bloab Rotspawned) instead of the Glottkin, as they come out to the same amount of points. What's left is enough to add a footslogging hero. Festus the Leechlord is a good choice here as a support hero, handing out heals to your already-healing Glottkin and Blightkings. Not to mention that his signature spell Curse of the Leper permanently erodes enemy saves, giving him great synergy with the Blightkings, who lack any Rend ability.

Alternatively you can pump up your Blightking units doubling the size. At 720pt. you can add a Maggoth rider or a couple of footslogged heroes of choice to personalize your army. In this case the price tag is between 198€ and 234€.

2000 pt.

The core tax raises to 640pt.

At this level you can try build the Blightguard Battalion. A Lord of Plagues, a Rotbringers Sorcerer and 50 Putrid Blightkings split at will in 4 units. For 454€ you have all the Blightkings you'll ever need. Actually you can do better putting in the Glottkin (and 240 points to keep for summoning) instead of 20 dudes...

2500 pt.

Here the core tax is 820 pt.

Tallyband of Nurgle: A Great Unclean One takes 6+ units of Nurgle Daemons that are not other Great Unclean Ones. Every unit within 21" from the Great Unclean One restores D3 wounds or models of Plaguebearers in each turn during the hero phase (D6 if the formation includes 14+ units).

Army Building

Buying tips

Chaos Daemons should be the easier and cheaper armies to collect, thanks to the Start Collecting! kits. Those boxes have everything you could possibly want except for their Greater Daemons (a fair and valid business method) and surely you will never want to buy the kits that those contain ever again when you can get two or more kits with nifty discounts.

You can also add the fact they are not extremely diverse like other factions, they have simplier colour schemes (damn, just paint them green or bone and add some dark shades and you're ready to go), and are miniatures perfectly compatible with 40K.

For Nurglesque Daemons, you get a unit of 10 Plaguebearers, 3 Plague Drones, 3 Nurglings, and a Herald. All of this for £50 (or your local equivalent) per box, saving £33.5 on the process. Just buy as many SC! kits as you requiere and the big fat heroes you want. Done.

Allied Armies

Slaves to Darkness is the obvious choice here as you can keep the NURGLE MORTAL allegiance. But, if NURGLE is enough for you, consider The Clans Pestilens.