Nurgle came in like a rusted diseased-ridden wrecking ball with the new Maggotkin battletome and really shook up what their traditional 2000 point force looked like.
Luckily, they go hand in hand with the Daemons of Nurgle starter box, which we used back in our First 1000 article back in December 2016! We are going to build off that army to get to 2000, so any units that I wrote about in that article will be covered there.
Recap of First 1000 army with updated points costs from Maggotkin of Nurgle Book:
- 10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle: Battleline 1 of 3 – 120 points
- 10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle: Battleline 2 of 3 – 120 points
- 3 Plague Drones of Nurgle: No Unit type – 200 points
- 1 Poxbringer, Herald of Nurgle: Leader 1 of 6 – 120 points
- 3 Nurgllings: No Unit Type – 100 points
- 1 Daemon Prince of Nurgle: Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 3 – 160 points
- 1 Great Unclean One: Leader 3 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 3 – 340 Points
Total: 1160
This army’s point cost generally went up since 2016, but as always let’s start with the battleline units, first taking advantage of the massive regiments. Let’s combine the two 10 model units of Plaguebearers and add a third 10 model unit to get to the massive regiment size.
- 30 Plaguebearers of Nurgle: Battleline 1 of 3 – 320 points
Then to round out the other two battleline units lets grab a unit of 10 Putrid Blightkings and a unit of 5 Chaos Warriors
- 10 Putrid Blight Kings: Battleline 2 of 3 – 320 points
- 5 Chaos Warriors with Mark of Nurgle: Battleline 3 of 3 – 90 points
New total is: 1650
Putrid Blightkings: Move 4, Save 4+, Bravery 8, Wounds 4. Blighted Weapon attack with range 1″, three attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, for one damage. On a hit roll of six, it becomes D6 hits rather than one. In your Hero phase, all units friend or foe suffer D3 mortal wounds on a 6+ unless they have a Nurgle keyword, in which case they heal D3. Finally, the leader has 5 wounds, the icon bearer adds one to their bravery, and the musician adds one to run and charge rolls.
Chaos Warriors: Move 5, Save 4+, 6 Bravery, 2 Wounds. They have a variety of weapon choices starting with a hand weapon attack with range 1″, two attacks, hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 4+ for one damage. If they go duel weapons, you re-roll hit rolls of one. Halberd has range 2″, hitting and wounding on a 4+ for one damage. If they forgo shields, they can carry Greatblades with range 1″, two attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, and -1 rend for one damage. If they carry shields, they can save mortal wounds on a 5+, and if the unit contains 20 or more models you can re-roll save rolls of one. Finally, the leader adds one to his hit rolls, the standard adds one to their bravery, and the musician adds one to run and charge rolls.
Now let’s bring in some leader units to buff your troops, starting with the Plaguebears by adding Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle to add some re-rolls to this troop. Then, for the Blightkings, we going to go with Gutrot Supreme to add some much-needed mobility to an otherwise slow-moving troop. Finally, with our remaining points we will pick up a Sloppity Bilepiper, Herald of Nurgle to add some rerolls to the Great Unclean One and Nurgleings.
- Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle: Leader 4 of 6 – 100 points
- Gutrot Spume: Leader 5 of 6 – 140 points
- Sloppity Bilepiper: Leader 6 of 6 – 100 points
Total: 1990
Gutrot Spume: Move 4, 3+ Save, 9 Bravery, 7 Wounds. He has two weapons: an axe and tentacles. The Axe has range 2″, four attacks, hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 2+, with -1 rend for two damage. The tentacles have range 1″, D3 attacks, hitting on a 2+, wounding on a 4+, for one damage. At the start of the combat phase, you can choose a weapon carried by an enemy model within one inch of Gutrot and, on a 4+, they cannot attack with that weapon. He re-rolls hit rolls of one if the target is a Hero, and if he is within three inches of a Hero he must target the Hero. Finally, when you are setting up, you can set up Gutrot and a unit of Blightkings to the side and at the end of your first movement phase, you can set them up anywhere within six inches of a table edge and no closer than nine inches from enemy models.
Sloppity Bilepiper, Herald of Nurgle: Move 4, Save 4+, 10 Bravery, Wounds 5. He has one weapon with range 1″, four attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for two damage. Each time he suffers a wound or mortal wound on a 5+ he ignores it. He adds one to the bravery of friendly Nurgle Daemons while they are within 7″ of him and subtracts one from enemy units. Finally, you can re-roll failed charge rolls and hit rolls of one for Nurglings and Great Unclean Ones with they are within seven inches.
Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle: Move 4, Save 4+, 10 Bravery, 5 Wounds. He has a missile weapon with range 6″, D6 attacks, hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 4+, for one damage. His melee weapon is range 2″, two attacks, hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 4+, with -1 rend for two damage. Each time he suffers a wound or mortal wound, on a 5+ he ignores it. Finally, friendly Plaguebears can re-roll failed charges and hit rolls of one while within seven inches of this model.
Loadouts: For your Great Unclean One, I would give him a Plagueflail and the Massive Bilesword as weapon choices. Then give the Great Unclean One “The Endless Gift” to heal up any wounds they may have taken on a 4+, followed by the hulking Physique which adds one to your wound rolls. For bonus spells, I would give him the Sumptuous Pestilence Spell and the Poxbringer the Favoured Poxes spell. For your Daemon Prince, I would equip with a Daemonic Axe rather than sword for the bonus to rend, and your Chaos Warriors with shields for the 5+ save to mortal wounds.
Strategy: For this army you’re going to compartmentalize your forces into four groupings: Group 1 is the Great Unclean One, Poxbringer, Sloppity, and the Nurglings; group 2 is the Blightkings and Gutrot Spume; group 3 is the Daemon Prince and Plaguedrones; and finally group 4 is the Spoilpox, Chaos Warriors, and the Plaguebears. With Group 1, you are going to put them smack dab in the middle of your forces and march forward using the Nurglings as a shield. Poxbringer and Sloppy will as some buffs and firepower to this group but the bulk of it is your Great Unclean One doing his thing. Group 2 is your fast-moving group and contains a unit and hero, so you can fly around threatening weaker shooting troops, or claiming objectives. Group 3 is a group of heavy hitters that has a chance to charge into combat turn one with a good charge roll. Setting them up on the flagship lets you help dictate the flow of battle and can threaten artillery, mages, deep objectives, or anything else. Finally, group 4 is your mass of troops that can hold there own as well, march them up one side of your Great Unclean One to put pressure on your opponent and, if you must, to leave the Chaos Warriors on an objective to keep control of it. Your troops may have lots of wounds with chances to regenerate but be sure not to throw them away. Be very careful how you roll with groups 2 and 3 as they can grab objectives and win you the game but can also be isolated from the rest of your force.
There you have it, one of many ways to build off the new Maggotkin of Nurgle book, starting with the start collecting box. Another way of starting this force off is to get the Blightwar box set and building around that.
Check out more “newbie” tips for the Hobby
About the Author: Travis Perkins
