Alright time to give old Grandfather Nurgle a little love for this holiday season! It helps that the Demons of Nurgle start collecting box from GW is one of the best deals out there right now.
Looking at it on ebay it is going for about 68 dollars and comes with 17 miniatures to help you become Santa Pestilence.
- 10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle – (100 points, Battleline 1 of 2)
- 3 Plague Drones of Nurgle – (220 points, no unit affiliation)
- 1 Herald of Nurgle – (100 points, leader 1 of 4)
- 3 Nurglelings – (80 points, no unit affiliation)
These models are some of the coolest (I am a sucker for Chaos Daemons though) models out there and the fact that it covers 1 battleline and a solid 500 points is even better. Let’s go through the minions that are going to help spread your holiday death and decay…cheerfully!
- Plaguebearers of Nurgle, is a solid battle line troop based more on their abilities then stats. Move 4, 1 Wound, 10 Bravery, and 5+ save is not something to get excited about. The attack is little better with 4+ to hit 3+ to wound no rend and 1 damage. What makes these guys good are how they can stand their ground.
- With an icon bearer anytime they make a battle shock test (chances are they are not running with bravery 10) and you roll a 1 you add a D6 models. Shooting at them is a -1 to hit, and the next two abilities are what keeps them around. First is Disgusting Resilient which is a 5+ ward save for all wounds, and the second is if this unit is within 7inches of a Daemon hero of Nurgle they can reroll save rolls of 1. So slap mystic shield on these guys, they have a 4+ save re-roll 1s and then a 5+ ward save re-reroll 1s.
- Your herald of Nurgle is a solid foot soldier ready to back up your Plaguebearers. He has a Move of 4, 5 Wounds, 10 Bravery, and 4+ save. With 3 attacks on 4+ to hit 3+ to wound -1 rend and D3 damage he can pack a punch as well. He also has the 5+ ward save with the disgusting resilient ability and every time ANY unit within 7 of him is wiped out he heals a wound. So not great but he can hit pretty hard, gives your plaguebearers that bonus, has some staying power, and is pretty reasonable at 100 points.
- Nurglelings are little bundles of pestilence joy, which exist for the sole purpose of slowing down units. 4 wounds, move of 5, bravery 10, and no save. They have 5 attacks with 5+ to hit 5+ to wound 1 damage. If they actually manage to inflict a wound after combat phase roll a D6 on a 5+ that unit suffers a D3 mortal wounds. Their best ability though is that during EVERY battle shock phase they heal up to maximum wounds if the model is not destroyed. At 80 points for three like I said, meat shield.
- Finally your plague drones of Nurgle, which are your heavy hitters. 5 wounds, move of 8, 10 bravery, and a 5+ save. They have a missile weapon with 14 range 4+ to hit 3+ to wound 1 damage, but that is really just a bonus. There melee is 1 attack each with 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound 1 damage, then 3 attacks 3+ to hit 4+ to wound, and finally a sting attack each with 1 attack 4+ to hit 3+ to wound -1 rend and D3 damage. When forced to take a battle shock on a roll of a 1 you can add a D3 models. They also have the 5+ ward save, and if they are within 7 inches of daemon hero of Nurgle and roll a 6 or more on a wound roll that wound inflicts a mortal wound as well as any regular wounds.
So the next thing to do is get that second battle line unit and to get another hero that can keep up with your plague drones. For battle line you can do no wrong then another unit of 10 Plaguebearers and for a flying hero get yourself a daemon prince. The Daemon Prince is going for about 20 on eBay while the plague bearers are around 10 as well. That gets you to 760 points and satisfies the battle line component of your army.
- 10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle – (100 points, Battleline 2 of 2)
- 1 daemon prince (of Nurgle) – (160 points, leader 2 of 4)
The Daemon Prince is there to support you plague drones so you’re going to select Nurgle as his mark this game. Move of 8, 8 wounds, 10 bravery, save of 3+ (if you choose Nurgle which you are). If you snag a model with wings (seriously slap wings on it somehow) they can fly 12. He has an ax with 4 attacks 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -2 rend and D3 damage or a sword with 4 attacks, 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -1 rend and D3 damage. I personally like the ax with higher rend, but it’s more a personal preference. Then he has a claw attack with 3 attacks 4+ to hit, 3 + to wound and 2 damage each. So he is a pretty solid model to go along with your force.
What you’re missing is some magic and range, so let’s finish off this army with the granddaddy of them all a Great Unclean One. You can usually find a model off ebay for around 40 bucks, it might be older and you have to strip the paint off but it will be easier on your wallet! It also brings you to 1000 points.
- 1 Great Unclean One – (240 point, leader 3 of 4, behemoth 1 of 2)
This lovable guy is a complete package, at 10 wounds, 5 move, 4+ save and 10 bravery. He has a missile weapon with range 7 D6 attacks, 3+ to hit, wound is a damage table, -2 rend and 1 damage. Then for attacks he has a flail with 2 range 3 attacks 3+ to hit, wound is damage table, -1 rend, and 2 damage. Along with that he has a bilesword with a damage table attacks, 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound., -2 rend and D3 damage.
On top of this he has the 5+ ward save and heals a D3 damage in your hero phase. His command ability is eh, it is nice that it is the entire field of play, but eh in that all it does is if you roll a 7 on a charge for Nurgle daemon they get +1 attack for every melee weapon. It’s fun and neat and can help but nothing to build an army around.
Finally he is a wizard and his special spell is a plague wind with a casting value of 7. The range is 14 and you draw a line from great unclean to that unit, and along with that unit any non Nurgle units it passes through suffer D3 mortal wounds. Any Nurgle units it passes through heal D3 wounds. So it is like a boosted arcane bolt.
This is a fun army to build and full of cheer and death (go hand in hand with nurgle), also it is relatively cheap to build up to 1000 at a cost of 148. If you want to skip the daemon prince and great unclean one, you could also just purchase a second start collecting box and that will cover all your bases and put you at 1000 points as well!
