Building a Maggotkin of Nurgle army on a budget doesn’t have to be super hard, here are some tips on how to build an army on a budget!
Many people begin their tabletop hobby around a start collecting box or what is now called a Vanguard, and while the price has gone up (130 bucks compared to the $90 start collecting ones), they still represent the best bang for your buck to get into a hobby.
So, this week we are going to focus on starting a Maggotkin of Nurgle force that is built around the Vanguard box set.
Building a Maggotkin of Nurgle Army on a Budget
(Authors Note: I did a series of posts on the sub-factions of Maggotkin Nurgle which you can view here: Befouling Hosts, Blessed Sons, Droning Guard, Drowned Men, Filthbringers, and Munificent Wanderers)
Let’s recap their army-wide abilities:
- They can take two out of four units of Slaves to Darkness units as long as they have the Mark of Nurgle. One out of every four units can be from the Beasts of Chaos book and Clan Pestilens they do not count towards battleline troops but do count towards your army limitations.
- At the end of every movement and combat phase enemy units within 3” with a disease point up to a max of 7. At the end of each battleshock phase roll a dice for each disease mark on a unit on a 4+ they take a mortal wound.
- A natural 6 to hit with melee weapons adds a disease point to a unit.
- Your entire army gains a 5+ ward save.
- Units within 14” of a Great Unclean One, Glottkin, Horticulous Slimus, and Festus can restore D3 wounds in your hero phase.
- Cycle of Corruption (one of the following are active in a given turn): Heros have 4+ Ward Save, All units are considered within 14” for Locus of Fecundity, Roll dice equal to the battleround each 4+ gives you addition Contagion Point, Heroes without Nurgle keyword can not perform Rally or Inspiring Presence, Subtract 1 from non-Nurgle charge rolls and non-Nurgle units cannot end pile ins closer to Nurgle units, Add 1 to disease rolls, Gain addition contagion point for each Feculent Gnarlmaw.
- Then there is a Nurgle Summoning table that lets you bring in anything from a Herald of Nurgle (7 points) to a Great Unclean One (30 Points).
- Your free terrain piece is the Feculent Gnarlmaw
Building the Army
With that covered we are going to start with the Vanguard Box set which has replaced the AoS Nurgle start collecting box, so let’s dig into what you get.
- Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle: Leader 1 of 6: 120 Points
- Lord of Afflictions: Leader 2 of 5: 210 Points
- 10 Plaguebearers: Battleline 1 of 3: 150 Points
- 5 Putrid Blighkings: Battleline 2 of 3: 250 Points
- 1 Pusgoyle Blightlords: No Unit Type (Yet): 110 Points
- Total 840 Points
Overall not a bad start to get you to what is basically a solid Path to Glory Force, but to reach 2000 points you are going to want to pick up another box to flesh out your force so you are out 260 bucks (plus your book and might as well add in your terrain feature as well), but it if you build the same way you are over 75% of the way to a 2000 point army.
- Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle: Leader 1 of 6: 120 Points
- Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle: Leader 2 of 6: 120 Points
- Lord of Afflictions: Leader 3 of 5: 210 Points
- Lord of Afflictions: Leader 4 of 5: 210 Points
- 20 Plaguebearers: Battleline 1 of 3: 300 Points
- 10 Putrid Blighkings: Battleline 2 of 3: 500 Points
- 2 Pusgoyle Blightlords: Battleline 3 of 3: 220 Points
- Total 1680 Points
Finishing Off the Army
This now allows you some freedom to decide what you want to do army wise, as you can select the Lord of Afflictions as your general run them as any subfaction you wish, or you can select Drowned Men and get the Blightlords as a Battleline without needing the Lord of Afflictions as you general. Since you’re already in over 300 bucks now because of the book and the terrain piece I am going to just add one more model to the army to keep it cheaper with Morbidex Twiceborn so that your final army looks like this.
- Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle: Leader 1 of 6: 120 Points
- Spoilpox Scrivener, Herald of Nurgle: Leader 2 of 6: 120 Points
- Lord of Afflictions: Leader 3 of 6: 210 Points
- Lord of Afflictions: Leader 4 of 6: 210 Points
- Morbidex Twice Born: Leader 5 of 6: 320 Points
- 20 Plaguebearers: Battleline 1 of 3: 300 Points
- 10 Putrid Blighkings: Battleline 2 of 3: 500 Points
- 2 Pusgoyle Blightlords: Battleline 3 of 3: 220 Points
- Total 2000 Points
With this army I am going to select the Drowned Men as my sub-faction which gives me the following abilities: Lord of Afflictions and Pusgoyle Blightlords a free 8” move after deployment and unlocks the Pusgoyle Blightlords as battleline.
This will give you a bit of mobility to start the game with your Lord of Afflictions and Blightlords while for battalion I am going to select Warlord for the bonus enhancement and command point to start the game.
For enhancements, I am going to select Rustfang as that is just a great tool to have at your disposal, as well as Splithorn Helm to make your hero a little beefier. For my unique command ability, I am going to take Overpowering Stench, so that when your guys are up close and person your opponent can’t use command abilities on the units he is smacking around.
Final Thoughts & Cost
This army is going to be a classic anvil and hammer army, with your high mobility Blightlords and Lord of Afflictions being your hammer and the plaguebearers and blightkings your anvil. You can also think about how you want this army to change over time as well (maybe trading or selling your extra Lord of Afflictions and Spoilpox) to acquire some additional Nurgle units.
I love Gutrot Spume and Great Unclean Ones and they could easily fit into this list with some maneuvering of some units. However, if you’re looking to get into Nurgle as cheap as GW allows then this is the list to do it with.
- Vanguard: Maggotkin of Nurgle ($130)
- Vanguard: Maggotkin of Nurgle ($130)
- Feculent Gnarlmaw ($45)
- Morbidex Twiceborn ($80)
- Battletome: Maggotkin of Nurgle ($55)
- Total $440
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