There’s been a constant archetype of Nurgle and Tzeentch soup lists across 8th edition’s meta for over a year now. Here’s what may help beat it.
Nurgle and Tzeentch forces have proven themselves to be real heavy hitters and have comfortably hovered at the top of tournament results. There’s actually a counter to these armies. However, with that said, by doing the things we recommend, we aren’t saying you’ll win every game. This can just help in countering them.
What Does the Chaos List Look like Exactly?
It takes on a bunch of different forms but the main brunt of the list is usually two massive squads of Plaguebearers, one big unit of Pink Horrors, some Daemon Princes, and maybe a Primarch or two. (Mortarion has historically been more popular).
The Plaguebearers are a Troops choice that comes with Objective Secured and are deceptively hard to uproot thanks to their 5+++ FNP. They move slow, but in the right circumstances, they can do up to four damage a pop in melee combat. As far as Pink Horrors go, they are faster and have a decent amount of shooting/invuln save. The real heavy hitters of the list come down to a handful of Daemon Princes and maybe a Primarch or two.
Mortarion can reach your screens turn one and kill just about anything he touches in a single round of melee. Magnus, on the other hand, is squishier than his brother. He doesn’t have a 5+++ FNP but can get a 3++ invulnerable save with a psychic power. Magnus is also a machine gun of psychic energy and can mortally wound everything in his path. In short, Mortarion is hard to kill and works in melee only. Magnus is squishier and likes to hang back so he can devastate in the psychic phase.
Defeating the Nurgle Side of the List
Whether you play Eldar, Space Marines, or another form of Chaos, your best bet to taking down Mortarion and the Plaguebearers are to bring tons of multi-damage weapons. Overcharged plasma and some reroll buffs go a long way and can take down Mortarion if you roll hot enough. (Keep in mind, if you don’t kill Mortarion in a single turn things will be a lot harder).
When you’re dealing with an armor save, an invulnerable save, and a 5+++ FNP, you really need to dedicate a lot more firepower than you think you need to your target. If you’re running plasma, don’t be afraid to overcharge even without reroll buffs. You need to make every wound count and who cares if you lose a guy or two. If you don’t overcharge, you could be losing a lot more than a couple of models on your enemy’s turn.
Defeating the Tzeentch Side of the List
As for the Tzeentch side of things, the big squad of Pink Horrors can pump out a ton of S3 firepower (each model is assault 2) and are deceptively tough with a 4++ invulnerable save. The key here is to not waste any kind of AP you have on these models. The bane of the horrors is an assault cannon. With the assault cannon being S6, it wounds them on a 2+ and gets six shots per cannon. Sure, the gun has -AP but it’s really not going to be any use.
A Robbie G gunline with assault cannon Razorbacks would be a solid choice at thinning down the Horrors. Just make sure you’ve got enough screens to keep them from getting swarmed.
Also, if you’re going up against a variant of Tzeentch with Magnus, Ahriman, some Daemon Princes, etc. Just let them have the psychic phase. Grin and bear all of the mortal wounds and try to capitalize on whatever you have left on shooting and melee. You might be able to prevent some stuff with a handful of denies coming from a list with Eldrad and Yvraine in it. But if you’re bringing Space Marines, don’t waste your points spamming Librarians for one potential deny per model. It’s probably just not worth it.
All in all target prioritization is huge. Plaguebearers will be slower and sit on objectives. Pink Horrors and Mortarion are going to be moving up the board as quick as possible. You want to take down Mortarion before he even has the chance to swing his scythe. Immediately after that, focus down the other Primarch or the next closest threat. While it’s no guarantee you’ll win every game against this list, it’s the best chance you’ve got.
Even now this list is morphing into something new. However, if you can deal with Magnus (or even Morty) successfully, you can deal with the new appearance of Lord D’s, Hellforged Dreadnought or Tzeentchy caster spammer just the same.
Let us know what your experience is playing against Daemons in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
