how does nurgle work these days?

[Lord Kallozar]

Hi guys, just interested to know how nurgle plays in 6th edition.

What is the usual nurgle 6th edition list/what is the most competative nurgle lists around in 6th edition?

 

cheers.

[TheDevourer]

Not sure on what the most competetive is. 

At the moment I´m running

Typhus

4*20 Zombies

1*15 Zombies

2 Heldrakes with baleflamers

at 1000 points.

[nurglez]

Either typhus or a nurgle lord on bike

Plague marines as troops, with some cultists or zombies.

Bikes or heldrake as fast attack

and heavy support I'd guess havocs/oblits.

 

My 1500 list is currently

Nurgle lord, terminator armour, power axe, black mace, blight grenades, sigil, meltabombs

7 plagues 2 melta combi melta rhino dc

7 plagues 2 plasma combi plasma rhino dc

2x10 cultist  flamer

baledrake

hadesfiend

5 havocs 4 autocannons combi bolter

landraider dc

[Malatox]

Nurgle has a lot of competitive lists in 6th, but I can't think of THE most competitive. It's really up to you to choose, depending on your playstyle.

Some of the competitive units and combinations have already been spoken about (i.e. Typhus and Zombies, Lord on Bike, Plague Marines, Heldrakes, Havocs and Cultists), but you also have Nurgle Obliterators, Nurgle Spawn and Deamon Princes that can put a frown on your opponents face.

Typhus is just a monster, what with his Force-Axe, access to Psychic powers (Nurgle's Psychic powers can be devasting, as well as the ones you can roll for in the Rule-Book), general toughness (Terminator Armour, Feel No Pain and Toughness 5 is great!) and the Destroyer Hive, which can take out a good few enemy models in assault. This is as well as unlocking Plague Marines and Zombes as troops. He also isn't a slouch in combat with his AP2 and good Weapon Skill. He's best teamed up with cultists or zombies though, just incase his Destroyer Hive kills some of your own models (Damn they should have made the rule that it doesn't effect Mark of Nurgle units).

Zombies, unlocked by Typhus, work as you have lots of cheap, relatively-tough models that your opponent will find hard to get rid of, and they aren't useless in an assault with their huge number of poisoned attacks. You can always use them as objective campers, putting them To Ground to increase their cover save, and they won't be going anywhere quickly.

Cultists work much the same way as Zombies, if somewhat less tough and somewhat weaker in combat. They do however have a shooting attack, which shouldn't be over looked. Never underestimate a Cultist Squad, they can pull out miracles when you least expect them to.

A Lord on Bike is just nasty as it's plain Toughness 6, quite fast and good in combat. People usually run him with Black Mace, Sigil of Corruption and Burning Brand of Skalathrax (Sp?), as this means he's even nastier in combat, even tougher to weapons that ignore your armour save and toughness and has a good weapon to shoot before the assault. I myself see him as a mediocre choice of H.Q., when you could use the Black Mace on your Deamon Princes, but he does have the benefit of unlocking your Plague Marines as Troops. He's good teamed up with Nurgle Spawn or Nurgle Bikers.

Nurgle Spawn have a multitude of attacks, are tougher to kill with small-arms fire than regular spawn, are cheap and are quite fast. All in all, this promises a good unit to support your force, but it isn't to be relied upon to win you the battle hands down.

Nurgle Bikers are just like your Lord; tough to kill and fast. If you take a couple of Plamsa-Guns or Melta-Guns, you'll be laughing as you run up the board, shooting and killing your opponents toy-soldiers whilst he finds it difficult to destroy them without heavier weapons that should be focussed on other aspects of your army.

Deamon Princes should be taken with the obligatory Deamon of Nurgle rule (so you have a full Nurgle army), as well as Black Mace, Wings (so the Slow and Purposeful special rule is negated somewhat) and Power-Armour (to make him even tougher). The fact it's a Flying-Monstrous-Creature means that it can Swoop its way across the battle, avoiding fire, until you lock it in combat. The Black Mace is AP2 with this guy as he's a Monstrous-Creature, teamed up with his higher strength and weapon skill, means that you'll be killing more enemy guys and you also have the option of tearing apart vehicles if the situation dictates it. I'm not sure, but I think that his Shrouding special rule can be teamed up with his Jink rule, making him even safer from in coming fire... you'll need to get someone to check that, as I don't have my Rule-Book or Codex to hand.

I can't say much in the way of Havocs, as I've never used them, but they're our only dedicated anti-air unit. Taking Flakk Missiles on four Missile Launchers should ruin any Flyers day within a few turns of dedicated shooting. Also the Mark of Nurgle makes these guys somewhat tougher.

Plague Marines are just as great as ever, you have to love the little (Huge, they are still Space Marines after all), rotten guys. Some people go with Power-Axes on their Champions, but I prefer Power-Fists, as why not be twice your Strength for a few extra points? Twin special weapons on a small number of guys is great, as well as that small number of guys being tougher than most. They have poisoned weapons, meaning they can even be a threat to Monstrous-Creatures (although don't rely on them for that). They're Shrouded further than 8 inches, thanks to their defensive grenades, which also take away all attack bonuses enemies receive on a charge (Yes, from Rage too!).

Obliterators are somewhat obvious. They can "obliterate" most enemy units quite easily as they have a wide choice of weapons; depending on the situation, you'll know which weapon to use, and they'll have it ready for you. They're even tougher with the Mark of Nurgle and their Terminator Armour, meaning only Strength Ten weapons can instant-death them from range. Although you shouldn't rely upon them in combat, they won't go down easily and they'll pack a punch with their Power-Fists.

There are so many articles, comments and posts on Heldrakes that it isn't even funny! Their a great Flyer; cheaper than they should be for what they do, and you'll most likely want to take the Bale-Flamer to roast some toasty enemy-marshmallows. I'm sure someone else can give you a much better explanation for their uses and strengths than I, but they really are great!

Overall, we have a wide choice of competitive units, and you have the luxury of fielding them. This post has been more about the finer points of units, rather than lists, but I hope it helps you nonetheless.
Have fun bringing rotten death to your enemies!

- Malatox

[TheDevourer]

Just clearing a few things: 

1. Zombies don´t have poison attacks ;)

2. Typhus has to roll on the nurgle table for psychic powers

3. Zombies cannot go to ground, because they are fearless

4. Concerning dps: Flying monstrous creatures tend to fall out of the skies fairly quickly thanks to the test you have to take everytime a unit hits you. When you get grounded you will die very fast. Also: The slow and purposeful means that you cannot overrun the enemy in close combat should they flee, which is also something you have to be aware of. (Not that there are many units that will survive against a Mace prince)

5. Havocs with Flakk Missiles are a point sink, that also only fire at air (Snap shots at ground targets). Autocannon havocs on the other hand are great at killing ground units and the amount of shots make them almost as good at anti-air as flakk havocs. You could also use Lascannon havocs, depending on what you need.

6. Blight Grenades give plague marines a +1 cover save if anyone is firing at them from within 8". 

 

 

Erm well drakes... Yeah you need to take those. They will be dealing your damage. Taking out all infantry units on the table aswell as vector striking any vehicles. Also can potentially force 2 leadership tests a turn on enemy units (1 in the movement phase, 1 in the shooting phase). There isn´t much you have to say about drakes. There is no need to try and sell them, they sell themselves.

[Chaeron]

I think it's led to a few solid builds - but there are very options you'd want to take otherwise imho.

[Malatox]

Oops, thanks Devourer for catching my mistakes! Juts goes to show I need to read the Rule-Book/Codex a bit more haha. I think I just got mixed up in parts, and didn't explain others sufficiently.

I'd still argue the case for Deamon-Princes/Flakk-Havocs, but that might be because of my Meta.

- Malatox

[Lord Kallozar]

that's some great advice cheers guys!

[John_f]

You forgot to mention the obligatory demon prince with wings and black mace ;)

[Malatox]

You forgot to mention the obligatory demon prince with wings and black mace

Nope, I mentioned that :P.

- Malatox

[Ederan]

Havocs with flakk missiles can still fire at ground targets at their normal BS, just not with flakk missiles. You can still choose to fire frag and krak, but if you were to use these missiles for air targets, modifiers would apply. Unless I missed an FAQ update.....

[Teetengee]

Also you cannot give the same character the burning brand and the black mace. A character with access to that part of the armory can exachange one weapon for one artifact. (although the bike does give an extra weapon so you can still get three weapons just not both the mace and the brand).