Nurgle daemonkin

[WickedJester1013]

Good evening follow wrap beings,

I am curious to here if people have been having success with the plague god in any combination of units from the marines to the daemons. I have the basics of both sides, but I play more of the daemons and wanted to add to my army what they may be lacking. From those that have played mono nurgle daemons what do you feel the army lacking? I know I can always add more daemons of the other gods, and in due time I will but I want to keep it in the plague family so to speak.

I would be looking to add anything from forge world, death guard, or chaos with nurgle marks.

Thanks for any help

[Trollbeard]

Hello fellow plague follower!

 

I’ve had some good success using Death Guard demon engines, like the Plague Burst Crawler, and the foetid bloat drone and a demon prince of nurgle to get that relic armour for him. The engines add some much needed shooting, and some speed. I ran a list with a nurgle demon battalion and then a DG outrider and spearhead detachment. I quite easily beat my buddies eldar with it.

 

A sweet thing about those units is that they cause Epideimius’ tally to go up and they benefit from it because they are nurgle demons. It’s very easy to get that going from turn one.

 

Those units are even affected by the feculant gnarlmaw also which is really helpful especially for the crawler so that it can fall back from CC and still shoot!

 

Hope those helps!

[Marshlands]

Obliterators and possessed both merge really well with the tree, the loci, spells and auras

[N1SB]

It happens that, just last week, I got some interesting actual game results on this very topic.

I played my mostly Daemon army against an Imperial Guard army. Another friend, also Daemons, fought the same army.

I won like 10 to 2. My friend lost 10 to 2. A huge difference, and all I did was include some Forgeworld units...but maybe not the way you think.

+++++

My army was an experiment, in both theme/painting/narrative AND gameplay. The problem I had observed was kind of as follows:

Daemon armies are (generally) quite assault-oriented. Opponents know that, so can hang back or kite and whittle them down with superior firepower.

Basically, what Daemons (generally) lack are long-range weaponry; they have some, but not much. An answer was for Daemon armies to take some big guns from other Chaos factions, but not only do we ask what and how much, but also this: doesn't mixing some guns with a mostly assault army make it become an inefficient, wishy-washy, jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none? A Daemon army probably won't outgun a dedicated shooty army, so is it worth bothering with?

IMHO, Daemons really benefit from specifically Artillery weapons, i.e. Heavy Support that can target units not visible to the bearer.

The reason is Daemons should use terrain to cover your advance, trying to move between buildings in a way to expose as little as possible. Your opponent will try to position his troops to just get the best line of sight at you. When you have your own Artillery weapons, that ignores cover, you're turning the tables on your enemy. It's like they're supposed to be the ones hunting you, but suddenly, with indirect fire, THEY'RE the ones being hunted.

But in a gun vs. gun match, won't a Chaos army lose? Yes, but that's not what's happening. With the Artillery, they're constantly taking losses. Their normal way of hanging back and firing when you come into range relies on the fact that they're safe at a distance, whereas you're not, so they can afford to wait for you. Suddenly, to make use of their ranged weapons before they die, they have to come TO you...which is what you want them to do, so you can get into Assault. So it's not about outgunning the enemy, but removing the safety net superior firepower offered them.

I believe (but require more testing) that NURGLE especially benefits from this. Why? Nurgle is very durable and the best at outlasting these shootouts with both the 5+ Daemonic invulnerable save and 5+ Disgustingly Resilient "feel no pain" save.

TL;DR - Daemons with Artillery weapons (that can target enemies not visible to the bearer) puts opponents between a Rock and a Hard Place. They no longer can just hang back or kite, but they don't exactly what to advance towards you either. Nurgle probably benefits the most due to their resilience.

+++++

Now I present both my example and some evidence:

This is a 1000 pts list (just a little under, actually) with:

2 Daemon Princes

3 Units of Nurglings

1 Renegade Commander HQ (not that important)

1 Sloppity Bilepiper (not that important either)

1 Wyvern (anti-infantry Artillery)

1 Earthshaker Battery (anti-tank Artillery)

What you see is a typical Daemon Princes + Troops Battalion Detachment, then a Spearhead (i.e. Heavy Support) Detachment of Astra Militarum weapons.

The Daemons Battlation probably makes sense to you, but how did I get the Astra Militarum Artillery? They're from Forgeworld's book, Imperial Armour Index: Forces of the Astra Militarum. That Index mostly covers units for Loyalist Imperium forces, but there is a sub-section for Chaos called Renegades & Heretics. That particular army list deals with basically "Traitor Guardsmen", and includes a list of Astra Militarum tanks you can take for Chaos armies. Points-wise, those 3 Artillery pieces cost about 1/3 of my overall army's points.

(You'll notice I stuck/snuck in a Sloppity Bilepiper in the Spearhead Detachment. Normally, that'll spoil a Detachment because I'm mixing a Chaos Daemons Codex unit, but in this case, it didn't matter. That's because the Renegades & Heretics list does NOT have a Regimental Tactic or special rule anyway, so I didn't lose anything.)

Against the actual Astra Militarum army I faced, I used the Wyvern to pepper the Guardsmen squads (each time I fired, I'd wipe out half a squad on average) and the Earthshaker Batteries to shake their Leman Russ tanks. By the time I charge or get into range with my Daemons, there were about only half the Guardsmen firing at me or the Leman Russ tanks were so deteriorated from Wounds suffered that they couldn't shoot straight. Thus, I was weakening the enemy before I finished him off in assault, dramatically reducing my losses.

(Side note - the Daemon Princes and Nurglings were taken from the Death Guard Codex instead of the Chaos Daemons one, precisely because of the reasons Trollbeard mentioned above...I wanted the Death Guard relic and Warlord Trait. The relic is the Suppurating Plate (i.e. the Armour of 2+ Saves Then I Bleed Mortal Wounds On You When I Save) and Revoltingly Resilient (+1 Disgustingly Resilient Save...which can trigger those Mortal Wounds from the relic.)

+++++

That's just 1 example of this theory put to the test and I was very glad I tried this list out. 8th edition's Detachment system really opened up options for armies we couldn't have made before, like this one. I took something that I don't think is very popular, but it's turning out to be probably my most effective list in actual play.

That said, it's probably not optimal. The points cost of those Artillery units, the Wyvern and Earthshaker Battery, went up dramatically due to the updates in the previous Chapter Approved. They're still great and I'm keeping them for theme, but like Trollblood suggested above, the Plague Burst Crawler is a great addition because it, too, is an Artillery weapon that does the same thing basically.

Brother Wicked Jester, I'm not sure what your list is, but I'm guessing it's lots of Nurgle Daemons. If I were in your position now, I'd take a look at the Plague Burst Crawler in particular, to add that Artillery effect described above.

[Noneisbackhere]

Greetings plague followers. It happens aswell to finish a daemon list i had sitting mostly on my shelves and now looking very forward to test it!

 

I read through the codex and through various sources, and decided to not be that guy and stay in pure mono-nurgle daemons without abusing a 3x3 obliterator detachment :D.

Thing is daemon artillery is vastly inferior to every other in the game right now but as N1SB already said you can use it for psychological pressure in your opponent's army. But again it really depends on what enemy you play against.Yes maybe versus an IG army it could be of some help but i prefer to give these 400points or more in other things (plague drones, poxriders etc.) Still if you're playing nurgle i dont think you need any kind of artillery. Nurgle stuff is really durable and dont forget the trees. You get a 7movem plaguebearer+1 in advance plus free charge. Nurgle is moving reallyyy fast now. Right now im using 2 trees but i think im gonna need a 3rd one. 

In my list right now im using two big blocks of 30xplaguebearers following by their buff guys, 1GUO with 6xpox riders which im gonna DP( really want to see how the frogs are performing) and 1Daemon Prince with 6drones for flanking/flyer killing/objectives. 

[WickedJester1013]

For daemons I have

Great unclean one,

Daemon prince,

Poxbring,

30-35 plague bearers,

6 nurgling swarms,

3 plague drones,

Beast of nurgle,

 

Deathguard

20 pox walkers

20 marines

Rhino

Bloat drone,

Lord of contagion

Helbrute,

15 ish cultists

Tallyman

Plague caster

Blightbringer

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

Echoing N1SB, Daemons + Basilisks/Russes are good. 

 

Very good, in my meta.

[N1SB]

For daemons I have

Great unclean one,

Daemon prince,

Poxbring,

30-35 plague bearers,

6 nurgling swarms,

3 plague drones,

Beast of nurgle,

 

Deathguard

20 pox walkers

20 marines

Rhino

Bloat drone,

Lord of contagion

Helbrute,

15 ish cultists

Tallyman

Plague caster

Blightbringer

 

Thanks for sharing this.  I feel the Nurgle Daemons list looks well solid on its own.  I like a lot of your Death Guard stuff, but it happens it doesn't add much different to what your Daemons can do on their own (as I said, solid)...except maybe the Helbrute.  I've long considered a few shooty Death Guard Helbrute.  You already saw what I said about Artillery units (Plagueburst Crawler is actually a little more expensive than what I use, but probably easier to fit into a Detachment for you).

 

I haven't personally tested the trees yet, but another successful Nurgle friend is spamming Plague Drones (accompanied by a flying Daemon Prince) and he swears by them.  I myself might try the trees next, it'll be an interesting experiment.

[Trollbeard]

 

 

For daemons I have

Great unclean one,

Daemon prince,

Poxbring,

30-35 plague bearers,

6 nurgling swarms,

3 plague drones,

Beast of nurgle,

 

Deathguard

20 pox walkers

20 marines

Rhino

Bloat drone,

Lord of contagion

Helbrute,

15 ish cultists

Tallyman

Plague caster

Blightbringer

Thanks for sharing this. I feel the Nurgle Daemons list looks well solid on its own. I like a lot of your Death Guard stuff, but it happens it doesn't add much different to what your Daemons can do on their own (as I said, solid)...except maybe the Helbrute. I've long considered a few shooty Death Guard Helbrute. You already saw what I said about Artillery units (Plagueburst Crawler is actually a little more expensive than what I use, but probably easier to fit into a Detachment for you).

 

I haven't personally tested the trees yet, but another successful Nurgle friend is spamming Plague Drones (accompanied by a flying Daemon Prince) and he swears by them. I myself might try the trees next, it'll be an interesting experiment.

You might also want to consider the Spoilpox Scrivener, he buffs plaguebearers quite considerably, giving them 2+ to movement, and to hi rolls of “6” generate additional attacks.

 

I can also vouch for the tree, I’ve used it with the DS stratagem, because it has the demon keyword, and places it in central locations on the board to give me a wide buff zone for my forces. You can also use them to blockade areas also. I’ve used 2 a couple times but am thinking of just running one.

[WickedJester1013]

Yeah I feel the trees are a must have, my theme is the garden of nurgle so my plague bearers are mixed with the fantasy dryiads and my daemon prince is a converted tree lord. Keeping with the theme the trees need to happen. How do the plague burst crawlers compared to the guard pieces?

I also hear good things about the drones with DP. What I don’t hear much about are the plague drones.

I like the idea of obliteraters but don’t know about a 3x3 detachment with a tree.

Yes I feel like I have the core of daemons and marines and need to add some punch to the list

[Trollbeard]

Yeah I feel the trees are a must have, my theme is the garden of nurgle so my plague bearers are mixed with the fantasy dryiads and my daemon prince is a converted tree lord. Keeping with the theme the trees need to happen. How do the plague burst crawlers compared to the guard pieces?

I also hear good things about the drones with DP. What I don’t hear much about are the plague drones.

I like the idea of obliteraters but don’t know about a 3x3 detachment with a tree.

Yes I feel like I have the core of daemons and marines and need to add some punch to the list

That sounds like a cool theme for your army!

 

The DP is a good HQ choice, he is a character so he can hide in amongst your forces, and if

You take the 2x malefic talon he will have 7 attacks. I have used him as my warlord with the virulent touch warlord trait and given him the “Corruption” relic sword with some good results! Give him the virulent blessing psychic power and he will have a +2 to his wound roll , and sod double damage on a roll of 5 or 6, and since corruption is D3 dmg it can do some serious work if the dice are with you!

 

Plague drones are decent, not very killy per say, but are tough and fast, they have a decent amount of attacks at 5 each, but the drone attacks aren’t affected by a poxbringer and no AP doesn’t help. They can still keep up with the DP and have a small amount of shooting.

[WickedJester1013]

Ok, I like the idea of the 3 drones with a prince, forbthe heavy guns I see 4 close options, defiler, PBC, helbrute, and the more expensive soulgrinder. Minus the souls grind they are all close in points.

Is it not worth the points to run plague marines with the bearers? What I am getting is to run core of daemons( bearers and nurgling) then use the small deathguard detachment for fire power.

[Sheesh Mode]

Ok, I like the idea of the 3 drones with a prince, forbthe heavy guns I see 4 close options, defiler, PBC, helbrute, and the more expensive soulgrinder. Minus the souls grind they are all close in points.

Is it not worth the points to run plague marines with the bearers? What I am getting is to run core of daemons( bearers and nurgling) then use the small deathguard detachment for fire power.

If you equip them with Blight Launchers and keep them in cover they are great.

[Noneisbackhere]

Hey guys i have a question about Epidemius. More specifically what happens if Epidemius dies? Does the Tally remain to the rest of the army or it is lost? Epidemius profile doesnt mention anything neither do the Daemons FAQs. Am i missing sth from the Core rules?

[WickedJester1013]

So blight launchers are the way to go? All three drones? I know I would like to take one with the flesh mower but I don’t know how else to equip the other 2. Also do you run them as a squad with the prince leading them? Or solo as needed. I guess a better way to ask, is are they good solo or does the power lie in them as a homie squad

[Wolf Lord Loki]

Hey guys i have a question about Epidemius. More specifically what happens if Epidemius dies? Does the Tally remain to the rest of the army or it is lost? Epidemius profile doesnt mention anything neither do the Daemons FAQs. Am i missing sth from the Core rules?

Interesting question. I'd be inclined to say that the effect is cancelled.

 

To me it looks like it is an aura effect that is applied to all models matching the criteria given.

As with all auras that I know of the effects stop when the carrier of the aura dies

[Trollbeard]

So blight launchers are the way to go? All three drones? I know I would like to take one with the flesh mower but I don’t know how else to equip the other 2. Also do you run them as a squad with the prince leading them? Or solo as needed. I guess a better way to ask, is are they good solo or does the power lie in them as a homie squad

I personally run them just with the Plague spitters, they have been handy for flyers with the 2D6 auto shots, they can force a lot of saves and if you have epidiemius’ tally going, they are better at a variety of targets.

[Noneisbackhere]

 

Hey guys i have a question about Epidemius. More specifically what happens if Epidemius dies? Does the Tally remain to the rest of the army or it is lost? Epidemius profile doesnt mention anything neither do the Daemons FAQs. Am i missing sth from the Core rules?

Interesting question. I'd be inclined to say that the effect is cancelled.

 

To me it looks like it is an aura effect that is applied to all models matching the criteria given.

As with all auras that I know of the effects stop when the carrier of the aura dies

Well yes if we say it is an aura effect then yes the effect would be cancelled with the removal.

But i cant find anything similar to this effect so i cannot tell if its an aura effect nor if it has a range effect.

[Wolf Lord Loki]

So are you saying that because there isn't anything similar it is not cancelled on Epidemus' death?

 

I personally would cancel the effects once the model was removed from play as it is listed on the units data sheet. Unless it is faq-ed to say otherwise

 

If you are able to produce a resurrection somehow I'm not sure what would happen.

 

Restart the tally perhaps, Epidemus lost count as he was banished from the mortal plane