Posted in: Games, Games Workshop, Miniatures, Tabletop | Tagged: Age of Sigmar, AOS, Battletome, codex, GW, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Nurgle, warhammer, WHFB

Games Workshop: Everything You Wanted To Know About New Nurgle

Sometimes, with a new ruleset for a wargame, questions get asked. A lot of questions. And for the past few weeks, while the Maggotkin of Nurgle book was sitting in our foetid laps, festering in our brains were the rules. And during that time, we know your minds were collectively abuzz with new questions arising from the teasers that Games Workshop had been giving you, a rotting bread crumb trail leading to today, the day where we answer those very inquiries that have been sitting unanswered. You see, we took stock of all of the questions we saw about the new Battletome, and here are our answers for you!

How does this Battletome compare with our previous one? Points values have gone up and model quality has been given a bit of a nerf, especially on mobility. However, we hit harder, seemingly by miles.

Are we keeping the Cycle of Contagion Battle Trait? Yes, the Cycle of Corruption remains a mainstay of Nurgle's various Battle Traits, but some spokes on the "wheel" (as detailed in both the old and new Battletomes alike) will be different from the previous Battletome's Cycle of Corruption.

How, if at all, is summoning going to change? Summoning will be mostly the same requiring Contagion Points to allow summons of various Daemons of Nurgles (or Feculent Gnarlmaw terrain features), with the exceptions including higher contagion point costs across the board, and therefore perhaps a tougher time overall in generating Feculent Gnarlmaws, as Nurgle's Menagerie is not a thing anymore.

Will Games Workshop be shelving any units we currently have available at our disposal? No! This answer however does not take stats for legacy models such as Tamurkhan or Plague Toads into account; those are notably absent from the Battletome.

Will all the Warscrolls be rewritten? Yes! Some will be less changed than others (such as Plaguebearers, which do now have 2 wounds per model — likely their most impactful change), but all the Warscrolls will have some change or another to them.

What changes will be made to models and terrain features such as Putrid Blightkings, The Glottkin, Great Unclean Ones, or Feculent Gnarlmaws? This is a big question to answer, but in short, these are some of the bigger changes to Nurgle's retinue. Blightkings no longer have exploding 6's on hit rolls, The Glottkin is absurdly strong for its hefty 700 point cost, the Great Unclean Ones no longer grant mobility buffs, and Feculent Gnarlmaws lose their "run and charge" enabler. However, it's also important to note that everything seems to have gone up in points cost, even Plaguebearers who are now 10 models for 150 points. Hell, even Horticulous Slimux has been priced up by 5 points. 

Will Maggotkin be able to effectively deal with large, tough models such as Gargants, Mancrushers, Archaon the Everchosen, etc.? Diseased as a Battle Trait might assist the Maggotkin as a way to deter or kill tough models like Gargants, et al, since the Trait causes mortal wounds by the handful if enacted properly. And every Maggotkin model, even the Gnarlmaw, now has Diseased.

What does Disgustingly Resilient do? Disgustingly Resilient allows for a ward of 5+ for every single Maggotkin of Nurgle unit. Furthermore, during your hero phase your Maggotkin will heal either 1 wound or d3 wounds if in proximity to a Locus of Fecundity unit like The Glottkin, Great Unclean Ones, or Horticulous Slimux.

Do Disgustingly Resilient or other Battle Traits affect Maggotkin of Nurgle's coalition units? No, the Diseased Battle Trait does not affect any unit other than Maggotkin of Nurgle units. However, Diseased will affect any enemy units, even if they are enemy Maggotkin of Nurgle units.

Will there be any changes to spell lores for Maggotkin Wizards? Put simply, yes. All enhancement lists are quite different from the previous Battletome's selection, namely due to the addition of the Diseased Battle Trait. Furthermore, the Rotbringer keyword has gone away, leaving just two kinds of spell lores, as well as two kinds of Artefacts of Power and two kinds of Command Traits.

What allied factions will be affected by the change to the new Battletome? 2 in 4 units can be Slaves to Darkness with a mandatory Nurgle Mark of Chaos keyword, 1 in 4 can be a Skaven Clan Pestilens unit, and 1 in 4 can be a Beasts of Chaos unit, which then gains the Nurgle keyword. We still can't hire Tzeentch's keyworded Beasts of Chaos units. Games Workshop won't "change" that part!

How many things interact with the Diseased mechanic (spells, artefacts, traits, etc.)? There are a handful of enhancements that Maggotkin have access to that include some interaction with Diseased as a Battle Trait. Of note is that Muttergrub is an Artefact of Power for Maggotkin Mortals that allows non-Wizard wielders to be able to cast Gift of Disease, a spell that causes the trait to proliferate. It's pretty good on a Harbinger of Decay!

How impactful are the interactions with Diseased? While there are a fair few things that allow the proliferation of the Diseased mechanic, because of that fact that Diseased adds up (up to 7 Disease Points) slowly and is dispersed (down to 1 Disease Point) quickly, the impact of the Battle Trait as a whole may be a bit diminished overall. However, for units with models that have 1 or 2 wounds apiece (like Daemonettes), Disease Points are a fantastic way to rid yourself of those units on the battlefield.

Will Nurglings finally be battleline at least in some subfaction? Sadly not so. This also potentially removes the efficacy of one of the Maggoth Lords, namely Morbidex Twiceborn. We wish we could answer with a more positive answer but it seems like Nurglings are the cheapest Maggotkin of Nurgle unit that Games Workshop has given us, so they can't be that great.

Will we have some use for the spare Pusgoyle Blightlord model if we decide to assemble a Lord of Afflictions? Pusgoyle Blightlords will be able to be battleline in elite, paired-model units under a Lord of Affliction as your general or if you declare the Drowned Men subfaction, or can be taken singularly at a rate of 1 model per Lord of Affliction (note that single-model Pusgoyle Blightlords units cannot be battleline units). By that estimate, your best bet is to have a Lord of Afflictions general (or the Drowned Men subfaction and a Lord of Afflictions besides), a battleline unit of 2 Pusgoyles, and one more Pusgoyle that isn't battleline.

How feasible is it to make a list with all 3 Maggoth Lords (Bloab Rotspawned, Morbidex Twiceborn, and Orghotts Daemonspew) and would it be any good? While we can't say for certain how effective or competitively feasible an army with three Maggoth Lords would be, it is possible to run each of them together wherever you are permitted to hire three or more Behemoth units.

Is Blades of Putrefaction in the new Battletome? Blades of Putrefaction is a spell that has been retained in name in the new Battletome. However, instead of dealing additional mortal wounds on 6+ hit rolls, it deals 1 disease point on unmodified hit rolls of 5 or 6. Furthermore, Rotbringers as a type of Maggotkin keyword are a thing of the past; now, Maggotkin of Nurgle's Mortal Wizards can take spells from the Lore of Malignance.

Do the Battle Traits in the Battletome require Nurgle, Chaos, or broader units in order to function, or is it just Maggotkin of Nurgle units that are affected? The Battle Traits of the Maggotkin of Nurgle Battletome only affects Maggotkin of Nurgle units, and coalition units are only included in that list if they are Maggotkin of Nurgle units.

Is a mixed list of Mortals and Daemons playable in this army? Yes. In fact, due to the way things are configured, it seems encouraged as well.

It is our sincere hope that the answers to your various questions have been both satisfactory for you and tantalizing enough to encourage you to get this Battletome from Games Workshop. To wax poetic for a moment more, it is a work of art and absolutely worth your time if you play Nurgle. Were there any questions that we didn't get to answer for you today? Let us know in the comments below!

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