Goonhammer Reviews: Age of Sigmar Battletome - Maggotkin of Nurgle

The new Nurgle Battletome is here! Nurgle’s been in a weird spot this edition with a really narrow index and an anemic army rule. This book brings a myriad of changes to the current ruleset as well as a staggering 8 new warscrolls. There’s a lot more to dig through, so lets dive in.

As always we’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the Battletome. We have also been provided with a provisional Battle Profile list for the army to use when writing the review, but please note that these points are subject to change until they are published on Warhammer Community.

Battle Traits

Credit: Henry South @henrysouth insta

While Nurgle’s Battle Traits still revolve around the Disease mechanic, the traits see some major overhauls to make it more reliable. First off there’s Blessed By the Grandfather which is your main way to put the Disease keyword on your opponent’s units. At the end of any turn you can:

Infect a unit that’s in combat with one of your units or one that’s 7” away on 4+,
Spread from a Diseased enemy unit to all enemy units within combat range, or
Mutate your opponent’s units if everything has the Disease keyword, dealing a mortal wound to each of them.

Infect sees a major glow up here, allowing you to infect things that are trying to range you out or stay out of combat. You can also now use the Ceaseless Infectors ability at the end of the turn if one of your Rotbringers units died this turn, allowing you to give something that was in combat with it the Disease keyword on a 3+. In addition, Wracked With Disease now does a flat D3 mortals instead of D3 on a 2+, making it much more reliable. Beyond that, Disease works the same way as before. You can spread it from a destroyed Diseased unit using Burst Pustules and if your opponent tries to heal a unit or return models to it they instead remove the Disease keyword thanks to Desperate Remedies. What’s brand new is Blighted Regrowth, which lets you setup a Feculant Gnarlmaw wholly within 12” of an objective you control if there are no other Gnarlmaws on the battlefield. This is incredibly strong and very important to your gameplan now that Gnarlmaws are a key part of how the army functions, but more about that in the Warscroll section.

Battle Formations

There are four brand spanking new Battle Formations to play with. First up and most significantly is Tallyband of Nurgle, which lets you pick a thing in your opponent's army to be the Plague Progenitor. The Plague Progenitor gets Diseased keyword if you roll higher or equal to their health characteristic on a 2D3. In addition they cannot heal or return models to that unit in the first battle round if they get the keyword, and if you Spread off of it you do D3 mortals (in addition to the standard D3 mortals!) to everything you spread to. This absolutely messes up castle armies, requiring your opponent to quarantine a large unit or play really carefully with a screen. If you’re feeling ballsy, you can attempt to put it on a foot hero and nuke an important utility piece early. This Battle Formation is a game changer for the army and is incredibly impactful.

Your other formations are…fine. Vectors of Contagion adds 5 to the control scores of non-Hero Rotbringers while near Daemons. Denizens of the Garden gives Companion weapons Crit 2 Hits (this means beasts, flies, and the horses, not exactly a winning cast). Lastly, Filth-Laden Daemonic Blooms gives non-Monster daemons auto run 4. These are all bad and not very good when Tallyband is right there.

Heroic Traits

You get three Heroic Traits to choose from. First is Grandfather’s Blessing which lets you heal D3 at the end of the turn if you’re in combat with a Diseased unit. This is a pretty significant nerf from the index version and probably will see less play. Gift of Febrile Frenzy sees a bit of a rewrite, allowing you to pick a nearby non-Hero unit to get +1 attacks on a 3+. This is probably the new front runner from the core book’s traits as it’s always useful. Lastly there’s Overpowering Stench which has you roll off with an opponent and if you win an enemy unit in combat can’t get positive modifiers to their save and -1 to their ward. While this is solid, it's a bit more situational than Gift of Febrile Frenzy which probably edges this out.

Artefacts of Power

The Artefacts all see some changes from their Index counter parts. The Witherstave is the most different, now inflicting -1 damage on a charging unit on a 3+. While the old Fights-Last was good, we can get that from some of the new warscrolls so this becomes much more interesting. The Carrio Dirge is mostly the same, debuffing 3 enemy units’ Control Scores by 5 now instead of 3. Rustfang sees a major buff, now allowing you to subtract 1 from the save characteristic from something every turn and it works on both Monsters and Heroes. Both the Witherstave and Rustfang have a ton of value, but I think Rustfang becomes the top pick.

Spell Lore

The spell lore also sees a few tweaks. The unlimited spell Fleshy Abundance still lets you heal a target by D3 or grant them -1 to be wounded but now goes off on a 6. Cloying Quagmire stays the same, halving movement and subtracting 1 from charges and run rolls if they have a 3+ save or better. Lastly, Crippling Despair is a new addition, allowing you to turn off commands for the turn on a 6+. While this has major overlap with the new Rotswords, this is great for a turn you want to go on the offensive or just for insurance.

Prayer Lore

Belga the Cystwitch Credit: MildNorman

There’s a proper prayer lore in the book now! Your unlimited prayer is Gift of Disease which forces -1 to wound to all units in combat with the chanter and on a 10+ you give everything in combat the disease keyword. This is pretty great but unfortunately your priests are both squishy non combative types, so you won’t really see this outside Ghyran where you can make a more combat oriented unit a Priest. Favored Poxes imposes -2 to charges for an enemy unit and -1 dice from charges on a 10+. This is a fantastic prayer to have in your back pocket and can be pretty brutal combined with Cloying Quagmire. Lastly there’s Bloated with Sickness, which lets a non-Monster ignore the first damage point every phase and on a 10+ you can pick a second target this is probably your go to Prayer, throw this on some Rotswords and watch your opponent bounce.

Endless Spells

No Endless Spells here! For my money, Morbid is your best bet considering the bonuses to cast you can get in the army but Forbidden Power is also strong, helping your slow units get around the table more reliably.

Warscrolls

There's a bit of a fundamental change to the army that we need to discuss before we dive into the scrolls. While all of your units still have a ward, Rotbringers (non-daemons) have moved from a 5+ ward to a 6+ ward. This is obviously a pretty significant impact to the durability of the army as a whole, especially considering just how much of the book is centered around these guys. That said there’s a bit of a silver lining here. First, almost everything got cheaper to compensate; second, you have the Gnarlmaw.

The Feculant Gnarlmaw sees a full redesign with the new book with 3 abilities on its warscroll. First, and most importantly, Rot-Blossom gives all Rotbringers wholly within 12” a 5+ ward. This is going to be pivotal to the success of the army so practice eyeballing what 12” from those weird roots looks like. Next, Riddled with Disease gives Hero Daemon units +1 Dice on rally rolls and non-heroes +3 Dice. This is more of a nice to have for the Daemons than something that’ll make or break the faction but it's good they get something. Lastly, Tendrils of Corruption lets the Gnarlmaw move 3”. While it can’t run, retreat or charge using this, it's a good way to have your bubble of protection inch forward.

Feculent Gnarlmaw. Credit: @badusernametag

Heroes

First up, we have the big man himself: Rotigus. Profile wise he’s still a beefy 22 wound model with a 4+ save and Wizard (2). The Gnarlrod stays the same with 5 attacks at 3+ to hit, 2+ to wound, -1 Rend, and 3 Damage, but he trades his Nurgling attacks for an extra two Fanged Maw attacks, bringing him to four 3+ to hit, 2+ to wound, -2 Rend, 2 damage attacks. His abilities are what you’re taking him for, though. Bringer of Plenty now adds 1 to casting rolls for all units wholly within 12” instead of just himself, which is a massive buff. Mountain of Loathsome Flesh stays the same, letting you roll for every model in a unit and do mortals on a 5+. Lastly, Deluge of Nurgle no longer targets based on Disease and instead targets everything in 18”. It now deals a flat 1 damage to each enemy target and heals each friendly by 1 and until your next turn enemy units cannot use abilities that heal or return models to the unit. Not only does this help keep your Disease online, but this also turns off some faction abilities like Soulblight. On top of all that, he comes down 20 points making this a very attractive package for your lists.

Your generic Great Unclean One, meanwhile, is largely the same. He has the same profile as Rotigus, -2 wounds and -5 control, and lost his Nurgling attacks leaving him with a pretty solid shooting profile and a swingy melee profile. His spell Plague Wind stays the same, allowing you to pick something within 12” and make it Diseased. Locus of Nurgle moves from being a 4+ to costing a CP to return a Daemon unit at half strength and it now appears near a Gnarlmaw. Lastly Bloated with Corruption stays the same, doing D3 damage on a 2+ to up to 3 units in combat with the GUO if he’s damaged. He does also come down 30 points to 430, making him a budget off brand Rotigus if you want a similarly shaped model, but I think Rotigus comes out ahead here.

Credit: Mildnorman

Next up are the two Heralds of Nurgle; the Spoilpox Sciviner and the Sloppity Bilepiper. The Spoilpox Scriviner’s Keep Counting I’m Watching You ability now adds 1 to wound rolls or 5 to control scores for a friendly Plaguebearer unit. This is a bit of a downgrade from the extra attack you used to to get, but there are a few ways to get that in the army now. Losing the +1 to save hurts a bit more. He also picks up Stupefying Sneezes which shuts off rampages if he can do damage with his sneeze, which will never happen on D6 attacks that wound on 4s and have no rend. Meanwhile, the Sloppity Bilepiper sees a full rework to the Jolly Gutpipes ability, now either giving a friendly daemon unit +2 to run and charge rolls or you can roll against an enemy unit’s Control characteristic and on a success if the enemy moves farther from your Bilepiper they take D3 damage. This is fine, but the old buffs were really great for an allied in daemon prince; now… well the model is cool.

Your other Plaguebearer support piece, the Poxbringer, stays largely unchanged. He does however now give a Plaguebearer unit an extra attack with his Captain of the Plague Legions ability. While these “Fight After Me” style abilities tend to not really make the cut, combining this with Gift of Febrile Frenzy can make for some quick and dirty mortal wound bombs.

With Gnarlmaws becoming so integral to the Nurgle gameplan now, its no surprise that Horticulus Slimux is now much more interesting. Most important is his ability Cultivating the Garden of Nurgle which lets him create a Gnarlmaw in your movement phase if you have one or less. Granting more protective cover to your Rotbringers is such a massive advantage to the army, all of my lists have started with Horticulous in the list. What brings him to an auto include is Gnarlmaw Whisperer which lets you teleport a Gnarlmaw wholly within 12” of him and outside 3” of enemy models, objectives, or terrain features. This means you can make your army much more mobile, allowing it to scoot up the board. He retains his Beast Handler ability, allowing him to revive a Beast of Nurgle model on a 3+, which is honestly just a nice to have rather than something to build around.

Festus returns as the new centerpiece model for this release and he comes with a pretty interesting warscroll. He’s considered a Daemon so he has a 5+ ward and sports 14 wounds on a 4+ save. What's a bit brutal is his funny leech mount only moves 5”, which will make getting into combat pretty tough. He’s also a Wizard 2, which makes him a good budget replacement for Rotigus if you’re in a bind. Combat wise, Festus himself has three attacks with his staff at 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -1 Rend and D3 damage with Crit (Auto-Wound) and his mount Gathoblyt gets 4 attacks at 4+ to hit, 2+ to wound, -2 rend and 3 damage with Crit (Mortal) which means he can accidentally do a good amount of damage, but you shouldn’t bank on him to do much. His abilities are where he really pops off, though.

First is The Leechlord’s Curse, his signature spell which gives him a Leech Point (we’ll get to that in a sec) and every time a targeted enemy model uses a Core ability (move, charge, fight, etcetera) on a 3+ they take a mortal wound and Festus heals 1. This is pretty nice, but is mostly a way to lock down a weakened unit rather than something that’ll blow something up. Next up is Annelid Engorgement which gives Festus D3 Leech Points for each enemy unit that was in combat with him that died this turn and then permanently adds to his Control Score for each Leech Point he has. This means he can snowball into a ton of control if you can get some points on him early since he’s starting at 5. Lastly, Vile Poisons and Debilitating Toxins has you roll off with an enemy unit you’re in combat with if you didn’t charge. If you win you either outright kill the model or, if it’s a Monster or Hero, do mortals equal to the difference. This makes Festus an interesting elite killer (woe be to any KO boats who end up in combat with this guy) but this definitely shines when he gets some Leech Points going. At 320 points he’s a bit expensive for what he’s bringing to the table, but can be an interesting pick as a budget centerpiece.

The Glottkin remains largely the same beyond the ward change. His Tentacle now does flat 5 damage instead of D3+3, making it a bit more consistent, and Otto’s Scythe moves to damage 3. His spell Overgrowth of Flesh still does a bunch of mortals to high health models but also now inflicts the Disease keyword. He gains a new ability Tentacle Trap which makes it impossible for a Hero or Monster to run away for the turn and gives The Glottkin +1 to hit against the target on a 4+. The 4+ makes this ability very unreliable but a free All-Out Attack is nice. All that said, The Glottkin really suffers from the ward change and only drops 30 points to compensate. He’s still one of your army’s only beatsticks but unless you want him to be a bully at home, keep the big guy on the shelf.

All the Maggoth Lords see some adjustments. Stats wise, they all stay the same. Bloab Rotspawned sees probably the most dramatic changes, moving to an anti monster role. His scythe picks up Anti-Monster (+1 Rend) and his Daemon Flies ability now inflicts -1 Attacks to a monster in combat on a 3+. His Miasma of Pestilence spell now removes special weapon abilities that target a unit wholly within 12” making him a bit more of a buff piece. Orghotts Daemonspew stays the same, playing the role of a beatstick with a 3+ save. Lastly Morbidex sees a bit of a downgrade, now only letting Nurglings ignore their new Beast keyword instead of a flat +3 control, and instead of giving them Crit (Mortal) lets them either get a free move or Pile-In if they’re in combat. All of these suffer the same issues as the Glottkin with the ward change since they usually act as models that can range out beyond your army with their faster movement speed and with just the 6+ ward they’ll crumple quickly.

The main character from the Darkwater crew, Gelgus Pust, makes his matched play debut here. He’s got stats similar to a Daemon Prince but gains an extra attack, has Crit (Auto-Wound) instead of Crit (Mortal) and a few unique abilities. First is Master Contaminator which lets you Pollute a piece of terrain within 6” once per battle. While a piece of terrain is Polluted things Nurgle units nearby heal an additional point when they heal and non-Nurgle units heal one less. This is kinda just a nice to have but combos nicely if you use it on a Gnarlmaw you’re teleporting around with Horticulus and Festus can heal a ton off this. Gift of the Grandfather lets you roll against everything in combat with Gelgus and if you beat their Control characteristic you can give out -1 to hit, wound, and control characteristic. This can be really helpful, making Gelgus a great debuff piece. Lastly Parasitic Infestation does D3 mortals to enemy units that charge Gelgus on a 2+, a nice way to squeeze in some extra damage. At 220 he’s an interesting pick for the army but difficult to squeeze in with everything else you want in the army.

Gelgus Pust Credit: MildNorman

Gutrot Spume makes his return as a forgettable side character you can look at and go, “Oh right, forgot he was a model.” He still has a pretty standard statline and mostly exists so you can put a regiment in reserves, but the rules for it are pretty restrictive and Nurgle is already flush with a lot of amazing characters, making him difficult to justify with his adjusted ward.

Lord of Afflictions also stays largely the same. If you want to go heavy with fly cavalry he’s your go to to buff up the mounts.

The Harbinger of Decay sees a bit of a sidegrade. His Knell of Doom ability now has you roll against an enemy unit’s Control (on a D3 unless there’s some Sloven Knights nearby in which case it’s a D6) and if you win you impose -1 to wound on their attacks. This is probably a sidegrade from his old -1 movement ability, but this one works multiple times per battle and you can do some great movement shenanigans with spells and prayers now.

Your Infantry melee support heroes have had their roles split now that there aren't just Blightkings to buff. The Lord of Plagues keeps his statline but now has Lord of the Infected Legions which gives nearby Rotswords +1 to wound that didn’t charge this turn and then further juices them with Sevenfold Slaughter which gives a Rotsword unit an extra attack on a 2+. Rotswords are likely to be the backbone of Nurgle lists, and this is some fantastic support and he’s cheap at just 100 points. So I expect to see these. Lord of Blights on the other hand… well, let's just say its not his fault. He keeps his Thrice-Ripened Death’s Heads ability which does D3 mortals to a unit that charged but it can now target a nearby unit of Plague Drones too for some reason. Meanwhile Festering Bulwark now lets this unit and a friendly Putrid Blightkings unit ignore negative modifiers to save on a 3+. We’ll get to it in a bit, but Blightkings are kinda in a tough spot, so you likely won’t see too much of this guy even though he can get an unmodifiable 2+ with All Out Defence.

The Rotbringer Sorcerer sees no changes except the nerf to his ward and a 10 point discount to compensate. This makes him a really cheap wizard but I don’t think folks will be running to take him in their lists.

Belga the Cystwitch meanwhile will likely see a lot of play. She has a pretty standard statline but her abilities are what make her shine. She’s a Priest (1) giving you an option for prayers that isn’t the Harbringer of Decay. She also has the ability Scry the Filth which lets you give wizards or priests +1 to cast/chant within 3”. This is massive especially considering Rotigus also affects nearby units. She also has her own prayer Ruptured Cysts which does D3 mortals to a Diseased unit and then 1 damage to each other Diseased unit within 3” of the target. If you chant it on a 9+ you can even return models to a Plaguebearer unit for each infantry model that dies. At 130 points this is a fantastic support hero that fits in any list.

Also coming in from Darkwater land are The Cankerborne. Not 100% sure why these are a Unique Hero but I also haven’t played Darkwater yet. They’re Daemons with 6 wounds and a 5+ save and a pretty hefty melee profile of four attacks each at 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -1 rend, 3 damage and Crit (Mortal). Their abilities are really interesting. They come with 2 Pestilent Poillutant tokens and Utter Defilement you can place one on a nearby piece of terrain at the end of any turn. Then with From the Tainted Earth they can teleport to that piece of terrain, a piece of terrain Polluted by Gelgus, or an objective you control. Nurgle is a slow army, and giving them access to a unit like this that can teleport around and score objectives is a really big deal. That said these guys will run you 200 points, and considering how much you want to fit in your lists, its hard to justify 12 wounds that can just die due to their 5+ save and only really exist for objective play. If these ever come down though, expect to see them.

Lastly and also from Darkwater is Shaman Foulhoof, your Beastman hero. A Wizard (1) coming at 10 points more expensive than a Rotbringer Sorcerer, he’s 2” faster, has his own spell which reduces enemy Rend, and can juice up your Pestigors by giving them an extra attack. I really like this guy, and expect to see him a as a cheap support Hero especially with Pestigors in the list.

The Rest

Phew, that was a hell of a lot of heroes, now on to the stuff that’ll make your army tick. Let's start with Daemons. Plaguebearers see no changes, remaining a durable pit of wounds for your opponents to get stuck in. Nurglings move to being Beasts but also now respawn with a full unit within 6” of a Garlmaw, which can be a sneaky way to get a bunch of wounds on an objective using Horticulus. Beasts of Nurgle move to being Once Per Turn (Army) which means you’ll likely see less Beast spam. Meanwhile Plague Drones stay the same, giving you a cheapish objective play unit that isn’t easily tied down.

Credit: Gerald Miller

The mortals meanwhile are much more involved. Let's start with Putrid Blightkings since they’re the ones that folks will already own a bunch of. Folks, it's not good. They keep most of their statline but move from having a 3+ save to a 5+ along with their ward being reduced by one. Otherwise their statline remains the same, but they gain Anti-Priest/Wizard +1 Rend. They also trade their ability for Discomfiting Stench, which has you pick an enemy Priest or Wizard within 12” and makes priests fail their prayers on a 2 as well as a 1 and wizards miscast on double 1s 2s or 3s. This is fine and all, but these guys move 4”, so the odds of them getting near any wizards to even use this situational ability is low. With Rotswords in play these don’t really have a reason to see the table. Even though they’re pretty cheap now at 130 for 5, Pestigors are a better use of points considering they have the same defensive profile and more wounds at the same cost. Start rebasing your old dudes onto 32s so they can fill out the Rotsword racket.

Putrid Blightkings. Credit: @badusernametag

We’ve mentioned them in passing all article; let's talk about Rotswords. They have the same statline as Chaos Warriors but trade their Crit (Auto-Wound) for Crit (2-Hits) which is better as it allows you to spike. They also have the ability Sweat-Soaked and Reeking which turns off commands on a 3+ if they get charged. This is an amazing ability and will absolutely help you cut through things that charge into your anvil. While they sit at 200 points, these guys will likely be the backbone of most lists and, with the fantastic support available, they’ll absolutely earn their place.

Moving to cavalry, Pusgoyles see no changes. That said the reduction in ward hurts their ability to move out ahead of the army a lot, since they’ll crumple in sustained combat now and only saw a 10 point drop. Sloven Knights meanwhile are all-stars. They also move 8” but have 4 wounds and a 3+ save. Their melee weapons have 2 attacks at 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -2 Rend, 2 damage. They’re some of the only rend -2 and 2 damage weapons not on heroes so there’s a lot of value there on its own, but they also have Charge (+1 Damage). In addition to all that they have Pall of Exhaustion which forces a unit to Strike-Last on a 3+ (or 2+ if that unit is already in combat with another mortal unit). At 180 points for 3, these are a fantastic utility piece at MSU and make for a pretty lethal hammer in a block of 6.

For bozo chaff units we have a few new options. The old pick, Rotmire Creed, remains the same but loses some significant value now that you can Infect at 7” anyway. Pestigors meanwhile sit at 130 points for 10 2 wound bodies with a 5+ save. They notably move 6”, which is pretty fast in Nurgle. Their melee weapons are nothing to write home about, with two attacks at 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound, no rend, and 1 damage, but they gain a point of rend if you’re not within enemy territory, making them a flexible chaff piece that can act as a screen or range ahead of your army. Pox-Wretches are a weird one, but might be the best of the bunch. They’re utterly pathetic with a 6+ save and 1 wound each but you get 14 models in a unit as well as 6 Mire Kelpie tokens. Contagious Catarrh lets you spend these tokens to roll a die against a unit at the end of the turn, with +1 for each Mire Kelpie spent, and on a 6+ you give them the Diseased keyword. At 100 points these make for a great chaff unit to throw into your opponent and try and Disease them either with the army rule or with theirs.

Rotmire Creed. Credit: Fowler.

How They’ll Play

Nurgle leans much heavier into being an army that wants to absorb a charge and win through sustained combat and attrition. You have a few units that want to range out, but with the changes to Rotbloods, you’ll be creating bubbles around your trees to keep your guys in the game. Between Disease, Rotswords, Sloven Knights, and a myriad of other picks, charging a Nurgle castle is going to be a tough prospect.

There’s also a ton of support here to make these units really sing. Between a pretty solid spell lore and some very affordable small heroes, there's a good amount of tinkering that can happen in your lists. That said, there might be too many options here. There are 21 Heroes and only 11 non-Hero options, and in a game where the number of heroes you bring dictates who goes first, this isn’t a great place to be.

Rules of Renown

Cronch: As usual for Battletome releases, the new Maggotkin book has some additional Rules of Renown for us to consider. The Nurgling-themed “Nurgle’s Gift” regiment from 2024’s Grotmas calendar continues to pop up in the occasional tournament list, so is there anything else here to tickle players’ fancy? We’ve got two armies and two regiments to look at.

Armies of Renown

Cycle of Corruption

This army only allows you to bring units with the Rotbringers keyword, so in effect it’s the army for the mortal followers of Nurgle. This is an interesting Army of Renown (AoR) in that it effectively brings back one of the battle traits from the third edition tome - as implied by the name, it’s the Cycle of Corruption. With 7 stops on the cycle, you’ll roll for the starting point at the start of the first battle round, and advance through the steps one by one at the start of subsequent rounds. As you might expect, there’s also a dedicated prayer for either moving the cycle on one (5+ to chant), or on a blistering 12+ to chant you can choose your point in the cycle.

The individual round effects of the cycle will be familiar - one does a board-wide heal, one improves wards, one affects enemy healing, others affect charge rolls, control scores, or give out crit (2 hits) to friendlies. One of the rounds gives you the Corrupted Regrowth ability from the main battle traits - which seems a bit situational, given that you need it to come around at a time where you also need a new tree.

The spell lore has a damage-lowering buff for the caster, one that gives dying infantry a chance to resurrect other infantry near them, and a horde clearer that also lowers move characteristic. Prayers have the aforementioned cycle-altering interaction, a wound roll buff, and a mortal damage poke that can spread between enemy units. We have one artefact and trait, giving a hero -1 to be hit, and +1 rend to their melee weapons.

Overall this seems like a fun option for a Maggotkin player, but there’s an obvious cost to the list - you’re trading away all of your initial battle traits, so your army no longer spreads the new, more reliable disease and so doesn’t generate that passive attrition. This seems like a huge cost in exchange for the randomness of the cycle, but we’ll probably see some people trying this AoR out if they’re dedicated to the Rotbringers theme.

The Gardeners of Nurgle

Credit: MildNorman

The mirror to the Cycle of Corruption, Gardeners is a Daemon-focused list which must include Horticulous Slimux. The Garden Grows is a trait which lets you pop up a new Gnarlmaw in your hero phase, regardless of how many are on the board. As we mentioned earlier, Gnarlmaws seem pretty useful now! The traits also remove the “1 or more” restriction from Slimux’s warscroll, so he can also be summoning Gnarlmaws at the same time. In your movement phase you can also teleport a Gnarlmaw to within combat range of a friendly hero, for added mobility.

While we’re looking at the Gnarlmaws, the traits also add some pretty tasty extra functionality. In your combat phase, every enemy unit within 3” of a tree takes a 2+ D3 of mortal damage. Meanwhile, Beasts of Nurgle and Plague Drones get an extra 2” of movement while they’re wholly within 6” of a tree, and your infantry will be ignoring the first point of damage it takes in each phase as long as it’s wholly within 12” of a Gnarlmaw too. If you’ve ever felt inspired by the idea of the forest marching on MacBeth’s castle, this is the army for you.

Once again we’ve got a single Heroic Trait, which gives our chosen hero +1 to hit in combat while it’s wholly within 7” of a Gnarlmaw, and the artefact Stinking Sporeseed gives a hero a once-per-game opportunity to set up an extra Gnarlmaw in your movement phase. No prayer lore here (there aren’t any relevant Priests), but three spells in the spell lore. Munificent Blights increases how much mortal damage a unit takes from the Gnarlmaws, Scumfall makes all of your units invisible outside of 9” as long as they’re within 12” of a Gnarlmaw, and Canopy of Virulence turns off a ward for an enemy unit within 12” of a Gnarlmaw.

Honestly this army seems really fun, and I think what you get in return is more worth the trade of losing the disease mechanic than the Cycle of Corruption traits are. If I do have one criticism of this list, it’s that you could feasibly need 12 Gnarlmaw models (5 from The Garden Grows, 5 from Slimux, one in your army list, and one from the artefact). That’s a lot, and a really tangible barrier to getting this army on the table! If you have the money, modelling skills, or grit to make it happen though, it’ll be a wonderful spectacle.

Regiments of Renown

Diseased Revellers

Quite a simple one, this, consisting of a Sloppity Bilepiper and a pair of Beasts of Nurgle. The effect is simple, too: As long as a Beast is within 3” of the Bilepiper it can use the Attention Seekers special charge ability even if it has already been used. With the Bilepiper also giving one of the Beasts +2” to charge, this is a nice little inclusion to lists that might want a bit of impact damage and an early-game missile that the enemy can’t ignore. It can be taken by every other Chaos faction, although at 310 points it’s a reasonably heavy investment. The main downside here is that almost every other Chaos faction has something decent at or around this points value that could get stuck in early, so it doesn’t really feel like this regiment is filling much of a required niche. Perhaps Helsmiths or Tzeentch might get something out of it, but one would imagine those points are better spent on Bull Centaurs/Enlightened on Disks.

The Pustules

Also being released by GW as a Regiment-in-a-box, the Pustules are a Spoilpox Scrivener, ten Plaguebearers, and a Feculent Gnarlmaw, and once again they can be taken by any other Chaos faction. This seems designed around a single purpose - to sit the unit of Plaguebearers onto an objective, and keep them there. The tree gets an ability to heal Plaguebearers every turn, and also return a model if they’re contesting an objective, on top of its usual warscroll Rally-boosting ability. The Scrivener can buff their control score, and Plaguebearers themselves are going to be -1 to hit once they’re in place. At 200 points, we can see this slotting into some armies as a tough to deal with objective-holder, freeing up your faction units to do what they’re best at.

Plaguebringers. Credit: @badusernametag

Spearhead Army: Bubonic Cell

badusernametag: As is now the norm, this Battletome comes with a shiny new (or in this case rusty and rotten) Spearhead army. Now I’m always looking at models AND rules when I’m reviewing these, as for many they might be a hobby project as well as an army. So what's in the Bubonic Cell? You get:

Rotbringer Sorcerer
Rotmire Creed (10 models)
Beast of Nurgle
3 Nurglings
3 Nurglings

The good news there is that many (most) Maggotkin players will already have these models and so will be able to pick this up and play it if they wish! Sorry to tell you this may be where the good news ends. The Rotbringer Sorcerer was the only new model to come with the LAST Battletome, and otherwise these are all old models at the moment of a massive new range! I am honestly quite disappointed to see that unlike last year's Deathrattle (SBGL) and Frazzlegit (Gloomspite) releases GW have not chosen to flaunt the amazing new Rotbringers range in this Spearhead. The Sorcerer is a great model, but why not five Blightkings? A full SIX bases of nurglings is definitely excessive and although cool models they’re old and maybe not so inspiring. The Rotmire Creed are also great, but who else wanted some Pestigors for Chrimbo? Or even Rotswords! So whilst there’s some nice models in here, I think current and new Maggotkin players in AoS would rather spend their dollars on the new range. Mis-step to not have a single unit of the new stuff in here.

Rotbringers Sorcerer. Credit: Fowler

Well, what about the gameplay? I am really keen on an inspiring leader in Spearhead games. It really helps to have a solid general that has some punch or good supporting powers. Sadly the Sorcerer does neither. Fleshy Abundance grants a friendly unit -1 to be wounded on a 6+, and it can also gain Overripe Death’s Heads as an Enhancement that inflicts a single mortal wound on a unit within 7” on a 4+ in the shooting phase. To be honest this is pretty lackluster as output, as with very little combat potential you’ve got a slight de-buff spell and a weak shooting attack. Two of the other Enhancements improve your defensive stats. But what's the point in defending a hero that can’t do much?

The Battle Traits here are fun, but might be tricky to manoeuvre. They have resurrected the Cycle of Corruption mechanic from Nurgly days of yore (similar to the army of renown, see above) and you get 1 of four effects each turn. These proceed in a set order, cyclically, with the first being randomly generated at the start of the first battle round. The abilities are:

-1 to hit friendly units
Enemies can’t heal or return models within 6” of you
-1 from enemy combat scores when in combat range
-1 enemy charge rolls

Now this is pretty cool, but Spearhead is very much a game of timing and careful positioning in a tight, tactical four turns. I feel like if you could choose the first Cycle ability then this could have legs. As this would fit with the way you tailor your Enhancements and Regimental Abilities at the start of each game to fit the opponent. That not being the case I and with no mechanic (spell, prayer or otherwise) to affect it I think this is too random to consistently work out in your favour, as for it to work you’d need at least some control over when you were getting each effect.

The rest of the units here have mediocre combat prowess. The nurglings can’t punch their way out of a boil, the beast is fine, but only has a 5+/5++ and 8 health and will die pretty quick. The Rotmire Creed are 1 health infantry and they don’t take mortals from retreating, but I imagine they will be dead before getting a chance to do so. This isn’t mentioning just how painfully SLOW it all is, and with no reinforcements in sight. I really am struggling to see what this army has going for it!

Bubonic Cell

Pros:

Fun and thematic cycle mechanic
Some nice models

Cons:

Squishy and ineffectual general
Slow
Squishy
Pathetic attacks
Random cycle ability

Model Count: 18

Gaming: 3/10

Models: 4/10

Overall: 4/10

Good for starting an army: No.

Beast of Nurgle. Credit: @badusernametag

Final Thoughts

Norman: Nurgle see some really interesting changes in this book. I think its easy to get lost in the sea of warscrolls and how everything changed and forget about the fundamental changes to the army ability. Getting consistent mortals, a way to infect at range, and the Tallyband subfaction really changes the game for these guys. The new Nurgle warscrolls themselves are also fantastic. Rotswords will likely see a ton of play, as well as Sloven Knights and plenty of the Darkwater crew. If I have any complaints here, its that list building still feels a little too restrictive, but that may be something that shakes out ok given all the changes.

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Tags: age of Sigmar | competitive play | maggotkin of nurgle