40K: The Nurgle Plague-ball
The Great Unclean One is pretty mean – but watch out for the little guys with the Daemons of Nurgle!
All it takes is a snowball to start an avalanche, or so the theory goes. Well for a Nurgle Chaos Daemons army replace that snowball with some Plaguebearers and get ready to load-up the pain.
Let’s start with the basics: Plaguebearers come stock with Plagueswords, a respectable stat-line, a +5 invulnerable and 5+ Disgustingly Resilient. Plus, if you take them in squads of 20+, you get to subtract 1 from all hit rolls that target them. Notice that it says at the start of the phase, also. Not only does that apply to both the shooting and fight phases, you also check that at the START and it lasts until that phase ends. At least that’s the implication. Also, take the Daemonic Icon and the Instrument…you’re going to want those for later.
On their own, the are fairly durable and Plagueswords mean they can generate a surprising number of wounds in combat. They aren’t bad, but not amazing. At least not yet.
Next up, we need to add some Heralds to the mix.
The Poxbringer adds +1 Strength to Nurgle Daemons within 6″. That’s a nice boost and if the unit of Plaguebearers is 30 strong, it’s not that difficult to get one model within 6″ of a Poxbringer.
Spoilpox Scrivener is another Herald that you’re going to want to add in as well. He’ll add +2 Movement, +1 to hit, and when they get a +7 to hit they get an additional attack. Not too shabby! Now we need the Tallyman to come to town.
Epidemius and the Tally of Pestilence are one of those abilities that will pay off in droves once you get the ball rolling. And if you have some other heavy hitters in your list to start the Tally, the Plaguebearers will take you home.
Don’t forget about the Locus of Virulence – this one is free by the way! All the Characters (which you already have) will generate this ability as well.
Now we’re going to dip into the Stratagems for the Plague Banner which we showed off earlier:
This bumps up those Plagueswords to 2 damage each for the turn.
The final piece of the puzzle is Virulent Blessing, a psychic power for Nurgle. This power lets a Nurgle Daemon unit add 1 to it’s wound rolls. Any rolls of a +7 inflict double damage!
So what’s the final tally for those humble Plaguebears at now? Let’s add it up:
Movement: 8″, +1 on Advances and Charges.
WS: 4+, with a +1 to hit, re-rolling 1s, and generate extra attacks on a +7.
BS: +4 (doesn’t matter)
Strength: 6, +1 to wound, re-rolling all failed wounds.
Toughness: 5, with a +5 invulnerable, +5 Disgusting Resilient with re-roll 1s.
Attacks: 2 (with the ability to generate up to 2 extra attacks per model).
Damage: Up to 5 Damage per wound! (2 x 2) + 1 damage.
If they roll a 1 on a Morale Test, they get D6 of them back.
They are -1 to be hit thanks to Cloud of Flies also. Oh and we also want to mention Miasma of Pestilence which is another Psychic Power that adds yet another -1 to hit them.
And if you get them next to a Feculent Gnarlmaw, they call now Fall Back and Charge so they will be able to strike first, too!
So if you (somehow) get a unit of 30 of them into combat unscathed and fully loaded, they have the possibility of doing a whopping 600 damage! You have to roll a LOT of 6’s to pull that off…but still. No wonder these guys are always grinning!
That’s a Plague-ball for ya! They are tough-as-nails, hard to hit, and each Plaguebearer is pretty deadly on their own. That is a scary unit.
What do you think of the Plague-ball? Who else is going to try to pull this one off?
