Hi. I'm getting started on building a Nurgle army, and I could use advice from any experienced players on what units to start with. Also, typical unit sizes would be a help, too. Thanks!

As I am sure anyone would say, start with a unit of about 20 Marauders and about 16 Warriors as well as a hero. For 5th Ed. fluff reasons, I would go with flails for the Marauders and either halberd and shield of hand weapon and shield for the Warriors. You can use any of the hero types you want to start with. After that I would either go with another unit of Marauders to bolster the size of your army of a unit of knights to add to the strength of your army. Being unfamiliar with magic as of yet (I play Khorne), I would also recommend getting a Sorcerer once you have 1000 points to give the army a bit more fight to it.

If there is anything else that I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask.

I dunno about the marauders...if you're going to do a mortal army I would definately get the warriors, but most chaos players I know hate marauders. They just seem so...non-elitist, in contrast to the rest of the army. But definately, going with the mortals get some warriors and maybe some knights too. Personally, I tend more toward the daemonic side of things (much because of the awesome models), so you might want to consider a daemon nurgle army. They have certainly gone down in popularity in this edition and your army would stand out from most others. Be careful though, they've gone down in popularity because they are really hard to play. Of course, only in a daemonic army could you have the Great Unclean One (IMO, one of the coolest models out there, and with ten wounds...). Nurgle has a good range of magic. If going daemonic I would recommend a GUO, and if mortal then at least a sorc. of chaos, if not an exalted sorcerer.

Alternatively you could go with two groups of 16 Warriors and later on get Marauders as fodder to block your more elite units. Although Marauders aren't "elite" they are exactly the same as Empire Swordsmen (when they have the hand weapon and shield) but on a bigger base. Other than that, deamons would make a welcome addition to an army as they cause fear and Nurglings are so funny.

I wonder if any all warrior armys exist, now that woudl be cool!

It would be interesting tro see but I don't think it would be very effective unless it got into CC since they are slow and would undoubtably be flanked by faster units. If it had one or two units of non-Warrior units, then it may stand more of a chance.

Marauders are the deepest roots of our army brothers. Every horsemen, knight, warrior, spawn, even the HIGHEST of the demon princes started as a lowly marauder from a common village....

I believe Marauders are an important part, if not THE most imporant part of the chaos army. Though they may be overshadowed by our destructive combatants, they are the flesh of our army.

Without marauders, there is simply such a lack of numbers, that the army will be torn apart.

It is a primitive and simplistic thought process... but more is better.

Although many chaos generals say they are awful in CC, when you compare them with an empire swordsmen, or some other "standard" soldier that they may fight, they are actually a lot stronger, and have better equipment! They don't suck so much after all...

I think you should get atleast one unit of marauders, probly 20 men, and arm them with light armor, shields, and either flails or great weapons.


I also think you need a unit of 16 warriors, as a core to the army.

Then the rest is pretty much up to you... Good things include :

Knights : Hard hitting, Fast moving, Good armored... there is just about nothing wrong with these guys

Marauder Horsemen : Hard hitting, fast moving, beyond good mobility .... They are good for darting around and killing stuff

Furies : Flying, WS4 - S4.... They can take out war machine crew, lone wizards, and light units

Plaguebearers : Fairly powerful infantry unit

Spawn of Chaos : Good for holding off enemy units while you do stuff...



The Beasts of Chaos book will come out soon with lots of great stuff also...

I hope this helped :)

Marauders are highly overrated, and I suspect will not see play much longer if the Beastmen Herd stays anywhere near as effective as the White Dwarf 274 list shows. Personally, I'm going with 2 Chariots and a group of Chosen Chaos Knights as my core group, and filling out my army with the Gor/Ungor units. I can't stress enough how amazingly effective one unit of 8-12 Chosen Knights will be in combat, esp. with the Mark of Nurgle giving them Fear.

Depending on how large your army is, I'd also look into Nurglings and/or Spawn as speedbumps to tie up opposing units (this will be especially effective if you put characters into your chariots so they can flank to cause panic).

Finally, I've been trying to talk myself into using a Demon Prince of Nurgle with the Stream of Corruption gift (breath weapon), though I haven't quite managed to convince myself that it's worth doing (right now I have an undivided Prince w/Lvl 3 Fire leading my army).

+--Redeemer--

No offense - But I have little tolerence for the people that abuse the Mortal/Deamon/Beast selection.

You should incluse Warriors and Marauders in any mortal army, as they were intended to be the only core units. Horsemen, Knights, and Chariots are only core in a Mortal Chaos army by total luck via the rules, so don't abuse that fact. It's totally lame if you do. So take atleast some marauders and warriors...

A deamon prince has mediocre fighting abilities, and its only major advantage is flying + magic. It will probly end up filling the roles of furies and wizards if you do take it. It is just fighting, magic, and flying rolled up into one, with too few wounds, and WAY overpriced - I wouldn't take it.

DO NOT take nurglings. They are the biggest joke I have ever seen. Swarms are meant to hold up units, but with deamonic instability they zap away from reality within seconds of fighting - They are pathetic. Enough said about them...

Again, I still recommomend taking Marauders and Warriors, they are great...

Nurgle Daemons?
Marauders look dumb, use as little as u can, or as many as you want.

WaspEater22 said: "I have little tolerence for the people that abuse the Mortal/Deamon/Beast selection."

I'm really not sure what you mean by abusing the selection... I'm fairly new to the game, but I don't see how making valid choices from the army list is "abusing" anything (except maybe using a Hellblaster Cannon for Empire, that thing is abuse just by existing!). I've played all of four games, two with Marauders and two with Beastmen as my foot soldiers... the marauders just sucked in all situations, the beastmen were solid against everything but tricked-out single models (because they have to line up 3-wide against them, damn you skirmishing rules!). Partially this was because I was able to take a larger unit of Beastmen, but that is a valuable consideration in unit evaluation.

WaspEater22 said: "Horsemen, Knights, and Chariots are only core in a Mortal Chaos army by total luck via the rules, so don't abuse that fact."

Following the rules is total luck? I would hope that the army books were playtested at least somewhat before being printed, and I haven't noticed my knights and chariots being disproportionately effective compared to their points (I'm running Chosen Knights of Khorne, so I need them to work pretty hard to make back the points I spend on them, so far I don't quite have the knack for it).

You confuse me, sir. You make some very strange comments that seem founded in a very unusual reality.

+--Redeemer--

This reply is to Redeemer:

I said "I have little tolerence for the people that abuse the Mortal/Deamon/Beast selection." and "Horsemen, Knights, and Chariots are only core in a Mortal Chaos army by total luck via the rules, so don't abuse that fact."

When I said this I meant that although knights are core you should treat them as if they are special.

For instance, in my 1,500 point Slaanesh amy, when filling out core units - although I could use Knights and Horsmen and Chariots - It is my personal belief that this is abusive to the Mortal/Deamonic/Beast selection rules. So I selected a unit of warriors, and a unit of marauders to fill out my minimum of 2 core choices.

Then I went to special. I considered Knights special, even though in reality they are core.

You see - It is just a personal restriction. I don't like Mortal armies without Warriors and Marauders because... well...Where are the mortals?

I suppose I am confusing at times. I put many personal restrictions on myself that others fail to understand...

Hmm. Tell you what: After my empire opponent starts considering Cannons Rare and Hellblasters a 0-1 choice, I'll consider trading in my chariots for Marauders. :P

Really, my problem is that I want a Beastman army led by a Demon Prince, which currently isn't possible. So, I'm running two chaos chariots and two beastmen herds, where I'd rather be running 3 herds. *shrug*

+--Redeemer--

Plaguebearers are an amazing support unit; the -1 to hit applies to all enemy units in the combat, so if you charge the flank with a group of 8 or 10 of these guys, it gets harder to hit your other unit, most likely warriors, who are attacking the front. That alone is worth the points you spend on these guys.