It's been a long time coming, but it's finally, FINALLY here!!!
Maggotkin of Nurgle has kicked the door down to the Chaos party, and it bought rotten party pies to share! Games Workshop has given Nurgle all the love and attention we could dream of, and I couldn't be happier. I've spent the last three weeks madly rebasing and repainting my old 8th Edition Nurgle Daemon army, intent on hitting this release.
By now, there have been more reviews of the book than you can count, going through spells, artefacts and new units in meticulous detail. And typically, a review is how I would tackle this release, but I thought I'd try something a little bit different. So, without further ado, I present...
MY FIVE FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT MAGGOTKIN!
1: NURGLINGS
It's no secret that much of the appeal in Nurgle, and the driving force behind a very large and dedicated fanbase, is the jolly and joyful character of Nurgle's minions. While there's no question that some elements of Nurgle's hordes are dour and grim, one thing that stands out above all the other Chaos Gods' armies is the overwhelming optimism apparent in so much of the range. Nothing quite captures that joy quite like Nurglings. And while the Nurgling kit itself is full of hilarious little fatties, the real heroes of the Nurgling range are ones found in other kits. From Jabba Nurgling (found in the easy to build Blightlord Terminator kit) to Braveheart Nurgling and Wizard Nurgling from the GUO kit, these little characters are almost a unique range on their own. And who could possibly look past the heroic Nurgling riding a miniature Plague Drone from the Pusgoyle kit.
I've got a little project in mind that'll use some of the best Nurgling sculpts, but you'll hopefully see that in an episode of A Brush With Disaster very soon!
It also helps that they're far more practical and strategic, ruleswise, than they were in past incarnations. The addition of a save, and automatic deployments directly into terrain actually makes them a valuable tool in the Nurgle arsenal.
2: CONTAGION POINTS
Now, before I get into this, I'll acknowledge that a lot of people weren't a fan when this was first released, seeing it as a barrier to summoning, and slowing down the ability to insert units upfield early in the game. And I can understand where they are coming from, but I want to throw some stuff out there to explain why I think the Contagion Point system is so good.
Nurgle, regardless of whether you're going Mortal, Daemon or mixed, is not a Wizard-heavy army. A typical army will rarely contain more than two or three wizards, purely based on the high cost of units in the army. Many of the wizards have pretty high price tags too, being either mounted characters, like Bloab or the Glottkin, or being a monster themselves (GUO and Rotigus). The catch-twenty-two is that Nurgle has some truly incredible spells in their new arcane arsenal.
So, after all the Nurgle scrolls were stripped of their "Summon this unit" sections, where does that leave Nurgle players?
Well, the Contagion Point system was introduced. It's based heavily upon board control, where the more Nurgle's love spreads, through either units or Gnarlmaws, your tally really starts cranking up! Those points can then be spent to bring units on the board, and this is where the true beauty of Contagion Points comes into it. When you decide to bring a unit onto the table (which still needs reinforcement points, make no mistake), it doesn't matter if all of your wizards are dead. It doesn't matter if you're facing a Lord of Change with a dozen bonuses to unbinding. And it is not comsuming one of your ever-so-valuable casting attempts. There is nothing that can stop this mechanic. You can't fail to cast, or have Contagion Points taken off you or removed from the game. Sure, you might not be able to summon three new units on turn one, but I think the trade off is very favourable to Nurgle players.
3: FECULENT GNARLMAWS
This flows on nicely from Contagion Points, as it tackles the issue of "What do I do if I have no reinforcement points?".
Grow a ton of trees!
Feculent Gnarlmaws are very reminiscent of Sylvaneth Wildwoods, in that you can bring terrain onto the table that greatly benefits your army, and poses significant danger to your enemies. The two play very different roles in the game, but Gnarlmaws are very practical and crucial to any Nurgle army. Needing a measly 7 Contagion points to sprout a tree, these can quickly become a real thorn in your opponent's side. Whether you stack around an objective in Duality of Death and threaten to put mortal wounds on your opponent, use them as slingshot platforms for running and charging or use them to completely zone off areas for previously mentioned Sylvaneth players to plant their forests. That big open 3-Wildwood-sized area of the battle field would look better with a Gnarlmaw right in the centre. To top it off, the models are unreal! So much effort and detail has been poured into the design, and while at first, I was disappointed that something I would need multiples of was not modular, the kit itself has some small options to mix up the branch configuration.
4: BEASTS OF NURGLE
This one, I know, is a bit left field. A lot of players I've talked to do not rate Beasts of Nurgle.
But I'm not one to cave in to peer pressure, and I flippin' love them! I've wishlisted for years about plastic Beasts of Nurgle. When I was a young lad, I was responsible for some truly horrendous conversions for Beasts, and I can tell you right now; the minute I saw the new Beasts, my old ones went straight in the bin. That's not even a metaphor. In the trash. The new model is.. amazing! At first, I was a little disappointed that it was essentially monopose, but upon assembling one, I was pleased to find that you get three different bellies and three different faces, giving you the opportunity to differentiate each model. I can't see myself using much more than three in a game, so that's totally fine with me! The model is very dynamic, and it's massive!
Beasts have changed from 40mm bases and being about the same size as a Minotaur to being pound for pound as big (if not a little larger) than the old metal Great Unclean One! I think they've also slightly changed in their battlefield role. I used to run them in a unit of four to six as a tarpit that just refused to die. Now, I believe they're more of a utility unit best run as single models. Are they worth their points? Playtesting will tell, but I think they definitely have their uses. The are large enough that they can block line of sight for Heralds, giving them a degree of protection against some shooting, and even denying the opponent the chance to unbind (if they can't see a Poxbringer behind a Beast, for example). I don't know how much table time mine will see, but the models are fantastic, and I'll definitely be buying a few.
5: COMMAND ABILITIES
Despite the Daemon side of things remaining relatively straight forward, the one real challenge faced by every Mortal player is the decision on who will be their general! With the addition of characters, and others having their scrolls re-written, there are some seriously powerful Command Abilities, and each one steers your army and playstyle. I love this about the army, because it's defined so much by it's general. Whether you want to make one unit almost impervious to conventional attacks with the Lord of Blights, create a tenacious strongpoint with the Harbinger of Decay, or simply wish to run the Lord of Afflictions to lead Nurgle's Royal Air Force, options abound! All of the command abilities are incredibly strong, but that's where the beauty lies. You have to pick which one you like the most and build around it!
So, those are my five favourite things from the new Battletome. All in all, I really like it, and I think it's very strong in the right hands! I've wasted no time in dragging my Nurgle Daemons out of storage for some table time, and I'm slowly but surely repainting them in a new scheme; all white and pasty.
I'll be posting a blog (or possibly a video) discussing my plans for 1000 and 2000 points, as I rebuild my rotting empire, but in the mean time, what do you consider must haves in your Maggotkin army, and who's your favourite Nurgling?
Until next time, thanks for reading,
Gabe
No comments:
Post a Comment