With list submission having been and gone for the event, I figured it was a good time to break down my list for one of the iconic Brisbane Age of Sigmar events; the Redland City Grand Tournament.
Now, when I approach an event, the evil part of me wants to keep my list a complete secret in hopes of blindsiding my way to victory, but two things stand in the way of that. Firstly, when it comes to the hobby, I can't keep things under wraps to save my life (see super-secret Chaos Dwarf army that was a secret for all of three days). The second, and more important reason, is that as I'm about to go over all the army lists going to the event for the list review live streams this week, I thought that I'd disclose my list and my thoughts behind it first. That way, everyone knows what I'm bringing before I know what they're bringing.
So, without much more waffling on, let's jump into it...
In an attempt to be a little more competitive in this Handbook cycle, I've chosen Nurgle to be my main tournament army for the immediate future. It's a super strong book, and is a nice change from Clan Pestilens, which started to feel very restrictive toward the end of it's table run. Not only that, but I've already got a massive Nurgle army that is, for the most part, very quick to paint. So with my army chosen, I moved onto selecting a 2500 point army. 2500 feels like a lot of points, but I can tell you, that number quickly dissolves!
Heroes are always my first port of call in any army, and this was no different. My first pick was a Great Unclean One with a Bell and Flail. GUO's are a really solid pick, with their huge reservoir of wounds and healing mechanics, two casting and unbinding attempted, and a really solid command ability. I'm a huge fan of the Daemon spell "Glorious Afflictions", which only casts on a 5+ and halves the move, run and charge of a unit, and most importantly, stops it from flying.
Backing him up on the arcane front is Festus the Leechlord. His signature spell is invaluable in an army with little rend, and he also gives me a candidate to cast Blades of Putrefaction. He's surprisingly tough for a foot character, with six wounds and his healing mechanics.
The third hero was the Lord of Afflictions. When I first read the book, the LoA really didn't jump out at me, but after playing him a few times, he's incredibly versatile. He has all three keywords (MORTAL, ROTBRINGER, DAEMON), which means he has his pick of any traits or artefacts he might want. He's not going to kill a Stardrake, but he can be relied upon the beat down smaller heroes or units, and he's pretty tough to get rid of, with 8 wounds, a 4+ 5++, a heal each hero phase, and the Discharge and Incubatch for added annoyance.
I weighed up whether to leave it there or not, but in the end, I decided to add a fourth hero. And it was actually a pretty easy choice. The Lord of Blights' command ability is ridiculously good, and it didn't take much deliberation to settle on putting him in the list.
With my command structure sorted, I moved on to battleline. Needing four battleline for a 2500 point army, I started off my purchases with two units of thirty Plaguebearers. In a big unit, they're tough as nails, and with the LoB's command ability, this is only accentuated. They make great screens, objective grabbers and catchers for incoming alpha strikes, and putting sixty on the table is enough to make anyone second guess the killing power of their army.
For my third battleline, I took a unit of five Blight Kings. They're such good value, and give me a unit that can move behind my Plaguebearers and stop up any weak points in my line. They also gain a shooting attack if they're near the LoB, and while it's not much, sometimes sneaking one wound through can be the difference between winning and losing a game.
My fourth choice was by far the hardest. My initial thought was to run a cheap unit of Marauders, leaving plenty of points to pour into a unit of 6 Drones, which has fast become a staple of Nurgle armies. However, after a long deliberation, I decided to go with a less popular choice. By electing the Lord of Afflictions my general, I killed two birds with one stone by including a big unit of Pusgoyle Blightlords. They become Battleline under the LoA, and also fill the role of fast moving unit that can reach out and touch just about anything on the board. I know that Pusgoyles are a polarising unit (people either love them or hate them), but I was keen to give them a chance. With 7 wounds per model, a 4+ save and a 5++ Resilient wound mitigation, each model rivals that of heroes from other armies! They're also not too shabby in combat. Sure, there is a distinct lack of high-rend attacks, but they can still push through a horrific number of saves. And with three attack profiles each, with every second dragging a bell, they make great use of the GUO's Command Ability, as well as Blades of Putrefaction. In a practice game, they managed to drop a full-health Rogue Idol down to one wound with barely any buffs on them, so I know they have potential. That potential does require a bit of luck with the dice, though...
With four heroes and four battleline, I was quickly running out of points. My biggest concern was damage output. While I had an army that could rival any in resilience, I really wanted an answer to big scary units; something I could reliably send in and kill everything it touched. And so I went with a bit of a renegade choice...
I allied in two Jabberslythes.
These horrific monsters not only look like scrotums with wings and a face, but they have one of the most volatile warscrolls in the game. They're dangerous to kill, they're dangerous not to kill, and they can't be ignored. The first real drawcard on these monsters is their Aura of Madness. At the start of my hero phase, I roll a dice for every enemy model within 6" of a Jabber. On a 6, that model is, for all intents and purposes, turned off. No moving, no casting, no attacking, charging or piling in. It's like a piece of old school Mystical Terrain that I can fly around! I saw this used to great effect when a Jabberslythe turned off a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon for a double turn, so he stood there for two full turns of the game drooling and staring into nowhere. While hardly dependable, it's incredibly powerful when it does go off. And it's not restricted to single models. It can turn off an entire unit!
The second, and more important rule for the Jabbers is Spurting Bile Blood. For every wound inflicted (not to be confused with 'Suffered', as a Jabberslythe can only ever suffer 10 wounds, but may have any number of wounds inflicted on it) on the Jabberslythe, I roll a dice. On a 4+, the unit that inflicted the wound suffers D3 Mortal Wounds. This is my answer to everything scary that I don't really want to fight. I can throw them into combat with Prince V, Morrsarr Guard, basically anything that is going to push through a huge volume of wounds on them, then watch them inevitably die in an explosion so big, it will herald in a nuclear winter. Again, this is not restricted to single models, so a unit of buffed up Witch Aelves with Mindrazor on them that HAVE to attack are going to do a tremendous amount of damage to themselves that not even their Hag Narr save can protect them from.
With the last chunk of points, I purchased Soulsnare Shackles and Quicksilver Swords, as well as two extra command points. This army has three exceptionally good command abilities, and I really wanted enough points to make use of them.
The only thing left to do was distribute my command trait and one artefact. I put Avalanche of Flesh on the Lord of Afflictions, giving him an extra 2" to both his runs and charges, making him even more mobile. I also slapped the Witherstave on him. Thanks to the fact he rides a Drone, he has access to the Daemon artefacts, and the Witherstave is ridiculously good. It affects all enemy units (not models) within (not wholly within) 12" of the bearer, and they must re-roll all 6's to hit, which severely hampers abilities that need an unmodified 6 To Hit or even a 6+. Brutal. I thought about putting it on the GUO, as he is far harder to kill, but the LoA is far more mobile, so I can make sure it's exactly where I need it to be, without having to worry about leaving room for the GUO or getting blocked by screens. It also means that I have three heroes eligible to hold objectives in one of the scenarios where wizards and heroes with artefacts can claim.
Probably the biggest strength of this army is it's ability to completely shut down a hyper aggressive assault. A unit of thirty Plaguebearers with the LoB command ability on them are -2 to hit in combat and -4 to hit in shooting. Combine that with the truly massive Witherstave Aura, and the hardest bit about killing this unit is landing a blow. Because modifiers happen after re-rolls, it just mitigates so much incoming damage.
Let's say a unit hits my line. They hit on a 3+ with re-rolls To Hit. Re-rolls happen before modifiers, so despite the -2 To Hit in combat, they're only re-rolling 1s, 2s, and of course, 6's from the Witherstave. After the re-rolls, the modifiers kick in, meaning only 5s and 6s are actually hits. Then they have to wound, and I have to fail armour saves and Disgustingly Resilient saves.
Tough...
As...
Nails...
Of course, there are plenty of ways around this for a savvy general, and I'm counting on my opponents doing everything they can to crack the combo before they go in. But who knows... It might save my bacon!
What do you think of the list? Rock solid or am I setting myself up for disappointment? I think that while it has immense staying power, it will struggle to cleave its way through an opposing army, as it still kind of feels that it lacks serious killing power across the army. It's easy to focus on what it can do, and forget what it can't, so there will be plenty of practice games between now and the event. It's probably the most competitive army list I've taken to an event in over a year, and I'm hoping to go at least 3 win out of 5 games, but we'll see. The most carefully laid plans rarely survive contact with the enemy.
If you haven't already seen, I'll be breaking down the other armies at the event in a List Review Live Stream on Tuesday and Wednesday night, so tune into Facebook and hang out with me! :)
Thanks for reading and I'd love to know your thoughts on my army.
Gabriel
ALLEGIANCE: NURGLE
Lord of Afflictions (General, Avalanche of Flesh, Witherstave)
Great Unclean One (Glorious Afflictions, Bell & Flail)
Lord of Blights
Festus the Leechlord
30 Plaguebearers (Battleline)
30 Plaguebearers (Battleline)
5 Blight Kings (Battleline)
4 Pusgoyle Blight Lords (Battleline)
Jabberslythe (Allies)
Jabberslythe (Allies)
Soulsnare Shackles (Endless Spell)
Quicksilver Swords (Endless Spell)
2 Extra Command Points
Would loveto hear how this has worked put for you!
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