It’s 2021, and we’re back to shine a spotlight on the competitive Warhammer Age of Sigmar scene. Hopefully, you all received loads of hobby goodies for Christmas, and here’s another one for you. We managed to track down two very special guests to usher in a new year of Metawatch – Vince and Tom from the amazing Warhammer Weekly YouTube show. They’ll talk about the armies they love and how to build a killer list with them.
Vince: Hello everybody! If it’s Wednesday, it’s Warhammer. Actually, I have no idea what day this article is releasing, but every day is a good day for Warhammer. My name is Vince Venturella, and I host Warhammer Weekly with my co-host, Tom.
Tom: Hello friends! This month marks the 6th anniversary of our weekly live show about Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and the Warhammer Community team gave us a chance to celebrate this milestone by talking about our favourite Chaos armies. To that end, Vince is going to be discussing Slaanesh (as if you could get him to stop) – and I’m going to be talking about Nurgle. But first, introductions!
Vince: I’ve been playing Warhammer since 1998, which means two things: 1) I’m old, and 2) I’ve played many armies over the intervening decades. Armies come and go, but one army has always stayed with me: Slaanesh. Something about the focus on glorious excess always appealed to me – it’s the perfect combination of horror and beauty that draws you closer, but keeps you terrified of what’s to come.
Tom: I started my venture into the world of Warhammer, and all of wargaming, in fact, with the old Heroquest and Battlemasters board games. I fell in love with Nurgle during the End Times. There was something deeply unsettling about the jovial nature of Nurgle that both horrified and arrested me, and I’ve been a fan ever since. When Warhammer Age of Sigmar launched, Nurgle was my first full army, and while this force is not necessarily at the top of the meta, it truly is a great time to be a follower of Nurgle.
Vince: The first Hedonites of Slaanesh battletome came out in early 2019, and it was powerful, rocketing to the top of the competitive scene for most of the year.
Fast forward to the end of 2019 and we saw some adjustments – reducing the consistency of the Locus of Diversion and lowering the ability to summon during the game. This, combined with the loss of realm artefacts, pushed the army down firmly into the fat middle.* They’re still competitive, despite not ruling the top tables anymore.
One of the interesting elements of Slaanesh forces is that they’re a total glass cannon.** The army has no anvils to soak up the blows, so it can’t take much of a punch before it shatters. This means that you have to use your forces smartly or face obliteration, so you always need to be utilising your superior speed to choose your battles.
Tom: Speaking of speed and being able to take a punch, Maggotkin of Nurgle armies have both qualities in spades. They have a wide array of defensive abilities at their disposal, including penalties to be hit for units like Plaguebearers, and damage-negating, after-save abilities, like Disgustingly Resilient found on Daemon units. Slaves to Darkness Nurgle units can also get a +1 to save bonus from their Chaos Warshrine – something quite rare to find in any Warhammer Age of Sigmar army.
But don’t let the bloated appearance of most Nurgle followers trick you, or their speed will certainly catch you off guard. Nurgle’s scenery model, the Feculent Gnarlmaw, allows nearby Nurgle units to run and charge in the same turn. When coupled with abilities like the Cycle of Corruption’s Unnatural Vitality, the Great Unclean One’s Reverberating Summons, or the Lord of Affiliction’s Spearhead of Contagion command ability, Nurgle units can clear the distance to enemies surprisingly swiftly.
Hedonites of Slaanesh armies
Vince: So, let’s get down to brass tacks – the units you’re going to want to focus on. This is all likely to change, as the Hedonites of Slaanesh have a new book coming soon with lots of fresh units. For now, there are still some great things you’re going to want to include from the current book.
At 210 points, The Contorted Epitome is one of the best units in the army. It’s an awesomely weird and unique model, as well as a power piece on the table. The Epitome is a double caster that can re-roll all casting, unbinding, and dispelling rolls, making it reliable and consistent. It has a blindingly fast 12” move and a 2+ (yes 2+!) roll to negate mortal wounds. You can also use the Locus of Diversion to force enemies to fight last, while it has its own 4+ roll which makes all enemy units within 6” fight at the end of the combat phase. The Contorted Epitome wants to be close behind your main forces, but never directly in the mix if it can avoid it, as its 5+ save and 7 wounds mean that it will easily die in melee.
Not only is it the best model sculpted in the last decade (fight me), the Keeper of Secrets is also a beautiful tyrant on the table. They pack an incredible punch with multiple high damage attacks (all of which benefit from an extra hit on an exploding 6,*** thanks to the Euphoric Killers allegiance ability), but they also inflict a number of mortal wounds equal to the Damage characteristic on an unmodified wound roll of 6. Being a Greater Daemon, the Keeper of Secrets accesses the Locus of Diversion on a 3+, making it the most reliable way to force your enemy to fight last in the army. They also have an incredible command ability which allows them to fight twice, giving you two chances to finish your opponent before they get to swing back. However, their downsides are pretty clear – they have 14 wounds with a 4+ save, so you need to pick your fights carefully.
We’re cheating slightly, since he’s not in the Hedonites of Slaanesh battletome, but Archaon does have the Hedonites of Slaanesh keywords, so he can be included in the army AND access all of the allegiance abilities, including Feast of Depravities and Locus of Diversion. Listing all of the reasons Archaon is good would take more space than this article allows, but I like him for his high damage output, good save (the rare anvil available to Slaanesh), incredible defences against magic and mortal wounds, and the ability to force enemy attacks to re-roll 6s to hit (one of the most underappreciated abilities on his warscroll).
So let’s put that all together in a list.
Vince: Let’s outline the key points in this list:
Slaanesh loves its leaders, so there are a range of Heroes that gain Feast of Depravities and can summon reinforcements
Command point generation is vital – Archaon, Glory Hog, The Rod of Misrule, and the Supreme Sybarites warscroll battalion can all give you extra command points
The Lurid Haze subfaction allows you to remove D3 friendly units from the table, keeping them safe as well as threatening your opponent
The goal with this army is to put pressure on the enemy with your two hammers (Archaon and the Keeper of Secrets), while using Chaos Warriors to hold backfield or uncontested objectives. The Chaos Marauders can act as a potent threat in a pinch, especially when backed by the Chaos Sorcerer Lord giving them re-rollable saves, hits, and wounds, though those buffs are primarily for Archaon. Ideally, you’ll pin the most important tactical units with Archaon and bring in the Keeper of Secrets from behind through a Lurid Haze ambush to finish the unit off with both of them fighting twice each round.
Maggotkin of Nurgle armies
Tom: Nurgle armies have access to many powerful units that have unique roles and offerings, so it’s really hard to know where to start. I chose to focus on three units that I think are strong offerings in almost any Nurgle list.
Arguably the best buy in the army. For a unit of Putrid Blightkings, you get 21 wounds on a 4+ save with an elite weapon profile, as well as the Blighted Weapons ability that transforms into D6 hits on an exploding 6. They’re also a prime target to be buffed by a nearby Harbinger of Decay or to re-roll 1s to hit from a nearby Lord of Affliction, and they gain a Rend of -1 from the Blight Cyst battalion. As if this wasn't enough, the dreaded plague lord Gutrot Spume can allow a unit of Putrid Blightkings to set up in a strategic flanking position after the enemy has finished setting up. For all of these reasons, this unit forms the backbone of almost any Maggotkin of Nurgle army I build.
There are few units more iconic to Nurgle armies than the Great Unclean One. My chosen build is to use this Greater Daemon as a utility-buffing unit on the battlefield by giving him the Bileblade and Doomsday Bell. The Bileblade allows him to grant bonuses to his own spellcasting, which is important for manipulating that all-important Cycle of Corruption with the Foul Regenesis spell. Similarly, the Doomsday Bell grants nearby Nurgle units +3” to their movement, which coupled with the +2” of movement from the Cycle’s Unnatural Vitality means that Nurgle units can easily have +5” when needed.
My last pick may be a bit of a head scratcher for some, but I love the Lord of Afflictions. This high-mobility Hero is the offensive utility-buffing counterpart to the Great Unclean One. He grants re-rolls of 1 for nearby friendly Rotbringer units, which makes him a wonderful support piece for your hordes of Blightkings. He’s also able to carry the Rustfang, an Artefact of Contagion that can reduce the saves of enemy units in combat with him by 1. Interestingly, because the Lord of Afflictions has the Daemon keyword, he also makes a wonderful power pair**** with a unit of Plague Drones. The Lord of Afflictions has the mobility to keep up, increases their Attacks characteristic because of their Locus of Contagion ability, and can lower the defence for any unit the Plague Drones attack with that Rustfang you gave him. All of these things make him one of my favourite pieces in the Nurgle army.
Bringing all of this together, I’ve assembled a flexible Nurgle list that capitalises on the various strengths we’ve covered. You’ll have to be careful with set up and make sure you screen appropriately, but this list gives you the tools you’ll need to respond to almost any situation.
Tom: The list relies on multiple threatening power pairs:
Gutrot Spume takes the 5-strong unit of Putrid Blightkings off table to be set up again, threatening a lightly guarded objective
The Harbinger of Decay pairs with the large block of 10 Putrid Blightkings as the centre of your force
The Plague Drones will team up with the Lord of Afflictions as a highly-offensive,***** fast-moving unit that can easily move 17-19” before charging in the first turn of the game
The 30 Plaguebearers and the Great Unclean One join up to hold a strategic objective
Finally, the Chaos Warriors can either screen early game or camp on an out-of-the-way objective
If you play it well, this force has a wide variety of tools that include counters for almost anything you’ll run into in the meta.
What a fabulously corrupt start to 2021 from the Warhammer Weekly team. We owe Vince and Tom our thanks for taking their time to share their thoughts.
We’d love to hear what you think about the Hedonites of Slaanesh and Maggotkin of Nurgle lists. Do you command an army of them? Have you faced them down and lived to tell the tale? Let us know over on the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook page.
* The fat middle refers to the majority of armies that sit nicely in the centre of the competitive meta.
** The term glass cannon means an army that hits especially hard, but shatters when it takes a little bit of damage.
*** Exploding 6 refers to special rules that result from rolling a 6 on your dice. In this case, causing an extra hit.
**** Power pairs are units that combine with each other, often turning weaker units into key pieces within an army.
***** And he doesn’t JUST mean the smell.