It’s been a little under three months since Battletome: Maggotkin of Nurgle was released, and the new book has had a positive impact on the faction’s performance at competitive events – particularly armies using the Befouling Host subfaction.*
We’ll be taking a look at the tools that these armies are using to achieve their impressive results, with thanks to Daniel Street of AoS Shorts for providing an analysis.
In a meta that boasts many strong armies with high “burst” damage output, such as Stormcast Eternals, Cities of Sigmar, and Ironjawz, the Maggotkin of Nurgle have the sheer toughness needed to tank hits and strike back. Individual units will soak up damage like a sponge, while the army as a whole can reinforce itself by building up contagion points to summon fresh daemon units.
This resilience perfectly complements the Maggotkin’s ability to generate a small but steady flow of mortal wounds across multiple phases and all five battle rounds of a game. The army claims victory by attrition – slowly grinding down its foes with the Diseased battle trait, all while absorbing onslaughts that would destroy another force.
The key to spreading disease points is getting your units up close to as many enemies as possible. The Befouling Host makes this easier by allowing you to deploy a second Feculent Gnarlmaw at the start of the game if your army has a DAEMON general.
As impassable terrain that can dish out disease points to nearby units, an extra Feculent Gnarlmaw is perfect for securing the flanks of a Maggotkin army. Not only that, the Encroaching Corruption ability means that even with no enemies to infect, this foul foliage will generate free contagion points – perfect for summoning new units as early (and as close to the enemy) as possible.
One Befouling Host list that’s performing particularly well works to maximise disease point output by swamping the battlefield with Beasts of Nurgle, backed up by a reinforced block of Plaguebearers and some powerful Heroes. Paul Scott took this army to five wins at the PSU March to War event in January.
Beasts of Nurgle are a great choice because they inflict mortal wounds on the charge, inflict disease points on the retreat, and can still charge after running or retreating. By taking multiple individual units, Paul presented his opponents with difficult decisions about damage allocation, forcing them to waste a powerful unit’s damage output by squashing a single 110 point Beast. This allowed his Heroes to survive that much longer, and build more of an advantage.
Horticulous Slimux supports the army in a variety of ways. Not only does he allow the Beasts to re-roll charges and add 1 to their hit rolls, he can also place an extra Feculent Gnarlmaw onto the table in one of your hero phases. Spreading Nurgle’s garden provides a steadily growing stream of disease and contagion points each turn, causing mortal wounds and summoning additional units with ease.
The Great Unclean One epitomises the army’s strengths – it has ways to deal mortal wounds in multiple phases, and can give out lots of additional disease points and contagion points. Its bucketload of Wounds make it immensely hard to kill, and it can bolster allies through the Locus of Fecundity ability as well as the Fleshy Abundance spell – which it can reliably cast thanks to the Master of Magic command trait.
Once it wades into the heart of the enemy army, this Greater Daemon can use the Witherstave artefact to turn disease points into mortal wounds on a 3+ rather than 4+. Reaching enemy territory also maximises contagion points for summoning, and the Doomsday Bell’s Reverberating Summons adds even more.
The reinforced unit of Plaguebearers is a strong target for Fleshy Abundance – once that spell gives each model an extra Wound, you’re looking at 60 wounds with a 6+ Save, a 5+ ward, and healing from Disgustingly Resilient. That makes them a terrifying prospect, capable of tying up key units in long combats while holding an objective.
The two Lords of Afflictions help to build up contagion points early, by deep striking or flanking into enemy lines. They also deal mortal wounds in the Hero and Charge phases, further pushing through that all-important trickle of damage that Maggotkin armies thrive on.
The Lords also act as great summoning points allowing Paul to add Nurglings in the opponent’s backline or to slow their advance. Paul made the most of his contagion points by often summoning Nurglings on turns 1 and 2, a Sloppity Bilepiper on turn 3 and then Beasts of Nurgle in the later turns to benefit from Horticulous’ charge re-rolls.
Tom Mawdsley has been using different take on the Befouling Host, one which demonstrates the variety of competitive options available – aside from a pair of Beasts of Nurgle, it doesn’t use the same unit twice. His army includes Nurglings, a Pusgoyle Blightlord, a Rotbringer Sorcerer, Morbidex Twiceborn, and the Soulscream Bridge endless spell.
This version of the Befouling Host uses deceptive mobility rather than Feculent Gnarlmaws to generate contagion points. The Lord of Afflictions can join the Pusgoyle Blightlord to enter the battlefield more than 9” away from an enemy unit, allowing them to build up more contagion points early, while the Nurglings can infest a terrain piece around the battlefield.
The Soulscream Bridge further speeds up the army by transporting the Plaguebearers into enemy lines. By using the Bloodthirsty triumph to improve the chances of a successful charge, Tom can tie his opponent up in their own territory while his Beasts and Nurglings hold objectives. The Soulscream Bridge also helps mitigate the army’s low mobility in the late game, when it needs to reposition.
The Rotbringer Sorcerer doubles down on disease points with the Gift of Disease spell, and can also use his Tainted Endless Spell ability to turn the Soulscream Bridge into another source of infection. Morbidex Twiceborn acts as a tanky distraction piece, healing both his own wounds and those of the Nurgling swarm.
It’s clear that the Befouling Host is a flexible and adaptable subfaction that plays well to the strengths of the Maggotkin of Nurgle – it also allows a lot of scope for personalising your list while still working with the army’s core abilities. Try it out for yourself, and let us know on Facebook and Twitter how you get on.
* Such as Tyler Mengel’s gorgeously grotesque Befouling Host collection.
