First Look: Kruleboyz Warscrolls

  Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

I wanted to give my First Look thoughts on the newest greenskins  to enter the Mortal Realms, the Kruleboyz. I am a peon and did not get an advance copy so I had to wait until July 3rd just like the rest of you. Like last post, this will be off the top of my head, I have a 1 1/2 year old toddler wrecking havoc behind me while I type this and a 2 month old trying to take a nap in front of me, so I have very little time!

GOOD: The Kruleboyz Allegiance Ability

Venom Encusted Weapons: This makes hit rolls of a 6 from attacks from non-mounted KRULEBOYZ ORRUK model deal mortal wounds equal to the damage of the weapon used. AND the attack sequence ends. This is great. Frightful Touch basically on everything is pretty good. Sustainable and reliable mortal wound output is a great way to grind your way through heavy armor, which seems to be the new norm. With this effect you're going to want to get a +1 Attack buff from somewhere, the only way I can think of is Big Waaaagh Waaaagh ability. 

BAD: Gutrippaz Profile

This is pretty bad. This is basically worse Spider Riders for Orruks. Or worse Stikka Savage Orruks. Compared to Ardboyz, the Gutrippaz are straight worse in every single way. They aren't good anvils and they aren't good hammers. The in-built situational sometimes maybe dicey -1 to Hit is okay but not likely to be consistent. With the new off Gutrippaz getting regular hand weapons, I think I rather stick with a good ol' hacka, I'm hoping for a 3+ to wound or -1 Rend or a decent Bravery buff for the banner-bearer. Looks like a cash grab from GW yet again.

GOOD: Man-skewer Boltboyz

Orruk themed Jezzails. That's pretty cool. I think I'll be running at least 6 of these with a Swampcalla Shaman for a cool 5-8 damage from 24" away or 8-11 damage from 12" away.  Point for point the Boltboyz are more efficient and deadlier than the longer ranged Skaven Warplock Jezzails.

BAD: Lack of other Battleline Units

Being stuck with a sub-standard Battleline unit is not cool in my book. I love my large blobs of units fighting over objectives and if that unit is bad, I want to choose something else. That's just bad design. Hopefully in the new Orruk Warclans book, we will see some "Battleline Ifs". Part of me thinks that the Beast-Skewer is going to be a Leader that unlocks Boltboyz as Battleline, but I may be chewing the wrong mushrooms.... As much as I love the design of the Hobgrots I hope they are Battleline in the upcoming Chaos Dorfs book instead of the Orruk Warclans book. Maybe being added to the neutered Gloomspite Gitz might help.... They sure need it. 

GOOD: Morale Mitigation

All Part of the Da Plan is easily overlooked but I think will have a massive impact on every single game. In AoS 3.0 we are going to be throwing command abilities all over the place. Sometimes that means that our units won't be able to benefit from another command ability or we simply run out of command points or used Inspiring Presence on another unit. Having this safety net on the foot Killaboss and the mounted one is going help our Bravery 4 & 5 units from disappearing after taking a volley or two to the face.

BAD: Murknob w/Belcha-Banna

This whole warscroll is pretty bad unless you discount the abilities and just take this handsome guy as a foot hero that swings his sword around a few times. TOTEM is good, yes.. but your army is already going to have 2-3 Swampcalla Shamans and a Killaboss or two, you're going to have almost all your units under someone's control. Breath of Mire-Drakes is the most boring ability in the whole set so far and I think will be forgotten more than once. I'm hoping for some cool banners you can give this guy to carry around, or you could just give this guy the Arcane Tome artefact and the Levitate spell to actually be useful. 

Well that seems like enough for now. I still have 40 Hobgrots to build and a metric ton of painting to do. I love all the new orruk love that Games Workshop is giving us. The models look great, they are really exploring the game space with some of these warscrolls but to be honest some do look half-baked. See you next time!

AoS 3.0 GHB2021 Orruk Warclans First Impressions

 Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

This quick blog post is based on preview copy of the GHB2021 that was found on Facehammer's Youtube channel. The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoGwGjNBBwk . This does not discuss the information actually in the book, only the points will be discussed. If you would like me to right a more bird's eye view of the state of Orruk Warclans as of GHB2021, let me know and I'll see if I am able to muster up the motivation. ADHD is a bitch.  

First, we expected increases, so that will be mentioned in passing and if it can be justified. Second, minimum unit sizes and reinforcement points are a thing now. This is a HUGE problem for Orruk Warclans players who usually play a horde army. You basically pay 2 prices for your large units, once in points and again in reinforcement points. It doesn't feel good. Hopefully there will be some ways to increase the reinforcement limits for horde armies in the future. As of this writing I was unable to find anything to increase the reinforcement limits using the universal battalions. 

THE GOOD:

As a rule, I try to be optimistic It just doesn't feel good to be negative or be around people who are negative, so let's see if we can see some good in this. First, we expected increases, so that will be mentioned in passing.  

ARDBOYS down from 100 to 95. So Ardboys are a mixed bag but generally in Good shape. The minimum unit size stayed at 5. Which will eat up a lot of reinforcement points to get to the horde levels we had before. Running 60+ Ardboys was easy and actually really fun to do. 40 Ardboys are still gonna run you 760 pts and use all of your reinforcement points, but HEY, who cares?! The Ardboys also lost the conditional size requirement to be considered a BATTLELINE unit in Ironjawz and Big Waaagh armies. This makes Ardboys the cheapest way to fill out the BATTLELINE require for lists running only 285 pts. 

WARDOKK up from 80 to 85. This naked dancing orruk is still a great buff piece and an auto-including in all of my Bonesplitterz lists, usually 1 per block of Savage Orruks. Wardokks got off light here. They are easily worth 120 pts being both a PRIEST and a WIZARD. With Mystic Shield back to AoS 1.0 levels, this means Wardokks might make it into Big Waaagh lists for that easy cast. The lost of stacking save buffs is a little lame but it was gamey and a little weird to have a 3+ Save naked Savage Orruk running around. Being able to Banish endless spells or Invocations will be hella usefully for any list coming up against Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch or Fyreslayers. 

KRAGNOS down from 760 to 695. Well that was quick! An almost 10% decrease is great. He is considered your general so he has extended range on command abilities and can keep getting those sweet sweet Command Points each turn. Will this make him more competitive? Probably not but compared to a Megaboss on Mawkrusha (495 vs 695) it definitely makes Kraggy more appealing, especially in Bonesplitterz lists where they generally lack mortal wounds and high Rend. His average damage output against a 4+ Save is 20.6! That's discounting any mortal wounds from Rampaging Destruction. Remember that Kragnos has access to both Their Finest Hour, Heroic Recovery (at Bravery 11), Titanic Duel and Stomp. 

THE EXPECTED:

WARCHANTER up from 110 to 120. With TOTEM able to extra the range of command abilities namely Mighty Destroyers this was expected. The Warchanter is probably the greatest buffer for any army for the points. Violent Frenzy IS JUST THAT GOOD! I'm sure this increase will not diminish out many Ironjawz or Big Waaagh players field. I'm still going to field 2 in a Ironjawz Da Choppaz list or 3 in my normal Big Waaagh list.

SAVAGE BOARBOY MANIAKS up from 140 to 150. 70 attacks. We had 70 attacks at 140 pts. Only 10 points feels like a light touch, but I'll take it. 

THE BAD:

SAVAGE ORRUKS up from 120 to 130 and no Horde Discount. This is TERRIBLE news for Bonesplitterz players like me who relied on our large sturdy block of Savage Orruks with stikkas to hold the objectives all game. No more stacking the +1 to Hit buffs mean that if Big Waaagh isn't changed, you won't be seeing Savage Orruks there either. Casting Kunnin' Bone Spirits or Brutal Beast Spirits now feel wasted in a Big Waaagh list. At least there are is one drop that loads of 20 orruk strong blocks of Savage Orruks can fit in and still be a one drop.

SAVAGE BOARBOYS up from 130 to 140. Well this came out of nowhere. Who is running Savage Boarboys so well that they need an increase? They honestly need to be 120-110 to work or getting the bonus for having 5 in the unit like Maniaks do. No clue why Boarboys got this slight nerf... this affects 0 people since everyone just runs Savage Boarboy Maniaks instead. CARRY ON!

ORRUK BRUTES up from 130 to 150. Ouch. That hurt! Why!? Were they a great buy at 130? Well yes they were. They were still struggling to get into lists for the more maneuverable Ardboys. This increase definitely won't help. They are still the most points efficient Orruk Warclans BATTLELINE unit we have. Brutes are going to be most effected by the unit coherency rule. If you run 10 Brutes they are definitely going to be armed with Jagged Gore-Hackas and walking in a phalanx formationn, no more lines of Brute Choppas. Just expect more of them on the table if you are building a Da Choppas list. 

AoS 3.0 has brought us Orruk Warclans players a lot of emotions, a lot of mixed emotions. But one really stands out and that's da feelin' of DA WAAAAAAGGGGHHH!

Nurgle: Lord of Afflictions 2020

 Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2020, the Lord of Afflictions will cost you 190pts and fulfill the Leader battlefield role in a NURGLE allegiance army. If you take a Lord of Afflictions as your general, Pusgoyle Blightlords become Battleline. The model can be made from a Pusgoyle Blightlord. Pusgoyle Blightlords will cost you  $65 USD ORRRR you can just grab a Start Collecting Maggotkin of Nurgle box and get a Lord of Blights and 5 Putrid Blightkings for $95 USD ($157 USD value). The Lord of Afflictions sits on a 60mm base. 

You can grab your own Lord of Afflictions by grabbing a Start Collecting Maggotkin of Nurgle box with the Amazon link below. You support the blog, and get a discount off MSRP.

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel - The Move value of the Lord of Afflictions is 8", in addition the model can Fly. This is incredible! This is exactly what your Nurgle force, a fast hitter that can apply pressure where you want.  Since the Lord of Afflictions has no missile weapon you can run and charge if you can land near a Feculant Gnarlmaw. Combined with the Cycle of Corruption's Unnatural Vitality that will add 2" Move and using the command ability "At the Double", this bloated Rot Fly can zip around the battlefield at 16" and still be able to charge. So if that's your plan just make sure you go Blessed Sons for the Foul Conqueror command trait that lets you use At the Double for free once each hero phase.

The Wounds characteristic of the 8. This is pretty good. Better than most mounted lord but low enough to avoid getting bracketed in a fight. 

The Save characteristic of the Lord of Afflictions is 4+. That's completely normal for a combat Hero on a mount. Disgustingly Resilient will add another layer to the defenses of the Lord of Afflictions dropping 1/3 of the damage off right away. The Wounds, the Save, the Disgustingly Resilient ability and the Rotten Regeneration ability means that this fly ain't shooing any time soon and can take on more than most of your enemies will think to send.

The Bravery of the Lord of Afflictions is 10. It's great. It's expected, as the Lord of Afflictions has the Daemon keyword. He's safe from basically all the mortal wound shenanigans caused by Bravery bombs.

The Weaponry - Lots of attacks. Lots and lots of attacks. This is where the Lord of Afflictions earns his keep. Before we go over these weapons, let's review the Lord of Afflictions' Plague Vector ability. The Plague Vector ability lets all ROTBRINGER units within 7" reroll hit rolls of 1. Keep this in mind when we go over the weapons, as the Lord of Afflictions has the ROTBRINGER keyword. The Festerpike is your bog-standard fighty Hero weapon. 3 attacks at 3+/3+ with -1 Rend and D3 Damage. The little bonus is the extra inch of range. Foul Mouthparts is 1", 2 attacks at 3+ to Hit, 3+ to Wound, no Rend with 1 Damage. A little better than your average horse. The Venomous Sting is a little better at one attack, 4+ to Hit, 3+ to Wound, this time with -1 Rend and another D3 damage. Lastly we have the bell that the Lord of Afflictions is tolling as he strides the battlefield. The Dolorous Tocsin (maybe the same one that the Putrid Blightkings have) is 1 attacks, hitting at 4+, wounding at 3+ with -2 Rend, which is rare in Nurgle and for 2 Damage. All in all its not only good, its great! A potential of 15 damage if you roll perfectly. Lots of attacks, some of which have Rend. Adding any buffs on top of the Lord of Afflictions Plague Vector ability will have a multiplicative effect. For example, the Great Unclean One's command ability, Grandfather's Joy. This ability gives the affected NURGLE DAEMON unit +1 Attack. If you place this ability on the Lord of Afflictions he gets 4 extra attacks, one extra attack for each profile. That's amazing!!! You can always slap the Hulking Physique command trait on this monster or get the Cycle of Corruption's Fecund Vigour to have all of your melee weapons to wound on 2+.  Please note that since the Rot Fly is a mount, he's unaffected by the rider's command trait. 

The Abilities-The Lord of Afflictions has a whole incubatches worth of abilities. A few we have glossed over. Disgustingly Resilient lets the Lord of Afflictions shrug off a wound or mortal wound on a 5+. Very good on such an important character piece in your army. Rotten Regeneration recovers 1 wound in each of your Hero phases that the Lord of Affliction suffered. Again, this stacks on the defenses. Plague Vector is fantastic!  Reroll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by ROTBRINGER units within 7". In reality that's about 16.36" of the board is covered by 1 Lord of Affliction due to his base size. All the newer and cooler Nurgle mortal units are classified as ROTBRINGERS, that includes the Glottkin. Yes around the Lord of Afflictions the Glottkin gets to reroll hit rolls of 1. Please note that this ability affects missile units too! So the Maggoth Lords and a Putrid Blightkings unit affected by a Lord of Blights' Munificent Bounty ability can reroll hit rolls on these missile attacks.

Incubatch is an interesting ability, that in your Hero phase you roll a d6 for each unit (even yours) within 3". On a 2+ the unit suffers 1 mortal wound, NURGLE units suffer this wound on a 6+. It's okay, it deals a little damage each time but you put your own units at risk. The nice this about this is that it just says "In your hero phase". Many of the regenerative effects that Nurgle has can be used after this ability has gone off, and damaged say a nearby Great Unclean One.  You could then roll for the Great Unclean One's Corpulent Mass ability to recover that lost wound. Remember that this includes the Lord of Afflictions himself and he will always heal 1 wound at the START OF YOUR HERO phase, so there is no way for you to kill him. You don't actually have to include the Incubatch with your Lord of Afflictions, that's an option to if you don't want to gamble. But hey, we play a dice game after all, it's all gambling. 

Virulent DIscharge is a common ability with the Rotbringers in Nurgle. You can find the same ability on Putrid Blightkings and Pusgoyle Blightlords. In your hero phase, roll a d6 for each unit (yours too!) within 3". On a 6, that unit takes D3 mortals, if its a NURGLE unit that unit heals D3 wounds. This ability is extremely useful but time consuming when around a lot of units. Just keep that in mind, you can kill the last few guys that are blocking in your dudes, freeing them up in the movement phase.

Command Ability- Ah the Spearhead of Contagion command ability is such a disappointment. I guess we can't have it all. The ability can only be used if the Lord of Afflictions is your general. I thought we got rid of this trash requirement in the Daughters of Khaine book. Then it only affects Pusgoyle Blightlords. That's getting expensive in both points and your almighty dollars. It just add 8" to the movement of 1 unit. Honestly its meh. The only time I can see this being useful is that 1 in 50 game where your opponent doesn't shield his crappy support Hero in the back. However if you have a Blessed Sons Host and use the Foul Conqueror command trait to use At the Double for free and use Spearhead of Contagion, while near a tree, 1 Pusgoyle Blightlords unit can move 8 (move) + 8 (ability) + 6 (run) + 2D6 charge. I rather save my command points of the Harbinger of Decay's command ability Morbid Vigour. If you'd like to learn more about the Harbinger of Decay check out his article!

BATTALIONS:

Affliction Cyst - 140 pts. minimum 900 pts! Holy crap, That's a large chunk of your army right there in 4 units and only 57 wounds. The Droning Sky lets you drop in your drones like like the USMC aviation squadron to wreck face. You do have to set up the unit after your FIRST movement phase and has to be set up further than 9" away from an enemy unit. Lots of restrictions on this one. No charge bonuses for the Lord of Afflictions or the Pusgoyle Blightlords means you're not likely to make the 9" charge. Bad, not only that you can probably get closer than 9" if you just move or use the Spearhead of Contagion command ability.  The second ability is more useful but we have very low expectations. Diseased Onslaught battalino ability is just some command point efficiency. It lets you affect EACH and ALL units of Pusgoyle Blightlords within 14" when your Lord of Afflictions uses the Spearhead of Contagion command ability instead of just 1. Remember! the Lord of Afflictions HAS to be your general to use his Spearhead of Contagion command ability.

ARTEFACTS:

The Witherstave - Probably the single best artefact to give to the Lord of Afflictions to help your army outlast the enemy force. The Witherstave makes enemy units within 12" of the bearer to reroll hit rolls of 6. This affects missile weapons and melee weapons, so this will definitely help us in 2020 in the Age of Shooting. With the 60mm base, you're throwing this debuff aura 26.36 inches! 

Rustfang - At the start of combat phase (and that's each and every combat phase!) pick one enemy unit within 3". For the REST OF THE BATTLE, that unit subtracts 1 from their save rolls. Your bloated lord should definitely be stuck in combat and Any de-buffing is a great way to inch ahead in the damage game. This will also let your Lord of Afflictions be a little Hero hunter. Fly over the screen, Rustfang the Hero and hit him with all your attacks. 

PROS & CONS:

+ Great model

+ Fast for Nurgle

+ Fly

+ Tough 

+ Lots of attacks, some with Rend

+ Can take any Command Trait or Artefact

+Buffs Rotbringers

- Terrible Command Ability

- Expensive $$$ wise

- Affliction Cyst is a no go

WRAP UP:

Forget the battalion. Forget the command ability. You still have a great platform for a durable general who buffs almost everyone in a ROTBRINGER heavy army, who dishes out mortal wounds and who is ungodly durable for 190 pts. It's a no-brainer for me. I take him, he's my general and he turns my defensive army into an offensive one. Or you can have it both ways 😁 with a Harbinger of Decay with the Witherstave and your Lord of Afflictions with Rustfang and a Blight Cyst...

GRADE: A

Nurgle: Lord of Blights 2020

 

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2020, the Lord of Blights will cost you 140pts and fulfill the Leader battlefield role in a NURGLE allegiance army. The model is a fantastic sculpt that is bursting with bloated blessings, character and full of conversion potential. The Lord of Blights is on a 40mm base, the same one as your run-of-the-plague-mill Putrid Blightking. The retail price of the Lord of Blights is $30 USD. 

You can grab your own Lord of Blights by grabbing a Start Collecting Maggotkin of Nurgle box with the Amazon link below. You support the blog, and get a discount off MSRP.

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel - The Move of the Lord of Blights is only 4". What did you only expect with a chunky guy like this? The Feculant Gnarlmaw can help though, letting him run and charge. Chances are that if the enemy is within 14" you'll want to throw a severed head instead of running though. The Cycle of Corruption's Unnatural Vitality will add 2" Move, bringing his grand total to 6". If you need a speedy little chunker to keep your auras alive, you might want to consider running the Lord of Blights in a Blessed Sons Host. With the Foul Conqueror command trait you can "At the Double" for free once per turn.

The Wounds characteristic of the 7. Which is fantastic for a foot Hero and one that's only 140 pts. This basically means that you are almost guarantee to have this guy survive 2 turns. 

The Save characteristic of the Lord of Blights is 4+. Completely average. What's missing from the Lord of Blights is a mortal wound mitigation. He does have a chaos shield after all. Maybe that's asking too much, maybe not. You can always keep him within range of a Harbinger of Decay for the 5+ save-after-save.

The Bravery of the Lord of Blights is 9. This makes him safe from the vast majority of Bravery-debuffing to deal mortal wounds tactics that are out there. 

The Weaponry - The Lord of Blights has a shooting attack, the Thrice-ripened Death's Head. We don't have many shooting attacks in Nurgle but they are usually gross. This is no exception. 14" is great but remember the Lord of Blights can NOT run and shoot. So keep that in mind when closing into the enemy. Hitting on 3+ is good, Wounding on 3+ is good, Hulking Physique and the Cycle of Corruption's Fecund Vigour DO NOT buff this To Wound rating. -3 Rend is fantastic, especially in this faction. D3 Damage, again good. All in all, its good, just remember to do it! 

The melee weapon that the Lord of Blights wields in combat is a little, itty-bitty hammer called the Bubotic Hammer. Its super standard for a melee foot Hero. 3 attacks 3+/3+ at -1 Rend and 2 Damage (instead of the bog-standard D3 Damage). Mathematically is the same as every other melee foot Hero. Unlike the missile weapon, the command trait, Hulking Physique or the Cycle of Corruption's Fecund Vigour will make your Lord of Blights wound on a 2+. Add in the Rotbringer artifact, The Rustfang and now you're essentially hitting at -2 Rend. You can get the rerolls of 1 from a Lord of Afflictions since the Lord of Blights has the Rotbringer keyword.

The Abilities- Munificent Bounty is an interesting ability. Your Lord of Blights is so caring for his fellow Putrid Blightkings that he brought some heads to throw at the enemy. I guess he doesn't want them to miss out on the fun. Pick 1 friendly Blightkings unit within 3". They can all throw the Munificent Bounty Death's Heads which are  14" Range, 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound and no Rend for 1 Damage. Not bad if you can remember and haven't run.

Vermid Shield - This ability essentially give your Lord of Blights Mystic Shield in the combat phase. You can reroll save rolls of 1. This brings your save percentage from 50% to 58%. This just adds another layer of defense onto an already sturdy bro.

Command Ability- Plague of Flies lets you pick a friendly NURGLE unit within (not wholly within) 21" of the Lord of Blights. It gets the Plaguebearers of Nurgle buff. -1 to Hit in the Shooting phase, which is big in 2020. Good. Nice protection. But if they have 20 or more models, so we are looking at large blocks of Chaos Warriors, Marauders and Plague Monks. Then the command ability gives the unit -2 to hit in the enemy Shooting phase and -1 to Hit them while in the Combat phase until your next hero phase. Fantastic. This really give those weak units like the Marauders and Plague Monks a defensive boost, so they survive just that little bit more to keep that objective. If you really want to stick it to someone, drop this on a unit of 20 Plaguebearers for a -4 to hit vs Shooting and a -2 to Hit in the Combat phase! 

BATTALIONS:

Blight Cyst - 140 pts. minimum 720 pts. This battalion is fantastic and the building block for all of my Rotbringer-heavy lists. The Lord of Blights gives out his okay-ish shooting attack to ALL Putrid Blightking units within 3" instead of just one with the Endless Bounty battalion ability. I guess he brings a whole sack of them. Cool and useful, fine. The Supremely Blighted Weapons gives all Putrid Blightkings -1 Rend, this doesn't affect the Lord of Blights' Bubotic Hammer though, but its always nice to point out. But the other ability does affect the Lord of Blights and the Munificent Bounty Death's Heads that he's passing out like herpes at the Playboy Mansion. That battalion ability is Blights of the Landscape, which allows ALL units from the battalion, no cover saves can be taken from attacks made by this battalion.  

ARTEFACTS:

Muttergrub - This artefact is pretty useful if you have a spare artefact. It would let your Lord of Blights to be able to cast Foul Regenesis to change to Cycle of Corruption to whatever stage you want. This does not make the bearer a WIZARD for some strange reason. I guess the grub is the caster. 

Rustfang - At the start of combat phase (and that's each and every combat phase!) pick one enemy unit within 3". For the REST OF THE BATTLE, that unit subtracts 1 from their save rolls. This artefact stacks well with the Blight Cyst battalion for a nice -2 to saves. 

PROS & CONS:

+ Beautiful model

+ Durable foot hero

+ Useful command ability

- Slow

- Below average in combat

- Feels like a tax in Blight Cyst

- No save from mortal wounds

WRAP UP:

If you're going Rotbringer heavy and taking a Blight Cyst, you have to take this guy for the battalion. Do I wish I didn't have to? Yes. But he does his job, is useful and can dish out some wounds. 

GRADE: B

Nurgle: Harbinger of Decay 2020

 

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2020, the Harbinger of Decay will cost you 160pts and fulfill the Leader battlefield role in a NURGLE allegiance army. The model is fine-cast (booo!) and will cost you $40 USD retail. Many people use one of the Varanguard or a Slaves to Darkness Chaos Knight with Putrid Blightking bits to create their homemade, much cheaper Harbinger of Decay. The Harbinger of Decay sits atop a 75x42mm base, the same as Chaos Knights.

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel - The Move of the Harbinger of Decay is 7" which is great for our slow marching army. The Feculant Gnarlmaw can help the Harbinger run and charge but unless you're absolutely he can win the day, you shouldn't be taking that change with such a key figure. The Cycle of Corruption's Unnatural Vitality will add 2" Move to the Harbinger but he should be moving behind a line of a horde of Nurgle-marked Chaos Marauders, Putrid Blightkings or a legion of Nurgle-marked Chaos Warriors. The Blessed Sons sub-faction's ability to utilize "At the Double" universal command ability for free on a ROTBRINGER unit will work on the Harbinger of Decay. This is a great idea if the unit he is supposed to support has charged out of his protection range in the previous turn or has moved too far way.

The Wounds characteristic of the 7. Meh. It's great if taken out of context of the other ROTBRINGER HERO units. But. But this matches the same wound count as the Lord of Plagues and Lord of Blights and the Harbinger is mounted. Just a pet-peeve I guess.

The Save characteristic of the Harbinger of Decay is an average 4+. Average. Combined with the high Wound count and he's decently durable. But that's just the beginning. Soulbound Shield and the command ability on the Harbinger of Decay's warscroll will help this bloated vessel survive most games. Some artefacts will also help the Harbinger of Decay survive against any kind of assault he may face, but you'll have to scroll down.

The Bravery of Harbinger of Decay is 8. Which is also a big Meh. It's high enough for him not to worry about too many wounds from 2D6 Bravery bomb mortal wound builds but those armies usually have a way to lower your Bravery by 5 or so.

The Weaponry - The Harbinger is armed with both the Plague Scythe and Daemonic Mount's Flyblown Bite. Although on the warscroll on Games Workshop's website, the Daemonic Mount isn't categorized as a mount. I'm 100% sure that that's a misprint or that policy of denoting mounts was made after the publication of the Maggotkin of Nurgle book. As for the Plague Scythe, its the usual fighty foot Hero profile. 3 attacks at 3+/3+ with -1 Rend and dealing D3 Damage. I'm not sure why the Range is 1", as the scythe is as long as the Daemonic Mount the Harbinger rides but it's just another pet-peeve. Don't get me started on Chaos Chosen! The Daemonic Mount's Flyblown Bite is nothing to worry about and barely does anything. Half the time I don't roll it.

The Hit roll can be buffed by the Lord of Afflictions' Plague Vector agility. This allows the Harbinger of Decay to re-roll Hit rolls of 1 if he is within 7". Just make sure you keep outside of 3" from the Lord of Afflictions if he is equipped with an Incubatch. 

The Wound roll can be only be buffed by the Cycle of Corruption's Fecund Vigor gives all NURGLE units +1 to Wound.

The Rend characteristic can be modified in two ways. attacking a unit affected by Festus the Leechlord's warscroll spell Curse of the Leper, causing a target unit to subtract 1 from Save rolls for the whole game, effectively giving every unit in your army -1 Rend. Since the Harbinger of Decay has the ROTBRINGER keyword, he can take the Rustfang which would effectively causes an increase in Rend. 

The Abilities- Soulbound Shield is a great ability to have on a support character. Since the Harbinger of Decay's command ability is sooo good, he's going to be top priority for sniping and magical sniping is a thing in Age of Sigmar. The Soulbound Shield let's you roll a dice each time you allocate a wound or mortal wound to this model as a result of a spell; on a 4+ the wound is negated. This is fantastic. With the One Rule that was just implied into Matched Play in General's Handbook 2020, you won't be getting a 4+ then a 5+ to negate a mortal wound from a spell. But still, having a 4+ means that you're opponent will have try twice as hard to remove this vital piece from your army! 

The Rotsword. It's certainly interesting. Once per battle you can deal D3 mortals to a Hero you're fighting, and then maybe splash 1 mortal wound to nearby enemy units. It's a Panic Button if nothing else if your Harbinger of Decay is within 1" of an enemy combat Hero. You really don't want to put the Harbinger into any danger, he's just that vital to keep the rest of your army shambling around the board. Although chances are you will survive a combat phase, deal the D3 mortals to the Hero and retreat away behind a line of bloated and corrupted peons... I mean comrades. 

Command Ability- This is the reason you're taking the Harbinger of Decay. This is where you're going to be dumping all of your command points. And it's well worth it. Morbid Vigor affects NURGLE MORTALS only. Keep that mind if you include any Skaven Clan Pestilens or Nurgle Daemon models into your army. This command ability WILL NOT affect them. The command ability will also affect most of, if not all the Slaves to Darkness models you may include into your army. So let's look at the text. Until your next Hero phase (so far so good, you dont have to predict what phase you'll be taking the most damage in), roll a dice each time you allocate a wound or mortal wound (Great, we can use it whenever taking damage) to friendly NURGLE MORTAL units while they are within 7" (pretty standard here and not wholly within) of this model. On a 5+ the wound is negated. Fantastic! Absolutely disgusting!  Mathematically this increased EACH unit's survivability within 7"  by 1/3. Remember Age of Sigmar is about removing units to capture objectives over the course of 5 turns. If you disrupt your opponent's plans by outnumbering them on an objective due to having more models since yours survived longer, or keeping an objective from being captured but being the anvil you're meant to be, you win. 

BATTALIONS:

Blight Cyst - 140 pts. minimum w/HoD 860 pts. The only thing that the Harbinger of Decay benefits from is the Blights on the Landscape. This mean that in the combat phase, enemy units do not receive any benefits for being in cover against attacks made by this battalion.

Plague Cyst - 140 pts. minimum w/HoD 860 pts. The only thing that benefits the Harbinger of Decay in this battalion is the Horribly Contagious battalion ability. In your Hero phase, roll a dice for each enemy unit within 3" of any units from this battalion. On a 6+ the unit being rolled for suffer D3 mortal wounds. 

ARTEFACTS:

The Witherstave - Used to be 100% auto-take with me. Enemy units within 12" of the bearer have to reroll hit rolls of 6. This affects melee and missile weapons. This is fantastic! It's a great defensive tool in already defensive army. This also helps to turn off a lot of those abilities that trigger on hit rolls of 6 such as Ossiarch Bonereapers' Nandrite weapons, or Lumineth Realm Lords' mortal wounds. 

Rustfang - At the start of combat phase (each combat phase!) pick one enemy unit within 3". For the REST OF THE BATTLE, that unit subtracts 1 from save rolls. If you wanna kill something or thing your damage needs a boost, go this route. If you're taking a Blight Cyst or have Festus you can probably skip this but if you're taking lots of Plaguebearers, this is a must. 

Blotshell Bileplate - Reroll save rolls for attacks that target the bearer. This takes your beefy Harbinger up to 11. He's not going anywhere now. Stick him in cover if you can and enjoy a 3+ rerolling Save with a 5++ after-save. This in my mind is a no-brainer because you no longer have to worry about your Harbinger dying until late game.

PROS & CONS:

+ Cool Old-school model

+ Fast

+ Durable

+ Fantastic command ability

- Finecast

- Not great in combat

WRAP UP:

If you're going heavy NURGLE MORTALS or ROTBRINGERS you're going to be taking this guy. It's that simple. If the Chaos Warshrine affected MORTALS or if the faction gets a universal 6+ after-save this guy might no longer see the field but for now, he's in most of those armies.

GRADE: A

Nurgle: Putrid Blightkings 2020

 

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2020, the rotten backbone of any ROTBRINGER list got a nice price cut to 140 pts for 5 Putrid Blightkings, and have a horde discount that no one will ever use at 400pt for 20.  If you take NURGLE as your allegiance, these 'Kings count as Battleline. The plastic kit came out during the End Times of Warhammer Fantasy and costs you $57 USD retail. 5 Putrid Blightkings also come in a Start Collecting Maggotkin of Nurgle box which is $95 USD ($157 USD value). 

You can grab your own Putrid Blightkings by grabbing a Start Collecting Maggotkin of Nurgle box with the Amazon link below. You support the blog, and get a discount off MSRP.

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel - The Move of the the Blightkings is 4", which is a little deceptive. Nurgle units can become incredibly fast and catch your opponent on the wrong foot if they are not expecting it. To boost the Move of the Blightkings you can do a few things right off the bat. The Cycle of Corruption's Unnatural Vitality adds 2" to the Move characteristic of all NURGLE units on the board. This is fantastic. So that gets the Putrid Blightkings up to 6". Pretty good for a unit of fatties. Next we get to place a FECULANT GNARLMAW anywhere on the battleground (with some restrictions). If you place in the middle of the board, you'll probably be able to use it 1st turn. Any NURGLE unit who is within 7" at the start of the charge phase can attempt to charge even if it ran that turn. Fantastic! If your Putrid Blightkings unit includes an 'King with a Sonorous Tocsin, you add 1 to run and charges. Soooo, 4+2+1+D6. Thats an average of 10.5" a turn. If you use At the Double command ability, which can be free once per turn in a Blessed Sons army, a unit of Blightkings is moving 13"! Lightning fast for a unit whose warscroll just shows 4". 

The Wounds characteristic of the Putrid Blightkings is 4. If you promoted a Blightking to a Blightlord (unit champion), that model gets 5 wounds instead of 4. Bringing 5 models for 140 pts to 21 wounds. This is incredible points efficient. The only thing that really comes close are the cheap chaff units like Death Skeletons, Skaven Clanrats or Moonclan grots but they have a better Save. There is a way to increase the Wounds characteristic of each model in the unit and that is with The Glottkin's warscroll spell, Fleshy Abundance. This gives each model +1 Wound until the your next Hero phase. Not too useful on a unit of 5 or 10 as it is on 40 Chaos Marauders or 40 Skaven Plague Monks.

The Save characteristic of the Putrid Blightkings is 4+. Which is good. Its expected on heavy infantry. We don't have a way to increase this besides using Mystic Shield or All Out Defense command ability. Please note that the Chaos Warshine's Protection of the Dark Gods no longer protects non-Slaves to Darkness units, so Putrid Blightkings will have to look at the Harbringer of Decay for after-save protection. Speaking of the man himself, the Harbringer of Decay is an excellent addition, nigh auto-include into a ROTBRINGER list. The Harbringer of Decay's command ability, Morbid Vigor, allows any NURGLE MORTAL unit within 7" to ignore mortal wounds or normal wounds on a 5+. This ability increases the durability of the Putrid Blightkings by 33% for a single command ability and can affect multiple units. If you're taking Blightkings, he's a must-take in my opinion. 

The Bravery of Putrid Blightkings is 8. Which is fantastic for mortal type units, aka non-Demon or non-Undead units. If your Blightkings unit contains an Icon Bearer, the Bravery goes to 9. Combined with high Wound count and 4+ Save, this makes the Putrid Blightkings functionally immune to Battleshock tests. 

The Weaponry - The only weapon that Putrid Blightkings have are the Blighted Weapons. 3 Attacks at Range 1", 3+ to Hit, 3+ to Wound, no Rend and 1 Damage. This super basic for a heavy infantry battleline, better than some, worse than others. Until you read the Blighted Weapons ability. 

This one rule takes the Putrid Blightkings from Okay straight to Disgusting (pun intended). Making any hit roll of a 6 explode, mathematically speaking moves the average of 10 hits into 16.24 hits, a 62% increase!  

The Hit roll can be buffed by two Heroes by my count. The Lord of Plagues and the Lord of Afflictions. But would allow the Putrid Blightkings to reroll failed Hit rolls of 1 if the Blightkings unit is within 7". The Lord of Afflictions affects any ROTBRINGER unit, while the Lord of Plagues only affects Putrid Blightkings specifically. It is worth mentioning that the Lord of Afflictions' aura is larger due to the LoA being on a 60mm base to the Lord of Plagues 40mm base increasing the aura size by 0.79 inches.

The Wound roll can be only be buffed by the Cycle of Corruption's Fecund Vigor gives all NURGLE units +1 to Wound.

The Rend characteristic can be modified in two ways. The battalion Blight Cyst will give all the Putrid Blightkings' Blighted Weapons in that battalion -1 Rend. This will take the average damage of your Blightkings from 5.5 wounds to 7.4 wounds against a 4+ Save model. One by Festus the Leechlord's warscroll spell Curse of the Leper, causing a target unit to subtract 1 from Save rolls for the whole game, effectively giving every unit in your army -1 Rend. 

The Abilities- The only ability we haven't discussed so far is Virulent Discharge. In your Hero phase, roll a D6, for each unit, friendly or not within 3", on a roll of a 6, they take D3 mortal wounds! but if they are NURGLE, (why wouldnt they be) then they heal D3 wounds instead. Outstanding if you can roll those 6s. It's easy to forget and seems like a waste of time most of the time you pull that casino lever. But when you get the jackpot and deal those final wounds to free up your Putrid Blightkings to move or you heal the wounds that were just put onto one of your 'Kings you'll be happy you rolled for it. 

BATTALIONS:

Blight Cyst - 140 pts. 700 pts minimum. Blightkings in the battalion get -1 Rend. All units in the battalion ignore cover, which include the Lord of Blights, a Harbringer of Decay and a Sorceror if you included them in the battalion. When the Lord of Blights gives out his Munificent Bounty, he can give the Munificent Bounty Death's Head to each unit of Putrid Blightkings within 3" instead of just 1. This sounds game changing if you can use it well, but it really isn't. But it does make your Putrid Blightkings feel like cowboys.

Plague Cyst - 140 pts. 700 pts minimum. This gives another pull of the casino lever for Virulent Discharge-like effect to deal D3 mortal wounds to non-NURGLE units within 3". The reason you take this battalion though is for the full reroll of failed hit rolls for Putrid Blightkings within 7". This sounds great, and it is but this depends on having your Lord of Plagues within 7" of a unit of Putrid Blightkings. There are 3 units of Blightkings minimum in the battalion, chances are one or maybe two units will be out of range and basically get nothing for the battalion. This battalion's rerolls can also get "turned off" if the Lord of Plagues is killed. When Blessed Sons super battalion was still available (unsure at this point since the battalion didnt make it to the points section of GHB2020), this was great. Now, I think Blight Cyst is the only way to go for a ROTBRINGER army with lots of Putrid Blightkings. 

PROS & CONS:

+ Cheap

+ Can be Fast

+ Durable

+ Great models

+ Mortal Wounds on a 6 in Hero phase

- Can be Slow without support

- No native Rend

- Expensive cash-wise

WRAP UP:

If your into a small elite army of Nurgle fatties running around the board at lightning speed, ripping and tearing the enemy apart, you can't go wrong with lots of Putrid Blightkings. 10-10-5-5 is how I like to take my Blight Cyst and the Blight Cyst Blightkings can fight way above their weight (which is considerable). Sell your kidney to the black market and sell your soul to Nurgle.

GRADE: A+