AoS Nurgle Counter Tactics

[Bos Gruniens]

So I have a friendly game with my friend who has started playing Nurgle coming up. Thing is, I have no clue what Sigmar Nurgle is like and how it plays. Are they bulky and tough as nails like in 40k? Synergy based?
What are effective units to counter some of the problems they pose to us?

 

[Aginor]

They are very resilient. Disgustingly resilient you might say.
They don't have many ranged attacks and they are slow. Also many of them are Chaos Demons.

A Skink army will probably win against them. Bastiladons, Kroak, Starpriest and a few others do extra damage against them.

The mortals are different. Don't know enough about them to really give hints on what to do though.

 

[Bos Gruniens]

They are very resilient. Disgustingly resilient you might say.
They don't have many ranged attacks and they are slow. Also many of them are Chaos Demons.

A Skink army will probably win against them. Bastiladons, Kroak, Starpriest and a few others do extra damage against them.

The mortals are different. Don't know enough about them to really give hints on what to do though.

There are Nurgle mortals? Lol. I'm familiar with Plague Marines and their FNP. So mortal wounds are effective? I don't have any of the models you just mentioned except for skinks. I'd love to get kroak he looks like a fun unit. And D6 mortal wounds to Daemons? Dang. Do Slann still cast through priests?

 

[Crowsfoot]

There are Nurgle mortals? Lol. I'm familiar with Plague Marines and their FNP. So mortal wounds are effective? I don't have any of the models you just mentioned except for skinks. I'd love to get kroak he looks like a fun unit. And D6 mortal wounds to Daemons? Dang. Do Slann still cast through priests?

Slann can use a vassel, Nurgle mortals are still tough they deal out a lot of mortal wounds and heal as well, trick is taking out the heros with ranged fire as they are slow, hit and run don't get into melee until they are weakened.

 

[Crowsfoot]

There are Nurgle mortals? Lol. I'm familiar with Plague Marines and their FNP. So mortal wounds are effective? I don't have any of the models you just mentioned except for skinks. I'd love to get kroak he looks like a fun unit. And D6 mortal wounds to Daemons? Dang. Do Slann still cast through priests?

Any idea what your friend has in his army?

 

[Bos Gruniens]

Any idea what your friend has in his army?

From what I remember he has the Nurgle start collecting box, Morbidex (unless that kit can be other things) and then a Daemon Prince and some Nurglings.

I haven't ever actually played against his army just wondering what to expect from Nurgle in general.

 

[Crowsfoot]

From what I remember he has the Nurgle start collecting box, Morbidex (unless that kit can be other things) and then a Daemon Prince and some Nurglings.

I haven't ever actually played against his army just wondering what to expect from Nurgle in general.

Mostly Demons then, Basilidon them into the next universe

 

[Seraphage]

Mostly Demons then, Basilidon them into the next universe

Hahaha true story

 

[Crowsfoot]

From what I remember he has the Nurgle start collecting box, Morbidex (unless that kit can be other things) and then a Daemon Prince and some Nurglings.

I haven't ever actually played against his army just wondering what to expect from Nurgle in general.

You have extra fire power against demons so I can't see you having a problem, Demons are faster than mortals, the drones move 8 and have a range of 14 the disgustingly resilient rule gives almost every nurgle model a +5 up save against any wound.

What Seraphon do you have atm?

 

[Aginor]

I have made this list some time ago. Those are all of our units that have bonuses against Chaos Demons:

Units:

Bastiladon: Searing Beam damage 3 instead of 2 against Chaos Demons
Skink Starpriest: Summon Starlight in addition to the normal debuff does 1D3 damage against Chaos Demons
Slann Starmaster: Light of the Heavens forces Chaos Demons to take a second dice for battleshocks and take the worse one
Lord Kroak: Celestial Deliverance does D6 damage instead of D3 against Chaos Demons
Chameleon Skinks: Dartpipe hit rolls of 6 or higher do 3 instead of 2 damage against Chaos Demons
Oldblood on Carnosaur: Sunbolt Gauntlet wound rolls increased by 2 against Chaos Demons

Bataillons:
Sunclaw Starhost: Saurus Warriors have damage 2 instead of 1 against Chaos Demons

 

[Bos Gruniens]

You have extra fire power against demons so I can't see you having a problem, Demons are faster than mortals, the drones move 8 and have a range of 14 the disgustingly resilient rule gives almost every nurgle model a +5 up save against any wound.

What Seraphon do you have atm?

Seems like I am lacking most of the Seraphon hard counters to Daemons. I have 40+ saurus. 24 skinks, 12 Guard, 16 Cavalry, Oldblood on Carno, EOTG, Skink priests, 2x Skink chiefs. 3 rippers. I believe that's all. I'm going to pick up a Slann today probably.

 

[Furnus]

My best friend also plays Nurgle and I can tell you, before the rework of Seraphon, I almost always got my butt handed to me. The ward save, heal and model regeneration (battleshock) is a tough nut to crack.

Also remember that his plaguebearers (typically battleline) apply a -hit to your shooting and -2 if he has over 20 models. It's nice to have some melee units to deal with them.

For what it's worth, after the rework I ran a 1,500 pt. list of Kroak (+Vortex) and the Eternal Starhost, which worked very nicely.

 

[Bos Gruniens]

The ward save, heal and model regeneration (battleshock) is a tough nut to crack.

Also remember that his plaguebearers (typically battleline) apply a -hit to your shooting and -2 if he has over 20 models. It's nice to have some melee units to deal with them.

For what it's worth, after the rework I ran a 1,500 pt. list of Kroak (+Vortex) and the Eternal Starhost, which worked very nicely.

So I was actually thinking of running something along the lines of a Slann and a large horde unit of Saurus warriors and hope I can roll for the constellation which lets me reroll 1's. Mitigate some of that hit penalty.

Out of curiosity, does Chaos have some special rule where they only roll 1 die instead of 2 for Battleshock? I noticed one of the Slann spells says something about daemons rolling an extra one.

 

[Furnus]

So I was actually thinking of running something along the lines of a Slann and a large horde unit of Saurus warriors and hope I can roll for the constellation which lets me reroll 1's. Mitigate some of that hit penalty.

Together with the Sunclaw Starhost and the Slann's teleport, I think you'll have a solid shot. However, remember not to underestimate the unit you choose to engage. If you don't wipe it out you may end up having your main damage unit being locked in combat longer than you like.

In regards to your other question you refer to the "Light of the Heavens" spell. Chaos also only use one die when taking battleshock test. However, if they're under the effect of "Light of the Heavens" they must instead roll two dice and discard the lowest. The chances of failing a battleshock thereby increase (the higher the roll the worse the test).

I personally find "Light of the Heavens" lack luster and would any day choose "Vast Intellect" for my Slann, so he has access to Curse of Fates and Summon Starlight aswell. Especially Summon Starlight will come in handy against the Nurgle, because the spell does D3 mortal wounds (and debuffs as usual).

 

[Bos Gruniens]

Together with the Sunclaw Starhost and the Slann's teleport, I think you'll have a solid shot. However, remember not to underestimate the unit you choose to engage. If you don't wipe it out you may end up having your main damage unit being locked in combat longer than you like.

In regards to your other question you refer to the "Light of the Heavens" spell. Chaos also only use one die when taking battleshock test. However, if they're under the effect of "Light of the Heavens" they must instead roll two dice and discard the lowest. The chances of failing a battleshock thereby increase (the higher the roll the worse the test).

I personally find "Light of the Heavens" lack luster and would any day choose "Vast Intellect" for my Slann, so he has access to Curse of Fates and Summon Starlight aswell. Especially Summon Starlight will come in handy against the Nurgle, because the spell does D3 mortal wounds (and debuffs as usual).

Wait Slann has teleport? What are the advantages to Sunclaw Starhost, is that what grants the unit the ability to reroll their selected target? The app I use just seems to add a Sunblood and 30 Saurus. There must be some special rule I'm missing? I'm not familiar with all the special rules. I'm just going by the freely available warscrolls for the time being.

As it stands at 1000, I could do the Sunclaw Starhost, a Slann and a single unit of guard.

 

[Furnus]

The Seraphon alligiance allows the Slann to teleport a unit. It also alows Slanns to try to dispell enemy spells anywhere on the map.

The requirements for the Sunclaw Starhost are as follows:

• 1 Saurus Sunblood, and
• 3 units of Saurus Warriors

The effects of the Starhost are:

• Saurus Warriors' attacks with "Powerful Jaws and Stardrake Shields" is increased to 2 instead of just 1,
• Saurus Warriors' weapons (Clubs/Spears) have a rend characteristic of "-1" rather than ".", and
• When attacking Chaos Daemons Saurus Warriors weapons (Clubs/Spears) do 2 damage, rather than 1.

You only barely have enough points to also field Saurus Guard at 1,000 pts.:

Allegiance: Seraphon

Leaders
Saurus Sunblood (120)
- General
Slann Starmaster (260)

Battleline
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs

Battalions
Sunclaw Starhost (130)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 810 / 2000

I would suggest the following, if you want to include the Slann:


Allegiance: Seraphon
Saurus Sunblood (120)
- General
Slann Starmaster (260)
Skink Priest (80)
- Priestly Trappings
20 x Saurus Warriors (200)
- Clubs/Spear
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
Sunclaw Starhost (130)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 990 / 2000

 

[Bos Gruniens]

The Seraphon alligiance allows the Slann to teleport a unit. It also alows Slanns to try to dispell enemy spells anywhere on the map.

The requirements for the Sunclaw Starhost are as follows:

• 1 Saurus Sunblood, and
• 3 units of Saurus Warriors

The effects of the Starhost are:

• Saurus Warriors' attacks with "Powerful Jaws and Stardrake Shields" is increased to 2 instead of just 1,
• Saurus Warriors' weapons (Clubs/Spears) have a rend characteristic of "-1" rather than ".", and
• When attacking Chaos Daemons Saurus Warriors weapons (Clubs/Spears) do 2 damage, rather than 1.

You only barely have enough points to also field Saurus Guard at 1,000 pts.:

Allegiance: Seraphon

Leaders
Saurus Sunblood (120)
- General
Slann Starmaster (260)

Battleline
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs

Battalions
Sunclaw Starhost (130)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 810 / 2000

I would suggest the following, if you want to include the Slann:


Allegiance: Seraphon
Saurus Sunblood (120)
- General
Slann Starmaster (260)
Skink Priest (80)
- Priestly Trappings
20 x Saurus Warriors (200)
- Clubs/Spear
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
10 x Saurus Warriors (100)
- Clubs
Sunclaw Starhost (130)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 990 / 2000

Awesome, well the Sunclaw Starhost seems to provide a lot of what I was going for with the large Saurus unit. It's a shame you basically need to waste points on two smaller units. At least theyre not utterly useless at 10 models with Sunclaw. Eh, use em as a tarpit or something. Seems like 1500 would be optimal for this kind of list.