Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me: Nurgle Daemons vs Chaos Space Marines

Pootle here, with an encounter between my Nurgle Daemons and Chaos Space Marines, remotely piloted tonight by Stylus (hello!)

As previously noted, Gormenghastly, formerly of The Purge, has thrown his lot in with the Black Legion and has been growing his warband to feature adherants of all four chaos powers (I've recently finished painting up the first Tzeentch-aligned units). This has annoyed one particular Great Unclean One, who has decided to teach Gormenghastly the error of his ways. 

Nurgle’s Daemonic Enforcers

We've agreed to play 1,500 points tonight, which will involve me using almost my entire list of daemons so army selection is fairly limited, mainly consisting of trying to get to use all the points in fact (which is much harder to do in tenth). In order to do that I'm running my Jabberslythe model as a Giant Chaos Spawn (which is a resilient T9 with ten wounds, a 5++ and a 5+++ FNP). Combined with my Great Unclean One having a natural 4++ as well as the Nurgle-specific enhancement which gives a 5+++, or a 4+++ if he's inside my army's Shadow of Chaos, I’m hoping that these two will form a pretty resilient core and be able to kick out some pain themselves.

Speaking of the Shadow of Chaos, if I control the majority of objectives in no-mans-land at the start of any phase then it is within my Shadow of Chaos (my deployment zone is always in). Inside that zone I get +1 to battleshock tests and if I pass I regain D3 wounds, and the enemy get -1 to battleshock tests and, if they fail, suffer D3 mortal wounds. That's quite nice and feels appropriately daemonic, though not gamebreakingly vicious. My instinct is that I’m going to have my work cut out this game so I’ll need all the help I can get.

• Great Unclean One with Bilesword, Plague Flail. Warlord with The Endless Gift enhancement
• Poxbringer
• Sloppity Bilepiper
• Spoilpox Scrivener
• Nurglings (3 bases)
• 10 Plaguebearers with Daemonic Icon and Instrument of Chaos
• 10 Plaguebearers with Daemonic Icon and Instrument of Chaos
• 10 Plaguebearers with Daemonic Icon and Instrument of Chaos
• 5 Furies
• 5 Furies
• 5 Furies
• Beast of Nurgle
• Beast of Nurgle
• 3 Plague Drones with Daemonic Icon and Instrument of Chaos
• Giant Chaos Spawn

1,500 points

Gormenghastly's Broad Church

• Heretic Astartes Daemon Prince (Nurgle)
  Hellforged weapons, Infernal cannon
  Enhancement: Orb of Unlife
• Exalted Champion (Nurgle)
  Bolt Pistol, Combi-weapon, Exalted weapon
  Leader: Legionaries
• Warpsmith (Tzeentch)
  Exalted weapon, Flamer tendril, melta tendril, plasma pistol
• 20 x Cultist Mob (Nurgle)
  Close combat weapon & cultist firearm, 2 x heavy stubbers, 2 x flamers, 1 x grenade launcher, 14 x cultist firearms
• 10 x Legionaries (Nurgle)
  Accursed weapon & bolt pistol, 1 x missile launcher, 1 x reaper chaincannon, 7x boltguns
• 5 x Havocs (Nurgle)
  Astartes chainsword & flamer, 2 x havoc lascannon, 2 x havoc autocannon
• 2 x Obliterators (Nurgle)
  Crushing fists, Fleshmetal guns
• Helbrute (Nurgle)
  Helbrute hammer, Multi-melta
• Forgefiend (Nurgle)
  3 x Ectoplasma cannon
• Venomcrawler (Khorne)
  2 x Excruciator cannon, Soulflayer tendrils and claws
• Chaos Rhino (Nurgle)
  Armoured tracks, combi-bolter

This was my first outing with Chaos Space Marines in the new edition, so I didn't have to trouble myself with tactics (I didn't even know what army I was facing at the time of choosing). So I picked a number of cool units from Pootle's collection, mainly based on curiosity on what they could do now. A nice mix of melee and shooting, plus some Legionaires and Cultists, as someone had to grab the objectives.

As for marks of chaos, I kept things WYSIWYG for ease of play. I think the only exception was to make the Forgefiend mark of Nurgle, as giving a shooting unit a Khorne mark seemed a bit daft (although when Pootle magnetises him back to a Maulerfield, it will be right on the money).

And finally, Daemon Prince Gormenghastly got the Orb of Unlife. Couldn't do without his orb. 

For those who have been following Gormenghastly’s story, traditionally he’s a Terminator Sorcerer, but following his escapades on Averment he periodically turns into a full-on Daemon Prince in a way that I hope involves some Hulklike anger management issues.

Mission and deployment

We're playing the simple Take and Hold primary mission with Dawn of War deployment, but chose to add two mission rules: Chosen Battlefield (so we place objectives where we want them) and Minefields (so 6s on advance rolls cause mortal wounds: spoiler, this didn't come up all game)

We place the objectives and I choose the side on the right of the pic above with the ruined cathedral in the centre. This is partly to deny Stylus's Havocs a lovely vantage point and partly because I can deploy more things hidden behind the ruins.

I put the Great Unclean One front and centre, ready to move towards the central objective. He's flanked by one of the Plaguebearer units and a Beast of Nurgle, with my home objective left in the care of Nurglings and a unit of Furies.

I put two units of Plaguebearers and another unit of Furies on my left, hoping to be able to grab and hold the lefthand objective.

This leaves four units in deep strike: the Giant Chaos Spawn, the Plague Drones, a Beast of Nurgle and another unit of Furies. I really want to be able to grab and hold the centre and left objectives; if I can put nomansland into my Shadow of Chaos then reserves will be able to deep strike in outside 6" of the enemy, which would be very handy.

It wouldn't have been my pick, but I reckon I ended up a deployment zone that suited me well.

Atop the bunker in the centre went the Havocs, flanked by the Warpsmith, Forgefield and (lending his super-aura to everyone) Helbrute.

Skulking in a drainpipe on the extreme flank was the Venomcrawler, who seemed fast enough to race down a flank, and nasty enough to take care of himself.

I dropped the Cultists to swarm all over my home objective, with the Deamon Prince next to them, eyeing up the objective on the hill (my secret win condition was to have a duel on that stone bridge). Not all that secret: you did tell me in advance!

Backing up the boss was a Rhino full of Legionaires, led by the Exalted Champion, ready to do the real heavy lifting of objective grabbing.

The Obliterators went into deepstrike.

I really want first turn to be able to get onto the objectives, but Stylus beats me to it and goes first.

Chaos Space Marines - turn 1

I had been hoping to hang back and shoot, but High Command weren't having any of that: my orders were Tempting Target (the central objective) and Overwhelming Force (knock an enemy unit off an objective). 

Not ideal first-turn orders, but on second glance, they were achievable.

The Venomcrawler scuttles off to secure the right flank (as you see it) objective. This also put it in range of the Nurglings - who were the only daemon unit holding an objective.

A quick Dark Pact, followed by the Profane Zeal stratagem to reroll 1s to hit and wound, and the ridiculous amount of shots afforded by the excruciator cannons wiped out the Nurglings (who don't seem as tenacious as they used to be). One secondary achieved!

And because I destroyed a unit, the excruciator cannons gained even more shots - as if they needed them.

For reference, I'll stop mentioning when I chose a Dark Pact for a unit. Basically, if I could do a Dark Pact, I generally did (it's such a great army trait). I quite agree - it's really thematic!

I took a bit of a gamble in the centre and ran my Helbrute forward to claim the Tempting Target objective and score my other secondary. I was sticking my neck out a bit, and my Helbrute is such a valuable unit, it should be screened by the others and buffing them (that feels less-than narrative somehow). Killing that Helbrute is my number one priority. He’s pretty good all by himself but his buffing skills are amazing. Given he’s the only unit who can take the central objective and it puts him within (hopefully easy) range of my Great Unclean One, picking this objective as the tempting one is a no-brainer.

But at least it freed up the Forgefiend to unload on the Plaguebearers (rather disappointingly only taking out half of them, despite being buffed and having three double-blast guns). 

The Havocs had even less to contribute, and jumped down from their low vantage to get back under the Helbrute's bubble.

On the other flank, the Rhino raced forward and the Legionaries tumbled out, then staggered up the hill to grab the objective.

The Cultists stayed put, and the Daemon Prince footslogged after the Rhino.

A respectable start for me. My shooting hadn't set the world alight, but taking out the Daemons' back objective was a plus. I was now camped all over the battlefield, with 8VPs to me.

Nurgle Daemons - turn 1

I draw A Tempting Target (Stylus picks the one nearest his lines that the Forgefiend is squatting next to) and Cleanse (not much good as I'll have to kick Stylus off objectives before I can cleanse them) so it's all about setting up Primaries and the Shadow of Chaos for next turn. 

The fact that the Legionaries are on the lefthand objective could be a good thing if I can charge in and bully them off it (I'll worry about the Daemon Prince next turn!).

First up, the Furies on my right hug the ruins as best they can. I'm not at all convinced that they can withstand the Venomcrawler, but I need to focus on the midfield.

Accordingly, both units of Plaguebearers and the Furies on my left move forwards and then charge the Legionaries. All three units make their charges, which really boosts my chances. I start off my forcing Stylus to take a battleshock test at -1 (combined abilities of the Poxbringer and Sloppity Bilepiper) but he passes (it wouldn’t have caused mortal wounds if he’d failed but would have been a moral victory. Then all three units start clawing at the Legionaries...

...and kill a grand total of two of the marines between them. At that was with the Poxbringer getting lethal hits for his unit on 5+. I know Nurgle is more resilient than punchy, but that was disappointing. When Stylus strikes back he drops most of the surviving Plaguebearers supporting the Poxbringer.

In the centre the Great Unclean One vomits over the Helbrute and knocks one wound off it but I discover that due to having to manoeuvre his huge base through the ruins it's an 11" charge to the Helbrute (it looked a lot less when I moved him) and he's also blocking the Beast of Nurgle who, as a Beast, can't charge through the ruins. Ooops.

So no VPs scored and I've not managed to claim either midfield objective. Now I have to rely on Nurgle famed resilience to see me through the next turn until my reinforcements arrive.

Chaos Space Marines - turn 2

Two fresh secondaries for me: Engage on All Fronts (I'm almost there) and Investigate Signals (I already dislike this one: run the edges and forgo shooting - it feels like a classic 'score without interacting' secondary).

But due to the failed charge of the Great Unclean One, I'm all over three objectives (and could even claim the one on the hill, if it came to it), so I maximise my primary VPs.

The Venomcrawler scuttles into the opposite table quarter (it moves fast too - anything this spider can't do?), while the Rhino tries to advance on the opposite side, but falls an inch short. This obliges the Legionaries to disengage and move into the quarter to score Engage on All Fronts (I've already decided to ditch Investigate Signals).

Warming up, the Venomcrawler unleashes its cannons on the Furies that have now taken over home objective duties. It's not as deadly this time (despite having an impressive 14 shots now), and leaves one alive - ready to be charged.

My central mob of heavy weapons decides this is the time to take on the Great Unclean One and unleash with everything they have. It's not a bad effort, considering the defensive abilities of the greater daemon, and it's taken down to about half-strength.

With the Legionaries backing away, the Daemon Prince strides forward to mop up the remains of the Plaguebearers. Easy peasy.

Except that my warlord manages to whiff spectacularly and struggles to banish a handful of Plaguebearers, leaving the Poxbringer alive to half-kill him in riposte. Even the Orb of Unlife fails to go off. Come on Gormenghastly, get it together!

On the other side of the field, the Venomcrawler makes the long charge into the surviving Fury and gobbles him up - now adding even more attacks to his generous profile and taking the Daemons' only objective. 

My only concern with his success is that I keep failing my Dark Pact rolls, so he's shedding wounds at an alarming rate.

Ditching one secondary still puts me on a respectable 28 VPs, and pretty good command of the field (with my Obliterators still to deploy). But now it's time to weather the Daemons' reserves.

Nurgle Daemons - turn 2

It's only turn two and already I'm in last chance saloon... My objectives are OK at least, inasmuch as I still need to get onto the midfield objectives to Secure No Man's Land and kill stuff for No Prisoners. However I score a grand total of zero for Primaries. 

The Poxbringer retires from the Daemon Prince to count his lucky stars and the Bilepiper and his unit manoeuvre to charge in to tie the DP up and occupy the objective. It's just possible that if he keeps hurting himself with failed Dark Pacts that unit could chip enough wounds off him. 

The Beast of Nurgle in the middle of my lines returns to try to tie up the Venomcrawler. I'm more than a little scared by that unit's form but given the Beast recovers all lost wounds at the end of each phase, it's just possible I could tarpit the Crawler.

The Great Unclean One moves to an unfailable charge on the Helbrute, with the Plaguebearers busting through the ruins to support him. I don't think I'll need their help to squish the dreadnought but the more the merrier.

As the Great Unclean One moves, I take the chance to unleash the Forgefiend once again. What follows is a very weird Overwatch, where only 6s will hit, but 5s or 6s will auto-wound and 5s or 6s will generate additional hits. Either way, it lops off a healthy amount of blubber from the Great Unclean One, who's down to a handful of wounds left.

That's all the troops I have left on the table, so now I bring my reserves in. The second Beast of Nurgle lands in Stylus's backfield to try to tie up the Havocs.

The Furies land to my right to try to do the same to the Forgefiend.

I spend a CP so the Plague Drones can drop in outside 3" from enemy units (but not charge). They throw their plague skulls at the Daemon Prince, causing no damage but, as at least one hit, any Nurgle unit can now reroll wound rolls against him (in my excitement, I later completely forget to take advantage of this).

The Giant Chaos Spawn lands in my own deployment zone, lining up a charge on the Legionaries to stop them countercharging the Plaguebearers who, I hope, are about to drop the Daemon Prince. That's a lot of dominoes that I need to (pretty much all) fall right for me to get back into the game.

Unfortunately, when we get to the fight phase (not unsurprisingly) the DP does rather a lot better than the Plaguebearers and only loses a brace of wounds, killing most of the unit in riposte. I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference rerolling wound rolls.

All four of my 9" charges fail, even with a CP reroll for the Giant Spawn and, to cap it all, the Great Unclean One fails to kill the Helbrute, and the Plaguebearers can't even finish it off themselves. 

My Helbrute also whiffed horribly and did no damage at all with his massive hammer. I shouldn't complain, since he had no rights to be alive by that point, but still...

In addition to still not scoring any VP, I'm now really in trouble...

Chaos Space Marine - turn 3

Another full sweep of primary points, and the secondary missions are going my way too: Behind Enemy Lines (already there) and No Prisoners (no problem).

The kill frenzy has taken over my army, and everyone wants a piece. The Warpsmith (after healing up the Helbrute, who has fallen out of combat) charges into the rearward Beast of Nurgle. 

He chants two Dark Pacts - one for shooting and one for melee - but Tzeentch decides it wants nothing to do with this all-Nurgle affair and promptly denies both pacts, killing the Warpsmith on the spot (which is more than the Beast could do).

The Venomcrawler sits on the objective and indulges in its favourite pastime of picking on weaker daemon units, blasting away the newly-arrived Furies (further ramping up its own killing potential: if this game goes any further its guns will have 16 shots per turn!).

In the centre, the Forgefiend and Havocs zero in on the Great Unclean One and bring him down, with shots to spare.

The Cultists join in the Dark Pacts fun and blaze away at the Plague Drones. They fail the pact and sacrifice a couple of their cult, but it's all in good spirit!

Rather more effectively, the Legionaries shoot and charge the rest of the Plague Drones, just doing enough to wipe them out.

Even the Daemon Prince remembers what he's supposed to be doing and hacks down the rest of the Plaguebearers.

Putting the boot in, the Obliterators drop into the enemy deployment zone and target the Giant Chaos Spawn, reducing him to ashes in a single volley.

That pretty much ends the turn - and the game. With me on 52 VP and Pootle yet to get off the mark, we call the game there. Victory to the Chaos Space Marines!

Locker Room

Ouch, that hurt! I knew that bringing solely Nurgle Daemons was going to be a tricky one and also was fully aware that they don't kick out a lot of damage, but I did think that they would be a lot more resilient than they turned out to be. Stylus didn't have any particular trouble deleting whatever unit he wanted (even the GUO only took two turns to finish off).

Yes, that was unexpectedly brutal! I think Dark Pacts are a fantastic option for Chaos Space Marines (I remember reading some grumbles about them when they were announced, but their versatility makes them worth every mortal wound). It does seem to signal the end of monogod lists, which is a bit of a narrative shame.

We discussed after the game that perhaps I was too focussed on trying to drop units in to take advantage of the Shadow of Chaos (achieving which was always going to be a longshot) and I ended up feeding my units to Stylus piecemeal. Better to have put everything on the board at the start (apart from one or two units to deep strike and keep him honest in his backfield perhaps), however I'm not sure it would really have made all that much difference - the Giant Chaos Spawn and Plague Drones were both killed all too easily in the end.

Unlike Dark Pacts, I think Shadow of Chaos is a bit too much of a faff to be worth trying for. Maybe if you have some glass cannon units from Slaanesh or Khorne, but I think Nurgle is best suited to swarming the board and being hard to kill (as I said, the sad end of monogod lists). 

Not all that hard to kill unfortunately! The Venomcrawler was scary - I'm convinced that GW didn't mean to give it two guns each with six attacks (and it's worth noting that because Stylus took a Khorne-aligned one, this version isn't optimised for shooting, but seemed to do pretty well). However it was only up against pretty squishy units.

The Venomcrawler is a fantastic unit (even after the inevitable FAQ removes half its guns). That, the Forgefiend and the Helbrute were the pick of my litter. 

As I saw from my game against Kraken a few weeks ago, the Helbrute is fantastic for CSM. 

The Helbrute really does make things stupidly good. I'm sure other armies in 10th Ed also have stupidly good units, so it's hard to judge where it sits, but as the anchor to a gunline, it's crazily effective. And with the Mark of Nurgle, you can spend a strat to make it immune to counter-battery fire - it can just sit there maximising everyone's Dark Pacts. (Is that fun? I guess it's fun for one player)

The one definite plus for me at the end of the game is narrative in that the petulant Great Unclean One who objected to Gormenghastly associating with other chaos gods has been firmly put in his place. The logical solution is for the GUO to follow Gormenghastly's example and ally with some differently aligned daemons - some Khorne daemons for example would definitely complement my current crop and be a lot more killy.

Thanks for hosting Pootle, and for building a smashing table. Better luck next time!

Despite the drubbing, it's always fun playing you Stylus (we don't manage to get all that many games in) and it was great to get the daemons out on the table again.

Stylus's deadpile at the end of the game; most of the damage suffered came from failed Dark Pacts: I think that the only models I killed were two Legionaries!

My living pile at the point I skulked back into the warp