Age of Sigmar Maggotkin of Nurgle Preview

Chaos in Warhammer Age of Sigmar is a force of four different gods. Khorne the god of war, Slaanesh the god of excess, Tzeentch the god of change, and Nurgle, the god of decay. Each god has many facets, but Nurgle, while appearing straightforward, is a lot deeper. Known as Grandfather Nurgle or the Plague Lord, the god of disease and decay, is also the god of rebirth, although not always in the way their worshipers may want. With the release of Warhammer Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition, which started with the Dominion Launch box, each faction has started to get its own Battletome, which has all the background, rules, and unit stats for that faction. The Maggotkin of Nurgle are the first Chaos faction to get their Battletome in the new edition, and in this article, we'll take a look at the book, along with the Vanguard box, a faction starter set similar to the Combat Patrol boxes for Warhammer 40K, and the Rotbringer Sorcerer that releases alongside them.

Maggotkin of Nurgle Battletome

The AoS 3rd Edition Maggotkin of Nurgle Battletome includes everything new and existing players need for this Chaos faction in the new edition after the Core Rulebook. The book starts with an extensive background and lore section, beautifully illustrated with images of rancid corruption throughout. It also has a painting guide for rust, green and grey skin, along with Maggotkin armor and plagueswords, and several pages of the full catalog of painted Maggotkin miniatures.

The rules section includes all the abilities and traits that are unique to the Maggotkin, such as Battle Traits like Diseased, which gives disease points to units near Maggotkin units, which can cause mortal wounds if left to fester, and Disgustingly Resilient, which gives them an additional save to protect them from damage and also allows them to heal one wound each turn. You can also pick a Plague Legion sub-faction for your army, gaining you an additional ability, like the Blessed Sons, who can spread further disease points when they die.

The Battletome also includes the command traits for Maggotkin heroes and spells that are available for their wizard, along with all the details for using the Maggotkin of Nurgle in a Path to Glory campaign, and two battleplans that are linked to the campaign but can also be used for unique themed games.

The book ends with twenty-seven warscrolls for all the Maggotkin of Nurgle units, including those in the Vanguard and the new Rotbringer Sorcerer. A big change in the new warscrolls is that Plaguebearers now have two wounds, which means they have can heal back to two wounds each turn with Disgustling Resilient if they're only dealt one wound.

Maggotkin of Nurgle Vanguard

The Maggotkin of Nurgle are the first Age of Sigmar faction to get the new Vanguard box, similar to the previous Start Collecting boxes, or the Warhammer 40K Combat Patrols, they contain a core force from which to build up your army. The Maggotkin of Nurgle Vanguard Box contains:

• 2x Pusgoyle Blightlord (one of which can be built as a Lord of Affliction)
• 1x Spoilpox Scrivener
• 10x Plaguebearers of Nurgle
• 5x Putrid Blightkings

This gives you 850 points if you build one of the Pusgoyle Blightlord as a Lord of Affliction, which then lets you take the other Pusgoyle Blightlord as a Battleline choice, giving you two leaders, and three battleline units. Adding in the Rotbringer Sorcerer below takes you to a nice 995 points with the maximum number of leaders, which you can then build up with more battleline units, or look to change one of the leaders for one of the larger behemoth leaders like the Great Unclean One, or the Glottkin. It would also be legal to double up on the Vanguard box, as it would give you three leaders (Lord of Affliction and two Spoilpox Scriveners), plus 6 units (two Plaguebearers, two Blightkings, plus a single Blightlord and a unit of two Blightlords).

Rotbringer Sorcerer

The new Rotbringer Sorcerer miniature comes with an updated warscroll. They have a range three Rotwood Staff with three attacks, -1 rend, but that's not why you take them. They're a wizard, who with their Tainted ability, gives any endless spell they summon the diseased battle trait so they can help spread disease tokens around your enemies force. They also have access to the Lore of Malignance spells, and their own unique Stream of Corruption, which is a range seven spell that causes mortal wounds to every model in a unit on a 5+, or has a range of fourteen, but causes mortal wounds on a six. They also come with Nurgle's standard disgustingly resilient protection and healing.

The Rotbringer Sorcerer nicely takes up the Vanguard box to just short of 1000 points, so it's great to pick up alongside that and the new Battletome.

The Maggotkin of Nurgle Battletom, Vanguard Box, and Rotbringer Sorcerer used to produce this preview were provided by Games Workshop.