Looking for good Nurgle resources/advice

[ShriekBob]

The team arrived this morning.

1x BoN
4x Pestigor
4x Warrior of Nurgle
10x Rotters

Lets get these bad boys painted.

[Craigtw]

The team arrived this morning.

1x BoN
4x Pestigor
4x Warrior of Nurgle
10x Rotters

Lets get these bad boys painted.

18 players! I suppose they can be good for journeymen and different variations. Good luck with the team! I will be curious to hear what you experience is like with them.

[Craigtw]

Nurgle are an awful team. You should only use them if you really love the idea of them, and don't mind losing!

Could not disagree more.

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Nurgle are an awful team. You should only use them if you really love the idea of them, and don't mind losing!

Could not disagree more.

To be fair the first two paragraphs of your guide are describing how much you love Nurgle, so I think my point is well made. Objectively they just don't stack up to orcs and even bog standard chaos.

[Craigtw]

Nurgle are an awful team. You should only use them if you really love the idea of them, and don't mind losing!

Could not disagree more.

To be fair the first two paragraphs of your guide are describing how much you love Nurgle, so I think my point is well made. Objectively they just don't stack up to orcs and even bog standard chaos.

If you play a nurgle team like you would play orc or chaos then you are going to lose. They are a different style of play. I think I mention that somewhere in the article as well.

My NAF record is pretty shite, TBH. That is with everything except Nurgle. They are a very different style of team to play, but very effective once you get the hang of them.

[Smeborg]

I think there are 2 main ways to develop the Beast at first:

- A passive beast (good for offense): Stand Firm (+ Block on doubles). [A passive Beast cannot easily be pushed away or knocked down, but can be marked out of the game by a single opposing lineman standing next to him.]

- An active beast (good for defense): Break Tackle (+ Pro on doubles). [An active Beast can be easily pushed away, but cannot easily be marked out of the game, as he can dodge away during his own turn.]

Of course at higher skill levels, your beast can be both "active" and "passive". I have found the "active route" to be rather effective in both leagues and tournaments. I am now trying out the "passive" route.

An "active" Beast is most useful in defense against AG teams (he starts in the second line, not on the line of scrimmage, so that he can mark one or more receivers in his first turn).

It is viable (though I agree, perhaps not better) to deploy a passive Beast on the LoS in defense against an AG team, especially if your opponent lacks ST4 or ST5 players (for example: Skaven without the Rat Ogre). This leads to a quite different and potentially wild defense.

The lower the ST of opposing players, the better they are for marking (standing next to) with the Beast. 3 Snotlings are ideal, 2 Skinks would be rather nice, 2 Gutter Runners is excellent. If you can't mark 2 GRs, then 1 GR and 1 ST3 player without Block is good (Linerat or Thrower). In general, if you are not marking at least 2 players with the Beast, you are wasting his abilities. Of course there are exceptions to this, for example marking a lone receiver.

[Smeborg]

Nurgle are an awful team. You should only use them if you really love the idea of them, and don't mind losing!

I am not sure Nurgle are quite as bad as that. Of all the sides that I have played (say 18 teams), I would say that Nurgle are the most difficult team to learn to play. The main reason for this is because if you try to play them as you would play any other side (Orcs and Chaos are good examples) you will get demolished. You have to learn to exploit the unique strengths of Nurgle. For me this took quite a long time.

Having said that, the tournament record (e.g. Doubleskulls database) seems to show that Nurgle are about the worst performing of the non-joke sides. In leagues they appear somewhat better. So you could say they are half way between a decent side and a joke side (they are meant to be challenging). In leagues they seem to do somewhat better, without being one of the top performing teams.

However, I have a decent tournament record with Nurgle, including two 2nd places in small tournaments, and a 4th place in a large tournament (70+). In my first tournament with them, I didn't have a clue. After that, I learnt to use them, and started having a lot of fun. The same applied for me in leagues. Because of the relative complexity of Nurgle skill choices, it has taken me about 3 seasons to understand how to develop them at the basic level. You have to be prepared to work out for yourself how to play them, without prejudice towards the way you may have played other teams before. If you do this, you will be surprised how much better their performance will get. I know there is an element of this to all teams, but in Nurgle's case, I find it extreme.

[Craigtw]

You have to be prepared to work out for yourself how to play them, without prejudice towards the way you may have played other teams before. If you do this, you will be surprised how much better their performance will get. I know there is an element of this to all teams, but in Nurgle's case, I find it extreme.

Well put. Thanks Smeborg.

[Jimmy Fantastic]

All teams have to handle the ball and have to block. Nurgle are inadequate at both due to lack of block, ball handling skills and expensive re-rolls.
The comments about throwing out what you know about other teams are somewhat erroneous as this is just an example of yet more weaknesses the team possess.
Warriors are good players for sure, the Beast is a great big guy, pestigors are only average and also expensive.
The cost of the positionals, coupled with how difficult it is to skill up 5 of them and indeed the ludicrously costed re-rolls does make the team very bad at the start of the league and very hard to get going.
I do like the Nurgle team, and have used it a lot as a challenge, but it is hamstrung by the cost of re-rolls, positionals, and bad linemen.

[Craigtw]

The comments about throwing out what you know about other teams are somewhat erroneous as this is just an example of yet more weaknesses the team possess.

But you have to also consider what the team does have that the other teams do not. That is what makes the Nurgle team successful.

[rvlvr]

Nurgle are an awful team. You should only use them if you really love the idea of them, and don't mind losing!

I am not sure Nurgle are quite as bad as that. Of all the sides that I have played (say 18 teams), I would say that Nurgle are the most difficult team to learn to play.

Well, losing is nothing new to me, so it won't make that big a difference.

Could be fun to get my teeth kicked in a few more times with a new team!

[mrmojoz]

All teams have to handle the ball and have to block. Nurgle are inadequate at both due to lack of block, ball handling skills and expensive re-rolls.
The comments about throwing out what you know about other teams are somewhat erroneous as this is just an example of yet more weaknesses the team possess.
Warriors are good players for sure, the Beast is a great big guy, pestigors are only average and also expensive.
The cost of the positionals, coupled with how difficult it is to skill up 5 of them and indeed the ludicrously costed re-rolls does make the team very bad at the start of the league and very hard to get going.
I do like the Nurgle team, and have used it a lot as a challenge, but it is hamstrung by the cost of re-rolls, positionals, and bad linemen.

Most of what you said here could apply to Chaos as well. I like both of these teams if you have time to develope them.

[Smeborg]

The cost of the positionals, coupled with how difficult it is to skill up 5 of them and indeed the ludicrously costed re-rolls does make the team very bad at the start of the league and very hard to get going.

My experience is actually the opposite of that. I find that in a league Nurgle tend to do rather well in their early games, then they struggle as other teams skill up faster than them, and then as the league progresses, Nurgle finally get (relatively) better again.

The main things that I find inhibit Nurgle in a league are:

- They skill up very slowly (more slowly than any non-joke team that I have played).

- Skill development tends to be uneven and random (you cannot easily choose which players get SPPs).

- Player turnover is relatively high, and can be very high at times (and with player turnover goes loss of precious skills and SPPs).

- The Wizard. Being a slow and clumsy caging team, Nurgle are particularly vulnerable to Fireballs. Because the team is relatively expensive, a Wizard is often available to opponents.

But on the plus side, Nurgle's raw strength and starting mutations are quite effective against most starting teams. By trial and error I have found that a "raw strength" starting roster is by far the best: Beast, 4 Warrriors, 1 Pestigor, 5 Rotters, 2 Re-rolls, then buy the other Pestigors and a 3rd Re-roll. This roster also maximises Disturbing Presence, Foul Appearance and AV9 from the start.

[mrinprophet]

- Player turnover is relatively high, and can be very high at times (and with player turnover goes loss of precious skills and SPPs).

I'm finding this to be surprisingly true. I've played three games so far and have three dead. I picked Nurgle because I much prefer to play defense and I wanted a team that fit my style. I'm sure I've had some bad luck to get going, but rolling twice for casualties, lack of block/dodge, and inability to run away has lead me to believe they are like glass... strong but brittle.

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Mrmojoz, yes the Nurgle team do share drawbacks with normal Chaos, however Chaos Warriors are cheaper and ag3 so a lot easier to skill up, their linemen are either cheaper and just as good (Pestigors) or far better (rotters) and crucially, Chaos re-rolls are 60k.
Smeborg, struggling as other teams skill up faster than them is part of what what I meant about them being bad at the start of the league. You were also spot on with the other weaknesses. As regards the starting lineup I think Beast, 4 Warrriors, 1 Pestigor, 5 Rotters, 2 Re-rolls is indeed the premier choice from your limited options. 60k re-rolls would have at least added some alternative builds and helped a little in keeping TV under control.
Mrinprophet, when I first looked at the Nurgle team I really thought longevity would be an advantage of the team, but in practice Rotters die very easily and the regeneration is only better than an apothecary if you get 2 bad injuries. So yes, they are a bit of a glass hammer.