Looking for good Nurgle resources/advice

[mrmojoz]

So, another game down.

I lost 3-0.....

What team were you playing against?

Looks like Chaos Dwarves.

[ShriekBob]

Chaos Dwarves.

[Ullis]

Given this thread I started Nurgle as a second team in our league. I started with:

Beast
3 Warriors
Pestigor
6 Rotters
3 RR's

My first game was against Undead. First half I received and overloaded one side. Luckily the kick went that way and I was able to punch up the side line and scored with the pestigor after stalling for a bit.

Second half was a muddle due to rain. I blitzed the ball carrying ghoul, surrounded it with my players and nobody could pick the ball up afterwards (for 5 turns!) so I won 1-0. The mummies killed two rotters during the game.

The roster worked very well but I feel that's partly due to the fact that the Undead roster was slow as well. On offence the lone pestigor was the ball carrier and never came into base contact with the enemy. On the other half I blitzed with him once to free the ball and the opponents got one block on him. I dodged once (to get away from a mummy as the last action of the turn) with a rotter during the game. On the whole I kept risk taking to a bare minimum.

My Beast injured a mummy and took the MVP as well (10 SPP's in total for the whole team from the game) and I rolled a normal skill. I'll be taking Break Tackle as I've never tried that on a Big Guy before.

[Craigtw]

Chaos Dwarves.

Tough call then on what to put on the LOS. The warriors are the least likely to get hurt (Foul Appearance, S4, AV9) but then you don't really expect much of a passing games from the Chaos Dwarves, so putting them back to prevent a quick pass and score is not necessarily the best way to go.


What I would tend to do against a team like this is put three rotters on the line and then have the warriors right behind. The rotters will take their hits, but if the opponent chooses to follow up, they are doing so into your TZ where you can make the block the next turn.

[Ullis]

I need some advice on what to buy next and what skills to aim for (eventually).

I played a second game with my Nurgle team against some Dark elves and won 2-1. My Beast didn't use his brand new Break Tackle once but I had him pretty well positioned the whole game. I did plan on using it once but he failed Really Stupid... I had Grishnak Blackhoof as inducements and he was sweet, bringing both 3-d blocks and speed to the team.

My lone pestigor scored both TD's and rolled +AG! It was great as I would've taken Extra Arms otherwise. I also got enough winnings to buy another Pestigor. So my roster is:

Beast (Break Tackle)
3 warriors (1 with 2 SPP)
Pestigor (9 SPP's, +AG)
Pestigor
4 rotters (1 with 5 SPP's)

What should I aim to buy next? The fourth warrior or the third pestigor?

And what should I aim to give the +AG Pestigor next? I really don't have any specific ideas for the team's near future other than try to get some SPP's on the warriors which I guess must involve hand offs or touchbacks.

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Block on the pest, or dodge on a double.
Buying another pest or the warrior just depends on cash, if u end up with between 80-100 at the end of a match get the pest and >110 get the warrior.
Getting the warriors skilled up is very difficult without block on the rest of the team, I would prioritise winning games first.

[Craigtw]

Block on the pest, or dodge on a double.

Block definitely. dodge is good too, but iof you are in a league with lots of dwarves or heavy with Tackle, then Block may be the better choice on the doubles even. You want to protect that AG4 asset!

Getting the warriors skilled up is very difficult...

Full stop. For this reason I would prioritize getting the warrior first. They bring a lot to the team - the Disturbing Presence and the Strength being the two most important. They are also very survivable, so prevent attrition.

But because they are so hard to skill up the sooner you get one, the sooner you are going to be able to skill him up.

[Ullis]

I do like Jimmy's idea for its simplicity. However, the warriors are pretty nice and they do have a synergy to them. With just three warriors and the beast I was able to blanket a quite large part of the pitch with Disturbing Presence and Foul Appearance proved better than I expected. There's nothing like three elves standing next to a warrior, wasting time by arguing between themselves on who has to soil his gloves on punching the opponent! I guess I'll save for the fourth warrior unless I lose a pestigor before that.

[ShriekBob]

Neary finished painting the team. I'm gonna be resetting back to TV100, starting again. I'm currently playing the Middlesbrough Minor Leagues as WElfs, but when we get out of the "practice league" I'll be playing Nurgle I think. Sure I'll prolly take a kicking till I get to grips with them, but we'll see.

Team is as follows: -

Name: Papa Nurgle and The East Street Rotters

1. "The Griblly" Papa Nurgle, Beast of Nurgle
2. Death Row, Chaos Warrior
3. Bull Bay, Chaos Warrior
4. Rock Fort, Chaos Warrior
5. Rat Bat, Chaos Warrior
6. Bravura, Pestigor
7. Bunman, Rotter
8. Banton, Rotter
9. Massop, Rotter
10. Byah, Rotter
11. Coke, Rotter

RR: 2
TV100

I'm thinking Wrestle on the Rotters (after the obligatory Dirty Player, I do love fouling). First Pest will be my ball handler, so Sure Hands will likely be his first skill, then following the tree of skills Smeborg suggested a way back. Chaos Warriors will be Block/Stand Firm/Guard, Tentacles if I get a +Str. The Beast is Stand Firm/Break Tackle/Guard. I'm tempted to take Break Tackle first, but I really can't decide. Break Tacke makes him a more mobile threat, Stand Firm makes him a more consistent threat.

Also, oh the temptation to give him Break Tackle first, then I can give him the ball on a touchback........what? >_>

[Ullis]

After reading Bob's post, I'd advice taking three RR's to start with. With that roster the second purchase must be another pestigor, so the third reroll is very far away (and barring any positional losses too!).

In my vast experience of two matches two rerolls would not have been enough. On both matches the three rerolls allowed my offence within scoring position before running out of rerolls. And playing without rerolls was horrible. The fact that every block can result in a turnover on 1/9 odds is more than I can bear.

Positioning was the key thing on both offence and defence, moreso than with most teams due to the slow speed of the overall team. Even the rotters MV5 seemed "enough" given that everyone else was slow too. Positioning was also given a more central role due to the fact that the starting team cannot rely on blocking.

[number6]

So I've been peering through this thread reading all the different ideas, and either I'm totally off base or plain crazy.
The league I'm playing them in is not hugely bashy as of yet, so I'm not finding myself out strengthed.
I'm soon to play game 2, but have played a variety of "practice" games.
Admitted some of my ideas are based on fun, but here goes...

Starting Line-up

Beast of Nurgle (total fun factor choice) Skill Ups will include Claws, Stand Firm, Prehensile Tail and Block on Doubles.
x2 Warriors Skill ups will include Block, Claws/MB (50/50) and Piling On
x4 Rotters Skill ups will most likely begin with Disturbing Presence and then Block.
x4 Prestigors Skill ups will vary but I'll be using them either as Blitzers or Ball Carriers / Throwers.
x2 Rerolls

I understand the concept of using the BofN as a tie up piece, but tying up an opponent is not going to get this fella any SPP. So early on I want to use that 5-Str to beat down on opponents so it can skill up faster. I think at least attempting to get it into a dual role of killer and tie-up asap would be to ones advantage.

Limiting my Warriors was not an easy choice, but I've only played in a fixed winnings league so far. I'm now in a league where I have to roll for winnings, so I need to be able score enough to get a win in a pinch...thus more Prestigors.
The Warriors however are also going for the roll of beat sticks for better future SPP potential. Ideally they pick on 7AV figures whenever the opportunity arises (even burning a Blitz when needed). Otherwise I'll use them passively to stymy opponents and purchase new ones asap.

Rotters are purely for muddying the water or assists imo. Sometimes they block, but I fear their delicacy. They are also targets thanks to Decay, so I don't expect them to be around long, and if so, they'll be on their backs a lot. Thus Disturbing Presence, and maybe Guard, but Guard is no good when laying face down.

Prestigors are my bread and butter for scoring and blitzing. Admitted the Warriors have 4Str built in, but why waste the Horns on a Prestigor, so Blitz with em'...multi-tasking SPP machines. They are also the Agility pieces with Regeneration who won't be basing many figs so ideally they survive. I'm playing them as a pack/loose cage and so far so good. I try to save the re-rolls for their plays. Beyond Sure Hands/Extra Arms (undecided) I'm going to play the skill ups by year as I adjust to the league and possible deficiencies.

Re-rolls. I have played most games without using more than 1 reroll per turn.
In context I began this brilliant game with Chaos Dwarfs and took 1 reroll, and that was with a Minotaur. I got a 50% win percentage, but honestly I spent 75% of my time blocking, cuz it was more entertaining. Who needs the ball when you can injure players
I took 2 rerolls this time due to the lack of Block on the Nurgle, and it has worked out ok in playtesting. I think a 3rd could easily be taken on a doubles roll. It's cheaper and should happen fairly early on in a league (imo).

I'm trying to play a 70/30 angle with being mostly a bruiser team, but also using the Prestigors to break out and run/pass a bit if I tie up/knockdown opponents.

I didn't read the entire thread, but there is the Meta-game for me (as described in Heroclix game threads I play...and others I assume). The mental game. Like tossing out a rather large and attractive BofN on the pitch to draw Blocking attention (I'm scary and big and well painted in bright colors, attack me). Or diffusing attention away from the importance of the lone Prestigor etc.
Maybe Blood Bowl players are more savvy, but sometimes the strategy for gaming is outside of the statistical probability level...
Just a thought. I mean there is little you can do against a serious and experienced opponents...usually, but these 'games' are not purely numbers

I also must say, Mutations = Variety. It isn`t a lopsided skill up, it`s got a LOT of options and although not as powerful as direct skill-ups for specific Bashy or Finesse teams, it allows for a lot of tayloring


My 1st official league game went lucky imo, and I scored 5 casualties and the score was 2-1 in my favor against a Norse Team (who I spent a lot of time Blocking). I feared for the Block Skill, but it didn't factor in huge. Nobody skilled up yet, but I have a nice smattering of 21 SPP amongst my BofN, Warriors and Prestigors.
Next team is Undead that seems based around running the ball with Werewolves.

I'll post more when/if my strategy either fails or succeeds

[Smeborg]

After experimenting with a variety of starting rosters, I have found very consistently that the following is best:

Beast
4 Warriors
1 Pestigor
5 Rotters
2 Re-rolls

As a Nurgle coach, I believe it is the ST4 & ST5 players that win me games with their D-Pres, F-App and Tentacles. However, my opponents very consistently tell me that it's the Pestigors that they most worry about at the table. That is a very amusing clash of views.

After another year of playing, I may consider writing some sort of Nurgle playbook.

All the best

[Carnis]

Number6: Rolling or fixed income doesnt matter, what matters is the level your fixed income was set at.. Rolling the average winnigs are about 40k per loss (3,5+0.5xfame), 50k per tie (+1 for draw) and about 60k per win (4,5+0,5fame+1).

Your analysis has some problems:

Beast: He only gets mutations on doubles, hence you have to choose between Block and Claws, not Claws and other SM skills. Otherwise claws would indeed be a nobrainer skill #1. My beast also always blocks the tentacled players, unless if he's holding 3. He has Block/Guard.

Pestigors : (not prestigors?) are really just rotters with +1 movement for 40k more cost beyond the one blitz per turn early on. That's why I feel it's a waste to go into a league with more than 1.

Rotters: If you plan to get only 1 skill, then dist presence is not likely the most efficient starting skill as it only works against passing which is rare against nurgle anyway. I'm fond of wrestle, it's a "strong combo" already on it's own.

NWs: Havent done the maths, but I recall PO alone is only 6% better than MB, so MB/Claws is heavily favoured over PO/Claws. Consider MB/PO instead of Claws/PO. I feel using NWs for Piling on is a bit wasteful due to their 4 MA.

Finally, metagame is important, but don't do too heavy conclusions based on a single game. A norse team is also a favoured opponent for nurgle due to their lack of armor.

[mattgslater]

I've not played Nurgle, but I have a whole lot of experience with some similar teams, and here's what I've got for you:

1) Tentacles likes Stand Firm. Tentacles also likes Grab, but Stand Firm is its favorite S skill. Also, FA+SF = effective deterrent.

2) Blitzers (Pestigors) earn SPP. BOBs (Warriors) earn SPP for the Blitzers. A BOB with a skill is worth more than a Blitzer with a skill. Good coaches develop good Blitzers quickly. Great ones develop good BOBs quickly.

3) In a long drive, with ample re-rolls (which you won't have), funneling TDs to BOBs is easy... if the pickup/catch works. They're hard to take out with Leap, and they make good cage-corners/hand-off targets, especially once you've done a little damage and your opponent isn't so keen on man-marking.

I think if I weren't planning on playing many games with the team I'd only play Nurgle if the other coaches needed me to play with a hand behind my back. If I were planning on playing many games with them, I'd start 3 TRRs and 3 NWs, and my first or second purchase would be NW #4. But get those NWs in on the action: build downfield cages, and drive for 3-0, 2-0, or 2-1 games. ST4/Block/FA is also an effective deterrent. That means within one skill you can have five guys that your opponent can't afford to block, so everything has to go outside. Build two Pests as Wingers, and leave the ball-carrying duties unassigned: Pests and Rotters retrieve, everybody but the Beast carries.

[Smeborg]

I've not played Nurgle, but I have a whole lot of experience with some similar teams

Matt - I've played most of the teams, and believe me, Nurgle resemble the other teams very little in the way they play. Because their offense is weak, they are often forced to score when other teams might stall. This makes them a ST team that plays two thirds of the game on defense - truly odd. In a 6-game tournament with Nurgle, I will typically manage only one 7 or 8 turn drive in the classic Orc/Dwarf manner - a very low frequency. When I started playing Nurgle (say the first 2-3 years) I made many mistakes by assuming that they would play and/or develop like other teams that I have played.

The classic Nurgle victory is 1-0. Sometimes they will get 2-1 or 2-0.

The Nurgle offense is so weak that you do not have the luxury most teams have of deciding who will get the TD. There is no realistic prospect of getting the ball to the Warriors other than by luck or desperation. You have to expect that the Warriors will skill up slowly and plan their build accordingly.

Nurgle earn fewer SPPs than other teams on average (low TD average, fewer CAS than slayer teams). They also lose a huge proportion of earned SPPs (because of Decay). You should expect team development to be more uneven and less easily controlled than for other teams. The skill development plan should take this into account (i.e. simplicity is best, build generalists rather than specialists).

Hope that helps. A bit difficult to put in a nutshell - I feel that playbook coming on again!