Looking for good Nurgle resources/advice

[Smeborg]

Some observations about my current Nurgle team after 22 games in our open league against a wide variety of races (all are represented in the league).

22 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses (currently leading the league, but not by much). Losses to Orcs, Norse (both 0-2). Draws with Necros, Skaven, Chaos Pact, Dark Elves (all 1-1).

TD count 38-13 (11 matches, or 50% have been shutouts, i.e. no TDs conceded; 4 results have been 1-0; 5 results have been 2-1; only 2 matches have seen more than 1 TD conceded - both 0-2 losses).

CAS count: 52-28 (a very interesting stat for me, as it is considerably better ratio than I have seen before, and is better than Nurgle teams that I have built in a more "slayer" style).

PLAYER TURNOVER: 1 Warrior, 4 Pestigors and 9 Rotters have been lost to deaths and retirements, along with 6 skills and 83 SPPs. 220 SPPs and just 16 skills are retained on the roster.

REMARKS: While there is no control experiment, this is easily the best league performance that I have seen with Nurgle, and it coincides with my developing and playing the team in a very pure "denial" or "stymie" style. I have taken no "slayer" skills (M-Blow, Claw, D-Player etc.). Only half of the squad have skills, there are only 5 players with Block or Wrestle, there is only one Tackle (2 handy Pestigors with Wrestle were killed; Pestigors are always targetted, but Regen results have been rather unkind to them). The uneven development (a characteristic of Nurgle teams), although it feels naked, seems to suit this team, and is quite efficient in TV terms. A deliberate lack of skill specialisation (apart from 1 Runner and the Beast), in favour of "generalists", seems to fit well with this uneven development. Importantly, the "denial" or "stymie" skill strategy would appear to protect the team (follow-ups are denied to the opponent, thereby preventing assists, the Nurgle players get to throw more blocks by remaining in contact with S-Firm). Skill development is relatively slow, but this does not seem to matter. The 5-skilll Pestigor Runner is obviously an important component of the team's success. The defensive record is remarkable. Money is tight, but I have rarely been unable to replace players immediately. For the sake of completeness, here is the full roster:

Beast: Block, S-Firm (19)
Warrior: Block, S-Firm (25)
Warrior: Block, S-Firm (17)
Warrior: +1ST (13)
Warrior: - (2)
Pestigor: +1AG, +1ST, Dodge, Block. S-Hands (90)
Pestigor: Wrestle, Fend, Tackle (34)
Pestigor: - (0)
Pestigor: - (0)
Rotter: Guard (10)
Rotter: - (5)
Rotter: - (5)
Rotter: - (0)
Rotter: - (0)
3 RR, 10 FF, TV 184
30,000 in treasury

All the best.

[Carnis]

I'd have to argue a lot of your team' success is up to that super star. A team playing with a blodge/S4/A4/Sure hands/horns ballcarrier needs to face either very high ST tentacles (talking S6-7 here), or a ballstealer with Wrestle, Tackle, Dauntless AND a way to get into base contact with your player to lose the ball on offence. The 90 SPP sort of proves my point, he has 40% of your team SPP..

That being said, the stymie tactic seems to work just as fine as the slayer approach in fumbbl. The major difference being, the Stymie approach player turnover seems much higher.. At least according to these teams with identical # of games:

Aflo's Stymie Nurgle Team

CR ("coaching skill" in fumbbl) & opposition are similar, although Aflo's team has lost more players so TV floats at a lower level / # of games, and hence plays against lower TV opposing teams. The significant stats are effectively the same (not the CAS-ratio, though):
Games Played: 26 (15/6/5) | TD Diff: 14 (29 - 15) | Cas Diff: 2 (29/15/7 - 19/14/16)

My Slayery Nurgle Team

Games Played: 26 (14/6/6) | TD Diff: 16 (35 - 19) | Cas Diff: 57 (49/30/18 - 24/12/4)

[Mr_lemon]

I've also got a decent record with my Nurgle-Team (17 games, 13 W, 3 D, 1 L)
Td: 31-12
Cas: 53-19 (fouling and crowdpushes are included in these numbers, SPP-rewarding CAS-count is 36-14)
I have lost 2 Pestigor (1 with 28 spp and 1 rookie), and a couple of rotters (some with one skill)

I agree with Carnis assessment the importance of having a "star" pestigor. If/when you get a Pestigor with a AG+1, then you're in great shape. My star got AG+1, Block MA+1, Big Hands and is one TD away from his next skill which I think will be Sure Hands. He's not nearly as good as the ST4 AG4 Blodging Sure Handed freak that Smeborg have, but the Nurgle team is good on defence from the start so if you ask me the most important thing you need on the team is a solid, offensive star who can reliable score a touchdown or so per game. Position your Nurgle Warrior and Beast well and most teams will have a hard time dealing with it, the pestigor to Blitz down the ball-carrier or receivers. Keep the rotters around for assists, a few blocks, and a couple of well-prepared fouls (since they are so cheap and since they fulfill their purpose even without SPP's. Move one of them upfield to at least have a chance of a long pass if your slow movement forward doesn't pan out...

My team so far:
Beast of Nurgle 7spp Block
Nurgle Warrior 22spp Block, Mighty Blow
Nurgle Warrior 3spp
Nurgle Warrior 19spp Block Guard
Nurgle Warrior 6spp Block
Pestigor 73spp Block, AG+1, MA+1, Big Hands
Pestigor 33spp Sidestep, Strip Ball, Wrestle
Pestigor 0spp
Pestigor 26spp Block, Frenzy
Rotter 11spp Leader
Rotter 12spp Kick
Rotter 0spp
Rotter 5spp
Rotter 3spp
Rotter 10spp Wrestle

[Smeborg]

Carnis, Mr Lemon, all very interesting.

Last year my Nurgle team had a Pestigor with S-Hands, +1MA, X-Arms, S-Feet (next skill would have ben KoR, but he died when the Beast lost his Tackle zone, exposing him to a blitz from an Orc Blitzer). He was very good. So while my current Pestigor is obviously a bit exceptional, I think any stat increase on a Pestigor is excellent, especially if combined with a double (+AG or +ST with Dodge, +MA with S-Feet, etc.). I also had an AG5 Pestigor last season (he also had Wrestle, he died when he slipped on a stray turd, rolling 1,1 for a dodge). The point is that Pestigors love stat increases, especially if combined with a Runner build. It is not unusual to get some help of this kind, given that Pestigors get more SPPs than the other players.

The most interesting features of my current team (to me anyway!) are (a) the improved results from playing in the purest stymie style, and (b) the apparently greater protection afforded to the team by the stymie skills and style of play. I have played regularly against slayer teams and against teams with Claw, with generally good results. I don't bother with D-Player, as I prefer Block+Fend (Guard on a doubles) for the Rotters. They retain their skills for such a short time, that I prefer to protect them a bit, prolonging their short but happy lives. I also don't bother with any slayer builds (whether Warrior or Pestigor). This may seem counter-intuitive to some, but it seems to work rather well. Each stymie skill you add to this team seems to increase the opponent's difficulties exponentially (well, at least more than linearly).

All the best.

[Smeborg]

My league-leading Nurgle team suffered a 0-4 defeat at the hands of well-coached Vampires at similar TV. Something of a freak encounter, but the first half, at least, was full of sport.

I received, marched upfield, got sacked, recovered, passed the ball into space out of reach of the Vamp players (it landed in the end zone). All I needed to do on the following turn was to pick it up (with re-roll). This failed, the Pestigor was surfed, the Vamps got lucky and scored. Needing to score in 2 turns, all went well until my 5-skill Pestigor, Horny by name, failed a dodge on a 1,1, KOd himself, and the Vamps scored again... Horny missed the beginning of the second half (the Vamps scored on their receive) and the rest is history.

Hard to defend against well-coached Vamps when things go right for them. My team has 5 key players - these were easily taken out by H-Gaze, which seemed to work most of the time. Bloodlust occurred quite a bit, but not on the key passing and scoring plays. The Disturbing Presence players were generally well positioned, but the Vamps rolled high for their passes (including a required natural 6 without re-roll for the critical play). 3 interception attempts also failed, as did all but one of my attempts to move the ball. All my sack attempts failed.

Perhaps I could have played a little better, but I felt that if Nuffle had been kinder, I might have got away with a 2-2 or 2-1 result. I knew before the match that it was going to be a challenge. Quite an interesting encounter.

All the best.

[Smeborg]

Further to my above post, I would say that Vampires are in a similar category to (Pro-) Elves as opponents of Nurgle. Both teams have a way to negate tackle zones (Nerves of Steel on the one, Hypnotic Gaze on the other). This makes multiple marking of receivers difficult - you have only Disturbing Presence to fall back on. Example: you mark a receiver with a Warrior and a Rotter. The Warrior is Hypno-Gazed, the Rotter is blitzed away, -3 to catch is turned into -1. Even with another Warrior in the vicinity to make it -2, the receiver is at only 4+ to catch, good odds with a re-roll.

Rare examples of teams that are not "equal" before Nurgle.

[sunnyside]

I was going to say a couple people here are demonstrating the quality of the "roll a crap ton of stat increases and doubles" strategy.

But I wonder if there isn't actually a take home lesson here. I.e. that stat increases are gold on pesties, and they are best for the "runner" pestie. So instead of specializing early with skills like guard or claw, one might be better laying down block on them all. By the time you'd have gotten them all two skills each you should, statistically, rolled some stat increase, and that guy than becomes the runner.

Though in light of that, what would people suggest on pestie doubles? Dodge seems the default choice to enable some more manuverability and survivability on a vulnerable piece. But I could see cases for sure feet and sidestep.

[mattgslater]

I say Side Step. Lock out the WZs, and the oppo will have to go through something scary.

[sunnyside]

I say Side Step. Lock out the WZs, and the oppo will have to go through something scary.

Hmmm, presumably the team would already have a lot of stand firm for locking down wide zones. I suppose this is an MA6 piece that isn't contributing to the disturbing presence net though. But the warriors are harder to blitz.

I was mostly thinking in terms of being able to form a sideline cage when leapers/stunties/break tacklers are around, setting up chainpushes , and being a pain on offense in trying to get them inside cage structures even if they get knocked down.

[Carnis]

I was going to say a couple people here are demonstrating the quality of the "roll a crap ton of stat increases and doubles" strategy.

But I wonder if there isn't actually a take home lesson here. I.e. that stat increases are gold on pesties, and they are best for the "runner" pestie. So instead of specializing early with skills like guard or claw, one might be better laying down block on them all. By the time you'd have gotten them all two skills each you should, statistically, rolled some stat increase, and that guy than becomes the runner.

Though in light of that, what would people suggest on pestie doubles? Dodge seems the default choice to enable some more manuverability and survivability on a vulnerable piece. But I could see cases for sure feet and sidestep.

That's exactly as I'd do it, take block first, before you have a dedicated runner. Only the 4th pesti can choose MB first for SPP, but I've found in a developed team you rarely have room on the pitch for a pestigor with nothing more, but MB on his skilltab..

Dodge seems like the nobrainer default pick, prolongs life and enables Blodge/surehands ballcarrier, if no +AG is available.

[sunnyside]

On the off chance I roll a 12 on the beast, would you go for the strength or block?

On most big guys I think block has the win. But beasts would get a big boost to their tentacles (and be harder to get a 2D block against)

[mattgslater]

I say Side Step. Lock out the WZs, and the oppo will have to go through something scary.

Hmmm, presumably the team would already have a lot of stand firm for locking down wide zones.

Yeah, but most of it is MA4, which is bad in the wide zones. And Stand Firm is not nearly as good as Side Step for sideline defense. With SF, you just need to knock down. With SS, you need to KO/Cas.

[Smeborg]

sunnyside - I take the +1ST, and not just for the Tentacles. ST6 + Break Tackle gives you a 3+ chance of dodging into a standard cage - very handy against, say, Orcs and Dwarfs.

Matt - I like the idea of Sidestep on Pestigors, to be followed by Jump Up on a second double. However, since my current team has a Blodge Pestigor already, plus a Beast and 2 Warriors with Block/S-Firm, I incline towards boring old Dodge for future doubles picks (on this team). I find that Fend is a good poor man's Sidestep for wide zone defense (and it has other advantages, of course).

All the best.

[sunnyside]

Well my first game went well.


I was up against a Pro elf player who had no idea what to do against nurgle.

The first drive featured a failed pickup that landed in the lap of an induced merc pestie. Than I ground my way toward the opponets endzone. Foul appearance and mostly the beast making this tricky. 3D blocks turned into a pair of cas, and I'd have had an easy TD with the merc, but I didn't want to put the SPPs there so I tried to hand off to a warrior. Ball hits the ground, elves get around it, beast pushes an elf onto the ball. It bounces, sticks to the beast on a six, a pestigor waves at the beast and points at the funny colored grass at the end of the field and it wandered over there.

The crowd went wild, but it's still not sure what happened.

When it was his turn to recieve he tried for a two turn touchdown, throwing a bomb to try and avoid disturbing presence on both sides. Ball fumbles and a warrior eventually makes it in for a 2-0 win.

For icing the beast rolled block.

Now I'm not sure what to take on them next. Block is about half of a stand firm, and would make it hard to tie him up for long with a blockless lineman (except with orcs). SF is what I had planned, but I could see reasons for BT, as well as grab or multiblock(especially since the beast may get his second skill before more than a warrior or two skills).

[Dzerards]

For icing the beast rolled block.

Now I'm not sure what to take on them next. Block is about half of a stand firm, and would make it hard to tie him up for long with a blockless lineman (except with orcs). SF is what I had planned, but I could see reasons for BT, as well as grab or multiblock(especially since the beast may get his second skill before more than a warrior or two skills).

Nice game.

As for the beast, if you when with Block, then the next skill has to be stand firm.

Mine is 1 casualty away from his first skill and I'm hoping to Pro that guy up myself if I gets me some doubles! Otherwise I can't make up my mind between Stand Firm, Guard or maybe Break Tackle.