With Christmas, of course we have the lights, the presents, the goodwill and Santa. But then we also have coughs and colds, and all other ailments that are hand in hand with the colder winter weather. 

So, it makes complete sense that the pestilence of Papa Nurgle would come to us in the shape of a brand new Battletome for the Warhammer Age of Sigmar so soon after Santa’s trip around the world. Yes, the Maggotkin of Nurgle finally has a Battletome for this new (well, it’s not so new anymore) edition of Age of Sigmar.

Not only are we getting a brand new Battletome, but we are also being blessed with a raft of new releases, including standalone releases of the (majority) Nurgle that came with Darkwater, but also some brand new releases!

During this review I’ll be concentrating on the profiles for the new minis and will be showing off mine and Matt’s handy work. Spoiler, the models are amazing and were awesome to paint. But more on those later.

If you fancy preordering either the Battletome, and/or any of the new models, then why not use our affiliates over at Element Games? Not only will you save some cash VS RRP, but you’ll also be giving us a helping hand too!

For now, it’s time to sit back and check out what the Maggotkin are bringing to this edition of Sigmar.

Unboxing of the New Models

Before we delve into the Battletome, a moment first to unbox the new releases.

You can check out the full range of models being unboxed below, with a close up look of some of the minis painted at the end of the video. Again, I’ll be looking at each of these units in more detail later.

You can also check out all the sprues below:

Lore and Background

This Battletome is filled to the brim with fantastic lore. Some of it we know, some of it we don’t. The book goes to great lengths to introduce new players to the faction, whilst also giving any returning veterans some brand new content to enjoy.

Importantly, the Darkwater characters are given a spotlight with some background. I am hoping, the characters at least, are here for the long run. The closest comparison we can make is to the Soulblight characters and units which were introduced in Cursed City. For an edition you could take almost everything, but in this edition we have been left with just a couple of characters. We shall have to wait and see, but the fact we are straight away getting standalone releases for the Darkwater stuff is a super promising sign these are here to stay.

Anyway, I have digressed a little…

Some quality reading in here, so don’t just skip past it to get to the rules!

Faction Rules | Battle Traits

We move swiftly on to the core reason you are probably checking out this review, and that is our first look at the rules in the book.

The most important rules to check out are the Battle Traits. The army-wide rules basically. 

The Disease mechanic is back, and it’s had a tweak and is more reliable. You’ll see now, as I run through them:

• Blighted Regrowth (Your Hero Phase) – Setup a Feculent Gnarlmaw wholly within 12” of an objective you control and more than 3” from all enemy units and terrain features. You only get one though, so skip this if you have one already. (If you fancy more trees, then scroll down to our look at the Armies of Renown, as theirs a cool Daemon one).
• Blessed by The Plaguefather (End of Any Turn) – Again, like the previous rules, you pick from three abilities. Infect gives an enemy unit in combat with one of your units the Diseased keyword (or if not in combat pick a unit and on a 4+ give it Diseased). Alternatively you can Spread, which gives another enemy unit that is already Diseased the Diseased keyword so long as it’s in combat range of the infected unit. Finally, should all enemy units be Diseased, then you inflict 1 mortal wound on every enemy unit. 
• Wracked with Disease (End of Any Turn) – Inflict D3 mortal damage on each targeted unit. Yay! No more rolling to see if this goes off!
• Ceaseless Infections (End of Any Turn) – You pick a unit within combat range of a Rotbringers unit, and on a 3+ that enemy unit gains the Diseased keyword. I like that you have an alternative way to spread the Disease keyword, even if it is only usable with Rotbringers and it’s on a 3+.
• Burst Pustules (Passive) – Each time a Diseased enemy unit is destroyed, then on a 3+ you can pick another enemy unit within 9” and that unit gains the Diseased keyword. 
• Desperate Remedies (Passive) – If an enemy unit tries to heal or return a model, but that unit has the Diseased keyword, then instead of healing/bringing a model back, the enemy unit instead just loses the Diseased keyword. 

I’m so pleased to see Wracked by Disease to just, go off, instead of a 2+. It’s a small change really, but you have no idea how many times I roll a 1…

Battle Formations

As with other Sigmar armies, you have a choice of 4 Battle Formations to choose from when creating your army. 

Every one of these has changed since the Faction Pack, so let us have a look at each of them now:

• Tallyband of Nurgle – Plague Progenitor – This is a very wordy, once per battle ability. In short, you choose an enemy model to gain the Plague Progenitor keyword. You roll 2D3 and on a 6, or if the roll equals or exceeds the Plague Progenitors Health characteristic, then that enemy model gains the Diseased keyword. In the first battle round, that model cannot use or be the target of any abilities that would heal or return models to it. Furthermore, if you choose this model for the Spread ability from the Blessed by the Plague Father Battle Trait, then inflict D3 damage on each enemy unit within it’s combat range, in addition to the normal rules for the Spread ability. 
• Plague Cyst – Vectors of Contagion – Add 5 to the control scores for any non-Hero Rotbringers wholly within 12” of a Nurgle Daemon unit. 
• Nurgle’s Menagerie – Denizens of the Garden – Companion weapons of Maggokin units gain Crit (2 Hits)
• Affliction Cyst – Filth-Laden Daemonic Blooms – Each time you make a run roll for a friendly non-Monster Nurgle Daemon unit, then you can change the run result to 4.

I’m sad that once per battle ‘remove and put back on’ ability from the faction pack for the Affliction Cyst has been replaced, however it does make a Daemon Nurgle army that little more speedy. Vectors of Contagion is my least favourite, with the Plague Progenitor probably just pipping the Nurgle’s Menagerie rule. 

Heroic Traits

Again, changes ahoy here, albeit only a slight one for the Grandfather’s Blessing Heroic trait (now heals D3, rather than D6. 

Gift of Febrile Frenzy gives a friendly non-Hero Maggotkin unit +1 Attacks to Melee weapons, however it only triggers on a 3+. 

Overpowering Stench has changed, and now grants one of two abilities. To trigger one of the abilities you need to roll off with your opponent. If your roll is higher then you can choose your enemy unit to either ignore positive modifiers to their save rolls, or -1 from ward rolls for the target. The enemy unit must be in combat with the unit that has this Heroic Trait. 

Artefacts of Power

Something has stayed almost the same! All three artefacts have returned, but two out of the three have undergone changes. 

Rustfang has been buffed, and now activates in each combat phase, rather than once per battle. Can also now target monsters!

The Witherstave now subtracts 1 from the damage of the target’s melee weapons for the rest of the turn. Needs a 3+ to activate. 

The Carrion Dirge has changed every so slightly. You pick 3 enemy units within 18” and then subtract 5 from said unit’s control scores. An improvement on the subtract 3 from the last edition. 

Spell and Prayer Lore

We move on to magic of the Nurgly-kind. 

Fleshy Abundance is back, and has remained the same (is still unlimited too, and is now cast on a 6). Cloying Quagmire has also gone unchanged

Crippling Despair is the third spell in the lore and goes off on a 6, and stops a unit from using command abilities, which is very handy!

In this Battletome we have 3 Prayers that can be used by the Priests in the army. 

• Gift of Disease (3)  – Until the start of your next turn, subtract 1 from wound rolls for attacks that are made by enemy units within combat range of this chanter. In addition, if it goes off on a 10, then each enemy unit in that combat gains the Diseased keyword. This is a fantastic prayer, as it affects the enemy unit in combat, but doesn’t specify that they have to be targeting the chanter. Also a brilliant force multiplier for dishing out the Diseased keyword. Unlimited too!
• Favoured Poxes (4) – Pick an enemy unit within 18”. Until the start of the next turn subtract 2 from the charge rolls for the target. In addition, on a 10+ you can subtract 1 from the number of dice when making charge rolls for said enemy unit.
• Bloated with Sickness (4) – Pick a friendly, non-Monster Nurgle unit wholly within 12”. Until the start of the next turn, ignore the first damaged point that would be allocated to that unit in each phase. If you chant this prayer on a 10+ then you can choose a second target.

Bloated with Sickness and Favoured Poxes are solid prayers, but the standout has to be Gift of Disease. I’ll be trying to sneak a Priest into most lists. 

Warscrolls

The big one, the Warscrolls.

For this section I am going to concentrate on some of the new models that are being released alongside this Battletome.

Festus the Leechlord (RRP £57)

Festus is back, and oh boy, what a fantastic new miniature!

He is, IMO, a support/utility hero, but that isn’t to say he cannot scrap.

For starters, he’s rocking 14 wounds, a 4+ save, control score of 5 and movement 5”. His unique spell, The Leechlord’s Curse, allows you to pick an enemy unit within 18”. If cast, the enemy unit gains 1 Leech point. Each time that enemy unit uses a Core ability or Command, after the ability has been resolved you roll a dice. On a 3+ you inflict 1 mortal wound on the target. If you manage to inflict said damage, then Festus heals a wound. 

He also has a once per turn combat phase ability. So long as Festus did not charge, you pick an enemy unit in combat range. You and your opponent must then roll off, adding the Control Score of each of your units. If your roll is higher, then you inflict a status on the enemy unit:

• If the target is a Hero or Monster, you inflict a number of mortal damage onto the target equal to the difference between yours and your opponent’s roll. This really plays into the reducing Control score abilities the army has access too. 
• If the target is a non-Hero/Monster unit, then instead 1 model in the unit is slain outright.

Adding to the above ability is Festus’ final warscroll ability, Annelid Engorgement. For each enemy unit that was in combat with this unit and has subsequently been slain, this unit gains D3 leech points. For each Leech point Festus has, he gains +1 to his Control Score. 

In combat he’s no slouch, with his weapon getting 3A, 3+ to Hit, 3+ to Wound, Rend 1, DMG D3. His slug-mount gets a further 4 attacks, 4+ to Hit, 2+ to Wound, Rend 2 DMG 3.

A superb, headline model for this new wave of models.

Gelgus Pust (RRP £49.50)

• If the target was a Wizard, and your roll was higher than the Wizard’s power level, then until the start of your next turn each time that Wizard casts, and the casting roll includes 2 or more rolls of 1s, 2s or 3s, then the spell is miscast.
• If the target was a Priest, then you again roll off. Should your roll exceed the target’s power level, then the prayer doesn’t work if the chanting roll includes unmodified 1 or 2. 

The main bad guy from Darkwater is back, and he has a pretty tasty warscroll too. He’s rocking 8 wounds, can move 8” (thanks to his little wings) and has a whopping 7 attacks (3s, 3s, Rend 1, Dmg 3).

He has a cool ability, of which was shown off on WarCom today. As well as this, you can pick each enemy unit that has charged this turn, and is in combat within him. Roll a D3 for each of said units, and on a 2+ inflict that number of mortal damage.

Rotswords (RRP £40)

These are, in effect, your standard Battleline troops. They come as standard with 2 wounds each, a 3+ save and a 4” move. Rotswords come with 2 attacks a piece (3s, 3s, Rend 1, Dmg 1) and have Crit (2 Hits).

As well as that, they have an ability which, on a 3+, shuts down a unit in combat range when it comes to issuing command abilities. 

Interestingly, the kit gives you the option of equipping your Rotswords with dual weapons, or a weapon and shield. Right now, the warscroll has no alternative options, nor does it have any additional ability should you have a shield. This could purely be for cosmetic reasons, allowing you to mix and match the load out in your unit, or instead is future proofing the unit for future Battletomes where we may see a different profile or ability for equipping shields. 

Sloven Knights (RRP £42.50)

Rotflies are cool, but I always thought it would be super cool to get something more like proper cavalry. My hopes have come true in the shape of the Sloven Knights.

These guys are the heaviest of heavy cavalry. Firstly, they have 4 wounds each with a 3+ save. Nice. Add to that an 8” move and an ability which gives an enemy unit Strike-Last (so long as a Rotbringer unit is already in combat with the enemy unit). 

I really like this ability. To make the most of them you want them charging into units that are already dancing with your Rotbringers.

Once in combat they are no slouches either, with 2 attacks a piece (4s, 3s, Rend 2, Dmg 2) as well as Charge (+1 Damage).

Putrid Blightkings (RRP £40)

With Rotswords taking the new Battleline troops position, the Blightkings have had almost a complete overall effort to make them a little more elite.

Fancy seeing how they size up to the other models? From the left Rotsword, then an original Blightking, followed by a new Blightking:

Firstly they still have 3 wounds, but down to a 5+ save. Their main focus is slaying enemy priests and wizards, thanks to both their warscroll ability and weapon keywords.

They still get 4 attacks a piece (3s, 3s, Rend 1, Dmg 1) but they now get Anti-Priest and Anti-Wizard, both giving +1 Damage. 

Adding to this is their warscroll ability, Discomfitting Stench, which allows you to pick an enemy Wizard or Priest within 12” of this unit. You then roll a dice:

Pestigors (RRP £37)

The Rabid goat-like Pestigors are back with a brand new plastic kit (albeit a little different than the Pestigors that came with Darkwater. 

These guys get +1 Rend in combat, but not when they are in enemy territory. 

They have 2 wounds each (fully expected them to have 1) and a 5+ save, but are movement 6” (which is a lot in this book).

Pox-wretches (RRP £36)

The chaff basically. A unit coming into the book from Darkwater (hence it being an odd unit size of 14).

They have the stat-line you’d expect them to have, with just a single wound and a 6+ save. 

However, they do have a cool mechanic. The unit comes with 6 Mire Kelpies (again, coming on over from Darkwater). When in combat, and the end of any turn, you can pick an enemy unit that this unit is in combat with. The choose a number of available Mire Kelpies. You then roll a dice, adding 1 for each of the Kelpies that you have chosen. On a 6+ the enemy unit gains the Diseased keyword. 

Spoilpox Scrivener (RRP £25)

Not a new model, however he is being released finally on his own (outside of the old Spearhead box).

He can potentially (on a 2+) either give a Plaguebearers unit +1 to their wound rolls in combat, or add an additional 5 to their control scores.

He can also potentially stop Monster Rampage abilities (so long as the enemy Monster has been damaged by this unit.

Cankerborn (RRP £31.50)

Now these pair are great, and again have come over from Darkwater. I really hope in the future we get to take bigger units, rather than just having the 2 from Darkwater (which again you can now preorder as a standalone pair).

Firstly, they have 6 wounds each, but with a 5+ save. They come with 4 attacks each (3s, 3s, Rend 1, Dmg 3).

These dish out Pestilent Pollutants at the end of any turn, which in turn works with the second ability on the warscoll, which allows your Cankerborn to teleport between infect terrain features, 

Spearhead

The next part of the book focuses on the new Spearhead box that is also coming out. This combines some older kits to make a Spearhead force.

If you haven’t played Spearhead before, then basically it allows you and an opponent to pick a Spearhead box each (such as this one) and do battle over smaller maps with easier, stripped down rules etc. They are a LOT of fun to play, and would highly recommend it.

These boxes also make a great way of getting started or expand on an army you already have.

You get in this latest Spearhead box:

• Rotbringer Sorcerer
• Unit of Nurglings
• Beast of Nurgle
• Rotmire Creed

This section helps you to paint and play with your Spearhead, as well as provide the rules for each of the units in the Spearhead (as they differ slightly to the full-fat warscrolls seen in the previous section.)

Path to Glory

Love playing Narrative games? I certainly do, and it’s been really cool to see each army get an Anvil of Apotheosis in each Battletome. 

For those unaware, the Anvil of Apotheosis is the name of the Hero-building narrative mechanic. It simply allows you to build your own hero, whether he be on foot or mounted. As you build your dream character their number of points to create decreases, and the points cost for using the character in the game goes up.

Again, love the fact your created superstar has a points value for those fun casual games!

This particular Anvil is so suitably Nurgly, giving you options to create a Rotbringer or Daemon, Priest or Mage. 

A brilliant, Nurgle-cooked narrative bit of fun.

Armies of Renown

The book contains not one, but two Army of Renown.

These are different ways of collecting and building your army. You sacrifice your normal Battle Traits, Artefacts, etc, and instead get a bunch of new stuff which leans into the Army of Renowns way of playing. 

Army of Renown: Cycle of Corruption

This one is your Rotbringers focused Army of Renown, limiting you to taking just Rotbringer units. 

Remember the old Cycle of Corruption, when each battle round you turned the Cycle to the next ability? Well this is it, back again. This is the main trait for this army, and each turn you’ll get a new ability until the end of the turn, such as Nauseous Revulsion (-1 to Charge for enemy units) to Rampant Disease (Melee weapons on non-Hero units gain Crit (2 Hits).

The unique Heroic Traits and Artefacts further lean into the Mortal element of the Maggotkin of Nurgle.

Army of Renown: The Gardeners of Nurgle

It is only fair that the Daemons of Nurgle have their own Army of Renown too, and that is exactly what this is. 

A lot earlier I mentioned you could only have one Gnarlmaw per army. Well this Army of Renown allows you to bring a tree on every battle round (and if you have Slimux, which you HAVE to have in this Army of Renown you can get yourself another one!).

This Army of Renown also allows you to move your trees around the battlefield, grants the trees the ability to dish out mortal wounds and gives your Beasts of Nurgle and Plague Drones a little extra movement.

Regiments of Renown

The book wraps up with two Regiments of Renown. 

For those who don’t know what these are, they are basically ways of taking Maggotkin of Nurgle units in other Chaos armies.

Each of the Regiments has a strict list of models you take, but then has a special rule for the Regiment. 

The first one in this book is the Diseased Revellers. This Regiment includes:

• 1 x Sloppity Bilepiper
• 2 x Beasts of Nurgle

Their special rule is, so long as a Beast of Nurgle is within 3” of the Sloppity from this Regiment, then both the Beasts can use the Attention Seekers rule from their warscroll, instead of just one of them being able too.

The second Regiment is called The Pustules and includes:

• 1 x Spoilpox Scrivener 
• 1 x Plaguebearer Unit
• 1 x Feculent Gnarlmaw

In this Regiment, the Gnarlmaw basically heals the Plaguebearers, so long as they are wholly within 12” of the tree. Nice little home territory objective holding Regiment. 

Summary

And with that, we come to the end of this review. So what are my overall thoughts?

As someone who has always loved Nurgle, however have little experience with them in Age of Sigmar, I have to say I’m very happy. 

I like the more consistent Disease mechanic, I really like both the prayer and spell lores, and the new models are fantastic with fun warscrolls to boot. I am, of course, including the Darkwater models in this statement too. 

Saves have dropped here and there, and Rotbringers now have a 6+ ward (5+ by a Gnarlmaw), but I still think these folks are going to be a very fun army to play with.

Festus the Leechlord is back, and his model is fantastic. The new look for the Blightkings I approve of too, as they are now very distinct, leaving the more armoured looking Nurgle to be Rotswords.

With the new units, the army feels so much more fleshed out, and I cannot wait to get more games in with them in the near future. 

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings