Hello all! Today’s review brings us into the company of the jolly questers of the Maggotkin of Nurgle (MoN).
Army Special Rules:
Like the Nighthaunt the MoN have a campaign mechanic to seed Nurgle’s garden into existing territories. Beware though it is a lot easier to lose these territories as every time you lose, your opponent rolls a dice on a 6+ (4+ for major victories) they revert one of your territories. Fortunately, you can also discover these territories as you explore.
Additionally, for each Greater Unclean one in your army you also can include three non-hero Nurgle Daemon units that aren’t recorded on your order of battle (and 1 for all other Nurgle Heroes). This is a nice source of extra units that you don’t have to worry about tracking through the campaign, always useful.
When playing as the defender in one of the core book Path to Glory missions you get some bonuses. In your hero phase you can pick a random amount of terrain features and gain Disease (for enemy) or Contagion (for friendly) points on a 4+. Also, the first time a hero would be slain you can beseech Nurgle, who can either revive and heal you, do nothing, or give you a beast of Nurgle as a consolation prize.
Quests:
Unlike later armies, the MoN only get three quests to choose from. The first allows you to start seeding a territory.Feculant Devotions is another choice that, after setting up 3 Feculent Gnarlmaws during (not before) a battle you can give a unit of drones or Plaguebearers a free veteran ability for their next battle. Lastly, they get the standard quest to set up one of their two missions.
Custom Missions:
The MoN get two custom battles to choose between: The first, Seeds of Corruption, involves the MoN trying to plant Gnarlmaws in strategic locations. The MoN are the attackers and will have to trudge a ways to get close enough to their designated targets. This is a pretty fluffy mission that also, unusually, awards the defender bonus renown points at the end of the mission. Encroaching Corruption is the other mission choice. It is a little bit of an odd mission requiring the Nurgle player to have at least 1 of a few different units, and trying to get that unit into the enemy’s deployment zone at the end of the game, while having another be wholly within a terrain feature in your own deployment zone. Naturally you will be leaning on Contagion Points (CP) here to try and summon units if your original copies get killed. Don’t think you can just summon Gnarlmaws either, the defender gets a command ability to kill them if they get close at the end of the combat phase.
Veteran Abilities:
The MoN get a table from which any unit can be upgraded. Driven By Devotion is great against hoards rewarding you wit ha once per game ability to generate CPs from the models you kill. Another strong choice for multi-wound models allows you the ability to revive them on a 4+ (naturally also once per game), though any unit would appreciate this. Other options allow you to manipulate the Cycle of Corruption, improve your resiliency rolls, heal units, etc. All together a very solid table.
Territories:
The MoN territories have a wide array of benefits. Some are locked to improving the progress of quests but others heal your units or give you free Beats of Nurgle or Sorcerers on a D6 roll of a 6. The Befouled City might be the best as, after each battle you roll a d6, if you roll a 6 you can reinforce a unit without using glory.
Conclusion:
I think the MON start to mark a shift in the Path to Glory rules that is also visible in the Crusade system in 40k. The first two books out are fairly tame with the later ones getting more rules and better abilities. I think the MoN have more creative rules for their Path to Glory than the Stormcasts or Orrks, At the same time they can also have their territory upgrades reversed and do have fewer, and worse quests to choose from. I think the veteran table really shines in this book and their missions also favor the MoN strengths.
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