The Maggotkin battletome refresh is not just about stinky battle traits and chunky new units. So, it also drags a whole pile of Darkwater villains into regular Age of Sigmar games.
Additionally, those Warhammer Quest baddies are getting separate releases, which is great for collectors. That means you can run them outside the board game without any fuss. Meanwhile, the article spotlights Gelgus Pust and his court, and they sound like a nasty little toolbox army inside the army.
Gelgus Pust: Master Contaminator With Polluted Terrain and a Weaponised Smile
Gelgus Pust, the Prince of Sores, steps out from the Jade Abbey drama and into pitched battle. He is still a Master Contaminator, and his signature move is terrain corruption. Once per battle, he can turn a terrain feature within 6 inches into a Polluted one. That terrain then projects a Polluting Aura with a 6 inch radius. Additionally, that aura boosts Maggotkin healing while nerfing enemy healing. So, your stuff patches up faster, and their potions and magic feel worse.
The rules for the aura are very clean. Friendly Maggotkin wholly within 6 inches of a Polluted terrain feature add 1 to any healing they do or receive. Meanwhile, enemy units within 6 inches subtract 1 from healing they do or receive, to a minimum of zero. So, you can turn a key board piece into a gross little healing fortress.
Then there is the Grin of the Grandfather, which is pure Nurgle comedy horror. The article jokes there are no dentists in the Realm of Chaos, and Pust’s smile is basically a glimpse of Nurgle himself. In any combat phase, you pick each enemy unit in combat with him. Then you roll a die for each. If the roll meets or beats that unit’s Control characteristic, you pick one debuff for the rest of the turn. You can do minus 1 to hit, minus 1 to wound, or minus 1 Control. So, it is a Control check mini game that can turn fights messy fast, especially against low Control units.
Shaman Foulhoof and Pestigors: Rend Games, Damage Control, and Extra Attacks
Pust is not coming alone, and the article highlights Shaman Foulhoof as a key buddy. He is a wizard, and his warscroll spell Purulent Profusion can reduce an enemy unit’s Rend by 1. So, he can blunt incoming damage, which matters a lot when you are pushing fragile bodies forward.
This ties directly into Pestigors. They have a passive called Bestial Desecration. While they are not within enemy territory, their melee weapons get plus 1 Rend. So, they hit harder while rampaging around neutral or friendly space and fouling the land. The article frames it as them being at home desecrating ground, which fits the vibe.
Foulhoof can also whip them into a frenzy with Rampant Defilement. In any combat phase, you pick a friendly Pestigors unit wholly within 12 inches. Then you roll a die. On a 3+, you add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of their melee weapons for the rest of the turn. The article spells out the practical effect as going from 2 attacks to 3. So, it is a simple, punchy buff that can spike damage when you need it.
Belga the Cystwitch: Buffing Casters and Turning Death Into Plaguebearers
Belga the Cystwitch adds more support and more filth. She is presented as another Nurgle priest option, and her presence helps nearby preachers or wizards. Her ability Scry the Filth happens in your hero phase. You choose one of two effects for the rest of the turn. Friendly Maggotkin wizards within 3 inches get plus 1 to casting rolls, or friendly Maggotkin priests within 3 inches get plus 1 to chanting rolls. So, she is a small aura style booster, but you choose which lane you are in each turn.
Her prayer is Ruptured Cysts, and it is delightfully mean. It targets a visible Diseased enemy within 18 inches, and you make a chanting roll on a 4+. It deals D3 mortal damage to the target. Then it also splashes 1 mortal damage onto every other Diseased enemy unit within 3 inches of that target. So, it punishes clustered Diseased units hard.
If you hit a chanting roll of 9+, it gets even nastier for your opponent. You can pick a friendly Plaguebearers unit within 12 inches of the target. Then, for every enemy infantry model slain by the prayer that turn, you can return one slain model to that Plaguebearers unit. So, she can literally turn dead enemy infantry into daemon reinforcements by topping up your unit.
Cankerborn, Pox-Wretches, and Mire Kelpies: Teleport Killers and Disease Tokens
The rest of Pust’s court rounds out the toolbox. The Cankerborn are a pair of daemons with the ability to teleport around the battlefield. So, they can bounce to angles and cut things down with Blightblades. Those blades are upgraded by supernatural rust and rot. They deal 3 damage and have Crit Mortal, which makes them scary on good rolls.
Then you have the Pox-Wretches, who are weaker individually but show up in numbers. They are framed as wading into battle to prove their worth. Additionally, they come with Mire Kelpies, which act as tokens. The Pox-Wretches can expend those tokens to try to infect enemy units with Disease. So, they are your cheap bodies plus disease delivery system, and the tokens make the mechanic feel tangible on the table.
Summary
This set of rules turns Darkwater villains into real Maggotkin pieces, not just narrative extras. So, Gelgus Pust brings terrain based healing control and a Control check debuff aura in combat. Additionally, Shaman Foulhoof and Pestigors create a nice buff loop with Rend tricks and extra attacks. Meanwhile, Belga supports your magic and prayer game, and she can splash mortals and refill Plaguebearers when the roll spikes. Finally, the Cankerborn add teleporting damage, while Pox-Wretches and Mire Kelpies help push Disease around the board.
You can pre-order these miniatures tomorrow alongside Battletome: Maggotkin of Nurgle. Alternatively, you can grab Warhammer Quest: Darkwater right now and get the whole foul crew plus a narrative adventure to play through. The footnote also adds a useful hobby tip. Even Darkwater models without bespoke rules can still slot in by using existing profiles, like Mulgoth the Cleaver as a Lord of Blights and Blight Templars as Putrid Blightkings.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
