Vilicate

The main part that makes the list so good is Epidemius. If you're going to run this style of army, I'd highly recommend him. Often times he just ends up being a rear objective holder in my list.

Read the main rulebook FAQ - you can only place them within 2" of a model that started the phase in play. So if they kill models over multiple phases, then you can chain them out, but otherwise not really. Q: Some rules allow me to add models to a unit during the battle (e.g. the Poxwalker’s Curse of the Walking Pox ability). Where are those models set up? A: Unless otherwise stated, these new models are placed anywhere that is more than 1" from any enemy model and still within unit coherency of a model in its own unit that was itself on the battlefield at the start of the phase in which the new model was created. Note that if you cannot set up a new model on the battlefield because there is no room, it is simply not set up.

I'd be really surprised if they upped the points on the PBC, considering this last Chapter Approved reduced it's points by 10. Even then, if it went up by 10 points, I don't feel like that would change that much tbh. It's really not that hard to find an extra 50-60 (or in the 10 PHC army, 100) points to make it still work. And limiting the interaction between CSM and Daemons is also probably not a good idea; it takes away pretty much any interesting synergy between Daemons and CSM. It would be a sad day for those armies if it ultimately went away.

Hey! So yeah, I'd like to try and use an army that maximizes the Bell from the GUO - so lots of units of Beasts and Plague Drones, along with either a Chaos Outrider with drones and Myphitics or a DG patrol (so at least I get the stratagems). I think that kind of army could work really well.

IMO, they are just so much better than drones. Fewer points, far, far more durable and much better shooting attacks. It also gives something that Death Guard (and honestly, Chaos in general) doesn't have, which is a no-LoS needed ranged weapon. This is so important, especially when first level of ruins blocks LoS for most games (or at least it does in all the ones that I play). The Bell GUO is pretty neat; I usually use him as a blocker in close combat anyway. Dmg d3 is pretty nice though; I mean, it's not the Bilesword but the Bileblade (which is what I use) is still pretty decent at AP-3. Also, I have often found myself giving him Corruption, as the rest of the Nurgle Relics are just really, really bad.

I mean, the majority of the points for this army come from the Death Guard book (like 1020?). My point here is specifically to talk about how amazing this tank is - and it really, really is. Honestly, I'll be trying a lot of things over the course of the year, but I'm always going to be playing Daemons as my main detachment this year (I'd like to try for #1 in faction for them in ITC), or at least 2nd or 3rd. We have a couple of local GT's this year and usually a couple of tournaments a month, and I'm hoping to make it to LVO this year again. I'm going to try some more stuff with Myphitic Blight Haulers and the Great Unclean One with a Doomsday Bell - because bringing back 142 points every turn on a 4+ is pretty neat. There's also some stuff I want to try out with Possessed. We have some "for funzies" events locally too, and in those I can definitely see going pure Death Guard - so fair playing them I'm loving the Blightlords. But I really think the they (DG) lose out in a super competitive environment. They don't have the great screening or infiltrating units that other armies have, and that simply adding some Nurgle Daemons makes the army -so- much better. Nurglings are the best unit in the game for ITC events, IMO. There are good things and bad things about both Poxwalkers and Plaguebearers. It is nice the Plaguebearers are a little faster out of the gate than the Poxwalkers, and they don't have to have all the buffs that Poxwalkers need (like Typhus and/or Necrosius) to be really good. That being said, Poxwalkers are pretty much the ultimate recursion unit - being able to just get more models by killing models in combat (or from the amazing stratagem) is really awesome. Plus they can be buffed arguably more from the psychic powers that DG bring to the table. That all being said, not having to invest any resources into Plaguebearers when you get 5 kills, and having them be S5/T5 with -1 to hit and re-rolling 1's is pretty amazing. I also roll a lot of 1's for morale for the Plaguebearers, so seem to be pretty lucky in that respect.

Man I love my Poxbringer - he buffs all the daemons (especially my Daemon Engines) to be even more amazing. Thank god for S:User flamers!

I kill three units pretty quickly. Usually by turn 3 or 4 I'm fully charged (all 7 kills) - remember that everything in my army is a Nurgle Daemon and it doesn't mean in close combat either.

Oh yeah the gnarlmaw is fantastic, can be good for area denial as well due to the mortal wound it can put out. I found the same thing with slimex it’s hard to use his beast rules. But otherwise a very decent character. I’ve been thinking of a list similar to this, it’s like a nurgle daemonkin army haha. Yes! That's really close to how I see it too.

The army isn't really slow; PBC's are 9" moves, and I often will advance with them; plus once I get three kills I'm getting +1" on everything from Epidemius. Slimux is great. Not only is he a beast in combat, but buffs and Beasts (giving them +1 to hit, but I'm almost never within 6" for the re-roll charges), AND, most importantly, drops a Feculent Gnarlmaw. The tree gives me the ability to fall back from combat with the crawlers and still shoot, or advance and still fire their other heavy weapons. In addition, it also gives my plaguebearers the ability to advance and charge, or fall back and charge. Huge.

So, I took down my local 21 person event this weekend. My list: Daemons Battalion Slimux Poxbringer 29 Plague Bearers w/ Icon and Instrument 3x 3 Nurglings 6 Beasts of Nurgle Chaos Spearhead Epidemius 3x Plagueburst Crawler w/ Plaguespiiters and Heavy Slugger Death Guard Spearhead Daemon Prince with Wings; Warlord (Arch-Contaminator) and Fugaris' Helm 3x Plagueburst Crawler (51 points in reserve for a Feculent Gnarlmaw) Game One First game was against Cadian IG; he had a Brigade w/ 2 Company Commanders, Pask (in a Punisher), Platoon Commander, Vet Squad, Command Squad, 3 Infantry Squads with a Lascannon, 2 Infantry Squads with an Autocannon, One with only lasguns, 2 Bane Wolves, a Devil Dog, a Basilisk, a Manticore, 2 Leman Russes, a Heavy Weapons Mortar team and a Vendetta. It was pretty un-optimized but it has a lot of the tools that it needs to win. We played ITC Champion's mission one - I took Recon, Big Game Hunter and Death by a Thousand Cuts; while he took Recon, Big Game Hunter and Headhunter. We only got through 4 turns, as he was pretty new to 8th edition and had to look up his stats fairly often (he was trying to play fast so no bad feelings there). I took second turn (which I did the entire event, on purpose). On his first turn, he manages to kill one crawler between all his shooting (spoiler, this is the only one he kills this game), but he only moves up the Valkyrie and the hellhounds. This gives me total control of the center of the board. From there I was able to move up, assault/flamer kill the hellhounds that presented themselves, and knock the vendetta down a bunch of wounds. From the second turn onward my saves started to kick in and I was able to just walk up the board, scoring objectives and eventually getting the bonus points a few times. Score was 27-10. Game Two My second game was against a thousand sons goat list - he had a battalion and vanguard - His list was Ahriman, 2 Daemon Princes, 3 Tzaangor Shamans, 27 Tzaangor, 8 and 9 Rubric Marines, 2x 6 Enlightened with Bows and 9 with Spears and a Fire Raptor with Quad Bolters A really solid tactical game - movement was really important. I used my nurglings to make sure that he couldn't deploy the tzaangors anywhere super close to me, except where he would have to fight the plaguebearers. This worked out in my favor, because when he finally did deepstrike them, he could only use them to tie up one PBC and the plaguebearers, which slaughtered them over three rounds of combat. Freshly invigorated, the Plaguebearers went on to kill an entire unit of Rubric Marines as well. He killed off all but one Beast of Nurgle (easily scoring the 4 points for Gangbuster), but it wasn't really enough - quickly mopped up unprotected characters once all the Enlightened were gone in turn two. I tabled him at the end of turn 4. 32-10 Game Three This game was against an unconventional Tyranid list - fairly shooty. He had two battalions, all Kronos. His list contained 2 Neurothropes, a Tyranid Prime, a Malanthrope (warlord), 30 Gants with Devourers, 20 Gants with 10 Devourers, 4x 3 Rippers, a Lictor, 6 Zoanthropes, 3 Hive Guard, an Exocrine and 2 Tyrannofexes with Rupture Cannons. This game was decided on turn two when he gave me control of midfield by not moving up to midfield; again giving me control over the objectives. I was easily able to score 5 points a round for the last 3 turns, giving me a huge points lead on the other person to go 3-0.

Hey dude; So I've been chatting with Don Hooson (the guy with 10 PBCs) - he went 5-1, and lost the first round due to himself playing poorly and his opponent playing well (by his own admission). Getting 13th out of like 500 is pretty darn good imo. Yeah, the reason I have the plaguebearers and beasts is to help screen my front and/or flanks to make sure I don't get wrapped.

I mean, if they want to shoot at my Plaguebearers with Reapers, I'm okay with that. In that particular netlist, I'm more concerned with the Shining Spears over the Dark Reapers tbh. I also always take Arch-Contaminator on my Daemon Prince in order to get those re-rolls - it's pretty awesome.

Man, do I love this tank. I've been running 6 of them in my recent lists and I have a tournament coming up on the 24th of Feb; can't wait to see how they stack up. So far it's been completely brutal. While list is technically a Daemons list (I'm going to try for best in faction in the ITC this year), it's mostly Death Guard models and the main star: The (not-so) humble Plagueburst Crawler. Oh my god is this thing amazing - T8, 3+/5++/5+++, access to 2 Plaguespitters and the bonus of also having a Mortar and HB equivalent that sometimes do some good damage. You get a lot of durability for 140 pts. In addition, as they are Daemons, they get buffs from the Daemon characters, be they Poxbringers or Epidemius - and why would that be good you might ask? Why would I care about getting +1S? Well, because the Plaguespitters are S:User, and so any buffs you can give them make them even more brutal. Also, being assault weapons, you can advance the tanks and still shoot; so you really boost that 9 + d6" move and 9" flamer. Sooooo good. Also, since they are Nurgle Daemons, they benefit from having the tree around - meaning they can fall back from combat and still flamer away. Just stoked to be playing this tank! What is your take on this monster of the tabletop?