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Ok, here's the deal.

I've been playing Imperial Guard for a while now, and frankly, as much as I love them, I feel it's time for a new direction. I'm tired of missing all the important shots, and I'm tired of getting mauled in close combat.

So, I need a new army, and it needs to be good. There's a local 1500 point tournament that runs every 6 months, and my guard have not exactly done so well in it. Having seen the pre-heresy Deathguard on The Bell, i've decided that's the direction I'd like to go in. A Nurgle chaos army, but in their pre-heresy colours. Anyway, enough fluff.

I have no idea where to begin. I'm a total chaos noob. So, esteemed Dakkaites:

If you had to build a 1500 point Nurgle Chaos Space Marines army, what's the best you could come up with?

I've read the wiki articles, I've had a look through some threads, though I can't work out how to order by date, which makes searching here tricky. I've also read the wiki article, but that seems geared for 2000 point armies. So, i ask now for your charity.

Lots of points leftover, kit out your DP and/or get another oblit.

1500 Pts - Chaos Marines Roster

1 Daemon Prince @ 130 Pts
Close Combat Weapon; Fearless; Wings

1 Daemon Prince @ 130 Pts
Close Combat Weapon; Fearless; Wings

2 Obliterators @ 150 Pts
Power Fist; Obliterator Weapons; Fearless; Slow and Purposeful

1 Obliterators @ 75 Pts
Power Fist; Obliterator Weapons; Fearless; Slow and Purposeful

1 Obliterators @ 75 Pts
Power Fist; Obliterator Weapons; Fearless; Slow and Purposeful

13 Plague Marines @ 382 Pts
Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Bolter; Meltagun (x2); Blight Grenades; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Feel NoPain; Mark of Nurgle
1 Plague Champion @ [63] Pts
Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Bolter; Blight Grenades; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Feel NoPain; Mark of Nurgle

13 Plague Marines @ 382 Pts
Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Bolter; Meltagun (x2); Blight Grenades; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Feel NoPain; Mark of Nurgle
1 Plague Champion @ [63] Pts
Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Bolter; Blight Grenades; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Feel NoPain; Mark of Nurgle

Total Roster Cost: 1324

Excellent choice mate, and nice list made up by stelek too, will do ya well.

Death Guard is a very nice defense-offense army if ya use it right. I personally like to lead with the plague marines, allow enemy to charge as you blast em with rapid fire, then swoop in with DP for the close combat. Blight grenades cancel out extra attack from opponents charge (beware other effects though), then plague marines hold enemy until reinforcements arrive (DPs).

Although stelek might disagree for 5th edition rules purposes I personally think 2xplasma is better for PM squads, cus you figure with 3 initiative and blight grenades you rarely ever charge, would be better off/do more damage standing still shooting til they charge you, and obviously 2 extra blasts from a low AP weapon can do wonders. Leave the anti-tank to the oblits and DP if necessary, MC+wings is nice

Another deadly combo is a Daemon Prince with mark of nurgle (fluffy too, can't beat it!), they just don't die. Although some may argue other marks, it's death guard...cmon now... ;P

Warptime on DP is nice but not entirely necessary, might end up bein too many points for a 1500pt army, but I like it. Nurgle's rot is okay..doesn't do as well as I'd like versus tougher armies, but you might find it useful. Maybe if you have extra points you don't know what to do with.

I'm quickly finding that obliterators are an important asset to a chaos army when used properly, thanks to the folks on this forum. Use em.

Taking a rhino or 2 by itself simply for disembarked troop cover (not to ride in) is a popular choice it seems, could possibley work nicely with this army.

Glad to see another join the ranks of nurgle, hope this info helps! Good luck,
Fiend

Thanks to the both of you. I know Stelek is a very capable Chaos player, so his list seems a pretty damned solid place to start.

With the point's left over, I'm leaning towards two Marks of Nurgle for the DPs, as well as Warptime for one, and Rot for the other. This gives me 96 points left over, which is either 2 Rhinos or another Obliterator, with an additional 26/21 points spare for either plasma guns, or something else. I'm leaning towards the Rhinos - they're much cheaper now, and the prospect of parking one in front of my enemy's most immobile shooty units to block their lines of sight is an attractive one. Any words of wisdom as far as the rhinos are concerned?

You got the right idea with the DPs, can't go wrong usin both. Rhinos or obliterator is your call, depends on what you're up against, or how ya like to play. I would definitely give at least one plague marine troop 2xplasma, maybe keep the other 2xmelta.

If you go with the rhino's some might argue extra armour is a good choice. I won't disagree but you figure if a rhino is stunned with troops merely following it, it can easily catch up with its faster speed and be right in front of em again next turn (or just wait), on the other hand it's only 15 points a piece. Extra rapid fire support on pintle is always nice too.

If things get too hot and you start losin troops can always take off if your down to 10 or less models per unit. Even though I hate retreating with something as tough as death guard ;D

Can always use em as cover as well; keep your plasma and maybe a few others out front with more than half behind vehicle for cover save when your staring down a low AP weapon. 4+ is certainly better than no armor save possible. And even a destroyed vehicle wreck can be used in this way.

On the other hand obliterators just downright kick ass. Can't go wrong with em no matter what their range to target is. Cover fire and strategic positioning with them makes for points well spent.

Can always take more marines too. More troops = more secure power fist and plasma/melta investment.

In the end it's up to you tho mate ;D Good luck,
Fiend

Obliterators pretty much own anything. The best combo for them IMO is with a SLaanesh DP with lash, you get more than a bang for your buck with the Plasma Cannons. The lash really allows you to screw with your opponent and hinder his movements.

I know you're going for a nurgle theme and wouldn't advise for or against giving you DPs the MoN.

It is a solid list I just question the mobility of it all. Play test this one as it is for the moment and see where you lack. Fill in what needs to be and you should be set, good luck!

Wound allocation rules screw plasma guns from large nurgle squads. That's why I stopped recommending them and went with meltas.

Sorry to get off topic but.. I'm not quite sure I understand why taking plasma over melta benefits a unit of that size versus 5th edition. If you do your allocation before the save that would mean they'd need to land 10+ wounds in order to reach the plasma/fist. Not to say this won't happen (and on the turns following), but it just doesn't seem so threatening that you should worry about a whole 10 points extra per unit, if that is indeed what your talking about. Please explain sir

Let's say you have a 14 man nurgle squad.

A 8 man tactical squad shows up.

You get 4 plasma hits (and wounds).

You also get 6 bolt pistol wounds.

So that's 10 hits vs 8 bodies, so you assign the plasma hits first and last.

2 marines die, and then the other 5 marines take 6 regular saves.

If you fired bolters, you could get more bolter hits but that just means more 3+ saves. Now let's say you wanted to charge into CC, with plasma guns you can't.

So, you fire bolt pistols and melta guns...and you get about the same result, but you can charge into CC.

That way, the tactical squad with a plasma/las can't fire 3 shots into you that would all likely go into 3 different plague marines. 1 would die to the las, and the other 2 would get FNP.

Make sense? It's not just MY turn of shooting, it's what YOU can shoot back at. Larger squads are more durable, but unless the other guy rolls very well, odds are you won't be able to assign double plasma hits to one guy.

That arguement works well at 12" but the true benefit of the plasma, especially with chaos marines who are walking armories, is it's ranged ability. Sure, against the standard las/plas marine squad you end up with similar wounds, but still the plague marines take less casualties because of FNP. I'd also gladly take lascannon fire on my plague marines if it meant that my armor and/or DP was getting to where they need to be.