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Ok, I will cut to the chase;
After playing allot of fantasy I am a bit rusty on 40k.

I want to build a CSM Nurgle army allied with Nurgle Chaos Daemons (or to be fair, it could be the other way around TBH). I don't know jack about either army (really) and I know that from the outset this is already an up-hill struggle, but I am more a painter than a player, so I need some help on at least trying to make the army competitive.

My question is; if I wanted to build up an army using these two codex's, but with a Nurgle bias, does anyone have any lists that they would recommend for this type of army? Which are better cultists or plague bearers? (this would help with deciding the primary force).

If it helps at all the army that I will be facing against this army will almost exclusively be a Black Templar and Blood Angel allied army with massive amounts of fortification, tanks and weapons batteries.

the reason I want to add the Chaos Daemons in is purely so I can also use them as a fantasy army. None-the-less, I want to try and build up an allied force of CSM and Daemons (under the banner of Nurgle) so I can at least give this BT/ BA army a run for it's money.

I fully understand that limiting this army to the whole Nurgle thing already limits it's ability, but I know that I will enjoy painting/ building it as much as trying to make it work as a usable force. So, what advice can anyone give me? What units do I need to start off with? Do I need loads of cultists or can I just buy a bunch of CSM and cover them in green-stuff to make them rotten?

All the advice you can give me would be really useful, and upon receiving it I promise to try and post up pictures of the army as I build it up.

Thanks in advance
XK

Having just nurgle units doesnt limit you at all.

The new CSM Codex is like this: Nurgle rocks.

In addition, most armies take a HQ that unlocks elites as troops, then they take big scary daemon engines to provide some target saturation to take some fire off of the troops.

For example:

Typhus (unlocks cultists as zombies, plague marines as troops, also is good at killing everything)
Some mutilator/terminator death star to go with typhus
Heldrakes
Obliterators
plague marines/zombies

Basically nurgle CSM don't need CD nurgles. All the firepower you need is covered by heldrakes and obliterators, typhus makes a great centerpiece for a Close Combat death squad, and Plague Marines, as long as you have the points, are far superior to plaguebearers because they can shoot, are more durable, and are hell to charge because of defensive grenades and overwatch. If you need tarpit units, is easy to just take cultist zombies or chaos spawn.

a 2000 point list:

Typhus and 4 termies with MoN in a Land Raider
heldrake with baleflamer
heldrake with baleflamer
2 obliterators with MoN
2 obliterators with MoN
2 obliterators with MoN
30 zombies
30 zombies
30 zombies
30 zombies

Thats a very straight-forward list....
there are many variants on it, with different death stars, including bikers, spawn, biker lords, plague marines, raptors, tri-las predators....

Basically nurgle CSM rocks, and you have nothing to worry about. CD nurgles have deep striking, thats about the only edge they have over CSM nurgles

The nurgle benefit is poison on the offense and being harder to wound due to increased thoughness and having Feel no Pain on the defense.

Plague marines bring both to the table. Plague demons need a herald to get FnP, but can deep strike and take instant death weapons which makes them a threat to MCs.

A proper deamon army needs to mix gods a bit or go Tzeench heavy. That means you don't want to have too many Nurgle deamon units on the table.

Also consider, that as an allied force, you are allowed only one HQ and prevented from taking a bunch of heralds as that one HQ. This means that you won't be able to get more than one group of plaguebearers with FnP unless you make the deamons your main force. The key difference is that the deamons have to roll on the warp storm table every turn. However - most of the results are good for you, so that isn't really a problem.

I personally would go with CSM, with allied deamons. The allied detachment would be a herald of nurgle, a unit of plaguebearers with some extra bodies added and a soul grinder as heavy support. Those things are awesome.

Then pick up a chaos lord with mark of nurgle (or Typhus) to unlock plague marines. Take 2-3 groups of those guys. Add in some cultists in reserve to grab your home objectives later in the game to up the number of your standards. Make sure to take at least one heldrake, as they are the awesomesauce unit of the CSM codex. If you take two or three, consider adding an aegis with vox relay so you can reroll your reserves.

Consider Havocs with autocannons over obliterators. They win the cost/benefit comparison. For the 237 points that 3 two-wound MoN obliterators cost, you can (almost) have two units of havocs, each of which dishes out 8 48" S7 shots.

I understand your situation. U want demons to fight fantasy and 40k.

First figure out which models can be played in both settings. Understand the shift in the meta due to escalation and super heavy D weapons has changed the game.

Can demon prince be played in fantasy and 40k?

If i had no models and wanted to start, i would consider fmc circus. I would get the flying tzeench net list personally, but i think you can do it with nurgle. Also, i am not sure if flying demon prince can smash a titan reaver, but i think str10 can.

Hq:
The unit that unlocks dp as heavy
dp of nurgle with exalted gifts, flight, armor

Troops: 2 squads of plague bearers at least

Heavies: 3 dp of nurgle, flight, armor
(Demon of nurgle cant sweep advance)
If you really want csm then ally them.

Hq: be'lakor

Troops: cultist

Fast: spicy helturkey

Plague Marines are top-notch still, even in a Rhino. You get two special weapons per-squad. Lotsa fun.

Nurgle-marked Oblits are still pretty good, T5 mean's no insta-gib from las cannon fire.

Heldrake is a nice tool to have in the toolbox.

Don't forget Spawn.

Nurgle Spawn accompanied by lord on bike with Mace......

Guy's seriously, thanks for this.

I have decided that, overall I think I will be better off starting a CSM mono Nurgle army, with allied Chaos daemons.

changerofways; to me (and I don't really have a full handle on CSM armies just yet) all them cultists seems like loads! But I bow down to your superior knowledge dude. I have started amassing the 2000pt list you have suggested....them Helldrake things are expensive (cost-wise rather than points) but I am assured I have one winging it's way to me as we speak. I have bought up a load of Cultists on fleabay, so I can start the (somewhat daunting) task of painting them as soon as they arrive.

OrksesNevaLooz; I have also got some Spawn ordered...I will try and fit them in if I up the points to 2500 (not that there is actually a limit). I just need to show face against this Blood Angels and Black Templar co-op.

There is one last question though before I get on with this new army, and it is this;

My BT/ BA opponent has bought up a whole bunch of fortification stuff (walls of martyrs? fortress of redemption, bastions etc) to add to his army (as part of his army's FOC). My question is I assume that I can do this too? even though the models mentioned have Icarus cannons and other SM/ IG related weapons? I see that GW don't actually sell and CSM terrain/ fortifications, so I am assuming I can just use the stuff that SM and IG have as well?

It does beg the question though; why don't GW make fortifications for each army? I mean they love making money and this would be a good way of making some more. The whole thing seems a bit odd as it implies that (lets say) a Tau army would have an Imperial Guard stronghold as their fortification with IG guns and encampments. That just seem's....odd, really.

So, can I use the surface to air missile gun things, Bastions etc? And what would you guys suggest to add to a CSM army as fortifications given the options?

Thanks again for all your help, trust me, it really has helped me out in starting this army build.
XK

You can indeed, and it is odd. Would love to get me some Eldar forts, but for now I would need to scratch build.

Cheers,

V