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I've been struggling to find a very fluffy, yet semi-competitive CSM list (not trying to win a GT here)
and am thinking a top to bottom re-work:

HQ:

Lord, Terminator Armour, Power Fist, Lightening Claw, MoN- 152pts

Troops:

10x Plague Marines. Meltagun, Plasma Gun - 265pts

10x Plague Marines, Meltagun, Plasma Gun- 265pts

10x Plague Marines, Meltagun, Meltagun- 260pts

10x CSM, Plasma Gun, Autocannon- 165pts

10x CSM, Plasma Gun, Autocannon- 165pts

Fast Attack:

Heldrake- 170pts

Heavy Support:

Tri-Las Pred- 140pts

Allies: Chaos Daemons

HQ:

Herald of Nurgle- 45pts

Troops:

20x Plaguebearers- 180pts

Total: 1782pts

Now I obviously have 70 points to play with, and see my weaknesses as long range anti-armor, as well as anti-flyer. Debated swapping auto cannons in CSM squads for either Las or Flakk Launchers. Or add in a random Obliterator (or three if I drop the Daemons). Or combine the two CSM squads and add a Dark Apostle...

The way I see it, this is a hell of a lot of tough models to put on the board with some decent short range firepower and would form a pretty relentless advance. I could drop the daemons as a whole and go Typhus+Zombies if I cut the Lord too, or cut the daemons for another Drake or daemon engine or Land Raider.

Anyhow, thoughts?

I guess it works as a fluffy list if you're playing "Death Guard with Heldrake", you might find quite a few people running a similar theme though.

You could start by taking squads of 7 models.

What about this list is fluffy? I don't understand. Are you recreating a battle force from a book or text? Nurgle Lists are pretty meta, so when you say fluffy you have to be explicit.

If you're looking for fluffy allies, the Death Guard has deep relations to the Black Legion and Night Lords through Mortarion's Pre-Heresy friendships with Horus and Curze

You Could make a "Plague of Perturabo" list composed of tons of daemon engines (9 total, 3 heldrakes, 3 helbrutes, 3 mauler/forgefiends) complimented by warpsmiths (corrupted techmarines) with MoN and cultists that have been worshiping Nurgle in secret on the planet with MoN as well.

"The Daemon Primarch Perturabo perverts the eight
rituals of possession, turning them against his enemies.
Invoking Nurgle, Perturabo imbues his curse with extreme
contagion and releases it into the mechanical systems of
Toil, a vassal forge world. The raw Chaos spreads through
the machines, and the hidden manufactorums begin to
change. On the eighth day, giant cables burst from the
earth, daemonic machines hunt the living, and many legged
cathedrals of industry prowl the wastes. The planet
is ultimately scoured of all native flesh."

You could make a "Green Death" list made up of a horde of ork boys and nurglings followed by an elite force of death guard marines and terminators.

"The infected Ork Warbands invading the Ecclesiarchy
world of Sanctia evince a terrible new barbarism. They fall
upon the planet's defenders and consume them bodily,
devouring the living and the dead alike, as if compelled
by a daemonic hunger . Bloating and swelling, the Orks
become obese monstrosities that can move only at a
snail's pace. Puzzled by this strange reprieve, the Adepta
Sororitas systematically purge the Orks with flame and
bolter. It is then that Mortarion and his Death Guard
make planetfall. The skeletally thin Daemon Primarch
looms over the bodies of the Orks as he stalks to the front
lines. At his passing, each Ork bursts apart in a shower of
foul fluids, and dozens of Nurglings spill out from their
remains to follow their master. Sanctia falls to the Green
Death within twenty hours of Mortarion's arrival, and the
plague spreads across the Ecclesiarchy-held system at an
unstoppable pace."

You could of course do a "Death that Walks" zombie/typhus list

"The first outbreak of the zombie plague occurs on Hydra Minoris
after Typhus, and his Death Guard foot soldiers penetrate to the
heart of its capital hive. As the living begin to fall prey to the painful
disease, its true horror is revealed; the dead victims begin to rise
up and attack the living. The resultant Imperial quarantine traps 23
billion uninfected citizens alongside a rising tide of the undead."

That's all I got, hope it gives you something to work with.

I think you're heavy on Troops. The normal rule of thumb tends to be one squad for every 500 points, but you have 6 squads at that point level. Not that Troops are bad, they just rob you of some utility. You are also mixing your weapons on your Plague Marine Squads. I can see how that might appear very flexible, but when you get to where you're going you'll wish you had two, not one. If you run squads of double plasma, and squads of double melta, they will be better able to deal with what they encounter. Send your plasma towards light armour and terminators, and send your melta after his vehicles.

We live in a world of flyers now. I would never remove a flyer from any list. As a matter of fact, I would recommend dropping one Plague Marine squad and adding a second one. A single flyer is too easy to bring down. If you have two, your opponent will likely split his fire trying to bring both of them down simultaneously, and both flyers will survive a little longer. Baledrakes always win back their points, and are one of the most efficient units in the CSM arsenal.

As always, just my 2¢

 changerofways wrote:
What about this list is fluffy? I don't understand. Are you recreating a battle force from a book or text? Nurgle Lists are pretty meta, so when you say fluffy you have to be explicit.

That's all I got, hope it gives you something to work with.

Appreciate the help mate, I guess I should re-define what I meant by fluffy- I just don't want a list of 3x10 cultists and 2 DPs or 3 Drakes or Nurgle Bikers etc...

Rather than fluffy, I should say "realistic".

My initial army concept was a Chaos Armored Column, that my Black Legion force were Abbadon's siege breaker troops who used Death Guard to sow disease, plague, and fear through the defenders while the might of Daemon Engines, APCs and Land Raiders smashed through the defenses.

However what I found was that everyone just ignored the Plagues and sought about blasting the lightly armored convoy to pieces.

Now I am thinking more of a relentless advance of Plague troops/Daemons followed by core Black Legion troops, and really just a saturation of T5 power armor that would be overwhelming to deal with.

I've got plenty of terminators (including those gorgeous FW DG Termies), but they seem to be useless in this age of AP2 meta and are cut down after deep striking before they can do anything at all. Likewise my Vindicator nearly never gets off a shot and the Predator is all that has really proved useful. The LR hasn't been terrible, but filling it with anything worth it's salt occupies 1/3 of my force.

I'm still very much adjusting to 6th after being away from the game for 10 years and am definitely struggling to adjust.

Bubble wrapping plasma/melta chosen in rhinos is an option as well.

Does anyone find the Daemon detachment useful? Or should I just spend those points on more CSM? I would figure 3 squads of 10 Plagues and a squad of 20 CSMs and 20 Plaguebearers would be somewhat of an overwhelming issue to deal with, unlike my previous iterations which were remarkably easy to wipe out with just about anything.

THIS ALL MY PERSONAL OPINION:

6th edition is very shoot heavy. Plague marines can shoot with many armies and are very strong medium range unit. But you have to get them within 24". Remember they are slow and purposeful. In my personal opinion, your current list as it is now isn't going to use them to their maximum potential unless you are playing Dawn of War deployment. I think you shave of 2-3 plague marines per squad and buy them each a rhino with dirge casters (never know when you may need it, but always useful). Shave off the melta and get them another plasma. You won't be crippled if one gets hot. Plus they are plague marines. You get a 3 up armor, and a 5 up feel no pain. In my experience, they rarely kill themselves.

I also have never had a good experience using bare bones Chaos Space Marines in 6th edition unless I'm playing inexperienced players. I think you can shave them off completely. You have a glaring long range weakness.If that single predator gets destroyed, you are going to have issues. If you want to stick unpossessed. For 10 points less than your current CSM squad, you can get a Predator tank with twin linked lascannons, 2 side lascannons, extra armor, and dozer blade if you are forced to move it. Thats six lascannon shots (2 of which are twin linked.) That is mean. Maybe consider a havox squad. You can get an additional lascannon shot. I love havocs, but my biggest issue is they aren't fearless without the icon of vengence. Your getting into a lot of points to spend on them, which means your getting them into an area where they may not perform. But when they do, they can single handedly win games for you. If you don't care about possession in your fluff. You could put daemonic possession on them and give them a 5 up involnurible save. But if you are going the possion route, I would only bring 1 predator, and a squad of obliterators. Obliterators are top 3 units in the CSM codex in my opinion. They can do everything. If someone deep strikes behind you, Oblits can fight back where Preds can't. 2 wounds, and double powerfists. But they can't overwatch. But if you brings Oblits, give them Mark of Nurgle so they can only be instant killed by strength 10. I never go into a game without three Nurgled Oblits. I'd put these in your heavy supports before anything else.

I'm an exclusive Chaos player, so I can't help with with the daemon side of your army.

Serg Rush wrote:

Plague marines can shoot with many armies and are very strong medium range unit. But you have to get them within 24". Remember they are slow and purposeful.

Plague marines are not slow and purposeful, unless I'm missing something

Play against Plague Marines alot. them be some tough sons O' *******, my friend brings 3 units of seven. and even around1850 i dont think I'ved ever killed more than around half. they are nasty. (plus 7 is like nurgle holy number)

What I'd really like to do is start some guard allies, but as I dislike the Cadian sculpts I'm stuck waiting on either new plastic kits or the lottery to buy myself some DKoK that can easily be used a dual purpose cultists/zombies or IG.

I have a forge fiend and LR to play with as well, but neither has ever really seemed worth it's points.

Oblits are also a possibility though I can only really rely upon them for 3 las shots every other turn if I'm intending them for backfield support.

My previous iteration of this included 2 squads of plagues in rhinos, with two squads of chosen- one melta, one plasma also in rhinos.

I've found though that rhinos in 6th seems to be merely paying 140 points to give my opponent first blood...

If you're having trouble playing Nurgle CSM or CD usually the problem is your lists don't have enough firepower. I've seen a lot of people have this problem, and the only solution seems to be to take flying daemon princes, heldrakes, and plague drones. I'm sorry, but anything else you come up with simply wont have the firepower to be competitive.

If you want to be different, take an allied Chaos Daemons detachment of a Flying DP with a balesword for instant death MC hunting to kill those riptides, other DPs, and big bugs, take some nurglings for some super durable tarpit units to deep strike in and tie up a devastator squad, and a squad of 9 plague drones that get grimoired by the daemon prince that is your death star for taking out troops.

 changerofways wrote:
If you're having trouble playing Nurgle CSM or CD usually the problem is your lists don't have enough firepower. I've seen a lot of people have this problem, and the only solution seems to be to take flying daemon princes, heldrakes, and plague drones. I'm sorry, but anything else you come up with simply wont have the firepower to be competitive.

If you want to be different, take an allied Chaos Daemons detachment of a Flying DP with a balesword for instant death MC hunting to kill those riptides, other DPs, and big bugs, take some nurglings for some super durable tarpit units to deep strike in and tie up a devastator squad, and a squad of 9 plague drones that get grimoired by the daemon prince that is your death star for taking out troops.

Previously I'd actually been going light on troops, but maxing out heavy support. The heavy supports tended to be fragile, and by going light on troops they weren't bringing much to the table anyhow and we're easy mop-ups.

 Jaiste wrote:

 changerofways wrote:
If you're having trouble playing Nurgle CSM or CD usually the problem is your lists don't have enough firepower. I've seen a lot of people have this problem, and the only solution seems to be to take flying daemon princes, heldrakes, and plague drones. I'm sorry, but anything else you come up with simply wont have the firepower to be competitive.

If you want to be different, take an allied Chaos Daemons detachment of a Flying DP with a balesword for instant death MC hunting to kill those riptides, other DPs, and big bugs, take some nurglings for some super durable tarpit units to deep strike in and tie up a devastator squad, and a squad of 9 plague drones that get grimoired by the daemon prince that is your death star for taking out troops.

Previously I'd actually been going light on troops, but maxing out heavy support. The heavy supports tended to be fragile, and by going light on troops they weren't bringing much to the table anyhow and we're easy mop-ups.

Oblits aren't fragile. They eat firepower. If they are killing them, everything else you have should get to where they need to go unmolested.

Like I said earlier. My heavy super shooty support looks like this

3 MoN, VotW Oblits (I like having them on the board to start, but many players prefer to deep strike them)

4 Havocs 4 Lascannons VotW

Predator Twin Las, 2 side las, daemonic possession.

Thats 10 Lascannons Strength 9 AP2 shots on turn 1. If you go 2nd. Hide the predator and oblits behind something. I have never had my Havocs shot at turn 1, as I have two to three rhinos with 7 plague marines and my lord charging right in their face.

Serg Rush wrote:

 Jaiste wrote:

 changerofways wrote:
If you're having trouble playing Nurgle CSM or CD usually the problem is your lists don't have enough firepower. I've seen a lot of people have this problem, and the only solution seems to be to take flying daemon princes, heldrakes, and plague drones. I'm sorry, but anything else you come up with simply wont have the firepower to be competitive.

If you want to be different, take an allied Chaos Daemons detachment of a Flying DP with a balesword for instant death MC hunting to kill those riptides, other DPs, and big bugs, take some nurglings for some super durable tarpit units to deep strike in and tie up a devastator squad, and a squad of 9 plague drones that get grimoired by the daemon prince that is your death star for taking out troops.

Previously I'd actually been going light on troops, but maxing out heavy support. The heavy supports tended to be fragile, and by going light on troops they weren't bringing much to the table anyhow and we're easy mop-ups.

Oblits aren't fragile. They eat firepower. If they are killing them, everything else you have should get to where they need to go unmolested.

Like I said earlier. My heavy super shooty support looks like this

3 MoN, VotW Oblits (I like having them on the board to start, but many players prefer to deep strike them)

4 Havocs 4 Lascannons VotW

Predator Twin Las, 2 side las, daemonic possession.

Thats 10 Lascannons Strength 9 AP2 shots on turn 1. If you go 2nd. Hide the predator and oblits behind something. I have never had my Havocs shot at turn 1, as I have two to three rhinos with 7 plague marines and my lord charging right in their face.

I picked up some Oblits today, will give them a shot. Had been running vindicator/tri las/forgefiend, was terrible. I honestly was only avoiding the oblits for aesthetic reasons.

Make sure you put mark of Nurgle on them. They have 2 wounds but are only Toughness 4. Up it to five and they only get insta killed by strength 10.