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I've been thinking about finally finishing outmy pestilens army and painting them up. hows this look for a 2000pt list? I have a few more things to pick up, originally i got the virulent horde box the start collecting box and few boxes for monks i played at 1500. Also is it worth allying any nurgle demons to pestilens?


Allegiance: Skaven Pestilens

Leaders
Verminlord Corruptor (220)
- General
- Trait: Fanatical Leader
- Artefact: Brooding Blade
Plague Priest with Warpstone-tipped Staff (80)
Plague Furnace (200)

Battleline
40 x Plague Monks (240)
- Foetid Blades
- Pestilens Battleline
40 x Plague Monks (240)
- Foetid Blades
- Pestilens Battleline
20 x Plague Monks (140)
- Foetid Blades
- Pestilens Battleline

War Machines
Plagueclaw (180)
Plagueclaw (180)
Plagueclaw (180)

Battalions
Foulrain Congregation (200)
Congregation of Filth (140)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 147

Looks like a solid list (I assume you aren't going for the tournament angle). Foulrain is awesome but also a bit pricey for what it does due to the catapults--the battalion itself is totally worth 200, but the plagueclaws aren't quite worth 180. That said it's merely sub-par and in a list like this I don't see you having trouble with it performing except against particularly elite armies.

In regards to Nurgle Daemons, yes, one 30-man plaguebearer unit is an exceedingly strong ally choice because it is a very tanky unit with poor offense. This is the perfect counterpart to plague monks which are extremely offensive with downright terrible defense. It's also a unit you don't need to worry about battleshock on most of the time and your Verminlord can trigger their locus ability for a bit of added kick (particularly if they have mystic shield).

As a final note, never run the plague priest with staff since the plague censer version is simply better. The once per game ability is much stronger than the casting penalty to enemies because the latter has such a tiny range on a character that doesn't want to be near the front line at all. It's also easy to convert; clip off the warpstone crystal from the staff and the smokey lantern bit in his other hand then put the smokey bit on the staff end. Trim off the spare cord from his left hand and you're done. Alternatively just clip off the staff crystal and replace it with the mini-censer from the plague monk kit.

Thanks for the tips! Coincidentally I have both versions of the plague priest I picked up the resin censor one a while back I’ll juat swap them out. I’m curious, what would a more tournament oriented list look like and how well do they do in the tournaments scene?

I'm not a total expert on Pestilens so I am a little hesitant to offer specific advice. I know of a person who does well with Pestilens but part of that is he's a very skilled player with that army. But to be honest... the best 'Pestilens' list I know of is using the Maggotkin allegiance with four Verminlord Corruptors. And that hits on the biggest thing Pestilens has going for it; Corrupters are totally OP for their points cost. Running one alongside a Plague Furnace I'm sure you notice the difference in performance despite nearly identical costs. Your main downside is that with more than one corruptor you are already getting hit with significant diminishing returns because of spell limitations (one casts mystic shield & arcane bolt, the other casts plague, and already one spell is wasted with just two). Nurgle allegiance gets around that because they can pick up additional spells from the lore or nurgle.

At any rate my generic advice is the following (but take with a grain of salt because I'm not a Pestilens expert):
-Always have a verminlord (general status optional)
-Always have a plague furnace because they are simply a cornerstone of the faction (general if the verminlord isn't)
-Take 2-4 additional plague priests, getting as many prayers per turn as you can to get the great plagues off. Also once you have Neverplague they are praying on a 2+ with no risk of mortal wounds so they become reliable damage dealers.
-Take two units of 40-man plague monks with blades & staff (in larger numbers the staff becomes better because you can get three 'ranks' to swing rather than two, their performance doesn't hinge as much on charging, and if you have a verminlord general they are getting 2 extra attacks per model)
-Ally in a 30-man unit of plaguebearers.
-Fill extra points using 10-man plague monk units with blades & the mortal-wound book on the unit leader.