Pestilens Thread, tactics, builds, advice

[James McPherson]

I currently run an all Clan Pestilens list, and this is a thread to write down tactics, strategies and spread the dirt.

 

 

 

[Shane]

Pestilens are weak. Their Verminlord is poor. Censor Bearers aren't worth it.

What I need to do is wait until the GH and really try to crunch a list worth playing. 

Issues:

Lack of rend

Lack of/low mortal wounds

Lack of/low saves

Catapult being high priced for something that is likely to hit once per game

 

Multiple large units of Monks with every musician/standard seems one way to play. Charge them all in (no tactics/no mercy). Launch all one time buffs. Shower the enemy in dice and then bleed all over them as you die. 

 

There's a formation with three catapults that buffs them. Can't recall the exact rule - maybe reroll hits if they all target the same unit. But that would be close to 500 pts of your force. 

Everything Pestilens related is a gamble. And gambles are hard to build around. 

Dropping the Corrupter for another Verminlord seems an absolute must. If not dropping him for a Great Unclean One entirely. 

 

I'm playing again in a few weeks. I will run a Pestilens only force once more. If units still underperform I'll move on.

[Shane]

Perhaps Pestilens Clawpack is a way in?

6's to wound cause double damage. Add in the rend and mortal wound one-off buffs and maybe,  just maybe, we're on to something here.

It does, of course, require one additional unit of Monks on top of that Virulent Horde boxset.

 

As "legacy" warscrolls are in then Lord Skrolk will be a must (D6 mortal wounds on a 3+).

 

If you do draw a Nurgle opponent at a tournament then it's probably best just to shake hands and move on. 

[polarbear]

I'm not the smartest from the tactics perspective but Pestilens has one thing going - they look awesome! I love their chubby little bodies.

I wish Plague Monks could count as battleline if you did a Nurgle-aligned army though. 

Going pure Pestilens, I'd probably load up on monks/censer bearers and go horde down the middle with catapults forcing the enemy closer. Definitely a bit limited in options.

 

[Swampmist]

The main thing that makes the Pestilens Verminlord not worthless imho is thr command trait. +1 attack with all weapons on a horde of 20+ Plague monks in the clawpack, along with one of the plague furnace buffs? Pure gravy. Espetially when taling staff+Dagger (+2 attacks per model instead of just one) with rerolls to spare. If you are running a pure pestilens army, I honestly think just throwing a sea of plaguerats at them is the way to go.

[bottle]

I heard there was a really cool formation in the Virulent Horde box. Maybe you could incorporate that in your army? 

[Shane]

42 minutes ago, bottle said:

I heard there was a really cool formation in the Virulent Horde box. Maybe you could incorporate that in your army? 

Don't open that can of worms. 

Not only is the wording atrocious, as a limited in box only formation I bet it never sees Matched Play. 

[James McPherson]

1 hour ago, bottle said:

I heard there was a really cool formation in the Virulent Horde box. Maybe you could incorporate that in your army? 

Yeah I have the Virulent Horde boxset and scroll but its not in the GHandbook or on SCGT or on the app, so people won't like playing against it in a pitched battle and won't be legal at tournaments.

There are some really nice formations that are legal,  which is one of their strengths I feel , and allow for very fluffy themed armies. Pestilent Clawpack (legacy), Plaguesmog Congregation, Foulrain Congregation and Congregation of Filth are all awesome its just fitting them all in to a list and getting it to work properly. Foulrain congregation comes to about 720 pts in total, very expensive. Skrolks command ability is nice, making your units more resilient with a -1 to hit modifier but I like the +1 attack as well as the 2x spells the Corruptor has.

one thing that interests me is the MSU approach, lots of multiple units of smaller numbers

 

bale chimes make rolls of 6's to wound hit with a -1 rend which is pretty cool. Pestilent Clawpack is probs my fav formation for Plague Monks but the 6up feel no pain save and re-rolls to charge from the Congregation of Filth formation is pretty handy too.

 

Does Contagion Banner only work on one turn per game?

If Virulent Procession means you pay for 2x congregation of filth formations plus the actual formation itself making a large total cost then it's probably not an option except for bigger games. 

 

 

[Swampmist]

I would also like to know how people have taken the wording on the Contagion Banner: Once per game or do you simply have to remember it? I personally don't like it very much, especially compared to the bell, but it would be nice to know.

[Shane]

Each unit of Monks should have both musicians and both standards.

Contagion Banner is a one time use (activated in one hero phase).

[James McPherson]

Another rules question, does anyone know if the rule of 1 applies to Prayers, ie can you pray for Wither more than once in a Hero phase?

[Shane]

All references I've seen only apply to spells. 

[Nico]

Derpcast are laughing as they can multicast and stack Lantern and then stack mystic shield on top. Really unfair.

[James McPherson]

Will this ability stack with Epidemius' buff to add +1 to their save? Ie effectively giving them a 5+ feel no pain save? Nowhere does it mention the word save, but I'd interpret it as so

 

 

[Nico]

No. See other post.

[James McPherson]

things I've noticed with the new matched play rules

the rule of 1 only applies to spells, not prayers, so its possible to spam your Plague Priests prayers which is quite handy for buffs, Wither will stack giving +1 to wound each time, and rabid fever or bless with filth are useful to spam different units in combat.

with base2base measuring the plague furnace can move up to a possible 15" making it very fast (faster than the monks pushing it!)

It is possible to choose 2 battalion formations in a 2000pt army and take Crown of Conquest up to 3 times in total (put it on your Plague Furnaces and Corruptor for durability), giving you inspiring presence up to 4 times per turn, enough to cover your entire army, so no more battleshock weaknesses, you just have to pay the points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nico]

True - except that the +1 to wound prayer is a debuff with a terrible range, making it very hard to use on a model with a bad save.

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with base2base measuring the plague furnace can move up to a possible 15" making it very fast (faster than the monks pushing it!)

So when it arrives it does about as much damage as 3 Retributors - it's really unexceptional.

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It is possible to choose 2 battalion formations in a 2000pt army and take Crown of Conquest up to 3 times in total (put it on your Plague Furnaces and Corruptor for durability), giving you inspiring presence up to 4 times per turn, enough to cover your entire army, so no more battleshock weaknesses, you just have to pay the points.

You could take a BSB (Verminus) or an army that doesn't have terrible bravery.

Overall they are a horde army, but manifestly worse than Death (who have major combat synergies in their big blocks - let alone if they wheel out Settra and bravery 10; and worse than Bloodbound (who have some of the best synergies in the game); and worse than Bonesplitterz, who have spells and nice formations and multi wound models. 

[James McPherson]

Yeah but if you take a BSB Nico, you then loose your Pestilens Allegiance. I was looking at viable Vanilla lists for now.

One way the Plague Furnaces can be used is as shields for your Monks and with Plaguesmog Congregation they suddenly dish out mortal wounds on a 2+

I also tend to find they get a lot of attention as opposing players try to take them down and they have a 4+ save and 12 wounds, which takes the heat off my Plaguemonk blobs.

I don't think they are without purpose

You are right Pestilens is a bit handicapped at the moment, but I don't agree with the notion that an army is worthless just because on paper the stats aren't as good as other armies.

They have a lot of rules which trigger when you roll 6's, which is very fun to play with, which is probably why I enjoy playing them the most.

And I also like the challenge of trying to get the best out of them .

If I was an ETC guy or a serious competitive player and all I cared about was smashing someones face in I'd probably run Archaon or not be Chaos at all in the first place. Or try to do a cheesey-as monster mash list. But I am hoping if I continue to play them and show my support for them, then the range will get developed more and we will see new releases etc.

 

 

 

 

[Nico]

Quote

One way the Plague Furnaces can be used is as shields for your Monks and with Plaguesmog Congregation they suddenly dish out mortal wounds on a 2+

Could you explain this in more detail.

[James McPherson]

Plaguesmog Congregation - formation consists of 1 Plague Furnace and at least 2 units of plague censers. costs 80 pts

I currently run 20 Censer Bearers and a Plague Furnace in this formation and am playtesting it as much as possible over the next few games

 

-1 to hit from shooting attacks against all units of the Plaguesmog Congregation as they are 'shrouded in fog'

the Poisonous Fumes special rule of the Plague Censer Bearers and Plague Furnace is replaced by a more virulent version of the rule and they are activated on a 2+ not a 4+ and cause d3 mortal wounds on any unit within 3"

 

Admitted its not much but helps a bit. The priest on top of the furnace always seems to end up doing the most damage and casting Bless with Filth (re roll wound rolls on a unit within 13") which is only available to the PF, is a VERY important buff the Plague Monks need (with Foetid blades they get to re-roll hits, then Bless with Filth will give them re-rolls to wound as well) . The PFrnace also adds +1 to bravery to those PMonks nearby which helps.

 

I'm experimenting by deploying 2x Plague Furnaces just under 6ins apart so they both activate pile ins, then sandwich a block of troops between them 3" back, nothing would be stupid enough to charge in between them all and its a safe way to carry a block of troops into position on an objective or whatever

 

I think a lot of Pestilens best tricks lay in their formations. Taking a Foulrain Congregation is probably an auto include but I've been striving to stay off the cheese just yet . Pestilent Clawpack and Virulent Procession have cool formation rules that turn scenery into 'nests' that is also really useful for battleshock and defending/taking objectives

 

I think there's a lot to explore there still

[polarbear]

Just want to say love the Pestilens enthusiasm. I've got a Pestilens/Nurgle force and since I was a kid my heart has been with Skaven. Every time I finish painting a unit I swear off Skaven but my soul always takes me back. Thinking of doubling down on Pestilens with another start collecting. I'm guessing the battalion rules are pretty worth getting in the app? Sounds like some important buffs you've mentioned.

[James McPherson]

There are 4 formations in the Pestilens book which are available legally in the GHB, they all have important buffs and playing this army you need every help you can get. Bravery One did a good podcast going into details on each one

 

By far and away all the best formations are in the narrative books though and boxsets, Bringers of the Rotsmog & The Virulent Horde are probably my two favorite Pestilens ones.

 

Thanks man, determined to persevere! I think what we lack is more ranged shooting, high rend , so adding in the Skyre Poison Wind stuff  (Acolytes with -2 rend & Poisoned Wind Mortar, & Storm Fiends) is a good way of rounding things out, but keeping with a fluffy theme, as someone else mentioned here previously. It's just to get those into a 2000pt list you have to start sacrificing Pestilens units.

 

In the future I'd like to see more Monstrous Infantry, maybe a hero or elite unit like Nurglitch riding monstrous rats. I picked up the Nurglitch model already , I am using him as a proxy , and the Plague Lord on foot too.

 

 

 

[mmimzie]

On 7/23/2016 at 4:12 PM, James McPherson said:

 

the rule of 1 only applies to spells,

 

Does it apply to spells i don't see this any where inthe rules. I think it's pretty specifically TO hit, Wound,  and Saves

[Shane]

He means 1 of each spell. Therefore not applicable to prayers. 

Rather than the 1's fail rule.

[mmimzie]

@Shane thanks