Maggotkin of Nurgle – Warhammer Age of Sigmar Guide

The Maggotkin of Nurgle are the Plague God’s army in Warhammer Age of Sigmar: rotting mortal warriors, bloated daemons and swarms of tiny Nurglings who spread disease across the Mortal Realms. This guide covers who they are, how they play in Age of Sigmar 4th Edition, where to start your collection and how to paint them.

Who Are the Maggotkin of Nurgle?

The Maggotkin of Nurgle are the followers of Nurgle, the Chaos God of disease, decay and rebirth. Where some of the other Chaos Gods show little love for their followers (Khorne, we’re looking at you), Nurgle celebrates and blesses the rotting masses who creep forwards on his disease-spreading schemes.

The army looks fantastic and is a good pick for beginners. It hits hard and can take a beating in return, but it won’t be zipping around the battlefield at speed. What it does well is grind: it soaks up damage, spreads disease and wears the enemy down over the course of a game.

What Are the Maggotkin of Nurgle Army Strengths?

Durability is the headline. Many units are slow, but watching your putrid warriors march across the table, knowing how much punishment it will take to stop them, is half the fun. Several units, Plaguebearers and Great Unclean Ones among them, can recover or shrug off damage, which lets them hold ground and keep pressure on.

The army’s signature mechanic in 4th Edition is disease. Enemy units pick up Disease Points as they fight near your forces, and those points cause them to suffer damage over time. The longer an enemy stays tangled up with your army, the worse it gets for them. Check the current Maggotkin of Nurgle battletome for exactly how Disease Points are gained and resolved.

The weakness is speed. Most of the army is slow, which makes it vulnerable to fast, mobile opponents who can pick their fights and grab objectives away from you. Most of your damage also comes in melee, so heavy shooting armies can chip away at you before you arrive — though your units are tough enough to ride a lot of that out.

Where Should Beginners Start?

For a first Maggotkin collection, these units give you a strong, flexible core:

Great Unclean One: A huge, resilient greater daemon and a spellcaster. It’s not the hardest-hitting greater daemon in the game, but it’s very hard to kill and makes a great centrepiece.
Plaguebearers: Durable daemon infantry that are good at holding objectives while dishing out a steady trickle of melee attacks.
Plague Drones: One of the faster units in the army, useful for reaching objectives and threatening flanks, though less durable than the infantry.
Nurglings: Cheap, annoying swarms that are excellent at tying up enemy units and getting in the way.
The Glottkin: A centrepiece monster that combines magic and combat. It’s a versatile unit however you choose to play it.

Exact abilities, points and unit sizes change with each battletome and balance update, so check the current battletome and the latest Battle Profiles before building a list.

Maggotkin of Nurgle Lore and History

The Maggotkin of Nurgle serve the Plague God, the Lord of Decay — the most paradoxically jovial of the Chaos Gods. Nurgle spreads his gifts of disease and entropy across the Mortal Realms. Unlike the other Chaos Gods, he is strangely paternal, viewing his plagues as generous gifts bestowed upon a grateful universe.

The daemonic forces of Nurgle are as revolting as they are resilient. Great Unclean Ones — bloated, cheerful greater daemons — lead hosts of shambling Plaguebearers, buzzing Plague Drones and capering Nurglings into battle. The Garden of Nurgle, a foetid paradise in the Realm of Chaos, endlessly spawns new horrors to afflict the Mortal Realms.

The mortal followers of Nurgle, the Rotbringers, are equally formidable. Lords of Plagues, Lords of Blights and Lords of Afflictions lead warbands of Putrid Blightkings — once-proud warriors now swollen with Nurgle’s gifts into nearly unstoppable juggernauts of diseased flesh. The Rotbringers spread their patron’s plagues wherever they march, turning verdant fields into foetid swamps.

Nurgle’s influence on the Mortal Realms has been profound. In the War of Life, the Plague God’s forces invaded Ghyran, the Realm of Life, in a direct assault on Alarielle the Everqueen’s domain. The conflict drove Alarielle’s rebirth as a war goddess and remains one of the defining storylines of Age of Sigmar. The Maggotkin represent the eternal cycle of decay and rebirth: everything must rot, and from that rot, new life emerges.

Maggotkin of Nurgle in the Current Meta

For current rankings and analysis, check our Age of Sigmar faction tier list, which we update based on tournament results and community feedback.

The Maggotkin of Nurgle are a classic anvil faction: very durable, with ways to recover from damage and to wear down enemies through Disease Points. That makes them good at grinding out long games and sitting on objectives, which matters in 4th Edition where most games are won on objective control.

Lists commonly lean on Putrid Blightkings — elite infantry with outstanding durability and respectable damage — alongside daemons like the Great Unclean One for magic and a tough centrepiece. The faction can struggle against mobile and alpha-strike armies, but skilled Nurgle players use their resilience and board control to outlast opponents in the late game.

Collecting Maggotkin of Nurgle

The easiest entry point is the Maggotkin of Nurgle Spearhead box — see our Maggotkin of Nurgle Spearhead guide for what’s inside and how to use it. Spearhead is also a great way to learn the faction before committing to a full 2,000-point army.

When expanding, focus on the units that define the faction’s playstyle. Putrid Blightkings are the backbone of many Nurgle lists — durable, hard-hitting and beautifully disgusting models. A Great Unclean One makes a magnificent centrepiece, while Plaguebearers offer reliable objective holders.

Not sure which army to collect? Answer 7 quick questions and get matched to your faction.

Take the army quiz →

Second-hand models and trades are a good way to keep costs down. Check our Age of Sigmar faction tier list to see which units are performing well before buying expensive kits.

Painting Maggotkin of Nurgle

Nurgle models are a painter’s dream: the heavily textured, organic sculpts are perfect for washes, drybrushing and experimental techniques. Start with sickly greens (Death Guard Green), pale flesh (Rakarth Flesh washed with Athonian Camoshade) and corroded metals (Typhus Corrosion over metallic base coats). Drybrush a lighter tone over pustules, armour edges and skin folds to pick out the texture. Nurgle’s Rot technical paint adds a perfect finishing touch of oozing slime.

The beauty of painting Nurgle is that messy, imperfect results actually enhance the look. Stippling, sponge weathering and heavy washes all add to the diseased effect. Blood for the Blood God adds gruesome wound effects, while Nihilakh Oxide creates verdigris on corroded armour. If you want something other than green, purple or magenta skin with yellow-green pustules is a popular alternative. Check our guide on painting Maggotkin of Nurgle for detailed tutorials.

Related Armies

If you enjoy Maggotkin of Nurgle, you might also like these armies:

Slaves to Darkness — Slaves to Darkness can pledge to Nurgle, adding resilient mortal warriors to your pestilent forces.
Blades of Khorne — Fellow Chaos god faction with a contrasting playstyle — furious aggression versus grinding resilience.
Death Guard — The Death Guard are the Warhammer 40k equivalent, bringing Nurgle’s plagues to the 41st millennium.

Everything Maggotkin of Nurgle on Warhammer Guild

Play

Painting

How to Paint Maggotkin of Nurgle

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the Maggotkin of Nurgle?

The Maggotkin of Nurgle are the followers of the Chaos God of plague, decay and resilience in Age of Sigmar. They are disgustingly tough warriors and daemons who spread Nurgle’s gifts of disease and entropy across the Mortal Realms.

Are Maggotkin of Nurgle good for beginners?

Maggotkin of Nurgle are excellent for beginners due to their durability. Your models stay on the table longer, giving you more time to learn the game. Their slow, grinding playstyle is easy to understand and execute.

What are the strengths of Maggotkin of Nurgle?

Maggotkin of Nurgle are very tough, with high wounds and ways to recover from damage. Their Disease Points mechanic wears down nearby enemies over time, and Great Unclean Ones are some of the hardiest monsters in the game.

What are the weaknesses of Maggotkin of Nurgle?

Maggotkin of Nurgle are slow, with limited mobility. Faster armies can outmanoeuvre them and avoid long fights. Their damage output is also relatively modest, relying on attrition rather than burst damage.

What are Disease Points?

Disease Points are the Maggotkin’s signature 4th Edition mechanic. Enemy units near your army build up Disease Points over time, and the more they carry, the more damage they are likely to suffer, representing the spreading plague of Nurgle’s blessings. The battletome has the exact rules for how they are gained and resolved.

Who are the most famous Maggotkin of Nurgle characters?

The best known are the Glottkin, three brothers called Otto, Ethrac and Ghurk who are Nurgle’s favoured mortal champions. Others include Rotigus the Rainfather, a Great Unclean One; Horticulous Slimux, the Garden of Nurgle’s gardener; Festus the Leechlord; and Gutrot Spume. Several of them have their own models, so check the current battletome for which ones have datasheets.

What is Nurgle’s sacred number?

Nurgle’s sacred number is seven. It turns up again and again in his lore, from Plaguebearers, the Tallymen of Nurgle who try to count every disease in creation, to units and plague names built around sevens. Many Nurgle players theme their units or whole armies around the number seven for flavour.