This is a Nurgle only army, so it will include no units dedicated to any other Chaos God. If a unit can have a mark, it must have the Mark of Nurgle.
The sacred number of Nurgle is seven, so I intend to use this for as many unit sizes as I can (given the constraint I have imposed on myself in terms of which components I will use). So units of multiple individuals will be in groups of seven where this is possible (one exception is that Chaos Spawn can be fielded in unit sizes of at most three).
True to the background of the Death Guard, this army will have an infantry core. There will be limited fast attack and limited heavy support. The only infantry permitted to use heavy weapons will be Terminators. There will be no tanks with a chassis larger than a Rhino, and no walkers with a chassis larger than a Dreadnought. This has the following impact on the choices available in the current codices...
| Category | Unit Type | Constraints |
|---|---|---|
| HQ* | Summoned Greater Daemon | modelled by Great Unclean One |
| HQ | Daemon Prince | Mark of Nurgle; no wings |
| HQ | Chaos Lord | Mark of Nurgle; no jump pack/wings/bike/Daemonic Steed |
| HQ | Chaos Sorcerer | Mark of Nurgle; no jump pack/wings/bike/Daemonic Steed |
| Elites | Chosen Chaos Space Marines | 7 per unit; Icon of Nurgle; special weapons but no heavy weapons |
| Elites | Chaos Terminators | 7 per unit; Icon of Nurgle; no Chaos Land Raider |
| Elites | Possessed Chaos Space Marines | 7 per unit; Icon of Nurgle |
| Elites | Chaos Dreadnought | no constraints |
| Troops | Chaos Space Marines | use Plague Marines instead |
| Troops | Plague Marines | 7 per unit |
| Troops | Noise Marines | none |
| Troops | Khorne Berzerkers | none |
| Troops | Thousand Sons | none |
| Troops | Summoned Lesser Daemons | 7 per unit; modelled by Plaguebearers or Nurglings |
| Fast Attack | Chaos Bikers | none |
| Fast Attack | Chaos Raptors | none |
| Fast Attack | Chaos Spawn | no constraints; may be modelled by Beasts of Nurgle |
| Heavy Support | Chaos Havocs | 7 per unit; Icon of Nurgle; special weapons but no heavy weapons |
| Heavy Support | Obliterator Cult | none |
| Heavy Support | Chaos Predator | no Dirge Caster |
| Heavy Support | Chaos Vindicator | no Dirge Caster |
| Heavy Support | Chaos Defiler | none |
| Heavy Support | Chaos Land Raider | none |
| Category | Unit Type | Constraints |
|---|---|---|
| HQ | Keeper of Secrets | none |
| HQ | Great Unclean One | no constraints |
| HQ | Bloodthirster | none |
| HQ | Lord of Change | none |
| HQ | Herald of Khorne | none |
| HQ | Herald of Tzeentch | none |
| HQ | Herald of Nurgle | no constraints |
| HQ | Herald of Slaanesh | none |
| Elites | Fiends of Slaanesh | none |
| Elites | Flamers of Tzeentch | none |
| Elites | Bloodcrushers of Khorne | none |
| Elites | Beasts of Nurgle | 7 per unit |
| Troops | Bloodletters of Khorne | none |
| Troops | Daemonettes of Slaanesh | none |
| Troops | Plaguebearers of Nurgle | 7 per unit |
| Troops | Pink Horrors of Tzeentch | none |
| Troops | Nurglings | 7 per unit |
| Fast Attack | Flesh Hounds of Khorne | none |
| Fast Attack | Seekers of Slaanesh | none |
| Fast Attack | Screamers of Tzeentch | none |
| Fast Attack | Furies of Chaos | none |
| Heavy Support | Soul Grinder of Chaos | none |
| Heavy Support | Daemon Prince of Chaos | Mark of Nurgle; no Daemonic Flight |
I believe that in creating an army, you should write your own story. This means developing your own background for the force you've created, which is why I originally excluded any named Special Characters from the army. But I haven't stuck to this principle in terms of the models that I've bought:
As a consequence I also think that characterisation is important, so all of the models and squads will have their own unique names (excepting the Nurglings, Beasts of Nurgle, and Chaos Spawn).
In order to create a visually arresting force, one of the very first principles that I had in my mind was to try to never use the same component twice as far as possible. This has sometimes been unavoidable (for example the basic Rhino chassis is ubiquitous) but where there is duplication I have obscured it (so the Rhino-based vehicles have very different appearances). And I've had great trouble with sourcing that many different Chaos Space Marine backpacks...
To achieve this end, I had to use the full range of components available from Games Workshop. There are components in my force from most army lists, from Warhammer Fantasy Battle as well as Warhammer 40,000, and from the various of the specialist games as well. Luckily it was still possible to buy individual components at the time that I was buying most of my models. Sadly the range of individual bits available to buy is now massively reduced (presumably due to the cost to Games Workshop compared with the revenue that component sales provides).
Nurglings swarm! So many of the pictures I've seen of Nurglings have shown three or four models per base. I think they should be modelled as proper swarms, where the bases are covered in the little fellows. As such I made the decision to model seven Nurglings per base (as appropriate for Nurgle's sacred number). So that's seven bases of seven Nurglings, for a total of 49 different Nurgling models. It was this very challenge that led me to documenting all of the Nurgling models ever made (which eventually led on to all Nurgle models).
The Warhammer 40,000 background fluff is good. Indeed, the strength of the setting is one of the most attractive attributes of the game in terms of bringing in new players. I wanted to make sure I painted the models consistently with this back story, so I chose a colour scheme which was based on the deterioration of the Death Guard's original pre-Heresy bone-coloured armour. And for organic colours I used medical and forensic photographs for reference.
Reiterating the point above on individual characterisation, I wanted each model to have its own look (which will mostly be achieved in terms of modelling). To do this, I plan to paint models individually rather than in batches, and so the exact colour mixes I use will vary from model to model. To further enhance this feel and strengthen the personalisation, I will write the characters' names on their armour (or bases if appropriate).