p9 — Nurgle Fleet

A Nurgle Fleet may consist of the following:

Men O' War: 1+
At least one Nurgle Plagueship. Cost: 150 points per Nurgle Plagueship.
You may have one allied Man O' War of another Chaos Power for every Nurgle Plagueship in your fleet. Cost: 150 points per Khorne Bloodship. 150 points per Slaanesh Hellship. 150 points per Tzeentch Great Winged Terror.
Ship of the Line Squadrons: 2+
At least one squadron of three Plaguecrushers. Cost: 150 points per squadron.
At least one squadron of three Deathgalleys. All Deathgalleys must be loyal to Nurgle. Cost: 200 points per squadron.
Chaos Sorcerer: 0-1
The Chaos Sorcerer is always aboard a Bane Tower of Tzeentch. Cost: 200 points including Bane Tower of Tzeentch.
Chaos Lord: 1
A Nurgle Fleet is commanded by a Chaos Lord of Nurgle aboard one of the fleet's Plagueships. Cost: Free.
Chaos Reward Cards: 0+
Note that the Nurgle Fleet's flagship does not receive a free Chaos Reward card. Cost: 25 points per card. Man O' War cards are not available to the Nurgle Fleet.

p13

The massed ranks of the assembled Chaos Warriors waited eagerly on the boarding ramps, swords dripping gore from the pre-battle blood offerings. Their bestial chanting, and the muted clanking of their weapons grating on their armour, reached Deathmonger's keen ears even through the thickness of his iron helm. Beastmen bellowed their rage at each other, stamping their cloven hooves as they jostled and bit each other in their lust for battle.

Glancing to starboard, Deathmonger saw the huge Plagueship of Nurgle swing out of formation and head towards the approaching Imperial Fleet. Slime fell in fatty gobbets from its hull as it eased forward, the thick black cloud of bloated flies almost obscuring its malformed shape. Dragging its ungainly bulk through the waves, the Plagueship left a stinking stain on the surface of the otherwise clear seas, marking its passage with its filth-ridden wake. Dimly-seen decaying and corpulent warriors reverently loaded its plague catapults with their deadly cargoes - plague spores, detritus and nurglings that climbed eagerly into the great launching cups. The huge expanses of mildewed rag which served as sails flapped indolently in the indifferent breeze, proclaiming the arrival of the Plaguefleet to any foolhardy individuals who might actually be close enough to watch.

The pungent stench of the Plagueship to starboard mixed with the heady fragrances drifting in from the port. There the Hellship of Slaanesh forged its many-coloured path towards its victims, delicate spider trails of brilliant light beaming forth from the tall dome atop its elegant decks. Saardis Vaarn, Champion of Slaanesh, poised at the bow of his ship, glanced across to catch Deathmonger's gaze. He raised a slender leather-clad hand in languid salute, grinning as he urged his brightly bejewelled craft to greater speed. White foam crashed around its bows as the Hellship surged forwards, easily outpacing the Bloodship of Khorne in the race to battle.

Deathmonger acknowledged the greeting with a curt nod of his armoured head. He knew that beneath the debauched appearance and fine silk raiment, Saardis Vaarn was arguably one of the greatest servants of the Chaos Lords, and his fighting skills legendary.

Overhead hovered the Bane Tower of Tzeentch, the incomprehensible Knower of All Things. It glowed blue-white, the barely-controlled coruscating raw magical energy of the warp arcing and flashing across its hull.

Deathmonger didn't know the name of the strange Chaos Sorcerer who chose the Bane Tower as his battle steed; as the heavily-cowled wizard had explained in clipped tones when they first met, to know the name of your enemy is to wield great power over him. Deathmonger had grunted dismissively then, and did so again now. He had little faith in the fickle power of the Changer of Ways. Deathmonger followed the way of the warrior - an honourable path to Daemonhood through battle after bloody battle.

Even so, the Bane Tower, and the Sorcerer within it, still commanded a measure of respect from the blood-stained Champion of Khorne, for he had seen it consume many foes in unearthly fire, or summon great waves and plunge ships into the cold ocean depths. As he watched, the Tower accelerated with incredible rapidity, glowing an intense white as it shot towards the heart of the Imperial fleet.

---

The Deathgalleys were gathering around Deathmonger's Bloodship. Their sails billowed in the wind as they wallowed in the wake of the towering Man O' War. Deathmonger paid them scant regard: they had their orders and would either fulfil them or die in the attempt. To those that survived the onslaught, perhaps there would be a reward from their fickle chaos masters; for those that died, eternal damnation. Deathmonger shrugged and turned away.

The Imperial fleet loomed large before the Plaguefleet, a bristling wall of cannon and steel. Deathmonger counted the Wolfships and the Wargalleys, arrayed in ranks before the Admiral's Greatship. Deathmonger knew many of the larger Imperial vessels by name, their fearsome reputations going before them. He recognised the Greatship Karl Franz as a mighty warship and a worthy foe.

Gesturing with a heavily mailed fist to his lieutenant, Deathmonger's coarse voice rasped his instructions.

"Sound the war cry. Unleash the burning skulls."

The lieutenant grinned, showing sharp steel fangs. He screamed his leader's commands at the lesser warriors below. They moved to take up their appointed battle stations as the ship's great bronze horns trumpeted the charge.

The Bloodship lurched forwards, closing the gap with the Imperial warships. The burning skulls were flung into the air, filling the sky with the acrid smell of scorched blood and bone. The deadly missiles flew as blazing streaks of flame, crashing down amongst the Imperial ships and igniting sails and crew alike. Imperial halberdiers on the deck of the nearest Wargalley leapt into the sea screaming, their clothes aflame.

The tension on the Bloodship's decks was rising to breaking point, the battle rage sweeping through the crowded warriors. Deathmonger knew that they would soon be uncontrollable: becoming insensate killing machines as all rational thought was consumed by the need to kill and kill again. As if to emphasise his thoughts, a Minotaur suddenly stampeded through the packed ranks of the thugs and cultists, completely berserk with frenzied bloodlust.

Then, as one voice, the hoarse cry rose to a bellowing cacophony.

"Blood for the Blood God."

Deathmonger grinned as he braced himself for the shock of the Hammer of Khorne striking home. Drawing his black Chaos Blade from its scabbard of flesh, his rasping voice joined those of his eager warriors as the gaping maw of the Bloodship spewed molten lead and iron upon its ill-fated victims.

p22-23 — Nurgle Plagueship

Plagueships of Nurgle are hideous to behold. They are huge, rotund vessels lashed together from mildew-ridden, slimy planking. They fly vast, ragged and rotting sails from their uneven and splintered masts. Their great treadwheels lazily churn the sea as they plod forward under a cloud of flies.

Behind them, the Plagueships leave a trail of disgusting detritus, polluting the sea and killing fish for miles around. Cackling Chaos Spawn and Nurglings swarm over their slippery, rotten decks. The stench of a Plagueship passing causes even the strongest stomach to retch as the foul smell of this immense tub-like vessel drifts downwind.

Movement

A Plagueship can move under sail or by paddle. At the start of the Battle Phase, you must declare which method of propulsion each Plagueship in your fleet is using this turn.

A Plagueship moving under sail uses the normal rules that govern sailing ships. It has a standard move rate of 6" under sail, whether the wind is from abeam or astern.

A Plagueship moving by paddle uses the following rules. It may move 4" per turn. It may use half its move to make a single turn on the spot up to 90°, or use all of its move and make a single 180° turn.

Plague Catapults

Plague Catapults are the principal weapons onboard a Plagueship. They are loaded down with plague-spores, excrement, rotting material and the infectious filth of decay. When fired, these disgusting weapons swing through a lazy arc and despatch their foul, diseased payloads towards their enemy.

A Plague Catapult may not be fired at close range because of its angle of fire. Shots made at ships within this range band simply pass straight over the target's masts and have no effect. This means that ships at close range may block line of sight to targets farther away, but are not themselves eligible targets.

It must always be aimed high - you cannot target a low location on the target ship. If the target has no high or low locations, like an Imperial Wargalley for instance, any of its locations may be shot at.

If a location is hit and fails its saving throw, it takes one point of damage and the plague spores crash down to the location below, just like a normal catapult.

This second location also gets a saving throw, adding +1 to the dice roll because of the diminished penetrating power of the shot. If this location fails it also takes one point of damage and the spores continue down. This process continues until a location makes its save or the shot passes straight through the ship, adding +1 to the saving throw each time a new location is damaged.

If the shot passes through an area that has already been destroyed the area does not take a critical, the shot just passes straight through to the location below.

If there is a choice between two locations as the shot falls roll a dice; on a 1, 2, or 3 the shot hits the left-hand area, on a 4, 5 or 6 the shot hits the right-hand area.

Once a successful shot has completed its path of destruction and has come to a stop, roll a second dice; on a result of 5 or 6, even if no damage has been caused, the ship has been infected with Nurgle's Rot - place a Nurgle's Rot counter on the top of the ship's template, next to the crew stack.

Nurgle's Rot Counters

During the End Phase, between rolling for blazes spreading and moving stragglers, the Chaos player rolls a dice on the following table for each Nurgle's Rot counter.

Roll	Result
1-2	The frenzied efforts of the ship's surgeon to contain the spread of the disease pay off. Remove one Nurgle's Rot counter from the infected ship.
3	The plague has no effect this turn.
4-5	The plage runs riot through the crew, incapacitating them. Remove one crew counter from the infected ship.
6	The ship's hold creaks as it begins to decay. The infected ship takes one point of below the waterline damage.

Slime Trail

As the Plagueships of Nurgle plod across the seascape, they leave a stinking trail of foetid slime behind them. When the Plagueship has finished moving, lay the slime trail template behind it. The slime trail template remains in place until the Plagueship moves again.

The enemy player must roll a dice for any ship touching the slime trail template; on a score of 1, 2, or 3, the ship is infected - place a Nurgle's Rot counter on its template.

Boarding Actions

Any ship involved in a boarding action against a Plagueship must place one Nurgle's Rot counter on its own template for every round of combat it remains in contact with the Plagueship.

p24-25 — Nurgle Plaguecrushers

Nurgle Plaguecrushers are bizarre-looking vessels. They are loosely based on a Wargalley's hull, but have a huge siege tower sticking up from the central deck, built from whatever rotting and diseased timbers can be found.

The Chaos Cultists that serve aboard these vessels are protected by this tower from grapeshot and arrows as they close with the enemy fleet. Once in range, the slime-dripping Plague Catapults mounted at the top of the tower lob their filth-laden missiles towards their targets, spreading disease and pestilence wherever they strike.

Movement

A Plaguecrusher can move under both sails and paddles.

Under sail, a Plaguecrusher can move 6" whether the wind is coming from the side or from behind.

Under paddles, a Plaguecrusher can move 6". It can use 3" of this movement allowance to make a single turn of up to 90° on the spot, or use all 6" to make a single 180° turn on the spot. A Plaguecrusher may move 3" backwards instead of making its normal move. It may use the normal turn template if you want.

Combat

Each Plaguecrusher is armed with two Plague Catapults mounted on a boarding tower firing straight ahead.

A Plague Catapult may not be fired at close range because of its angle of fire. Shots made at ships within this range band simply pass straight over the target's masts. Because they are mounted at the top of a tower, the Plague Catapults on a Plaguecrusher may ignore any vessels in the first 3" of the firing template; they do not block line of sight to other vessels.

It must always be aimed high - you cannot target a low location on the target ship. If the target has no high or low locations, like an Imperial Wargalley for instance, any of its locations may be shot at.

If a location is hit and fails its saving throw, it takes one point of damage and the plague spores crash down to the location below, just like a normal catapult.

This second location also gets a saving throw, adding +1 to the dice roll because of the diminished penetrating power of the shot. If this location fails it also takes one point of damage and the spores continue down. This process continues until a location makes its save or the shot passes straight through the ship, adding +1 to the saving throw each time a new location is damaged.

If the shot passes through an area that has already been destroyed the area does not take a critical, the shot just passes straight through to the location below.

If there is a choice between two locations as the shot falls roll a dice; on a 1, 2, or 3 the shot hits the left-hand area, on a 4, 5 or 6 the shot hits the right-hand area.

Once a successful shot has completed its path of destruction and has come to a stop, roll a second dice; on a result of 5 or 6, even if no damage has been caused, the ship has been infected with Nurgle's Rot - place a Nurgle's Rot counter on the top of the ship's template, next to the crew stack.

Plague Counters

During the End Phase, between rolling for blazes spreading and moving stragglers, the Chaos player rolls a dice on the following table for each Nurgle's Rot counter.

Roll	Result
1-2	The frenzied efforts of the ship's surgeon to contain the spread of the disease pay off; remove one Nurgle's Rot counter from the ship.
3	The plague has no effect this turn.
4-5	The plage runs riot through the crew, incapacitating them; remove one crew counter from the infected ship.
6	The ship's hold creaks as it begins to decay; the infected ship takes one point of below the waterline damage.

Boarding Actions

Every round, place one Nurgle's Rot counter on the template of any ship involved in a boarding action against a Plaguecrusher.

Plague Tower

Because the Plague Tower protects the Chaos Cultists onboard, any ship boarded by the crew of a Plaguecrusher does not get any bonus for firing grapeshot in defence.

Crew and Chaos Rewards

A Plaguecrusher is crewed by Chaos Cultists; see the Chaos Crews section for more details.

A Plaguecrusher may only be given Chaos Rewards of Nurgle. See the Chaos Rewards section for more details.

p67-68 — Chaos Scenarios

2: Plaguemonger

A foul odour carries on the breeze, drifting inshore. In the distance, the tolling of a great bell is heard, and coastal villagers choke and gag on the evil stench. The Plaguefleet is coming, and none can withstand it!

Set-up

The set-up for Plaguemonger is as follows:

Terrain

Set up the terrain as you would for a normal game. The Chaos player may roll to see if he can bring on Chaos terrain if he wishes.

Fleets

The non-Chaos player may field any non-Chaos fleet, chosen from any of the Fleet Lists.

The Chaos player must field a fleet chosen from the Plaguefleet Fleet List.

Once both players have chosen their fleets, deploy them using the normal rules.

Objectives

The Chaos player must move his Plagueship into contact with as many pieces of terrain as possible, to infect them with Nurgle's Rot.

The non-Chaos player must try and prevent the Chaos player spreading the disease by destroying the Plagueship.

The Plaguemonger scenario has a limit of 10 turns.

Special Rules

Place a Nurgle's Rot counter on each terrain piece that the Plagueship comes into contact with. During the End Phase of the turn in which the Nurgle's Rot counter was placed, roll on the following table:

Roll	Result
1-2	The plague burns itself out; remove the Nurgle's Rot counter from the terrain piece.
3	The infection is spreading, but hasn't yet got a stranglehold on the area. Roll for this Nurgle's Rot counter again at the end of next turn.
4-6	The Plague takes hold; the terrain is infected with Nurgle's Rot.

Battle Honours

All the normal Battle Honours apply.

In addition, the Chaos player gets 2 Battle Honours for each terrain section infected at the end of the game. The non-Chaos player doubles his Battle Honours if he sinks the Plagueship.

Chaos Reward Cards of Nurgle

Hideous Strength

Type: Special Attack

This ship gives off a foul smell which floats downwind as a choking cloud. Using the range ruler, any ships within 9" and downwind of the stench suffer a -1 on boarding action dice rolls as the crew is sickened by the foul odour and cannot fight to their full potential.

Plagueship

Type: Special Attack

Flies cover this ship like a cloud, and numerous hideous diseases run rife onboard. Any vessel that comes too near runs the risk of catching the plague.

Any ship which comes into contact with this ship must roll a dice; on a score of 6, one crew counter is removed as the sailors succumb to Nurgle's Rot.

Poisoned Arrows

Type: Special Attack — Use Then Discard

In preparation for battle, the reeking, rotting warriors of Nurgle coat their weapons with an evil, green slime that withers and melts flesh on contact.

Before starting a boarding action, roll a dice for each crew counter on the enemy ship; on a score of 5 or 6 the crew is killed by poisoned arrows and the counter is removed.

Regenerate Damage

Type: Ship Ability

This ship has an indistinct, almost flowing outline, as great gobbets of slime shift and roll across the deck, dripping down the hull into the sea. This thick substance seeps into any holes made in the ship, plugging them up and making the hull watertight again.

At the end of each turn, roll a dice for each location of the ship that is damaged; on a score of 6 the location is repaired.

Ship Rot

Type: Special Attack — Use Then Discard

This ship has a forward-firing catapult loaded with slime and rotting filth. It may fire once per battle and has a 9" range. Roll to hit as a catapult. A 1 misses. Any area hit takes 1 point of damage.

Roll for the rot spreading immediately, using the fire spreading table. Any area it spreads to must make a saving throw or take a point of damage. Roll for each area the rot spreads to until it either tries to spread to an area it cannot, remains still, re-infects a rotten area, or the whole ship is affected.

Tentacles

Type: Special Attack

The prow of this ship is covered in writhing, slime-coated tentacles which grope and grasp with grinding suckers.

The tentacles have a 3" range and may be used once per Battle Phase. Roll a dice; on a score of 6, the target ship loses one crew counter as the screaming sailors are plucked from the deck and ripped limb from limb.

Vomit Blast

Type: Special Attack — Use Then Discard

As this ship approaches its target, a huge toad-like mouth opens at its prow, vomiting a torrent of caustic, foul-smelling bile at the target.

The blast has a range of 6" and uses a plague trail template. It is always aimed low, is a 3 dice attack, and has a saving throw modifier of -2.

Wart Scales

Type: Ship Ability

This ship is covered in thick, warty growths that glisten with a hideous slime.

These scale-like nodules add +1 to all the ship's saving throws.

Chaos Magic

Plagueflies

Casting Number: 7+

A writhing cloud of millions of noxious plagueflies rolls towards the enemy fleet. The thick, treacly layer of flies descends on a single vessel, their weight causing it to settle in the water. With a terrible droning noise, the flies crawl into the noses and mouths of the target's crew. Those that survive the choking mouthfuls of flies clogging their lungs, rapidly die from the myriad infections of Nurgle that coat the buzzing insects.

Roll a dice for each crew counter on the target ship; on a score of 4, 5 or 6 it is removed.

Plague Sea

Casting Number: 8+

The sea takes on a bilious green hue, coagulating to the texture of cold blood, and the wind is stifled to a sluggish breeze by the foetid vapours which rise in idle columns from the flat surface of the sea. Oars have no effect in this slowly pulsating liquid, while sails remain still in the deadened air.

The only vessels that can move or manoeuvre upon this outlandish ocean are the ships of Chaos, who seem to draw power and sustenance from the sweetly cloying waves.

All ships except Chaos vessels are totally becalmed, and are unable to move this turn.

Vision of Despair

Casting Number: 8+

The enemy crew's battle-lust is replaced by an all-pervading feeling of doom.

Nominate a target and roll a dice.

If the score is lower than or equal to the number of crew counters currently on the target ship, the spell has no discernable effect.

If the score is higher than the current number of crew counters on the target ship, then its crew simply give up all hope; the ship may do nothing this turn, not even defend itself against any boarding actions. If the ship is boarded this turn the crew simply surrender.