Nurgle’s Rotters were a Chaos team made famous by the fact that a horrible and extremely infectious disease known as Nurgle’s Rot afflicted all of its players. The team won many games by default, as it was not uncommon for opponents to simply refuse to take the field against them. Those teams desperate enough to do so were invariably changed by the experience. The Rot affects it victim slowly, deteriorating both body and spirit. As a result afflicted players either kill themselves, go mad or else sign up with the only team loathsome enough to have them: the Rotters themselves.

Unfortunately (well, unfortunate for the Rotters anyway) the team did not survive the collapse of the NAF in ’88. Without a regular supply of victims to recruit they, quite literally, went to pieces.

Nurgle’s Rot is passed on by physical contact. Victims can catch it by being in combat with disciples of Nurgle, being caught in a Stream of Corruption or by becoming a Champion of Nurgle. The Rot usually takes several months to kill its victim; it progresses from match to match, starting with the first match following contraction of the disease. The victim is grotesquely altered as he slowly turns into a Plaguebearer, then his appearance and profile continue to change until he is finally assimilated into the Realm of Chaos as a pool of protoplasm. A Champion of Nurgle who contracts the Rot becomes a carrier of the disease but does not suffer any debilitating side effects. However he can pass it on to members of his own team. If the new champion already has the Rot, its progress is halted at the stage it has reached.

A new Chaos team wishing to devote itself to Nurgle must declare one of its players as a Champion. The Champion has the skill Foul Appearance, as described in the Death Zone supplement. This skill is a measure of the progress of the Rot, consequently the remainder of the team, Chaos Warriors and Beastmen start with Foul Appearance at Level 0, indicating that they have not yet been touched by the disease. Beastmen of Nurgle lose their Horns initially bet gain them as the rot progresses.

After each match, before allocating Star Player Points, roll a D6 for each player on the team. If the number rolled exceeds the player’s Foul Appearance level his rot has progressed further and the Foul Appearance skill is increased by one level. A roll of 1 always indicates no change in condition; hence at level 0 the player must roll a 2 or more to become afflicted. Once afflicted consult the following table:

No characteristic may go below 1. At Foul Appearance level 0 the player receives none of the effects described for this skill. Upon reaching level 6 the player plays one last match after which he melts into a pool of goo. This makes him somewhat redundant on the Blood Bowl field.

If a Nurgle’s Rotter Badly Hurts or inflicts a Serious Injury on an opponent and an Apothecary does not heal it, roll a D6. On a 1 the victim is afflicted with Nurgle’s Rot, gains Foul Appearance level 1 and immediately loses one point of AV. The victim is shunned by his former teammates and has no choice but to join the Rotters if he wishes to continue playing Blood Bowl.

Roll D6 for each newly afflicted player. On a 2-6 the player signs up with Nurgle’s Rotters and may be added to the team roster for their next game. On a roll of 1 the player climbs onto the roof of the stadium and ends his career abruptly by power-diving onto the astrogranite.

If for any reason a Nurgle’s Rot victim player has the Regeneration ability, he may actually be able to reverse the progress of the disease. At the end of a match make a Regeneration roll as normal, on a successful roll the player decreases his Foul Appearance level by 1 to a minimum level of 1.

Characteristics are not lost or recovered as a result of Regeneration, but at least the player’s life expectancy may be increased. Similarly a Healing Scroll magic special play card may be use to automatically remove one level of Foul Appearance from a player; this may be used at any point during the match or in the post-match sequence.

I started to think about Nurgle’s Rotters, when the second edition of the game came out. The line drawing of the piles of goo stayed in my mind and over time, these rules have grown. I wrote these and have playtested them exhaustively. Some friends have written to me over the Internet with their comments. These are written below…

A: No. It is up to the individual coach/commissioner. I would rule that if a coach opted to play Chaos, and wanted to use Plaguebearers and a Great Unclean One (Citadel Journal 8), then he would have to use the rules for Nurgle’s Rot. I would advise the commissioner to try to have only one Rotter team in each league.

Many of the questions concerned the cost of the players, especially the Beastmen. The complaint was that the players were overpriced.

A: I think that you are paying for the concept of the Rot, by losing the extra 10,000 GCs per beastman. Soon enough they are going to get infected and have Foul Appearance (which is a 20K Physical Ability), and can use it all the time. Normal Beastmen get Horns, at the start of their playing career, but only one of them can use it per turn! You are also playing in advance for the infected opponents that your team will recruit for free.

A: It is just a question of game balance and I’d prefer them to be more difficult than a ‘normal’ Chaos team. Jervis has spiked the Death Zone teams (e.g. Halflings and Undead), so that they should be more of a challenge. I’d like the Rotters to be like that, only more so.

Summary: The cost of individual players is balanced by the unique abilities of the whole team.

A: Correct. He has the skill Foul Appearance, as described in Death Zone.

A: If he is slain then the status of Champion can be adopted by one of his teammates. If the new Champion has the Rot, at a specific level, then it’s progress is halted at the stage that it is reached. The team ‘vote’ for who becomes the new Champion, so it is your choice. It can be a Beastman, a Chaos Warrior or even a player ‘recruited’ from another team.

A: Nurgle’s Rotters do not take allies, as nobody in their right mind would actually join them. It would be a death sentence! Instead, the Rotters can acquire ‘converts’ which could include any Race. If you injure it, then there is a chance that it could play on your team! (for a short while).

A: Precisely! He joins your team, if you want him. You may make way for him/it, by ‘cutting’ a current team member, if you have no available spaces on your roster. For TR purposes he costs his list price. He has Foul Appearance Level 1.

A: Regeneration effectively means that the progress of the rot is halted indefinitely, as long as the player is at a low level when he gets the skill. He has a 1 in 6 chance of getting worse, and a 1 in 2 chance of being recovered.

A: Nurgle’s Rot doesn’t only kill, but it also ruins the flesh. A wise Necromancer has gone to a lot of trouble to keep his Mummies in good condition and his ghouls alive. While the Necromancer may not care about the Zombies, he must protect his investment. Nurgle war bands can consist of plague zombies, so the sorcerers of Nurgle must be able to maintain the undead state of a subject. They cannot Raise the Dead, but perhaps they can sustain zombie existence.

A: Keep a portion of the skills section of the roster free, or better still, draw a line down so that you have a fifth box after AV, and call this the FA Lvl box. Simply write your roster in pencil and make the necessary addition/deletions as appropriate.

A: No! I haven’t explained that well enough. FA Lvl 0 is a condition that has not yet started to express itself. Any player in this state can be blocked as normal and cannot exert the -1 modifier (on passing and catching) associated with Foul Appearance.

A Chaos Beastman in these circumstances is effectively a Human lineman. The team behaves quite normally at the beginning, but becomes fun after a few games.

Some people complained that the players got to powerful, when they got the Claw skill, especially as the opposing coach had to roll a 5 or 6, on a D6, just to block him.

I answered by saying…

At FA Lvl 6, the player plays one final game with the following punitive characteristic reductions: -1 MA, -2 ST, -1 AG. As the average Beastman player will be 5/3/2/6 [Horns, Block, Claw], at FA Lvl 5, he suffers a very high chance of deteriorating to level 6 after each game (1-5 on a D6). He is not likely to stay at FA Lvl 5 for many games and for his final game; he becomes 4/1/1/6 [Horns, Block, Claw]. It might be argued that at FA level 5 or 6 the Beastman is virtually unstoppable, but with his AG who on Earth is going to pass to him??