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Nurglings, also called "Mites of Nurgle", "Gleeful Castoffs" and "Tiny Plagues", are the smallest of Nurgle's daemons. They erupt from the boils and pustules on the hide of Great Unclean Ones and caper around their giant parents, causing mischief.
In battle, Nurglings swarm over the enemy in huge numbers. Individually they are weak, but en masse they can bury warriors under a giggling, biting tide of filth.
Nurglings, also called Mites of Nurgle or Little Lords, grow inside Great Unclean Ones. They start as tiny blobs of filth nourished by the Greater Daemon's inner juices, then grow into small copies of Nurgle himself and burst out through its boils. They spend most of their time clambering over the daemon that birthed them, dancing and squabbling. The most favoured Heralds of Nurgle ride palanquins carried by swarms of them. Since the Great Rift opened, they have become far more common in realspace.
Nurglings, called Khan'gurani'i in the Dark Tongue, are tiny daemons that come out of the boils of Great Unclean Ones. They treat the Greater Daemon that spawned them as if it were Nurgle himself. They tend its sores, fetch it food and play in the folds of its flesh. Mortal followers of Nurgle learn never to leave anything valuable in their care. Nurglings constantly get in the way of the Plaguebearers' counting, and a swarm might splash through a pool of pus just as a Plaguebearer is about to finish its tally.
Appearance & wargear
Nurglings are small, green, pot-bellied imps with boils, tiny horns and wide grins.
They are grinning, pot-bellied little imps with green skin, horns, sores and needle claws. Their scratches fester. Off the battlefield they bring presents to their masters, such as dead animals, bones and fungi.
Nurglings are barely a foot tall, pot-bellied and grinning: miniature copies of Nurgle himself, covered in pustules and running sores. They are rarely a formal part of a Plague Legion. Instead they tag along behind a Great Unclean One or scamper among its Heralds and regiments.
Weapons & Vehicles
The corroded, pus-dripping combat blades of the Death Guard Plague Marines, so saturated with Nurgle's supernatural contagions that a s…
The colossal, rust-pitted two-handed battle scythe of Daemon Primarch Mortarion, forged on Barbarus and steeped in the soul-rotting pla…
The one-eyed, rotting lesser daemons of Nurgle, endlessly counting their god's diseases.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Battlefield role & tactics
Nurglings are swarms that screen, distract and tie up enemy units.
In battle they act as swarms that clog and pin enemy units, tripping and biting and absorbing fire meant for bigger daemons. Individually they are weak. Their value is in numbers and nuisance.
Swarms of Nurglings hide until the enemy is close, then surge out in a wave that buries victims under hundreds of small bodies. Each bite is minor, but their wounds fester and will not heal. They are used to screen more valuable daemons, to block objectives and to slow enemy advances. They can also carry their masters on a Palanquin of Nurgle. Death Guard warriors often find them annoying because they steal Blight Grenades and mimic orders in squeaky voices.
Notable battles & users
- Great Unclean Ones: Nurglings swarm around Nurgle's Greater Daemons, especially Ku'gath.
- Dulthrox Globbergor, the 'Father of Mites': a Death Guard Malignant Plaguecaster carried into battle on a mound of adoring Nurglings.
Related
Characters (2)
Grandfather Nurgle · Chaos God of Disease, Decay and Despair; the Plague Father
Ku'gath Plaguefather · Great Unclean One of Nurgle
