This may be dumb, but... is there a fixed starting point for the players in CinOW? We've played our first game two days ago and it was awesome, but I couldn't find any note in the rulebook about the initial deployment zones.

Also Horned Rat is the strongest God in the game.

No, its entirely up to you where you make your first Summon. After that you have to obey adjacency rules.

As to the strongest god, this is something that is hotly debated. Khorne is probably the strongest with core set or expansion, but only for the first few games. After that, self balancing occurs as players become more aware of the dial, and he becomes one of the weakest.

Broadly though, Nurgle remains the weakest overall (though he can be "fixed" by giving him a free dial turn the first time he gets a dial turn). I favour Tzeentch the most with the horned rat expansion in, as he's very hard to predict or pin down, and its least likely for Khorne to catch him, which makes Khorne inclined to strike elsewhere in turn 1 Slaanesh, Horned Rat and Khorne I rate equally, for experienced players, with Nurgle equal to them if he gets the house rule fix.

No, its entirely up to you where you make your first Summon. After that you have to obey adjacency rules.

As to the strongest god, this is something that is hotly debated. Khorne is probably the strongest with core set or expansion, but only for the first few games. After that, self balancing occurs as players become more aware of the dial, and he becomes one of the weakest.

Broadly though, Nurgle remains the weakest overall (though he can be "fixed" by giving him a free dial turn the first time he gets a dial turn). I favour Tzeentch the most with the horned rat expansion in, as he's very hard to predict or pin down, and its least likely for Khorne to catch him, which makes Khorne inclined to strike elsewhere in turn 1 Slaanesh, Horned Rat and Khorne I rate equally, for experienced players, with Nurgle equal to them if he gets the house rule fix.

Nurgle is indeed the weakest and I was very surprised that he didn't get any endurance bonuses. GUO is probably the weakest Greater Daemon. I get that Nurgle is based on corrupting stuff, but he really struggles in later games.

As for Khorne... I think that he should generally being avoided and/or redirected. Tzeentch and Slaanesh work best here. Also Horned Rat can buff his units with +1 Toughness and the Rat Ogre upgrade works wonders, when you combine it with Farsqueaker.

Nurgle does have the best Lesser Daemons though. Fighting units that cost 1 each are great for achieving dominance of a region, and if you get their upgrade you can engineer situations where preventing your ruinations becomes near impossible. Also, they're the most efficient daemon for HP and attack dice per power spent, and the best at capitalising on Tzeentch's Havoc plays. Deploying second and after Khorne is also the best place to be in turn 1 as well. You can stake a claim quickly, but you can still wait to see where Khorne is leading.

With the house rule in, my group has seen a proportional number of Nurgle wins recently: not so much that he's stronger than any other god, but enough to put him on an even keel.

My own preferred gambit in 4 or 5 player with Nurgle at present is to open Plaguebearer in the populous region that is furthest from Khorne's initial play, then follow with 2 more plaguebearers and then 3 cultists.

The 3 attack dice will discourage other cultists from joining you, and will also make it uneconomical for Khorne to turn up with Bloodletters. Be sure to point this out to Khorne when he deploys in the region between the two of you. As in "my 2 Plaguebearers will have a 3/4 chance of killing your bloodletter, and cost 2 resources, while your Bloodletter has a 1/4 chance of killing my 2 plaguebearers and costs 2 resources. Whereas Slaanesh's guys over there..."

Nurgle does have the best Lesser Daemons though. Fighting units that cost 1 each are great for achieving dominance of a region, and if you get their upgrade you can engineer situations where preventing your ruinations becomes near impossible. Also, they're the most efficient daemon for HP and attack dice per power spent, and the best at capitalising on Tzeentch's Havoc plays. Deploying second and after Khorne is also the best place to be in turn 1 as well. You can stake a claim quickly, but you can still wait to see where Khorne is leading.

With the house rule in, my group has seen a proportional number of Nurgle wins recently: not so much that he's stronger than any other god, but enough to put him on an even keel.

My own preferred gambit in 4 or 5 player with Nurgle at present is to open Plaguebearer in the populous region that is furthest from Khorne's initial play, then follow with 2 more plaguebearers and then 3 cultists.

The 3 attack dice will discourage other cultists from joining you, and will also make it uneconomical for Khorne to turn up with Bloodletters. Be sure to point this out to Khorne when he deploys in the region between the two of you. As in "my 2 Plaguebearers will have a 3/4 chance of killing your bloodletter, and cost 2 resources, while your Bloodletter has a 1/4 chance of killing my 2 plaguebearers and costs 2 resources. Whereas Slaanesh's guys over there..."

I see. So to play Nurgle at his best, I also need to be quite a diplomat. Well it makes sense. Thanks for the tips and I will try to convince my group to play with your house rules.

Tabletalk is key to winning in ANY game where its a free for all.

When Khorne messes up Slaanesh and Slaanesh messes up Nurgle, its Tzeentch who wins the game.

I've found that the best way to win the game is that when someone is about to move into a position that hurts you, to point out that its not as good a move as they might think, and have they considered this better move? The alternative option is the key, as just saying "don't attack me or I'll get you back" will never work. Give people a better idea and they'll take it.

My friend says that the reason that I win over half our CitoW games is that the other players never listen to him when he says I'm a threat. Actually, the reason is that whenever he says this, I point out that if they "waste" 2 resources hunting my cultist then they wont be able to contest domination of a region over there , and they'll get 4 fewer victory points this turn as a result.

Tabletalk is key to winning in ANY game where its a free for all.

When Khorne messes up Slaanesh and Slaanesh messes up Nurgle, its Tzeentch who wins the game.

I've found that the best way to win the game is that when someone is about to move into a position that hurts you, to point out that its not as good a move as they might think, and have they considered this better move? The alternative option is the key, as just saying "don't attack me or I'll get you back" will never work. Give people a better idea and they'll take it.

My friend says that the reason that I win over half our CitoW games is that the other players never listen to him when he says I'm a threat. Actually, the reason is that whenever he says this, I point out that if they "waste" 2 resources hunting my cultist then they wont be able to contest domination of a region over there , and they'll get 4 fewer victory points this turn as a result.

I like your style and will definetly try it out myself. I sense great shenanigans ahead.