Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Nighthaunt: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:29, 3 July 2018

Why play Nighthaunts?

Pros

You can wear a sheet over your head without disappointing your parents.
Army wide ignore wounds and mortal wounds on a 6.
Army wide fly means you pay no heed to the idea of "Battle lines", just go above your enemy and hit them where it hurts.
Strong leadership and small army size means routing is never an issue
Dish out mortal wounds like it's nobody's business.
GW support, with some of the best models released recently.
You have one of the best mobility in the game. With deep strike, teleportation, and that all of your units fly. You can run around your enemy(or crash into them like a screaming banshee train) with ease! and you're not all that fragile too.
Every hero you've got is a potential wizard.
12 hero options to choose from. Spoilt for choice.

Cons

Your most important leader (Knight of Shrouds) is painfully monopose.
Mourngul is expensive (In points and real dosh).
Despite perfectly fitting the aesthetic, Mortis Engines aren't Nighthaunt units, while Black Coaches (A unit which doesn't) is.
Lack of reliable staying power means you're going to get torn apart if you aren't lucky with mortal wounds.
Like a lot of Death armies, your heroes are the chain that binds the army together. If they get killed you might as well go back to the grave.
12 hero options to choose from. Whaimmagonnadoo?

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

Aura of Dread: -1 Bravery to enemy units within 6" of yours. Decent, but nothing special.... until you read below.
Deathless Spirits: Each time NIGHTHAUNT unit takes a wound/mortal wound. If that unit is within 6" of your general or any other NIGHTHAUNT HERO it can ignore the wound on a dice result of 6.
Feed on Terror: If an enemy unit fails a battleshock test, a NIGHTHAUNT HERO within 6" heals 1 wound. Adds a bit of sustainability considering how you desperately need to keep your heroes... unlive?
From the Underworld They Come: For each unit you set-up on the battlefield you can keep them in reserve. Then you can deep-strike them with all of the normal limitations(9" range, can't move yadda yadda). No need to roll a dice now!
Wave of Terror: When a NIGHTHAUNT unit makes an unmodified charge roll of 10+. The charging unit can immediately fight, and can still fight again in the following combat phase.

Command Traits

Hatred of the Living: Your general can re-roll all hits unless the target has the DEATH key word.
Terrifying Entity: At the start of your movement phase, roll a d6 for each enemy unit within 3" than your general. If the result is equal to or greater than their bravery characteristic, that unit must retreat. Combos with your -1 bravery aura from Aura of Dread. Amazing against mob armies with low base bravery. Get them to retreat and then charge them again for the chance of that tasty, tasty 10+ charge.
Lingering Spirit: The general gets +1 wound. Absolute trash
Spiteful Spirit: If an enemy unit inflicts a wound on your general in melee combat, roll a d6. If you roll a 5+, enemy unit takes a mortal wound after all attacks have been made.
Cloaked in Shadow: General gets +1 to saves (Edit: It was FAQed: It now gives -1 to hit for ranged attacks vs. the General). It's worth noting that with Look Out, Sir! it becomes -2
Ruler of the Spirit Hosts: At start of hero phase, return d3 models to a friendly SUMMONABLE NIGHTHAUNT models within 9" of the general. Use on hexwraiths or spirit hosts for maximum wound-return efficiency.

Nighthaunt Artefacts

Cloak of the Waxing Moon: Your opponent is at -1 to wound in melee against the owner of this cloak.
Pendant of the Fell Wind: Add +3" to the movement of any Nighthaunt units within 6" of this character at the start of their phase.
Dreadbolt Ring: If this model inflicts one or more wounds in the combat phase, then inflict d3 mortal wounds on an enemy unit within 3" after this model has finished attacking.
Lightshard of the Harvest Moon: Once per battle you can reroll failed hit rolls for all friendly Nighthaunt units within 6" of this model during the combat phase.
Midnight Tome: The model becomes a Wizard and can cast/unbind once per phase and knows the two basic spells. If the model is already a wizard, it can cast one more spell
Covetous Familiar: Each combat phase, roll a dice for every enemy unit within 3". On a 4+ they take a mortal wound. A perfect little bonus for a melee character, since it's a flat 50% to cause an unsaveable wound. Better than the Dreadbolt Ring if you wanna get surrounded by multiple units.

Endless Spells

New to Second Edition, you're the other first to gain Faction Exclusive Endless Spells! These can only be cast by NIGHTHAUNT WIZARDS or NAGASH, SUPREME LORD OF THE UNDEAD.

Shyish Reaper: It's a big Scythe that moves 8" each turn and deals a Mortal Wound to anything it passes over, provided you can roll a D6 and equal or beat the Unit's Armour Save.
Vault of Souls: It's a floating bomb that deals Mortal Wounds, and it explodes into D6 Mortal Wounds when it dispenses 20 of them.
Mortalis Terminexus: It's a big floating Hourglass that either deal D3 Mortal Wounds to everything within 6" or heal D3 Wounds to everything within 6".

Warscrolls

The common keywords of these warscrolls are: DEATH, MALIGNANT and NIGHTHAUNT.

Leaders

Named Characters

Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief: First new Mortarch since the End Times. She is all about dealing mortal wounds on the enemy in multiple ways: is surrounded by banshees that deal 6 Spirit Host attacks in melee, once per battle can either heal D6 wounds on herself or deal D6 Mortal wounds on an enemy hero within 6", in every hero phase picks an enemy unit within 12" and inflicting mortal wounds on it on a 2+ roll (the wounds are equal to the roll result) and then heals D3 wounds on herself if she managed to kill at least a model, in shooting phase rolls 2D6 for each enemy unit within 10" and deals them D3 mortal wounds if the result is higher than their bravery, and also adds an extra fleeing model to every enemy unit failing battleshock tests within 12". Her exclusive spell takes an enemy unit and gives it -1 to their hit rolls and +1 to the hit rolls made against it in melee, and her command ability restores a dead model in every SUMMONABLE Nighthaunt unit within 12"
- Be careful using this gal. 7 wounds with a 4+ save and an ignore wounds on a 6 is not that durable, and the fact that she needs to be close just makes her more vulnerable.
- Unlike the other Mortarchs, Olynder isn't a monster, and does benefit from look out sir, increasing her survivability. If anything she is probably more durable than the mortarchs. Someone do the maths.
Kudross Valentian, The Craven King: The General Killer. Usurper. Nagash' Monument to Dickishness. Has 6 Spirit Host attacks like his wife, his other weapon in melee is the Sepulchral Sceptre, a weapon with 5 attacks on a 3+/3+ roll with -2 rend, each dealing D3 wounds (D6 if you rolled a 6 to wound) and rerolls failed hit rolls against the enemy general. Also, in each enemy hero phase, when he gets his command point you can steal it on a 5+ roll.

Reikenor the Grimhailer: The flying beatstick, both a warrior and a wizard. Gets a souped up version of the scythes we saw on Cairn Wraiths, Lord Executioners and Grimghast reapers, getting the usual reroll on bigger units plus dealing mortal wounds instead of regular one on a wound roll of 6. His spell deals D3 mortal wounds on an enemy unit within 12", plus D3 more if the first ones killed something. When casting can deal a mortal wound on either himself or an enemy within 12", getting respectively +3 or +1 to the cast roll.

Others

Knight of Shrouds: Our first genuine commander model, rather than being a summonable hero like the Wraith or Banshee. Blessed with the same defenses as a Cairn Wraith but with an additional wound he's pretty tough. With basically a Vampire Lord's melee profile (Damage 2 instead of D3) he's not a pushover. His Command grants Nighthaunt units within 9" +1 To Hit, meaning he can hit on a 2+ himself and can counter-act those pesky To-Hit penalties. The downside? he cannot be summoned by DEATH Wizards like the other Nighthaunt heroes can, so he will find less use in army lists that tend towards other allegiances like Flesh-Eater courts or Soulblight who can summon units of their own from other Death factions. But in a Nighthaunt army with some allies, he's absolutely fantastic. He's tough as nails, regenerates with the damage he deals and he makes your already decent Spirit Hosts very scary.

Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed: Mounted variant of the guy above. Similar stats, with obviously more movement and wounds plus the extra attacks from the spooky horse, and his ability command gives +1 attacks at Nighthaunt units within 9" instead. Actually a better general for your Spirit Hosts now that they deal mortal wounds on an unmodifiable 6.

Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern: First real wizard for the army. His exclusive spell restores d6 wounds to a SUMMONABLE unit within 18" or resurrects models with a combined wound count equal to the d6 roll, while he also makes every Nighthaunt within 9" add 1 to their wound rolls, which is phenomenal for Chainrasps and inconsequential to Spirit Hosts.

Guardian of Souls with Mortality Glass: Same as above, but instead of buffing wound rolls forces enemy units within 9" to roll a single die when charging. The miniature is a GW store anniversary exclusive, so we don't know yet if it haves a different spell or not.

Spirit Torment: Obnoxious little guy with average stats, good weapon stats and the ability to restore d3 wounds to a Nighthaunt unit within 6" at the beginning of each Battleshock phase if at least 3 enemy models died in the turn (3 wounds with no roll if the dead guys are all Stormcasts). Plus every Nighthaunt unit within 12" can reroll any 1 to hit.

Lord Executioner: Cairn Wraith's big daddy. Gets an average weapon that deals 3 wounds if you roll a 6 to wound, rejects mortal wounds on a 5+ roll and can give -1 to hit rolls at an enemy hero within 3" in melee.

Dreadblade Harrow: Mounted lieutenant that can warp on the field instead of moving regularly as long as he's not engaged in melee and a sword that gets different buffs depending on what he does (+1 attacks in the turn he charged, +1 wounds in every other turn and can also reroll every 1 to wound if a Knight of Shrouds is within 9" from him)

Cairn Wraith: A hero with only four wounds, that's unusual, but understandable since the Ethereal rule already makes him annoyingly hard to kill, as it makes his 4+ save unaffected by Rend and 4 Wounds is enough to survive a perfect Arcane Bolt. What he does is swing a big honking scythe that's basically a Stormcast's Grandhammer with three swings and rerolls To Hit if the target unit has 5 or more models, so he's pretty blendy, too. While you're not likely to be able to do much killing with one these guys if summon these guys as mobile tarpits/support for your characters they more than make up for their points cost. In open play you can also field 3 or 4 of these guys in an unofficial unit and watch them tear through chaff (With scythes go figure). Sadly this dosent work as well in matched play as these guys fill up your precious hero slots and considering how useful your heroes are right now, there's barely any reason to use this guy anymore

Tomb Banshee: For all intents and purposes, a Banshee is more or less a Cairn Wraith with much weaker attacks (though at -2 Rend, that's pretty decent) and a scream attack that causes damage off of Bravery. If you're annoyed that almost all your Heroes can't shoot, have them summon one of these ladies to do the shooting for them. Also, just because they are less fighty than the Wraith doesn't mean they're less tanky. They have the same unrendable save and just enough Wounds to survive a perfect Arcane Bolt.

Troops

Battleline

Spirit Hosts: SUMMONABLE (Battleline only in a Nighthaunt army). Compared to other swarms, Spirit Hosts have fewer Wounds, but way better attacks and a 4+ unrendable save, which makes them pretty tough against anything but Mortal Wounds. Effectively, they have a rather low damage output, but the vast majority of their damage is in Mortal Wounds, which makes them great, especially against stuff with big saves and high rend. Be'lakor in particular hates these things with a passion. Their Frightful Touch ability got changed to on work on an unmodified roll of 6, less synergy but you don't get fucked by hit penalties anymore (see, I was right before that you will not be able to do mortal wounds on 5+ anymore.)

Chainrasp Hordes: SUMMONABLE and Battleline. The actual troops for the army, thanks to the new edition. Classic swarmy troops that deal a huge bunch of attacks, also reroll every 1 to wound as long as they're 10 or more. Get a bunch of heroes around them to buff their attack stats and enjoy.

Grimghast Reapers: SUMMONABLE (Battleline only in a Nighthaunt army). Band of scythe guys. Troop guys get a slightly worse version of the Cairn Wraith's scythe, while the leader gets a bell that deals a mortal wound for each model it killed with regular wounds. This unit is a flying blender, so it's no wonder they're your most expensive Battleline.

Hexwraiths: SUMMONABLE Likely to be overshadowed now with the new units, but can still be useful in certain situations. They hit with a bunch of attacks, and have good chance to damage enemy units they move over the top of by dealing a mortal wound on a roll of 5+ for each Hexwraith that flew over them. <Keep in mind you cannot end your movement within 3" of enemy units> Not only that, but they have a 12" movement and they're also Ethereal, so their saves are damn good as they ignore all Rend. In fact, there's very little reason to ever take Black Knights<Black knights in LoN are not that garb0 now> over Hexwraiths. Your only real reasons would be Keyword synergy and the fact that Black Knights can regenerate D3 dead models each turn. Due to their rather low wound output, Hexwraiths are best used for 2 things: Using their flying 12" move to soar over terrain and cap objectives, or using their Rend ignoring properties to tie up enemy units that dish out Rend. You take these guys as a tactical option<for 160 points>, rather than as a beat stick. Minimum units of 10 are needed to make this unit work....

Others

Glaivewraith Stalkers: SUMMONABLE Another unit with annoying attacks. They reroll every failed hit roll in the turn they're engaged in combat (either if they're the ones who charged or not). Also can get a drummer to retreat and charge in the same turn. <Take note that at 15 points, 6" move and 1 wound a piece, you might want to bring larger units of them to prevent ye'olde hexwraiths-getting-deleted-in-a-single-turn conumdrum. Have a hero that heals/resurrects float around with them, and turn that 1wound/piece disadvantage into some tasty tasty enemy-morale-breaking heals/resurrects>

Myrmourn Banshees: SUMMONABLE Little tykes that can unbind spells and get an extra attack each if they succeed into doing it (But if you do it on an Endless Spell, they also suffer d3 wounds and basically die a lot). Since they each have 1 attack that does D3 damage, you effectively double their damage output any time you unbind a spell. Also, since spells are one of the main ways of dealing Mortal Wounds, and since Mortal Wounds are the only way to reliably kill your spooks, the fact that these ladies can unbind them makes them a must-have for your army. Now combine that with a size bonus that makes their unbinding better for every four lasses in the squad and you wonder when the nerf is coming.

Chaingasts: Spirit Torment's best friends. If they're within 12" from him, they get his "everyone within 12" rerolls 1 to hit" ability.

Bladegheist Revenants:

Dreadscythe Harridans:

Behemoths

Mourngul (Forgeworld): A Mourngul is the sort of annoying model your opponent will hate you for fielding. Why? Well, like all the other Ethereal stuff, its Save is unaffected by Rend. Problem is, it has a 3+ and like the Bastiladon also a 4+ against Mortal Wounds. With the new Mystic Shield, it will be able to re-roll save rolls of 1 as well. As if this was not enough, it has 10 Wounds and regenerates in every turn it killed stuff, which will happen. A lot. It only has one weapon profile, but that one is a doozy, with lots of high Rend, high damage attacks that have a chance to generate extra attack. Be warned though that this profile alone is most definitely not enough to earn back its horrendous price tag. It also lowers the to-hit rolls of nearby units by one (awesome), or by two if they have 6 or less Bravery, so if you can lower their Bravery with something (a Screaming Skull Catapult, some banners, etc) it becomes almost immortal. In other words, we have a model that is nigh unkillable but rather slow and not particularly killy while being obscenely expensive. It won't win you matches except by making the opponent forfeit if you field too many, but use them sparingly to tie up things that are actually dangerous to your Ghosts an they perform well enough. With the new Nighthaunt heroes coming out, you will be able to re-roll hit rolls of 1 as well as wound on a 2+, making it much more viable.
- As of the new edition a whole bunch of FW big boys have had stat changes. The Mourngul has been changed to be a bit more in line with the rest of the new Nighthaunt. First, his 3+ save is now a 4+ save, which is bad. And second his 6+ to hit that generated extra attacks that became 6+ deal additional damage has been replaced with Frightful touch, dealing 2 mortal wounds on a 6+ to hit, which is good (especially against well armoured heroes). With 8 attacks this is very scary and with a knight of shrouds nearby this will ruin enemy generals. But the icing on the cake is that the Mourngul has dropped a whopping 100 points, from 400 to 300. He's still a point investment, but now he is more point efficient than ever.

Black Coach: This thing is not only aesthetically stunning but also a monster in game: With 12 wounds and a 4+ ethereal save, it's not going down anytime soon. It has a single shooting attack with a petty 10" range so don't count on it. However, it is downright terrifying in combat: Not only does it have 4 melee profiles, the reaper scythe of the rider has a rend characteristic of -3- JESUS! This weapon along with another one (apologies for I cannot remember every single thing) do mortal wounds on unmodified 6+. This is a must buy for any Nighthaunt fans.

Battalions

The Spirits of Fellblood

Found in the Start Collecting - Malignants box

A Mortis Engine, a unit of Hexwraiths and a unit of Spirit Hosts

This sweet little Battalion allows you to pick either the Hexwraiths or the Spirit Hosts up off the table and redeploy them close to the Mortis Engine so long as you stay 3" away from enemies. For Hexwraiths with their 12" Move this is not too terribly useful, but the 6" Move Spirit Hosts very much like being pulled after the rapid 14" Mortis Engine. This does become significantly better if your Spirit Host unit is a bit bigger than just three models, though.

Note: If you want to run a Nighthaunt Alligence army, then the Mortis Engine cannot be used as it does not have that keyword and Nighthaunt cannot take Deathmages as allies.

Chainguard

(580pt. min.) A Guardian of Souls and two Chainrasp Hordes, each at least 20 strong

Guardian of Souls can bring back 2D6 models to one of the units of Chainrasps when he casts Spectral Lure.

The Condemned

(670pt. min.) A Spirit Torment, a unit of Chaingasts and 2 Chainrasp Hordes (min. 20 models each)

Cruel Taskmasters: Re-roll failed hit rolls for attacks made by the Chainrasp Hordes while they are wholly within 15" of the Spirit Torment or Chainghasts.