Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Nighthaunt
Get ready to have Grim Grinning Ghosts playing on a loop because the ghosts of the Mortal Realms have come out to socialize!
Why play Nighthaunt?
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.
- 12 hero options to choose from. Spoilt for choice.
- Your main motivation is hatred of Sigmarines.
Cons
- Big missed opportunity on GW's part to not have a fun ability that requires you to have a sheet over your head to use.
- Your most important leader (Knight of Shrouds) is painfully monopose. It's a good pose though,
- Mourngul is expensive (In points and real dosh).
- Despite perfectly fitting the aesthetic, Mortis Engines aren't Nighthaunt units.
- You have a very small wound count, and that means mortal wounds kill you fast despite your 6s-ignore-wound.
- Lack of reliable staying power means you're going to get torn apart if you aren't lucky with mortal wounds.
- Your heroes are fragile. Very few have more than 5 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 a NIGHTHAUNT unit takes a wound/mortal wound, if that unit is within 12" 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.
- Spectral Summons: A Command Ability for your general. At the start of the movement phase pick a friendly NIGHTHAUNT unit on the battlefield, then teleport it to your general. Entirely within 12" of your general and 9" from any enemy unit. Great to pull a unit away that's been charged by something that's about to wreck them or to charge with something pulled from the backline or to support a unit with another HERO or... you get the idea.
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 the enemy 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: 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.
Weapons of the Damned
All Artefacts in this list requires you to pick one of the bearers melee weapons
- Shadow's Edge: An unmodified hit roll of 6 using that weapon deals d3 mortal wounds and the attack sequence ends. Basically gives a HERO an improved Frightful Touch, note that this does stack if they already have that rule. Kind of wasted on weapons with a damage stat higher than 1.
- Reaper of Sorrows: Before attacking, roll 2D6. If the rolls exceed the target units Bravery then the Rend characteristic of this weapon is changed to -3. Since there is very little overlap between "units with low Bravery" and "units against which -3 Rend isn't wasted", better skip this one.
- Balefire Blade: Add 1 to the weapon's damage characteristic.
- Slitter: Every time the bearer is chosen to fight, but before piling in you can roll a dice against a model within 1". If the roll exceeds their wound characteristic, it is slain. Meaning you can pick the model you want to be removed from the unit, not your opponent. This can lead to some very interesting situations, considering the new rules for cohesion...
- Headsman's Judgement: Add 1 to the hit roll and wound roll. Just in case you'd like your Executioner to be able to pull his weight. Or stop pretending and give it to a Knight of Shrouds.
- Shrieking Blade: Subtract 1 from hit rolls made with melee weapons against the bearer.
Relics of the Underworld
- 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 wholly within 12" of this character at the start of their phase. Perfect when the 6" Move of Spirit Hosts and Chainrasps aren't doing it for you.
- 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.
- Mirror of Screaming Souls: At the start of your shooting phase, roll 2D6 for each enemy unit within 8" of the bearer. If you roll above bravery, 1 mortal wound. Decent on a banshee or durable beatstick.
- 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 2+ 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.
Infernal Lanterns
Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern only.
- Lightshard of the Harvest Moon: Once per battle, at the start of the combat phase, every NIGHTHAUNT unit wholly within 12" of the bearer rerolls all to hit when they attack in the combat phase.
- Wychlight Lantern: Add 1 to the bearer's casting roll.
- Beacon of Nagashizzar: Add +3 to the heal or resurrect roll when the bearer casts Spectral Lure.
Lore of the Underworld
Like several armies you get a set of spells available to any NIGHTHAUNT WIZARDS.
- Soul Cage: Casting Value 6. If successfully cast pick an enemy unit within 12” of the caster that is visible to it. Until the start of your next hero phase, that unit cannot attack in the combat phase until all other eligible units have done so. In addition, the unit cannot retreat. A very nice way to deal with deathstars by using this and charging multiple units at it.
- Spirit Drain: Casting Value 4. If successfully cast pick an enemy model within 18” of the caster that is visible to it. Roll number of dice equal to the wounds characteristic of the model. For each roll of a 6+ the model suffers 1 mortal wound. A Monster killer if there ever was one. Remember it's the Characteristic, so you can use this on a big beastie on it's last leg(s) to finish it off.
- Lifestealer: Casting Value 7. If successfully cast pick an enemy unit within 12” of the caster that is visible to it. The unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. For every mortal wound inflicted in this manner, the caster heals 1 wound.
This works great with Reikenor the Grimhailer. Snuff out your own corpse candle and cast this powerfully spell on a natural 4, and have a guaranteed wound to heal!
- Reaping Scythe: Casting Value 4. If successfully cast pick one of this models melee weapons. You may reroll all failed to-hit and to-wound rolls made for that weapon until the start of your next hero phase.Great on any kind of HERO that you turned into a wizard since most of them are beatsticks.
- Shade Mist: Casting Value 6. If successfully cast pick a Nighthaunt unit within 12” of the caster. Until the start of your next hero phase, subtract 1 from all wound rolls made for attacks targeting this unit. Revel in your unrendable, resurrecting, -1 To Wound Chainrasp as your opponent tries to desperately get them off that objective.
- Spectral Tether: Casting Value 6. If successfully cast pick a friendly NIGHTHAUNT HERO unit within 12”. That unit immediately heals D3 wounds.
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. However, these are honestly pretty crap if used with Nighthaunt.
- 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 Model's Armour Save. Heavily armored enemies don't come by often, and they definitely don't usually come in large numbers. Oh wait, guess who has a whole army that has high saves? You do?! Guess you're dropping this down on the table to potentially hurt your own forces then. Makes you wonder if for all that trouble and unreliability/randomness if it's better to just grab the Pendulum and drop that on the enemy's head.
- The Pendulum deals D6 Mortal Wounds, and can be moved immediately when summoned. In other words, it's better to grab the Pendulum than a gimmicky Scythe that deals a single lousy Mortal Wound to whatever it moves across.
- The model's about 3" long (someone please confirm), so you only have 5" of leeway when moving. Not likely to hit many of your enemy's beefier targets.
Everyone seems to miss that the Reaper targets models rather than units, meaning you can choose your targets in a unit.The warscroll specifies the mortal wounds are suffered by the model's unit, not the model itself.- More people seem to have missed that it deals a mortal wound to a unit for each model it goes across.
- If you can roll equal to or above their save. Which is likely to backfire, as covered above. Also the 5" of leeway when moving, as mentioned above. Point is, there are better things to spend 40 points on and to have your wizards cast.
- Take this instead of the Pendulum when playing in the Realm of Shyish. It moves 12" instead of the normal 8" while in the death realm.
- And yet it's *STILL* inferior to the Pendulum. The Reaper does a single Mortal Wound to everything it moves across (IT'S NOT A SINGLE MORTAL WOUND YOU ROLL 1 DICE PER MODEL
IF THERE's 20 DUDES THAT'S A POTENTIAL 20 WOUNDS!It's per model you move over, not per model in the unit affected. You're not going to be able to cross over 20 models unless your opponent is really stupid), provided you can equal or beat the Unit's armor save. The Pendulum inflicts D6 Mortal Wounds to whatever it moves across and anything within 1" of it when it stops moving without any gimmicks. You can even make an immediate move with it like you can with the Reaper. These two spells even cost the same amount of points! The only thing the Reaper has over the Pendulum is an extra 4"...if you're playing in Shyish, which is a highly situational ability.- The Reaper can change pivot and change direction. The Pendulem can't.
- That's actually a weakness of the scythe, the pendulum will rarely to never damage your own dudes. The scythe most likely will. Pendulum can potentially deal 2d6 unblockable mortal wounds, the scythe have to move over the actual targets, with a 5 move, in order to deal damage.
- 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. Discount-Sigmarine-Meteor, but it does have some advantages over it's counterpart - namely the ability to move and generally be just as much a pain in the ass.
- 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". Does not return dead models, this potentially harms your 1 wound boyyos more often than it can be useful. So you should put it in the back with your heroes and constantly lose initiative and go second to prevent enemies from taking control of it and flipping your rectum inside out, to potentially* make them more durable or thrust it deep into the enemy ranks for damage.
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". Olynder isn't really a support unit like her model suggests; she's an assassin that you drop in to your enemies backside or deathstar and wreak havoc upon them with mortal wounds, your other units have better damage-to-point ratio but since her's is almost entirely with mortal wounds you bypass a lot of those 3+/2+ saves with rerolls fuckers that you have a hard time with.
- 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 fairly close to the fighting just makes her more vulnerable.
- , Unlike the other Mortarchs, Olynder isn't a monster and does benefit from the Look Out Sir, which coupled with her unrendable save increases her survivability. If anything she is probably maaaarginally more durable than the 3 big mortarchs. Someone do the maths.
- <ASSEMBLY TIP> Gaps ahoy! There is a bulb that helps you to align the 3 pieces that make up her veil and headpiece. Snip that bulb off so you can still get rid of gaps whilst keeping her entire veil as a subassembly for easier painting. Her entire assembly is also resting on one single damned stalk of her gown. Find a way to stabilize her if you don't want to be the one greiving.
- Kudross Valentian, The Craven King: The General Killer. Usurper. Nagash' Monument to Dickishness. A flying beatstick with a very good but unreliable debuff. He 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 they get their command point you can steal it on a 5+ roll, which can take away some armies command abilities. There's really not much else to say about him, fly him into your enemies behind and wreck face.
- When Kurdoss was first resurrected he said "Kurdoss does not serve!", "But neither does he rule!" said the two Servants beside him and they laughed!
- Unfortunately as neat as he is at being a combat character, he does little to nothing for the army outside of CP stealing. Thus he tends to be overshadowed by nearly all the other leaders with the lack of synergy buffs. Plus 7 wounds, even with ethereal, isn't exactly too tough.
- Reikenor the Grimhailer: 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 either deal 1 mortal wound to an enemy within 12" or himself, getting respectively +1 or +3 to the cast roll. Consider using this guy to cast your Endless Spell, just in case your opponent wants to dispel it.
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 if you kill an enemy HERO and he makes your already decent Spirit Hosts very scary.
- Has no synergy with Spirit hosts since AoS2 and summoning is gone.
- Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed: Mounted variant of the guy above. Similar stats, with double the movement and, weirdly, only one extra wound (In contrast to the Grimhailer and other mounted heroes whom have 2 more wounds than regular) plus the extra attacks from the spooky horse, and his command ability gives +1 attacks at a Nighthaunt unit wholly within 18" 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. He uses the spell Temporal Translocation which on a 6 allows one unit within 24" of the caster to make a normal move of 6" that can be used to retreat but still allows it to charge later in the turn. Great spell on everything other than bladegheists and Glaivewrath Stalkers with a Deathbeat Drummer (they already can do this) as it allows you to potentially get an activation of Wave of Terror.
- Spirit Torment: Obnoxious little guy with average stats, but good weapon stats(4+/3+/-2/D3 and "2 range) 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: Your generic Hero killer. 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.
- Use with a Guardian of Souls nearby and with the Headsman's Judgement, this guy can dish out some serious hurt. Or not. Nighthaunt Battletome makes his weapon do 3 wounds on unmodified 6's to wound, so no synergy for you.
- 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 damage in the turn he charged, +1 attacks in every other turn and can also reroll every 1 to wound if a Knight of Shrouds is within 9" from him). At first, he seems rather pointless aside from flanking long-range artillery or mages. But then you realize that his teleportation trick works at the beginning of the movement phase, much like your deathly summons, and because of this, you pick the order they go off. So say hello to your new Undead Taxi cab.
- If you have an artifact left over (not hard given all the cheap Battalions you can use), give this guy a Balefire Blade. 4 Damage 2 attacks normally, 3 damage 3 attacks on the charge, suddenly makes him a lot scarier. Alternatively, give him a Midnight Tome to have an exceedingly fast Wizard.
- 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. 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 doesn't 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
- Actually from some forum posts, some people have done Mathhammer and it turns out the CW naked is a better/more efficient character killer than the Lord Executioner naked (as in no artifacts).
- 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. 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.
- 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 with 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 (Battleline only in a Nighthaunt army). Mediocre. Likely to be overshadowed now with the new units, but can still be useful in certain situations. They hit with a bunch of mediocre attacks, and have a decent 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. Do not forget that you cannot end your movement within 3" of the enemy, so think of this ability as 12-3" if you intend to charge the enemy after that. They're also Ethereal, as with every single other nighthaunt unit. Due to their rather mediocre 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, rather than as a beat stick. If taken in the battalion with the black coach, these guys get an even better chance to strike during charge phase since they only need an unmodified 9+ charge roll.
- Counter-opinion: yeah Hexwraiths are just okay. But they aren't super expensive and a very fast. They are also very durable and have a solid, if a bit lacklustre, weapon profile. These bois are your artillery killers. Fly them right over enemy battle lines and crush enemy archers and the like. They definitely have their uses.
- One of the few units that can cause damage while retreating, which is done in the movement phase. Flying over a unit or two (don't forget your D6 run while retreating) counts for triggering their special ability.
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" conundrum. Have a hero that heals/resurrects float around with them, and turn that 1 Wound per Model disadvantage into some tasty tasty enemy-morale-breaking heals/resurrects. Alternate Opinion: Never take them for anything but character hunting. Grimghast reapers do more damage, not on the charge or when the enemy unit has 5 or models. Not to mention the pokey sticks aren't battle line and move slower but worst of all are MORE expensive than the grimghasts. Still have not personally found a use for these guys/gheists since they are individually so expensive. As a comparison, for 3 points more per model you can bring bladegheists instead.
- 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: SUMMONABLE Spirit Torment's best friends. If they're within 12" from him, they get his "everyone within 12" rerolls 1 to hit" ability. Also, scourge weapons dishing as many attacks as there are enemy models in the range.
- Bladegheist Revenants: SUMMONABLE Slightly faster than most of your other units (8" instead of 6") These guys can retreat and charge in the same turn, making them very slippery and mobile. Furthermore, they get an extra attack if they made a charge move in the same turn and reroll if within 12" from a Spirit Torment (or his best friends the Chaingasts). A great pick for almost any Nighthaunt army.
- Dreadscythe Harridans: SUMMONABLE Weirdly faced and scythe limbed bitches. They apply -1 to hit against enemy units within 3" of them, unless they have a Bravery of 6 or more (do remember that you decrease it by one though). Their mantis arms are forgettable aside from the fact that they have rend -1 and deal 2 damage if you roll an unmodified 6 (which is actually pretty good, makes them like better versions of sword and board grave guard). They also have 3 attacks each which is more than the usual ghost. With support from a KoS on Steed or an allied Vampire Lord, their attacks can add up pretty quick.
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 note that it's an unmodified hit roll, so a Knight of Shrouds won't affect it's mortal wound generation. 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.
- Alternate take, he's terrible, even at 300pts. With only a 4+ save and having lost any protection against mortal wounds, his absolutely brutal degradation chart and very low wound count become massive issues, especially considering that you can't buff his damage output very much anymore. His 8 attacks sound good until you realize he also lost a point of rend which means that even after mortal wounds, he's still not even going to be killing a 5 wound 3+ save hero on average and will be absolutely shredded by horde type units, even through his heal. After what...5 rounds of nerfs now it's finally time to leave the Mourngul on the shelf.
- 10 wounds and his -1 to hit aura makes him quite tough in combat, but will melt to shooting. Fact is, the Mourngul was never a real beatstick, more of a distraction Carnifex. He's definitely lost some of that power, but now you have a whole army of synergies to play with, so he might still have a place in your lists.
- If the FW Model is too expensive, simply build two Mournghouls from one Aleguzzler Gargant - and you still have the lower half left to build a zombie gargant.
- Black Coach: This thing is not only aesthetically stunning but also a monster in game: With 12 wounds, 14" movement with fly, and a 4+ ethereal save, it's not going down anytime soon. It has either a single shooting attack with a petty 10" range, but it does do D3 damage and has rend -3 or it's regular Cairn Wraith scythe. However, it is downright terrifying in combat: Not only does it have 4 melee profiles, the reaper scythe of the rider can reroll hits against units with 5+ models (or a single attack with a rend characteristic of -3, D3 damage if you took the ranged profile.) This weapons along with the relic bearers' Spectral Claws(which goes down in attacks as it gets wounded) have the Frightful Touch rule. It's Evocation of Death works like this now: At the start of each battleround roll 3 dice,
on a 4+on EACH 4+ it gains one level of power. Each levels stack and last for the rest of the battle.- Level 1: Heal d3 wounds at the start of your hero phase and return d3 slain models to a NIGHTHAUNT unit within wholly within 12" of it.
- Level 2: Re-roll 1's to hit for this model and can run and charge in the same turn
- Level 3: After charging pick a unit within 1" of it, roll a dice, on a 2+ that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds
- Level 4: Can retreat and charge in the same turn.
- Level 5: At the start of your hero phase, roll a dice for each enemy unit within 3" of this model on a 4+ deal D3 mortal wounds.
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.
Chainguard
(580pt. min. - 820pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
A Guardian of Souls and two Chainrasp Hordes with 20+ models each
The Heart of the Horde:The Guardian of Souls can bring back 2D6 models to one of the units of Chainrasps when he casts Spectral Lure.
When paired with the Beacon of Nagashizzar the Guardian can bring back 2d6+3 models (average 10) every turn on a 6. This is ridiculous, and will force your opponent to spend their limited unbind attempts on it, every turn. What's that? Your massive damage unit almost thrashed the battleline of Chainrasp Horde? Don't worry about it, they'll all be right back. This is almost manditory for anyone wanting to attempt the "endless horde" army style in Nighthaunts.
The Condemned
(670pt. min. - 990pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
A Spirit Torment, a unit of Chaingasts and two Chainrasp Hordes with 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.
Death Stalkers
(580pt. min. - 1380pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
A Cairn Wraith, 2 units of Grimghast Reapers and 2 units of Glaivewraith Stalkers
Soul-marked Prey: After setup is complete, pick an enemy unit to become 'Soul Marked' by this battalion. Add 1 to hit and wound rolls for attacks made by this battalion against the marked unit. This can be used to get rid of your opponent's power-units, like large groups of chaos warriors or sequitors.
Deathriders
(830pt. min. - 1890pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
1-2 Dreadblade Harrow, 2 units of Hexwraiths and a Black Coach
Spectral Spearhead:Add 1 to charge rolls for units in this battalion. In addition, an unmodified charge roll of 9+ allows the unit to fight immediately (replaces allegiance ability).
- Raises your chances for the charge bonus from 16.7% to 27.8%.
Execution Horde
(540pt. min. - 1620pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
One Lord Executioner and 3 units of Spirit Hosts
The Headsman's Masses:Subtract 1 from the hit rolls of attacks that target this battalion's Lord Executioner while a Spirit Host unit is within 6" of the attacking unit. In addition, add 1 to the hit rolls of attacks made by the Lord Executioner while any Spirit Hosts are within 6" of the target unit. When made your general and the Shrouded in Darkness trait, that'll give him a whopping -3 to hit from range, leaving him a 4+/6++ and a additional 5++ against MW. He'll basically never die, but unless you give him a good artifact, he'll never kill anything either.
Shrieker Host
(560pt. min. - 1280pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
A Tomb Banshee, 2 units of Dreadscythe Harridans and 2 units of Myrmourn Banshees
Mournful Wailing:Re-roll battleshock rolls of 1 for enemy units while they are within 6" of any units from this battalion. In addition, Inspiring Presence cannot be used on enemy units within 6" of any units from this battalion.
Really good for the 'Leadership attack' strategy, however given that Seraphon, Daemons and well, DEATH, are popular armies, and have almost exclusively Bravery 10, this will be fairly hit and miss. Even with the maximum -3 to bravery, a bravery 10 model goes to 7, averaging 0 mortal wounds from banshees. This is probably more for someone who wants to run a gimmick list, or know that their local meta is low-bravery armies. In the latter case, it will be "frightening" how fast you lose your friends. heh...
Shroudguard
(410pt. min. - 930pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
1 Knight of Shrouds or Reikenor the Grimhailer and 2 units of Bladegheist Revenants
Frenzied Fervor: Replaces the 6+ ignore wounds from the allegiance ability to a 5+ for the Bladegheist while wholly within 12" of the KoS or Reikenor.
This one has some really neat Synergy with the Ruler of the Spirit Hosts Command Trait. Make the Knight of Shrouds your General and pick this as his Command Trait. Now your Knight of Shrouds has a -1 to hit with Ranged Weapons (thanks to the Bladeghast Revenants blocking him), can shrug off wounds and mortal wounds on a 5+ (thanks to the Battalion ability) and should a Bladeghast Revenant fall, this Command Trait will instantly let you set up some extra Bodyguards. This combo basically turns him into General Spookfucker, at least in terms of Durability.
Super-Battalions
Nighthaunt Procession
(3730pt. min. - 12350pt. max) Found in the Nighthaunt Battletome
1 Shroudguard and 6 Battalions chosen between the others in the Battletome
Do you know Deathless Spirits? That allegiance ability we described above that makes everyone ignore wounds at a 6+? The battalion units replace it with... something a little better? The drawback is that it only works on heros from this battalion, but that hardly matters, since your bound to have 6 seperate heros due to the battalions. What it does giveis that it removes the word "Wholly" from our Deathless Minions aura. So we get the legion version of it, and makes larger battles a little easier to manage.
Army Building
A few quick tips on army building:
- The Sword of Unholy Power: If your allegiance is generic "DEATH" then this beauty can be given to any one of your Heroes and automatically successfully casts any one summoning spell for Death models once. This can of course be used to summon a Mourngul in a more favorable position, but it can also be used to summon a unit that does not fit your allegiance, like a Terrorgheist or a unit of Morghasts. Picking a unit of Morghast Harbingers as quick chargers with a massive damage output for example is quite a good use of your Artifact.
- Black Coach: With completely new rules in the Nighthaunt battletome and a new model that fits the aesthetic, the Black Coach has transitioned from a weird choice that didn't belong to an excellent centerpiece for your army.
- Hero/Unit balance AOS1: Your Heroes are very meh and Inspiring Presence doesn't help your army, so you might be tempted to only use one tax Banshee and leave the other Heroes out. Do not. Your Heroes are damn cheap and can spread Deathless Minions around. And between Deathless Minions and your Ethereal saves, your models are ridiculously tough (even more so than usual). Also, you don't want that single Banshee to be your General AND your Artifact carrier.
- Hero/Unit balance AOS2:
1000 pt.
Start with Soul wars, and then get the Tormented Spirits set. This will put you at around 1200 points.This list gives you some more of what makes soul wars sweet, the mortal wounds, not only that, you now have some cav to ride up with the Knight of Shrouds.
- Tormented Spirits is being discontinued since it gave you too much value for your money and far to easy entry into the game without investing into even more stormcast.
2000 pt.
A sweet/fun spot for this army. Tons of heroes. Tons of ghosts. Get ready to spook your opponent because this is just the right point value to run TWO Mournguls, while still having a beefy battleline that isn't affected by rend! Run 4 big globs of spirit hosts, load up your heroes, and watch your opponent weep as you destroy his bravery-weak battleline with THREE separate banshee screams.
2500 pt.
Depending on what kind of player you are, you could run a 2500 point list for pure fun! If you want to be competitive, chuck in a Mourngul or two and watch as the tears pour down your opponents face. If not, running a list entirely composed of spirit hosts and hexwraiths isn't out of the question either. If deployed properly using their new Allegiance Ability within the GH 2017, a Nighthaunt army can consistently hold and score objectives, even on the first turn!
Allied Armies
If you want to deploy a MALIGNANT army consider the Mortis Engine, if only because it's part of Start Collecting - Malignants. Otherwise, build it as either a Bloodseeker Palaquin or Coven Throne, since Soulblight are Nighthaunt allies while Deathmages are not for some reason. The Coven Throne deserves a special mention. They provide Deathly Invocation to help regen your ghosts, they are a Wizard, and their command ability is pretty good allowing any DEATH unit to reroll 1s of attacks, wounds, and saves. If you bought the Nighthaunt start collecting, it might be time to convert those Mortis Engines into Coven Thrones. Keep in mind that the Coven Throne is pricey though. But giving your Nighthaunt re-rolld to wounds, hit, and essentially a AoS 2.0 Mystic Shield, it is very recommended. For added fluff points, give it the Ethereal Amulet from Malign Sorceries for a ethereal save, just like your ghostly pals.
Consider taking some Death Heroes to buff your units more, like Vampire Lords and Necromancers (but only with Legions of Nagash allegiance for the latter). Nighthaunt has a wondetful slew of units, but some also greatly benefit from Deathly Invocation ability as they're units are SUMMONABLE. The foot-slogging/flying/Nightmare-riding Vampire Lord has a great buff to toss at your Hexwraiths and the one on Zombie Dragon helps Spirit Hosts out a ton. Mannfred von Carstein is also useful because his Dread Abyssal is surrounded by spirits so he fits the theme, because he's very powerful and his buff aura is amazing and because he can summon more Nighthaunts for you every turn.
For Legions, no cheese is spicier than the triple whammy Grimghasts. Take a vampire lord, a Necromancer and a Knight of shrouds on ethereal steed, a guardian of souls with lantern, and a giant honking unit of Grimghasts (Preferably 30). Use the command abilities of both the vamp lord and the knight of shrouds to bump your guys up to 4 attacks each. Next, have your necromancer cast Venhals Dance Macarbe on them so they can fight twice. Did someone say 240 attacks at 3+\3+\-1\1? Now you see those four units you charged, now you don't. Add in a Coven Throne for its CA, and suddenly, they're all re-rolling their wounds.
Honorable mentions should also go out to Morghast Harbringers and Arkhan the Black. Morghasts add in a good source of Rend -2 and Damage 3 attacks that Nighthaunt lack outside of spamming Mymourn banshees and Kudross. Mobility isn't as much a problem either, since you'll most likely be dumping half your Nighthaunt army on the enemy turn 1, and the rest on turn 2, so trust me, your enemy will have more to worry about. This lets your Harbringers to get up the field relatively quickly.
Arkhan also fills a hole in a Nighthaunt army, that hole being reliable magic support. Besides having a good unique spell, and the ability to extend both his and your other Nighthaunts spells, he can also cast the spells of other Death Mages, meaning that you'll get essential spells like Soulcage off.
External links
Rules are here
https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-tomb-banshee-en.pdf
https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-cairn-wraith-en.pdf
https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-hexwraiths-en.pdf
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