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Let's Chat: Nighthaunt


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I finally got to take out the first stub of my Nighthaunt army out for a spin last night in a 1000 point battles against some Ironjawz.

1x Tomb Banshee (ruler of the spirit host and covetous familiara)

1x cairn wraith

1x Spirit Host(3)

2x Hexwraith(5)

1x Mourngul

 

Hexwraiths seemed a bit underwhelming, might do them in units of 10 when the rest of my stuff for 2000 points just to make them a bit more durable for objectives. The Spirithosts were feast or famine, I'd either whiff on getting anything 5+ or I'd get several 6's for the mortal wounds. Cairnwraith was seemed a bit middling. Tomb Banshee was pretty underwhelming in combat, but getting off the ghostly howl with an 11 against bravery 6 brutes was nice. And then the Mourngul was good, but didn't seem as overpowered as people complaining of the internet make him out to be. He seemed worth right at the 400 points, and then the weirdnob shaman made short work of him getting foot of gork off twice and getting a 6 for one of the mortal wound rolls.

The scenario was Knife to the Heart, and by turn 3, our two low model count armies were too small to actually hold both objectives and it came down to kill points in the end, and my opponent won on kill points with a retreating Gore Grunta against me only having one unit of hexwraiths on the table(we both had 980 points). Overall I liked the army play style. Deep striking ghosts with the ruler of the spirit hosts reroll is very nice for objective grabbing and feels like a more fair way of summoning for matched play. Ignoring rend is great against an army like Ironjawz whole rely on it pretty heavily, but I can see Nighthaunt getting pretty squishy against a high mortal wound army.  For 2000 points I've got two boxes of Tourmented Spirits on the way and a unit of Varghiests and some bat swarms as allies, so my initial 2000 points should look something like:

1x Tomb Banshee

3x Cairn Wraith

2x Hexwraith(10)

3x Spirit Hosts(3)

1x Mourngul

1x Varghiest(3) - Allies

2x Batswarm(2) - Allies

I'm not a tournament players, so I don't need it to be super competetive, but I think it will work pretty well with my local AoS community that's heavy on Ironjawz and all the various Dwarfs, though with everything able to fly, it should make the antiflying stuff of some the the KO stuff that rarely goes off a bit more interesting. I haven't played against any of the local Stormcast armies at full strength, so I don't if any of them are built for high mortal wound output.

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I recently went to blood and glory with nighthaunt and I wanted to share my thoughts on the army I took. So the list I took was  :

Allegiance: Nighthaunt
Tomb Banshee (80)
- General
- Trait: Cloaked in Shadow
- Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind
Cairn Wraith (60)
Cairn Wraith (60)
Vampire Lord (140)
- Mount: Nightmare
- Allies
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
5 x Hex wraiths (160)
5 x Blood Knights (260)
- Allies
Mourngul (400)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 400 / 400


The list itself was very relaxing to play and I never felt there was a game that I couldn't win. 

So to break the army down=

Allegiance abilities and artefacts/command traits = I went for the cloaked in shadow trait for my general which just gives +1 save which is awesome especially if you can get into cover so your sitting on a 2+ ignores rend save very nice (until someone mortal wounds you) for keeping your hero alive. For artefacts I went for the pendent which gives all nighthaunt within 6' +3 move, now I went for this over the re rolls to hit because in my head a one use artefact on a 4 wound model might not help at all. In terms of using the ethereal rulers rule I only used it in scorched earth to take and then burn an objective in hindsight I should have used it more but the nighthaunt element of the army moved so quick and my units were so small I don't think it would have made a difference.

Heroes = lets start with the banshee... for 20 pts less I would just take another cairn wraith, her scream did nothing all weekend (killed 4 goblins) and she has the same amount of wounds as a wraith; speaking of which I love these guys their cheap occasionally do stuff and are great at killing ard boyz apparently not to mention they give me a death save so I would defiantly include at least 3 if not 4 of these.

Host's and hex wraiths =  the spirit hosts were fun to use they would either kill a 7 wound hero in a turn or do nothing as far as battleline go they were fun to use and really survivable, in hind sight I think I might try a big unit of these just to have less drops but then you loose the ability to jump into terrain and sit there with a 3+ save, there is defiantly tactics involved with how big you have your spirit hosts units. The hex wraiths  I had painted and look cool but I just don't think they had a place in the list I ran I would like to try a big unit of 10 as a mobile tar pit but I think host's do that better not sure on these guys.

Mourngul= Since his war scroll changed I have wanted to use him to see what he could do, the answer is very mixed. In half the games when he got into combat he would either completely fluff or he would hit with loads but then the -1 rend wouldn't do enough and he was left getting bogged down, in a nighthaunt army you obviously don't have a lot of units to choose from so I would defiantly include at least one but I think you need 2 teaming up on a unit now to seriously put the hurt down, still with mystic shield he would not die easily at all.

Allies  = The vampire lord was put in for the one reason of I didn't want to use my artefact to make my nighthaunt hero a wizard, plus his generic spell of - 1 attack helps the armies survivability a lot. However 5 wounds and a 4+ save meant he died almost turn 1 in every game so unless you take 2 for 280 im not convinced he's a necessity and I think putting in Arkhan would give you a much better wizard. The blood knights on paper are amazing but after the event I realise why they are 260, they are very good just not great a combination of bad dice rolls and meant that they didn't really do much and I feel afterwards that their points could be better allocated to a second mourngul, still very fun to use and I can see why people like soul blight.

So that's a brief rundown on my thoughts of the army. Like I said I really liked playing the army but the lack of shooting, magic and the fact that there are not a lot of synergies in the war scrolls  really hurt.

This would be the list I would run now having played a few games= 

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

Leaders
Cairn Wraith (60)
- General
- Trait: Cloaked in Shadow
- Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind
Cairn Wraith (60)
Cairn Wraith (60)
Cairn Wraith (60)
Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (320)
- Allies

Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline

Behemoths
Mourngul (400)
Mourngul (400)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 1960 / 2000
Allies: 320 / 400


 

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7 minutes ago, DodgyRoller said:

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

Leaders
Cairn Wraith (60)
- General
- Trait: Cloaked in Shadow
- Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind
Cairn Wraith (60)
Cairn Wraith (60)
Cairn Wraith (60)
Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (320)
- Allies

Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline

Behemoths
Mourngul (400)
Mourngul (400)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 1960 / 2000
Allies: 320 / 400


 

I like the list, personally I would drop 1 wraith and keep 100 points for summoning, you can always summon that wraith back in, or a banshee. It's unfortunate that banshees haven't really paid off for you, but in the right situations they are good - which is why having the points to summon one is the best option, if you don't need one, you haven't wasted the points on it. You could also bring an objective grabbing unit in too if you really needed it depending on the situation, just seems a shame to leave 40 points spare for the sake of starting with 1 more wraith on the board when you could have 100 points spare and give yourself a lot more flexibility.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I played a gd mix of armies first game was against a mixed order gun line, which with a double turn turn 1+2 was able to shoot off my blood knights and mourngul after that he shot a spirit hosts then moved across the board and took my objectives in scorched earth. Game 2 was against stormcast in starstrike, this game I got the major win after blood knights killed so much he had a celestant prime that he brought down turn 2 and charged the  mourngul, the mourngul won thanks to the -1 to hit also 3 spirit hosts killed a lord aquillor in 2 turns doing 5 wounds in one turn my highest amount ... ever. Game 3 was against mixed destruction in battle for the pass, 2 mistakes charged the mourngul into a frostlords on stonehorn instead of going for his back field objective, the mourngul died; I was still in the mindset of the old warscroll. The second mistake was holding back instead of throwing everything forwards and not deploying something in the spirit world defo recommend it in that scenario.

Game 4 was against ironjawz playing duality of death this game was only going to go one way he got a giant on one objective and I got the mourngul on the other, it came down to kill points which ironjawz are much better at getting than nighthaunt. Game 5 was against brayherds in total conquest, I learnt how fast brayherds are and also how bad blood knights can be only killing 6 unforced in the charge with a full unit but he wasn’t able to break through a wall on sprit hosts and it came down to kill points which gave me a minor win. Game 6 was knife to the heart against  flesh eaters now seeing as neither of us had any shooting and I knew I wasn’t guna win the minor I dangled my blood knights hoping he would charge a ghoul king on terroggeist into them, which he did. However when I charged the mourngul in ( the extra 3” move from the pendent really helped ) I was hoping I could grind him out, I did not and he killed the mourngul which ended my long shot chance at victory. 

Ending the event on a major win, a minor win and 4 major losses.

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Ive been toying with the idea of the pendant or a midnight tome & a death star unit of spirit hosts of 9 or 12 (bear in mind i run 21 in my army)

i ran 9 in a 1000 point game against dead watch FEC and it seriously won me the game, not so much that they killed tonnes (did one shot a unit of 3 flayers) but they are so durable @ 3+ save 

that & I run 2 mournguls and a big unit of hosts is another unit where they dont know where to concentrate their shooting or combat at, ive found people really under estimate how durable mourguls are and leaves the hosts to cause some trouble

just thought I would share :)

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On 12/3/2017 at 10:23 PM, DodgyRoller said:

I’ve found that if you take a big unit of spirit hosts it cries out for mystic shield and the only reason I haven’t run a big unit of them is because I feel the mourngul/s need it more but I would like to try out a big unit with the re rolls to hit.

3+ with a 5+ 6+ with 10 wounds needing a better save? id rather buff a big unit personally

light shard is boss when you can tag 3-4 units gaining the re-rolls, my record is 18 mortal wounds from 6 spirit hosts

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I really value the light shard and the pendent I think they’re both super useful, it’s a shame there’s no battalions for nighthaunt, otherwise I’d take both, I’m curious to hear what people think about the one that makes you a wizard and whether anyone thinks it’s worth it.

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15 hours ago, DodgyRoller said:

I really value the light shard and the pendent I think they’re both super useful, it’s a shame there’s no battalions for nighthaunt, otherwise I’d take both, I’m curious to hear what people think about the one that makes you a wizard and whether anyone thinks it’s worth it.

I've been trialing it and I have been using it on a unit of 9 hosts and its been a little hit and miss, like its handy & 3+ ignoring rend is so good & an arcane bolt to finish off a character is really good but Idk i kinda miss my lightshard with 9 hosts to blow stuff up. it feels like im lacking some punch & feel like my opponents are less scared with just a average wizard with 4 wounds vs on average 36 attacks re-rolling missed hits

 

also x infinity regarding a battalion, the army would be soooooo rad with 2 artefacts & would love like a 7 wound character / special character(yes im waiting for that herald of nagash)

 

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The sooner this model comes out the better. 

The GW rep in my area has stated that Death will be getting a book in the New Year and that Nighthaunt will be in it, usually I take what GW reps say with a pinch of salt but the problem here is he is rarely if ever wrong and he has actually told me to wait before buying more Nighthaunt/Death miniatures until then, so I'm a little bit intrigued.....

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I like to think that's because its going to be repackaged, but it does seem strange that the banshee hasn't been taken down also; plus the black coach is still on the site and I don't like that  model. However I am even more hopeful that we might actually get a nighthaunt battletome in the near future. Which begs the question what are we most looking forward to if nighthaunt do get a battletome, the video shows a ghost ship so ghost pirates maybe either way nice to see death get some love.  

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usually stuff that gets books usually gets reboxed with rounds right?

man if we get a decent batallion a second artifact will help the army soooo much

imagine having that special character as a caster, light shard and the pendent, that would be pretty powerful!

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Man if nighthaunt gets a battletome I might consider buying a second death army after I complete my current list haha I love their models but for now something is still missing for me. A viable caster, more options for a battleline, i don't know. But I guess that's a problem with the entire Grand Alliance:Death so oh well.

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20 hours ago, smucreo said:

Man if nighthaunt gets a battletome I might consider buying a second death army after I complete my current list haha I love their models but for now something is still missing for me. A viable caster, more options for a battleline, i don't know. But I guess that's a problem with the entire Grand Alliance:Death so oh well.

I have just finished collecting my 2000pt Nighthaunts army so I'm lucky I can wait.  Problem is I'm an impatient gamer and want it now... LOL ....  I would like a viable caster and more options for battleline can only be a good thing, but what kind of unit would you like to see....

 

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57 minutes ago, JohnnyH5 said:

I have just finished collecting my 2000pt Nighthaunts army so I'm lucky I can wait.  Problem is I'm an impatient gamer and want it now... LOL ....  I would like a viable caster and more options for battleline can only be a good thing, but what kind of unit would you like to see....

 

Well, maybe something like a unit made out of shadows could be a good idea, plus it would cement Nighthaunt as the easiest faction to paint lol you just prime them black and add highlights with grey haha

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16 hours ago, smucreo said:

Well, maybe something like a unit made out of shadows could be a good idea, plus it would cement Nighthaunt as the easiest faction to paint lol you just prime them black and add highlights with grey haha

You had me at prime black, grey highlights, finished.....

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23 hours ago, JohnnyH5 said:

You had me at prime black, grey highlights, finished.....

That's pretty much how I do my Spirithosts, Mourngul, Tomb Banshees and Cairnwraith, with a little bit extra on the skeletal part of the spirithost base, the mourngul horse and the scythe for the cairn wraiths.  Even the hexwraiths aren't that bad with the bulk of them staying the black of the spray paint, but of course a lot more detail than the rest. But the ease of painting is canceled out by what a pain it is to assemble them, especially the spirithosts. I just got in my last two Tormented Spirits boxes to finish out my army and I'm putting them together right now and I never want to see an unassembled spirithost again. I've got glue everywhere and I'm still not sure they'll stay together.

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