Let's Chat: Nighthaunt

[Rid]

Place to consolidate and discuss tactics and army selection for the Nighthaunt Army!

 

Im just starting off with this force, I've played a tonne of AoS since it was released with Khorne, nurgle and ironjawz but fancied a change of pace and painting style.

 

My first list is as follows:

 

2 Tomb Banshee 160

2 Cairn Wraith 120

 

2x 6 Spirit Hosts 480

2x 5 Hexwraiths 320

 

2 Mourngul 800

 

This leaves me with 120 to play with that will be one of the following:

 

2 Cairn Wraith 

1 Tomb Banshee & Triumph Roll

3 Spirit Hosts

1 Black Coach

 

Im aiming to get the whole force painted for a tourney on the 16th  so the black coach isn't likely at this stage!

 

With the new allegiance abilities and traits available to us I plan to put "ruler of the spirt hosts" on one wraith, and the "midnight tomb" on the other.

 

My reasoning is that the wraiths are very cheap and just as survivable as the banshees but they lack the good range attack to expose themselves so I'm not missing out by hiding them away from danger.

 

Having the rr on the underworld deep strike will be very handing for playing to scenario and being able to put mystic shield on a Mourngul or big spirit host tarpit could be invaluable.

[Malakree]

How good actually is a black coach? I ask mainly because if it's solid with a couple of its actives then you probably want it for the alligance? 

In one of the other threads people were saying mourngols aren't great now? In terms of speed painting probably good but otherwise maybe drop them for a big hexwraith unit?

[Tittliewinks22]

How useful are hexwraiths in units of 5?

I have only played them once and was very unimpressed.  Maybe a squad of 10?

[TheWilddog]

6 hours ago, Malakree said:

How good actually is a black coach? I ask mainly because if it's solid with a couple of its actives then you probably want it for the alligance? 

In my opinion the only reason it get consideration is because it has 7 wounds.  All the rest of the Nighthaunt heroes are sooooo fragile at 4 wounds having something with a little more staying power to put the artifact and trait on seems reasonable.

Hopefully the newly spoiled Nighthaunt hero will fix some of this for us. 

 

[Malakree]

To be fair at 120 points it costs 20 less than an Ironjawz megaboss, For the cost it's actually not that bad especially if you can get a few levels of evocation on it.

With the Pitiless Executioner command trait if you can get up to Evocation of Death (3) You're getting an extra wound on a 5 or 6 with rerolls against large units. The first level of Evocation is also pretty brutal for just straight up applying Mortal Wounds, Combine with the Dreadbolt Ring or Covetous Familiar and the amount of mortal wounds you put out on a charge is quite brutal. So you could go,

120 - Black Coach - Pitiless Executioner

120 - Black Coach

80 - Tomb Banshee

80 - Tomb Banshee

60 - Cairn Wraith

60 - Cairn Wraith

520 - Total

 

At that point you are rolling 4 dice for evocation on each coach on Turn 1 and potentially Turn 2/3 as well. For a full hero compliment at 1/4 of your points it's really not that much and if you get Evoc (1) on both your coaches then they just do 2d3 mortal wounds if they charge the same thing. You use the mobility of the coaches to pick your targets and snipe objectives. Adding in allies,

160 - Fell Bats*6

160 - Fell Bats*6

320 - Total

 

160  - Hexwraith*5

160 - Hexwraith*5

360 - Sprit Hosts*9

240 - Sprit Hosts*6

240 - Sprit Hosts*6

1,160 - Total

 

 

For 2000 points exactly, use the Black Coach Evocation (1) to trigger the Fell Bats for some devastating charges. Force your opponent to group up or face getting picked apart and then win by seizing objectives using your mobility. 

[Rid]

The only thing niggling me about a black coach general is that it's a big target... a big model compared to a wraith/banshee, and it lacks ethereal so those 7 wounds will melt under shooting.

 

But you are right that at 120pts it's not breaking the bank to field one or two, especially down the line when I have got more models available.

 

A big unit of Hexwraiths does look interesting, getting 10/15 mortal wound rolls on a target could be fun!

[Malakree]

If you wanted you could take a banshee as your general then take the....trait? Which gives +1 to save or +1 wound. You are vulnerable to mortal wounds but just had to play smart.

 

If you were really digging the hex wraiths drop the 2 squads of fellow bats then up not units to 10. The idea is the same, they just do it a little differently to the bars. 

[ChippyRick]

I have been using Nighthaunts a lot this last year in  a mixed Death army. 

They are great at a lot of things, and with the new traits etc it gives some solid options.

The spirit hosts do some great work for the points. they can last a while, decent speed, some good potential for damage output and cool models. Not really used hexwraiths as they dont seem that good, but having some fast units for objectives and clearing the small / weak units is fine.

The main thing for me will be lack of rend / killing numbers. There is no dount you want to look at the summoning and allies optios for the Nighthaunts.

I have been using bloodknights as part of my mixed list prior to GHB 2017 an these are great. Vargheists also for some rend.

Other Heroes for me are worth looking at as well, find some decent ones with good damage output.

Mounrgul..... Really not sure atm. got to many hits i think to be left still at 400 points. i could be wrong but the bg appeal to me before was that 4+ vs mortals. when the saves stacked with the death save it was great. didnt matter as much that the damage output wasnt the best, as it stuck there taking hit s and giving the minus 1/2 out. We will see with some games. I wouldnt recommend 2, use that other 400 points on allies / summoning and try some things out.

Hope some of this helps.

[Rid]

Nice one,

 

two Mourngul at the moment for speed of painting but would rather have more little guys to spread out for objectives when time allows.

 

[SentinelGuy]

Surely hexwraiths are better than spirit hosts? They have more attacks, wounds and speed, and a better rend.

At 1000 points I'm considering -

1 Black Coach, general, +1 to saves and wizard abilities.

1 Cairn Wraith.

1 Banshee.

6 Spirit Hosts.

5 Hexwraiths.

5 Hexwraiths.

1 allied Vampire Lord, mounted.

That leaves 120 points for summoning whatever is needed, including Fell Bats, Dire Wolves, Hexwraiths, Spirit Hosts, Zombies etc. Based on the missions and limited body count, this will probably be 20 Zombies some of the time, to act as a speed bump and objective tarpit.

[Ashtyn]

Hey guys. 

Everyone seems to be theorizing that the horde meta will take over, which means a Nighthaunt army  needs to deal with large blobs of models. 

Nighthaunts issue is dealing enough dmg to break down large 30 - 60 wound blocks. Which is why I think we most certainly need Lightshard of the Harvest Moon in a Nighthaunt list. 

Giving spirit hosts and hexwraiths re-rolls to hit enable a large amount extra dmg to be applied on a critical turn. It also makes spirit hosts far more threatening. The advantage that we have is that this item can be held by a Cairn Wraith that you hold in reserve and summon at the exact moment you line up your charges. (if your general has Ruler of the Spirit Hosts then you have a large chance to get this unit on the board when it really matters).

Now obviously we lack magic casters which is where ally points come into play, 2 spells per magic phase is probably best so options include Arkhan, 2 vampire lords, or a coven throne + vampire lord.

Arkhan works best in a list where you plan on summoning more models onto the table (possiblly Morghast Harbringers, which help to deal with hordes and enable summon + charge options).

I'm personally thinking of running the Coven Throne + Vampire Lord. Most hordes seem to be low leadership, so the coven throne can completely negate an entire unit from being able to attack your Coven Throne. Imagine a 30 block of tzaangor neutered from turn to turn. 

This is the list I'd like to run, and am thinking of tinkering with over the next few weeks.

Characters 

Cairn Wraith (General), Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

Cairn Wraith, Lightshard of the Harvest Moon

Tomb Banshee

Tomb Banshee

Cairn Wraith

Coven Throne

Vampire Lord

Units

15 Hexwraiths

9 Spirit Hosts

6 Spirit Hosts

6 Spirit Hosts

Total 2000 points

The list provides you with decent dmg, lots of heroes and a behemoth for scenarios, banshees can act as hero snipers early or late in the game, depending on when you want to summon them, The Hexwraiths give you a large and fast 30 wound unit which can cause headaches due to mortal wound output via drive by's, and retreat moves.

Let me know what you think, I'm hoping I can get some games in with it soon (fingers crossed).

 

[Malakithe]

13 hours ago, Ashtyn said:

Hey guys. 

Everyone seems to be theorizing that the horde meta will take over, which means a Nighthaunt army  needs to deal with large blobs of models. 

Nighthaunts issue is dealing enough dmg to break down large 30 - 60 wound blocks. Which is why I think we most certainly need Lightshard of the Harvest Moon in a Nighthaunt list. 

Giving spirit hosts and hexwraiths re-rolls to hit enable a large amount extra dmg to be applied on a critical turn. It also makes spirit hosts far more threatening. The advantage that we have is that this item can be held by a Cairn Wraith that you hold in reserve and summon at the exact moment you line up your charges. (if your general has Ruler of the Spirit Hosts then you have a large chance to get this unit on the board when it really matters).

Now obviously we lack magic casters which is where ally points come into play, 2 spells per magic phase is probably best so options include Arkhan, 2 vampire lords, or a coven throne + vampire lord.

Arkhan works best in a list where you plan on summoning more models onto the table (possiblly Morghast Harbringers, which help to deal with hordes and enable summon + charge options).

I'm personally thinking of running the Coven Throne + Vampire Lord. Most hordes seem to be low leadership, so the coven throne can completely negate an entire unit from being able to attack your Coven Throne. Imagine a 30 block of tzaangor neutered from turn to turn. 

This is the list I'd like to run, and am thinking of tinkering with over the next few weeks.

Characters 

Cairn Wraith (General), Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

Cairn Wraith, Lightshard of the Harvest Moon

Tomb Banshee

Tomb Banshee

Cairn Wraith

Coven Throne

Vampire Lord

Units

15 Hexwraiths

9 Spirit Hosts

6 Spirit Hosts

6 Spirit Hosts

Total 2000 points

The list provides you with decent dmg, lots of heroes and a behemoth for scenarios, banshees can act as hero snipers early or late in the game, depending on when you want to summon them, The Hexwraiths give you a large and fast 30 wound unit which can cause headaches due to mortal wound output via drive by's, and retreat moves.

Let me know what you think, I'm hoping I can get some games in with it soon (fingers crossed).

 

I'm counting 7 heroes

[Rid]

I like the idea of 15 Hexwraiths in a unit, but I imagine it would be quite difficult to get them all into attacking positions tho?

[eduboy]

I cant see anything good on Coven Thones rules. Can you explain why its good?

[Ashtyn]

6 hours ago, Malakithe said:

I'm counting 7 heroes

Oooo good point, I'd drop the 3rd Cairn wraith. 

 

43 minutes ago, eduboy said:

I cant see anything good on Coven Thones rules. Can you explain why its good?

I like it for its signature spell, Beguile. It could help to tie up a horde unit and simply bog it down, or hold down an enemy Death Star while your other units manoeuvre around the board.

 

44 minutes ago, Rid said:

I like the idea of 15 Hexwraiths in a unit, but I imagine it would be quite difficult to get them all into attacking positions tho?

That's a potential problem. Obviously I need to play test it. But I'm trying to see how we can get a large amount of multi wound units on the board.

the advantage of a large block of hexwraiths is that they lose less offensive power per model lost. For every 3 wounds inflicted to a hexwraith you lose 2 -1 rend attacks and 2 horse attacks. But with a spirit host you lose 6 attacks. Spirit hosts start to become considerably worse offensively when they take a wack. Which is why I thought. A big unit of hexwraiths may be better for a grindy role. 

[Rid]

Aye defo, I have 10 Hexwraiths at the mo but will be bumping up to 20 for fielding two blocks of them.

 

When I have them done I will try a 15 yep

[Sutek]

My list is this

Cairn Wraith - Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

Cairn Wraith

Tomb Banshee - Midnight Tome

Arkhan the Black (Ally)

6 x Spirit Hosts

6 x Spirit Hosts

5 x Hexwraiths

Mourngul

440 Point summoning pool to be used on

Morghast Harbingers

Morghast Archai

The Morghasts give a little extra punch when dealing with larger units.  Spirit Hosts instead of extra Hexwraiths because of the mortal wound output.

Also as the Morghasts and Arkhan float on Spirits they fit with the aesthetic of the rest of the list.

[Malakithe]

9 hours ago, Sutek said:

My list is this

Cairn Wraith - Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

Cairn Wraith

Tomb Banshee - Midnight Tome

Arkhan the Black (Ally)

6 x Spirit Hosts

6 x Spirit Hosts

5 x Hexwraiths

Mourngul

440 Point summoning pool to be used on

Morghast Harbingers

Morghast Archai

The Morghasts give a little extra punch when dealing with larger units.  Spirit Hosts instead of extra Hexwraiths because of the mortal wound output.

Also as the Morghasts and Arkhan float on Spirits they fit with the aesthetic of the rest of the list.

When making lists I also look at the visual of Arkhan and the Morghasts too  lol

[Rid]

They would be my go to ally/summoning models too, would be pretty easy to tie them into my paint scheme with all the spectral parts.

[Josh]

lists im keen on trying / plan to use 

 

Allegiance: Death

Leaders
Cairn Wraith (60)
- General
- Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts 
Cairn Wraith (60)
- Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvent Moon 
Tomb Banshee (80)
Tomb Banshee (80)
Tomb Banshee (80)
Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (400)

Battleline
6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline

Behemoths
Mourngul (400)

Total: 2000/2000

 

Vanilla NH

 

Allegiance: Death

Leaders
Cairn Wraith (60)
- General
- Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts 
Cairn Wraith (60)
- Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvent Moon 
Tomb Banshee (80)
Tomb Banshee (80)
Tomb Banshee (80)
Tomb Banshee (80)

Battleline
6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
5 x Hexwraiths (160)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
5 x Hexwraiths (160)
- Nighthaunt Battleline
3 x Spirit Hosts (120)
- Nighthaunt Battleline

Behemoths
Mourngul (400)

Total: 2000/2000

[msdos]

Hey guys, i have a bunch of nighthaunt models and with the new alliegence abilities i've been thinking of 1500 pts  summon heavy list:

- Arkhan the black (ally)

- Cairn wraith

- Tomb banshee

- 5 Hexwraiths

- 5 Hexwraiths

- 6 Spirit Hosts

This adds up to 1020 pts

And in summoning pool i would have

- 2 Morghast Archai

- 2 Morghast Harbringers

Turn one, if I go first (hopefully) i could summon both of the morghasts units with arhkan. He gets +2 to cast from his Staff of Spirits and + 1 to summon from Mortarch of Sacrament so i would have to roll 2x 4+ and its pretty probable I think.

Though this list might not be very competetive, it would at least look great on table ^^

 

[Rid]

How many wraiths and Banshees will be enough? 3/4 of each?

[Jgregs]

Had an idea for starting a Night Haunt army:

Buy the Malignants start collecting box, which gives you a mortis engine, 3 spirit hosts and a 5 hex wraiths. Then buy the tormented spirits box which gives you a Cain Wraith, 3 spirit hosts and a 5 hex wraiths. Then lastly a Vargheist box.

Now assemble the mortis engine but swap out the Corpsmaster that comes in the kit for the Cain Wraith that came in the tormented spirit box. Also do not use the 3 swirling Banshees. Instead mount 2 of them on basses. Now you can use this as a counts as Black Coach.

for 1000 points the army would look as follows:

General: Black Coach - 120 points

Hero: Banshee - 80 points

Hero Banshee - 80 points

Battle line - 6 spirit hosts - 240 points

Battle line - 5 hex wraiths - 160 points

Battle line - 5 hex wraiths - 160 points

Allies - 3 Vargheists -  160 points

[Josh]

played my second game last night vs seraphon playing star strike and got a major win ^^

[Mortarch]

6 hours ago, Josh said:

played my second game last night vs seraphon playing star strike and got a major win ^^

Josh, were you using one of the above lists you mentioned? Did you identify any weak elements of the list?