Legion of Night - "Double Dragon" help

[Calum Todd]

I used to play with the Neferata & Legion of Death list before the new book. Got tired of it after a while so thought I'd try something fresh (as far as undead goes)

Legion of Night

Prince Vhordrai (480)
- General
- Lore of the Vampires : Vile Transference

Vampire Lord On Zombie Dragon (440)
- Deathlance & Shield & Chalice
- Artefact : Shard of Night
- Lore of the Vampires : Amaranthine Orb

Necromancer (110)
- Lore of the Deathmages : Overwhelming Dread

Necromancer (110)
- Lore of the Deathmages : Fading Vigour

40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
-Ancient Spears
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
4 x Morghast Harbingers (440)
-Spirit Halberds

Total: 1980 / 2000

 

The idea of the list is to have the Harbingers ambushing, along with the Skeletons. Though the skeletons may be deployed in the grave depending on the opponents list. I'm not entirely sure about that yet. The VLoZD will likely be ambushing aswell, again depending on the opponent.

Prince Vhordai will get buffed up and head towards where the ambushers are coming on from. The Necromancers hang back with the Wolves probably - this bit doesn't quite add up I think. They seem rather helpess.

This list is a lot more top heavy than I'm used to so I could do with some guidance on how to run or build this list. At the moment I only have the 40 skeletons and 2 Morghasts as I normally stick to more Deathrattle themed units.

Any tips? Cheers!

[Honk]

List looks good to me...

i think the necros should walk up with the skellis, regen and ablative wounds...

wolves for fast objectives, the prince as first target then bringing in the morghast with the vlozd...depending on the scenario or opponent maybe even 2x2 morghast for board control. 

Ambushing 40 skellis is a mess to set up correctly and with an impact in that turn, except for flank denial maybe, but we’ll, I like them in the Centre more ??‍♀️

[Dracothjay]

List looks solid. I’d put amethystine pinions on vohdrai instead to get him up supporting the ambushing morghast. I always use pinions on vohdrai, such a greater threat range!

[Calum Todd]

So I used this list at a tournament last weekend - didn't exactly go well, but I put that down to more myself being rusty than the list being poor.

I won't go into detail on the games but here's what I've found so far.

Prince Vhordrai - hits like a tonne of bricks. Absolutely carries the rest of the army on his back. I might have to follow @Dracothjay's advice with the pinions spell on him. I found that generally the two dragons wouldn't get into the same combats as each other due to the threat range difference. Vhordrai does like having his own spell going off though as it turns his offensive power up to 11.

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon - pretty much a Diet Vhordrai. There was a noticeable drop in output against tougher enemies, but against the normal rank and file he was more or less the same.  Prince Vhordrai's command ability was great on this guy to get a bit more out of him. The spell Blood Boil was surprisingly good too against the likes of Fulminators - any source of mortal wounds is handy against Stormcast!

Necromancers - I actually used Morbheg's Claw item on one of them which was a bit of a double edged sword. It meant in T1/2 I pretty much got any spell I wanted easily cast - but it also meant that one of my Necromancers was going nowhere and was usually babysat by some wolves which ultimately meant they weren't doing anything. The spells they had were amazing though - it really helped the skeletons tank a combined charge from 30 Plague Bearers, Gutrot Spume and 10 Blight Kings (who were -2 to hit, -2 bravery, -1 attack at one point!)

Skeletons - Very solid choice as everyone knows. The Bait rule really helped them agains the nurgle stuff (above) who lack any rend. Having a 3+ due to Mystic Shield and The Bait meant these guys weren't going anywhere and any casualties were quickly revived due to Gravesites. I never ambushed or had these guys waiting in the grave which meant they were really slow which I think lost me some games I could have won easily otherwise. This is something I need to be aware of in the future - I normally had these guys in the Legion of Death formation so they were effectively twice as fast before.

Dire Wolves - Very happy with what these guys did. Which was to be chaff and get in the way. Even if they were the same cost as 10 skeletons I would take these guys instead.

Morghasts - The other heavy lifters in the army. I ambushed with these in every game and they always got the charge I wanted due to the 3D6 rule they have. They were very good at holding up key units (Plague Drones/Fulminators/Hordes of Daughters of Khaine stuff etc.) but generally were dead by T3 or so due to not having any support. I may have to hold off ambushing straight away with these guys and bide my time.

Overall thoughts:

• Do I need to go first  - generally not!
• I think I was a bit overeager with some of the movement/chargesI did and essentially overstretched my army which needs a bit of overlap support from characters/spells etc. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!"
• Focus on the objectives - it's all good to table someone, but that doesn't win you the game
• Get more practice with the army - I felt very rusty with some of the scrolls and had to refer to the spells a lot of the time due to not being familiar with them enough.
• Endless Gifts on a Great Unclean One is just horrible! Make sure the thing is actually dead before it gets a chance to recover.

[Honk]

@Calum Todd thx for sharing, I hope you still had fun playing... 

[Josh]

good little write up man

i think the important thing to remember also is what is death really good at / excel at? Magic & healing summonable units. 

Also remember that Death is very much a control army & picking and choosing is very important (movement, buffs, de-buffs etc)

100% agree that prince V is an auto include for my armies moving forward

i feel that morghasts are kind of a trap unless youre building the list around them (support character thats fast enough & has vile T & able to be MS)

i personally would be ambushing a horde unit with a hero to support them (if you make the charge you can tail back for a deathless save)

 

but night is super strong & keep playing games ?

[Evil Bob]

Just a few thoughts...

If the VLoZD was your general putting Dread Knight on Morghasts is effective and doesn’t force you to deploy both Dragons together.  Tactical flexibility.  In my area we play the Match Play games allot so objectives are a thing.  Throw Above Suspision on him and put both Dragons in Ambush with the Morghasts and a Necromancer.  Keep the Skellitons in the ground.  Depending how the Grave Markers are placed you can threaten a dangerous tarpit in your opponent’s deployment zone Turn 1!  If he takes action to stop it (or thinks he’s stopping your plan) just Ambush elsewhere and fortify midboard while his babysitting unit(s) is/are out of position.  The obvious downsides, if most everything is committed on the enemies table-side the LoN side is vulnerable to mobile units and one or two camped grave markers are not helping to castle an important position.

[Calum Todd]

Thanks for the tips guys  - I'll try out some different configurations on who is the general and what spells/items/traits people have. Enjoyed playing with the two dragons and legion of night a lot, probably more so than when I was using Neferata!

[Honk]

Oh, one thing I forgot last time and it cost me dearly...

Do not double turn!!! I repeat: do not doubleturn!!!

 

Your tarpits are save, until you get double turned...

[Thanatos Ares]

List looks solid. I’m not sure if ambushing the skeletons is a the best use of “the bait” ability skeleton units get in Night. I run a more extreme top heavy variant list and ambush with harbringers & 2 Terrorgheists. 

 

Best set advice I’ve got is keep playing your list till you know it’s strengths inside out. Knowing what your list is and isn’t capable of doing will win you games. 

 

Keep us informed of your progress!!