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AoS 2 - Nighthaunt Discussion


RuneBrush

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So, quick question, but is there any limit to the number of times we use the KoS ability?  From the Warscroll, it reads as:

 

"You can use this command ability at the
start of the combat phase. If you do so, pick
a friendly Nighthaunt unit that is wholly
within 18" of this model. Add 1 to the
Attacks characteristic of that unit’s melee
weapons in that combat phase."

 

From the way it sounds, you can use it as much as you want. And nothing in the Errata or Commentary mentions anything about it.

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This is why I still favor VL over KoSoS. Deathly invocations and a within 15” (compared to wholly within 12”) range for Blood Feast, which lasts until your next hero phase (compared to just that phase with KoSoS). I had previously thought that you could also spam Blood Feast, since there are no restrictions on the warscroll from GW’s website. However, the app and the LoL errata does have the same added language as KoSoS. So, that’s a bummer. They should really update the warscroll on their website. I recognize you are sacrificing the NH hero-based allegiance abilities such as Deathless Spirits and you also can’t equip it with an artifact, but the free summoning is hard for me to pass up.

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Can you please take a Look At the Who lists, and give me a Feedback. I have never Played nighthaunt bevore. Especially the artefacts.

Strategy is that Lady O pops up with the hexwraiths  behind the enemy lines. In my first round. She  is in the underworld. The Rest of the army will be set up on the battlefield to Grind  through the enemy.

List 1

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

Leaders
Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern (140)
- Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
- Infernal Lantern (Artefact): Beacon of Nagashizzar
Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (120)
- Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind
Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (200)
- General
- Lore of the Underworlds: Spectral Tether
Spirit Torment (120)

Battleline
30 x Chainrasp Horde (240)
5 x Hexwraiths (140)
5 x Hexwraiths (140)

Units
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (320)
10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)
12 x Myrmourn Banshees (210)

Battalions
The Dolorous Guard (120)

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Chronomantic Cogs (80)

Total: 1990 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 115

List 2

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

Leaders
Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern (140)
- Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
- Infernal Lantern (Artefact): Beacon of Nagashizzar
Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (120)
- Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind
Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (200)
- General
- Lore of the Underworlds: Spectral Tether
Spirit Torment (120)

Battleline
30 x Chainrasp Horde (240)
5 x Hexwraiths (140)
5 x Hexwraiths (140)

Units
20 x Bladegheist Revenants (320)
10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (160)

Behemoths
Black Coach (220)

Battalions
The Dolorous Guard (120)

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Chronomantic Cogs (80)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 115
 

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2 hours ago, Mordread said:

Can you please take a Look At the Who lists, and give me a Feedback. I have never Played nighthaunt bevore. Especially the artefacts.

Strategy is that Lady O pops up with the hexwraiths  behind the enemy lines. In my first round. She  is in the underworld. The Rest of the army will be set up on the battlefield to Grind  through the enemy.

If you're opponent is a decent player and/or he has played Nighthaunt before, he'll make sure you won't be able to drop Lady Olynder and the Hexwraiths (or indeed, anything else) anywhere on the board where you can do stuff (i.e. kill things or get objectives). Playing Nighthaunt as a turn 1 alpha strike army never worked for me, because:

  • Experience players would pepper the board with screens, so that your  alpha strike becomes basically useless even if everything goes just as planned.
  • You still need the charges to go off. I see you have included the Cogs in your lists, wich helps with that (although rolling a 7+ is very much your average, which is not very reliable a statistics to build an alhpa strike upon), but I see no Reikenor: the Cogs cast on a 7+, which again is right your average roll - not great.
  • Let's assume your opponent deploys in a rather silly manner, leaving many important units exposed. Let's assume you cast the Cogs on a 7+, and let's also assume you made your 7+ charges with both Olynder and the Hexwraiths. What would typically happen is that you'd fail to inflict sufficient damage, even with a double turn, to justify the alpha strike. You'll risk your precious Dolorous Guard to be wiped out real soon, and Olynder with it.

From the Underworld they Come (as well as Spectral Summons) is not especially great a strategy to wipe your opponent's units out: it allows you to control the board, that's the real strength. Even with the cogs, very rarely you'll manage to do enough damage to displace even remotely tanky units. Ten Bladegheists, buffed, upon a 10+ charge can do work, but you have to consider that as a bonus - not something to build your list around.

I personally think that the Dolorous Guard is great to grant e.g. Olynder a phenomenal staying power as an objective holder. Let them come to you and welcome them with some mortal wounds. This "OlynderBomb" that people have been talking about might very well work in an offensive fashion, but you'll need to commit way more than just the two units of Hexwraiths to it to make it worth your points!

Having said that, your lists are both viable in my opinion. My preference would be List 1, as I'm not a big fan of the Black Coach: one model, not a hero, some synergies but really shining in the fourth/fifth battleround only (by then, it's usually too late for our flimsy ghosts...), very little damage output... it's true that it came down in points, but more bodies are still better in my opinion.

Lastly: I'd consider swapping the Banshees and the Harridans with Grimghast Reapers - easily the best anti-horde unit in the game. If you drop Banshees, Harridans and Cogs you can get yourself 30 Reapers - a mightily scary Anvil. Pair it up with a ~27-wound Olynder and watch your opponent wasting in vain all their good units on that wall of ghastly scythes.

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13 hours ago, Nogginnocker said:

This is why I still favor VL over KoSoS. Deathly invocations and a within 15” (compared to wholly within 12”) range for Blood Feast, which lasts until your next hero phase (compared to just that phase with KoSoS). I had previously thought that you could also spam Blood Feast, since there are no restrictions on the warscroll from GW’s website. However, the app and the LoL errata does have the same added language as KoSoS. So, that’s a bummer. They should really update the warscroll on their website. I recognize you are sacrificing the NH hero-based allegiance abilities such as Deathless Spirits and you also can’t equip it with an artifact, but the free summoning is hard for me to pass up.

100% agree. The beauty of the VL CA is that it gets activated in the hero phase, which means that you don't really care about the fact that your VL is very very squishy indeed (4+ rendable and no Deathless Spirits) just put him behind a piece of terrain (tiny model!) and bless your massive unit from a mighty 15" distance (thank you Nagash for the lack of the bloody wholly within keyword). He doesn't need to be into the thick of the combat at all, while the KoSoS usually doesn't last very long because of the combination of wholly within and the combat phase activation. Plus:

  • The VL is still very fast (you should always get yourself a Flying Horror with a 10" base movement - costs nothing!)
  • As opposed to the KoSoS, this vampiric lad is a caster. Sure, he doesn't get a pick from the Nighthaunt spells, but we have seen more and more tournaments adopting the Spells of the Realms (some of them are amazing), so having yet another caster for free is really good value. 

Almost all my Nighthaunt lists have a VL!

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I don't understand the strategy I've read a few times here already, consisting in deep-striking Olynder and her bodyguards. The mortal wounds are dealt mainly in the Hero phase so you'll only have the Banshee screams, which are hardly terrifying as everyone and their dog have Bravery 10 nowadays. You also lose one turn of casting/dispelling 2 spells because she's not on the board yet, so I hardly see the point.

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23 minutes ago, Aaranis said:

I don't understand the strategy I've read a few times here already, consisting in deep-striking Olynder and her bodyguards. The mortal wounds are dealt mainly in the Hero phase so you'll only have the Banshee screams, which are hardly terrifying as everyone and their dog have Bravery 10 nowadays. You also lose one turn of casting/dispelling 2 spells because she's not on the board yet, so I hardly see the point.

Don't forget that in most cases, you will be deployed too far away from each other for turn 1 offensive spells. The dispelling maybe. But in most cases, turn 1 isn't a heavy spell casing turn 

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16 minutes ago, Aaranis said:

I don't understand the strategy I've read a few times here already, consisting in deep-striking Olynder and her bodyguards. The mortal wounds are dealt mainly in the Hero phase so you'll only have the Banshee screams, which are hardly terrifying as everyone and their dog have Bravery 10 nowadays. You also lose one turn of casting/dispelling 2 spells because she's not on the board yet, so I hardly see the point.

 

25 minutes ago, Thamalys said:

If you're opponent is a decent player and/or he has played Nighthaunt before, he'll make sure you won't be able to drop Lady Olynder and the Hexwraiths (or indeed, anything else) anywhere on the board where you can do stuff (i.e. kill things or get objectives). Playing Nighthaunt as a turn 1 alpha strike army never worked for me, because:

  • Experience players would pepper the board with screens, so that your  alpha strike becomes basically useless even if everything goes just as planned.
  • You still need the charges to go off. I see you have included the Cogs in your lists, wich helps with that (although rolling a 7+ is very much your average, which is not very reliable a statistics to build an alhpa strike upon), but I see no Reikenor: the Cogs cast on a 7+, which again is right your average roll - not great.
  • Let's assume your opponent deploys in a rather silly manner, leaving many important units exposed. Let's assume you cast the Cogs on a 7+, and let's also assume you made your 7+ charges with both Olynder and the Hexwraiths. What would typically happen is that you'd fail to inflict sufficient damage, even with a double turn, to justify the alpha strike. You'll risk your precious Dolorous Guard to be wiped out real soon, and Olynder with it.

From the Underworld they Come (as well as Spectral Summons) is not especially great a strategy to wipe your opponent's units out: it allows you to control the board, that's the real strength. Even with the cogs, very rarely you'll manage to do enough damage to displace even remotely tanky units. Ten Bladegheists, buffed, upon a 10+ charge can do work, but you have to consider that as a bonus - not something to build your list around.

I personally think that the Dolorous Guard is great to grant e.g. Olynder a phenomenal staying power as an objective holder. Let them come to you and welcome them with some mortal wounds. This "OlynderBomb" that people have been talking about might very well work in an offensive fashion, but you'll need to commit way more than just the two units of Hexwraiths to it to make it worth your points!

Having said that, your lists are both viable in my opinion. My preference would be List 1, as I'm not a big fan of the Black Coach: one model, not a hero, some synergies but really shining in the fourth/fifth battleround only (by then, it's usually too late for our flimsy ghosts...), very little damage output... it's true that it came down in points, but more bodies are still better in my opinion.

Lastly: I'd consider swapping the Banshees and the Harridans with Grimghast Reapers - easily the best anti-horde unit in the game. If you drop Banshees, Harridans and Cogs you can get yourself 30 Reapers - a mightily scary Anvil. Pair it up with a ~27-wound Olynder and watch your opponent wasting in vain all their good units on that wall of ghastly scythes.

 

Okay, a few things here.

First off, both of these comments are largely correct. From the Undeworlds They Come does not work often as a turn one alpha strike for a host of reasons. It can, but it's not a viable strategy to plan around. It should simply be an option for you as a general.

Secondly, a lot of people only choose to deep strike a couple choice units. IMO, this is not a good use of the trait. You should always deep strike half of your army. It gives your opponent a ton to think about, and lets you play the game as it develops. If your opponent knows half of your army is waiting to come on the board, they're going to change up how they're playing. They're going to really think about it, and have a lot more decisions to make and things to consider. This is so important, because the more decisions you can make your opponent make, the more likely they are to make bad decisions.

Third, you should only deep strike stuff on your first turn if it really makes sense. I have found it's typically far more effective to drop units on turn 2 or turn 3. This allows you to deploy based on how the game is unfolding.

Fourth, our deep strike is so powerful compared to other armies because we aren't limited to board edges. I know I can safely place a unit of 30 Reapers in the Underworld because I can always deep strike them just by placing them 9" in front of my opponent's forces. And if I wait until turn 2 or 3, I've probably dealt with some of the chaff that would be used to screen.

Finally, I don't think Dolorous Guard should be deep struck. The battalion turns the general into an anvil, which is the type of unit you don't want off the table. You want that unit on the table so that your opponent has to deal with it while also keeping in mind that you have some dangerous units waiting to come on the board.

Apologize about the spewing of my thoughts. Sometimes it helps me just to write stuff out like that.

As for the lists @Mordread, they're both pretty good. I always like to think about how many threats I'm putting on the board in my opponent's eyes. Lady O with Dolorous Guard is a threat your opponent must deal with, so are 20 Bladegheists, so are 12 Myrmourns or a Black Coach. It's hard to target three different threats though so you're making your opponent make choices. And that's a good thing, because like I said earlier, the more choices your opponent makes the more likely they'll make one that you can take advantage of later in the game.

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@Thamalys

Thank you for your Help. I understand your Problems with my lists. I am Not playing in a super competative Group. 

I have no Grmghast Reapers because I like the other models more. I will then take the Banshees and use Lady O Not from the underworld and put her so in the Table. Thank you.

The arteefacts I use are good?

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4 minutes ago, Mordread said:

@Thamalys

Thank you for your Help. I understand your Problems with my lists. I am Not playing in a super competative Group. 

I have no Grmghast Reapers because I like the other models more. I will then take the Banshees and use Lady O Not from the underworld and put her so in the Table. Thank you.

The arteefacts I use are good?

Pendant of the Fell Wind a must IMO.

The Beacon is powerful when you actually get the spell off, but in my experience that happens once or twice a game. Give it a try, but I'd recommend Aetherquartz Brooch or Wychlight Lantern over it.

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Just now, Mordread said:

 Thank you for your Help. I understand your Problems with my lists. I am Not playing in a super competative Group. 

I have no Grmghast Reapers because I like the other models more. I will then take the Banshees and use Lady O Not from the underworld and put her so in the Table. Thank you.

The arteefacts I use are good?

They're good - I would take none of the two, though.

The Beacon of Nagashizzar only comes into play when you actually manage to cast Spectral Lure (regularly on a 6+). I prefer to take the Wychlight Lantern (+1 to cast): + 11% chance of successfuly cast not only Spectral Lure but Shademist as well. By the way, Shademist is insanely good when it does go off. - excellent choice.

The Pendant of the Fell Wind suffers from the usual wholly within 12" issue: usually you can only apply the +3 to move on one unit only. In addition, your army is not too slow, and +3 is not life-changing. My favourite picks within the Nighthaunt stuff are the Midnight Tome (because casting is important!) and the Balefire Blade (+1 damage) on a KoS.

The Gryph-feather Charm is my favourite artefact for our Nighthaunt squishy characters and it's another viable choice.

You'll find that the choice of artefacts is a very subjective thing, though - I'm sure some more people would have some good alternative suggestions!

 

 

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1 minute ago, Mordread said:

The gryph feather Charme is not  in the battletome. It is one of the territorys? What do you do if the battle Takes  Place in another territory?

Sorry for my english.

The Gryph-feather Charm is an Artefact of the Realms - each Realm (Ulgu, Hysh...) has a few of them. They can be found in the Malign Sorcery book. Once again, 1d4chan provides a concise rundown: https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Malign_Sorcery#Artefacts_Of_The_Realms 

The Realm where the battle is fought has nothing to do with the artefacts you pick: you can declare your army comes from a certain realm (in the case of the Gryph-feather Charm, the Realm of Ghur) and as such you get access to the Artefacts of the Realm of Ghur. This option is built in both the Azyr app and the Warscroll Builder. The spells of the Realm (as well as the Realms' features and such) are bound to the where the battle take place, but the choice of the Artefacts of the Realm is not - obviously, you can only select one Realm. That is, your army can come from Ghur, but not from Ghur and e.g. Hysh as well (that'd give you access to too powerful combos...). However, you still have access to the Artefacts from your Battletome. Hence, picking, say, the Balefire Blade (Nighthaunt Battletome) and the Gryph-feather Charm (from Ghur) is perfectly ok - you just have to declare your army comes from Ghur.

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6 hours ago, dmorley21 said:

Okay, a few things here.

First off, both of these comments are largely correct. From the Undeworlds They Come does not work often as a turn one alpha strike for a host of reasons. It can, but it's not a viable strategy to plan around. It should simply be an option for you as a general.

Secondly, a lot of people only choose to deep strike a couple choice units. IMO, this is not a good use of the trait. You should always deep strike half of your army. It gives your opponent a ton to think about, and lets you play the game as it develops. If your opponent knows half of your army is waiting to come on the board, they're going to change up how they're playing. They're going to really think about it, and have a lot more decisions to make and things to consider. This is so important, because the more decisions you can make your opponent make, the more likely they are to make bad decisions.

Third, you should only deep strike stuff on your first turn if it really makes sense. I have found it's typically far more effective to drop units on turn 2 or turn 3. This allows you to deploy based on how the game is unfolding.

Fourth, our deep strike is so powerful compared to other armies because we aren't limited to board edges. I know I can safely place a unit of 30 Reapers in the Underworld because I can always deep strike them just by placing them 9" in front of my opponent's forces. And if I wait until turn 2 or 3, I've probably dealt with some of the chaff that would be used to screen.

Finally, I don't think Dolorous Guard should be deep struck. The battalion turns the general into an anvil, which is the type of unit you don't want off the table. You want that unit on the table so that your opponent has to deal with it while also keeping in mind that you have some dangerous units waiting to come on the board.

I see what you mean. However on my side it may be a list building problem or something else, but most of the time I can't afford to deep strike half my army, and if I do I need to arrive Round 1, because I need staying power, and early control of the objectives. Nighthaunt is NOT an army with a good staying power and I face armies that out-damage me severely most of the time, so if I start with half my army in reserves I either lose what's on the table really fast, or I lose control of objectives early on and that may cost me the game. If I want to control objectives with the units from reserves I have to hope the enemy is not already on it or I need 9" charges and that's unlikely. 

6 hours ago, NoMaDhOoK said:

Don't forget that in most cases, you will be deployed too far away from each other for turn 1 offensive spells. The dispelling maybe. But in most cases, turn 1 isn't a heavy spell casing turn 

I almost never have turn 1 so usually I can at least dispel, but the enemy will advance up the board towards me most of the time on their turn. I can still cast buffs to my own army if there's no enemy in range in any case. I think Olynder is too good a caster to waste a turn in reserve is what I meant all in all. But you're right, in the case I do have turn 1 well that's Shademist time :D

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I'm a huge fan of 1500 point battles for casual play. 1k is too restrictive for Nighthaunt, and if you're just trying stuff out it's good to have a few points you can play with beyond a solid base. If you're not playing this many points I highly recommend it. Plus, whenever you do play 2k you'll boggle at how many options you have.

At any rate, I low-key hate calling From the Underworlds "deep strike". It's a 40K term that summons up ideas of dropping a ranged unit in sniper cover or bombing a front line with a suicidal unit, neither of which we will ever do. I like calling these abilities "zone-in", because ideally that's what you're trying to do with them; either zone in at a choice location or zone your opponent out of wherever they'd like to go.

 

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Just had a 2k game with my ghosts up against the new Slaves to Darkness (slaanesh focus list) book.

Took my standard 2 torments, GoS, KosES, 2x6 Hosts, 2x15 Blades, 12 myrmourn, 10 rasps, 2 chainghasts list.

Rolled total commitment mission which we took to mean no underworld deployment; so chariots and cavalry vs my now foot(?) schlogging bedsheets. Mobility damaged from the get go!

The new StD (HA!) Hero shenanigans are intense, lots of impact damage with his Chariot/Mounted Knight list. Watch for them simply killing Heros or small units simply by running into them.

Chaos general with 3+ reroll save with ethereal amulet chewed through 15 bladegheists and 12 myrmourns by himself, taking an average of 1 wound per turn. Which he healed. In retrospect I should have thrown the Hosts at his general to eat him with MW's.

Chainghasts are cheap enough now to validate their use as an aura extender; but still dont seem to do much else. Variable # of shots on a 4+ to hit is just garbage. Maybe take 4? Dunno.

2 Torments and a GoS managed to heal a total of 3 wounds throughout the entire game; only RotSH did any healing of value. Still a firm beleiver that our healing mechanics are overpriced and gimped.

May start splitting 2x15 blades into 3x10 for more charge fishing; as both units of blades overkilled their charge targets and then were completely wiped before they could be healed, despite 15 models AND shroudguard AND shademist AND mystic shield.

Managed to win by a narrow margin on Victory points, both sides gutted but Slaves definitely had a stronger force left at the end. 

We absolutely 100% win or lose depending on Wave of Terror and thats sad. I got 2 clutch WoT charges which murdered their targets on impact. If I had placed better and piled in to secondary enemies after WoT overkill I would have had an easier time; mentally prepare yourselves to do that

Edited by Neck-Romantic
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15 minutes ago, Neck-Romantic said:

Just had a 2k game with my ghosts up against the new Slaves to Darkness (slaanesh focus list) book.

Took my standard 2 torments, GoS, KosES, 2x6 Hosts, 2x15 Blades, 12 myrmourn, 10 rasps, 2 chainghasts list.

Rolled total commitment mission which we took to mean no underworld deployment; so chariots and cavalry vs my now foot(?) schlogging bedsheets. Mobility damaged from the get go!

The new StD (HA!) Hero shenanigans are intense, lots of impact damage with his Chariot/Mounted Knight list. Watch for them simply killing Heros or small units simply by running into them.

Chaos general with 3+ reroll save with ethereal amulet chewed through 15 bladegheists and 12 myrmourns by himself, taking an average of 1 wound per turn. Which he healed. In retrospect I should have thrown the Hosts at his general to eat him with MW's.

Chainghasts are cheap enough now to validate their use as an aura extender; but still dont seem to do much else. Variable # of shots on a 4+ to hit is just garbage. Maybe take 4? Dunno.

2 Torments and a GoS managed to heal a total of 3 wounds throughout the entire game; only RotSH did any healing of value. Still a firm beleiver that our healing mechanics are overpriced and gimped.

May start splitting 2x15 blades into 3x10 for more charge fishing; as both units of blades overkilled their charge targets and then were completely wiped before they could be healed, despite 15 models AND shroudguard AND shademist AND mystic shield.

Managed to win by a narrow margin on Victory points, both sides gutted but Slaves definitely had a stronger force left at the end. 

We absolutely 100% win or lose depending on Wave of Terror and thats sad. I got 2 clutch WoT charges which murdered their targets on impact. If I had placed better and piled in to secondary enemies after WoT overkill I would have had an easier time; mentally prepare yourselves to do that

I definitely feel like the healing would be a lot better if GoS spells was better. Should be 2d6 if they dont change it. Far too many times when I finally get it off I get 1-2 models back.  With the way the bonereapers worded spells (Arcane Bolt, Mystic Shield) for Nagash and Arkhan I'm hoping we can get the rules worded so any number of GoS can cast Spectral Lure in a turn. Like Skaven engineers and Warp Lightning.

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