AoS 2 - Nighthaunt Discussion

[Maxo Bug]

On 8/28/2018 at 3:40 PM, Benlisted said:

[...] That said, you can make some value judgements from them. For instance, I’d say generally steer clear of a Lord executioner unless you really have nothing better to do with 20pts (take a Cairn Wraith instead). The difference in damage output is noticeable. That said, if you want to make one your General, then the more durable LE is certainly a better bet. But normally I’d rather have a wraith and the shackles.

I think the only real no brainer is maul over sword on GoS. Even things like LE and the Mourngul, which respectively are fairly clearly outdone by the CW and the BC, have a niche in a list stacking - to hit. Personally I also can’t see myself running Glaivewraiths [...]

I don't know how to feel. You just named half my 1K army...

Is the Lord Executioner that bad? In paper doesn't seem so bad, and I really like the model... I mean, I may love the Cairn Wraiths even more, but...

[Maxo Bug]

Quote

The Briar Queen – nemesis of the cursed city of Shadespire – is unleashed by Nagash to menace other lands. She is tasked with claiming certain souls that have cheated Nagash. With the aid of her spectral army – the Thorns of the Briar Queen – she visits each of the Mortal Realms, always bringing back her target’s soul. Between missions the Briar Queen returns to Shadespire, for her need for vengeance there remains unsatisfied.

I just realized that the Briar Queen, the warband leader of the new WH Underworlds, was mentioned in the Nighthaunt battletome already. (p19)

[Fluxlord]

3 hours ago, Neck-Romantic said:

The banshee battalion interacts with bravery in a very thematic fashion; preventing your opponent from spending command points to ignore battleshock

You might search through the realm artefacts and find something that adds even further bravery debuffs, while fielding the banshee battalion, some tomb banshees, and Lady Olynder

Thx for your input! 

[Benlisted]

15 hours ago, Maxo Bug said:

I don't know how to feel. You just named half my 1K army...

Is the Lord Executioner that bad? In paper doesn't seem so bad, and I really like the model... I mean, I may love the Cairn Wraiths even more, but...

Well like I said, outside of GoS weapons the rest are value judgements. Your list might be, on paper, a bit less efficient than it could be, but less efficient than min/max isn't the same as inefficient. If it works for you go for it, I (one person on the Internet)  say! 

17 hours ago, Neck-Romantic said:

The banshee battalion interacts with bravery in a very thematic fashion; preventing your opponent from spending command points to ignore battleshock

You might search through the realm artefacts and find something that adds even further bravery debuffs, while fielding the banshee battalion, some tomb banshees, and Lady Olynder

I'm playing a shrieker host, sadly a trawl through the realm artifacts revealed nothing that further debuffs bravery. There's a number of banshee shriek like attacks you can get, but our artifacts are better imo. You need to run endless spells (Jaws and/or gravetide )  or ally in things from the rest of death. 

17 hours ago, kenshin620 said:

Speaking of ghosts popping up, the new shadespire band looks pretty ghaslty! The one thats basically hanging is pretty chilly!

 

These look awesome - fearful as I am of that vine snapping! Would rather have not had another 7 man undead warband, but hey ho. There's hope that we might get the khorne treatment and get a second band later in the phase too. 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Benlisted

[christophe]

The queen look even more fragile than a BB skaven model... I would have prefer a more fancy base, but she will fit nicely with her Mortach and some new banshees. For her minions, maybe buy 2 boxes when they will release the separate warband to get 10 (+2)...

[Warbossironteef]

Has anyone here taken Morghast Harbingers/Archai in their Nighthaunt Armies? I feel like they are the perfect unit to chaff with our Chainrasps and then fly over for a turn 2 charge or the countercharge. 

I'd love hear from someone who has used them. They are a little expensive, but 3d6 charge, 12 wounds in total , with high rend weapons (if you go spear) seem like a great addition to our army as high rend is something we lack a little.

[Nevar]

10 hours ago, kenshin620 said:

Speaking of ghosts popping up, the new shadespire band looks pretty ghaslty! The one thats basically hanging is pretty chilly!

 

Welp, the Briar Queen or whatever her name is looks awesome and extremely flimsy.  Other than Cage Face and Hanging Man the rest are super boring.  Headless is a bit of a laugh I suppose, but the other three are nearly just the same chain rasps with head swaps.  Dude with the flail literally just has a metal vice on his head otherwise he is the same chainrasp.

Love that banshee leader though, will likely buy the warband just to have her as a Tomb Banshee or mix her into my Myrmourn.

[kenshin620]

3 minutes ago, Nevar said:

Welp, the Briar Queen or whatever her name is looks awesome and extremely flimsy.  Other than Cage Face and Hanging Man the rest are super boring.  Headless is a bit of a laugh I suppose, but the other three are nearly just the same chain rasps with head swaps.  Dude with the flail literally just has a metal vice on his head otherwise he is the same chainrasp.

Love that banshee leader though, will likely buy the warband just to have her as a Tomb Banshee or mix her into my Myrmourn.

Well to be fair some of the other Shadespire bands aren't too different from their parent unit.

Like the Farstriders and Vanguard Hunters. Other than the leader with the Bird, the other two I could probably not tell them apart from the normal vanguard hunter kit.

 

Also assuming this set is the same price as other shadespire kits, now theres affordable Chainrasps without buying tempest of souls/souls wars!

[Neck-Romantic]

If its basically 6 chainrasps and a banshee for 30 I wouldnt call that affordable...

[Vasshpit]

Seeing as how the Briar Witch is a wizard she'll probably have a nifty little ability in AoS though.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Vasshpit

[Nevar]

4 hours ago, kenshin620 said:

Well to be fair some of the other Shadespire bands aren't too different from their parent unit.

Like the Farstriders and Vanguard Hunters. Other than the leader with the Bird, the other two I could probably not tell them apart from the normal vanguard hunter kit.

 

Also assuming this set is the same price as other shadespire kits, now theres affordable Chainrasps without buying tempest of souls/souls wars!

Yeah the main issue for me, is just that I never liked the look of the Chainrasps to begin with.  After the Dreadscythes they are my least favorite Nighthaunt models.  I recognize that they are good models, just not my kind of aesthetic.

This warband is dissappointing to me just because they are Chainrasp based.  I would have preferred a Grimghast/Bladegeist/Lord Executioner/Hexwraith styled warband, maybe even a Chaingast for a ranged attack or something.  Maybe they will be cool, but I like these models around as much as I like the Sepulchural Guard.  That is to say, I still like both Death Warbands... but it sort of feels like we have x2 skeleton warbands.  Chainrasps are just the Nighthaunt Skelebobs.  I was expecting a more elite death unit like we have seen with the other factions.  Khorne started with Blood Reavers, then 'upgraded' to Blood Warriors.  Stormcasts had a random mix of Stormcasts, then 'upgraded' to elite scouts.  Death seems to shuffled sideways.  I will not be surprised if they don't also get revived somehow like the skelebobs do, but we shall see.

[kenshin620]

2 hours ago, Neck-Romantic said:

If its basically 6 chainrasps and a banshee for 30 I wouldnt call that affordable...

Well I was thinking of the "just the miniatures" box. Thats like an extra $5 off right? So its like 10 for a banshee, 15 for 6 alternative chainrasps.

1 hour ago, Vasshpit said:

Seeing as how the Briar Witch is a wizard she'll probably have a nifty little ability in AoS though.

Ehh hopefully. So far the shade spire units haven't been much other than "point fillers". It would have been more interesting if they were unit upgrades so they weren't so puny.

[Neck-Romantic]

Well I suppose Skeletons are technically LoN's weakest troops as well but yes seeing the Nighthaunt band being chainrasps is a bit meh. 

And also yes, they are basic chainrasps with some tacked-on additions

[dmorley21]

All right, here's my first try at a Vanguard list for my first game which will be the end of September or beginning of October.

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

Leaders
Reikenor the Grimhailer (180)
- Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist
Cairn Wraith (60)
- General
- Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts
- Artefact: Midnight Tome

Battleline
20 x Grimghast Reapers (280)
10 x Chainrasp Horde (80)

Units
8 x Myrmourn Banshees (160)
10 x Dreadscythe Harridans (180)

Endless Spells
Chronomantic Cogs (60)

Total: 1000 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 59

 

I currently have the models for Reikenor, the Reapers, and the Banshees. My buddy has models for a Cairn Wraith, Tomb Banshee, 10 Hexwraiths, and 3 Spirit Hosts that I can borrow.

Overall here's my thoughts:

I'll deploy Reikenor and my battleline on the field and use the Wraith, Banshees, and Harridans to deep strike. The Chainrasp Horde will be used as a screen. I will use the Cogs to help get Banshees and Harridans into battle with specific units. The Wraith is there to support them (he was all I had room for) and support them with his command trait.

I know the Banshees are probably not the best use of points in a Vanguard game, but I like their versatility to defend against magic and be assassins for high rend units. I am still on the fence between Harridans and Bladegheist Revenants, but I think I like the Harridans a little bit better.

I'll also probably be facing a Frost Pheonix regularly (we used to play WHFB and my one buddy has two of them from his former HE armies), so I'll need to know what to do against that.

Thanks for any feedback!

[Mikeymajq]

Just started playing with my Nighthaunt, onyl 1k and 1250 pts games so far. First game went okay at first, got a turn 1 charge with my Grimghast reapers but then it started going a bit south. my game today I basically lost on turn 2 (I could argue I kinda lost on turn 1). 
 

So, my question is, what do you guys consider as staples to playing the army?

With my Khorne what works for me is small screens of reavers but that plays well into their blood tithe as well. Is it something I should consider for Nighthaunt?
 

[Kirjava13]

Well!

A 1000 v 1000 game ended up as a 1000+1000+2000 v 4000 point game! What would have been Nighthaunt versus Sylvaneth became Nighthaunt, Sylvaneth and Daughters of Khaine against monstrous Stormcast army in the Focused Points (I think?) scenario. And we won! Men (trees?) of the match were the twenty Dryads who sat on the centre objective tanking three rounds of massed Stormcast shooting, but my  Nighthaunt contributed ably. Lady Olynder is a beast, Spirit Hosts are awesome and the buffs from the Guardian of Souls and Spirit Torment should never be left at home. My Chainrasps did more damage to a Celestant Prime than he managed in return, and the Bladegheist Revenants wrapped up the game by securing objective 3 for us for a turn, ensuring a healthy six victory points on our final turn in spite of being shot to pieces next turn.

Takeaways:

- I am going to play Daughters of Khaine soon and that scares me. 

- Olynder! Olynder! Olynder!

- Bladegheist Revenants should be in units of ten or they're too fragile.

- Stormcast remain BULL$H!7 but open up the mortal wound can and they die all the same.

Allegiance: Nighthaunt
Mortal Realm: Chamon

Leaders
Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (240)
- General
- Lore of the Underworlds: Reaping Scythe
Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern (140)
- Lore of the Underworlds: Spirit Drain
- Infernal Lantern (Artefact): Wychlight Lantern
Spirit Torment (120)

Battleline
6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
20 x Chainrasp Horde (160)

Units
5 x Bladegheist Revenants (90)

Total: 990 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 60

[adreal]

Hey guys, so I was heaps excited to play nighthaunt along with my wanderers when I saw the first photos come out. Went and bought soul wars and the battletome. I really wanted to do a jail themed nighthaunt army with heaps of chainrasps and not much else.....then the price for a box or ten came out

anyways I then made a list based off the starter sets, so I know it's not the most competitive but it should be alot of fun (if a little weak)

LEADER

Lady Olynder-life stealer

Knight of shrouds on ethereal steed-balefire blade

Guardian of souls-chill blade, beacon of nagashizzar, shademist.

Spirit of torment

Lord executioner-headsmens judgement

BATTLELINE

20 chainrasps

20 chainrasps

10 grimgast reapers

WARSCROLL BATTALIONS

Chainguard

Shroudguard

OTHER

16 glaivewraith stalkers-deathbeat drummer

2 chainghasts

5 bladeghiest revenants

5 bladeghiest revenants

4 myrmourne banshees

 

I know it's not the best list, but it should be fun

[Neck-Romantic]

Finally finished Lady Olynder. Decided to stick to the banshees she comes with rather than a set of Mortis Engine ones I thought to replace them with.

 

[Hannibal]

Hi all,

 

let´s say I´d start with Nighthaunt. Therefore I like to ask some questions:

1. Is Lady Olynder AND Kurdoss Valentian a good start? I absolutely love these models, therefore I´d like to go with them. If I had to decide between them, I´d eventually choose Kurdoss over Olynder, when it comes down to models.

2. What units do Olynder and Kurdoss like to see in your army? Any good synergies?

3. Basically I like Kurdoss, Olynder, Spirit Hosts, Grimghast Reapers, any kind of Banshees and Dreadblade Harrows. Is it possible to build a good army around these models?

4. Are there any "must haves" when it comes down to Nighthaunt?

[GeneralZero]

3 minutes ago, Hannibal said:

Basically I like Kurdoss, Olynder, Spirit Hosts, Grimghast Reapers

You can definitly build an army around those. Reapers are one of (if not THE) Best unit in the entire game. Oly synergize well with spirits. But kurdoss is a bit of mystery actually. I'm sure you'll find something for him. Take a Guardian of soul and complete the reapers. You'll have a nice and strong backbone of an army.

[Hannibal]

1 minute ago, GeneralZero said:

You can definitly build an army around those. Reapers are one of (if not THE) Best unit in the entire game. Oly synergize well with spirits. But kurdoss is a bit of mystery actually. I'm sure you'll find something for him.

Thanks!

1 minute ago, GeneralZero said:

Take a Guardian of soul and complete the reapers.

Is the Guardian of Soul a must have?

1 minute ago, GeneralZero said:

You'll have a nice and strong backbone of an army.

Will it work in 1000 pts too without additional units?

 

[Keldaur]

20 minutes ago, Hannibal said:

Hi all,

 

let´s say I´d start with Nighthaunt. Therefore I like to ask some questions:

1. Is Lady Olynder AND Kurdoss Valentian a good start? I absolutely love these models, therefore I´d like to go with them. If I had to decide between them, I´d eventually choose Kurdoss over Olynder, when it comes down to models.

2. What units do Olynder and Kurdoss like to see in your army? Any good synergies?

3. Basically I like Kurdoss, Olynder, Spirit Hosts, Grimghast Reapers, any kind of Banshees and Dreadblade Harrows. Is it possible to build a good army around these models?

4. Are there any "must haves" when it comes down to Nighthaunt?

1 - Depends, if you are starting out and playing 1k games, no, they are not.

2 - Grimghast reapers, Spirit hosts, Chainrasps

3 - Yes.

4 - I would say the chronomatic cogs and reikenor to reliably cast them are a must. And obviously grim ghast reapers. They are ridiculous with cogs + fell wind pendant.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Keldaur

[dmorley21]

On 9/1/2018 at 4:39 PM, Kirjava13 said:

Well!

A 1000 v 1000 game ended up as a 1000+1000+2000 v 4000 point game! What would have been Nighthaunt versus Sylvaneth became Nighthaunt, Sylvaneth and Daughters of Khaine against monstrous Stormcast army in the Focused Points (I think?) scenario. And we won! Men (trees?) of the match were the twenty Dryads who sat on the centre objective tanking three rounds of massed Stormcast shooting, but my  Nighthaunt contributed ably. Lady Olynder is a beast, Spirit Hosts are awesome and the buffs from the Guardian of Souls and Spirit Torment should never be left at home. My Chainrasps did more damage to a Celestant Prime than he managed in return, and the Bladegheist Revenants wrapped up the game by securing objective 3 for us for a turn, ensuring a healthy six victory points on our final turn in spite of being shot to pieces next turn.

Takeaways:

- I am going to play Daughters of Khaine soon and that scares me. 

- Olynder! Olynder! Olynder!

- Bladegheist Revenants should be in units of ten or they're too fragile.

- Stormcast remain BULL$H!7 but open up the mortal wound can and they die all the same.

Thanks for the report. It seems like Olynder did a lot for you. I haven't thought about using her because she seems too fragile and like too much of a target. What did she do for your that made her so good?

16 hours ago, Neck-Romantic said:

Finally finished Lady Olynder. Decided to stick to the banshees she comes with rather than a set of Mortis Engine ones I thought to replace them with.

Very nice. What color are you using on your ghosts?

14 hours ago, Hannibal said:

Hi all,

 

let´s say I´d start with Nighthaunt. Therefore I like to ask some questions:

1. Is Lady Olynder AND Kurdoss Valentian a good start? I absolutely love these models, therefore I´d like to go with them. If I had to decide between them, I´d eventually choose Kurdoss over Olynder, when it comes down to models.

2. What units do Olynder and Kurdoss like to see in your army? Any good synergies?

3. Basically I like Kurdoss, Olynder, Spirit Hosts, Grimghast Reapers, any kind of Banshees and Dreadblade Harrows. Is it possible to build a good army around these models?

4. Are there any "must haves" when it comes down to Nighthaunt?

1) You can use both at 2000 pts, but probably not at a 1000. There's a list that won a tournament at 2000 pts that used both.

2) They're two of the most expensive units in the list, so I'd guess you'd want to put them with Chainrasp Hordes so you could get your numbers up there.

3) I'm not sure all of those units would combine to form the best force. They're all pretty expensive. But that's no reason not to try!

4) It seems to me like almost all lists will want Reikenor and Chronomantic Cogs so that you can charge an enemy on your first turn. Also, I haven't seen many using this, but it seems like a unit of 10 Chainrasp Horde is a cheap but semi-durable screen for units you want to protect.

[Kirjava13]

1 hour ago, dmorley21 said:

Thanks for the report. It seems like Olynder did a lot for you. I haven't thought about using her because she seems too fragile and like too much of a target. What did she do for your that made her so good?

To be fair, it wasn't entirely representative as it was such a massive game that the Stormcast player simply failed to focus on her- she only took two wounds in the 3 turns we played, and I still had her one-use D6 heal/mortal wounds. She was a mortal wound machine: in the face of a strike force of Retributors, her spell Grief-Stricken was amazing for helping my Spirit Hosts and my ally's Wychelves to strike down the Sequitors and Retributors, and her shooting attack brought a lot of pain too once I was debuffing their bravery. Plus she's no slouch in combat!

[knightish]

Hey Guys

Played a game on the weekend.

750 points.
Practising for a 2v2 tment that I am playing in next weekend. 
Versed my partner for the tournament.

He was playing Nurgle

1 Sorc on Stead
2x Nurgle demon sorc on foot.

5x Blight kings x2
Tree of Nurgle
I think that was all. 

I had:

Guardian of Souls
Pendent of fell wind
Ruler of the spirit host.
- Shademist

30x Grimgast Reapers|
6x Spirit host


I know it is very paper scissors rock at that level.

The Grimgast absolutely ruined his day. 
I lost about 8 total, and two hosts. 

I brought all the hosts back.
I failed every spell I tried to cast all game. 

Tabled him turn 3. 

He has since changed his lists to add more bodies as his two Nurgle Sorc did very little. 
But just a bit of table exp for peeps.

30 reapers is huge, and with proper placement against 5 kings I was able to get all but 3 reapers close enough to swing on the charge. 
 - Which killed the entire unit in one round of combat, this is after loosing 6 to their attacks. 

Edited September 4, 2018 by knightish
missed a bit