New to Nighthaunt - First List and help with strategy..?!?

[PALFORLIFE]

Hey guys, so I just recently picked up 2 of the new battle forces, some banshees a coach and my buddy gave me half a soul wars box. Needless to say I am all in on the spooky boys..

I've been trying to find as much info as I can on high level tournament and competitive play as I run with some very cut throat players that only bring the cheesey and hardest of list.

This is where I am at to start and would appreciate any tips, tricks and strategies.. especially vs OBR lol.. they are quite popular at my shop now. 

Thanks!

My list is..

Dreadblade Harrow - General with Craven and Brooch

Knight of Shrouds

Knight of Shrouds on Steed

Necromancer 

Black Coach

Chainrasp x40, x10 and x10

Myr Banshee x12

Bladegheist x20

Grimghast x20

And 50 points for a CP.

Been also trying to listen to Nighthaunt podcast and battle reps so any suggestions also greatly appreciated.

*Oh and was playing this as Legion of Grief..

Edited December 20, 2019 by PALFORLIFE

[Thamalys]

On 12/20/2019 at 6:07 PM, PALFORLIFE said:

as I run with some very cut throat players that only bring the cheesey and hardest of list.

Gah - not nice... sign up for some tournament instead, you'll find that only a very small fraction of the players bring the absolute filth.

On 12/20/2019 at 6:07 PM, PALFORLIFE said:

*Oh and was playing this as Legion of Grief..

Do you want to stick with LoG or do you want to try and go Nighthaunt? That's quite the difference...

If this is LoG, then I'd say this is a pretty solid list: I'd put a Gryph-feather charm on your Dreadblade, though, as the last thing you want is having him off the board at any point in time (we need those big units to come back!). You already have the Craven + the extra CP anyway, that should be enough...

I'm not an expert with respect to OBRs, but I'd reckon that attrition can work if you throw your big units in rather aggressively, as long as you make sure they can come back for 1 CP. Keep your Dreadblade alive - if this was Nighthaunt, I'd suggest to swap the Rasps for Spirit Hosts (+ Spectral Summons and Ruler of the Spirit Hosts for amazing mobility and decent staying power), but Nighthaunt against OBRs... I don't think they have the damage it takes to bring them down quickly enough. It might be battleplan-dependent, of course, but I'd stick with LoG if I were you.

And it pains me to say this, as I like playing Nighthaunt much more than LoB, but the benefits of the Gravesites are hard to acknowledge against both high-damage or high-resiliance armies such as OBRs.

Last thought: no Spirit Torment?! This Bladegheists need one. Your KoS's buffs are great, but remember, they cost a CP per combat phase - a hefty price, while the ST let's you re-roll all failed hits for free at any point in time. Massive.

Hope this helps!

[XReN]

I suggest you listen to @Thamalys advice on artefacts and bringing Spirit Torment - take him instead of one of the KoS as you won't have so much CP's to use 2 or more KoS CA a phase anyway even with Brooch. 

Against OBR you may need to bring Reikenor just to cast save debuff as reliable as possible, otherwise you won't crack Petrifex Mortek Guards.

And I suggest that you drop Myr Banshees for another 10 Grimghasts and upgrade Coach to Mourngul.

[dmorley21]

15 hours ago, Thamalys said:

Last thought: no Spirit Torment?! This Bladegheists need one.

I'd second this. I only play NH, not LoG, so the extra mobility of the Bladegheists might be nice, but without a ST they're outshined by Harridans, Myrmourns, and Reapers.

5 hours ago, XReN said:

And I suggest that you drop Myr Banshees for another 10 Grimghasts and upgrade Coach to Mourngul.

I'd disagree with dropping the Myrmourn Banshees. I'd say they're the best unit in LoG easily, and especially if you're playing OBR as their -2 rend will come in handy.

I haven't played OBR yet, but against a high armor army like that you want high rend and mortal wounds. Myrmourns are the only high rend/damage unit that we have. Spirit Hosts and Hexwraiths don't hit hard, but can cause mortal wounds. In LoG I'd lean towards Spirit Hosts.

If there is a spell you have access to that lowers rend, I would definitely recommend Reikenor. He also might be good to cast some endless spells that can pump out mortals. Aethervoid Pendulum, Purple Sun of Shyish, and Geminids are some of my favorites there.

[XReN]

6 minutes ago, dmorley21 said:

I'd disagree with dropping the Myrmourn Banshees. I'd say they're the best unit in LoG easily, and especially if you're playing OBR as their -2 rend will come in handy.

They do have good damage output when buffed, even slightly more than grimghast in points per model, however: they only shine when they get extra attack which OB could easily deny by shooting KoS with Crawlers. 

Also the bigger unit you bring back from the grave the more value you get from your CPs. 

[PALFORLIFE]

Thanks everyone! Sorry I was away for the holidays so missed some replies but I will definitely go with a SoT in there.. 

I really like the Myr Banshees so probably keep at least that one unit. 

A few mentions of Spirit Host.. honestly again I have never played with them in a game but they just seem very underwhelming on paper. Are you buffing them to make them more killy or is there something I'm not seeing that makes them so good? The math on them just seems dreadful.

Black Coach has to stay.. I started this army off a bet when points cost went down. So I have to play it lol.. and yes I am pretty set on LoG. Gravesites and resummon of 30 man Nighthaunt units just seems insane for 1 cp.

Thank you for all the suggestions!

[SleeperAgent]

18 minutes ago, PALFORLIFE said:

Thanks everyone! Sorry I was away for the holidays so missed some replies but I will definitely go with a SoT in there.. 

I really like the Myr Banshees so probably keep at least that one unit. 

A few mentions of Spirit Host.. honestly again I have never played with them in a game but they just seem very underwhelming on paper. Are you buffing them to make them more killy or is there something I'm not seeing that makes them so good? The math on them just seems dreadful.

Black Coach has to stay.. I started this army off a bet when points cost went down. So I have to play it lol.. and yes I am pretty set on LoG. Gravesites and resummon of 30 man Nighthaunt units just seems insane for 1 cp.

Thank you for all the suggestions!

I used to run 1x6 Spirit Hosts and have them around my general with Ruler of the Spirit Hosts. They were never wiped off the table once. Returning 3-9 wounds with a 4+ save is super hard to chew through.

[PALFORLIFE]

That's fair.. my head was just at returning bigger units when they eventually go down. Or just throwing the damage units at them over and over.

I find the lack of character assassination potential a bit disturbing.. with so many armies focused on their characters. It appears that Nighthaunt / LoG have a hard time getting to then if they are screened properly. 

My list has evolved a bit to work in a SoT though.. seems great and saves me some CP but with him and both shroud buffs stuff gets pretty reliable.

[SleeperAgent]

19 minutes ago, PALFORLIFE said:

That's fair.. my head was just at returning bigger units when they eventually go down. Or just throwing the damage units at them over and over.

I find the lack of character assassination potential a bit disturbing.. with so many armies focused on their characters. It appears that Nighthaunt / LoG have a hard time getting to then if they are screened properly. 

My list has evolved a bit to work in a SoT though.. seems great and saves me some CP but with him and both shroud buffs stuff gets pretty reliable.

If you're doing NH, take Dreadblade Harrows and a big unit. Discorporate him and teleport the unit along side. Then hope for that 9 for combat, or 10 for wave of terror. Numerous times this does the trick. Any general is worth the 2-3 command points used.

Edited December 29, 2019 by SleeperAgent

[PALFORLIFE]

Yeah doing LoG but I could see a list built specifically around wave being fun. I think I would want just a ton of smaller squads to really play the numbers game on charges.

[Thamalys]

On 12/29/2019 at 12:51 PM, SleeperAgent said:

I used to run 1x6 Spirit Hosts and have them around my general with Ruler of the Spirit Hosts. They were never wiped off the table once. Returning 3-9 wounds with a 4+ save is super hard to chew through.

I used to run the same - took a lot of effort to get rid of them, and their mobility is phenomenal, something your opponent should/will constantly be thinking about. Then I moved to a unit of 9 Spirit Hosts, and suddenly their mortal wounds output can became a real threat. A very unreliable one, sure, but we are talking 54 dice, folks - an average of 9 mortal wounds is nothing short of amazing for their points, especially considering their staying power. They can bog down literally everything. Fantastic unit.

 

On 12/29/2019 at 2:59 PM, PALFORLIFE said:

I think I would want just a ton of smaller squads to really play the numbers game on charges.

I can understand the fun-quest, but keep in mind that (1.) it's a very unreliable endeavour, as the number of extra units you are going to bring are not going to substantially  increase your chances (2.) smaller units means that when you actually get Wave of Terror, it might not be enough to wipe your target off the table despite the double attack - at that point, you are very much in danger to be wiped out yourself... I know quite a few people have been successful with MSU lists, but I'd personally recommend to stick with big units as much as you can.