Nighthaunt advice.

[Sarkazim]

Been away for a while (Had to focus on 40k for 'Inner Circle', which is wrapping up soon), and just need some upcoming suggestions.  My current hobby budget is whatever I get in Tips from work, or overtime, so I've been selecting Nighthaunt stuff for a rainy day project after I finish with my current projects.  As the collection has grown, I've reached a point where I can get another box to add, and just looking for suggestions.  I'm aware that Nighthaunt isn't that optimal, and I'm not opposed to branching out as long as I have an idea why.  

What I've acquired so far.
3x Banshees (2xCurrent Model, 1xLhamaean from 40k to use as a 'General')
2x Cairn Wraiths
Malignants 'Get Starting' Box
1x Spirit Host Box.
1x Mournghoul
* Possible trade for another box or two of Spirit Hosts

Not really building the army any time soon, and with GHB2 on the horizon I'm not expecting anything to stick.  This is just a box that I'm saving for when all my current projects are completed, or I just need a break.  Any suggestions and why would be appreciated.

 

[Thanatos Ares]

Nighthaunt are rule of cool!! In terms of things you could add.. hmmm

Hexwraiths for sure
Maybe a Mortis Engine?


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[Bradifer]

The goofy thing is that the Morris Engine that comes in the starter is not a spirit so it loses he allegiance


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[bonzai]

The 1k list that my wife is planing to run is;

1x Banshee
2x Cairn Wraiths
2x 3 Spirit Hosts
1x 5 Hexwraiths                         1x Mournghoul

total: 1,000/1,000

You have everything you need to field this list already. I would recommend running  it and seeing what you think about the units. In particular the Hexwraiths. Some people prefer to forgo them all together, and load up on spirit hosts. You can also see how you like Banshees vs Cairn Wraiths. 
 

From there you will need at least one more Spirit host to go up in points. See how you like the units and go from there.

[varyn]

The list looks good, mourngul will be very tough to deal with at 1000 points.

I started my death army in the same way; nighthaunt. I have ended up adding some soulblight to give me a bit more variety for bigger games, also you can't get any wizards if you go pure nighthaunt  

I'd probably run the spirit hosts in units of 6 in games over 1000 so they can tie up enemy units for longer while you focus on objectives etc

[FRoper]

i run pure nighthaunt at the moment with

4 wriaths

24 spirit hosts

2 mournguls

at 2000pts and it works rather well. it suffers against mortal wounds lists but well against most lists with Mournguls playing board control. So much fun, i will probably add some Hex wraiths at some point probabluy replacing a host unit.

 

 

[Kato]

8 minutes ago, FRoper said:

i run pure nighthaunt at the moment with

4 wriaths

24 spirit hosts

2 mournguls

at 2000pts and it works rather well. it suffers against mortal wounds lists but well against most lists with Mournguls playing board control. So much fun, i will probably add some Hex wraiths at some point probabluy replacing a host unit.

 

 

I think this list sounds wonderful! I'm planning on a 1500pts list to be as follows: 

1 Mourngul    

3 Cairn Wraith        

2 units of HexWraiths    x5    

5 units of spirit hosts    x3    

But I'm confused, I'm completely new to this. I listened to aosdaily ep 59 where Ben goes over the Nighthaunt list played at Heat 2. 

"One of the Mournguls was the general and got the Red Fury command trait, and one of the Carin Wraiths use the Cursed Book artefact."

Can I use my Mourngul as general or was this tournament specific rules? And how do I choose the traits and abilities? Do I get same as if Id played death? 

[swarmofseals]

3 minutes ago, Kato said:

 

Can I use my Mourngul as general or was this tournament specific rules? 

Currently any model can be your general. It's a pretty popular strategy to make a unit champion the general for ruler of the night. Red fury on a mourngul is nasty too! Just note that you can't give a mourngul an artefact.

[Kato]

2 minutes ago, swarmofseals said:

Currently any model can be your general. It's a pretty popular strategy to make a unit champion the general for ruler of the night. Red fury on a mourngul is nasty too! Just note that you can't give a mourngul an artefact.

Cool, I'm gonna try and evaluate it. See how it fares. Cheers

 

[WoollyMammoth]

Nighthaunt is an interesting army. It greatly suffers from the lack of a dedicated book and set of allegiance rules, and the fact that there is no wizard. Having one of the most powerful monsters in the game is in its allegiance makes it a competent list, but a mourngul is not going to save you if your opponent gives you -1 to hit. Any scenario in which you have -1 to hit - well basically you can't win in that scenario. Spirit Hosts cannot touch dryads in forests, anything after a treelord stomps, Neferata lists, Thundertusks, the most popular Nurgle battalion, anything after a lord Relictor hits them, or a dark elf witch... the list goes on an on. 

Another major issue is painting. On the one hand, you can paint the whole army very quickly, on the other hand, it never looks quite right. Spirits are generally portrayed as translucent, black or white - none of which is really possible with miniature painting. You start to get into reverse lighting and OSL and other complicated techniques to make them look good.  But, if you like base white and n. oxide look. you can paint them very quickly. Just something to think about.

I would absolutely love for GW to release a dedicated book for them, release some sweet models for them like a Banshee Queen and some kind of spectral monster. There are endless ghost themes to build upon such as possession, haunting, extoplasm, poltergeist, etc.

[Sarkazim]

Thx for the replies.

The army composition or competitiveness isn't really the goal yet, and won't be playing the army anytime soon.  It's really is just a backup plan for when I run out of projects.  There isn't much out there in any game system that I haven't already committed to that interests me.  I just got the crazy idea to purchase a pile while I have funds, and add to the myth that I'll live forever as long as I own unpainted models.  Following the 'Rule of Cool', I've tried to avoid the army for something a little more playable, but the appearance keeps drawing me back, Kharadron Overlords came REAL close.  

I guess I was looking for a 'What you get for Nighthaunt?', and just start getting those models.  I'm happy that I've got enough for a decent 1k list as is, and just knowing that means I might be tempted to delay my Dark Riders even more.  We'll see.

From the sounds of what I've read (here and other places), I want to get the following:
- 2-6 more Spirit Hosts.  I'm at 6, and having 24 will cover all my bases.
- 2 more Cairn Wraiths (bringing the total to 4) 
- 1 Mournghoul *This one seems odd.  I don't mind it, but isn't having 2 of them overboard?  Or do I just want it for when I play TFG?

My only questions is Hex Wraiths?  Would I want to get to 10 for any reason?  If so, would buying a second Get Starting box be a better way to go?

I'm not asking to rush out and buy this stuff, just want an idea of what to get when the funds become available.  Everyone's input has been very helpful, and a huge thanks.

 

[swarmofseals]

@Sarkazim I'm not 100% sure of your motivations for doing Nighthaunt, but if they are primarily aesthetic just keep in mind that you can paint any of death's stuff in an ethereal theme and it will look like a solid "nighthaunt" army. Deadwalkers stuff might be a little bit of a stretch. The only actual gameplay benefit you get from nighthaunt is Spirit Hosts as battleline, and I kinda question how good that even is. Spirit Hosts are really good in some situations (specifically against high rend attackers) but are really bad in many others (high volume low rend attacks, mortal wounds, and -hit penalties). If you take a fully nighthaunt army, you are going to feel like an absolute baller against some opponents and feel like you have absolutely no chance against others. If that appeals to you, then go ahead and do full nighthaunt. If it doesn't, then consider painting a nighthaunt theme on a broader death army!

 

3 hours ago, WoollyMammoth said:

I would absolutely love for GW to release a dedicated book for them, release some sweet models for them like a Banshee Queen and some kind of spectral monster. There are endless ghost themes to build upon such as possession, haunting, extoplasm, poltergeist, etc.

Totally agree! Possession taking control of an enemy model would be a very cool ability, with the possibility of losing control if it takes too much damage or if a Priest exorcises it. Haunting terrain would also be interesting and flavorful. 

[bonzai]

2 hours ago, Sarkazim said:

Thx for the replies.

The army composition or competitiveness isn't really the goal yet, and won't be playing the army anytime soon.  It's really is just a backup plan for when I run out of projects.  There isn't much out there in any game system that I haven't already committed to that interests me.  I just got the crazy idea to purchase a pile while I have funds, and add to the myth that I'll live forever as long as I own unpainted models.  Following the 'Rule of Cool', I've tried to avoid the army for something a little more playable, but the appearance keeps drawing me back, Kharadron Overlords came REAL close.  

I guess I was looking for a 'What you get for Nighthaunt?', and just start getting those models.  I'm happy that I've got enough for a decent 1k list as is, and just knowing that means I might be tempted to delay my Dark Riders even more.  We'll see.

From the sounds of what I've read (here and other places), I want to get the following:
- 2-6 more Spirit Hosts.  I'm at 6, and having 24 will cover all my bases.
- 2 more Cairn Wraiths (bringing the total to 4) 
- 1 Mournghoul *This one seems odd.  I don't mind it, but isn't having 2 of them overboard?  Or do I just want it for when I play TFG?

My only questions is Hex Wraiths?  Would I want to get to 10 for any reason?  If so, would buying a second Get Starting box be a better way to go?

I'm not asking to rush out and buy this stuff, just want an idea of what to get when the funds become available.  Everyone's input has been very helpful, and a huge thanks.

 

It's funny, my wife was torn between overlords or Nighthaunts as well. Ultimately she decided on Nighthaunts as her first army was High Elves and she wanted to give melee army a try.

It may not hurt to get a 2nd start collecting box if your stock piling. I am willing to bet there will be some battalions with Mortis engines when they get updated.

[Sarkazim]

A few things influenced my decision.  I like the whole angry ghosts thing.  The other Death lists are corporeal.  Second is the actual models themselves.  Eventhough the Mortis Engine isn't Nighthaunt, I liked it more than enough to get the box.  The low model count is a breakaway from the more horde style armies I enjoy, like my Dark Riders for example.  Even my 40k armies are high model count.  Lastly, it seemed to be one of the greatest armies, minus the Mournghoul, to teach others how to play.  Ignores Rend, move thorough units, decent move rates, and limited mechanics would make it easy to lend and teach others at my FLGS how to play AoS.  We have a few observers that are on the fence who want to play first.

One of the reasons for asking about 'What to get' was that a common consensus that they're good at 1k and go downhill.  I had planned to go to 1000 without the Mournghoul, but the stars aligned on that one.  I'd still like to get to 1000 w/o a Mournghoul for friendlier games.  Yes, it looks like I'm planning for bigger, but it's just a suggestion list.  I don't have much free money for hobby stuff, and work will slow down.  I'm just building a pile of 'something to do' while I have the funds instead of making the decision when I can't afford it.

Without anything grabbing my attention down line after that, I'm open to suggestions for a mixed force, and just paint them up Ethereally.  There is a Deathrattle player who might Swap me a Mortarch for the Mortis Engine if I get a second set, but I'm not seeing any suggestions.  With the GHB2 coming, points will also probably change as well.  It's back to what I said above, I'm in a position to get the models I might want now, instead of later.

Im aware it sounds crazy, but that's what I've decided to go with.

[bonzai]

I wouldn't necessarily say they go down hill. Joe Urban placed 7th at the LVO with his Nighthaunt list. Mourngul are some of the nastiest monsters in the game, and the baseline units can dole out mortal wounds. Army wide fly and ignore rend are just icing on the cake. 

I am sincerely hoping that they give the Spirits of Fellblood battalion points and move it to Nighthaunts allegiance in the GHB2. That alone would add a ton to the army, and would be extremely easy to do. I also think that it is a toss up between them and Deathrattle for the next death book... whenever that may be.

[Sception]

Mourngul's are nasty, sure, but I rather expect to see them hit with the same nerf bat as settra, royals, abyssals, and necroknights, either when the GHII lands or shortly thereafter.