Nevar

True, but we don't know the stats or speeds of nearly half the army. The new Dreadblade Harrows seems to be cheap horse mounted heroes, what do they do? Do they boost attacks? Do they add speed to others around them like a Fell Wind Pendant? What about the Black Coach? We assume it will offer some kind of synergy, and since it is fast you would imagine it would work well with other fast units? How fast are herridans? Do they have ranged attacks? Can Bladegeists keep up with Grimghasts? You are right, you can imagine the speed of what we have, but at the end of the day it is just imaginary speculation. I didn't comment because you want to run a speedy list, I only commented because you said: I assumed this was speculation for what you thought the army was going to be. A lot of people here assume Nighthaunt will be a horde army, not that you can only play as a horde. If you are just saying you -want- to play a speedy list, then yeah go after it man. I played with a 15 man block of Hexwraiths for the past year and a Pendant of the Fell Wind giving everything +3" to their movement. Speed is something Nighthaunt can already do without any of the cool new stuff. Speculation on what Nighthaunt is designed to do is what I think is premature. Fun list speculation is all good and can absolutely be done with information you have on hand. I just wouldn't make any purchases based on speculated army lists based on incomplete information.

Problem is, we don't know how Nighthaunt allegiance will work. Keep in mind, the current Nighthaunt relies on special deployment options in the form of Deep-strike which allows us to drop all of our units in range for turn 1 charges, thus making speed only relevant later in the game after the main fighting is winding down and we needed to get to objectives. We might not continue to have this option, or it might carry over and stay in the army. Because we simply do not know the answer to that, it is pretty fruitless to even speculate on army composition. That said, there has been hints from GW of fast moving cavalry type Nighthaunt synergies, so we can look forward to that.

Mine won't be, going to either not assemble the wings, or cut them off if I have to. I have always had a dislike for the Pegasus archtype. They just don't look like they should be able to fly or are fit to fly. Gryphons don't bother me, because they look like a flying creature. Pegasusi just look incongruous with themselves even for a magical creature.

I would love for them to be 2 wounds because they are likely my favorite new models, but they can come in large blobs so I don't dare to hope.

We don't know enough about the battle tome to do that yet.

They already mentioned the Black Coach would go well with the Grimhailer in an all Cavalry nighthaunt army. I imagine Hexwraiths, Grimhailer, Harrows, and Horse of Shrouds will all make some awesome speedy builds.

The only thing that is poorly designed is the if he is the general part. +1 to hit is very good for all of our non-MW spamming models. He -used- to make MWs on a 5+ for Spirit Hosts and stuff, now he makes our Grimghasts hit on rerolling 3+, makes our Chainrasps hit on 3+, etc. etc. His command ability is not bad at all, it is just not as good s turning Spirit Hosts into 5+ murder machines. I will take that trade to be immune to -1 to hit debuffs on all of my MW production. I just really do hope they make it so he can use it even of he is not the General.

Not really, it helps wizards and can sort of be a mortal wound bomb. The reason I have been annoyed that I can't use him is because it is a Malignant model (aka ghost) that came in my Malignant starter box and I have never been able to use it. Plus the model is really cool.

Yes, you are allowed 20% of your army to be allied unit. So at 2000 points you can bring 400 points of allies. However know that all the models inside the Soul Wars box are added to the Legion battle tome. Which means using Grimghasts, Chainrasps, Spirit Torments, Knights of Shrouds, Glaive Wraiths, Guardian of Souls, and Lord Executioners do not require you to use allied points. Furthermore, Chainrasps are battleline inherently so they can be using in Legions of Nagash as your core battle line units instead of skeletons or dire wolves. So you can effectively use all of those ghost units without limits. Mortis Engines are also normal Legions models. The 400 point limit only applies to special characters or some of the more elite special ghost units that have not been revealed yet. Bladegheists, Chaingheists, etc. and you normally are only going to want one or two of those units to begin with. You could bring the Mortarch of grief for a little over half of your allied points and still bring other ghosts. You can field an all spirit army in Legions of Nagash easily and use LoN traits for profit.

No, but you can use chainrasps to fill in your battleline, then take Spirit Hosts as normal units, and still ally in anything from the Nighthaunt book including the new heroes or other fancy units. I have played Nighthaunt for almost a year already (way before it was cool :P) and even with my new Battle Tome coming out I am eyeing the Legions of Nagash battle tome. Sacrament would allow me to take a Mortis Engine, Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Grief, and any and all ghost models that I want including all the new releases. Nighthaunt still doesn't have access to the Mortis Engine or the buffs of some of the Legion traits. Obviously we have not seen the Nighthaunt traits so they will likely be awesome, but the Legions of Nagash are a known quantity and now as a Nighthaunt lover I can play Legions while still using only Malignant models that I love so much, including my Mortis Engine that has just been sitting around collecting dust.

For those asking, No Nagash cannot be the general of a Nighthaunt army, and you cannot ally him either. Nighthaunt is however an ally to ALL of the Legions of Nagash including grand host. AND Chainrasps are battleline for Legions. So you can field an entirely Nighthaunt army with Nagash as the General in the Legions of Nagash allegiance. You cannot as far as we know use Nagash in a Nighthaunt Allegiance army.

Stormcasts are getting a new battle tome as well. I imagine this will be changed in it.

So I love the Mortarch of Grief. 10/10 will bring her often. Craven King... I actually love his rules and his model... but it confused me a lot. I had imagined him having the sort of stats/abilities that the Grimhailer had. Sort of a mix between warrior and wizard. Not upset of disappointed, just seems at odds with his model. The heralds and stuff seem like the perfect source of army buffs and stuff, but instead they are purely 'fluff' pieces. Again, not bad... just... off. Grimhailer... wow I love the rider a lot. Think his horse is cool. Hate the horse's wings, he's a ghost man, his horse can fly without wings that I have to try to transport without breaking him. I love his rules, all of them, but like the Craven King I am just put on heels by that model being the melee/wizard. He looks like he should be the beat stick hero. Makes sense that he is not, love his rules, glad they are how they are my expectations were just subverted pretty hard. I will likely remove his wings and make him just on a spectral steed, but all three of these heroes will be in my collection 100%. Awesome new models and rules, can't wait for them to release so I can buy them already.

I would say make the three scythe guys into really cool Cairn Wraiths and just buy the 10 man box of Grimghasts later if you want them. You could even convert the bell dude into another Guardian of Souls if you put a spare lantern on the end of his stick instead of the bell.

Don't forget, you guys are counting x4 Grimghasts, but one in each box is the Bell carrier. So you cannot just use him he also needs to be converted to a scythe. Only one bell bro per unit. Also, I had a game with my current 1000 point Nighthaunts using only old models against my Stormcast opponent this weekend. We played with the new rules as the store has a GHB2018, although I used GHB2017 for Nighthaunt Allegiance obviously. Sadly the game ended turn 2 with my opponent surrendering due to not thinking he had any chance to win. Armies were: Nighthaunt Mr. Shrouds ~Pendant of the Fell Wind ~Lord of Hosts (Or whatever lets you reroll the summoning dice) x4 Cairn Wraiths x1 Tomb Banshee x6 Spirit Hosts x3 Spirit Hosts x3 Spirit Hosts x3 Spirit Hosts Stormcasts Dracoth Lord Guy Gryph Riding Lord Guy Lantern Bearing Angel Knight x3 Five Man Units of Scout Hunters with Blades and Bolt Pistols x1 Three Birb Units of Birbs x1 Three Man Units of Hvy Bolter Guys Long story short, I deployed only Mr. Shrouds, the large unit of Spirit Hosts, and another Cairn Wraith. Spread them would so he could not bring in more than one unit to shoot Mr.Shrouds because if he and the Cairn Wraith died I would lose everything in the Underworld. The bait was too tempting, he brought his scout hunters onto the table edge wide left to pour fire into the lone Cairn Wraith, and used his Command Ability to teleport the heavy bolters into range to shoot Mr.Shrouds. Basically he went all in to kill my two heroes to prevent me bringing in the rest of my army. Look Out Sir turned a deluge of incoming fire into a total of five saves for Mr.Shrouds to make. Passed three of them losing two wounds. Cairn Wraith was obliterated because he was not near enough for LoS! Night haunt started with me bringing in the remaining forces except three of the Spirit Hosts who were too tired to show up. Surrounded his forces and then... failed every charge except Mr. Shrouds reaching the heavy bolter guys and a single Cairn Wraith diving into the scouts on the left flank. Cairn Wraith did 6 unsaved wounds killing three Stormcasts outright, and Mr.Shrouds was able to kill one of the three super crossbow Stormcasts. Things looked good for the Stormcasts as they prepared to teleport away from the angry ghosts who didn't manage to fight them that round... but the double turn gods gave Battle Round 2 Turn 1 to the Nighthaunt. With his Gryph riding lord surrounded by angry Spirit Hosts and Mr.Shrouds my opponent called the game there. With the +1 to hit from Mr.Shrouds command ability, and six Spirit Hosts at the edge of 3" from his only means of escape, and Cairn Wraiths reaping around in his scout flanks he didn't even think the Dracoth lord could do enough damage to even try for objectives. Moral of the story? Look Out Sir saves lives. Baiting mobile striking armies with juicy heroes will something that only gets more usable with all of our new juicy heroes. Cairn Wraiths are mean 60 pt heroes. Also... for those people asking why I have five leaders at 1000pts, I was cheating to make our armies more even, and I was still under points. Opponent was aware of an fine with it, and seeing as the Tomb Banshe managed to cause one mortal wound to some birbs, she might as well have stayed home.

There has already been pictures of alternate GoS models as well as alternate Lord Executioners. I would worry more about the Spirit Torment and Horse of Shrouds being exclusives TBH.

If we still have the Pendant of the Fell Wind I will be over the moon. It was basically grafted into my Mr. Shrouds because I never used anything else. With battalions giving more command points, and additional artifacts I can see taking them in most lists. So a Fell Wind would not necessarily prevent other cool artifacts being taken as well.

Cairn Wraiths were always worth taking in the past because they are good in a fight, helped us summon our units, could power up the Black Coach, and gave 6+ ignore damage Deathless Minions to nearby models all for an extremely low point cost. We don't know what their purpose will be going forward or if they will receive any changes. They remain stupendously cheap so they could turn out awesome again. Lord Executioner is not a buff hero, but he does Debuff enemy heroes. I am not a huge fan of him either but he is better than people are giving him credit for. Banshees were a 'bring one just in case' type hero in the past, because we could "deep-strike" her to snipe heroes/chaff in our older version. We are no longer sure if we will get any sort of deployment options in the new Battle tome, and if she has to foot slog she will become way less good. Her scream range is only 12". Guardian of Souls is for sure an auto-include, unless you are bringing the Mortarch or allying in Arkhan. We don't exactly know what the Mortarch of Grief does but everyone is assuming she is a caster of some kind. Even if you do have Arkhan or Grief the Guardian of Souls is a solid wizard. Unrendable saves and the whole lot. Nighthaunt usually brought a lot of heroes because they were cheap and effective and we didn't have many unit options. Exactly how all these pieces fit together in the new version depends a lot on the final form of our Battle Tome.

So far we know for sure that we can use all of the model in the Soul Wars box, plus the foot Knight of Shrouds, in Legions of Nagash. I would not be surprised if they were the only ones to be allowed, but neither would I be surprised to see them all allowed across the allegiances. We do however know that all of the Legions of Nagash have 'Nighthaunt' as valid allies. So no matter what you will be able to use all of the Nighthaunt models in a Legion of Nagash army. I am 90% sure that includes the Mourngul as well.

Actually, those are a unit called, "Chainghasts" who come in units of 2-4. Notice the difference between the weapons, Spirit Torments have padlocks on the end of their chains, Chainghasts have flail looking things on their chains. Unless of course there has been a leaked image of a new Spirit Torment I have not seen, and if so PLZ share. Also, I know not everyone plays Skirmish, but the addition of a lot of smaller popcorn units does give me a lot more variety in my Skirmish lists. Right now I have a six model skirmish warband and my Daughter of Khaine opponent has dozens. Charging more than one enemy model is really hard when they specifically spread out so my Spirit Hosts have to throw all their attacks into a single witch, before like 8 of them pile onto it and pull it down.

Well don't forget they also have the Bladegheist Revenants and the Dreadscythe Herridans which are very much elite point costed in the leaked points. With 5/20 unit sizes on both of those units, plus being only over 300 points by half of the cheapest endless spells, they could very easily allow for a more 'elite' Nighthaunt that you are looking for. I know I am stoked to learn more about the Bladegheists as they seem like my cup of tea. For a more elite feel you could fill your battleline with Spirit Hosts and Grimghasts to avoid the hordy Chainrasps, and then spend the big bucks on the more elite units like Hexwraiths, Dreadblades, and Bladegheists. Also in relation to an older topic, Herridans could potentially have some ranged ability. They are some form of banshee looking things and their names literally mean; "a strict, bossy, or belligerent old woman."

Yeah even if I have been disappointed in some things, that is mainly due to my own hyping up of my own expectations and ideas. The models are amazing, and the rules seem good. I am totally excited and have already pre-ordered a bunch and the whole 9 yards. Still super stoked. Also in that battle report the star of the show was the Pendulum.

The problem with your question is that there are other aspects that effect the decision. Am I playing Nighthaunt? Do I have Mr. Shrouds? Am I Legion with a lot of casters to roll to bring back models? In my Nighthaunt, I have Mr. Shrouds, x18 Spirit Hosts in groups of six, and a massive blob of x15 Hexwraiths. In my case the answer is both, especially with Mr. Shrouds being able to boost the Spirit Hosts, and the Spirit Hosts also have Cairn Wraith backup. If I am playing LoN with casters and skeletons and no Mr. Shrouds, Hexwraiths are probably a better bet as a drop in ethereal unit. Hexwraiths can breeze back and forth between objectives, are easier to revive, have 4+ ethereal save, can do pass over MWs, and has frightful touch. They also are less reliant on any kind of support than Spirit Hosts.

You are also a lot less likely to have to worry about battleshock with Spirit Hosts than you do with Hexwraiths. The unreliable damage output of Spirit Hosts is only a problem if you intended them to be killing things. Obviously you always want your units to kill things, but if you are thinking of them as reliable damage dealers than that is why you might get a 'meh' feeling about their 'roll the dice' type of damage as opposed to something more reliable. I assume they will do no damage when making my plans, and so if and when they spike a bunch of Mortal Wounds it is an unlooked for boon, and when they wiff really badly it's not a disappointment. I think Spirit Hosts are worth their points excluding their offensive power entirely. But I play Nighthaunt, so I use them and Hexwraiths exclusively so I could be bias/jaded.

The thing about our Spirit Hosts is they are good 'generalist' units like you said when you listed their pros vs. cons, but they are also outstanding in other roles. They are cheap and effective ethereal units, and in a game where models pay a premium for rending high damage attacks, Spirit Hosts not only can tie up enemy units, do mortal wounds, and are decently fast as well they also can strip the teeth out of some of the most dangerous units in the game. Spirit of Durthu does 6 Damage on his sword with really good rend? 4+ on modified ignores it all. I play Necrons in 40k, and I use Spirit Hosts similarly to how I use Scarab Swarms and Canoptek Wraiths. Mobile screen and assault units that are frustratingly difficult to kill. The fact that we can get a model back on a 5+ is just gravy in my opinion. 5+ is the roll needed for Necrons to self repair as standard and that rule is extremely powerful. All that said though, I think the Spirit Hosts benefit much better in LoN than they do in Nighthaunt. I use them exclusively in Nighthaunt which means for me they are also my battleline and the bulk of my forces. While you listed this as a con in LoN I would argue this is a weakness for Spirit Hosts in Nighthaunt. Being the primary unit forces me to use them in situations where they are less effective. Six to nine Spirit Hosts charging into 20 plague bearers with a -1 to hit them is a grinding attrition combat that the Spirit Hosts do not want to be in. Not just because they are going to lose their Mortal Wound potential... but because our ethereal is also way less valuable vs damage 1 no rend attacks. Being forced to commit them into that sort of battle because they are all I have is forcing me to use them much less efficiently than I could in a LoN where I have skeletons I can use to charge into those plague bearers while my Spirit Hosts are free to seek the opponents they are best at fighting like great unclean ones. Lastly, to join in the wild speculation and also wish list a bit... the new Nighthaunt looking teaser showed what looked like infantry sized ghosts with hand weapons. If Nighthaunt could get a cheaper more 'battleline' styled ghost unit that is cheaper and more 'throw away' to let me untie my Spirit Hosts from stupid attrition battles like plague bearers and liberators, it will only improve the state of Spirit Hosts in LoN and Nighthaunt alliance forces.