Evil Bob

No you don’t have to get Nagash. I am a little concerned on your hammer options. The Grims and VLoZD are it, the latter you have to be careful with depending on the enemy. A maxed skeleton unit is a conditional hammer if the wind is in your favor, against Nurgle you have more options to pull it off than against many other armies. If you bring GHoN all of your summonable units (including the grims) will get a 1/3 chance of self healing. Going to strongly second XReN on the Morghast advice. With Spirit Halberds in GHoN two of them are like a scalpel on key targets and four are an axe to the face of a troublesome target. Just measure out the value of that point commitment since the counter-punch can get ugly. How many heroes are you bringing? Troop numbers are important and the only extra Hero’s you should bring are to cover for once’s you are certain to go down.

I’ve been consider the same three heroes above for a several days now. So seeing Page 52 have multiple people discuses it has been a real treat. For my battleline I’ve been leaning more towards: 10 - 20 Mortek Guard 5 - 10 Kavalos Deathriders 5 - 10 Kavalos Deathriders Likely 20x Guard since a small unit would be a weaker objective holder and I’m getting a feeling the OBR should not try to have cheap throwaway units like other Death armies. Everyone needs a serious job to do. I keep flip-flopping on the Deathriders unit sizes over squeezing in other units. Too many nice choices for competing missions. So are you planning on semi-bubble wrapping the Harvester in the smaller unit and throwing them into the enemy? I suspect the explode-y list on Warhammer Community uses two harvesters so they can better cover the limited 3” bubble.

Oh that is so delightfully dirty. Mannfred must have been very pleased, Locally the old gamer players seem to pull every army out now and then. Except for Beastmen, it’s odd. Slaves of Darkness show up now and then, 2k of Tomb King chariot army, various 90s metal mini’s without a regular book. But no Beastmen armies...

Corpsemare Stampede is your new best friend. It only has to brush the edge of a base in a unit during the 14” move. It cleans up single wound models reliably and it is a nice way to threat those 5-wound support heroes. If you can tag at least three units in one swipe it is well worth it, it fizzles out on 4-wound model units. Hit an opponent just once with this endless spell and he’ll either change strategy next game or dread encounters. Terrorghiests like getting in tight with massed rats or low Bravery humans. Screech on the guys the screen is trying to protect. The exploding mortal wounds upon death is just cake.

I desperately want Deathsythes, Morghasts, and the mini Nagash head to work. They kind of do the more fluffy the fight.

Is there going to be an allegiance abilitIes towards regen in this army? The approach they took with Nighthaunt using specific models and spells is awkward. So far that seems pretty similar with named characters and the Harvester in OBR.

Charging In Spectral Host on flyers allows them run & charge. Deranged Transformation lets your muscle units cover ground fast Cogs can still be a thing. AAR summoning 20x Ghouls in the rear against a war-machine A GKoZD can deepstrike next to a soft range unit. Hunkering Down: Chalice in the middle of 40 ghouls and an objective. Multiple Courtiers “can” make it hard to dislodge units. Just be sure they are set back enough to be a little safer while mustering. Miasmal Shroud on the unit with the most dice. I don’t know what kind of gun line you’re facing. Durin types like quality with rend. Swifthawk agents spam dice. FEC regen works well against quality range attacks and degrades against quantity. It also loses luster if someone really ups the number of quality attacks by investing everything in more dice. Sometimes crafty deployment patterns can let you shift your fighting onto one-half of the table while leaving an excess of enemy to take an objective you suddenly abandon. That is harder against ranged units. One thing I would avoid is trying to fight everything at once. Death units cost extra for their regen nature. So if the enemy’s attacks are “cheaper” they can just chew through. One factor that works against snooty-types is trying to range people off objectives is effectively giving up victory points every turn your FEC are allowed to hold them. Shooting to soften targets for a quality charge like Evocators can be a problem. Balancing what you want to fight is going to be key. A few questions: What are you fighting? What strategies does your opponent use?

Before Nighthaunt even came out Bravery debuffs in LoN did’t seem to matter.

Feeling pretty grateful they got an AoS 2.0 pass by the Devs. The LoN bandaid fell off some time ago. I’ll muck around with both of them to see if they can work in narrative or competitive play. I’m not really expecting much from Nagash (I’ve only really enjoyed him in Open Play) but Arkham with the new endless spells is offering something interesting.

So last month I ran a 2k list against two 1k order lists. My ghouls were 20/20/10 supported by an AAR and some GKoTG. Even with masterful ghoul placement a unit of Evocators and elite Durin made really long charges and deleted both 20 ghoul units with combat-res. It was nuts. I don’t regularly lose the 20 units that fast but they are situationally squishy. So be conscious of your local meta. My general preference is ghouls in 10s or 40s as they best fit within a battle plan. When a unit of 40 is placed it definitely will have an AAR (or other hero) and hopefully a chalice nearby. Keeping control of unit size is great for avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome and whatnot moving the horde.

He can cast three spells and breaks the rule of “single casting” for the basics. This is the closest he’s ever been to his point value. While not a Marty-Stue option Arkham might be for the crafty commander types. It’s just unfortunate he is stuck fighting the dispel game while others are getting stuff on safe prayers or warscroll abilities. Magic is always going to be a gamble. I like the new warscroll and will give it a shot. Won’t cut him from the team unless his point value diverts too much from combat units, which is what happened in the past. I agree about not running him with the Mortarch of Grief. That’s way too many “specialist” points.

There’s a scary thought. Nagash actually being worth his points. If his last point hike turns out to be a rational move my head will explode.

It’s certainly true old builds can’t be completely discounted. FEC won a significant tournament right before they had a new book drop. Area meta and player competency count for something. Downunder had KO take second place in the biggest gathering AoS has there. He had a shot at #1 if not for the loss of a deciding priority roll. Personally I tend to lean more to the data side of statistics. If numbers indicate something is off I accept it and either adapt or move on. Matt Ward helped get me out of 40k for years after running the game into the ground. Playing for narrative has always been an option for AoS. It was the first and only one at launch. With the local club we play all kinds of lists at varying difficulties. It all works out when it is the community having fun. Personally not a big fan of the competitive scene. It tends to ruin the game like how in 40k they nerf many things without carefully reviewing it. I worry that kind of derangement will infect the AoS side. Kudos to you and everyone who enjoy climbing those mountains.

After reading the latest faction focus I’m convinced that Ossiarch Bonereapers are the Death AoS 2.0 army. Everything else is narrative fun for gaming clubs or casual FLGS. After the Generals Handbook 2019 and latest errata's GW has shown little real interest in fixing previous death army books. Their focus has mostly been tapping down on what the tournament scene doesn’t like or properly fixing rule errors. The only thing that can stop us now are monumentally crazy point values. It’s dead obvious of the new stuff there are no cheap options for this army. That is assuming the only unit’s making the jump are the big three already mentioned.

Consider the bright side. Transitioning into AoS everyone got our battle moral immunity without paying the Death Tax. Keeping that point cost and having it mean something again would be an improvement. Totally in agreement that phycology has met a tragic death in this game. Price we pay for “streamlined” rules.

From Wikipedia Ad hominem (Latin for "to the person"), short for argumentum ad hominem, typically refers to a fallacious argumentative strategy whereby genuine discussion of the topic at hand is avoided by instead attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself. - All you do is insult people and pretend that enforces your position. Nighthaunt have a valid argument with neglect. They were dropped at the same time as the Stormcast Eternals and didn’t get the same kind of AoS 2.0 respect. All Death factions seem to get FAQ’d with both “rules” fixes and nerfs. Don’t get me wrong some of the fixes are legit like setting unit summoning to the end of the movement phase. But there is a serious lacking of fixes that address game mechanics like how Deathmarch was only nerfed or warscroll repairs like the problem with Grave Guard. LoN haven’t been sweeping the tournament scene like you claim. Nagash lists haven’t been doing good since before the General’s Handbook 2018. That was over a year ago. He wasn’t competitive at 800 then and he isn’t worth the current points. Part of me hopes they give the new Death book all the AoS 2.0 goodness so the nerf-brigade go berserk. I can always tone down my lists so those in my local club have fun. Because we’re a healthy group of adults who try to foster a positive hobby. The sad truth is there are alway other people out there who seem to thrive on dumping on and getting others forces nerfed. It’s a terminal cancer on the 40k side.

Condescendly dismissing others points with and making a claim that can’t be back up by tournament record or even prevalent opinions locally. Capping it off with an “LOL” didn’t help. You’re seriously arguing narrative fluff over gameplay? I stopped caring about the story after a major retcon that changed the game history because GW felt like it or was chasing another dollar. The transition into splitting the undead into two armybooks was never a smooth thing. I’ll trade all the garbage fluff for serious review and rules fixes. Ad hominem much?

They are pretty epic looking. Checking every box to be the iconic Nighthaunt representation: scythe, imposing, and more scary than spooky. Blades were sidelined by some because the reapers in general hit better on units 5+, the point costs, and Blades needed a SoT to really shine. I have enough Blades for two units of ten, synergized they are amazing to the point where I’ve had people openly wonder if they are OP. At that point I remind them about the SoT and the GoS whose buffs I actively declare each time they are in effect. Reapers were so well liked people weren’t even bothering with Chainwrasps. It was a crime. Those Chainwrasp bad-boys get into most of my various Death lists. There is something magic about a 160 point, twenty man unit that could hold positions above their point value. They helped break my addiction to Direwolves.

When GW saw Nighthaunt armies spamming Grmghasts and actively forgoing Bladegheists & Harridens they were going to nerf. Which is a good lesson that when buying into an army to never double down on one build. I diversified my bedsheet purchases and never regretted it.

This trolling is in very poor taste. Every army has it gimmicks and the above wasn’t winning everything like the claim. Please could we have less hyperbole and more rational discussion. It should also be noted Tropical Ghost Genera wasn’t complaining that other books were doing good. Just that GW seems apathetic towards Death armies in general. The FAQs and Generals Handbook 2019 are proof of that.

Wouldn’t it be a hoot if all the “balancing” was just a preamble to push us all into the new Death army? Muahahahahah! HA! HA! HA! Haaaaaaa. You couldn’t see it but Skelletor was laughing right along with me. It was awesome. By any chance does anyone know how the placing for the Death armies that did show up?

A friend who plays Slave of Darkness thinks Nighthaunt is just fine. Well said! As an all around Death player Nighthaunt is a nice way to mix things up some weeks with some rotation. This faction has certainly made playing Battletomb:LoN different and new again. Other than the usual complaints my biggest issue is how repetitively force composition is becoming. I’d like to get away from The Spirit of Torment and Guardian of Souls but using other minor hero options is SO terrible. Obviously the solution is to bring the garbage options against the SoD player for a fair/fun battle.

ColsBols gets kudos from me for putting out a list I’ve never scene nor expect to see anything like it. Witnessing it on the table alone would feel like some rare planetary alignment. Haven’t felt something like that since a 40k league game were a buddy for lulz threw out a list mostly filled with named eldar characters.

In theory this new battle tomb will be fully AoS 2.0+ set. FEC has been balanced and unlikely to see positive adjustments for years until a new battle tomb comes out. Go FEC if the goal is a fluffy narrative fun army that you can enjoy casually with friends at a good club. Get Reapers if you expect try-hards or people who want a competitive match. Strong books can always be toned down with army composition. That is assuming this new book isn’t a flop. Nighthaunt started in the Soul Wars set without a book and the box releases were stretch out for months. I’m bracing myself for a slow build up. If a proper 2k force can be fielded by December I’ll be happy and content.

Throwing out a minimal sized skeletal unit as a sacrificial melting wall for a countercharging assault unit is a tactic that goes back over twenty-five years ago from the Death Armybook (when Nagash was sold metal). Hearing of that working now warms my unbeating desiccated heart. Thank you Nicho. Just a few thoughts on the list. With the two large skeletal blocks as the hammers that is going to be a challenge. A good one. The terrorghiest is nice as a potential source of mortal wound generation, personally I hate the cost and relying on high dice rolls with a wide range on probability. In total agreement on treating your monster as a free-agent. Try and leave multiple options open to keep your opponent reacting instead of engaging. Personally I’d keep the terrorghiest out of solo combat unless necessary or a very practical 150pt kill was served up. The save is bad and attacks “meh” for the points. My sweet spot would be in-between a large block of skeletons (middle table area) and spirit hosts on a flank. Or depending on objectives between both large skeleton blobs. That way the critter rapidly support where needed or push through if the opposition leaves things open. The Spirit Hosts can go either way. Your idea of using them as robust objective holders is valid. I personally like them separate because the difference of 9 wounds to 18 wounds isn’t much to a serious assault unit. The only benefit of putting them together is if all six can make base-to-base contact on something you really want to put mortal pounds on. You already have a solid strategy for how they are fitting into this specific force. Since your force is already playing a deadly chess game consider making the vampire a flier and give him the banner. He’s going to be lurking with the skeletons anyways and dropping to-wound penalties on enemies will increase the boney brigade’s survivability.