dmorley21

More list talk... a Nighthaunt player finished 11th at NOVA with this list: Harrow w/ midnight time KoSoES w/ balefire blade 2 Torments Reikenor 3 x 10 Chainrasp Horde 1 x 30 Grimghast Reapers 2 x 10 Bladeghesit Revenants 2 x 5 Bladegheist Revenants 1 x 4 Myrmourn Banshess Shroudguard What are everyone's thoughts on that list? It's not for me, but I really like the list design apart from the artefacts. Having one big block as a threat to draw fire/attention from your smaller units seems like it could be worthwhile.

For Nighthaunt, the essential hero is a Dreadblade Harrow. Just about everyone makes him their general. After that, it boils down to what you want to do. Reikenor is needed for endless spells. Guardians and Spirit Torments are kind of swiss army knives. Lady O, Kurdoss, and the two knights of shrouds each have their purpose. Typically, people don't take Wraiths, Tomb Banshees, or Lord Executioners. For core units, you'll need some Chainrasps. Even if you just take a couple units of 10, they're good screens/objective holders. But they're our cheapest unit by far and are used to some degree in most lists. Other than that, the only unit that truly doesn't get taken are Glaivewraith Stalkers. They're expensive and anything you can do with them you can do better with another unit. Every other unit has their fans. As for the behemoths, both are overpriced. The Black Coach does a lot as it goes up in levels, but it really doesn't add up to much. The Mourngul has a nice aura, but it's hard to justify the points. A typical 2k force will include 4-6 heroes and then a combination of units. Running full hordes can be detrimental for NH as it limits the chances for rolling a Wave of Terror, plus the more units you have, the more than can be hidden in the underworld. Hope that helps!

The smiling faces of the infantry remind me of samurai oni masks... I'm guessing that was intentional. I also think a different paint scheme might be better for this army... I love the look of the one painted black on the mortarch's base. That scheme might help the basic infantry.

Totally understand, but thanks for the write up! Hearing information like that really helps. How big are your units or Condemned Rasps? Just 20?

I wish AoS Conquest was available in the US.

@punkycloud Awesome to hear and congrats on doing so well! I'd love to read a more detailed write up if you get a chance. List/tactics/quick game summaries. It's always good to hear about NH having some success! My biggest question is how you spend your CP. Between teleporting and fishing for WoT, and the +1 attacks, that seems pretty CP heavy. Also, besides Condemned Chainrasps, what made up your main forces?

A Nighthaunt player went 3-2 and finished 20th at EGGS. Anyone know the list/playstyle used?

I mean in the Nighthaunt battletome there's a blurb about how some Nighthaunt still oppose Nagash. Some were released underwater by some IDK.

@Tropical Ghost General I haven't played against Gloomspite yet, but it seems like they have very different builds. I've seen grot hordes, squiggles based forces, endless spell spamming lists, and troggoth lists. If a list is running one massive unit of grots, I'd recommend a Death Stalkers battalion and a KoS on foot with Pendnant of the Fell Wind. You could then have Reapers hitting on 2's and wounding on 2's against your chosen unit with re-rolls to hit. So it won't hurt as much with their to hit modifiers. Bravery shenanigans is another option as others mentioned. Tomb Banshees, Olynder, Mourngul, Endless Spells... there's options there. Minimum sized units could be used to hero hunt. You could also run a magic heavy list. Take Arkhan as an ally. Reikenor. Olynder. A Guardian with Wychlight Lantern. Sending a Purple Sun at a unit of 60 grots seems like it could be fun. Just some ideas from someone who hasn't faced them.

Yeesh, I have definitely been playing the re-rolls wrong. Was that in a FAQ? This is where the game has serious rule bloat and could use a simplification. As for the other options, I guess it boils down to intent. I've never used Olynder or Kurdoss as I haven't seen them being worth it on paper, which is why I'm curious to hear how you're using them. Does Olynder get off spells without having any modifiers to her casting? Does she survive to cause the mortals? Is Kurdoss a better assassin than 10 Blades/10 Harridans/8 Myrmourns/5 Hexwraiths?

@Tropical Ghost General Great analysis. Thanks. I wish ethereal saves could be used against regular wounds or mortals. I didn't realize that Reapers don't re-roll 4's when they're -1 to hit. How did you feel about taking all 3 special characters? That seems like a major point sink to me that I can't justify.

@Tropical Ghost General You mentioned you took a fluffy list. Do you think you would have done better with a more optimized list?

Oddly, I haven't actually seen many lists like what you mention apart from what I ran (60 Reapers in Death Stalkers), but I've never played in a tournament. The bottom line is that Nighthaunt are not a competitive tournament army, so if you want to try for top 10 don't take them. The key to a good list with them is maximizing their stellar movement and Wave of Terror abilities. Many of us are starting to think that means lots of minimum sized units.

A question has come up for me now that I'm looking at breaking up my two units of 30 Reapers into smaller ones... do units of Reapers need to have an Extoller of Shyish (bell ringer)?

I bought 60 Reapers just because I love the look of them. I play Nighthaunt, not LoN, and was running them in a battalion. They're a great unit, look really cool (I don't put in their heads), are battleline, and fit the lore of my army. I get that power gaming is not cool, but there's reasons why someone might buy a lot of a certain unit.

For me, Chainrasps don't hit hard enough to make an entire army out of them. And when talking about optimizing the army, I don't think a force of just them does that either. The only warscroll in our army that can be the entire army (apart from heroes) is Reapers IMO and even then it's far from optimized.

Yeah, that's a great point. Even without the horde discount they are pretty cheap and I think we underuse them as a community based on what I read on here and on Facebook. I get it - they're not a fun choice but I really think having a good number of them allows our other units to be more effective at specific tasks.

I was inspired by the idea of an optimized list for Nighthaunt not based on just using the stuff we/I like and came up with this: Harrow (General/RotSH/Aetherquartz Brooch) Reikenor (Soul Cage) Spirit Torment (Pendant of the Fell Wind) Guardian of Souls w/ Nightmare Lantern 40 Chainrasps 40 Chainrasps 10 Reapers 2 Chainghasts 10 Bladegheists 10 Bladegheists The Condemned battalion/Chronomantic Cogs/Purple Sun/Command Point 2000 pts exactly. 136 wounds/7 drops/2 command points I'd set up the Chainrasps on the table. They'll be a massive footprint that you can use to grab objectives, tarpit an opponent's model/unit, and just have board control. With the re-rolls they get out of the battalion, they can actually sneak in a little damage at times too which might take an opponent by surprise. They'll still wilt pretty easily to most combat units, but they have enough wounds for it to take more than a single combat phase. Reikenor starts on the board too and sends out Purple Sun as soon as possible to give the opponent something to think about. The Reapers and two units of Bladegheists will then be used to deepstrike. On the turn when you think you'll deep strike them, cast Cogs. Overall, I think if someone wants to be as competitive as possible with Nighthaunt, you've got to have two units of 40 Chainrasps. They're cheap and so very useful to have as the big footprint unit you deploy in the beginning of the game, which gives you more freedom with your better stuff. Now, I don't care for huge units like that, so I would probably never field it. But that's probably how to play the most optimized lists.

They lack elite hammers and anvils IMO. For hammers, there's a few options. Bladegheists can get the job done, but most tend to use them in units of 10. Reapers are still great against units of 10+ and if you face an opponent that relies on one unit you can take Reapers in the Death Stalkers battalion. Some people have luck with Myrmourns and I think Harridans are underrated. As for the lower model count, some people swear by Spirit Hosts. I haven't tried them as I don't see it, but they are a lower model count build. The Death Riders battalion is another option for a lower model count.

Yeah, it really is there for deep striking or charging after teleporting. If you're just using it to increase movement, then Pendant of the Fell Wind has you covered. The other thing worth noting for Cogs, is that if you don't need the bonus for charges that turn, it's great to camp Reikenor next to it so he can use his casting bonus to get off two spells.

Way to go! I'm having trouble fitting Cogs into lists with it going up in points, but it's still important for me because I do like to deepstrike. It just adds something else for my opponents to think about even if it doesn't work for me. I agree about Slaanesh and Skaven being probelms for Nighthaunt, but I don't think Fyreslayers are as bad. They're a slower army, so we can dance around them pretty well. I also typically run 60 Reapers in a Death Stalkers battalion, which can chew through their slow, death star builds. I've started looking at other, MSU style builds, but if you know you're playing Fyreslayers, that's the way to go.

There's some debate right now about how viable a list with the Death Riders battalion is. That's really the only way to avoid hordes as they army is designed rules and fluff wise to be hordes. You can and probably should run lots of small units, but your model count will still approach 90ish.

I'm wondering if I missed this, but is the book for Forbidden Power going to be available to purchase digitally in the app?

180 as in GHB.

I'd go with Pennant. The D6+3 lantern is really nice when you successfully cast the spell, but at 6+ that won't be all the time whereas the pennant always works. I once brought back 9 Harridans with that lantern which was epic, but I've had it not work multiple times.