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dmorley21

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  1. dmorley21

    Tournament Report: Columbus Brewhammer

    By dmorley21,


    Tournament Report
    This past weekend I attended a GT in Columbus, Ohio called Brewhammer. Results and lists are on BCP. After only 3 test games with Nagash and 1 with my specific list, I took a Nagash Nighthaunt list. My list was:
    Prized Sorcery / Inspired / Emerald Host / Battle Regiment
    Nagash
    Lady Olynder (General, Spirit Drain)
    Spirit Torment (Pendant of the Fell WInd)
    5 Hexwraiths / 5 Hexwraiths / 5 Hexwraiths / 10 Chainrasp Horde
    10 Dreadscythe Harridans
    I had other lists in mind that I had hoped to have ready/have time to test, but due to life I just ran out of time both to prepare other lists and to get enough test games in - due to this I was hoping to go 3-2 (which I did!). 
    The general thought was to often run Nagash and Olynder side-by-side. This allowed her to put mystic shield on him - an easy cast, as she gets no bonuses to casting. I also gave her Spirit Drain for this reason. The Hexwraiths were there not just to bodyguard Olynder, but also to help with mobility and to do some mortals on the charge. 
    The Chainrasps were a screen or a deep striking objective grabber. The Harridans and Spirit Torment ran together, creating a nice little hammer unit that was often left alone by my opponent until they were shoved into the thick of things. 
    Game 1
    I played against a Host Duplicitous list that featured 50 Pink Horrors in First Blood. My opponent was also a one-drop and took the first turn. He ran out to hold two objectives on each flank with the two units of 20. I sent Nagash and one unit of Hexwraiths into one unit and just about everything else into the other unit. I snuck the Chainrasps in behind him and threatened his small general (I forget the name). 
    The strategy by me worked, but it was just a lot of dice rolling, I was new to Nagash so needed to look at rules, and I believe we had to call it after only 2 or 3 rounds - can’t quite remember. Had we had time to play it out, it would have been really close as Nagash had just lifted one unit of 20 and the other one was getting pretty whittled down… though he had just summoned in 10 more. Also, the game would have been a lot different had I gotten the first turn. 
    Game 2
    Played a Dracothian’s Tale Seraphon list in Power Struggle with an allied unit of Stormdrake Guard, Kroak, a bastiladon, and some salamanders. I gave my opponent the turn and set up in a castle. He smartly chose not to alpha my castle with just the two dragons and moved out to grab some objectives. I came in and took the middle objective with Nagash. He got priority and brought in the Salamanders and charged with the dragons and salamanders. It didn’t work. Nagash smacked down the Salamanders and then on my turn he smacked down the Stormdrake Guard with some support from a unit of Hexwraiths and Lady Olynder. I also got a Wave of Terror charge off on a massive unit of Skinks with my Harridans and lifted them. I doubled him into 3 and lifted most of his army. We had to talk out round 5, but ended up taking the win. 
    Game 3
    This was the game that bothered me the most. It was against a mixed arms Idoneth Deepkin army featuring 4 Sharks, 2 units of 10 Thralls, a unit of 20 Reavers, 2 units of 3 defensive eels, Volturnos, and the new hero. We played Feral Foray. 
    I left Nagash open to an ambush charge and gave away the first turn. He sent in 10 Thralls that did some work to Nagash (I had not done Finest Hour). Nagash smacked them down in my turn and got me an extra point as I had chosen Broken Ranks with him. I was able to deepstrike some Harridans and the Torment in to raid one of his objectives and he was able to do the same to one of mine. At this point though I was out-scoring him barely. On my turn I completely forgot about High Tide and chose Slay the Warlord, hoping to do it with Nagash, and then sent everything in. He never mentioned High Tide until the combat phase happened, and I was just sort of like, “Oh.” I still killed his warlord, but had really taken a beating and opened myself up to some hurt. We then had to talk out the rest of the game, and I ended up conceding. 
    Game 4
    This was against a Soulblight that featured Belladama, Mannfred, Radukar, a unit of 40 Zombies, a unit of 20 Zombies, 30 Skeletons, and 20 Grave Guard. The battleplan was Tectonic Interference. 
    I gave away the first turn, and the alpha objective was in the middle. He grabbed it with his unit of 40 zombies screening his unit of 30 Skeletons. I got ambitious and called Broken Ranks on the Zombies. I cast Soul Cage on them with Nagash and sent Nagash, the Harridans, and one unit of Hexwraiths (Olynder and a second unit failed with longbomb charges) into the thick of things. I fought with the Hexwraiths and Harridans first (the Harridans were also tagged by a summoned unit of wolves) and then Nagash cleared out the zombies to give me a bonus point. I then got the double turned and lifted his Skeletons and most of his Grave Guard (I had cast Soul Cage on them). On his turn I finished off his Grave Guard and even though the shifting objective kept the score close, I was in control from that point onwards. It was a great game to illustrate just how much damage Nagash can do. 
    Game 5
    This was by far my closest game. It was against Nurgle playing Survival of the Fittest. It was also the only game in which Nagash was killed. My opponent had 3 units of Blightkings that he made his predators (thinking it would cause me a distraction), Glottkin, Orghotts, a unit of Nurglings, and another small hero that was his general. 
    I gave away the first turn, but he maintained a castle on a flank objective. I sent Lady Olynder and some Hexwraiths toward his castle and grabbed the other two objectives. He chose Slay the Warlord on turn 2 and charged Olynder who was flanked by two units of Hexwraiths with two units of Blightkings and Orghotts. I was surprised by this move, and he was equally surprised as he not only failed to kill Olynder, but also failed to kill either unit of Hexwraiths on the charge. On my turn I retreated out of combat (a mistake I discovered) and chose Broken Ranks on a unit of Blightkings. Nagash only got two Arcane Bolts loaded and then whiffed on his rolls, causing me to not come close to lifting the Blightkings. After all of his output, I was a bit shocked. Clearly, I should have left something in combat with the Blightkings to do more damage. So we both dropped our battle tactics. I got the double turn and chose Slay the Warlord (I had done a lot of chip damage to him with Olynder… regretted that after not dropping the Blightkings). I dropped the leader with Nagash in the hero phase, however then Nagash got double charged in my movement phase by The Glottkin and Orghotts. I didn’t really have a way to screen that out, but in hindsight should have at least charged Orghotts with something. I dropped the Blightkings with Nagash (gaining an extra point for doing it with a predator) and lifted Orghotts with Olynder who had been tagged in (Nagash had put him down to a single wound), but thanks to the damage from Orghotts, the Glottkin took Nagash down. However, I had managed to score 8 points that round, which ended up being an amount my opponent wasn’t able to come back from when we talked it out. 
    Summary
    Nagash changes things. He was able to do so much and completely changed the way I played. I’m worried that he will lose a lot of value with the new book as the spells are sure to change and I’d be concerned about his ability to be a reliable massive hammer without Reaping Scythe. That was always my first cast with him, and Arcane Bolt was essential to his output. However, Soul Cage ended up being the spell that really changed things for me at times. I never once attempted Hand of Dust. I’d like the Spellportal just to make that a threat, but more so to have a longer range on Soul Cage and Shademist. 
    I’ve got mixed feelings about Olynder. Her chip mortal wounds weren’t reliable enough, though they did help when they worked. Grief Stricken is great, but remains tough to cast and is often an unbind target. I liked using Mystic Shield with her to put on Nagash, but often she ended up not close enough as you have to play objectives. Her melee output is okay at best without Reaping Scythe. Being two casts and a distraction from Nagash is nice, but I just don’t know if it’s enough. 
    The Hexwraiths were largely disappointing. Just not enough output and not durable enough to be an anvil. Their speed was often their best feature, which isn’t to be overlooked as Nagash needs assistance for board control. 
    The Chainrasps were used to deepstrike onto objectives and be a screen. They worked as expected. 
    The Spirit Torment/Harridans combo was really good and gave me a second hammer that could really catch my opponents by surprise. 
    I was originally sour on the list, but think I would run it again. I do think an anvil of something like 9 Spirit Hosts, 30 Reapers, or 30 Chainrasps would be great with Nagash. He (Nagash) largely did fine healing, but adding either Emerald Lifeswarm or Mortalis Terminexus would make it so he could really take a hit and heal back up. I also do think finding a way to get Spellportal would be nice. 
     
  2. dmorley21
    One of the strengths for Nighthaunt is that the army features a really strong group of battleline units. Chainrasps are a great, cheap horde unit. Grimghast Reapers make for a good elite, anti-horde unit. Spirit Hosts are resilient and can surprise an opponent with mortal wounds. Hexwraiths are really fast, and have some play in either battalion that they're featured in (Death Riders and Dolorous Guard). 
    Still, I would make changes to each unit. If you read my previous post, that won't be a surprise as I would make every unit in the army low bravery in exchange for always having a 6+ DPR. Yet, I would still make more significant changes. The most significant changes I would make though will probably come as a surprise: I would make Bladegheist Revenants battleline and would make Grimghast Reapers and Hexwraiths no longer battleline. 
    In this post, I'll cover the specific changes I'd make to Chainrasps, Spirit Hosts, Bladegheists, Grimghasts, and Hexwraiths. 
     
    Chainrasp Horde
    This is one of the few units in Nighthaunt that I think work exactly as they should. They're a cheap horde unit. Their lore is that they're some of the worst souls from the mortal realms - and I'm sure there's a lot of those. Still I'd make the following changes:
    Reduce Bravery from 6 to 5.  Dreadwarden: A unit of Chainrasp Horde may be lead by a Dreadwarden. While a unit features a Dreadwarden, you may re-roll charges for that unit. In addition, that unit has a bravery characteristic of 8 instead of 5.  So the reduction in bravery to the unit overall and to the Dreadwarden is part of making the army a lower bravery army. The re-roll charges ability nicely syncs with Wave of Terror, though I still doubt anyone is going to fear a charge from a regular unit of Chainrasps. The extra attack at that point just seems unnecessary, and the model doesn't look like something that would get an extra attack. 
    So little has changed for this unit, that I don't see any reason for points changes. 
     
    Spirit Hosts
    I wasn't a big fan of Spirit Hosts originally - at least rules wise. Their models have always been one of my favorites. However, I've come around on them. Still, their rules don't quite match their lore - they don't play like spectral shock forces. As such, I'd suggest the following rules changes:
    Reduce Bravery from 10 to 4.  Increase Movement from 6 to 10.  This unit may re-roll hit rolls if it has charged this turn.  So, these are big changes and turn the unit into a glass cannon, which I think fits their lore. As loosely formed spirits that act as shock troops, I think they should be our second fastest main unit after Hexwraiths. The ability to re-roll hit rolls on a turn when they charge gives them solid potential at doling out mortal wounds that turn. If they manage a Wave of Terror, then their charge is truly something to be feared. The flipside of this is that battleshock tests would be very painful. In my changes, I made it so any hero can use Ruler of the Spirit Hosts for a command point, which would help, though this army has a lot of ways to spend command points. 
    I'm thinking the points would stay the same for this unit. In playtesting with these rules, the unit can be devastating on a charge, but once it starts taking damage it really starts to fade. 
     
    Bladegheist Revenants
    So making these battleline is probably a surprise to most people. But they're a unit that just doesn't work for me rules wise or lore wise. Rules wise, they seem to be the top dog in the army. In reality though, their large bases and 1" range makes it really hard for large units of them to be effective. I've seen them used quite a bit in two units of 20 in the Shroudguard battalion, and they just never do enough to justify their cost. Lore wise, they are spirits that died horrible deaths, and are frenzied as they are trapped in the last moments of their lives. I'm pretty sure that would be a lot of spirits in The Mortal Realms. So, I would make them battleline. And I would change how they work significantly: 
    Battleline Attacks reduced from 2 to 1  Reduce Bravery from 10 to 5 Whirling Death: This unit can run and charge on the same turn. In addition, add 1 to both the Damage and the Attacks characteristics of this unit's Tomb Greatblades if it made a charge move in the same turn. Finally, this unit's Tomb Greatblades have a Rend characteristic of -2 if it made a charge move in the same turn.  So, the unit loses the ability to jump in and out of combat, which seems like a lot to be asking tortured souls to do. Instead, they run full steam ahead and charge. That's a 26" threat range, that can be boosted with Pendant of the Fell Wind and Chronomantic Cogs. They're lethal on the charge, but if they get bogged down in combat they aren't doing much anymore. I'm not sure what points change would be appropriate here. They still suffer from the short reach and big bases and honestly might need their range to jump to 2" to work correctly. But this is what I came up with. Playtesting them, they remind me a bit of Eels from Deepkin with their charge... but otherwise not so much. They're another glass cannon, though losing models doesn't hurt nearly as much as it does with Spirit Hosts. 
     
    Grimghast Reapers
    I'm a huge fan of Grimghast Reapers. So much so, that I even ran the Death Stalkers battalion at local tournaments. But I just don't think this unit should be battleline or that the points are currently justified. The lore of the unit is that they are schemers and plotters - not the type of spirit that would be in abundance IMO. And we all know the points were changed not because of how they played in Nighthaunt, but because of how the played in Legions of Nagash. So I'd do the following:
    No longer batteline Extoller of Shyish: A unit of Grimghast Reapers may be led by an Extoller of Shyish, which is armed with a Death Knell instead of a Slasher Scythe. While a unit features an Extoller of Shyish, it may re-roll charges.  Reaped Like Corn: You can re-roll hit rolls for attacks made with this unit's Slasher Scythes if the target unit has 5 or more models.  For Whom the Bell Tolls: During the shooting phase, if an enemy unit is within 3" of an Extoller of Shyish, roll 2D6. If the roll for the unit is higher than its bravery, it suffers 1 mortal wound. Reduce Bravery from 10 to 6 A lot of changes that don't add up to really changing how the unit plays. Reap Like Corn gets cleaned up, the bravery is reduced, and the Death Knell works slightly differently (similar to one of Lady Olynder's abilities - I'm a big fan of redundancy in rules to make them easier to pick up/remember); however the most important changes are no longer being battleline and having a baked in ability to re-roll charges as long as they feature an Extoller of Shyish, fishing for Wave of Terror. They're a slightly better unit now, so I'd leave them at the same points. 
     
    Hexwraiths
    You could leave this as battleline if you want, but most armies don't have a knight type unit as battleline. Either way, I think they need to be made more elite. Here's my changes:  
    No longer battleline Spectral Scythes now have a range of 2" instead of 1" Reaped Like Corn: You can re-roll hit rolls for attacks made with this unit's Spectral Scythes if the target unit has 5 or more models.  Spectral Hunters: After this unit has successfully charged an enemy, roll a dice for each model in this unit. For each roll of a 5+, the enemy unit suffers a mortal wound.  Reduce bravery from 10 to 7 This unit now has some offense without being in a battalion. They'll need to go up to 140 or 150 points. 
     
    So there you have it, that's how I would change Nighthaunt's battleline. Let me know your thoughts! 
  3. dmorley21
    After a defeat against Nurgle, my final game of the event was against a Cities of Sigmar force. I felt pretty good going into this matchup, as I have played against Cities the most of any army. The battleplan was Total Conquest. 
    My opponent played a Tempest Eye list that was Dwarves (Duardin, sorry), with some interesting conversions using 40k models (that included Dwarves riding motorbikes as pistoliers). Here's his list as best as I remember:
    Runelord (general) / Warden King (on Oathstone) / Hurricanum with Battlemage / Auric Runesmiter
    40 Ironbreakers / 20 Irondrakes / 10 Hammerers 
    6 Endrinriggers / 1 Gunhauler
    10 Heartguard Berzerkers

     
    You can see deployment pretty good here. I did my staple of deep striking the 30 Reapers, Krulghast, Chainrasps, and Harridans. 
    My opponent set up a castle around his objective. I out dropped him, but decided to give him the first turn. He sent his Fyreslayers onto the objective Lady Olynder was facing and his KO onto the objective the Hexwraiths and Black Coach were facing. 
    I responded by deepstriking 10 Chainrasps onto the objective with his KO... I was just able to squeeze all 10 of them in to claim it from him. I also got off some charges into the Fyreslayers with Lady O and her Hexwraiths. Lady O knocked out the hero that boosted the Fyreslayer unit, but the Fyreslayers chewed through 3 Hexwraiths. I won the priority, but wanted him to break his castle a little bit, so gave it away. He moved his KO to try to knock out Reikenor and take my back objective. That failed, though he did get the Gunhauler into combat with Reikenor. He also launched his Pistoliers into the remaining two Hexwraiths. The battle didn't go his way and then in my turn I deleted both the Fyreslayers and Pistoliers in my turn with Lady Olynder's various forms of output. I also charged my Black Coach into the Gunhauler and and took that out and all but one Endrinrigger. I got my Hexwraiths over his Ironbreakers and into his Irondrakes with a wave of terror, and deleted the unit. My Reapers deepstruck in front of his Ironbreakers and got off the charge thanks to Cogs being activated. They went to work. 
    At that point, my opponent conceded knowing he had no way of scoring any other objective other than his own, which I was working through. We played another half turn just so I could claim my secondary of killing his general. 
    I'm not sure if I made the right decisions with the turn giving away, but still took a fairly easy win. This opponent was really there for the narrative of his army and just for fun. 
    A few thoughts:
    Once again, the unit 10 Hexwraiths, Reapers, and Lady Olynder just did a ton of work. I forgot to even mention my Harridans, who came in to get numbers to take the objective away from the Fyreslayers and Pistoliers. The Black Coach was really versatile with its speed and run and charge to fly from one side of the board to another to be where it needed to be. I also forgot to mention that the Krulghast came in with the Reapers and gave them a 5+ save which led to me not losing only a single one to the Ironbreakers. 
  4. dmorley21
    After the absolute bloodbath and feeling of victory that came from winning against a Teclis Syar build, I was then faced with dealing with a Nurgle force, playing the Scorhed Earth battleplan. 
     
    To review, my Nighthaunt army consisted of:
     
    Emerald Host
    Lady O (general / reaping scythe) / Reikenor / Dreadblade (PotFW) / Krulghast (Shadow’s Edge)
    10 Hexwraiths / 5 Hexwraiths / 30 Reapers / 10 Chainrasp / 5 Harridans
    Black Coach
    Death Riders / Chronomantic Cogs
     
    I had not played against Nurgle before and don’t have my opponent’s list. Here’s my best recollection of it (with help of looking things up online):
     
    Rotigus / Wizard Great Unclean One (general / the witherstave) / Melee Great Unclean One 
    30 Plaguebearers / 10 Plaguebearers / 10 Plaguebearers / 6 Plague Drones
    Thricefold Befoulment / Ferculent Gnarlmaw


    My opponent deployed in a similar vein to the LRL opponent - wide so that they could block me from deeps triking in behind them. His three Great Unclean Ones were in the middle, the two small units of Plaguebearers were to one side with the Plauge Drones and the big unit of the Plaguebearers were on the other side. The tree was pretty much in the middle. 
    I put my Reapers, Krulghast, Chainrasp Horde, and Harridans in the underworlds. In the middle I had Lady Olynder surround by the unit of 5 Hexwraiths on one objective, the Dreadblade Harrow tagging the other middle objective while granting his Pendant aura, Reikenor on one flank and the Black Coach and unit of 10 Hexwraiths on the other flank. 
    He outdropped me and gave me the first turn. I didn’t do much, besides cast Cogs and slow it down to give Reikenor re-rolling saves. I decided not to move forward (a mistake), as I didn’t like my odds of breaking through his castle without opening my territory up for attack. So I just kept everything where it was more or less, and scored my 4 points. On his turn, thanks to two lucky charges (over 7) and after summoning a unit of 5 Plaguebearers, he was able to take one of my objectives off of me, deleting my Dreadblade, and burning one of my objectives. He had also hit several of my units with a nasty spell, that just about took out the 5 Hexwraiths I had guarding Lady Olynder. It was my fault for leaving a gap and that was a case of me misjudging how fast his army could get to me on the smaller tables. 
    I sent Reikenor into his unit of 10 Plaguebearers on the far flank and deepstruck my Reapers to support Reikenor. I deepstruck my Harridans and the Krulghast behind Lady Olynder to support her as she was going one on one at that point against Rottigus. Reikenor zapped a unit of Plaguebeaers in the middle with Wraithstorm, taking out 3. I should have targeted the ones on the flank that he was currently fighting. 
    Reikenor took out several of the small unit of 10, but my Reapers failed their charge, even with a re-roll. This was due to me getting out of range of Cogs and being unable to activate it - another mistake. My 10 Hexwraiths got a 9+ Wave of Terror off on his general and got it down to 3 wounds. My Black Coach charged the melee Great Unclean One to tie it up. Overall I wasn’t able to claim any new objectives and was starting to fall behind as I had lost the one. Going into turn 3 it was 11-7 him. 
    I got the double on turn 3 and deepstruck my Chainrasp Horde behind his line. I got a Wave of Terror charge off with the Reapers and took out a unit of Plaguebearers and most of the Plague Drones. My Hexwraiths took down the general, while Lady Olynder was swiped away by Rottigus. The Black Coach did some serious work against the melee hero with retreat and charge, and had the aura from the Krulghast activated which saved it three times. The Harridans were also saved largely thanks to the Krulghast. 
    I had forgotten to charge in my Chainrasp Horde, and there were two Plagebearers left on the one objective to just one Reikenor. I burned the one objective in the middle my Reapers had claimed but rolled a 1. This left me with only 4 points so it was only tied up 11-11. On his turn he ran some summoned Plaguebearers onto one of my unguarded objectives and burned it, also rolling a three. Rottigus was in range of fighting the Black Coach, which was yet another mistake by me as my Harridans getting destroyed were one of my secondaries. 
    That was all we had time for, so the game ended 11-17 him. 
    The game may have gone differently had we finished it, as my Reapers would have demolished his remaining Plaguebearers, but I also made several mistakes that cost me the game. Nurgle was a really tough matchup as they have a lot of defense, but I felt like I was able to chew through quite a lot of it. 
    Thoughts:
    This was a game of mistakes for me. However, the Black Coach, unit of 10 Hexwraiths, Reapers, and Krulghast all really shone in this game. The Krulghast using his ability to give the Black Coach a 4+/5+ in particular was a really strong move that made it a really hard unit for my opponent. It was tagged by the melee Great Unclean One and the Rottigus and did just fine. I felt like I wish I had a unit of 10 Hexwraiths around Lady Olynder this game, but the unit of 10 did some major work. And I continue to love the ability of Reapers to work without a hero buff.
  5. dmorley21
    Howdy everyone. 
    This past Saturday, May 1st, I got to play my first in person Warhammer in over a year at a small (8 person due to COVID) event at a board games bar in Grand Rapids, MI. I ended up 2-1 and finishing 4th out of 8 due to missing an objective. I beat LRL and Cities and lost to Nurgle. One note is that I played the Krulghast as only protecting against wounds, not against mortals. Another is this event was using the smaller boards that we've all heard are rumored for the new edition. The TO says he's been told to expect the smaller boards for AoS this summer by reps. I think the smaller boards made some differences in terms of having places to deep strike and just how quickly everything was in combat. There were some really long turn 1s! In fact, probably due to it being so long, none of my games finished all 5 rounds by the end of the 2 1/2 hours. Anyway, I wanted to post a mini report of each game, the lists, and my thoughts. This will be my first game. 
    My list:
    Emerald Host
    Lady O (general / reaping scythe) / Reikenor (shademist) / Harrow (pendant of the fell wind) / Krulghast (shadow's ege)
    5 Hexes / 10 Hexes / 30 Reapers / 10 Chainrasp / 5 Harridans
    Black Coach
    Death Riders / Cogs
     
    Game 1 vs Lumineth in Starstrike
    The list: Syar / Teclis / Cathallar (syar artefact / general / syar command trait) / Eltharion / 20 Wardens / 20 Wardens / 20 Sentinels / 5 Bladelords / Ballista


    The above images were during turn 1. 
    As for deployment, he deployed a unit of Wardens and his ballista on one flank. The other wardens, sentinels, and bladelords were on the other flank. Teclis was in the middle with Eltharion and the Cathallar. He definitely should have screened Teclis, but was planning to see how I deployed and then teleport a unit of wardens in front of him - he didn't realize how quickly I'd be in his face. I put my 10 Hexes, Reapers, Krulghast, Harridans, and Chainrasp in the underworlds. 
    I outdropped him, and took the first turn knowing I needed to attempt to alpha Teclis (who's save I dropped with Emerald Host) to try and delete him before he gave most of the army a 5+ shrug. I activated Cogs (he decided to use Teclis to stop Lady O's spell as he liked the extra speed Cogs would give him) and dropped down my Reapers with the Krulghast and Hexwraiths in front of Lady O. The Krulghast got off his shot, taking out a warden, and the Reapers made the charge. The 10 Hexes failed their charge (only needing a 6 with Cogs and Death Riders) and then I burned a command point only to see them fail again. That was unfortunate! In frustration, I charged the Black Coach into Teclis, and got off a Wave of Terror on a 9 (thank you Death Riders). 
    He was really caught off guard with how quickly I was in his face. The Reapers did some work, but I had forgotten about the Cathallar being able to make me take his battleshock test. The Black Coach and Teclis did some decent damage to each other. On his turn he teleported Eltharion to the right flank where Reikenor was hiding behind a building and moved his other unit of wardens in front of the Hexwraiths. I got a lucky roll and unbound Teclis's 5+ shrug with an 11. This made up for the failed charge of the Hexwraiths. He got off a charge with his Wardens and Bladelords (into the Reapers), but failed with Eltharion. Teclis managed to delete the Black Coach. I was very sad after spending a week getting that model ready. The Wardens did some damage to the Hexwraiths and vice versa, but thanks to the Cathallar the Hexwraiths were wiped. 
    The first objective fell on the right flank, and I won priority. Lady Olynder went to work with her mortal wound abilities and took out the remaining Wardens, did some damage to Teclis, and charged into Teclis with the 5 Hexwraiths, with the Krulghast popping Teclis for a wound. I deepstriked my Chainrasp Horde onto the objective. In the combat phase, Lady O and her Hexwraiths made short work of Teclis. His turn game and he blasted the Chainrasp Horde down to 3 with his Sentinels  but couldn't get a charge in and couldn't take the objective from me. 
    Turn 3 came and an objective fell on the right flank in his territory behind most of his units at that point and one fell in my territory on the left flank. I don't remember who won priority at this point (not enough time to take detailed notes), but the turn ended with me having the two new objectives and him having the first one, and a lot of dead troops - Lady O had taken out the Sentinels and Cathallar at that point. Turn 4 came and I managed to grab the two objectives on the right flank while he got Eltharion on to the other. By the end of turn 4, we each only had two models left: Lady O and Reikenor for me, and Eltharion and the Ballista for him. At that point, we only had three minutes left and he had no way to outscore me, so we called it. What a bloodbath! 
    Observations:
    I made a big mistake of forgetting the Harrow couldn't teleport away from combat, which led to his demise in turn 3. 
    He definitely should have screened Teclis, as I'm pretty sure I would have deleted him right away had my Hexwraiths made the charge. The minus 1 save helped. 
    The Krulghast did not help much against the massive amount of mortals I was facing. 
    Lady Olynder and her Hexwraith guard were the MVPs here. She did a ton of output, helping to delete at least 5 units including zapping the Cathallar. 
    Overall though it was a great game and a really fun matchup. We each also grabbed our secondaries and it was on to game 2!
    I'll hopefully get that one posted within a day. 
  6. dmorley21
    In this series, I’ll be highlighting how to play Nighthaunt effectively against different armies. I’ll only be doing armies I have faced multiple times. The first I’ll start with is Kharadron Overlords, an army I know particularly well as I’ve also started playing them. 
     
    Quick Matchup Thoughts
    While many armies and players dislike the gameplay against KO, I find that Nighthaunt versus KO matches are a lot of fun for both players and make for a pretty equal matchup, though I’d honestly give a slight edge to Nighthaunt. Prepare for a game that requires a lot of decision making by both parties, with a ton of mobility that will cause the focus to potentially change every turn. 
     
    The General Tactics
    Table Your Opponent: In my opinion, this is one of the rare matchups where Nighthaunt players should make an honest attempt to wipe out the opponent’s army. KO armies are typically low model count and rely on their mobility to focus fire on the opponent and to get out of the way of dangers that the enemy presents. That reliance on mobility instead of screens often makes for appetizing targets to attempt to deepstrike and charge. Most of your units should be able to take on the likes of Arkanauts and small units Endrinriggers. For the ships, you’ll want harder hitting units and against the Ironclad your best bet is hitting it with mortal wounds. In fact, the army as a whole struggles against mortal wounds, making the likes of Spirit Hosts and Hexwraiths invaluable. 
    Deepstrike: Apart from Total Commitment (the less we talk about that battleplan, the better), it’s always important to utilize From The Underworlds They Come, however, it’s essential to beat Kharadron Overlords. I recommend that you hide your best units in the underworld during this game and deploy things like units of 10 Chainrasps on the board. This does a few things for you. The first, is that it prevents your opponent from having an obvious target to focus their fire on. KO tend to focus on a target each turn, and focus their firepower on it to delete it. They can’t do that if there isn’t a good target on the board. A second reason is if they are Ziflin with the Warp Lightning Vortex endless spell, you’ll want to avoid giving them a target area as that spell hurts a lot. Being able to stash half of your troops off the board and spread out your army really mitigates the strength of that spell. 
    Max Your Heroes: I definitely encourage trying to take 6 heroes in a game against KO. This army will be able to delete your heroes (with one exception) at will, and you’ll want a hero or two to help with Deathless Spirits and re-rolling charges. 
    Mortal Wounds: The true weakness of Kharadron Overlords is dealing with mortal wounds output. Spirit Hosts, Hexwraiths, the Black Coach, Lady Olynder, Reikenor, Cairn Wraiths, and even a Tomb Banshee all can bring some hurt to KO. The goal here is to hit critical mass. Re-rolling good saves doesn’t help against mortal wounds. 
    Blocking Ships: Don’t forget that all of your units fly, so any unit in combat with a ship means that if that ship retreats (via Fly High or a regular retreat), the ship and any models in it can’t shoot. This is an absolute game changer. 
    MSU: Running multiple small units is the way to go here. A unit of 30 Reapers or 40 Chainrasps will be deleted in a single turn. Units of 10 or 5 though provide a challenge to the opponent in figuring out just how much firepower it will take to delete, especially with the ethereal saves. 
     
    Units that Excel 
    All of our units are ethereal (ignoring the high rend shooting of KO) and fly (able to tie up ships and prevent them from shooting), so in some capacity all of our units excel against KO. However, there’s a handful of units that I have found do particularly well: 
    Lady Olynder with Dolorous Guard. This battalion makes Lady Olynder a target, but a target that even KO will have trouble deleting. It’s also not a grouping that your opponent can avoid, as Lady Olynder and her Hexwraith companions can take down just about anything KO have. If your opponent spends a turn trying to take out this group and fails, you just caused them to focus their fire away from the rest of  your army and you’ve probably started to run up the score on objectives. Meanwhile the extra attack on the Hexwraiths on the charge typically means an extra mortal wound, which can make all of the difference. 
    Dreadblade Harrow General. If you aren’t taking Lady Olynder as your general and the Dolorous Guard battalion, I would recommend this tried and true choice of a general. This allows you to match KO somewhat with their ability to teleport around the board. Now you can do the same with this model and bring another unit for a command point. That makes life a lot tougher for KO. 
    Spirit Hosts. This is the one unit I would take a max of when playing KO, though I also found small units of them to be effective as well. The multi wound models plus plethora of attacks that can do mortal wounds is a nice combo against KO. 
    Hexwraiths. See the previous entry, with less firepower but more movement. 
    Reikenor and Chronomantic Cogs. Reieknor’s mortal wounds potential, spells, and speed all make him a valuable commodity in this matchup. Getting off Cogs is also huge, as it really helps you match KO’s movement and allows you to charge in from the underworld to tie up ships. Just be wary of facing an Ironclad with the battering ram. 
     
    Units to Avoid
    Grimghast Reapers. Honestly, apart from Stalkers which should always be avoided, I’d say this is the only unit to stay clear from  even though they’re my favorite unit. KO rarely have units of 5+ in my experience, and when they do they’re one of: 6 Endrinriggers which you should handle just fine, Thunderers in a ship which isn’t a good target, and Arkanaut Company which any of our units can handle. 
     
    Summary
    Matchups against Kharadron Overlords are very winnable matchups for Nighthaunt, however it will certainly be a game that will test you as a general and a tactician. These games will involve lots of movement shenanigans for both players, and lots of punching/counterpunching. Hopefully this helps if you go up against this army!
  7. dmorley21
    So while this blog is going to cover a lot of different things, I wanted to start by talking about what changes I would love to see for Nighthaunt. It's been discussed on the dedicated army forum on this site ad nauseum, but the army as it is does not do well at tournaments typically. This makes sense as the book is an older book, features weaker units, had some of their points dictated by how units played in a different army, and is a difficult army to play. So we all know the army needs changes. However, in the forums, nobody can seem to agree about what those changes should be. 
    Some people want  the army to play like Legions of Nagash/Legion of Grief. Others want more offense. Still others want better magic. 
    Personally, I want the army to stay the way they are. Their playstyle as much as their look/ease to paint is what drew me to them in the first place.
    That said, there are some minor tweaks I would make to how the army works. I'm going to just go over the army rules/abilities as a whole here as this will play a role in how I view everything else. So here we go:
     
    Aura of Dread: This rule stays the same! It fits the lore/fluff and isn't overpowered. However, the army needs more mechanics and tools to take advantage of reducing enemy bravery. 
    Deathless Spirits: I'd make a significant change to this rule - give all Nighthaunt units a 6+ DPR save. No longer would they need to be within certain distance of a hero. This makes the army a lot more user friendly, though I would keep the wholly within ranges for just about everything else. It also makes sense with opponents not necessarily being able to harm ghosts the way they would other enemies. As a tradeoff with this rule, I would make the army overall a low bravery army. This makes sense to me as ghosts are not brave, and the lore describes Nighthaunt as being shock troops more than anything else. They're really not meant to stay in battle. TLDR: 6+ DPR for everyone without the need for a hero, but the army's bravery is significantly reduced as a tradeoff. 
    From the Underworlds They Come: No change! This rule is the signature of the army, and is important for their gameplay. Losing this rule would likely cause me to lose interest in the army. 
    Feed on Terror: I honestly forget about this rule more often than not, and I think it could be deleted without having much impact on the army. I'd keep it for now. 
    Wave of Terror: After much consideration, I'd keep this rule as it is. There's a lot that could (and probably will) change with this rule such as making it easier but making it fight at the beginning of the combat phase; however, I think the rule currently works well as intended. It's swingy, but very powerful. I would however add more ability to the army to re-roll charges. 
    Spectral Summons: Keep as is! 
    Ruler of the Spirit Hosts: I would change this to a second army-wide command ability instead of a command trait. This would be a detriment as it would no longer be free, but honestly it's too powerful to be free IMO. It just makes the other traits insignificant. As a tradeoff, any hero would be able to do it, so your RoTSH general wouldn't get sniped and leave you without the ability. 
     
    So that's it for the army wide rules! The only changes I'd make are to Deathless Spirits and Ruler of the Spirit Hosts. Meanwhile, I would make the army a low bravery army. This wouldn't change how the army plays at all IMO, but would make them slight more efficient at what they do. Now that I've gone over my general thoughts, I'll be going over battleline in my next post. 
     
     
  8. dmorley21
    Written Reviews
    Goonhamer
    Mengel Miniatures (Matched Play Rules)
    Mengel Miniatures (Lore and PtG)
    Sprues and Brews
     
    Video Reviews
    Warhammer Weekly
    The Die Is Cast - Review Starts around 50:00
    Facehammer List Tech
    Facehammer
    Rocco
    The Honest Wargamer
    2+ Tough
    Video Battle Reports
    The Die Is Cast: vs. Ogor Mawtribes (Beastclaw)
    Cinderfall Gaming: vs. Cities of Sigmar
    Hellstorm Wargaming: vs. Fyreslayers
    Painting Tutorials
    Mengel Miniatures: Quicksilver Dead
    Mengel Miniatures: The Scarlet Doom
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