Aaranis

Looks like we'll have points updates today guys & gals ! No errata documents has been updated so far but it should happen later today. Speculation time: what do you wish to see decreased ? For me, Chainghasts, another 20 pts for named Heroes and a few others, Hexwraiths.

We had leaks a page or two ago, you'll find them easily. In short, one is a Battalion made of Battalions and a bit useless, another is fairly useful (+1A on KoS on Steed & he can use his CA free once a round), and the last one, the Dolorous Guard, allows us to hace Hexwraiths becoming bodyguards for our General by taking his wounds on a 2+. They also get +1A on the charge but that's just the icing on the cake. So we're pretty pleased overall, I still don't know if it's limited to NH or accessible to Legion of Grief too.

Oh I know, any of my plans involving Kurdoss are purely for fun purposes, he doesn't bring enough in a competitive level.

I'm eager to get Kurdoss in the Battleforce to run him in Dolorous Guard so he can safely smash people. I love the straight-forward strategy of this guy.

I agree about the state of NH as a whole. I'm playing Legion of Grief these days and when I considered going back to NH for some games I'm always thinking "But in NH when a unit dies, it dies" as Ivan Drago once said. It's hard to come out from an army that has plenty of CP and functions like a Death army should function: through sheer attrition. Nighthaunts are meant to strike hard and fast, but the top armies just tank us or hit harder and this strategy doesn't work. Go fight 30 Hearthguard Berserkers in Heimdarr and enjoy them fighting first every turn for a CP and drowning you in Mortal Wounds. But every victory with NH is much more enjoyable in my opinion because I feel I deserve it everytime. NH are a shock army, lore-wise they come from nowhere, cripple the enemy assets and disappear, and that's very much how we have to play. At least I know I'm not cheesing when I play and everyone have fun at the table.

Can he be your General if he's an ally though ? I mean the Dolorous Guard only protects the General, not any Hero.

It won't give you an effective army by itself, but if you're going to commot playing Nighthaunt it's a superb box full of useful units. Sure you'll need to buy another box of some units, but without the battleforce you'd just buy them for a higher price, so it's a really good discount. Even the Hexwraiths have become interesting with the new White Dwarf battalions so it's a good buy in my opinion.

Hello, welcome to Nigthhaunts ! Bladegheists are a totally legit alternative to Reapers, don't worry. They just work a bit differently: you'll want your Reapers to be a large durable anvil usually in the middle of the table, while Bladegheists excel at surgical strikes, usually striking from the Underworlds and retreating/charging as much as they can to keep the +1A. I've found a unit of 10 to be just on the limit of being a bit unwieldy, as they're quite large and strike at 1" they can be difficult to engage with all the unit you're charging. You could be looking at the Shroudguard Battalion later if you love them, it'll boost their survivability. For your list I'd advise you to either make the KoS casting Shademist, or give the Beacon of Nagashizzar to the GoS. You might be tempted to charge but the KoS isn't a beatstick, more of a support character, and if he's against serious damage dealer units you'll lose your General and that's the last thing you want in a NH army. Shademist cast on the Spirit Hosts or Chainrasps will make them last longer. The Beacon helps your GoS be more reliable when he casts his healing spell. Be wary that the GoS is usually a juicy target once the opponent sees all the buffs he provides, so position him away from danger but near your units if you're facing heavy shooting. Other than that I guess you use the Executioner to fill the points, there's no problem until you have more units, but know he isn't really good on his own. He shines with 3x3 Spirit Hosts in a Execution Horde Battalion, along with a KoS on foot and ideally Olynder (but we're talking about a 2000 pts list at this point). With the setup I listed you can give him the Sword of Judgement (Ulgu artifact) and go hunt Monsters and Heroes. The Sword deals d6 Mortal Wounds on these on a Hit roll of 6+, modifiable, so with the Battalion it's on a 5+, with Olynder's spell a 4+, and two CP from the KoS later you're dealing these Mortal Wounds on 2+. But as I said, it's a very specific set up.

Wow you just learned me something with the objectives. I never read the rule about objectives honestly, I played like in 40k when it's yours as long as you have more models in range. And I believe NO ONE in my shop knows that rule neither. I feel a bit stupid hehe. Then yes it opens up possibilities of just wrapping around the enemy from everywhere, retreating with the Hexwraiths just to block their path from the other side if they want to retreat. And with the durability of the Hexwraiths + Olynder it may be a really viable strategy. Have you considered Spirit Hosts in such a list ? Their footprint is small so are more manoeuverable while greatly benefitting from Olynder's CA. Coincidentally it works wonders with the Emperor Executioner as there's a KoS, SHs and Olynder for the +1/2/3 to Hit he requires. I'll have to write something along these lines for 2000 pts, a Dolorous Guard/Execution Horde list, drowning the opponent in MWs. On a somewhtat related note, have any of you played against Ossiarch Bonereapers ? I've read many times that MWs is their weakness, and as their superior rend is useless against us we may have the advantage in board control with our speed and Fly. I knew from the start Nighthaunt were more of a board control than slayer type of army, but I always found it difficult to survive blender lists like Fyreslayers Hearthguards. With these new tools it may become really feasible. I'M FULL OF HOPE BOYS

Sounds like you rely a lot on your opponent not paying attention 😛 I'm mitigated. I don't see much damage iin your list, I just wonder how you'll down the opponent's heavy hitters. If he's clever enough he'll go through one Hexwraith unit at a time to prevent resurrections. Your board control looks a bit lacking with just the Chainrasps, in my experience they die very quickly, especially to Battleshock. The terms on the mission might force you to split your DG to contest some objectives too, so you'd have to chose between protecting Olynder and scoring points. Of course I don't know your meta and my worries may be unfounded but this is my first impressions.

Lots of great ideas there guys, it warms my cold heart to see such enthusiasm. Also thought of the body guards for a named character, Olynder or Kurdoss. Olynder is more synergistic as a general because Kurdoss doesn't contribute a lot beyond stealing CPs (which is nice) and beating people. Looks like that unit of Hexwraiths in the Battleforce will be useful... But I'll assemble them as Black Knights nonetheless, painted ethereal. I hate these fiddly scythes !

But there's no way to charge and retreat with Hexwraiths though, which is their problem. I'm sometimes tempted to retreat across an enemy unit but that's one round where they don't do anything else, except contesting an objective or something.

You're right about the Sword of Judgement, I kinda forgot about including the other components for the list to work, namely a KoS and Olynder. But giving him a Balefire Blade or such would make him really dangerous, and hard to kill with the Dolorous Guard. With support from a KoS the whole list gets better in 12" bubble of him. That might be hard to pull off though, but if we keep the Cogs and the Pendant he still moves 11". I also agree about the second DH, but as an artifact carrier he's pretty dope with the ability to teleport to seize an objective or give the artifact's bonus to another unit in a hurry.

No I believe it's just to add a narrative, he's probably included in a short story in the same pages. They could've just said "The Knight of Shroud on Ethereal Steed's Sword of Stolen Hours" I guess.

Already wrote a list hehe. Experimenting on a Dolorous Guard + Forgotten Scions list, heavily invested in speed. The mounted KoS is the General, he rocks 5A base 3+/3+/-1/2D and rides alongside a Dreadblade Harrow with the Pendant of the Fell Wind to boost everything in a 12" bubble with +3" Movement. Another has the Talisman of the Watcher to give a free Mystic Shield to ONE friendly unit within 9" if he himself is not in combat. They're accompanied by the big bubble of Hexwraiths. Meanwhile, Reikenor casts Chronomantic Cogs on a 4+ and choses to give +2"movement and charge. This allows the Hexwraiths to move 15" base, and 18" for those near the Pendant of the Fell Winds, while getting a +2" to their charges. Combined with Fly you should be able to go pretty much wherever you want, and remember to jump across units to deal them MWs on a 5+ too. The Grimghast are here as a solid anvil to form the bulk of the list, occupying space and being a pain to remove. The Myrmourn are there to eat magic and stab people, as they greatly benefit from the mounted KoS' ability to give +1A. Alright I wrote this in 5 minutes on top of my head and I'm sure it can be fine-tuned but you get the idea. Supersonic Specters of Destruction™.

Ah Jesus why they had to make a Hexwraiths Battalion, I told them I just mounted a unit as Black Knights :') Well the Emerald Host is terrible, no doubts about that. The Dolorous Guard was neatly covered by Sauriv, I think it could be nice to protect a KoSoES or Dreadblade General as well as making the Hexwraiths a real threat for a change. The Forgotten Scions however, I see it has great potential. We're looking at a KoSoES with 5A base that can buff for free once a round. There's got to be a few relic weapons that could make a nice us of that yes ? Like the Sword of Judgement™ ? Add to it the Dolorous Guard and we're looking at a really interesting Nighthaunt cavalry force. Quite costly points-wise though, we'd have to build around that. EDIT: For ease of reading I'll write the Dolorous Guard's text:

WD preorders on the 10th, I should be able to read it on the 13th or 14th if it hasn't been leaked already. I'll keep you informed !

Alright, got myself 9 Spirit Hosts. Looks like Emperor Executioner will soon hit the table (and the enemy heroes). I already picture him slowly closing in on his target: "What are you doing ??" "Killing Monsters." *Deals 12 MWs* Edit: Already wrote a list, let me know what you think of it. It's the Executioner as explained a few times before in the topic, minus the support of Olynder as I don't have her yet. So with 1 CP I'm looking at MWs on 5+ on a 10+ charge and 4+ in the Fight phase. Realistically I'll probably burn 2 CPs though to buff more units with +2 to Hit as it's a bubble. Also added some bodies and figured a Chainguard Battalion would be nice with the doped GoS, to add a CP, an artifact and make less drops. He'd heal back 2d6+3 Chainrasps, or d6+3 anything else.

Haha yes I used that once with my KoS on Steed: I had a unit of 5 Hexwraiths down to 2 engaged with too many Goblins. I teleported them near my KoS, healed them 3 models back to life with Ruler of Spirit Hosts, then succeeded a 10+ charge on another Goblin unit. 200 IQ move that won me the game because the Hexwraiths were on steroids on that charge and killed a lot of them.

Huh, I always read the Dreadblade's rule as "If he's within 3" of an enemy at the Start of the Movement Phase" simply to prevent him from teleporting when engaged. Thanks for the clarification.

He can but not on the same turn he teleports, the Summons happens at the start of the movement phase, while his move his just IN the movement phase, so you have to think one turn ahead if you want to pull that off.

Oooh makes me wish that the ability to teleport a unit would be anytime in the movement phase so that the Dreadblade could teleport a unit near him.

I believe they're just promo pictures, I wouldn't read too much into it. Though I suppose we'll have at least one Battalion with Olynder in it.

I had 10 Hexwraiths but I changed a squad to be Black Knights instead, I would be a bit upset if they're suddenly good 😛

If your strategy is kamikaze charges and popping them back up, why not Bladegheists ? They're designed to perform this task and require less buffs than Harridans to be optimal. + retreat and charge in the alternate dimension where they survive a round of CC.