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Behold the Grand Procession of the Enixian Duskhaunt Gathered en masse in numbers untold. Well, actually, the number is 274 (about a dozen not pictured) models and is worth over 8,000 points with battalions. ☠️ Total Model Count

Hey just wondering if anyone has any theories about the other 4 mortarch of nagash? He has always had 9. 9 advisors, 9 dark lords, 9 Mortarchs (end times) He currently has; Arkhan the Black: Mortarch of Sacrement Mannfred Von Carstein: Mortarch of Night Neferata: Mortarch of Blood Lady Olynder: Mortarch of Grief Orpheon Katakros: Mortarch of the Necropolis That's 5, Mortarchs usually are a total of 9 so where is the other 4? I think Vlad and Krell are good solid choices, maybe/hopefully ushoran, abhorash, U'soran/Melkhior, drachenfels.

If you haven't read round one, The Christmas Day Massacre, over here, give it a gander. It has videos! Unfortunately round two will not. Sorry! For the rematch we used the exact same lists as we did on Christmas day, no alterations or substitutions were allowed. The only changes were the battle plan, the terrain placement, and however we decided to deploy and play. Battleplan: The Relocation Orb Terrain: Open War Terrain 35-36, no terrain with warscrolls Deployment I won the roll-off and deployed first. I deployed pretty much identically as I did the previous game; Olynder into reserves along with eventually the rest of the "Olyderbomb", and everything else on the table. In this battleplan I opted to be on the south side of the map, once again setting my Bladegheists directly across from the objective, and my Chainrasps Hordes on either side of the map to get ready to catch the orb when it flies either way. One of my Dreadblades backed up the Bladegheists and the other one of the 'rasp hordes. Cities deployed pretty much the opposite of how he did last time. Instead of placing his Demigryphs and General on Griffon into reserve, only his Crossbows and General on foot took time off the table. Everything else he set square in the center with a flank of Guard, split in two units, on either side of the table. In essence, his deployment mirrored mine, but with his threat units already on the table. I finished deployment first and opted to go second. Gameplay I'm sorry to say this was another quick game. 3 turns in total, and a loss for me and my Nighthaunt. Oh, sorry, spoilers. But, the point of this and the last game were to test the Dolorous Guard with Olynder, not win, and that is exactly what I did. So, given that, I'm going to focus on Our Lady and her retinue's performance in this, which was phenomenal. I went second in order to give Cities a chance to open a backfield option for me to drop the bomb, but he was wise and, understandably, wary from the last encounter and didn't provide the opportunity. Instead, I was forced to either hold the bomb in reserve for another turn and let him beat on my Bladegheists, or drop it in front of them and just get the ball rolling. I opted for option two and dropped the whole lot right in front of both his General on Griffon and Celestial Hurricanum. So, let's cut to the good stuff, why not. What the Dolorous Olynderbomb does well is nuke. On the turn I dropped them they couldn't engage, only one unit of Hexwraiths made the charge, and so I denied it and chose to stand ominously there, instead. But on top of the second turn I won the roll and, this time, REMEMBERED my hero phase. I got off both Soul Cage and Grief-Stricken, and then proceeded to just delete the General. Imagine this: You've got the wound-potential of Lady Olynder; Lifting the Veil for 2-6, Wail of the Damned for another 1-3 if you beat the bravery check, an average of 2+ more from her staff, and another 2+ from her Handmaidens for anywhere from 1 or 2 wounds to 13+. Pretty good, if a bit swingy. But what if I told you that you can pretty much eliminate that swingyness? How, you ask? Simple: Hexwraiths. I brought two units of 5 Hexwraiths, who on the charge can average 2+ MWs and another 4+ standard wounds each unit. Now, especially if you get Soul Cage off, you're swinging for 6 MWs pretty much minimum before they can retaliate, but more likely more than that. Oh, and why not add the Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed and pop his +1 attacks on Olynder and both Hexwraith units? Doesn't 13 wounds and 11 MWs on average sound great? I thought it might. On turn 2 I engaged the General on Griffon. He didn't survive. On turn 3 I engaged the Celestial Hurricanum. It didn't survive. Both turns my opponent tried to snipe Olynder by targeting one unit of Hexwraiths that weathered the attacks exceptionally well instead of going directly for her. This puts your opponent on the back foot when engaging your general and the Dolorous Guard is in play; do they go for the general on the chance enough damage gets through, or do you try to eliminate the extra health pool and damage first? Neither choice is good for them, which is great for us. The reason I lost is that I didn't play the objectives at all and wasn't able to claim any points by end of turn 3. I could have, if I had remembered my KoSoES had the Pendant of the Fell Wind I would have been able to cover the objective without question from turn 2 on no matter where it was on the map, but I didn't because me playing a game and remembering everything I can do IN that game are just not things that seem to happen. It's what separates the casuals from the pros, and I'm afraid I'm a filthy casual. Summary The goal of these rounds was to test Lady Olynder backed up by both the Dolorous Guard and Forgotten Scions against a more modern army from a new book and answer two questions: Is Lady Olynder relevant again? Are these new battalions any good? So, let's answer question 1. Is Lady Olynder relevant again? Yes, with certain caveats. Olynder can play only a couple of roles solidly; a support level 2 wizard with a powerful spell or a mortal wound assassin. She lost relevance because as newer books came out other casters started getting natural ways to buff their casting chances, or longer range spells for the same cast value, and putting her in position to use Grief-stricken also meant throwing her away after a round or two. And that was the better option. To actually use her MWs to benefit you needed to get closer, 10" at least, and that meant melee combat where she would surely take her 7 wounds pretty quickly. Not anymore. With the Dolorous Guard, it became very clear that a 2+ is going to be likely to give her staying power. On average 1 of every 4 or 5 wounds will hit her, meaning she can be expected to soak up all 27 wounds before she drops with a minimum DG deployment and decent rolls. And I'm talking in a single turn. Give her a hero phase to breathe and watch her heal from Grave-sands of Time if she's too low, or Lifestealer/Spectral Tether if she takes that, but more likely just popping CP to bring her DG back and refiling her health pool. The drawbacks are still quite terrible, though. Being honest here, to make Olynder a model you want to place on the board in her current state you will need to spend her points and the DG's minimum points. You're looking at a new hero, basically, costing 600 points. 600 points for a 6" move, two spells/unbinds, 2-9 MWs at range, but suddenly 24 wounds when in melee range. A melee range that is her base plus 10 hexwraith bases long, wide, or otherwise configured for that 3" battalion requirement. 600 points for a hero that is still 2 drops. 600 for a hero that has to be your general. No, you won't see her burning up tournament tables anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, she's now extremely powerful when built this way, but for that many points there will just be better options. Question two, are these battalions any good? Oh my Nagash, yes! Hexwraiths are legit! That extra attack on the charge adds up across 10 models, making them put out slightly less mortal wounds than two packs of Spirit Hosts, but with twice the speed. They play different roles, of course, but with the side-buff of the Dolorous Guard Hexwraiths are now legitimate options for battlelines and swinging at anything with a high save. Did I mention that one of those two big bads I absolutely nuked in both games had a 2+ save? Well, it did, and both times the Hexwraiths brought the MWs that made the difference. Now, I had them paired with a slow general, so their Spectral Hunters ability never saw any play. There just wasn't enough movement to set it up. Maybe with a faster general that will show itself to be useful, but what's great here is that's a sheer bonus and not a necessary mechanic you need to maneuver in order to make these guys work. No, +1 attacks on a charge and a minimum 10 models in close proximity pretty much fixes their problems. It's almost like GW is telling us we were playing them wrong all along... And as for the Forgotten Scions? This is less easy to put a pin on the exact reason this battalion is good or bad. On the good side of things who doesn't like a free +1 attacks to a unit for a combat phase. And since it's any combat phase, this free activation can mean a counter-attack boost in your opponent's combat phase when they are not expecting it. But, it doesn't fix the Knight's lesser quality buff, being that it doesn't extend the duration of the +1 attacks beyond a combat phase, and that free activation is once per battleround. Oh, and who brings two Dreadblade Harrows? That's a point tax if there ever was one. Still, there's room for synergy here. The battalion gives the Knight his own buff passively, meaning it can stack with an activation, netting him 6 attacks if you want to get freaky with it, and all for free. Without any other support he's going to be swinging for the skies like that. Make him your general and bring the Dolorous Guard and now we're looking a truly formidable force. What kind of artefacts should he have like that? Shadow's Edge is suddenly relevant; a D3 Frightful Touch on 6 attacks? That's about 3 MW on average and another 3 savable. How about Headman's Judgement? 6 attacks at 2+/2+/-1 and 2 damage each? About 6 standard wounds. Oh, what about Slitter? Want to make your opponent lose half a unit on their turn? With a 12" movement across the whole lot, you're likely going to be right in the middle of whatever unit you're going to take on, and if you can take the hits first (which you can thanks to DG) then when it's your counter, slit the middle and see if they are out of cohesion at the turn of the phase. Yeah, these are good. If I were to rank them: Dolorous Guard > Forgotten Scions > Shroudguard > The Condemned = Chainguard, and then maybe Deathriders. The rest? The rest of what?

Battleplan: Duality of Death Total Points Played: 1520 Terrain: Open War Terrain 55-56, no terrain with warscrolls Armies Nighthaunt Heroes Lady Olynder General Spell Lore: Soul Cage Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind Dreadblade Harrow Artefact: Midnight Tome - Spell Lore: Shademist Dreadblade Harrow Artefact: Atherquartz Brooch Battlelines Chainrasp Horde x10 Chainrasp Horde x10 Hexwraith x5 Hexwraith x5 Other Bladegheists x20 Battalions The Dolorous Guard The Forgotten Scions Cities of Sigmar - Living CIty Heroes Freeguild General on Griffon General Command Trait: Ironoak Artisan Artefact: Ghyrstike Freeguild General Celestial Hurricanum with Celestial Battlemage Spell Lore: Ironoak Skin Battlelines Demigryph Knights x3 Demigryph Knights x3 Freeguild Crossbowmen x30 Freeguild Guard x20 Deployment - Video! Click Me! Cities of Sigmar won priority for deployment and placed his Freeguild General on Griffon and both Demigryph Knight units into reserve. Rather than split the rest of his forces, he gathered them across from the left objective (from my perspective). In forward deployment were his Freeguild Guard, in rear deployment were his Freeguild Crossbowmen. The Freeguild General and the CHwCB ended up adjacent to the Crossbowmen and behind the Guard. My Nighthaunt deployments started with a power move, placing Olynder, the entirety of the Dolorous Guard, and the Knight of Shrouds into the Underworlds before putting my first unit on the table, prompting my opponent to decide his picks with limited information. We allow battalion deployments to work as written, so when I placed my KoS into reserve, the rest of the Forgotten Scions appeared on the board, one in each deployment zone directly in line with either objective. I placed my Bladegheists right against the deployment zone close to the left objective, opposite my opponent's forces, and then one batch of Chainrasp Horde behind them. I placed my second Chainrasp Horde, who were my last deployment, at the closest edge of the right-hand deployment zone to that objective. CoS retained priority by finishing his deployment first. He elected to go first. Gameplay Turn One Cities opened the turn casting Ironoak Skin on his Freeguild Guard, giving them a -1 to be wounded. He then marched them forward, able to secure the objective and provide a line for his Crossbowmen and heroes. Shooting was not fully in range, so a few wounds were tossed at my Chainrasps and Bladegheists damaging them 4 and 2 respectively (I think). There was no other battle options available at this point, so it was on to an inconsequential battleshock phase, and then on my my rebuke. CoS: 1 point, NH: 0 points I began my half of the turn attempting to cast, and failing, Shademist. Par for the course, really. I then ran my lonely Chainrasps on the right-hand side of the field into objective range and then teleported the Dreadblade on that side to cuddle up with them. On the left side, I quickly moved my Bladegheists into charge range to engage Freeguild Guard. My Chainrasps being my only battleline, I wanted to turtle them up with my Dreadblade so I pulled them both back into cover (we don't get a cover bonus, but line-of-sight still counts for ranged!) and let them cower. At the end of my movement phase, seeing my opponent committing all of his ranged on this side of the board, I opted to drop my Olydnerbomb now and line her up right at minimum range, flanked by her Dolorous Guard on either side and the KoSoES tucked narrowly behind her. For the shooting phase she Wailed at the Crossbowmen for 3 wounds and at the Hurricanum either nothing or very little, and then we moved on to the charge phase. All units failed their natural charges, but I felt getting the Bladegheists into trouble right away was necessary, so I burned a CP (no refund) for a re-roll. On this chance they made the charge. Between the charge and pile-in they had enough movement to line up in two ranks with enough space for that second rank to be in their 1" range. 11 wounds later, the counter-attack was muted by all the gore flying around. Cities opted to spend a CP to keep the rest of his Guard from running in the battleshock phase. CoS: 1, NH: 1 End of Turn 1 - Video Turn Two I scored the double turn (YAY!) but in my unbridled joy I completely forgot my entire hero phase (WHAT)... By all rights this should have spelled the end for me. No attempt at Shademist for my Bladegheists, no attempt at Grief-Stricken on the Hurricanum, no attempt at Soul Cage on the Hurricanum, and no Lifting the Veil. What the hell was I thinking?! At least I remembered to gather my CP for the turn and move right into the movement phase, pulling my Bladegheists back to get into charge range again. Knowing they would land another charge, I bring my cowardly Chainrasps out of hiding to put them in objective-claiming range if my 'gheists could finish the job on the Guards. Meanwhile, Olynder and her retinue selected their dance partners for the evening and sauntered up to the 3" barrier. For shooting, she Wailed some more (and THEN I realized my missed hero phase, so I wailed as well), and then we got to business with the charges; all made them easily with the KoS achieving Wave of Terror (with me forgetting the battalion's buff to his attacks). Once into combat proper, the beat was properly dropped and the KoS took the mic for some dubstep beatboxing, spending his free Command Ability on Olynder, and my bank of CP on both units of Hexblades, himself, and with range to spare on buffing the Bladegheists, as well. Thanks to the Aetherquartz my 3 CP remained at 2 after the breakdance showdown. The resulting bloodletting reduced the Freeguild deployed models from 52 to 4. CoS: 1, NH: 4 End of First Half of Turn 2 - Video (prepare for salt) CoS had to answer, and try he did. Being denied any semblance of a hero phase (so we're even now) he jumped to his movement phase. He summoned up his reserves, dropping one set of Demigryph Knights in charge range of my Chainrasps and Dreadblade who had been ignored so far on the right-hand side of the board. His second set of Demigryphs flanked my other Chainrasps. Finally, his Freeguild General on Griffon zoned in as close as he could to Olynder, determined to ask for this next dance. He then promptly failed all three charge rolls... He was forced to engage in combat with his already-bleeding-out General on foot who was promptly slapped off the map. Note: It is here I commit a grievous sin! Several, even! Pulling out my White Dwarf magazine I noticed that I had been neglecting my KoS's extra attack for the battalion. But, worse than that, my thick sexy Dwarf (the magazine) knocked our videographer's coffee over, dousing his leg in cold brew. It was decided right then that no matter the outcome of this macabre ball that I, the Spiller of Nectar, the Defiler of Grounds, had lost this game. Despite my now permanent title of shame and irredeemable loss, we continued on for spectator's sake. End of Turn 2 - Video (more salt, and some coffee) Points? What are points? Uh, CoS: X, NH: Y Turn 3 Turn 3 began with CoS getting the dice off. The Demigryph Knights on the left side of the board made their charge and put down both the Chainrasps and my Dreadblade that carried the Midnight Tome, robbing me of that objective. On the other side of the board, his second set of Demigryphs got in close enough to contest the other objective and deny it to the both of us. And his general? Well, all the abilities he had at his disposal, with any points he could shove down his throat, and all of the 2+/2+ shenanigans he could muster, he just couldn't contend with the new massive wound pool Olynder had with the Dolorous Guard. By splitting his attacks he put some wounds on the KoS, but but the majority of them pelted Olynder in the face. But, of the 9 wounds that made it, 4 Hexwraiths (2 on each side) ended up taking the brunt of it saving Olynder the indignity of having to eat more than 1 wound herself. In the end, the Living City just couldn't deliver enough firepower to offset the massive early damage, and after a bit of theorizing of my half of the round, CoS conceded. Winner: Nighthaunt (but not really because of that coffee thing). End of First Half of Turn 3 and Concession - Video Summary It's honestly hard to tell how well the two new battalions operated for me. On the one hand, organizing them into an Olynderbomb Underworlds deployment, coupled with the Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed's Command Ability spam made just about the entire army an amazing threatening presence. But on the other hand, at least at 1520 points, it left so little for any support units that if enough pressure were to be applied to them, like what happened at the top of turn 3 to my Chainrasps and Dreadblades, I could have been left chasing objectives or going for total annihilation in order to win. Ultimately, this game ended up so one-sided that several key abilities or scenarios were never tested, such as having to spend CP to resurrect models and seeing how much power-per-point that can be balanced at, or how much whole unit loss I could take before feeling the misfortune. In this configuration there are multiple ways to play this to try to offset these weaknesses. Opting to keep my objective campers in the Underworlds and utilizing the Pendant of the Fell Wind a bit more for a game-start deployed Olynderbomb, for example. But, this game couldn't do much to teach me any of that. This wasn't helped by the abysmal rolling of my opponent. Some days you just can't roll a 3+ to save your life, and this was one of those days for him. The salt you begin to hear in the videos has everything to do with consistently rolling a handful of 1s throughout the game. Not much to be said about that, really. But, there were some lessons learned on his side of the board in terms of coming up against the scary Nighthaunt again (he wasn't a fan of our LoG battles namely for the lack of any real threat on the table and feeling like I was only playing and wining by spending the sheer time on it). There will be a rematch very soon. I will bring this same list with no alterations, and we'll see how it holds up.