Nighthaunt - make it interesting

[Aginor]

Hey y'all!

Today I want to talk about AoS Nighthaunt a bit. This is both a thread to help a friend and for getting to know the army better so we can profit from it when playing against Nighthaunt.

The main aim is to build a list to be able to face my Seraphon and Deathrattle armies and have a real chance to win. Unfortunately he isn't able to make that happen very often using his SCE, Bonesplitterz, or Ironjawz.
When the new Nighthaunt were released we thought that might the chance. He likes their look and a first glance over the units looked like they are pretty resilient and could be a good option, even if you play a not too competitive list.

My friend has collected some Nighthaunt models and bought the Battletome already, but right now he doesn't know where to go with the army.
And that's where the problem starts. It is a rag tag combination of models he just bought because they were available and looked good, some of them before there even was the new Battletome. Pretty much like his SCE force, with no real direction.

Here they are:
- Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief
- Reikenor the Grimhailer
- Knight of Shrouds
- Spirit Torment (Crawlocke the Jailor)
- Cairn Wraith
- Tomb Banshee
- 2x Chainghasts
- 5x Hexwraiths
- 6x Spirit Hosts (+3 I can lend him for games)
- 10x Grimghast Reapers
- the three Endless Spells for Nighthaunt


Reading through the Battletome I struggle to find real synergies. There are some nice spells for the wizards, and also cool artefacts, so I think the hero choice is decent. But none of the bataillons really fits yet and I am not sure how viable lists without bataillons are for Nighthaunt.

Goal would be at least a 1250 points list.
And now the problematic bit: he is ready to buy some more stuff but he wants to avoid hordes, so no 2x20 chainrasp bataillons.

So what do y'all think: what would you use to be able to survive against our Seraphon Shadowstrike, Thunderquake, and mass skeleton Deathrattle lists?


A few ideas:

A Guardian of Souls could be nice for the regeneration but he already has quite some heroes.

The Deathstalkers bataillon might be an option to build toward. It is a bit underwhelming but it stacks nicely with the Spirit Torment and the Knight of Shrouds to have _really_ good hit rolls.

The other one is the Execution Horde, except that it doesn't look that good on paper since it only buffs a single mediocre hero.

The "Shademist" spell and the artefact "Pendant of the Fell Wind" sound like pretty nice buffs, and so does Olynders command ability. That could help to keep the summonable stuff working.

More Notes/thoughts:
- Quite some of the abilities/artefacts/spells outright suck against Seraphon and Death armies since they are bravery based, so they are unlikely to work.
- he has to get into melee or the Seraphon shooting will destroy him
- he has to do something to prevent me from sniping his heroes


Anything obvious I missed?

 

[Xasto]

Here are a few points I can tell you. I've played the army since its release and so got some experience with the different units/synergies.

A Guardian of Souls could be nice for the regeneration but he already has quite some heroes.

Guardians of souls are a must. They bring so much to the table and are always useful, be it the regenerating spell for all your summonable units, or the +1 to wound aura buff. Note that this buff is within 9'' and not wholly within 9'', which makes it pretty good for any situations. I usually take the shademist spell on a guardian of souls, a pretty good defensive buff. I never play a game without 1, and I sometime run 2 of those guys, and they never dissapoint.

The Deathstalkers bataillon might be an option to build toward. It is a bit underwhelming but it stacks nicely with the Spirit Torment and the Knight of Shrouds to have _really_ good hit rolls.

I personnally do not like the deathstalkers, as Glaivewraith Stalkers I find underwhelming. Their unique abilities do not, IMO, justify well enough their point cost. for 20 points more, you get 10 chainrasps to sit on an objective, which I find much more efficient. I've seen some people use it on TGA, but it seemed to underperform.

As for the artifacts, The Pendant of the Fell Wind, The lantern of Nagashizzar and The Midnight tome are all great pickups. I like to give the Midnight Tome to a Spirit torment or my KoS on steed and give them the Soul Cage spell, which can be very nice when deepstriking into an enemy unit.

Nighthaunt are for the most part a horde army, but there are ways to make it work with smaller model counts. Especially with Spirit Hosts. There are 3 ways to bring back Spirit Hosts efficiently, as in bringing back models, not just wounds.

-Lady Olynder's command ability
-Ruler of the Spirit Hosts command trait
-Black Coach ability.

Those are generally what you want to focus on in a Spirit host heavy army, and can do well with hexwraiths too.

I'd atleast advise that your friend looks into buying more Grimghast Reapers. A unit of 30, or even 20 of them can do wonders when properly buffed. Especially with the +1 attacks from a Knight of Shrouds on ethereal steed. I'd advise him to also look at Bladegheist Revenants, the more elite of our summonable units. They've been doing great work for me and are generally considered good.

I don't know if your friend has access to endless spells, but the Cogs are also a must for us. Giving us +2 charges when the units arrive from the underworld at 9''. I usually use Reikhenor for the Cogs, as he can give himself a +3 to cast.

Here's a quick list your friend could try with what he's got and a little shopping.

-Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief (240)
-General
-Lore of the Underworld: Shademist
-Knight of Shrouds (120)
-Spirit Torment (120)
-Pendant of the Fell Wind

-30 x Grimghast Reapers (360)
-6 x Spirit Hosts (240)
-5 x Hexwraiths (160)

1240/1250

I'd put the 30 Grimghast, the KoS and the Spirit torment in the underworld as hammers to try and deepstrike important stuff.

Lady O, the Spirit Hosts and the Hexwraiths as Objective holders / anvils.

 

[Aginor]

Very useful, thanks!

 

[Xasto]

Very useful, thanks!

You're welcome!

 

[Aginor]

Is there a way to obtain a Guardian of Souls, other than buying the whole soul war box? (Or ebay)

My search in the GW web store came up empty...

 

[Xasto]

Is there a way to obtain a Guardian of Souls, other than buying the whole soul war box? (Or ebay)

My search in the GW web store came up empty...

No, I'm afraid Ebay is your best friend for this one...

I got my first one in the Soul Wars boxed set and my second came from someone on ebay selling every unit from the set individually (I was lucky, as it was still really cheap back then. Everybody was going crazy over the Chainrasps! )

There's also the alternative anniversary model that is/was sold at cerain GW shops, but they seem to be hard to find and they sell for absurd prices on Ebay!

 

[Aginor]

Hmpf.
I'd probably kitbash one using a Knight of Shrouds and the lantern from the Grimghast Reaper set.
That would look roughly like that hero.

Or Ebay.

 

[Xasto]

Hmpf.
I'd probably kitbash one using a Knight of Shrouds and the lantern from the Grimghast Reaper set.
That would look roughly like that hero.

Or Ebay.

Yea it could work for sure

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Hmpf.
I'd probably kitbash one using a Knight of Shrouds and the lantern from the Grimghast Reaper set.
That would look roughly like that hero.

I've done similar to make some converted Fyreslayer characters so go ahead - that's the cheapest option anyway.

 

[Aginor]

I've done similar to make some converted Fyreslayer characters so go ahead - that's the cheapest option anyway.

Not necessarily. I've seen one on Ebay for less than 10€ and a Knight of Shrouds is 25€ so while it would fit visually it isn't worth it.