The nighthaunt article is... interesting. The faction abilities are significantly toned down, with their charge debuffs limited to one each per turn and also restricted in what units can inflict each one, and retreat and charge removed from faction traits altogether (though there's a subfaction that puts it back). The default charge debuff also depends on outnumbering the opponent, which instantly flips Nighthaunt from being all MSU all the time to wanting some hoardy bulk.
Reduced faction traits can be a good thing - the 3e NH faction traits did so much that there arguably wasn't any room left to do much of interest with their actual warscroll rules, making their many melee units in particular feel very samey. Hopefully then their actual units are buffed up a bit and diversified some to compensate, since the faction overall already wasn't exactly on top of the pile. That said, even reduced, the traits are still pretty impactful, and they are much more controllable now, you don't have to rely on good charge rolls to get -1 save or, especially, strike last, you just need a cav or hero unit to charge with respectively. EDIT: Notably, the entire faction can also use charge abilities even if they're already in combat, which is a big deal, letting them get those bonuses round after round, and even jump from one target to another if they roll well for charge distance.
Since the battle traits are still charge based, the other battle formations will have to be particularly potent if they want to be viable choices next to the previewed deathstalker's retreat and charge. that used to be army-wide, and will be sorely missed by anyone who plays one of the other formations. EDIT: on second look, with the ability to charge even if already engaged in combat, this isn't as big a deal. Still a great subfaction/battle formation, of particular note is that it also allows units to run and charge, but maybe not as immediate must-take as I initially thought.
My main issue with the nighthaunts previously was the lack of sufficient differentiation between their various melee units, and my main concern after seeing the faction traits is that the units themselves won't be buffed up enough to compensate for the weaker faction rules. So it's a little disappointing that the warscroll previews lean so heavily towards the heroes rather than the units themselves.
That said, while of course actual effectiveness in game will depend on points costs and the rest of the army, I'm not unhappy with the warscrolls shown here. Olynder's healing ability should be pretty impactful, her passive debuff... I don't know, we'll have to see how tightly contested objectives are in this edition. Her spell is fantastic, though. Her melee offense isn't anything to write home about for a faction figurehead, though that's not really her role, though I do wish her ranged attack were a little more impactful and reliable. IMO mortal damage instead of -3 rend would have been fair if they were going to make you deal with the swinginess of a d6 damage roll. EDIT: all in all she looks ok, and whether she's good in game will of course come down to points costs, but she's still a lot less exciting than she maybe should be for a Mortarch. That's kind of always been the case, so it isn't exactly a new problem, but I don't think it's one that's been fixed here.
Reikenor is likely to remain my favorite nighthaunt special character. Fast, flying, and an absolutely brutal melee profile against any priest or wizard unfortunate enough to come within charge range. His signature spell is... it's ok, decent damage against little stuff if nothing particularly exciting, but there should be plenty of offerings between the spell lore and manifestations to take advantage of his +1 to cast (while wounding an enemy unit) or +1 to cast and power level (if wounding himself instead). Mechanically he very much reflects his narrative role, which makes me excited to see how the other named heroes fare.
I guess they're putting renewed effort into making unit size = box size, since harrows have been demoted from hero to unit-of-two. That bodes well for my hopes of skeleton warriors going up to units of 20, but poorly for my equally fervent hopes of returning to dire wolves in units of 5. As a unit... hrm. Increased command buff while charging would in theory synergize with olynder's debuff aura. Teleport as expected. They're cav, so they'll activate the -1 save on a charge, and two of these are probably cheaper than 5 hexwraiths (and certainly look cooler). That's probably where their main utility will be. EDIT: Another thing I missed about these guys - their teleport ability is usable in any movement phase, not just yours! That's a huge deal. Take a reinforced unit of four, run them into the opponent's face 3" from their front line, turned sideways to block as much real estate as possible, gumming up their movement phase... and then on their turn, *after* they've finished moving their own units, teleport 12.1" away so the harrows can't be charged, but are still perfectly positioned to do it again next turn. Or just teleport on the opponent's turn to set up near guaranteed charges on your following turn, activating that critical -1 save ability for charging with cav. really amazing ability, dramatically increases my excitement for this unit.
nice to see the myrmourn up to 2 wounds each, one wound each in the past was way too fragile for a unit of 4. decent counterspell ability against offensive magic, but in the past the strongest spells have always been friendly buffs, while in the new edition it's likely to be manifestations, neither of which target enemy units, so I'm not sure how effective the banshee squad will actually be against magic heavy enemies in practice.
I will say, the previewed units are pretty much all support units, apart from reikenor whose more of a character assassin. That's all well and good, they look to be some decent support, but whether any of that matters will come down to whether the factions bedrock units - rasps, reapers, blades, etc - are actually worth supporting.
the spearhead pictured looks like it was painted in a single lunch break, while playing it in a game of Spearhead. And still looks pretty cool - nighthaunt can paint up so fast, why did I make my scheme so time consuming? previewed spearhead rules are mostly lesser versions of the main faction rules - good for learning the faction I guess, and will make graduating to full aos feel like an upgrade. Not surprising since, iirc, the nighthaunt box was on the high end for number of points in the vanguard box, and it doesn't have any obvious elite stuff to force into reserve.
overall the article seemed interesting and I mostly like what's shown, but it doesn't answer my main concerns about the faction going into 4e.
And while it brushes up on the faction's lore & background, it doesn't hint at any answers to the questions I've had there since the end of second edition - just what have Olynder and her nighthaunt processions been up to since the end of the necroquake and Nagash going on sabbatical?
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