AoS - 3rd First Game of Nighthaunts and First Impressions

[The Sun King]

I had my first game of Nighthaunt with the new 3.0 book… and wow what a fun army it has become! It was a small 800pts test game and my friend who had his very first game was playing with my Maggotkin. We played Marking Territory and Nurgle won in round 4. Here are my first impressions:

• The Wave of Terror combined with the rule that Nighthaunt can retreat and still charge is a very powerful combination. Getting multiple charges in on a single unit is devastating.
• Because the charge is so important to Nighthaunt the army REALLY likes getting the double turn, and REALLY hates not getting it.
• The subfaction Emerald Host's mortal wound ability is best used on enemy heroes and not normal units.
• The Spirit Torment is a brilliant support hero - getting 3 models back each combat is really strong.
• Chainrasps and Reapers can actually fight.
• Knight of Shrouds can become a real problem for your opponent if let unchecked because of Sword of Stolen Hours.
• The only real weakness I found with the army is that we have a very limited selection of wizards and not many ways to buff our magic.

So, that was my first five cents - can't wait to play them again!

Cheers,
Sunny

PS. Here's the lists we used:

Nurgle:
Poxbringer (General, Command: Pestilent Breath, Artefact: Tome of Thousand Poxes)
10 Plaguebearers
10 Plaguebearers
5 Blightkings
3 Nurglings

Nighthaunt:
Knight of Shrouds on Steed (general with rerolls to hit and wound command trait)
Guardian of Souls (with Spirit Drain)
Spirit Torment (with one use item that gives +1 attacks to all in 12" bubble)
20 Chainrasps
10 Grimghast Reapers

 

[Unas the slayer]

Had my first game too!
2000 pts vs Fyreslayers with triple magmadroth.
From a certain point it was annoying, 'cause i was fielding 20 reapers and those guys don't have bonuses vs single targets, but i totally agree with The Sun King


my considerations:
spirit torment is wonderful, our summonable units are really hard to kill
the combo KoS + Dreadblade Harrow is gold
KoS + Dreadblade + Seal of Shyish = 3 units with ward 5+. I've managed to absorb a double turn by my opponent and still held the line

 

[The Sun King]

Nice! How did that game go? Could you bring the Magmadroths down?

I've had another game in the mean time where I faced off against Slaves to Darkness - also 1000 pts game, and I wiped the Slaves from the board in 3 rounds. I didn't lose a single ghost because of the Spirit Torment.

 

[Unas the slayer]

Nice! How did that game go? Could you bring the Magmadroths down?

I've had another game in the mean time where I faced off against Slaves to Darkness - also 1000 pts game, and I wiped the Slaves from the board in 3 rounds. I didn't lose a single ghost because of the Spirit Torment.

Yes. I've had also a Mourngul and Reikenor.
All the magmadroths died. All those attacks were really helpful. Sure, in the end the unit of 20 reapers was taken down, but then there were also the harridans.
THe key factor was really multi countercharges and extensive use of ward 5+

it helped me the fact that he left me the first turn, so i seized the middleboard and was able to castle, basically covering everything with the spirit torment, the guardian and the dreadblade harrow.
He discovered that now it's an uphill battle to charge a defensive Nighthaunt formation. Even with double turn.

 

[The Sun King]

Interesting that you took up defensive positions - I think my inclination would have been to hang back, let him advance and then charge. Good that you could lean on the Discorporate to hold the line. Really cool that Nighthaunt can accomodate different playstyles like that.

 

[Unas the slayer]

The interesting thing is that a defensive line is still dangerously offensive. You killed 10 reapers?
I raise 3, disengage, charge with buffs. Possibly making room for a second charger.
I did 5 charges in the same turn and when one of those it's a 10, you have a much easier time in dictating the attacks' sequence.

Must be said that, even if they are charged, it's really hard to shift 20 reapers with ward 5+, while you impose a -1 to hit (mourngul aura) and -1 to wound (spell)

 

[The Sun King]

Yes, I will definitely have to play around with the Mourngul now, seems like a solid choice now that it can get 5+ ward.

 

[Sception]

I have a necron nightbringer model that I've used as a mournghul in the past. I could see myself breaking it out again, but first I'd wan't to see an update that brings it in line with the new book and doesn't just shuffle it out to the Legends graveyard.

 

[Unas the slayer]

I have a necron nightbringer model that I've used as a mournghul in the past. I could see myself breaking it out again, but first I'd wan't to see an update that brings it in line with the new book and doesn't just shuffle it out to the Legends graveyard.

that would be... unpleasant.

 

[Sception]

It's just that nighthaunts in particular have a bad history of introducing supplemental options outside of the army book that then become essential to running the faction at full effect, completely eclipsing by-the-book nighthaunt armies. Eg, the web update to run NH units in legions of nagash, legion of grief, mournghul, guardian of souls with mortality glass, white dwarf emerald host rules, BR:Be'lakor procession rules. Somebody at GW thinks obscure non-book options being necessary is a bad thing (to be fair they're not wrong, though imo the answer was always fixing the nighthaunt book itself, not torching all their supplemental rules), so whenever one of these becomes too ubiquitous or essential they get pruned back. Dramatic points hike to grimghasts back when LoN were running them, multiple nerfs to the mournghul, GoSwMG removed to legends, LoGrief and white dwarf EmHost rules obsoleted by Be'Lakor, Be'lakor obsoleted by the new army book.

Right now Monsters are extremely important to matched play, making even a post-multiple-nerfs Mournghul kind of a big deal to the faction as it's their only monster. As a non-codex option experience tells me that puts it at significant risk of further nerfs or outright removal to legends.

 

[The Sun King]

I agree with your considerations about the fragility of "designing by supplements". However, I really feel that with the new battletome they have addressed the army and made it quite powerful at its core. Sure there are outliers that are unplayable (from a competitive standpoint) like the Glaivewraith and the Scriptor Mortis, but the core of the book is really healthy. I need more games with the Nighthaunt but so far I don't think fielding the Mourngul is in any way important - it is an okay option if you really want to field a monster, but it is more a liability than an asset imo.

 

[Unas the slayer]

I need more games with the Nighthaunt but so far I don't think fielding the Mourngul is in any way important - it is an okay option if you really want to field a monster, but it is more a liability than an asset imo.

My main, big issue with the mourngul demoted to Legends, would be that i have a nive custom one and it would hurt me to leave it at home.

 

[The Sun King]

Yeah, that really sucks if it gets pushed to Legends. Especially because there is no other warscroll that it can stand in for