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Zombie
Sep 11, 2019
12
England
Hi! :)

So this week I decided to get back into Warhammer. Turns out it's AoS now! Everything is crazy!
I got a bunch of stuff from the death faction, Vampire Counts were alway my favourite.

I'm struggling with deciding between Hexwraiths and Black Knights for a set I got.
Basically, I'm not really into the whole ghostly Lord of The Rings spirit-army colourscheme going on. But Hexwraiths just seem better for an army that isn't all skeleton based.
For me, I love the whole medieval vampire and skeleton aesthetic these types of armies can have with the black and red/purple etc.

Basically, am I going to regret trying to use more ethereal units or these days is it needed if I'm not going for Death Rattle exclusively and not focusing all my tactics on that.
And is there a good standard around I can check out for using another colourscheme on these types of units, like a purple or red one?


Short version:
I read a lot of topics but they seem to mostly be just about whether or not the extra attacks, rend immunity and the flyover ability make the ethereal unit better.
Visually I prefer Black Knights, unless someone knows a smart idea to "Countify" the ethereal stuff.
But are the Black Knights viable?
OR is there an even better unit I can use this kit for as a conversion?
 
Oct 25, 2018
23
Calgary Alberta
Hello!

Well to answer your question about Hexwraiths vs Black Knights, as you already know, Hexwraiths are definitely more elite than Black Knights and people general prefer them over Black Knights (Myself Included). However, Black Knights have two advantages over Hexwraiths. Black Knights have an optional standard bearer that allows you to return D3 slain models to the unit every turn. While Hexwraiths are indeed more tank like, you’ll have harder time getting them back for the most part. The wraiths are quite elite for undead which means you want to be careful with them and you will be running smaller units of them to save points. Black Knights are horde cavalry that you don’t have to waste one of your oh so valuable spells on every turn to keep running. And believe me, that goes a long way.

As I mentioned before, Hexwraiths are more elite than Black Knights which means they cost more points which is their second advantage. Cheap and fast cavalry is very helpful sometimes in a slow moving horde of shambling skeletons and zombies.

I am pointing those strengths out because as a fan of Warhammer and Miniatures (unless you are playing purely for competitive advantage), going with what you like best and creating your ideal army will make it a whole lot more fun and will motivate you. If you have some units you don’t care about sitting on your painting table then it becomes less of a hobby and more of a chore. (Which in case you haven’t noticed is kinda a bad thing;))

As far as conversions go, there isn’t really any other cavalry unit in the death army other than Blood Knights or Dire Wolves. Dire Wolves look nothing like Wraiths or Knights so that boots them off. You could possibly swap the skeleton parts with human/vampire heads and feet to create Blood Knights (Because nobody in their right f—-ing minds is paying the price for the official models). That is if you like vampires and fine them appealing. If you don’t them I’m afraid there isn’t really any options on the conversion side of things my friend.

But if strategic perfection is a must for you, you can always paint the Hexwraiths to look gothic and black (with the exception of the green fire). Ethereal things aren’t always blue and misty.

If you don’t mind using non GW products in the future, here is some things I can recommend.

- If you do go with Black Knights and go with the cavalry horde style unit, I would highly recommend the Revenant Cavalry from Mantic. 20 knights for a decent price is hard to pass up.

- Since you seem to like skeletons a lot (As I do as well), I would also recommend the Skeleton Warriors and the Revenant Regiment (Grave Guard) from Mantic.

And one last thing, if you already have a skeletal/vampiric army list going on, it might not prove that strategic to try to force in a Nighthaunt unit into the army. A fast elite tank unit might not flow well with slow horde infantry strategy.

Well I hope that answers your question! These are just my thoughts so be open minded for other suggestions.
 

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Zombie
Sep 11, 2019
12
England

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I ended up going with Hexwraithes for now! I really want to try them out as they seem quite fun to play with.
I think really I'm going to end up with units of both. :lol:
I've decided I can't just make one army and I want to get a large variation of Death faction models to then field smaller forces from individually for battles, but on the whole have it all fit into a large narrative army for display and lore purposes if that makes sense!

I am trying to think of a cool alternative for the colourscheme of my ethereal units, I guess red and black would fit in with my vampire theme, but i'm basically holding off on painting them until I have more experience.
 

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