AoS - 3rd Nighthaunt: Bladegheist Galore! 2k list for tournament

[The Sun King]

Sunday I have a training match against a friend that will field the new Skaven. We are warming up for the coming tournaments this fall so I want to bring the most competitive all comers list that I can. Below is the list that I'm considering for the moment. Please come with suggestions and feedback.

- Army Faction: Nighthaunt
- Subfaction: The Scarlet Doom
- Grand Strategy: A Soul to Claim
- Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Dreadblade Harrow (145)***
- Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
- Spells: Seal of Shyish

Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (155)***
- General
- Command Traits: Hatred of the Living
- Artefacts of Power: Pendant of the Fell Wind

Spirit Torment (115)***

Reikenor the Grimhailer (190)***
- Spells: Spirit Drain

BATTLELINE
20 Bladegheist Revenants (350)*
20 Bladegheist Revenants (350)*
10 Bladegheist Revenants (175)*
10 Bladegheist Revenants (175)**
10 Chainrasps (110)**
3 Spirit Hosts (125)**

OTHER
Myrmourn Banshees (105)***

CORE BATTALIONS
*Bounty Hunters
**Expert Conquerors
***Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000

 

[Kiba]

Hi

Nice list, but have you considered removing the chain wrasp and adding The cogs and purple sun?

The cogs are insane on the new NH (WW 12" charge reroll or reroll casting same range)

And the new purple sun... or how to lose friends
6" -1 to armor save (that you don't care if your units are affected)
and 3", one roll by unit, if result of 1, kill one model. Not so great on common unit, but on a monster or a god like model like archaon or nagash...

 

[The Sun King]

Hi Kiba ! Those are some good suggestions! With only two casters I think double Endless Spells is a bit excessive, but I could definitely see including the Purple Sun in this list (I'm the Sun King, so I should shouldn't I?). I'm a bit torn on what to take out to include the Purple Sun. I think the Chainrasps are really important for screening so I don't want to lose them. The Spirit Hosts is another option but then my heroes are a bit more in danger. I could also cut a 10 unit of Bladegheists - but then I would have to find something to spend the rest of the points on. Maybe something like:

- Army Faction: Nighthaunt
- Subfaction: The Scarlet Doom
- Grand Strategy: A Soul to Claim
- Triumph: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS
Dreadblade Harrow (145)***
- Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
- Spells: Seal of Shyish

Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (155)***
- General
- Command Traits: Hatred of the Living
- Artefacts of Power: Pendant of the Fell Wind

Spirit Torment (115)***

Reikenor the Grimhailer (190)***
- Spells: Spirit Drain

BATTLELINE
20 Bladegheist Revenants (350)*
20 Bladegheist Revenants (350)*
10 Bladegheist Revenants (175)*
10 Chainrasps (110)**
10 Chainrasps (110)**
3 Spirit Hosts (125)**

OTHER
Myrmourn Banshees (105)***

ENDLESS SPELLS
Purple Sun (70)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Bounty Hunters
**Expert Conquerors
***Warlord

TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000

 

[The Sun King]

My game went really well. I faced a list with 140 Clanrats, Plague Furnace, Verminlord Warbringer, Grey Seer, Clawlord, 3 units of rat swarms and a Plague Priest.

We played Prize of Gallet. We had a smaller gaming table than the usual size and it was filled with some really cool terrain (but there was more than there should be in a tournament game).

With no shooting on either side we both knew it would be a quick bloody battle, and indeed it was. My opponent conceded at the end of turn 3 with only 200 points left on the board while I had around 800 points worth of models left. The score at that time was 12 (me) to 10 (skaven).

Highlights from the game:
+ Opponent removed 14 Bladegheists with plagues in one hero phase.
+ The Purple Sun slay the Warbringer before the Warbringer got to kill anything.
+ 20 Bladegheists did 60 wounds in a single combat.

All in all a great game and a good win. The Purple Sun is soooo good. It denies movement, it debuffs saves, and sometimes it just outright kills 400 pts models.

One change I definitely will make going forward is to have my Bladegheists only in units of 10. You don’t gain much by reinforcing them and you lose out on mobility, flexibility and multiple charges (which Nighthaunt is very dependent on). On top of that you force the opponent to overkill units of 10 because they don’t want to spread out attacks.

 

[Kiba]

Great! One more convert to the Purple Sun cult

 

[The Sun King]

I've been a firm believer since 8th edition. Ah, the sweet memories of devastating Lizardmen, orcs and goblins and Ogre Kingdoms with the Purple Sun

 

[Seyrinian]

Hello,

I have a question. Is your army resilient without guardian of souls and his restore spell ? And the +1 wounds didn't miss you in your damage dealing?

 

[The Sun King]

Hey Seyrinian well if you are looking for resilience then the Spirit Torment is way better as it provides 3 resurrects each combat, where as the Guardian of Souls only can resurrect on your hero phase and only if the spell goes through. I didn't miss +1 to wound as most of the army hits like a ton of bricks regardless. Very few things can survive getting charged by that many Bladegheists that also cause mortal wounds on impact. Now I split my Bladegheists up in units of only 10 because then the opponent has to focus on one unit at a time and they will have to overkill them a bit to be sure. But in general I think you will find that Nighthaunt are quite resilient due to their unrendable 4+ saves backed up by 6+ ward (which can turn into 5+ when you need it with Discorporate).

 

[Seyrinian]

Okay thanks a lot for advices ! I will use them to build my list haha
I am just begining the wargame and it's not easy to know if better to saturate units or multiple packs ^^

 

[The Sun King]

You’re welcome my friend! My experience so far is that it is definitely the best solution to have units of 10 when it comes to Bladegheists. Chainrasps can be fine in bigger units but the general thing with Nighthaunt is that we really benefit from making multiple charges against the same enemy unit (to stack debuffs with our Wave of Terror ability).

 

[Seyrinian]

[UWSL]Yes that's what I understood the first time I read the battletome. But I was wondering this in relation to the new season and Galetian's veteran rule[/UWSL]
[UWSL]
Isn't it dangerous to play them by 10 (chainrasp or grimghast) when we know that they will take wounds by 2?[/UWSL]

 

[The Sun King]

It is actually less dangerous having them in small groups. Think about it this way: your unit takes 14 wounds in total. If the unit only has 10 models the opponent effectively wastes 4 wounds. If you have 20 models you will only have 6 left and now they also need to take a battleshock check.

The only big benefit of fielding bigger units is that you get more out of your buffs but in an army like Nighthaunt that is counterweighted by the fact that more units = more charges.

 

[Seyrinian]

Ok yeah this way of think looks better haha
Nice so let's go building list !

Maybe I will steal your scarlett list love it!

 

[The Sun King]

Awesome! Let me know if you have any questions .

One thing to note is that the current season (which will probably run for the next 6 months) is partial to the Bladegheists because they can fight in two ranks due to the seasonal rule Battle Bond. So expect that this list will go a bit down in effectiveness (probably not much though) when the next season comes around.

 

[Sception]

Given the vulnerability of such a galato vet heavy army to enemy bounty hunters, you might want to consider trading one of your existing heroes, probably the knight of shrouds, for a cruciator.

Otherwise, looks good, though lists like these really highlight why I'm not a big fan of subfaction rules written to big up individual units. Leads almost unavoidably to apammy all or nothing construction, where there's no reason to field bladegheists in non-CD armies (or dreadscythes in non-QD), while in CD there's hardly any reason to run anything else. Either way a unit that, aesthetically, should be like a one off elite in an army full of other stuff is forced to be everything except exactly that. But that's a grumble against that particular aspect of the book design, not a knock against this particular list.

 

[The Sun King]

Given the vulnerability of such a galato vet heavy army to enemy bounty hunters, you might want to consider trading one of your existing heroes, probably the knight of shrouds, for a cruciator.

Otherwise, looks good, though lists like these really highlight why I'm not a big fan of subfaction rules written to big up individual units. Leads almost unavoidably to apammy all or nothing construction, where there's no reason to field bladegheists in non-CD armies (or dreadscythes in non-QD), while in CD there's hardly any reason to run anything else. Either way a unit that, aesthetically, should be like a one off elite in an army full of other stuff is forced to be everything except exactly that. But that's a grumble against that particular aspect of the book design, not a knock against this particular list.

Cruciator is a decent option - I'll have to get more games in before I start changing the list, but that specific hero is definitely on my radar.

Personally I love lists with many of the same unit in them. It is a very nice aesthetic and I love when an army has a strong coherrent theme. But we all have our personal tastes. The stuff that I dislike is all the God-heroes and other huge models, and I will probably never field the likes of Nagash for that reason. But again, that is just a matter of taste and the great thing about warhammer is that there is something for everyone.

 

[Sception]

Nagash has his time and place, but imo that time and place is once-a-year, 10,000 point, multiple-player-per-side all day narrative events, not 2k point competitive games, which is why I'm personally not too annoyed at his major 3e nerf.

Not that I didn't exploit him once or twice in regular games back when he was top o the pile, for novelty if nothing else.

 

[Unas the slayer]

Nagash has his time and place, but imo that time and place is once-a-year, 10,000 point, multiple-player-per-side all day narrative events, not 2k point competitive games, which is why I'm personally not too annoyed at his major 3e nerf.

Not that I didn't exploit him once or twice in regular games back when he was top o the pile, for novelty if nothing else.

Yep, i'm planning to play Nagash, but as said it will be a 4000 pts game, 2v2