Nightshroud...could this be lethal?

[Nathanial Von Carstein]

Just curious if anyone else looked over this lil gem. It's only light armor, and also usable by Necros, but...look a little closer...

It's main purpose is, if I read correctly, to allow a vamp to strike first under any situation (unless using a great weapon or such). It eliminates just about every way an opponent can strike first. If you then tool up your vamp with appropriate powers and items, you may well be able to scourge off any Hero, and maybe even some Lords.

Load up your Lord with Infinite Hatred and the Sword of Kings, and watch your opponent's face go white. Four attacks, all of which are likely to hit, with a 6+ killing blow? Add Beguile, and you can likely reroll misses, boosting the chance for that 6+? ...and this is even if YOU are charged. All this for a combined 300 points.

Of course, you have a 6+ save if you fail, so...you may hedge your bets with the Crown of the Damned or the Gem of Blood.

It seems a lil risky, but...it also sounds lethal, esp. in a 3000+ game, where this is not your general, but your second Lord choice.

...thoughts?
-Nathanial Von Carstein

 

[Beithir Seun]

It shows promise but I think the only real safe way to use it on a second lord choice who isn't the general, like you said. It doesn't really offer enough protection to be worth using on the general. Even with re-rolls to hit, there's no guarantee that the attacks would be enough to see off any potential threat.

 

[Nathanial Von Carstein]

Side note, the Enchanted Shield would drop the save to 4+, but now points are starting to add up...

And there is the fear effect...players may hesitate to attack a model that gets four potential Killing Blow attacks before they can even reply. Odds are, if the model is vulnerable to killing blow, there is a better then 50/50 chance they will fall to it (4 attacks, likely four hits after rerolls, 1 likely reroll to wound, gives 4-5 chances to roll a '6'). Yes, it can fail, but...will your opponent risk it?
-Nathanial Von Carstein

 

[Beithir Seun]

A good point, and one I hadn't thought about. It certainly seems that Nightshroud could be useful for such a character, especially at a level where he is essentially expendable...

 

[Lord Commander Eidolon]

you cant take an enchanted shield and magical armour

 

[The Dead of Night]

Put in on a wight king. he has a horse, shield and barding, plus T5 and W3. He gets his killing blow on all of his weapons. ie his lance charge, then with his HW in following rounds. He is likely to get the charge with an 18" move, Maybe make this guy your BSB? Also you can give the banner of the barrows to the unit standard.

Obviously not as good as a vampire lord, but as you say the vampire lord isn't viable in games smaller than 3k.

It certainly has a lot of possibilities. Though as it only affects attacks directed against the bearer it is a little limited Vs RnF (compared to ASF anyway).

 

[Lord Fear]

However you have to remember the Nightshroud is light armour, and indeed, the only way to get light armour on a character in the army. Thus, your opponents should be able to work out if you have the Nightshroud on anyone...

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

yep , well when they see my semi-naked countess with a litlle bit of armour on her arm I think it might give the game away lol

 

[Trevy the Great]

He is likely to get the charge with an 18" move, Maybe make this guy your BSB? Also you can give the banner of the barrows to the unit standard.

You can't put other Magic items on a BSB.

 

[Trevy the Great]

He is likely to get the charge with an 18" move, Maybe make this guy your BSB? Also you can give the banner of the barrows to the unit standard.

You can't put other Magic items on a BSB.
My idea for use of the Nightshroud was to put it on my secondary Lord, give him TotL and the HoD. He gets a flank charge off, uses HoD and decimates everything (all 3 models!) in BtB with him and destroyes the unit (preferably with an outnumber bonus from a nice jiucy unit of skeletons supporting him.

 

[Vic]

You can't put other Magic items on a BSB.

You can't put magic items on BSB only if he has a magical banner. Otherwise it's perfectly legal. Dead of the Night's idea was to take Banner of Barrows in the unit's Std Bearer.

 

[The Dark Lord Mr Fluffy]

I'd put it on a lord with a sword of Might, and Red Fury. Then some infinite hatred, and a little sneaky bitz (maybe hand of dust for the laugh) it'll do some damage that way

 

[Reincus]

I put it on my necromancer on corpse cart. The cart rides in a ghoul unit (it's the only way to get a cart to keep up with ghouls with their pre-game movement) but anyone who gets into combat with the unit can simply smack the necro off the mount. The armor means that if they try to hit the necro, they have to weather all of the ghouls attacks and the 2D6 corpse cart attacks before they get their shot. It's likely it will discourage them to the point they just attack the unit or the cart instead, which is preferable. The unit can be healed back up and the cart regenerates.

 

[Malface]

I'm going to be testing out my first 7th Ed. list this weekend. One of my Heroes has the Nightshroud...

Vampire
- Supernatural Terror
- Hunter in the Dark
- Talisman of Lycni
- Sword of Battle

He comes in at just under 200 pts.
- Scouts behind enemy lines.
- Terror should cause major havoc among handgunners, archers, warmachines, and wizards.
- With a move of 9", he can outmaneuver any infantry - and thanks to terror should be able to avoid getting charged.
- Even if he is charged, he has 4 S5 attacks and thanks to the Nightshroud will strike first.

Sure, no more than a 6+ AS, but he should be able to take out enough models to avoid any return strikes. His weakness is RnF... but I rarely find my opponents keeping large blocks of troops at the rear.

 

[User Deleted by Request]

My General always has the Nightshroud. Mainly because I stubbornly refuse to use any other kind of armour with her model and background story. I'd prefer to be without any armour at all, but at least this one is acceptable and she does need some protection if I don't want to be riddicolously massacred. And yes, I have the Crown of Damnation as well. And Red Fury + Sword of Striking. Fluffy already worked out this little combo, and it's perfectly acceptable in means of lethality.

 

[Nathanial Von Carstein]

It all comes down to courage. Are you courageous enough to risk that you'll do enough damage before the return attacks? And...does your opponent have the courage to weather them?

The only real weakness to the Sword of Kings combination is...enemies immune to Killing Blow will eat the vamp alive.

Still, it's a tempting option...
-Nathanial Von Carstein

 

[Kaptain Von]

I've stuck it on a Vampire with the Sword of Kings, Infinite Hatred and Beguile. The way I see it, she should be able to tackle any two-wound Hero with that little lot, and make a realistic crack at a Tomb Prince, Nurgle Champion or Wight King to boot.

Ogres are a problem. I'll bear that problem in mind the very next time I see an Ogre army.

 

[Spider_Wells]

I would like to point out that only enemy models "wishing to attacks the wearer" lose charge benefits/lose ASF/become initiative 1. If you don't attacks the vampire then this doesn't happen.

So people will simply hit the unit and reap the combat res from that. Sure it prevents people from targeting the vampire, but people don't tend to do that unless they have their own characters their anyway.

IMHO the shroud is great for protecting a character, as it means that they get a chance to strike before someone hits them. However I'd rather take another 5pts for the 2+ save.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

This item really depends on your offensive capabilities, a Lord with Red Fury, Infinite Hatred, Beguile and a decent magic weapon or Bear's Anger / FSoR is going to demolish most opponents if he gets to strike first, in these cases this item works great. However put on a hero or someone without the above abilities or access to the spells and its a waste of time IMHO.

 

[Skillmatic11]

Put in on a wight king. he has a horse, shield and barding, plus T5 and W3. He gets his killing blow on all of his weapons. ie his lance charge, then with his HW in following rounds.

Its my understanding from the rules, that if you charge in with a LANCE you will have to use the lance the entire combat...

I was just asking because I've tried to do the same thing and an opponent told me I couldn't, showed me the rule and by rule it was legit..

Now are we talking about using common sense when a soldier would drop his lance and pull out his sword after he's in close combat?? As we seen RAW and Common Sense do not share the same quarters....

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

It doesn't really matter, if you opponent says he HAS to use his lance after the first round fine, the +2S only applies in the first round and therefore afterwards there is no difference between a HW or lance and as all Wight mundane weapons have the Wight Blade rule the point is moot anyway.

 

[Vic]

Its my understanding from the rules, that if you charge in with a LANCE you will have to use the lance the entire combat...

I was just asking because I've tried to do the same thing and an opponent told me I couldn't, showed me the rule and by rule it was legit..

It really doesn't matter for a mounted character/model. You can't have parry bonus anyway, so you really don't care if you're attacking with lance or with HW.

On the other hand if you have a magical weapon you MUST use it, so even if you do have lance you can't choose to charge with it instead.

 

[Skillmatic11]

Thanks vic...that's why I was asking....cuz I gave my Wight Lord a Lance and Magic weapon and wanted to switch after the charge...