Hello everyone !!

The Nighthaunt army is the latest addition to the Mortal Realms,

Atia already covered the Fluff and the Arts I'll do the gaming side.

So how The NH Battletome is going to fair ?

It's one of the first book specially designed for AOS2, It include new wordings like ''wholly within'' for buff and “Unmodified 6” on hit or wound roll it's going to modify the list building for sure. Combine this with the rules modification on unit split in half, nerf to the conga line, command points, beware messire, counter spell range, endless spell, shield/bolt nerf, i am pretty sure the meta is changing !

So what does it mean for the NH ? Let's try to find out by looking at the different aspect of the new Battletome, first the Allegiance powers then Warscrolls

Allegiance powers

First thing first the allegiance abilities and there is a lot to say about them^^

Allegiance

In the recent Battletomes there are usually 2 to 3 abilities linked to the army keywords, and 1 linked to the different sub-factions/clan/cities/fleets/hosts. Here it's not, there is no subfaction, they are 6 allegiance benefits and you get them all !!!

-1 Bravery within 6 of NH units.

-6+ fnp against wound and mortal wounds if you are wholly within 12” of a NH hero. Interesting, it's the same as the Death allegiance with +6” range but now the affected unit need to be wholly within (that mean that all models must be completely inside the radius). Consequence is that heroes must be very close to support large unit and you have to avoid spreading them to much because of the conga line nerf ^^

-50% of your units can be placed in reserve for deep strike at the end of the move phase.

-1W heal if a friendly hero is within 6 of an enemy unit missing a Battleshock test. Not much but still a good power as you heroes have to stay close and work well with the -1Bravery

-Wave of Terror : Extra Fight phase for a charging unit is awesome even if you only have 16,66% chance of rolling a 10+. Consider that with the new command ability in the charge phase you get ~30% chance to get a 10+.

-The last one is an extra command abilities to teleport units near your general and it's very cool ! Could be useful for save unit from being destroyed, reposition on a objectives, save a support hero.

When you think about it, each NH hero get : 3 commands power from the rulebook, this one, and the one they could have on their Warscroll crazy number of options.

-Returning Slain models : NH are a recursion themed army and they get a snippet on how place models.



You can't engage a unit with summoned ghost but you can create a congo line using the last model to gain range (and contest objectives or get extra threat range on a charge). Possibilities are great !

Command traits

As usual there are 6 Command traits for your general.

My favorite is off course restore D3 slain models to a unit. Notice it's 1d3 models and not wounds worth of models. Spirit Host are like 40pts with 3 wounds per model, Hexwraiths and ChainGhasts are 2 wounds and very good target for this Trait.

Spell lores

There is 6 Spells for the NH lore.

Nothing incredible but a few spell have a lot of potential.

My 2 favorites are :

Soul cage



Is good because its a perfect spell to setup a general assassination. The spell allow to fight with multiple small heroes/units before the big bad target and prevent retreat ^^

Spectral Tether



Heal 1d3 wounds on a friendly hero (NH only). Very good with low hp supports hero even better if you have a 4+ ignore rend and a 6+ FNP.

Weapons

Some good options, I really like the Shrieking Blade on a lord executioner to make him a very good tarpit hero (-2 to hit, 4+, 5+ on mortal, 6+ fnp against normal.). But that works on a support hero as well (as they need to stay close).

Relics

The +3 move is a great way to add move speed to different units during the game !

Lanterns

Very cool Category for the Guardian of souls. 3 options here,

The 3 options are really good !



ps: doesn't remove the standard lantern on the guardian of souls.

Battalion

A very good selection of Battalion Do i want a Battalion ?, Endless Spells ? Command points ? so many good options.

I can't spoil everything but these two seem cool enough :D

+1 to charge rolls is super duper good in in this army. Also you can trigger the instant fight on 9 and get deepstrike charge on 8+ (6+ if you have the Cogs endless spell). Only problem is that Hexwraith don't strike too hard but count as battleline & if you support them with the 3+move relic you get 15" of flying move that generate mortal wound and you can charge after ^^ You can affect multiple enemy units.

Another funny Battalion, If you plan to play the recursion. Add d6 models returned by lure spell and temporal translocation. With the right lantern, one lure spell return 2d6+3 chainrasp a turn ^^And with a 24” spell range you can stay out of dispell range !

Warscrolls and Combo

Generality

The strong points of this army are :

-All your army fly !

-All your army ignore save modifier and have a 4+ save (only the chainrasp have a 5+)

-All your non hero models are Summonable (Coach is non hero and non Summonable),

Ignoring rend is huge and the Mystic shield nerf is actually a benefit to you.

Warscrolls

A few Warscrolls for you eyes :D











Interactions

With the new wording on hit/wound the combo potential is lower than before but still they are some cool interactions that deserve a few lines.











Chainghast + Spirit Torments

This Hero/unit combination is really interesting :

-Spirit Torments summon 1d3 wounds worth of models (or heal) if 3 models where slain. You need 3 casualty for each Spirit Torments you want to activate the summon.

-ChainGhast act as a conduit for the Spirit Torments buff,

-ChainGhast have a good ranged weapon (15”, d3, 4+,3+,-2, 1) reroll 1 if they are near a SpiritTorment.

-In melee they murder large pack of models (on small bases^^),

-You can deepstrike them or teleport them with the command ability.

-They are 4 models MAX per units.

I really like them, they are super expensive at 40 pt each but with 2 wounds and the warlord trait that pop 1d3 models per turn they are durable. you get a very nice snipping unit to finish wounded hero, kill wizard, drop an health level from a behemoth.

Summon me an army

Playing the recursion game is super valid even more if you include a Mortarch ally

List of the Way to summon in the Army :

-Lady Olynder command summon 1 model to each unit in 12”

-Any old Mortarch Summon up to 4 x 1d3 wounds/models.(only once per unit)

-Ruler of the Spirit Host command trait summon D3 Slain models

-Guardian of Souls, Spectral Lure spell : return 1d6 wounds/models.

-Beacon of Nagashizzar add +3 to the spectral lure spell from the guardian of souls.

-Spirit Torment : return 1d3 wounds/models in 6” for each 3 enemy models slain on the whole battleground but it's before Battleshock test.

-Black Coach return 1d3 models (with level 1 power, see warscrolls.)

Conclusion

The NH army is going to be very fun with at least 3 synergies axis : Bravery debuff, recursion and Devastating Charge.

The amount of move shenanigan with deepstrike , the teleport command ability and Dreadblade harrow ensure a lot of objectives controlling/contesting.

On the other hand I am disappointed by the new wording on attack/wound roll. It remove a lot depth in the game and reduce the strength of the Lord Execution to a very low level (even if at 80pt he's not that bad)

In the end I really liked this Battletome and with the quality of the Nighthaunt models line, I am super hyped to play NH in AOS2.

At last I am released from my curse of Brayherds being my main army for 15 years. Bye Bye shitty goats you can stay in a box now, the cute ghost are taking your place in my heart and on the Table !!

/cheers.

Bob.