A lot of players have at least the beginnings of Nighthaunt armies thanks to Soul Wars and the Mortal Realms magazine series, and there’s never been a better time to break out this un-boo-lieveably different army. Nighthaunt have gained a consistent ward save, vastly better battle traits, useful bodyguards, retreat and charge, more speed, more battleline options… It’s hard for us to find something that got worse for this army beyond some modest points increases. Admittedly, the army was in a pretty bad shape, but this book really feels like it’s in a good place in the game overall. Our playtesting against the other books released this edition suggests Nighthaunt are absolutely a podium contender, and with the number of overlapping buffs and unit options in this book we’re sure that generals will be exploring new builds and ideas right up until their next battletome. Looking forward to striking fear into the hearts of all the Mortal Realms? That’s the spirit! It’s also worth noting that the March 2022 The Hunt update, which introduced the priority targets and prime hunters rules, won’t apply to this book – the writers of that update cleverly included a caveat that if a battletome or battletome update has a more recent publication date than March 2022, units from that publication may not be designated as either priority targets or prime hunters. Which is… honestly fine! Nighthaunt are in a much, much better spot than they were at the time. Within this list the Spirit Hosts are mostly intended to provide a Bodyguard role to Reiknor but they are also available to take objectives in the rear. This list is vulnerable to shooting (a weakness of nighthaunt) especially Vanguard-Raptors. If they are present try to make sure that at least some of the Chainrasps are not visible and then remove the visible models first. This way you can still return models with the Spirit and Guardian.

As usual, we will cover it next week, in a separate article, as there’s a lot to cover here. What’s in the Book? Grieving Legion: Enemy units cannot retreat while they are within 3” of any Grieving Legion units with 10 or more models. This ties in well with the many rules that tie in to the terrified function of Aura of Dread, but given this army’s fragility we can’t see this being taken as a mainstay – it would have been amazing as a command trait or unit ability, but the other Processions seem much nastier on face value. Sign up to the Warhammer Community newsletter to avoid being petrified, stunned, or shrieking with surprise, with more news like this delivered right to your inbox. Shyish Reaper –Casting Value 7. A predatory spell that moves 8″ (12″ in Shyish), the controlling player can pivot it before moving it and for every model it passes over, roll a die, if the die rolls higher than their save characteristic, deal 1 mortal wound. Like Aethervoid pendulum but with more control, which kind of goes against why you’d take that spell (To keep an opponent from using it on you). Don’t bother.Finally, if you roll a magnificent 10 or more, you can apply the strike-last effect as you Petrify your enemies into paralysis. A higher roll is always better, as you can choose to apply any of the effects to apply with each charge.

The first edition Nighthaunt book introduced the fascinating idea of Nagash as a god of justice, with cruel and evil deeds in life rewarded (?) by unending servitude and punishment by Nagash in death. Kurdoss Valentian was punished for his ruthless desire to rule and murder of his own brothers with a curse of being fated to never rule and never kill again, a bitter jest of Nagash. Dreadscythe Harridans were once healers and nurturers that denied souls to Nagash through extending their life now cursed with rage against those self-same healers, and Chainrasp Hordes were vicious and irredeemable criminals, how fated to be tortured and imprisoned forever. I much prefer their new warscroll because now I can be aggressive with the unit and have a consistent source of rend 2 on infantry whose damage output is effectively doubled from what it was. Do I think this makes the Banshee a power house? No not really, but they’re a much better harassment unit than they were (a low bar to clear admittedly). In addition, it gives me an interesting source of non-traditional magic defenses that can be effective even against megacasters with large casting bonuses like Lord Kroak that do large amounts of aoe damage. There have been a few bonus rules released to try and give Nighthaunt a boost, including most recently adding sub-factions in the form of Processions and adding in the Krulghast Cruciator in Broken Realms: Be’lakor. Nothing ever really worked, so we waited with bated breath to see if the warscroll cards in Arena of Shades would help out the most fragile Death faction out there. And folks? It ain’t lookin’ too grand. Have you felt the chill of the grave rising through a faint mist? You enjoy painting pale figures stalking out of the horizon and falling on your enemy like the tide? Or have you read the lore and know that Nagash is the true inheritor of the World that Was and you want to join the right team? Have you decided it is time to up your miniature storage game?No Inspiring Presence can really change the moves your opponent is willing to pull. How much are you willing to risk those Allopexes next to Sinister terrain? Or your Stone Guard after they’ve used their Aetherquartz? As a wizard he may cast one spell and deny one spell. I’ve given him Shademist which has a casting value (CV) of 6 and allows him to grant a friendly unit within 12” -1 to incoming wound rolls. He can place this on himself. He also brings special ability to improve his casting (Corpse Candle) and a warscroll spell (Wraithstorm). I took the Midnight Tome, for the bonus artifact on the guardian of souls allowing me to get off the Purple Sun or Cogs whichever is needed more for free once per game.

Lightshard of the Harvest Moon –Pop this once per game. Once you do every unit within 12″ can reroll failed hits. Crazy good with the right timing, but you need to manage the aura around the Guardian of Souls. B+ Hard to recommend as their role in your army isn’t terribly clear. They don’t get the size of Chainrasp Hordes, the rend of Grimghast Reapers or the speed of Hexwraiths. They get to reroll all hits if they charge or were charge but have a mediocre (For Nighthaunts) 6″ movement. You can likely substitute anything with a more specialized role and do better. Bladegheist RevenantsThe Bladegheist Revenants of The Scarlet Doom live up to their blood-soaked name, and spread more than just fear on the charge. When they finish a charge move, they can roll a dice for each gyrating ghost in the unit – for each 5+, a nearby enemy unit suffers a mortal wound. It’s like a ghost-powered lawnmower. 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:

The Nighthaunt Vanguard set makes it easy to get into the army and gives you a reasonable starting position. A whole host of artifacts, command traits, battle tactics and grand strategies you’ve come to expect from 3rd edition battletomes. A bonus command ability, you can pull a unit that’s already on the field over to your General and place that unit within 12″ of them and more than 9″ from the enemy. It’s not a great “oh shit” ability to protect your general since you can rarely place them between you and the enemy, but it’s good for emergency relocation if you want to capture a neglected objective or get them out of a tough fight. Command Traits This list is meant to be straightforward and adaptable. Everything is in a battle regiment to give control of priority, however there is an option to place 3 of the battle line infantry into Expert Conquerors and the remainder into a Battle Regiment. Expert Conquerors makes the infantry count as 3 models on objectives – the Chainrasp would count as 60 models. Our Preference is to go second to make your opponent come to you (keep out of line of sight if they have shooting) and hopefully get the double turn. You can also redeploy up to 3 units via Vanishing Phantasms into reserve before the start of combat and then set them up in ambush (9” from the enemy). The best case scenario is you deep strike this unit 12” away to pepper something and hold an area of the board. The problem is, why wouldn’t I use Chainrasps for that role? The Craventhrone aren’t going to kill a damn thing anyway, so I’d rather have double the wounds for the same cost. 12” range means you can’t keep them safe from any melee units, and they’re an inefficient screen, an inefficient ranged unit and an absolutely amazing sculpt. Seriously guys, these models are great. End on a high note, right? Wrapping things upThese are equipped on Guardian of Souls only. They’re pretty niche and rarely taken but you will likely bring Guardian of Souls in many lists so it’s not entirely without merit. Huge glow up – Probably more than any other army in the game, Nighthaunt really needed an upgrade, with an old book containing old units and army-wide rules that seemed outdated just as the book was launched. The units are now generally much improved but the battle traits in particular are a lot better. The Midnight Tome in Relics of the Underworld lets a wizard once per battle automatically cast a spell to summon an endless spell with an unmodified 12 that cannot be unbound. While our choice would probably be Emerald Lifeswarm, Nighthaunt endless spells have received major upgrades and are all incredible viable, which we’ll get into just below. Finally an equivalent for All Out Defense ! As we’ve spoken about in Hammer of Math articles before, a 5+ ward is more than twice as good as a 6+ ward, because any saved wound has a higher chance of being saved again. Using this ability at just the right time will be absolutely game winning. We’ve taken to calling this ability All Out Ghost in the Goonhammer office. Frightful Touch