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Hi there,

after having played my first few games of AoS I would like to plan a 2000 pts list of my Nighthaunt.
Starting out from the Chainguard Battalion, that successfully annoyed my opponents in these games, I came up with the following list:

LEADERS
Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern (140)
- Infernal Lantern (Artefact) : Beacon of Nagashizzar

Reikenor the Grimhailer (180)

Spirit Torment (120)
- Artefact : Midnight Tome
- Lore of the Underworlds : Shademist

Knight of Shrouds (120)
- General
- Command Trait : Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

UNITS
20 x Chainrasp Horde (160)

20 x Chainrasp Horde (160)

10 x Bladegheist Revenants (180)

20 x Grimghast Reapers (280)

6 x Spirit Hosts (240)

BEHEMOTHS
Mourngul (300)

BATTALIONS
Chainguard (120)

The main reason for taking a Mourngul, because I love that model. I've been thinking about the Black Coach as an alternative that would run well together with the Spirit Hosts and is another fantastic model. In my gaming round it shouldn't pose a huge problem to give up a bit on the competitiveness on the list by taking a Behemoth instead of investing these points in more efficient models.
I gave the Spirit Torment a Midnight Tome in order to have one more wizard that is able to ban enemy spells.

FYI the opponents I regularly play are recruited from the following armies: Sylvaneth, Blades of Khorne, Skaven, Ironjawz, Stormcast Eternals, Flesh-Eater Courts (soon)

I mean, the list looks decent. I'd swap the Mourngul for the Black Coach because of the synergies it provides to keeping your Hosts alive, plus it's just a nice tech piece to have.

I have some thoughts, but it all comes down to efficiency and how much you're looking to optimize vs just bring whatever you have.

Big unit bonuses bring the PPM cost of units down. 40 Chainrasps, for example, is better than 2 units of 20 because it takes a lot more investment to take the unit down, AND it saves you 40 points (unit cost is 280 vs 2x160).

On that note, if you're buying into the Chainguard, buy into it. Drop the Spirit Hosts, and max out at least one of those Chainrasps to 40 strong.

I would swap the Knight of Shrouds for a Vampire Lord; his command ability is 15" instead of 12", doesn't require wholly within, and the +1 attack bonus lasts until your next hero phase, as opposed to only a single round. Plus Deathless Invocations to res models is always great.

If you're taking Reikenor, you should really consider taking Chronomantic Cogs. IMO the best usage of him is to basically guarantee Cogs the turn you land, with some aggressive Underworld drops to pull off 7" charges.

A thought to consider as well: a Necromancer with Vanhel's Danse guarantees you the Nighthaunt allegiance trait (that is, the ability to pile in and fight twice). Not an auto-include especially if you want theme, but it's a really strong choice (arguably the best death spell we have, and the only way to get it). Plus he also has Deathless Invocations.

Again, take it all with a grain of salt. I'm biased with a very hyper-aggressive play-style, and I optimize to be as competitive as possible (it's also why I play Legion of Nagash, not Nighthaunt) because my local group/meta is very competitive.

Thank you for your interesting reply.

40 Chainrasps, for example, is better than 2 units of 20 because it takes a lot more investment to take the unit down, AND it saves you 40 points (unit cost is 280 vs 2x160). On that note, if you're buying into the Chainguard, buy into it. Drop the Spirit Hosts, and max out at least one of those Chainrasps to 40 strong.

On paper that looks like a sound choice, but I'll first have to wait for the day I can motivate myself to paint another 20 Chainrasps

I would swap the Knight of Shrouds for a Vampire Lord; his command ability is 15" instead of 12", doesn't require wholly within, and the +1 attack bonus lasts until your next hero phase, as opposed to only a single round. Plus Deathless Invocations to res models is always great. (...) A thought to consider as well: a Necromancer with Vanhel's Danse guarantees you the Nighthaunt allegiance trait (that is, the ability to pile in and fight twice). Not an auto-include especially if you want theme, but it's a really strong choice (arguably the best death spell we have, and the only way to get it). Plus he also has Deathless Invocations.

The Vampire Lord an Necromancer are indeed interesting allied hero alternatives in a Nighthaunt army. Actually the KoS command ability seems to even require 9" wholly within (as opposed to the Spirit Torment's 12"), limiting the possible situations it can be applied. The buffs offered by the Vampire Lord and Necromancer are a lot more attractive . However, they seem a lot less durable due to the lack of the abilities Ethereal and Deathless Spirits. That's why I'm still a bit undecided concerning the fourth hero.

Anyway, a list employing a Vampire Lord instead of a KoS might look like this (with either 40 Chainrasps and 0 Spirit Hosts or 20 Chainrasps and 3 Spirit Hosts; either way there would be enough points left to max out Grimghast Reapers to 30; the Black Coach would be of a more limited use in this list as compared to a Spirit Host-heavier list):

LEADERS
Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern (140)
- Infernal Lantern (Artefact) : Beacon of Nagashizzar

Reikenor the Grimhailer (180)

Spirit Torment (120)
- General
- Artefact : Midnight Tome
- Lore of the Underworlds : Shademist
- Command Trait : Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

Allied: Vampire Lord (140)
- Flying Horror

UNITS
20-40 x Chainrasp Horde (160-280)

20 x Chainrasp Horde (160)

10 x Bladegheist Revenants (180)

30 x Grimghast Reapers (360)

0-3 x Spirit Hosts (0-120)

BEHEMOTHS
Mourngul (300)

BATTALIONS
Chainguard (120)

A Necromancer can pass off wounds and mortal wounds dealt to him on a 4+ to a nearby summonable unit within 3", so that really helps amp up his survivability.

And the Vampire Lord has his Chalice to heal D6 wounds, so if the enemy doesn't outright kill him, he can heal right back up without the use of spells.

The KoS warscrolls on GW's website are outdated. The KoSoS is wholly within 15" for +1 Attack buff, and the KoS on foot is 12" for +1 to hit buff.

If you're set on running the Chainguard battalion, I'd drop the Spirit Hosts. You already have 3x Battleline, and you run the risk of trying to spread out your buffs too much. If you pour all your buffs (mystic shield, heals, etc.) into one unit, everything else is neglected. If you give each unit a buff, then they're all weaker for it. You're better off with fewer, stronger units that stack buffs on them.

The alternative is you go pure MSU, and use Underworld drops + the natural speed and fly of Nighthaunt to hit and run, assassinating key enemy pieces while you blitz the objectives. This build is probably more suited to things like Dreadblades, Hexwraiths, Coachs, and a huge anvil of Spirit Hosts to lock down the enemy heavy hitter (because most opponents will always have that one unit designed to be a hammer).

 DV8 wrote:

The KoS warscrolls on GW's website are outdated. The KoSoS is wholly within 15" for +1 Attack buff, and the KoS on foot is 12" for +1 to hit buff.

Oh my, I should have relied on the Battletome, which I was just to lazy to grab when pondering about your suggestions

 DV8 wrote:
If you're set on running the Chainguard battalion, I'd drop the Spirit Hosts. You already have 3x Battleline, and you run the risk of trying to spread out your buffs too much. If you pour all your buffs (mystic shield, heals, etc.) into one unit, everything else is neglected. If you give each unit a buff, then they're all weaker for it. You're better off with fewer, stronger units that stack buffs on them.

That advice rings true to me. I should drop one of the battlelines. But I'm unsure whether I should rather drop the Spirit Hosts or the Bladegheist, as I would already have a 30-strong blob of Grimghasts and a 6-strong unit of Spirit Hosts along with Ruler of the Spirit Hosts might be better for binding the enemy's heavy hitter, as you have hinted at

It depends if you want a tank or damage. Spirit Hosts can absorb (but if want 9-12 of them), but dont do much damage.

Revenants, do tons, if damage, but can't last as long as Spirit Hosts can with ressing 2D3 whole models per turn (it's 2-6 wounds with Revenants vs 6 to 18 wounds with Hosts).