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Hi all!

I'm looking to get into AoS for the first time, and I'm planning out what I want to get for my first 1k for my chosen army of Nighthaunt.

Model wise, I currently have the Guardian of Souls, Knight of Shrouds, Spirit Torment, Chainrasps, and the Banshees in the list below. The rest is still up in the air.

Particularly with this list, my concerns are:

1. Have I got too many Heroes at this point level for how Nighthaunt play? Would I better off investing in more troops instead? I really like the Reikenor model, but I could put off getting him for a bit.

2. Does it make sense to make the Guardian of Souls the general? I'm imagining using him quite defensively to keep my units topped up on models, hence the Cloaked in Shadow. I figure him being away from the front is probably good for a General right?

3. With a basic understanding of Nighthaunt rules, and with how I plan to use the Guardian of Souls, would I be correct in saying that generally larger units might be better for this army - as to add models back to the unit the unit has to still be alive. I really like the Hexwraith and Reaper models though, hence the current list. But if it makes it a lot stronger I could drop one or both those units for more Chainrasps, or to reinforce the other one.

Anyway, this is what I have so far:


+ Leader +

Guardian of Souls with Nightmare Lantern: 3. Beacon of Nagashizzar, 5. Cloaked in Shadow, 5. Shademist, Chill Blade, General

Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed

Reikenor the Grimhailer: 3. Lifestealer

Spirit Torment

+ Battleline +

Chainrasp Horde : 10 Chainrasps

Grimghast Reapers : 10 Grimghast Reapers

Hexwraiths : 5 Hexwraiths

+ Other +

Myrmourn Banshees : 4 Myrmourn Banshees

+ Allegiance +

Alliegiance: Allegiance: Nighthaunt

You seem to have the right idea overall. But to respond to points specifically:

1 - With Nighthaunt you are looking for about 40% of your points in heroes, which should include 1 guardian of souls for every 1000 points in the army (so 1 at 1k, 2 at 2k).

2 - The guardian is already a target, making him the general lets opponents kill two birds with one stone. Also, you always want the ruler of the spirit hosts command trait; it is so good it's auto-take for every nighthaunt army. Note it is models not wounds, so it brings back d3 whole hexwraiths or spirit hosts.

3 - Correct. At this size the list would be stronger if you went more chainrasp heavy. It may be worth dropping the myrmourns since they are better in bigger units anyways.

Another thing is that the knight on steeds tends to be worse than the knight on 'foot'. The latter has a much smaller base making him way easier to get into & keep alive in melee and his command ability tends to be more tactically useful (especially when combined with a spirit torment). Another option is allying in a vampire lord, but right now you need another hero to be the general.

Great, thanks for that.

Noted on the ratio of heroes. I'll definitely push to increase Chainrasps as I build up to 2k. Chainguard looks decent as a Battalion too.

Right yes, that makes sense. Maybe in that case a Spirit Torment would make a decent general. Not as inherently high profile a target, and not too front-line.

I'm probably not going to be able to entirely cut the Banshees for a while, as they were actually my first purchase! But noted, thanks.

Vampire Lords seem amazing for their buffs at their point cost. The extra attacks would stack with the Knight of Shrouds right? Shame all the models are quite old and I don't really like the look of any of them :/

Banshees aren't bad, you just want to take them in larger sizes so they get that buff to dispel and to make the most out of giving them bonus attacks via knight/vampire lord.

VLord does stack with the knight's command ability but IMO it isn't worth burning that many command points outside of a rare circumstance. The knight on foot, on the other hand, stacks with that really well since you are giving both bonus attacks and a hit bonus, on top of re-roll hits of 1 from a spirit torment.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Banshees aren't bad, you just want to take them in larger sizes so they get that buff to dispel and to make the most out of giving them bonus attacks via knight/vampire lord.

VLord does stack with the knight's command ability but IMO it isn't worth burning that many command points outside of a rare circumstance. The knight on foot, on the other hand, stacks with that really well since you are giving both bonus attacks and a hit bonus, on top of re-roll hits of 1 from a spirit torment.

Right, yes that makes sense. Forgetting that CP are much more scarce in Sigmar than in 40k!

Regarding Battalions, how mandatory are they considered, specifically for Nighthaunt?

There are a couple that look decent, but the cost is rather high. Is the general feeling that you really need one at least at 2k, or not so much?

Extra CP and relics seem nice, but not sure it's worth that many points too..

You don't need any, they are optional for pretty much everyone. Most battalions are more for theme lists than people looking to maximize effectiveness.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
You don't need any, they are optional for pretty much everyone. Most battalions are more for theme lists than people looking to maximize effectiveness.

Cool. It's not so much that I'm trying to make a super competitive list, but I don't want it to be terrible either!

I'll have to look through the battalions again, there were a handful of decent ones.