Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

FW gave us the best rules since the WD back in 3.5 era for the "We were bad before it was cool" Night Lords. That was back when we had a disruption chart similar to the old Pathfinders chart. Since this new board is starting to turn into a "hows my list?"/"What legion should I play?" board, I thought we might put some actual content on here and discuss tactics of the Nightmare Legion. Hopefully the other legions will start getting their own tactics threads going as each legion really does work differently despite the core army list. Don't post your army lists here. If you want a discussion of your army list, make your own thread, preferably on the list board. Discussing bits and pieces and how they interact with each other is fine, just none of the typical "I have a 4k game coming up, how's my list?" crap. Please however add to this if I miss things or you have your own strategies or refinements.

I have been playing Night Lords since FW first started with the Heresy line up and was happy when the rules came out. We have some really nice ones, and a fairly ugly one, which oddly enough has never actually bit me. Most of my experience has been playing against 40k armies, mainly elder, tau, IG, DE and of course, marines of different flavors.
-First turn you get a 6++ cover save. Meh, never remember to use it and if I remember right, it doesn't stack anyway.
-Cult of Personality: If your warlord dies, every unit with the Night Lord legion rules makes a panic check to run away. I have never actually had my guys run from this.

Good stuff-
Dirty Fighters- if you outnumber your opponent you get +1 to wound. Not +1 strength, +1 to wound. Meaning, if you can wound your target, the worst you ever need to roll is 5+. My Praetor has taken down Wraithlords in close combat with a Paragon blade. This is big, especially since yeah we have big squads. But Jump packers and terminators count double. Yes, that 15 man Night Raptor squad is expensive, but you get all the bonuses for charging and count for 30 guys. Don't forget this one.

Chain Glaive- Any character including sergeants can upgrade their power weapons to a chain glaive. its worth doing even if it is a two handed weapon.

Fear- I forget if its any IC or any character can get Trophies which grant the guy Fear. This is actually useful in 30k since there are very few fearless units and ATSKNF doesn't exist. And its like the cost of a melta bomb if I remember right.

Teleporter-We are one of the few legions(two I can think of off the top of my head) whose terminators get to buy teleporters(for I think 3 melta bombs per unit) without taking a special RoW. Take advantage of this.

Night Vision- Not as cool as it used to be but hey, what can you do, not like we are paying points for it.

And we get all the normal Legion bonuses, obviously.

Unique Units
Note I am at work so I don't have the rules in front of me. These are the high and low points I remember.

Terror Squad- Initially I looked down on this unit and only took them at minimal size to use the RoW(which I will discuss later). Then I got to using them and damn, they were pretty frikkin good, even bare bones with a chainglaive and drop pod. Now I use all three squads happily when I field the NL RoW. Two attacks base, come equipped with ccw and pistol and cause fear. They also Infiiltrate. Max squad size is 10. Now days I will field 2 ten man squads in a drop pod with volkite (chargers, I think) and they evaporate any squad they land next to with mass S5 shooting. My third squad varies a bit based on points, but just in size. In Terror Assault I will stick Sevetar in here in a drop pod. I always give the sgt a chainglaive, artificer armor, and melta bombs(just in case). They have no transport, so unless you buy an extra transport just for them, they cannot be used in any of the generic RoWs except Pride of the Legion.

Night Raptors- A phenomenal unit even if it costs a mass buttload of points. I went "cheap" and got chaos raptors and upgraded them with some aftermarket parts. Any number of guys in the squad get chain glaives. I believe off hand they get 1d3+1 HoW hits on the charge each. They also get the usual 1 in 5 get a special weapon thing. I don't see the point since they are already so expensive. I give the sgt a glaive, art armor and melta bombs(just in case). And remember, they count for two so odds are you are rolling 3s to wound on your standard guy.

Sevetar- Likely one of the best non-primarch characters in the game. My biggest issue is he doesn't have an invul save. He is a psyker(even if reluctant), comes equipped with cool stuff, and devastates other characters in a challenge if they don't have EW. Has a master crafted chain glaive. If I remember he also makes terminators landing near him not scatter since he is Master of the Atramentar. Why he doesn't have cataphractii armor like the guys he is in charge of, only FW knows.

Another guy-Never used him, cant even remember his name. Was not impressed with him.

Primarch Kurze- I think he is one of the coolest Primarchs, Whether you use the FW model(which I am not a fan of) or the Kabuki model which screams"I am Batman" in a raspy voice he is a good guy to have. That said, I generally don't field primarchs at less than 3500 points, I don't see why they would show up to so small a battle. His points are about right compared to everyone else, he isn't Horus but he isn't Lorgar either. He buffs night fight events, has a jump pack equivalent, has throwing knives and Wolverine claws. I have had him and a jump pack command squad tear through all of the current Dark Angel characters and a Deathwing command squad over the course of a game. Like all primarchs he can be tied up in combat, never run him alone. I made a jump pack equipped Primus Medicae just to run with him.

RoW- Terror Assault
I really good, but as typical for Legion specific RoWs, really restrictive RoW. In a nutshell, Terror squads are troops, and you must take three squads of them. Them, vet squads, and tactical squads get the alternative transport options of a drop pod. If memory serves, it also allows a reroll for night fight and even better, the chance for Night Fight to continue past the first turn and even into the 3rd. That's a minor thing since Night Fighting has been nerfed so bad anyway but its something. You also only get one heavy support choice. That sucks.
My own typical list has Sevetar in a pod with a hand to hand Terror Squad, the other two with volkite in pods, a vet squad or two in pods, Kheres Mortis, a Fire Raptor, and a Lightning. Things get changed around based on points. Sometimes I bring a support squad in a rhino with either flamers or plasma.

Combos-
Mass troops obviously works well with Night Lords. You outnumber them so you will kill more.
-Tactical Squads-Every blue moon I will field a 20 man squad with apothecary. Fury of the Legion is nothing to sniff at, or when with the Apothecary you get a cheap augury scanner and get intercept. 40 bolter shots is fun.

-Assault Squads- Night Lords are the only legion I can viably see a reason to bring these guys and even though I have 20, I still rarely use them, generally only in large games. They still cost too much for what they do but not as bad as other legions. Why not just bring Night Raptors?

-Tactical Support Squads- I have toasted the living crap out of many units with a simple 5 man support squad with flamers and a drop pod. 135 points. They aren't as effective in Terror Assault but are great in Orbital Assault. Since I don't use Terror Squads in Orbital Assault, hey I got 20 marines with Volkite sitting around.

-Terminators- They get teleporters and get to home in on Sevetar. They count for two in assault. Why not?

-Vet Squads- In both terror Assault and Orbital Assault drop pods, drop pods, drop pods. I have two set ups I typically use, 2 heavy bolters and a full squad, or 2 heavy flamers and a full squad. Not too expensive. I give both Sniper special rule. I like the heavy flamer guys better, but the heavy bolters give me the option to land and secure an objective further back from the front and still contribute.

Legion drop pods- Do remember, you do not have to get out. 40k pods have guns, ours do not, but theirs eject you while you get to use the legion ones as an open topped av12 bunker to shoot from.

Other RoWs: Every legion can do the main four RoWs. There is fluff examples in the books on Night Lord armor battalions complete with super heavy tanks. Doesn't say they are used much but fluffwise, every legion had to be a one stop shop for every role even if they did specialize in one thing or another. Personally I don't see the point of armored spearhead. Its already stupidly easy to take massed land raiders and they are very point inefficient to begin with.

-Assault of Angry Angels or whatever its called. Its Air Cav, legion style. Any unit that has a rhino as an option, replaces that option with a Storm Eagle. Nothing that cannot fly or deepstrike is allowed. Really limiting but if you wanted a jump pack army with air craft, this is a good one. They get some kind of bonus although I forget what it is, never used the RoW.

-Orbital Assault is my go to RoW. Everything that gets a rhino replaces it with a drop pod. Everything has to be podded in or have the capability to DS. Death Storms are FA instead of heavy and terminators get to DS. The only negative I have with this one is having to drop pod either two squads of 10 tacticals or bring 2 assault squads, which as stated earlier, work better with night lords than most legions but are still stupidly expensive. Or bring a mix of both. Notice I ignore breachers, I don't see the point both in use or fluff. Death Storm Drop pods are nothing to scoff at and count for a pod for first turn numbers. Best part is its the only way to bring support squads in by drop pod which I don't know if I have ever mentioned it, is flipping awesome. I have dropped knights with drop podded melta teams(and they died) on the first turn and wiped out the core firebase of my opponent's army before he had a chance to go in the resulting explosion. Eldar scat bike squads have disappeared along with their pet farseer to my 135 point flamer marines. Dreadknights have cried to my plasma teams showing up next to them. Support teams are the key to Orbital assault. The only thing it doesn't really do is use much of the Night Lord's special rules. But oh well, I can live with that. And contemptors get to ride in Dreadclaws.

Pride of the Legion- Terminators and vet squads are troops. Probably the most used RoW and likely that will continue since BaC just came out and gives the exact minis needed. Here Night Lord rules are useful again as our termies get to DS and if you bring Sev, they get to land without scatter(I do hope I am remembering his rules correct). So while everyone else has to slog or ride in expensive transports, you can bring twice the troops and just be in their face T2. I would bring Sevetar in a rhino with a Furious Charge or counter charging Vet squad in this scenario. This one actually is the most forgiving of all the RoWs and you can bring the full compliment of vehicles the Legion has access to since there are no slot or transport restrictions outside the normal limitations(no drop pods for example). Oddly enough I have never used it for Night Lords since we have no unique terminators outside the teleports.

That's my synopsis, you guys go.

Well done. I have ben tempted to start another HH force, and have had a deep interest in them since reading the trilogy.

I dig the Terror squads and Nigh Raptor squads, but like my World Eaters Rampagers and Red Butchers, the seem a bit high in points. The Volkite Chargers are a great upgrade though. Do you even take a choice from the Heavy Support slots? If so, main preference?

Mat

I prefer a Fire Raptor for my Night Lords. I have a Volkite Culverine heavy support squad painted up but rarely use them outside an actual declared Apoc game or small point games.

been playing 40k for awhile and when BaC came out my local shop went gaga over 30k but was torn between Night Lords, Thousand Sons and Word Bearers. I've been contemplating a list and wonder how well it would fare:


ROW: terror assault

hq: legion praetor
-cataphractii terminator armour, teleportation transponder, trophiesof judgement, master crafted paragon blade

troops:
-legion tactical support squad, rhino, plasma guns
-terror squad x4 volkite charger, drop pod, nostraman chainglave
-terror squad (same load out)

Elite:
-contemptor dreadnought two twin linked lascannons
-cataphractii terminators x5, 4x pair of lighting claws, nostraman chainglave

heavy:
-legion heavy support squad, lascannons, artificer armour, augury scanner

This adds up to 1500 even. Is this a legal list? and how do other members think it fares amongst 30k matches? I have yet to play any 30k matches, so i'm not sure what to expect from other astartes legions.

That's not a legal list, the terror assault rules specify that you have an additional compulsory troops selection and that all compulsory troops selections must be terror squads.

Had 2 questions:

Where do you see that Night Lord Raptors count as 2 models for the purpose of "Talent for Murder?"

also I had a question on Teleporter. It stats that Terms get Deep Strike for 15 points. You can get a Teleporter for your characters at 10 points.

However, if I stick my Warlord into my terminator unit with a Teleporter, would I still have to pay the 10 points?

My guess is no, but wanted to be sure.

also great thread!

Col. Dash wrote:





Sevetar- Likely one of the best non-primarch characters in the game. My biggest issue is he doesn't have an invul save. He is a psyker(even if reluctant), comes equipped with cool stuff, and devastates other characters in a challenge if they don't have EW. Has a master crafted chain glaive. If I remember he also makes terminators landing near him not scatter since he is Master of the Atramentar. Why he doesn't have cataphractii armor like the guys he is in charge of, only FW knows.

Another guy-Never used him, cant even remember his name. Was not impressed with him.

Except Sevatar has an Iron Halo, so he does have an Invuln save, a 4++ infact. He doesn't have Terminator Armor, because the HH Books which introduce him describe him as wearing regular Power Armor, he commands the Terminator Elite, because he is the First Captain. The First Company has more than just Terminators.

The other guy is the Special Apothecary, his S3 Melee weapon is the main reason people over look him, but he has a Archaeotech Pistol. I too was over looking him until I discovered he doesn't have the Consul Rule meaning he doesnt count towards the "May only take a single Consul" part of the Legion RoW.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Knew he had something screwy with his save. You know as first captain, you would think he would at least have arty armor seeing as simple sergeants get it at the drop of a dime.

Right Raptors dont get D3 hammer of wrath they get D3 additional attacks for charging. Much better sounding huh?
Nostraman Chain Glaives are Strength +1 AP 3, two handed, rending.

This means night raptors that outnumber enemy squads can get 4 attacks each that wound marines on 2s and negate armor with a possibility of doing the same to terminators.



Terror Squads also have prefered enemy infantry, so volkites are amazing. Also good for killing solo primarchs if you give them heavy chainblades (s+2 ap 4) They wound every primarch on 3+ so force those saves. (this is because of the outnumber bonus)