Numbers –Nighthaunts are a bit of a horde army, you can field large units with your 10 bravery and cheap units. Many of your units have the SUMMONABLE keyword which allows many powers and spells to heal and restore dead models. Although there are much better battleline units to use with the new edition rules and battletome, chain rasps are a great way to use up any spare points. What’s more, they are a great tactical entry point to the nighthaunt army if you want to experiment with playstyles. I am a competitive minded player, and have trouble toning down my nature when it comes to making lists and playing games. I wanted to bring an army that I could have fun optimising, without necessarily worrying about having to take my foot off the gas because the list was too strong. In the end I settled on Nighthaunt – they’re an army that’s typically been bottom third of armies in the game in second, and 3rd edition has neither been kind nor unkind to them. I’m playing with Reikenor’s Condemned, as they provide a suite of useful buffs to chain rasps and a nice utility artefact. The kit is OOP and the issue doesn’t seem to be on sale anywhere! Issue 37 - Gryph Hounds and Coelia Greenshade

Painted on 2022-02-15 Issue 71 - Enduring Stormvault (Gryph Hound Statue) Enduring Stormvault (Gryph Hound Statue)

Storm Ground: The Basics

We are a small team of Warhammer Enthusiasts and miniature collectors, hoping to support and further promote the hobby. Immune to Rend –All of your units ignore modifiers to saves, positive or negative making high rend opposition useless. Chainrasp champions are known as Dreadwardens - the wardens of unrepentant souls. The candles they bear are like beacons to the spirits under their charge, casting a dread light that the Chainrasps believe will lead to their freedom. In fact, it is this eerie glow that helps bind the impenitent to eternal servitude. The Chainrasps may have thought death would be an escape from their terrible imprisonment, but truly, it was only the beginning. [1b] Wargear [ ] Warhammer Community put out a great piece on the design aesthetic and origins of the Nighthaunt army. A link is in the notes below, but the points that jumped out for me were: No Subfactions – In a rather baffling decision, Nighthaunts don’t have subfactions like other books. It was a launch battletome so it’s likely they did not know at the time those would be so important.

Beacon of Nagashizzar – The Guardian of Souls comes with a spell, spectral Lure which normally heals D6 wounds (or restores models with that many wounds). This makes it a D6+3. Spectral Lure is pretty much why you even have it so this is worth considering. B+ Turns Deathless Spirits instead of a 5+ instead of a 6+ if within 12″ of Knight of Shrouds or Reikenor. A really solid take if you intend to bring these models anyway, as it will vastly improve survivability Deathriders Baneblade Brown is the “other” brown that has been my go-to for wood on the Nighaunt minis in the magazine The most numerous of all the spirits that join Nighthaunt processions are the Chainrasp Hordes. These gheists are created from the spirits of the most vicious and irredeemable criminals to have lived in the Mortal Realms. [1a]

but … I don’t think I’d mind if I’d doubled up - a few spare giant bases are probably cool. Issue 79 - Celestant-Prime ( 1⁄ 2) Issue 80 - Celestant-Prime ( 2⁄ 2) The core book came with a lot of Battalions and so by sheer number a few manage to actually succeed and see use in competitive play. Nighthaunt Procession I finished deployment first and had priority, but gave him first turn to prevent an early double turn opportunity. The Summary 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 Revenants

A niche utility unit that doesn’t see much play. They can attempt to unbind a spell as a wizard does, gaining +1 to the unbind roll for every 4 models. And that’s it. You likely won’t have enough models to get more than +1 to unbinding without paying more points than they’re really worth. While they can also eat an endless spell, it comes at the cost of the unit taking D3 mortal wounds, something you cannot afford on a unit of one wound models. You have plenty of casters, let them do the heavy lifting. Dreadscythe Harridans I found it much simpler than the Jailor and Chaingasts but I did end up with a large and noticable seam. Spirit Hosts quietly impressed, as when combined with ROTSH they were able to take up space and be a difficult unit to shift. They’ve traditionally underperformed for me in the past but they made their case for their ongoing inclusion in future lists. 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. Reaping Scythe –Casting Value 4. Supercharge the caster, letting them reroll all hits and wounds with melee weapons. Use this on a Knight of Shrouds with the Midnight Tome or Reikenor. BSo what do we know so far about the new Nighthaunt for Age of Sigmar Second Edition? You’ll find a lot of pictures below but the key points are: Mephiston Red has been my go-to colour for the roses on the Myrmourn Banshee bases the Thorns of the Briar Queen and the (scenic) Glaivewraith Stalkers. 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+ Anytime the Chainrasps are affected by Spectural Lure or Temporal Translocation, spells that let you return dead models you can return an additional D6 dead models. If you’re bringing 2 large squads of Chainrasps, which is certainly viable, this battalion makes them a huge pain in the ass. Execution Horde

I won priority turn two and took the double, continuing my sweeping manoeuvre to completely clear the right hand side of any threats while solidifying my position in the middle. His Mega Boss was having the time of his life killing chain rasps in the middle, but the rest of the army was dying around him as Mannfred, the Harridans and the Spirit Hosts swept through his flanks. Turn 4 Mannfred charged an incidental unit, then in the combat phase teleported onto the left flank to take control of all three points as only a Warchanter was holding it, putting me firmly in the lead as my opponent was running out of units not tied up in combat to deal with Mannfred. The TakeawaysBalefire Blade –Add 1 to the damage characteristic of a bearer’s melee weapon. Solid all around weapon choice. B