Today we’ll take a look at how to play Nighthaunt with a focus on building The Quicksilver Dead and The Scarlet Doom 2,ooo points armies!
In the last article, we focused on the other two sub-factions for the Nighthaunt (Emerald Host and the Grieving Legion) which you can see here. Games Workshop then announced the 2022 Season 1 Generals Handbook after that post and so I wanted to wait until I had time to get my hand on the new book before posting how to play the next two Nighthaunt sub-factions here, The Quicksilver Dead and The Scarlet Doom.
How to Play Nighthaunt: The Quicksilver Dead & The Scarlet Doom
Battletome: Nighthaunt $55
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Let’s first recap the overall abilities of the Nighthaunt.
• All enemies within 3” of friendly Nighthaunt units are terrified and cannot receive the inspiring presence command.
• All Nighthaunt units have a 6+ ward save
• All Nighthaunt ignore positive and negative save modifiers
• Nighthaunt units can retreat and charge in the same turn
• Unique Command Ability Discorporate: Use when a friendly Nighthaunt unit is picked as a target in the shooting or combat phase and their ward save becomes +5 instead of +6
• On a friendly charge roll the following happens:
o 4-7: target has -1 hit rolls
o 8-9: target has a -1 save
o 10+: target strikes last in the combat phase
• *Note that you can choose any result that is lower than your roll
• Unmodified hit rolls of 6 automatically wound
• At the end of deployment before the start of the first battle round you can select 3 friendly Nighthaunt units and remove them from the battlefield and say they are set up in reserve. At the end of your movement phase, you can set 1 or more of these units up if they are 9” or more away from enemy units.
• Unique spells, artifacts, and command abilities.
Playing Nighthaunt Quicksilver Dead: 2,ooo Point List
Now let’s take a dive into the sub-factions starting with The Quick Silver Dead: Dreadscythe Harridan units become battleline and units can not make ward saves against wounds caused by Harridans.
• Spirit Torment: 115 Points, Leader 1 of 6
• Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed: 155 Points, Leader 2 of 6 (General)
• Krulghast Cruciator: 150 Points, Leader 3 of 6
• Lady Olynder: 340 Points, Leader 4 of 6
• Guardian of Souls: 150 Points, Leader 5 of 6
• Reikenor the Grimhailer: 190 Points, Leader 6 of 6
• 3 Spirit Hosts: 125 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
• 10 Dreadscythe Harridans: 160 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
• 10 Dreadscythe Harridans: 160 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
• 4 Myrmourn Banshees: 105 Points, No Unit Type
• 4 Myrmourn Banshees: 105 Points, No Unit Type
• 4 Myrmourn Banshees: 105 Points, No Unit Type
• Purple Sun of Shyish: 70 Points, Endless Spell
• Lauchon the Soulseeker: 30 Points, Endless Spell
• Chronomantic Cogs: 40 Points, Endless Spell
• Total 2000 Points
This is a magic-heavy army that relies on getting off some endless spells and charges to build up rend. A unit of Harridans is going to throw a ton of attacks into an opponent which if they are wounded are hitting and wounding on 3’s, which if you can pair with the Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed can be dishing out some serious damage.
Especially if they ignore ward saves, the key is to build up their rend, which the Purple Sun is key here. That’s already a -1 to save negating their all-out defense ability, then if you get a charge off with the knight of shrouds (try using Lauchon the Soulseeker to get very close) and then saving a CP to re-roll a Dreadscythe Harridan charge and if your lucky they will be at least -2 if not -3 save on the two successful charges ignoring rend.
Use the command point from the knight of shrouds so that immediately after the attacks your harridans do (unless you caused them to strike last) and chances are you are going to kill whatever you charged. The Banshees are perfect seek and destroy units though are not going to survive much, so be sure to get them into the right combat and have their opponent striking last if possible. They can also pile in with your other units to further debuff your opponent.
With this army, we are going to bring out three different battalions, the first being Command Entourage which will have most of your heroes and let you get your bonus artifact. Then you’re going to take Expert Conquerors and place your battleline units in there to get the additional points towards objectives. Finally, you will take Bounty Hunters and put the Banshees in there to do additional damage to your opponent’s Galatian units.
The general I am making my knight of shrouds the general and giving him the arcane tome with the flaming weapon spell, getting him into combat via Lauchon is key and a wizard needs to ride the boat, then if you support him with Harridans, it’s even better. For his command trait, I am going with Hatred of the Living to allow him to re-roll hit and wound rolls against non-death units. After that, with my bonus artifact, I am taking the Midnight Tome on the Guardian of Souls allowing them to cast the purple sun for free once a game which is key to supporting the Harridans and their many attacks.
Playing Nighthaunt The Scarlet Doom: 2,ooo Point List
Next, we will finish up the book with The Scarlet Doom: Bladegheist Revenants become a battleline unit, and every time they make a charge move roll a dice for each model in the unit. On a 5+ they deal a mortal wound to an enemy unit within 1” of them.
• Lady Olynder: 340 Points, Leader 1 of 6
• Dreadblade Harrow: 145 Points, Leader 2 of 6
• Guardian of Souls: 150 Points, Leader 3 of 6
• Spirit Torment: 115 Points, Leader 4 of 6
• Krulghast Cruciator: 150 Points, Leader 5 of 6
• 3 Spirit Hosts: 125 Points, Battleline 1 of 3 Required
• 20 Bladegheist Revenants: 350 Points, Battleline 2 of 3 Required
• 20 Bladegheist Revenants: 350 Points, Battleline 3 of 3 Required
• 10 Dreadscythe Harridans: 160 Points, No Unit Type
• Purple Sun of Shyish: 70 Points, Endless Spell
• Chronomantic Cogs: 40 Points, Endless Spell
• Total 1995 Points
This is all about getting your Bladegheists into the thick of things and dishing out those mortal wounds on a charge. With 20 on a charge, you are averaging between 6-7 mortal wounds on the charge alone, then add in these guys’ attacks which they are no pushovers in combat either.
If you can position the cogs to give them re-rolling charges as well that could really save your neck if you get some bad luck as well. Positioning the Dreadblade Harrow to mimic an improved ward save command ability is a nice bonus as well, so don’t think he needs to be in combat. Then use the Spirit Torment and Guardian of Souls to return those slain Revenants back to the units that might have suffered some shooting casualties to keep them rolling.
Just remember to always retreat and charge with these guys, their mortal wound on the charge increases their damage output by a lot.
For Battalions in this one, I am taking three different ones, the command entourage to get a bonus artifact which will contain most of your leaders. Then Expert Conquerors have a unit of Bladegheist Revenants and the Spirit Hosts so they can better take the always important objectives. Finally, take the Bounty Hunters so that your other unit of Bladegheist Revenants and Dreadscythe Harridans can dish out some additional damage to your opponent’s galletian units.
For my general I am making the Sprit Torment my general and giving him the Lightshard of the Harvest Moon, boosting the attacks of a nearby Revenants unit for a turn. I am going with the Ruler of the Spirit Hosts, for the command trait, which gives me a chance to return 10 Revenants back if a unit gets shot off the board.
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.
There you have it my take on the final two sub-factions for the Nighthaunt book that was just released. Next time I will be covering all the changes to the endless spells in the General’s Handbook. Be sure to check out the other articles in the series below!
- Playing Nighthaunt: The Quicksilver Dead and The Scarlet Doom
- Playing Nighthaunt: The Emerald Lifeswarm and The Grieving Legion
More AoS How-To For Beginners & Veteran Players!
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