Today we’re going to be taking a look at how to build a 2,000 point Nagash Legion of Night army for Age of Sigmar. Come see a complete breakdown and a great place to start your new army.
Malign Portents might have concluded but that doesn’t mean Death is going to take a back seat any time soon.
Continuing through the legions of Nagash book we have done a Legion of Sacrament and a Legion of Blood so this week we will look at Nagash’s third legion, the Legion of Night. This one is lead by Mannfred Von Carstein and will include the battalion “Nightfall Pack” which will take up a majority of your army.
Legion of Night alliance abilities: Bonus command trait (not going to use as Mannfred as your general), Artifacts of Night, picking graveyard points that let you heal summonable units within 9″, a 6+ save against all unsaved wounds or mortal wounds, all Deathrattle units wholly in your territory add 1 to their save rolls, and you can set you to three units to the side in ambush. At the end of your movement phase, you can set them up within 6 inches of the table edge more than 9 inches away from enemy models.
- Mannfred Von Carstein (420 points): Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
- 3 Vargheists (160 points): No unit type
- 3 Vargheists (160 points): No unit type
- 40 Skeleton Warriors (280): Battleline 1 of 3
- 40 Skeleton Warriors (280): Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Skeleton Warriors (80): Battleline 3 of 3
- Nightfall Pack (140): Battalion
Mannfred Von Carstein:
Move damage table (16 down to 4) Fly, Save 4+, 10 Bravery, 11 Wounds. He has 4 different melee attacks the first is Gheistvor: Range 1, 4 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for D3 damage. (If you cause any wounds with this add 1 to his next casting or unbinding roll) Sickle-glaive attack: Range 2, 2 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for 2 damage. Claws attack: Range 1, attacks damage table (6 down to 2), hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with -2 rend for 2 damage. Finally, his spirit’s attack: Range 1, 6 attacks, hitting on a 5+, wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. (Hit rolls of 6+ do a mortal wound instead of normal damage). He heals 2 wounds in any combat phase that he killed a model, his armor negates the first wound or mortal wound he suffers once per turn, and he has Deathly Invocation which lets him target 4 summonable friendly units and heal D3 wounds. For magic, he can cast two spells with his unique spell being Wind of Death that has casting value of 7, range 18, and deals D3 mortal wounds to a model and 1 mortal wound to all units within 6 inches. If he successfully casts a spell he adds 1 to all hit and wound rolls for Gheistvor. Finally, his command ability has damage table range (15 down to 3) that lets you re-roll all hit and wound rolls of 1 for friendly death units.
Vargheists:
Move 12 (Fly), 5+ Save, 10 bravery, 4 wounds. Fang and Talon attack: Range 1, 3 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for 2 damage. The leader gets a bonus attack, and whenever you slay an enemy model roll a D6 for the model that killed it, on a 6+ they can make an additional attack.
Skeleton Warriors:
Move 4, 1 wound, 6+ save (if the opponent has no rend add 1 to the roll), and 10 bravery. You can either arm these with spears or blades: Spear is 1 attack with a 2-inch range, hitting on a 5+, wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. The blade has a 1-inch range with 1 attack hitting and wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. With more than 20 models each model gets 1 extra attack, and with 30 models each gets 2 extra attacks. They get a bonus 1 to hit rolls if they are within 18 inches of a Death hero. The champ has 2 attacks rather than 1, horn blower lets them charge at least 6 inches (unless the charge roll is higher), and the icon nearer subtracts 1 Bravery from enemy units within 6 inches.
Nightfall Pack:
Gives your Vargheists +1 to their attacks when they charge and lets Mannfred re-roll his Deathly Invocation ability on any Skeleton Unit from Nightfall Pack.
This brings you up to 1520 and includes a heavy hitting general, fast moving and heavy hitting flyers, and huge blocks of skeletons that will be hard to kill off. However, they are lacking some support and mortal wounds so to make up for that we are going to add three leaders to help support them. The two necromancers and vampire lord have access to spells, and the vampire lord can dish out some damage in melee. Finally, a Wright King to round out the force, and keep those two blocks of 40 skeletons above 30 models.
- Necromancer (110 points): Leader 2 of 6
- Necromancer (110 points): Leader 3 of 6
- Vampire Lord (140 points): Leader 4 of 6
- Wright King (120 points): Leader 5 of 6
Necromancer:
Move 5, 5 wounds, 6+ save, and a bravery of 10. Staff attack: Range 2, 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound, with 1 rend for D3 damage, you are going to want to stay out of combat with him. He has an ability where, every time he takes a wound, on a 4+ he can transfer the wound to a nearby Death unit. He has Deathly Invocation, where he can pick two summon units within 6″ and heal or bring back D3 wounds or models to the unit. Finally, his unique spell is Vanhel’s Danse Macabre with a casting value of six allows a friendly summonable unit within 18 to pile in and attack twice in your next combat phase.
Vampire Lord on Nightmare
Move 10″ (when on Nightmare), 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 5 Wounds. Spirit Possessed Blades: Range 1″, four attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for D3 damage. Nightmare’s Hooves and Teeth: Range 1″, two attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, for one damage. He heals a wound at the end of EACH combat phase that he kills a model and his Chalice of Blood lets him heal D6 wounds once per battle in your Hero phase. He is a wizard that can cast one spell a turn. If successful, one enemy unit subtracts one from each of its unit’s melee weapons (to a min of one). He picks three friendly summonable units within 12” and can heal or return D3 wounds at the start of your hero phase. Finally, his command ability is Blood Feast, which lets you pick a friendly Death unit within 15″ and models within that unit make one extra attack with their melee weapons.
Wright King on Horse:
Move 12, Save 3+, 10 Bravery, 5 Wounds. His Tomb Blade attack has 4 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for one damage. If a wound roll with his blade attack is a 6+, it deals D3 damage. Then he has Deathly Invocation where he can pick two summon units within 6″ and heal or bring back D3 wounds or models to the unit. Finally, his command ability allows a friendly Death Rattle unit within 18″ to add one to their attacks characteristic.
Loadouts: I like the models on horses as it adds to their movement and gives them 2 bonus attacks from the horse. Also, the Wright King on Horse has a 3+ save rather than a 4+ which is nice against shooting attacks. (2+ from alliance ability if he is in your territory). The skeleton warriors need the ancient spears for the +1 to range to allow you to maximize the unit. With that bonus 1-inch range you are getting tons of additional attacks from the back models of your large blocks. For your bonus spells give Mannfred the Vile Transference Spell to help keep him healed and do some bonus mortal wounds. The Vampire Lord give him the Amaranthine Orb spell for some bonus mortal wounds if you decide not to cast Mystic Shield with him. For your two necromancers give one Spectral Grasp to hinder movement of your opponent’s models, while the other give Fading Vigour to effect attacks and their charge rolls. Finally, with artifacts, I would give the vampire lord the Cursed Book as he is going to be in the thick of combat, and your bonus artifact to the Wright King the Gem of Exsanguination which will give you a one-off mortal wound dealing artifact
Tactics: Your main tactic is to get 80 skeletons (two blocks of 40) into combat ASAP and keep the model count above 30. Put the Wright King inside one block and the Vampire Lord inside the other to keep them safe from turn 1 alpha strikes. If you do this and keep them within Mannfreds command ability they are dishing out 3 attacks a piece with range 2, hitting on a 4+ (1 from their bonus), wounding on a 4+, and re-rolling 1s. With a pile-in you’re talking over 100 attacks per block. Oh, and if you cast your necromancers unique spell they can do that twice! All your heroes can restore D3 models to the skeletons, so you are getting back 5-15 skeletons per hero phase. Your Vargheists I would set up in ambush and use them to effect objectives or to harass spell casters / archers in your opponent’s backfield. Keep the unit of 10 skeletons back to claim an objective in your home turf or absorb wounds from your necromancers.
There you have it the third of Nagash’s Legions coming in at 2000 points with lots of skeletons! I really like how each one of his lieutenants has their own flavor that they bring to the army. Now all that is left is to fill out a force with the main man Nagash himself.
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