But let’s talk positives – if you play Reikenor’s Condemned between now and the new book, you get to benefit from both hit rerolls for Chainrasps as well as the +1 to hit from the new warscroll which is pretty nice if you want a brief period of supercharged Chainrasps. Oh and Myrmourn Banshees have an interesting defined role now, which is nice. These are equipped on Guardian of Souls only. They’re pretty niche and rarely taken but you will likely bring Guardian of Souls in many lists so it’s not entirely without merit. 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 All the warscrolls for Nighthaunt, including the new heroes Awlrach the Drowner and the Scriptor Mortis, and the new unit of Craventhrone Guard. Nagash is in here too! Cloak of the Waxing Moon –Makes the bearers feel no pain a 5+ instead of a 6+. Decent though you get better artefacts. B

Immune to Rend –All of your units ignore modifiers to saves, positive or negative making high rend opposition useless. AoS 3.0 and the new battle tome sees a major change in their play style but they retain their mobility which is one of the best reasons to play them. They also have access to and strong synergy with possibly, at least in my opinion, the most interesting model in the game – Nagash.

How to Play Nighthaunt: The Quicksilver Dead & The Scarlet Doom

To top everything off, there’s Vanishing Phantasms. As if it weren’t enough for Nighthaunt to hitch a ride with Awlrach the Drowner and hop around the battlefield at will, this new ability gives them even more potential for jump scares. Balefire Blade –Add 1 to the damage characteristic of a bearer’s melee weapon. Solid all around weapon choice. B The Nighthaunt book is pretty dry on Command traits. There aren’t a few different tables for each type of commander, it’s just one with 6. They’re pretty mediocre, so many will choose to run Lady Olynder as a General due to her special ability rather than getting a command trait, we’ll discuss what that does in her unit entry but it is pretty competitive. 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+ Have you felt the chill of the grave rising through a faint mist? You enjoy painting pale figures stalking out of the horizon and falling on your enemy like the tide? Or have you read the lore and know that Nagash is the true inheritor of the World that Was and you want to join the right team? Have you decided it is time to up your miniature storage game?

Moving like a ghostly cyclone, the creatures known as Bladegheist Revenants spin in a frenetic fashion. They are souls taken from those who met particularly tormenting ends - those sealed in spike-ridden encasements, choked beneath water or buried alive. Their last living thoughts were a frenzy of desperation, a last flurry of defiance in an attempt to break free. Thanks to Nagash's terrible curse, that horrible ending moment has been preserved forever in the Bladegheist Revenants. [1a] Five Crossboos won’t really have any impact on the game, but bumping them up to ten will take up one of your precious reinforcement points and cost 190 points, more expensive than the excellent Namarti Reavers or even the continually problematic Lumineth Sentinels. This, dear reader, is not a good unit. If you were desperate for ranged firepower, consider Chainghasts. Or, better yet, consider another army. Just remember to always retreat and charge with these guys, their mortal wound on the charge increases their damage output by a lot. Mortalis Terminexus –Casting Value 6. Predatory endless spell that moves 8″. After moving the model the controlling player chooses to reverse time (Heal D3 wounds for all units within 6″) or advance time (Deal D3 wounds in 6″). In Shyish the range is increased to 12. Actually decent utility and could see use. Much more diversity in artefacts here, 3 tables with 6 weapons, 6 relics and 3 lanterns which are exclusively used by Guardian of Souls. Weapons of the Damned

Much better choices than your weapons, 2 go-tos for most tournament lists are here the Pendant of the Fell Wind and Midnight Tome.

Poor Army Traits/Artefacts –As a launch battletome Nighthaunts have really mediocre army traits and artefacts. Sign up to the Warhammer Community newsletter to avoid being petrified, stunned, or shrieking with surprise, with more news like this delivered right to your inbox. Finally an equivalent for All Out Defense ! As we’ve spoken about in Hammer of Math articles before, a 5+ ward is more than twice as good as a 6+ ward, because any saved wound has a higher chance of being saved again. Using this ability at just the right time will be absolutely game winning. We’ve taken to calling this ability All Out Ghost in the Goonhammer office. Frightful Touch

This list is meant to be straightforward and adaptable. Everything is in a battle regiment to give control of priority, however there is an option to place 3 of the battle line infantry into Expert Conquerors and the remainder into a Battle Regiment. Expert Conquerors makes the infantry count as 3 models on objectives – the Chainrasp would count as 60 models. Our Preference is to go second to make your opponent come to you (keep out of line of sight if they have shooting) and hopefully get the double turn. You can also redeploy up to 3 units via Vanishing Phantasms into reserve before the start of combat and then set them up in ambush (9” from the enemy). While before Nighthaunt could ‘deep strike’ using From the Underworld They Come , now at the end of deployment but before determining control of objectives you can choose up to three units and remove them from the battlefield to return to play at the end of any movement phase 9” away from enemy units. This is incredible, because your opponent has presumably deployed in response to how your army has been, but then you completely rewrite the battlefield. It also doesn’t limit how many units can leave the table – if you’re playing a small game with four units, you can hide one and put the other three into reserves before the game begins. The first key unit though isn’t a unit, the Procession, Emerald Host, will get a lot of work done for us through the Emerald Curse Slitter –Before piling in, nominate a model within 1″ of the bearer and roll a die. If it is higher than the unit’s wound characteristic then it is slain. Good for a guaranteed extra killed model, and might occasionally tap a Hero too. B+ Huge glow up – Probably more than any other army in the game, Nighthaunt really needed an upgrade, with an old book containing old units and army-wide rules that seemed outdated just as the book was launched. The units are now generally much improved but the battle traits in particular are a lot better.

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. B Spiteful Spirit lets you roll a number of dice equal to your general’s Wounds characteristic on any turn they’re injured, inflicting a mortal wound on each enemy unit within 6” on a 4+. Most Nighthaunt generals that see combat aren’t going to be alive there very long, and while it might be cute as a little bomb it still doesn’t meet the mark for us. Reroll all failed hit rolls for Chainrasps within 15″ of spirit torment or Chainghasts. This would be awesome if Spirit Torments and Chainghasts were just a bit better, as it stands the tax is just too high. Chainguard The Nighthaunt Vanguard set makes it easy to get into the army and gives you a reasonable starting position.

Best of all, you can combine multiple effects by making multiple charges. When your spectral hosts really gang up, they form a terrifying tidal wave that can overwhelm even the hardest targets with a dread combo of Shriek, Stun and Petrify, leaving them utterly helpless to retaliate – and with the updated Ethereal ability, you can retreat and charge again and again and again…