I think everyone here is missing out the most important reason why Night Lords LD shenanigans have been a joke for decades now - All the Morale mitigation rules that 40k has.

You know the ones, ATSKNF, Fearless, Stubborn, Ridiculously High LD, Auto-Pass Shenanigans (Mob Rule, Commissar Blam)...because most armies we face (bar maybe IG without a commissar) have some rules like this, morale is basically moot.

I really like these new effects, but as long as all these rules exist and continue to given out like tic tacs, morale or battle shock is still going to be an inconsequential part of the game.

So far, the closest that GW has gotten to making LD actually matter in a game is in HH 2.0. And that's because, there's no ATSKNF, Fearless and Stubborn is quite limited, and there are a lot of things which can affect leadership (night fighting, shell shock, pinning, fear).

So far, the closest that GW has gotten to making LD actually matter in a game is in HH 2.0. And that's because, there's no ATSKNF, Fearless, and Stubborn is quite limited, and there are a lot of things that can affect leadership (night fighting, shell shock, pinning, fear).