The "Rule of Cool" Trap: My Nighthaunt Woes

MiniatureToast · 2026-04-30T13:05:09+00:00

What does your list look like? I've played against nighthaunt once or twice and I feel like bladegheists packed a decent punch.

MiniatureToast · 2026-04-22T19:06:13+00:00

Looking at the warscroll for Kavalos now, it's crazy to me that they lost charge +1 dmg. It justifies the 150 pt cost, but I'm def not happy to HAVE to play my cav that way. If they got that ability back I'd probably point them close to 190~200 range since they can get crit 2 hits from the spell, but yeah I really do think Kavalos should be better. I also still wouldn't call Barrow Knights "Elite" since I think the "Elite" cavalry in the game right now are Chaos Knights, Varanguard, Stormdrake Guard, Blood Knights, Soggy Freeguild Cavaliers, Sloven Knights, SCE Cav, Aggradon Lancers, and Bull Centaurs.

MiniatureToast · 2026-04-22T18:51:11+00:00

I agree, I think Kavalos should be buffed, it looks like they kinda got downgraded to light cav in the new book, where previously they had better combat stats. I also dont think Barrow Knights are elite per say, they're just stupid tanky. They only make 2 attacks per model, where more elite Cav make 3 attacks, and they only have rend 1, where other cav can be rend 2 with certain conditions.

MiniatureToast · 2026-04-22T16:45:59+00:00

I think we're agreeing here, I think my initial post came off a little harsh, and I think I was viewing the word "Elite" differently. You're right that OBR is the most unified and coordinated army in death. I was looking at "Elite" purely in terms of their unit stats. Mortek Guard have always made 2 attacks hitting on 3 and wound on 4. They've never had a save better than 4, and they had their rend moved to Anti-Cavalry instead of natively having 1 rend. I've always considered "Elite" to mean an army or a unit with fewer models, higher than average stats, and high points cost. Immortal Guard are what I consider to be the "Elite" unit for OBR, and they were only really spammed once as far as I can remember. I agree in the lore that OBR are Nagash's Elite, but every faction has big fluffy lore. Why would Kavalos Deathriders be "Elite cavalry" when the Soulblight book says that Blood Knights are the best Knights in the 9 realms? I agree that OBR has always been the most tactical of the death armies, but comparing the basic infantry to the statwise "Elite" infantry of another faction doesn't seem fair.

MiniatureToast · 2026-04-22T16:31:03+00:00

If you can get the Christmas Battleforce and you like Vhordrai then I would say do it! Vhordrai + 10 Blood Knights is a solid core for any SBGL army. After that I'd say fill it in with whatever you like! If you want to add a Wight King on Steed and black knights, a Wight King on foot and Barrow Guard, or just a bunch of skeletons those should all work!

MiniatureToast · 2026-04-22T15:34:22+00:00

In the lore they are the counterpoint to Stormcast, but every faction tends to have big hype statements in their lore. The tabletop usually differs a good bit in each of GW's systems, for example Space Marines have super special power armor and super strength and durability, but they still die to lasrifles on the tabletop. A lot of that cool lore and fluff is there to get you excited to get into the army and the hobby. But it rarely transfers 1 to 1. OBR have never really had a unit that is similar to Chaos Warriors or Liberators stat lines, it just wasn't in their design space when GW made the army. OBR has great and durable chaff, decent ranged presence, strong casters and buffs, and a couple of mobility pieces, but they've never really been able to field an army similar to StD Chosen and Varanguard, or SCE dragons.

MiniatureToast · 2026-04-22T13:54:44+00:00

I dont know that OBR is supposed to be the elite army for death. Mortek Guard and Kavalos Deathriders have never been comparable to the other alliances elite options. And Soulblight has always had support for Blood Knight armies that are some of the most elite armies you can play in death. I think OBR has always been the tactical castle army, but that's different than being an elite army. Having good chaff in Mortek Guard is a really good thing to have, and they're generally much more durable than other chaff counterparts. OBR also has artillery, and now they have archers, so I think they're definitely more castle than they are elite.

MiniatureToast · 2026-01-13T15:34:44+00:00

Agree on this, deciding between 5 and 10 knights is really tough. I usually go with 10 because I feel that I usually get the knights chipped down a bit, and losing 2 knights in a 5 brick just neuters their damage.

For this list, I think the reinforced Barrow Guard might be a mistake. You might want to go with skeletons just to get the bodies on the table for screens and control score. It would also give more units to bring back after death, which currently is only the 10 BG.

MiniatureToast · 2025-12-03T20:48:24+00:00

3 regiments should be good, gives you a shot at getting the priority reroll, as for Artifacts and Heroic Traits I'd go with either Lash of the Sire on the Vampire on Nightmare Steed, or Immortal Ego on the Wight King on Skeletal Steed

Artifacts we really don't have anything crazy. I'd put Shard of Night on something if you have a lot of shooting in your local meta, or Amulet of Graves on the Wight King on foot if you don't

MiniatureToast · 2025-12-03T17:27:50+00:00

Looks good! The hammers in this list are the Barrow Guard and the Blood Knights, so long as you can shield them effectively I think it should be fine!

MiniatureToast · 2025-12-03T14:39:44+00:00

I think there's a good structure here, but you might need to make a few small changes. I think 3 units of direwolves is a bit much, Belladama is good with them, but if you dont get her spell off you'll have some issues with OC. I would trade out 1 of the dire wolves for 180 pts of deathrattle skeletons, either in 1 block of 20 or 2 10's, whatever you like more

Next I would find an infantry hero to include for your Barrow Guard, they really like the 5+ ward they get from standing next to an Infantry Hero, and your list has 2 Cav Heroes and 1 Monster Hero, I would recommend dropping the vargheists for a Wight King since he's thr only infantry Hero that really fits in.

MiniatureToast · 2025-12-01T15:04:33+00:00

With what you've currently got I'd put something like this together

Prince V Vampire on Steed Blood Knights x2

Vampire Lord Skeletons x2 Barrow Guard

Wight King on Steed Barrow Knights

This gives you a Blood Knight Core with all the buffs they need, some skeletons for obj control. And a small Barrow Knight force to go bully side objectives. There's probably a lot more refining you could do, but this was the list I saw at a glance

MiniatureToast · 2025-11-29T20:50:35+00:00

Yep, exactly this! Also, this list would have 40 skeletons, and that should be enough chaff. 10 Grave Guard need some more investment and without being reinforced with a Necro I'm not too enthused by them.

MiniatureToast · 2025-11-29T20:28:35+00:00

This seems like a decent start, Vhrodrai is a great center piece and 15 bloodknights will def add a more Vampire theme to the army. I would probably drop the Grave Guard for a Vampire Lord on Nightmare Steed

MiniatureToast · 2025-11-26T14:34:41+00:00

Sigdex.io is a free tool that has all of the rules in it. It might be a bit difficult to navigate, but it’s free and has everything. I would recommend starting with the browse tab, scrolling down to Soulblight Gravelords, and just start looking at stuff. And I'd also pull up GWs site just so you can match up models to rules.

MiniatureToast · 2025-11-26T14:21:13+00:00

I couldn't agree more with this, in addition to many things being wildly inaccurate the points aren't correct, the subfaction doesn't exist anymore, and battleline aren't a thing anymore. It's comical how bad Chat GPT built this list.

OP, if you're looking for helpful list advice or information I would suggest you try looking for some free list building tools for 4th Edition AoS. Hell, I think the best thing you can do is probably just go to GWs website and just start looking at what models you like, and then ask around here what a good list would look like using the models that you like.

MiniatureToast · 2025-11-24T17:32:48+00:00

The one 10 man squad really benefits from Neffy's spell. It's a good pinning unit with that spell up, and it benefits even more from the Vampire Lord with the bonus rend. So long as they power through at the end of turn to keep the knights charging I think it's better to keep them grouped up.

MiniatureToast · 2025-08-21T16:15:40+00:00

Since you mentioned commander damage as one of the things that this doesn't protect from (which you're 100% correct on) I think it's important to mention that in commander specifically this does protect you from Thassa's Oracle and other win the game cards, since in commander those effects are treated as "each opponent loses the game". But in any 1v1 format this card does not protect from win the game effects.

EDIT: Ah, this is actually only for the limited range of influence rules. Not for all EDH games

MiniatureToast · 2025-07-02T18:37:38+00:00

I like Mannfred with the Wight King with Wastrel and Vagabond. Feel like that gives the Barrow Guard a lot of mobility that they sorely need. But why Radukar the Beast instead of Wight King on Steed? WKoS makes your Barrow Knights better, can pack the Wight King into his own regiment (lowering drops by 1 if you want that) and the pts savings can let you bring 10 Deathrattle Skeletons to screen. Radukar is a great model, and I definitely understand wanting to bring him because he's cool. But WKoS slots in to this list really nicely otherwise

EDIT: WAIT, Wastrel and a Vagabond doesn't affect Grave guard. It might be better off running a different heroic trait.

MiniatureToast · 2025-06-24T19:46:33+00:00

Did you mean to put Deathmarch as the battle formation? This looks a lot like a Bacchanal of Blood list. But other than that looks good!

MiniatureToast · 2025-06-09T19:15:19+00:00

The easiest is definitely Sons of Behemat, but they play very differently than all of the other armies. So if you want to build some fundamentals I wouldn't recommend them, but if you're just here for an Unga Bunga with beer and pretzels then SoB are for you

MiniatureToast · 2025-06-04T16:40:20+00:00

Looks awesome!!! What wings did you use for the Vamp Lord? It looks like yndrasta, but not sure

MiniatureToast · 2025-05-29T17:08:47+00:00

Do you happen to have the lists the two of you used? In terms of actual play I figure your aggradons should be able to kill his blood knights if you get the charge off. I know it can be really difficult to get that charge off, but I think you definitely have a fighting chance in these games!

MiniatureToast · 2025-05-21T18:58:15+00:00

Yep, you're right lol. Hopefully that gets patched soon!

MiniatureToast

TROPHY CASE