With the new Nighthaunt hitting shelves across the world, we caught up with master painter and devotee of all things Death, Tyler, to see how his army is coming along...
Tyler: Nighthaunts have always been an army that captured my imagination. There’s something very evocative about their models, even when it was just the Spirit Hosts, Hexwraiths, Cairn Wraiths, and Tomb Banshees. When I originally started the army back in 2016, it was because I was looking for a 1,000 point force I could take to a Warhammer Age of Sigmar Team Tournament at AdeptiCon in a couple of months time and wanted something I could paint quickly. I’m a notoriously slow painter, and in the past, most of my armies have taken me several years to complete. I picked a few models to test paint, including an Ironjawz ‘Ardboy, a Skaven, and a Cairn Wraith. After seeing how great the Cairn Wraith looked in a fairly short amount of time (I think I painted it in an evening) it was settled.
Like I said above, the original goal of the army was as a 1,000 point force for a team tournament. I knew I could just pack it full of Spirit Hosts, but I wanted a little variety, both for visual interest, and to break up what I was painting. After playing around with a few lists I landed on something that used at least one of every unit available besides a Black Coach. This included a Mourngul from Forge World to be my big, monstrous centrepiece. My initial force was completed within about 2 months with a small vacation break in the middle (when I visited Warhammer World for the first time actually!).
After taking them to AdeptiCon to use in the team tournament, my initial plans for them were done and I fully intended to move onto a different 1,000 points army. Something about them just drew me in, though, and I couldn’t resist the lure to expand them to a full 2,000 point matched play army. Another tournament was looming, but this time I had several months to prepare and paint. While a lot of this expansion included duplicating units I had already completed, I wanted to make sure I had a suitably impressive looking general to lead them. After fiddling around with some spare bits from the Mortis Engine kit, I made my Tomb Banshee conversion that was featured on here almost a year ago. Looking at her now, I’m fairly amused with how close she is in concept to Olynder.
With all the new hero options available to me, she’ll sadly have to resign the position of general, most likely to the Mortarch of Grief herself, though I do like to imagine she is one of Olynder’s handmaidens. A high ranking courtier in the Nighthaunt Processions. While the Allegiance Abilities in the General’s Handbook 2017 really opened up my playstyle last year, that’s nothing compared to the plethora of options available with the new Nighthaunt Battletome. To say I was excited about the Battletome is a bit of an understatement, and the new model range is fantastic! I eagerly added a Knight of Shrouds back during Malign Portents, who led my army at this past AdeptiCon. With all of the new models available, I was eager to get my hands on the Soul Wars box and start expanding my spectral host.
I was instantly drawn to the Lord Executioner. From the moment I saw a picture of that model I knew I had to paint it first. There’s just something so menacing about it in a really cool way. It also didn’t hurt that since I already have so many Spirit Hosts done, with his inclusion, it would be pretty easy to run an Execution Horde battalion. He also provided a nice test of applying my existing colour scheme to the new style of models.
Previously, most of the models I had painted were Spirit Hosts, which don’t have many distinguishing features on them besides their weapons that would have to be a different colour. That became the theme of my force, even across the Hexwraiths and characters. Everything was painted as ghostly, except for their weapons and chains and such, which I painted to look like they were solidifying from the spectral body. The new models have a bit more detail though, so these had to be approached slightly differently.
I had already tested these waters with the Knight of Shrouds a few months ago, and now I was able to put it into full force. On the Lord Executioner, this meant painting his hangman’s pole as solid as well as the axe. I also had to think of a way to separate out the floating heads from his main body so they didn’t all just blend together visually. I did this by blending the ends of their spectral strands to a darker colour.
The Chainrasps were next since I like to try to get the larger units done first so I can reward myself with a character model. These went fairly quick, with only their weapons and chains being picked out in different colours. I’m really happy with how my colour scheme applied to them and plan on expanding them out to a 40-strong unit in the future. I think the Dreadwarden who leads the unit may be one of my favourite new sculpts from the Soul War box. He has so much character for such an unassuming model.
I may have cheated a little bit while painting the Chainrasps and snuck the Knight of Shrouds on Steed into the mix. I mostly wanted to make sure my methods would work on him, but once I got going I found it hard to stop. Again, I had to find a way to visually separate the rider from the horse while maintaining the same colour across both. Since the darker blend worked so well on the Lord Executioner I applied it here to the Knight’s robes, as well as the horns on the horse. I really like how the spectral flames turned out, and I think it ties him in nicely to the Hexwraiths.
The Glaivewraiths were probably the quickest to paint, since they were only a four-strong unit. They came with five in the box, but since I am working towards a matched play force, I only painted four of them. This did leave me with a spare Glaivewraith, though, which I plan on using to test out other Nighthaunt color schemes for fun. This unit will be expanded out to a unit of eight, with the Glaivewrath Stalkers box, which I already have stacked over on my hobby table with a bunch more Nighthaunt.
The most recent model I painted was the Spirit Torment. This guy is so useful, I imagine he will be in a lot of army builds. On both of my Knights, I had gone for black armor for their helmets, but on the Spirit Torment I decided to go with a more traditional iron look since they are supposed to be the jailors of the Nighthaunt forces. I imagine he’s shackled in his own fetters with the rusted iron casing and helmet.
Right now, I have the Guardian of Souls on my painting table, with most of the ghostly bits already done. That’s what’s so great about this army. I’m able to paint them to a standard I’m happy within a fairly quick amount of time. I think the Spirit Torment only took me about two evenings, while the Chainrasps, which took the longest, were probably about a week and a half’s worth of evenings.
I’ve already set some pretty lofty goals for myself with this army. Considering what I already own and have painted, alongside what I know I’ll be adding anyway (all the new characters, a bunch of Grimghast Reapers, and some Bladegheists) I think I’m going to aim to complete all of the warscroll battalions from the battletome. I’m hoping to be able to field a fully painted Nighthaunt Procession in the future, which is the battalion that contains all of the other battalions in the army. With how quickly these are able to be completed, I think that’s a pretty attainable goal.
I already have a stack of Nighthaunt boxes waiting to be painted and another tournament coming up here in the Autumn, so it’s off to the ghostly races. After I finish up the Guardian of Souls, I think I’ll do a few of the Endless Spells for him to cast and then it’s the Mortarch of Grief’s turn under the brush...
Thanks, Tyler! If you’re looking to start a Nighthaunt army of your own, make sure to grab the Soul Wars boxed set, available now online and in stores.