The ethereal hosts of the Nighthaunt are the embodiment of torture, cursed by Nagash to an eternity of cruel and ironic suffering. Of course, being banished by the do-gooding (or do-badding) enemies of Death would cut that suffering short,* so the Supreme Lord of the Undead has ensured that destroying his haunting horrors is no easy task.
The upcoming Battletome: Nighthaunt doesn’t just boast spectral sharpshooters and perilous pencil-pushers – it's about to get a whole lot tougher to shift these spooks.
The ectoplasmic warriors of the Nighthaunt have always benefited from the Ethereal ability, which dismisses modifiers to their save rolls, but the new battletome makes this bonus even more substantial. Er, insubstantial? Your gathered ghosts can now avoid even the most heinous wounds with a ward of 6+, befitting their intangible nature.
That’s not all – your Nighthaunt units can now retreat and charge, because if you've not got any legs there's very little to stop you from swirling in and out of melee.
Not only are your phantasmal tides even more challenging for your foes to destroy, it’s harder than ever to keep them pinned down. You can hold up furious charges with just a few swirling Spirit Hosts, and unleash charge after charge to benefit from your new and improved Wave of Terror.**
Unfortunately, being Ethereal makes it pointless for your lamented leaders to command an All-out Defence… so the Nighthaunt can Discorporate instead. This unique command ability boosts a friendly unit’s ward to 5+, as they flicker eerily between states of corporeality.
With a click of your ghostly fingers, you can transform Chainrasp Hordes into cloying quagmires to protect an objective from a vicious charge, or allow advancing Bladegheist Revenants to phase through lethal ranged attacks as they swarm towards their foes.
The Nighthaunt have plenty more tricks hidden up their tattered sleeves (and in their rotting hulls), which will present a unique challenge to commanders more used to fighting creatures of flesh and blood – living or otherwise.
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* Briefly, anyway. Nagash is petty enough that even dying twice won’t free you from his curse.
** We’ll discuss this later – it’s so terrifying that we felt the clammy hand of death*** the moment we started typing.
*** Or rather, the clammy hand of the Warhammer Community editor.