Age of Sigmar: Nighthaunt ‘Wave of Terror’ Rule Explored
The new Nighthaunt Battletome has some new tricks up those spooky sleeves. Get ready for the a new Wave of Terror to come crashing down.
As a Nighthaunt player I’ve been waiting for the new book because I was really hoping for some improvements. Things are sounding positive so far with the changes to Ethereal. But that was just the tip of the scary iceberg that is their rules. Today, GW is showcasing a few more rules that will help these ghost be a lot less friendly on the tabletop.
“The new battletome brings a fresh Wave of Terror to these ethereal apparitions, ensuring they hit even harder. Every time one of your Nighthaunt units makes a charge, you can compare the unmodified charge roll to the Wave of Terror table, and apply a petrifying penalty to a nearby enemy unit.”
Wave of Terror Rules
This ability essentially replaces the old “slot machine” version of the rule where the Nighthaunt unit would be allow to swing immediately during a charge if they rolled an unmodified 10 or more. Personally, I’m glad this rule changed so much as the old version was very swingy. This new one is a bit more reliable and has some interesting mechanics to it as well.
Basically, if you roll an unmodified 4+ then the unit being charged is going to get tagged with one of the debuffs from the lists. Shriek is a -1 to hit. Stun is a -1 to save rolls. and Petrify is cause the unit to strike last. The best part about these rules is that the debuffs stack. You can hit a unit with multiple Nighthaunt units and keep piling on the effects. Pretty handy for an army that can retreat and charge in the same turn.
Now, keep in mind that the “to hit” modifier caps out at -1. But getting multiple -1s to hit on a unit will cancel out any +1s to hit. On the flip side, that -1 from save rolls doesn’t have a cap as far as I can tell. This could be a powerful way to stack lots of “rend” on Nighthaunt attacks. I’m betting that question shows up in an FAQ for the Nighthaunt Battletome.
In anycase, this is a potent new tool in the army and really illustrates how this army’s play style will work. It’s literally going to be an ebb and flow of “charge, retreat, charge” units constantly moving in and out and around the enemy.
Processions of the Dead
The Nighthaunt are also getting a new set of Processions to choose from. Some of these were introduced via White Dwarf articles but they have been incorporated into the new battletome.
The Grieving Legion prevents enemy units from retreating from engagement range from them if the unit has 10 or more models. This is also the “default” option as it’s the home of Kurdoss Valentian. Personally, I’m probably going to give this one a spin first.
If you were a fan of Bladegheist Revenants and wished you had a Procession of your own, well, congrats! The Scarlet Doom is for you. This Procession basically makes your Bladegheist Revenants cause mortal wounds on the charge with a 5+. Not too shabby — but plenty stabby!
More Army Wide Tricks
The Nighthaunt also have the ability to mess around with some deployment tricks. Vanishing Phantasms allows you to redeploy upto 3 units from the tabletop back into reserves. Then at the end of your movement phase you can drop 1 or more units into ambush on the tabletop more than 9″ away. This opens up quite a few “bait and switch” deployment options.
It also allows you to get those new Craventhrone Guard into shooting range on turn 1!
I’m very curious about the rest of the army and can’t wait to see the codex in full. The Nighthaunt army is already sounding scarier than its current iteration and I’m looking forward to giving it a spin.
Get ready for a tidal wave of terror as these ghosts will be charging, retreating, and charging again and again and again…
