Night Lords – Nightmarish List 100PL/2000Pts
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Warhammer 40,000 – As part of my resolutions for the new year I decided to pick a solid list for each of the factions I own and stick with it until I get the hang of what the list can do. At the end of seventh edition I dipped my toe back into the Chaos soup and started a Night Lords force that was supposed to be very focused on a few formations. While it did very well in the new edition those formations didn't translate so well. You can get a similar effect spending command points on stratagems and building your core force as an Outrider Detachment but it's not exactly the same.
In this edition the Night Lords traits really want to focus on reducing leadership so you can force opponents to loose models to moral tests. Its a tricky way to kill off multi-wound models if you can manage to pull it off. In practice so far I've been less than impressed, but to stay fluffy I built this list to try and maximize any leadership shenanigans.
Battalion Detachment +3 CP
HQ - Terminator Lord, Mark of Khorne, Claws of the Black Hunt
HQ - Dark Apostle, Mark of Slaanesh, Power Maul, Combi-flamer
TROOP - 9x Cultists with Autogun, 1x Flamer, Mark of Slaanesh
TROOP - 9x Cultists with Autogun, 1x Flamer, Mark of Slaanesh
TROOP - 9x Cultists with Pistols and Brutal Assault Weapons, 1x Flamer, Mark of Khorne
FAST - Raptors, 2x Melta Gun, Champion with Lightning Claws, Icon of Despair, Mark of Nurgle
FAST - Raptors, 2x Melta Gun, Champion with Lightning Claws, Icon of Despair, Mark of Nurgle
FAST - Raptors, 2x Melta Gun, Champion with Lightning Claws, Icon of Despair, Mark of Nurgle
Vanguard Detachment +1 CP
HQ - Terminator Sorcerer, Mark of Nurgle, Combi-plasma, Force Sword
ELITE - Decimator 2x Butcher Cannons
ELITE - Terminators, 5x Combi-Plasma/Power Axe, Icon of Despair
ELITE - Terminators, 5x Combi-Plasma/Power Fist, Icon of Despair
FAST - Chaos Spawn, Mark of Khorne
HEAVY - Hellforged Leviathan Dreadnought, 2x Butcher Cannon Array, 2x Hellflamer
With this list I was able to work in my Raptors and Cultists from my old seventh edition list. I dropped my Raptor Lord in favor of a more durable Terminator Lord, I think most of the time I'm going to deep strike the Terminators so it makes more sense for him to be equipped like the rest of my Cataphractii Terminators.
The mix of marks within the force represents what I want each unit to focus on. Stratagems that allow Slaanesh to shoot again or Khorne to fight again make having troops kitted out to take advantage a sensible option. I think I'll keep the autogun cultists in the backfield holding objectives close to my deployment. The Khorne cultists will be a screen to run to objectives further away.
With 14 units in total, I can always deep-strike the Raptors and Terminators if I want to. It seems like a no-brainer to always bring them in on the first or second turn. The Alpha Strike can be potentially devastating to my opponent, when it works as intended. Keeping these juicy targets off the table for a turn or two also helps to limit the impact of my opponent's Alpha Strike. I know that keeping them off the table limits the impact the Terminators and Raptors have on the game, however I've had them shot off the table often enough to know the value of having them available late game.
The Decimator and Leviathan are my fire-bases for this force. I like them because they seem to fit the lighting strike style of the Night Lords better than something like a big tank. The Butcher Cannons are decent weapons that add to my reduce your leadership theme. If I can put a wound or two on a unit before the Raptors or Terminators roll in the odds of having them fail moral test are quite significantly higher.
Having built what I think is an amazingly cool Chaos Spawn, I try to work it into most of my lists. At 2PL or 33pts it fills up anything I have left when building a list. Fearsome also plays into my reduce your leadership theme. It's a shame the spawn don't retain the Legion Trait to get another knock of leadership but I supposed when you lose it and mutate out of control you might forget your training.
Currently, I play in two different locations regularly. With my local group we've embraced power level, it's easy and simple and 100PL seems to be close to 2000pts for most armies. The biggest stipulation is your models have to be WYSIWYG, allowing of corse for the occasional "I want to try this" proxy. When I go to a game store however, they are really dead set on using only points. Being as I'd like to use this list in both places I want to stay at or below 100PL and at or below 2000pts; Lucky for me I'm at exactly 100PL and 1994pts.
So what's my game plan?
