Codex Night Lords

[DevilDante]

Wait how can furies be a gun? And wouldnt it hurt them to be used as legs? It would be damn cool but hard to make.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I meant that the furies are in a cage, and the cage forms the guns/legs/claws, so the furies are trapped in a 'living' cage.

[DevilDante]

ahhh i see, kinda.... lol did you notice we seem to be the only ones posting here?

[Brother Nihm]

I have a suggestion.

 

Make the furies count as the upgrade "Living vehicle" :D

[Lord_Caerolion]

Thats a good idea Nihm! :lol: and yes i did know we are the only ones posting on this topic now.

[DevilDante]

Now theres 3 of us! I find it funny that i dont even play Nl but i post here. But i am planning to make a small force.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Same here! I started to build a Night Lords force a while ago, but it changed to a slaaneshi force of my own design. After looking at this topic it rebuilt my desire for a Night Lords force.

[Brother Nihm]

I'm currently thinking of rewriting the Codex Night Lords (this post) to include ideas for fielding them. (maybe add some painting/conversion tips etc.)

 

Any ideas for breaking it down?

[Lord_Caerolion]

The overwhelming force vs total stealth issue needs to be confronted for one. Other than that have something about maybe a self-imposed rule that furies can only be summoned from icons carried by raptors, due to their enslavement.

[Brother Nihm]

Oh I wont change the existing rules or cement the fluff aspects (I prefer people to come up with their own version or take on things)

 

I imagine the "codex" to be more of a general guideline to collecting, painting and fielding a Nightlord army; along with several tactics etc. for use on the battlefield.

[razzit]

Perhaps you might find some time to analyse the NL's strengths and weaknesses Codex-wise and try to show how that affects our play style options - we have all seen Night Lords-wannabe armies with an uber-powerful Lord, 3 Oblits and Havocs and min/max squads with Stealth Adept...

 

Oh, and the never take MoCU, use Personal Icons instead misconception might probably be set straight, finally. ;)

[Brother Nihm]

Perhaps. ;)

I'll post a rough outline of what I have in mind, tomorrow.

[Brother Nihm]

Hey,

The following is a rough outline and still a work in progress.

I was thinking something along these lines:

 

CODEX NIGHTLORDS

 

::SPECIAL RULES::

by McSatanism & Nihm

 

The Nightlords have the option to get 4 Fast attack options by sacrificing 2

from Heavy Support. While it has it's uses, please note that you don't have

to sacrifice the Heavy support options if you don't want to.

ie. you may select to keep the standard 3 HS slots.

 

Nightvision - we get it for free and it doesn't take up a veteran skill choice.

While Nightvision looks good on paper, it really isn't very useful if you

rely on long-range firepower like myself. Note that if you use alot of heavy weapons, giving your vehicles the Searchlight upgrade is not a bad idea.

 

 

::MARKS OF CHAOS:: (to MoCU or not to MoCU)

by McSatanism & Nihm

 

We have access to one mark only, namely the Mark of Chaos Undivided. (aka

MoCU)

The mark allows your squads to reroll your morale checks, giving your force

additional staying power throughout the game. Taking the Mark also limits

your veteran skills to 1 skill per squad/character.

 

If you dont mark your troops, you can load up on vet skills.

Although expensive, this gives your squads access to interesting combinations of

abilities.

A lascannon tank hunter squad with stealth adept is extremely annoying to remove, and packs alot of power.

Like wise, a squad of infiltrating raptors with furious charge can seriously mess up a player with a first-turn hard hitting charge; provided they are able to infiltrate (see the details for the different mission levels)

As an alternative to using the MoCU, you can kit out your rhinos and/or dreadnoughts with Dirge casters, thereby rendering nearby squads fearless.

 

 

::UNITS::

HQ

*Chaos Lord

by McSatanism & Nihm

 

Nasty Character with the ability to become a daemon prince if you grant him

enough gifts of chaos and/or Daemonic Stature.

There are countless combinations of wargear, gifts and psychic powers but

most of them are only useful in close combat.

It's tempting to go overboard on the upgrades but remember, you should only

kit him out for the job at hand.(no need to give him a shooting weapon/ability if he will only see close combat)

I think that it's also worth mentioning that should your lord become a

Daemon Prince by either giving him Daemonic Stature and/or 51 points or more

of daemonic gifts; or a psyker, he will become vulnerable to several Eldar

and Daemonhunter units as well as the dreaded Culexus assassin (if he's a psyker).

I tend to favour a Lt in games below 1500. He cheaper and gets the job done

at 2/3 the cost of my regular Lord.

In games of 1500 points and above, I like to field a Daemon prince with

wings. But if I'm playing for less than 1500, I always use a Lieutenant.

 

 

Psychic powers:

For psychic powers I would go for a Lt. with flight/a bike, warp focus, MoCU

and Gift of Chaos.

Or a DP with flight and Wind of Chaos.

The ability to quickly get to a location and immediately wreak some havoc,

is something I love.

 

 

*Chaos Lieutenants

The lieutenant can be a cheap and effective HQ choice as opposed to a fully

fledged Lord/Daemon prince.

A favorite strategy of mine is to use him as a counter attacking unit.

For this I kit him out with frag grenades, a bolt pistol, darkblade, spiky bits,

daemonic speed, visage and daemonic resilience.

Over the course of a game, he almost always kills as many enemies (if not more)

as my winged daemonprince.

This is because the prince being statured and all, presents a large and tempting target for all those lascannons on the other side of the board ;) so he seldom lives long.

The Lt on the other hand, he hangs back - hiding inside the squad he has joined, until it's time to move. His added Ld bonus also comes in handy for target selection if I choose to attach him to a Havoc squad.

 

 

 

*Chosen in power armor

 

 

*Chosen terminators

by Nihm

 

Given the individual cost as well as the cost of the different weapon upgrades, I think that the usefulness of terminators are best applied in

close combat.

A squad of 6 chosen geared for CC along with 2 heavy flamers, can be very

effective. Note that your opponent can remove casualties leaving you out of charge range.

There are many different weapon combinations available to chaos termies and I will not delve deeper into them at this time.

 

*Obliterators

by Nihm

 

Really good looking models, obliterators have awesome abilities (morph

weapons to fit any situation, never run away etc). Not being Iron Warriors,

we can only take a single squad of 1-3 oblits. I've found that what works

best for me is to include 2 and have them deepstrike down and crack open

enemy tanks or deploy them and have them hang back and provide covering

fire.

Please note that Obliterators can make mincemeat out of Necron monoliths in

CC.

Other than that, you should try to avoid getting them into CC as their real

strength lies in shooting.

 

 

*Possessed

Excellent conversion possibilies.

*yada yada more to come* :lol:

 

 

*Chaos Space Marines

by Axelonius & Nihm

 

Chaos marines are the ultimate choice in your army.

They are tactically flexible and have the ability to be armed for various

roles.

Anti tank, Close combat, anti infantry, fire support you name it - these bad

boys can do it.

 

I say load up on the squads of Chaos Marines to flesh out your army.

No less than three squads of at least 8 each (don't rule out having squad

sized of 10-20).

THEN you can build the army around that core.

Never scrimp out on the core units in favour of the flashy units.

 

 

*Chaos Rhinos

by Axelonius & Broccoli

 

Though Rhinos have lost alot of their 'oomph', they are not completly

worthless.

They can move squads to firing positions, they can act as barriers to your

expensive units, and never underestimate the scare factor of an excellently

converted rhino.

An example:

*Rhino gets destroyed*

Opponent: "YEA!!! I killed that big powerful scary tank!!!"

You: It was rhino...

Opponent: (Now realising that the rest of your army is upon him)... oh...

 

one tactic you might want to try is ... to tail the rhinos with your

raptors/bikes ... they should all be moving 12" at least, so there's no

problems with keeping up ... mobile terrain is fun!

 

 

*Chaos Raptors

by Axelonius & Nihm

 

Though Raptors are sometimes not worth there massive point cost, their

ability to rapidly move about the field and frag those pesky tanks (With 3

meltas no less) or engage those lingering devastators is priceless.

*more to follow on raptors*

 

 

*Chaos Bikes

by Axelonius & Kazak

 

Bikes are also an excellent option for pretty much the same reason, except

that they have a bit of a higher survivability through the +1 toughness.

Turbo boosting is nice but, the bikes can be easily assaulted because of

their usually close proximity to the enemy. Power weapons anhilate them.

 

 

*Furies

 

 

*Dreadnoughts

 

 

*Predators

 

 

*Landraiders

 

 

*Havocs

 

 

 

 

::VETERAN SKILLS::

Move through cover

Skilled riders

Furious charge

Tankhunter

Infiltrate

raptors and infiltrate

 

Stealth adept is your friend. It makes people cry when they fire plasma rounds at your squads in cover, and you tell them you're rolling your

3+ cover save because of the ruins you're sitting in.

Night vision

Siege specialists

 

Stealth Adept

Night Vision

 

 

::ARMY PLANNING::

by McSatanism & Nihm

 

BACKGROUND LORE VERSUS ARMY COMPOSITION:

There are really no one true way of constructing your army so it fits the

background. There are many reasons that can justify different setups.

You could easily argue that your army consists of traitors from the days of

the horus heresy, that even though are not sworn to chaos; they could easily

have been corrupted by exsposure to the warp.

You could also argue that your army is led by a chaos lord who has been

elevated to daemonhood, thus justifying the use of possessed marines.

The Nightlord theme I like the most is the bitter non-daemonic force. When I

construct lists I almost always take a Lord that is non-daemonic, or have

the wargear on him represented as non-daemonic stuff. Like Daemonic aura

could be a refractor field, and Daemonic Strength could be a bionic arm

ect.. I find that it's okay to push this one a bit because I can see Night

Lords using the power of chaos for their own personal gain, but they would

never willingly submit to the power of chaos.

 

GENERAL PLANNING:

Take big, scary squads that will rattle the enemy's morale, and make him do

stupid things. You'd be suprised how many times people fire at a squad of

raptors instead of the rhino holding your chosen squad with lord and 3

aspiring champs.

 

Things like obliterators or havoc squads that can rip apart whole squads in

a turn are a good anchor for your army, and often times, that's enough to

win the game. In larger point games, squads like raptors or landraider borne

assault squads and bikers can be used to smite the enemy after they have run

the gauntlet of firepower.

 

Also, when using your assault power, remember to use overwhelming force.

Have your anchor deploy to lure the enemy into countering them, then use

your speedy assault units to hit them where they least expect it. NEVER

split up. Spreading yourself to thin is a very bad idea. pick one flank, and

hammer it, forcing your enemy to fight your whole assault force with only

part of his army at a time.

If he tries to pull a refused flank, supporting his squads, remember to

stick to your mission objectives. Unless you're confident that you can break

his position with force, then go for the win and make HIM break his own

position. Pick him apart piece by piece.

 

For the most part try to construct your army so that the units will support

eachother, a single and powerful (not to mention costly) elite unit no

matter the type, will be smashed in no time if it's unsupported.

 

Note: in my opinion Daemonic Visage is a must, give it to everyone you can

and blasphemous rune for any dreads/rhinos! :P

 

COMMON ARMY TEMPLATES:

At the top of my head, I'd say that there are 5 distinct armies you can

field.

These are:

-CC oriented

-Shooty

-Fast attack

-Mix

-Fury Bomb

 

CC ORIENTED:

 

SHOOTY:

 

FAST ATTACK:

Unless you are going for a Furie daemon bomb (see tactics section below), I

advise against taking 4 Fast Attack options for the following reasons:

1. Fast Attack units are the most expensive models we have access to, taking

many of these will result in very few units on the table. A low model count

is bad in my opinion.

2. Fast Attack units die just as easily as regular marines apart from bikes,

who benefit from increased toughness and turboboost. Your opponent will

likely target your bikes with all his big guns for the same reason.

 

I use the following rule of thumb, When constructing my army lists:

Only a maximum of 1/3 of the total army cost should be spent on Fast Attack.

Don't get lured into thinking you have to take lots of fast attack for night

lords. If it's a small game, don't bother. Chaos fast attack units generally

run between 200-300 points for a combat effective unit, Which is a lot.

Games are won and lost at the composition phase. Make sure you have a plan

for all your units. Don't take raptors just because they are your signature

unit, make sure you can effectively use and support them.

 

 

MIX:

 

FURY BOMB:

See Special tactics below.

 

::SPECIAL TACTICS::

by Nihm

Wings of Fury:

One of the nastier things we NL can pull is a so called Fury bomb. (more to come on fury bombing)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits:

AmCjkh

Annubis

Argan

Axelonius

Boot

Broccoli

-][-Danek-][-

Kazak

Konradcurze

Hellsing

Iron Warrior w/ Servo Arm

Hunter

Lotharthehuscarl

McSatanisim

Maladon

Nine_Breaker

Pacific81

SynapsyS

The_Night_Lords_Hero

[razzit]

You might consider adding something like the following to the Marks of Chaos section:

MoCU is also required for summoning Furies, so the unit/character bearing the Icon must be marked.

 

Also, the Special Rules section might mention our Stealth Adept skill, especially in connection with Havoc squads or min/max troops squads.

[Brother Nihm]

I will thanks.

 

Keep them coming. :lol:

[Haeslich]

Given the presence of 4 potential fast attack slots, this prolly doesn't occur to the average player, but how well do Bike Mounted Chosen perform, in this army? My buddy and I were batting around the idea yesterday.

 

See, the pro's of the idea for me, is that I want to include at least 2 units of furies, and 2 units of raptors to summon them by. With four FA slots used, I don't have any room for the bikes, though.

 

Anyway, was looking for some experienced thoughts on the subject, if anyone has some.

 

Hae's'lich

[DevilDante]

what happened to the nl sticky?

[Brother Nihm]

This is it, although in an 'unstickied' phase. :lol:

 

Don't worry it'll be back soon.

[DevilDante]

got scared for a sec lol

[Lord_Caerolion]

how well do Bike Mounted Chosen perform, in this army? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They wouldn't work very well, sa they end up costing 40+ points each, and have the same profile as a standard biker, only with an extra leadership. The large points cost makes them quite useless in my mind.

[Brother Nihm]

I have to agree, pointwise it's just not worth it.

 

It's a noble idea though, the lord and his lieutenant's and most trusted elite; riding into the night on iron steeds. *insert sound track here* :P

[Haeslich]

ROFL- please, just don't make it an '80's soundtrack...

 

All right then, this is prolly the 40k equivalent of a horse stance (Butthead! Kick me in the JIMMY!), but what if you give 'em each daemon armour and power weapons? Sure, it makes them even more expensive, but on the turbo-boost, you get a 2+ invulnerable, and every wounding hit will do something, esp. if they have furious charge too.

 

I'm not a fan of boosting points past a good value, but seems to me that the only reason to take chosen in the first place is for their upgradability. Chaos is the one army (well, maybe bugs too) where it makes sense fluffwise to use points to upgrade your units to ugly levels.

 

I'm a DE player normally, so maybe I just don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but seems like that would be one hell of a scary unit to me. As a DE player, I'd have no idea how to take down a unit like that. I'm not even sure I'd be able to outrun it. Could charge it the turn it boosts onto the table, but now I'm in hth with tricked out chosen... ick...

 

Hae's'lich

[MelonHead]

The only trouble with that squad is it's ridiculously expensive. Sure, it makes sense fluffwise to trick chaos guys out, but that runs into trouble in the game. In an IG army, for instance, taking a 300-400 point unit simply because it's cool is fine because you have enough troops elsewhere in the army to support the unit. In a chaos army, you simply don't have that much room to work. Each CSM squad runs 200-ish points, ditto fast attack; really you're looking at 5-8 combat effective units in a 1500 point army. A squad of 6 or 8 chosen decked out on bikes is rather expensive-on the order of 400 points. If that's your 'splurge' unite, fine-the rest of your army can probably deal with it, but if you have other units....you could run into trouble. Taking chaos hounds with the AC's in the unit would be sweet and get you more wounds for a cheap price, but I don't remember if you can get the hounds to move as fast as the bikes.

[Someguy]

Hounds move as fast as the unit that they are attached to...but do not share thae movement mode (so no flying dogs for raptors etc)

[Haeslich]

Taking chaos hounds with the AC's in the unit would be sweet and get you more wounds for a cheap price, but I don't remember if you can get the hounds to move as fast as the bikes.

 

Hmm, that sounds like a sweet idea, actually...

 

So, then, which sounds better to you guys? A squad of 5+ chosen bikers tricked out as above, or a squad of 4 terminators and HQ in terminator armour, all in a land raider?

 

Hae's'lich

 

Edit: Sounded like a great idea 'till I realized hounds can't turbo-boost, though that does make for an amusing image...