Hi All,
My son is playing in an upcoming (nice and friendly) tournament with his nightstalkers. His list is really not all that changable due to what is painted. Looking for some advice on playing it! Remember of course that he is a pretty inexperienced, so simpler tactics are more preferred.
Nightstalkers [2300 / 2300]
Battalion 1
Void Lurker (Hero (Ti)) 1 [265]
- Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding [15]
Banshee [2] (Hero (Inf)) 1 [190]
- Enthral (7) [0]
- Wind Blast (7) [0]
Butcher Fleshripper [2] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [170]
Doppelgangers (Inf) Regiment [155]
Reapers (Inf) Regiment [170]
Reapers (Inf) Regiment [170]
Butchers (Lrg Inf) Regiment [195]
Tormentors (Inf) Regiment [175]
Ravagers (Lrg Inf) Regiment [220]
Soulflayers (Lrg Cav) Troop [185]
Mind-screech (Mon) 1 [165]
- Drain Life (6) [0]
- Lightning Bolt (6) [0]
- Wind Blast (6) [0]
Terror (Ti) 1 [240]
I gave him this rough guide for deployment - basically a core of most things with the soul flayers and void lurker zooming off to be annoying and look for flanks. It lacks anvils, so using the butchers, terror and,to an extent doppelgangers for that. Ensnare anything that looks shootable within range of the ravagers and the mindscreech or wind blast anything too scary in charge range. Looking for tormentors and reapers to join the fray later, preferably seeking flanks.
Need to be careful not to let the banshee allow enough space for a flank on the other units from a hero without individual or a troop.
Any advice on what to do better / differently is appreciated! I have never played nightstalkers and am not very good myself!
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Doesn’t sound too bad a general plan/deployment (although make sure he doesn’t follow to map too literally and not deploy the mind screech 
)
Couple of things for him to remember
1 - don’t look to be too aggressive with the void lurker. It can’t really deal with units with a front charge, so use the early turns to position/act as a threat rather than getting stuck in. Similar with the soulflayers.
2 - look to keep the tormentors screen by the doppelganger, rather than butchers/ravagers so they can take advantage of Leaper.
3 - while the army is stealthy, shooting can still hurt it given generally low De across the list, especially if war engines roll hot early. Try to use cover to screen expensive things and strategic use of windblast to move things out of range (so they can’t just sit and get the +1) or behind cover
4 - probably the most important - have fun!
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First thing to remember is that a new list/army/wargame take getting used to.
I approach the first few games a experiments to get a feel for things, even if they’re at a tournament.
On the list:
I’m not convinced that stridiing/pathfinder are worthwhile on a flyer. I would swap the boots for something else.
Tormentors work better in troops (less distance to clear with leaper) and with scarecrows (which they can leap over).
If you’re not leveraging the leaper special rule, then why not take reapers?
Soulflayers are H4, so can project threat and spy flanks from behind butchers/ravagers.
The more angles you’re threatening flanks from, the harder it becomes to defend against.
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Thanks both - useful stuff!
Mind screech is on the right behind the ravagers to shot over the top with spells
Looks like moving the tormentors behind the doppelgangers is a good idea. The only reasonable way to make them troops is probably to play the ravagers as butchers and play the doppelgangers as scarecrows. This issue is that a regiment of scarecrows is VERY slow chaff with even worse defence than the doppelgangers. On a first turn I think it could be good to claim some board position for many scenarios and Sp 4 is just so very slow (sorry dwarf players), especially in a fairly fast army.
The though on the soul flayers going with the void lurker was to project enough threat wherever they are that something has to be done by the opposition - but your point about the soul flayers being able to see over the top of the butchers is a good one. Phantoms instead of reapers for joining the void lurker would be an option, but my son only has what he has painted, and that doesn’t include phantoms 
- Is a void lurker on its own enough of a threat? Should he send some (slower) reapers over that way as well if the soul flayers are moving to behind the butchers?
J boots on the soul flayers is due to the huge base they are on - always seems very wide - coupled with the fact they only get thunderous charge (no crushing). Really don’t want to lose the thunderous. Having said this, very open to changing and swapping artefacts around - any good suggestions? 25pts in total on artefacts.
There is also an option of more tormentors instead of the butcher flesh ripper. Normally I like to have 3 heroes in a list, but nightstalkers don’t need inspiring and their commands are a bit meh, so maybe that would be a good swap?
The advice of experimenting, getting used to it and having fun are all very good - we’re absolutely doing it that way! Going to have a very friendly practice game this week between us (with lots of advice and support) and then set an expectation of maybe winning 1 of 3 at the tournament, but probably just losing them all (but hopefully with a close margin). Main thing is to enjoy the good moments!
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RE: Artifacts, I’d go boots on the soulflayers, fire oil on the ravagers, tear on the butchers (or healing brew)? And good luck to your son!
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Thanks for all the advice everyone - one final thing… What do you think of the idea of exchanging the butcher flesh ripper for a troop of tormentors (and some spare points for an item)? I’m actually not too sure that the fleshripper is all that useful - seems very expensive for what it does, especially as the nightstalker orders are not that great! My son has enough spare tormentors/reapers for the troop, so it may be better value. What do you think?
While I like the BFR (mostly for its model), you could be onto something Tormentor troops are cool and disruptive in ways the ripper just isn’t - he’s more tanky and flanky than anything else. There’re actually enough points to put in a second tormentor regiment if that’s available! But if not, I’d use the extra points for: soulflayer boots, butcher staying stone, banshee zephyr crown (windblast 20?!)
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Wind blast 20 is hysterical!
Oh, just realised that’s a typo and it’s wind blast 10! Still great given it can wound too!
And now (with a second edit) realised you can use it twice too (different targets though)
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Important update is that my son played the tournament and had fun! He ended up winning 1, losing 1 badly and a tight loss for the third. Thanks for the help on here in getting the army sorted 
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