Coven Throne


Vampire Lord

40 skeletons

40 chainrasps

5 direwolves

1930 points. Include whatever endless spell tickles your fancy in the 20 point category, but keep 50 open for that extra CP!


Everyone know about Neferata and Nagash being but buddies of annoyance. But consider how annoying Nagash can be if he is literally untouchable by an enemy unit? 10 evocators? Cannot touch him, but he can touch them. Archaon of the Tzeentch variety? Bloodthirster bomb? None of these matter as much when Nagash simply is not targetable by that nasty what’s-it the enemy has.

Allegience Ability

Since you have Nagash, you have to take the Grand Host. This can help intermittently but honestly…you do not give that much of a shit here. No morghasts means the additional attack is garbage in the highest order, but do not forget the 5+ roll to return an additional D3 wounds to a summonable unit (including the rasps…)


Artefacts, Command Traits & Abilities

Traits mean dick, and you have Nagash. However, you do get an artifact.

Ossific Diadem: a pretty standard choice to keep your boney boys in the fight. Not bad.

Balefire Lantern: if you want to go into the debuff sub theme, this might not be a horrible piece of kit to have around. Give the Coven Throne this trinket and it will stay alive longer and with it’s high(ish) wounds characteristic you can toss it into a melee here or there. However…

Ethereal Amulet: this flat out will make the Coven Throne last longer than the Balefire. However, the Balefire can help the Coven Throne keep OTHER units nearby around longer. If you do not go with the debuff theme, perhaps the ethereal amulet is the better option.


Nagash: a true thoroughbred beat stick who is simply king of the magic phase in almost every respect. His command ability is amazing every turn, really, and he returns models like a boss. This list synergizes well with that. Further, this dude will cast every spell in your army as necessary choosing the best tool out of the box for the job and has ways to heal himself through said spells. We all know Nagash and what he does, no real need to bear this horse longer than it has already.

Coven Throne: this is the key. Beguile is an amazing spell and the reason you bring the ladies to the field. Nagash gets to cast it, meaning he can target an enemy nuisance and make sure they cannot touch him until the next hero phase. He is then free to charge, holding that unit out of the fight for at least one turn if not more depending on situation and tactical needs. The coven throne itself can further buff the big man with its CA (if you have to) allowing Nagash (and only Nagash) to reroll hit and saves -which he does with his own CA- AND wound rolls of 1 -which he does not go himself-. Nagash basically auto-wounds with his nasty sword of hellfire and death. 6 attacks rerolling 1s means most of the time you get 4-5 hits, and really this means you have 4-5 wounds at -2 rend and 3 damage. 12-15 wounds. Remember…what he just brutalized anally is not able to come back at him. And if his staff hits? Well. -3 D6 more wounds which is somewhere around 80% reliable. These buffs also apply to his ranged attack so things get out of control rather quickly with his profile. Keep in mind she bring an extra vampire spell for Nagash to play with, has tactical insight for that key situation, and is by no means a slacker itself when trying to mix it up with the enemy!

Necromancer: if I have to explain why he is here to you…get out from under your rock mate!

Vampire Lord: see above and remove yourself from under that rock already!

Other Units

The skeletons and chainrasps are there to shore up weakpoints and provide some board presence. being able to return models in abundance means that the army does not go away easily. Even if the opponent is lucky enough to kill a unit, it simply returns. This is the primary reason you keep a CP handy at the start of the game as you want to be popping Nagash’s command from turn 1 onwards.

The skeletons are the hammer unit. They can obliterate just about anything they touch. If you are so lucky as to get the first turn, and you know you will…you can even deepstrike them upfield if you want! Same with rasps, but they have a slightly different purpose.

LoN do NH better than NH do themselves. The rasps provide that nice solid foundation for the list, a unit that will get thrown into a unit and keep it there for an uncomfortably long time. I feel like chainrasps are that super huge poo you KNOW is coming after munching on Chipotle and hot peppers for a week. it makes you sweat, squirm, and grimace. Problem is that poo eventually drops, whereas the rasps are not going to be so kind as to allow the opponent respite from the symptoms.

Dire wolves are a solid, cheap filler with speed. They can get into a backfield and provide a screen where it is necessary.

Magic, Endless & Realm Spells

Here are the spells this list has, those marked with a (*) come off the other hero’s warscrolls.

Overwhelming Dread: -1 to hit and bravery. They run more and hit less. This is good. Cast this on the unit Nagash is about to try and become invulnerable to and you have a winning combination.

Fading Vigor: -1 attacks (minimum 1). Enough said, great to bufu anything with multiple attacks.

Decrepify: -1 to wound and -1 damage of attacks (minimum 1). Debuff, debuff, debuff.

Spectral Grasp: when it matters, it matters! Halving movement can be game breaking, so when the situation arises…slap this out there!

Vile Transferance: direct damage and healing for Nagash. Always good. Now he has 2 avenues to heal!

Amaranthine Orb: because pure carnage is sometimes the best and only answer.

Amethystine Pinions: Nagash moving 14″ is no joke.

*Hand of Dust: auto kill. Just hilarious when it happens, but beware there is potential anti-synergy with Beguile if you just murder tha target outright. Always try this FIRST, then beguile as it might allow Nagash to slay a character immediately THEN become invulnerable to a different unit.

*Soul Stealer: another bravery targeting unit, so debuff bravery to high heaven first. provides healing to Nagash.

*Beguile: the biggie. it requires you to successfully roll over the enemy;s bravery on 3d6, but is reliable enough in my opinion to be absolutely devastating. Throw out skeletons’ banner and/or overwhelming dread first and your chances get that much better.

*Vanhel’s: again, this spell needs not an explanation.

In-Game Guide

Nagash is king of the magic phase. If you play against other magic heavy armies there is precious little they can do magic-wise most of the time. Praying helps a little, but seeing as there is a god on the other side of the field there is likely no answer. This does mean I feel the spell selection and proper utilization has to be on point, as this is where your MAIN advantage lies. Pick your theme, and remember what you are trying to do. Also remember what the objectives are, the game itself will tell you what to do each turn.This list is not the fastest, so getting objectives and staying there is paramount. That is why I prefer, heavily, a debuff style list. It needs to get objectives and KEEP them.

Hope you enjoyed! If you are curious I have a channel on YouTube, TellTaleNoob Does Gaming, which you are free to watch if you enjoyed this write up. The main focus of the channel is to look at every unit, battalion, and endless spell in its own individual videos for the faction I am covering. I also separate out traits, artifacts, allegiance abilities, playing against, playing with, and list ideas out in their own videos as well. The intent is you can go in and find a video that covers ONLY what you want to know more about.

Honest Goblin