What You Need to Know about Twilight Kin

 

What you need know about Twilight Kin:

Greetings my friends!  Since none of us have ever played against a Twilight Kin army, I just wanted to give you a quick overview of the list.  I hope it helps when you are playing. My chart:

A)     Hard:  A must have powerful unit

B)      Strong:  A very good unit that has some small flaws

C)      Average unit (think Kingdoms of Men Shieldwall)

D)     Weak: A unit projects little or no threat or is rare. 

 

Impalers:  Impalers are a lot like Elven Guard units.  Hit on 3s with Crushing One with Eite.  Their armor and morale is average.  They are pretty fast though with Movement 6. 

Threat:  Strong

Tallspears: Same as Elven Spearmen, normally encountered with the Hammer of Measured Force or a Bane Chanter nearby

Threat:  Average

BladeDancers:  Really fast Impalers with no armor to speak. 

Threat: Could be a “strong” but they have just enough limitations that I think they are “Average”.  Nice thing is they are unbreakable but they are very vulnerable to missile fire and if they are hindered they lose their TC 1.  (The main reason they are “Average” is few people will run them). 

Archers:  Just like Elven archers

Threat:  Weak, they have their roles but they aren’t much of a real threat.  Their melee is awful.

Gladestalkers:  They are a pretty decent unit.  Very reliable missile threat but no piercing

Threat:  Average

Sea Guard: Same as Elves.  Why this unit exists I do not know.  Very expensive archers with spears

Threat: Weak why? Only a moron would use them

Gargoyles:  They fly, have high regeneration, are nimble but low leadership makes them fragile.

Threat: Average

Butchers:  Probably the best and by default most common unit in the TK army.  Speed 6, Armor 5, Crushing 2, but hit on 4’s.  However, Butchers have Stealth! That makes them hard to impossible to take down with ranged attacks.  In melee however they aren’t much different that say trolls.  Hitting on 4’s is such a wide swing of randomness. 

Threat: Hard (You have to address these guys)

Shadowhounds:  To say these are chaff is a mistake. They are more like a medium cavalry unit.  Speed 9!  Regeneration, of course Nimble and also Thunderous Charge 1

Threat: Average

Abyssal Horsemen:  One of the best cavalry units in the game.  They suffer as all cavalry to the plague of Phalanx.  Still they are awesome, quite capable of doing 10 to 12 wounds per turn to an average unit.  They grind pretty well with Melee 3 and CS1.  On top of that they have decent armor AND regeneration 5

Threat: Hard (You need to watch out for them BUT if you have phalanx in your army or ensnare the threat level goes down to “Average”)

Silver Breeze Cavalry: Same as Elves

Threat:  Weak, they are annoying

Cronebound Fiends:  Very similar to Dwarf Brock Riders.  Fiends have LOTS of attacks that hit on 4 with CS 1. They have stealthy and vicious.  Average armor though but a little higher than normal morale for a cavalry unit.  CBFs also have the disadvantage of being Large Cavalry which makes it hard to double charge another unit. 

Threat:  Average

Needle Fangs: These things are an annoyance. They are immune to terrain, but like all swarms they aren’t that hard to deal with except these FLY!  Because of the stealthy they are almost immune to shooting.

Threat: Average

Bolt Thrower:  Just like the Elves

Threat: Average

Dragons Breath:  Essentially a weapons team.  It suffers from a lack of nimble 12 dice attack with no piercing

Threat: Average ish (could be a Weak, this thing is pretty lackluster, but dependent on the opposition it could be very good)

Mind Screech:  Fly, Nimble, can throw THREE different spells, has pathfinder AND stealthy.  Very high threat from the spells, but pretty average in combat

Threat: Strong (ish) This thing can put a hurt on you if you don’t address it. 

Shadowhulk: Think of a GIANT with stealthy that is how you equate it

Threat:  Average

Archfiend:  The same as the Abyssal Archfiend which means he is a high threat.  Fly, Nimble, Crushing 3, Fury, Vicious, etc.  You need to think of him as a Dragon as far as threat level

Threat:  Hard

Assassin: I like all assassins.  I think they have a role in every army.  Just doubt it will get fielded with the better choices in the list.  High threat to average lone characters, annoyance to everything else

Threat: Average

Soulbane:  This is just a powerful general, very similar to some in other armies.  The nice thing is he has  DREAD so all morale is at -1  near him. 

Threat: Average

Summoner Crone:  These are the TK magic users. They have Drain Life native but can heal units up to 18” away.  On top of that they have access to the Scepter of Shadows [1] that increases their Drain Life to 9.  I don’t except these guys to have other spells other than Drain Life, but they could have Bane Chant, Veil of Shadows, or Hex

Threat:  Strong, I think this guy can tip melees WAY in the favor of the TK

Elven Prince:  Same as Elves

Threat: Average

Army Standard Bearer

Threat: Weak

Mikayel, Lord of Nightmares [1] :  An absolute STUD of a special character!  The main reason is because he wields the Sword of Umbra:  While attacking enemy Heroes, Monsters or Titans in melee, this unit doubles its number of Attacks.  Note that it says “heroes” not individuals.  Remember those pesky Ogre Captains?  The Forest Warden?  Abyssal Warlocks?  All of them can be chopped up by the Lord of Nightmares.  Dread, Stealthy and Iron Resolve round out some of the Lord of Nightmare’s abilities

Threat: Hard as BALLS! 

 

 

Overview:

The Twilight Kin can play almost exactly like Elves, but no one would play them that way.  Just like Elves they are expensive and fragile.  They suffer from hardly any unlocks so it limits their army lists in many ways. 

What to expect:

1.       I would expect to see two to three regiments of Butchers screening the army.  They act as a missile shield and in the anti-chaff role.  Butchers are also viable as combat blocks.  The main issue with Butchers as combat blocks is they hit on 4’s so they are prone to wide swings of randomness. 

2.       You will just about always see one or two hordes of Kindred Tallspears.  Why?  Not because they are good, but because the list is STARVED for unlocks.  I would fully expect Brew of Strength or Hammer of Measured Force on at least one of the two hordes. 

3.       A couple of units of Impalers is a standard in Twilight Kin lists.  Their lists tend to be very formulaic in structure so there is not the high variance you see in other armies.  These guys are great and are a significant threat! 

4.       Though they are from the Nightstalker list, somehow Twilight Kin can have the Mind Screech.  Fully expect two or even three of these nightmares in any TK army. 

5.       Some of the best builds for Twilight Kin have Summoner Crones.  The reason why is they have a really nifty ability with Drain Life.  In elite armies healing is a premium and the SCs can use drain life as a form of healing.  They can drain life the normal distance BUT project the healing portion onto units up to 18” away. 

6.       Mikayel:  I would expect this model in every army.  His primary role is to take out characters and monsters.  He also has the aura of Dread so units around him subtract one from their leadership. 

Thoughts:

The nice thing about playing Twilight Kin is they are a “normal” army that you can play ranks and flanks against.  The issue is they don’t play fair! 

·         A good tactic for them is to charge into a combat where they may at best have a 50% chance of winning.  Then they try and drain life not only harming the enemy unit, but bolstering their own forces as well.  The now depleted enemy unit will struggle against the elite attacks of the Twilight Kin units. 

·         Mikayel is a force that has to be addressed.  His ability to double attacks against heroes, titans and monsters is amazing.  Add to that crushing two and elite, not to mention the effect of “DREAD” and your big stuff might be in trouble. 

·         The Mindscreech is such an interesting and versatile model.  Most of the time we see it casting Lightning Bolt 6, but don’t forget he can cast Wind Blast and Mind Fog as well.  The fact that he flies and has nimble, pathfinder, and stealthy lets him position himself to support the Twilight Kin with ease.  While he doesn’t have any crushing or thunderous charge, 10 attacks in someone’s flank makes a difference especially if they have low armor or someone cast bane chant on the Mindscreech. 

·         Butchers are just excellent. The main reason is it is very hard to shoot them with stealthy so they are the perfect unit to escort the Twilight Kin to contact.  A regiment only has 9 swings, but they have nerve 15 unbreakable.  That is SO good.  Crushing Strength 2 makes them good against elite units like cavalry, trolls, etc.  Because of unbreakable, they either fight or die; no pausing in front of your army when you need to get through. 

·         Impalers are excellent infantry but they suffer from medium armor.  A regiment of Impalers often costs around the same as a horde of something else!  A good cavalry charge can one-shot them, especially if they have been wounded in anyway prior to impact.  I fully expect the Impalers to not fight fair and be screened by the excellent Butchers. 

·         Just remember the Twilight Kin SCREAMS for unlocks. That causes their main troops to be Tallspears or archers to unlock the good stuff.  They fight like they are outnumbered to some extent because a “normal” player wouldn’t want to spend points on archers or spearmen.  The real dangerous elements of their army tend to be low in number and are not expendable. 

Summary:

I honestly think I could win with this army if they would fix the unlock situation a little bit.  It just seems like they have to spend so many points to be able to get their good stuff they are hamstrung.  They have almost perfect balance due to the fact they can take some of the best Abyssal and Nightstalker units.  In a friendly environment, these guys would be so much fun to play for and against.  In a competitive army I can see them struggle against certain foes.