Kings of War Fourth Edition: Nightstalker Army Preview

G’day Goonhammer readers! It’s been a while, but we’re back at it with some more Kings of War coverage. For those living under an earth elemental, the new edition of Kings of War is fast approaching, with the official release coming in December this year. We are very excited for the new rules, and very thankful to Mantic, who have given us the chance to preview some new rules for you all. As you might have surmised from the title, today we are looking at the new Nightstalker army list for the fourth edition of the game.

New Look Army Lists

The first thing to notice for the new army list might seem like a small change, but there is colour in the lists! And pictures of the models next to their profile! There’s artwork splashed as the header and footer, and even full units based and painted!

I pulled out the old third edition Kings of War rulebook and the difference is stark. Gone are the plain khaki/browns, and instead we have a nice purple for the Nightstalkers. Based on what we’ve seen, it looks like each faction gets their own colour scheme for their army list.

The unit profiles have been slimmed down, and are much more uniform (though the few units with unique abilities explained with lots of text do throw off the nice design a little).

Overall, the presentation is a real step up, and I love that you can actually see what a unit is supposed to look like right next to its profile. It’s going to be especially helpful for new players to see what the models look like, get ideas for basing, and for paint scheme inspiration. There’s much more clarity between what is a Trait, what is a Special Rule, what are your optional upgrades, and overall, it just looks more professional.

Nightstalkers Command Orders

Command Orders are still here, but instead of being used based on a randomly generated currency, they are simply evoked by a Champion or Warlord using two or three dice respectively, in roughly the same manner as spells (more on that later).

But we know you're all here to see this: What are the Nightstalker Commands? They’re in a nice big box right at the top of the page. Gone is the Screamshard as the army special upgrade, instead we have the Screamshard command order.

About this time last year, we were talking about how much Lifeleech felt like a crutch buff, especially in Nightstalkers (check that out here). Good news however! While it is Nightmare locked (a new Trait), that covers a significant part of your Core selection. Importantly, this includes units that will stick around and do damage, mainly Butchers and Fiends.

Nightstalker Fiends. Credit: Urr

The second Command Order is Planeshifter. This gives any unit the Pathfinder special rule. Provided Pathfinder works as it does in third, this will be an order to use every turn. I don’t need to tell you how important it is to not get Hindered!

While we don’t know the exact mechanics of Command Orders quite yet, there are a few things we can glean from these. We’ve got two different Target Numbers to achieve the Command Orders. Presumably, this means we’ve got a balancing lever, if one does end up being out of whack balance-wise. Planeshifter is the Command Order with the higher roll needed to activate it (in this case, a 4+), so it is nice to see less impactful orders getting issued more easily.

We also see that Screamshard has a greater effect based on the number of successes rolled when issuing it, which gives us another choice in who issues orders. Do you need an order to just go off? Or do you need it to go off big? It’s an added choice that gives a bit more depth in your listbuilding.

Overall, the power level of these commands feels like it lands in the mid-level of the third edition CO pecking order, but we’ll all have to wait and see what all the factions get, and especially those in the first expansion book.

Building a Battalion

Currently, the rules for building a third edition army are a little convoluted. Each regiment of a listed type unlocks a slot for a Hero, OR Monster/Titan, OR War Engine. Hordes unlock a Hero, AND a Monster/Titan, And a War Engine, but this changes slightly based on the type of Horde you use. Troops are unlocked similarly, and while it’s not the most confusing army list selection setup, it’s also not the most user-friendly.

This has been overhauled significantly for 4th edition. Units are now: Core, Auxiliary, Specialist, Support or Commanders. The gist is that Core units are your main unlockers, Specialists help, and you are unlocking Commanders and Support options.

KoW 4th Edition Battalion Structure

Kings of War 4th Edition Battalion Structure Credit: Mantic Games

We don’t have the rulebook version of the rules for building an army, so you can check out Mantic’s preview here for a fuller picture of the new rules.

So what does this look like for Nightstalkers? There are a lot more Core options than I was expecting. Frankly, I thought it would be just Scarecrows, so it’s nice to see we got so much more. In fact, Reapers, Butchers, Dopplegangers, Shadowhounds and Needlefangs all made it into core. That all Butcher army you’ve got built? It’s still there. And what can you unlock with all these Core units? All the familiar faces. Phantoms, Fiends, Tormentors and Ravagers are Specialist, while all the big non-hero options are Support. That’s the Mind-Screech, Terror, Shadow Hulk and Soulflayers. Your Champions and Warlords are what you expect. The Warlords are the Void Lurker, The Portal of Despair, The Dream Hunter and Esenyshra. The Dread Fiend has also made it up to Warlord status, which is also a bit unexpected. The rest of the heroes are your Champions (they look to be part of your Commanders selection).

If you want to change up your list building a bit, three of the Warlords offer some alternate options, though these are locked to the Warlord’s battalion. Legion size units seem to be gone from the game as a standard option, but the Dream Hunter lets you upgrade Scarecrow hordes to legions. The Dread-Fiend switches Fiends from Specialist to Core, and the Void Lurker moves Soulflayers from Support to Specialist, effectively reducing the unlocking Core choice needed to get them by 1.

Outside of the size of the Core options in the list, none of the unit types seem particularly surprising. Overall, you should still be able to build basically any list you could before. The exception is a three Warlord list. Having Esenyshra, a Void Luker and the Portal of Despair is very pricey. It is possible, but there’s not much room for strong stuff past the needed Scarecrow regiments and the Warlords.

Big Changes

You might have noticed some units weren't mentioned in the Battalion section. We have lost a few options. I’ll just rip the band-aid straight off: Bloodworms are gone.

Sorry to those who built their lists around them, but that's the way it goes. There wasn’t an official model for them, and this is the time for any shaking up of the faction, so it's not altogether surprising. Nor is the loss of the Horror Riftweaver. Now that Individuals have moved to bigger bases, the Riftweaver just becomes indistinguishable from a regular Horror, except for a 10 mm base size difference. With their two very different roles, it would just be far too confusing for players in the midst of a game, so off it goes.

The last removed unit is the Planar Apparition, which went from being its own monster at the start of third edition to merging with the Mind-screech as an upgrade choice somewhere along the way. Fourth edition has finished the merger fully. Now the Mind-screech stands alone. A trace of the Planar still remains however; the Mind-screech loses its Mind Fog and instead gains Drain Life (6), so there’s still some healing ability in the army.

As for unit changes, the ones that stand out are: The Portal of Despair has received a small rework, losing its Lifeleech, and gaining Heal (5), so it’s less of a tough roadblock, and more something you want behind the front line. The Banshee comes with a double cast by default now. Fiends have moved to Melee 3+, though down to 18 Attacks. Butchers are down to 16 attacks. Phantoms aren’t Fearless, though the Terror is. The Shadow Hulk gets its Slayer bumped to D6, though still doesn’t get Brutal. The Voidtalon from Kings of War Champions has also arrived. I’m not spoiling all the changes here. I'll leave some surprises for you, but overall, it’s looking quite tasty.

One last thing to mention is the points. The whole point formula has been reworked, and it is noticeable, especially in the case of Heroes. Most Core, Specialist and Support units are about the same price, 5 points here, 10 points there, both up and down. Heroes on the other hand, with the exception of the Void Lurker, are all up in points, often really significantly. Now, lots of these are Individual, and we don’t have the full explanation for that rule, but it is going to need to do some heavy lifting in this list. A Shade is now 5 points less than a Butcher Regiment (née Horde), Esenyshra has gone up 105 points, the Portal of Despair almost as much. Even the humble Horror is up 25, and the Reaper Souldrinker, my pick for the worst Hero in Third Edition, has gone up 25 points.

None of this is the end of the world. We still need to see the full picture of how Command Orders, Special Rules, Magic and List-building all come together. As long as it’s not just the Nightstalkers taking such a big price hike, we’ll all be fine. A stated goal of the edition was to make armies look like armies, so less herohammer/individuals is consistent with that.

I’m not opposed to making it a real choice between the heroes, it feels like it is for the Warlords. But if the choice is between a Champion and a real unit, it’s probably the unit.

Maybe I'd take this Champion... Credit: Mantic Games.

That’s it for the Nightstalkers! Before I go, if you’re as keen as I am to get cracking with fourth edition, why not come on down to Clash of Kings Australia in 2026? Running alongside CanCon, on the 24/25th of January, It’ll be Australia’s (and possibly the world’s) first two day event with fourth edition. Pack and tickets can be found here.

Join us next time for…What’s that? The sound of… War Drums?!

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don't forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.

Tags: kings of war