Nighthaunt: Krulghast Cruciator

Krul To Be Kind

The Krulghast Cruciator is one of the poor tormented captives that met their end at the hands of Nagash. Having perished on the torture device, they are left to wander the mortal realms with part of the device still attached as a mortal reminder.

In this review I’ll delve into the many aspects of this Nighthaunt leader; including painting, building and playing. As you’ll read later in the review, this unit brings some nice damage and additional durability for other troops to the battle. So without further ado, let’s get started!

When The Going Gets Tough

In the box you’ll find the following components:

• Enough components to build 1 model
• 40mm round base
• 1 instruction booklet

Being a small leader model, you don’t get a great deal on the sprues. The largest piece you’ll find is the giant cross that sits on the Cruciagators back. Just be careful when cutting the sprues as there are a lot of small details that can get caught and break.

When you’re building the model, I’d recommend keeping the cross separate and painting it before you add it to the rest of the model. Once it’s on, it covers a lot of other details that will then be difficult to paint.

I went for the generic paint style for this Night haunt model as I feel it really suits the aesthetics of the character. For the cross, I used the slap chop technique with wyldwood contrast paint and dry brushed over with a light brown base paint. This bought out the curves in the wood and aged it nicely. From there, I highlighted the metal parts with bronze and dry brushed them with necron compound to dull the brightness down.

Cruciagator Gets Going

You’ll almost always find the crucigator in my nighthaunt roster, and there’s always a way of utilizing them. Whether that’s picking off stragglers with its attacks or buffing his comrades with a passive; he always has an agenda.

It goes without saying that the terrifying infliction is Krulghast’s best friend. You want to keep him in the midst of your melee troops so that they benefit from the passive ability of the Cruciator.

A base move of 8″ means he can make good distance in a turn, especially if you’re charging in addition. 6 wounds and a save of 4+ makes him slightly fragile, so keep him near the action but not on top of it.

Unfortunately, this leader isn’t a Spellcaster; so there’s no opportunity to sling magic around. I personally think that magic would make this model far too powerful on the field. This leader does a fantastic job of boosting the troops around them, whilst keeping up oppression on the opposition where it’s needed.

Surprisingly the Cruciagator has a nice ranged attack that can be used to pick off stragglers before they escape. 4 attacks at a range of 12″, that hit and wound on a 3+ is not to be sniffed at. To make it better, this attack also has a rend of 2, increasing the chances of it drawing blood.

What’s more is that the melee attack is just as nice! 4 attacks at a range of 1″ means you have to get stuck into the fray to deal damage, but it’s a great last stand to make. It hits and wounds on a 3+ and has a rend of 1. And, if your attacks go through, you’ll dish out a tasty 2 damage per success.

The Cruciagator only has 1 ability to speak of, but it serves its purpose perfectly when they get stuck into battle with the other troops. If the Cruciagator is within 12″ of any terrified units, minus 1 from the damage death per attack to any friendly units within 12″ of this unit. Given how fragile nighthaunt can be, this adds a nice bonus to their durability.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoy fielding this model, and tend to include it in most of my nighthaunt rosters. They offer fantastic support and durability for surrounding troops and dish out a nice bit of damage without the need for additional buffs.

There’s a few challenging elements to painting this model, but building and painting it in stages will make life easier for you.

I’d recommend pairing this leader with units such as hexwraiths, spirit hosts or dreadscythe harridians. All of which will benefit from the Cruciagators ability and perform well in the field.

Well, that wraps up this review. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if you took inspiration away from it; even better!