Commenting on Grazer's 'Nids

Graham posted his 'nid list for our tournament below but for some reason it's posted out of sequence so you may have missed it. Rather then just reply to his post I wanted to write a post explaining what I'd tweak and why. I think the list is actually pretty strong but with a few tweaks it could be even more nasty. It's probably not optimised to within an inch of it's life but you've got to play how you want to play and maximum optimisation isn't to everyone's taste.

Anyway, Graham's original post can be found here.

And here's how I would tweak it to make it just a little bit better (IMHO):

HQ
Tervigon
Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Cluster Spines, Scything Talons, Catalyst

ELITE
Hive Guard (x2)
Hive Guard (x2)

TROOP
Tervigon
Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Cluster Spines, Catalyst
Termagants (x10)
Genestealers (x12)
Toxin Sacs
Genestealers (x12)
Toxin Sacs
Genestealers (x12)
Toxin Sacs

FAST ATTACK
Spore Mines (x3)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Trygon
Adrenal Glands

Changes first, dropped regeneration from the troop Tervigon – overpriced and not hugely effective. Downgraded to a basic Trygon from a Prime as you don't really need additional synapse in this list and dropped regeneration for the reasons stated above. Points saved allow me to bulk up the 'stealers to 12 man units and give them all toxin sacs which is really the only upgrade they need – rerolling wounds on T4 models is better then wounding on 3s and the boost to initiative is not that important for them. Scything talons are not bad but you're hitting on 3's with a huge amount of attacks so re-rolling 1s is a bit of an extravagance! I had 5pts left over so I gave the HQ Tervigon Scything Talons as it's more likely to be used for combat than the troop version.

How would I use this? Well, the Spore mines can be placed to limit his available deployment zone for starters, sure there's only 3 but if you place them well you can make your opponent either have to split his force or clump up, either s a good result. Clumped up means better chance of multi-charge, split means you can refuse a flank and pick off part of his army at a time.

I would definitely infiltrate all of the 'stealer units as close as I can get them. This makes your opponent have to make another choice; whether or not to I focus on trying to wipe out the 'stealers before they get into contact with anything. Of course this will dictate how much fire-power will be aimed at your three monstrous creatures potentially allowing them to close the gap relatively unscathed.

Speaking of the monstrous creatures I would advance them in a phalanx with the Trygon and HQ Tervigon at the front, flanked by the Hive Guard, providing cover to the scoring Tervigon at the back. Both the lead MCs will have feel no pain to increase their durability, i.e. the 3 MCs have at least a 4+ save (AP2+ weapons accepted).

What I wouldn't do with this list is reserve anything, you need target saturation to make your opponent have to make decisions and the more decisions he has to make the more likely he is to make a mistake which is going increase your chances of success.

The only alternative I would consider which would not hugely change the list and play-style would be to consolidate the 3 units of 'stealers into two units of 18. This would allow you to effectively string a the 'stealers back so that they are in range to have feel no pain cast on them which makes them a lot more difficult to whittle down before they hit your opponent's lines.

What do you think Graham and fellow Claws and Fists readers?