Sunday 9 October 2011

You're some sort of big, fat, smart-bug, aren't you?


Do you want to know more?
 
It's been 'nid Week' all week and I've been remiss in contributing so here's a first shot across the bows.

I've been off the 'nids for a bit since Dark Eldar came out, they seemed to be a perfect counter to either Monstrous Creature based lists and to Horde lists. Then Grey Knights followed the same trend having pretty good answers to most thing Tyranids excel in.

However, this week's stream of posts and the act of putting a list together for Gav on Thursday got me thinking about playing them again. The reason I got into Tyranids in the first place are many and varied but one, 40K based, reason was the fact that I really wanted to play an army with access to a lot of Monstrous Creatures. I do accept the fact that this is almost certainly not an “optimal” philosophy for building a list in today's tournament meta. None-the-less here we go:

HQ
Tyranid Prime
2x Bone Swords, Regeneration
Tervigon
Cluster Spines, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst

ELITE
Venomthrope

TROOPS
Genestealers
(16) Toxin Sacs inc. Broodlord w. Scything Talons
Termagant Brood
(10)
Tervigon
Cluster Spines, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst

FAST ATTACK
Gargoyle Brood
(15) Toxin Sacs

HEAVY SUPPORT
Trygon
Adrenal Glands
Trygon
Adrenal Glands
Carnifex Brood
(2) Frag Spines

The plan is simple The Carnifexes are joined by the Prime, their Frag Spines allow this unit to strike at initiative when going into cover which is something sorely lacking in the codex in general. SO if anyone gets cute and puts out a big bait unit in cover I'll be up to the challenge.

You will notice the lack of units in the Elite slot, this is a conscious decision to see if I can do without Hive Guard, Fast vehicles will cause me problems but with a lot of double scything talons in the list, they can't run forever … can they?

The Trygons are in the list because they are combat beasts (even better with Adrenal Glands) and because you need to give your opponent target priority issues when you are trying to walk across the board. Another thing that can help with this is units which will keep him tied up as early in the game as possible. To this end I included the Genestealers and Gargoyles, both great units in their own right but also units which can get across the board quickly and present yet another threat which must be dealt with.

The Tervigons have two different roles, the HQ unit will be thrown forward to challenge objectives in enemy territory to pump out 'gants to increase the scoring threat. It can also move with the advancing MCs to give broader synapse coverage and FNP where required. The scoring Tervigon is most likely going to sit back with the unit of Termagants and try to look inconspicuous while producing more 'gants to secure bases in home territory.

Lastly the Venomthrope can push forward to provide the advancing MCs a cover save and protection from charges in the form of it's dangerous terrain cloud. Or it can employ this skill defensively to protect the scoring units left behind in 'nid territory.

Well, there it is. Let me know what you think.

5 comments:

  1. Shame you cant get a T fex in though I guess if the cfex's are not workin you can do a switcharoo? You might find some ranged AT heps cut down on damage taken, dunno Im no nid expert, lol

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  2. Gotta love a Starship Troopers feference!

    Anyway, I'm always pleased to see someone giving Tyranids a go. I played a couple of games against Scott yesterday so we could try out our Blog Wars 2 lists and my Dark Eldar were totally lethal against the 'nids.

    Dark lances make light work of the big MCs as does poisoned shooting from wyches and venoms. In combat the genestealers are hitting at the same time as you but the wyches 4+ invulnerable makes the difference.

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  3. If you gave the Prime a Lash Whip, you could drop enemies to I1 AND have the 'Fexes strike at initiative. (Remember, Assault Grenades only apply to models equipped with them, so the Prime will be at I1 if it charges in.) If you would be willing to drop the Tervigon HQ, adding a second Prime to the unit and giving them Regen makes you T6, get cover like an infantry unit (effectively) and able to lose seven wounds (that you can get back) before taking a model off.

    Toxin alone on Gargoyles is kinda just worse (per point) than just buying more bodies; Tox + Adrenal can be okay, but I usually would rather just have a bigger cluster of bodies to absorb casualties.

    I also think your 'Stealer brood is a bit too big, you could benefit a lot from splitting it in two for more flexibility.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the advice, seems sensible, I'll give it a play-test.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Not coninced on the T'fex, too many points for the chance to get only a single hit (on average) on only a single model per turn.

    They are a tough cookie to kill but if I was fighting against one, I'd probably just ignore it.

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