Tyranid Vanguard on the way!

Up next for Tyranids..

What can this be?  What rules do you think will be in this one?
Does this feel like a day 1 DLC?
Is GW really taking after some video games of releasing an "unfinished" product and patching in playable fixes?

I hope they give every Genestealer old Ymargl rules.  That would be insane.

A quick word on Nids

Squirt, spurt, squirt, dead.

By now, most of you know that I'm a Dark Eldar player.  In the last 3 or so years since the Codex release, I've built only a single Venom.  Just last night, I put together my second Venom out of sheer boredom because I felt like modeling while I'm home sick.  Some of you who have been following my blog for a while will also know that I like playing my Dark Eldar a certain way.  It might not be the most effective or even the most tournament worthy, but it's the way I like to play and its been working out pretty well.

For those of who don't know, I like to play Kabal heavy with no Haemonculi elements and I like Raiders over Venoms with full man squads.  Unfortunately, I get the shit kicked out of my by Ignore Cover because mech heavy Dark Eldar needs their tricks to survive.  It goes without saying that I'm not doing so well vs. optimized Taudar lists.

Just today, I played against a chap on Vassal who I know is running the new Nids.  Alright, cool, I figure why not.  Let's put my 1850 pure DE list to the test.  Keep in mind once again that my list is built for all-comers, Raider heavy, Lance heavy, and it only sports 2 Venoms.

Exact list is the following:

1850

20 kp

HQ:

Succubus (Agonizer, Haywire) = 90

TROOPS:

5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130

5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130

10x Warriors (Raider NS/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195

10x Warriors (Raider NS/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195

10x Warriors (Raider NS/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195

9x Wyches (Raider NS/AS, Hekatrix/VB, Haywires) = 198

ELITE:

3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156

3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156

HEAVY:

Ravager (NS) = 115

Ravager (NS) = 115

Voidraven (FF, 2x Shatter) = 175

The guy I played was running Swarmlord with 3 Tyrant Guard, 3x Exocrines with Regen, 2x 2x Venoms, and a unit of 3x Zoans.  The rest of the army was filled with 20x man units of Terms and I think that was it.  Regardless, he was running fodder cover, 3+ Shrouded play from the Venoms, and Exocrines because they're pretty good units overall.

After 2 turns in, he calls the game, calls me a douchebag cheater, a list tailor and leaves the game.  Now I don't know what planet he lives on, but I don't think a Raider-heavy, lance heavy list that runs 2 Venoms is anything close to tailoring lists.  If anything, this list shits on MEQ much harder than anything else out there.  He just got outplayed and outplayed hard:  I always run Night Shields on my ships and I used their range to pick apart the first Exocrine (extreme focus fire), waited until his Terms covering one unit of Venoms moved into range before focus firing and destroying them utterly.  I then focused lances into the exposed Venoms, ID'd them off and finished off a second Exocrine before the rage rant started happening.  Even after I explained to him that this is my standard list, it's not a tailored list and I pretty much play the same shit every game, he doesn't believe me and tells me off.

Gah, it's so lame man.  Get a better sense of sportsmanship please!  Even with 2x Flyrants, I don't think he would of done well.  One failed grounding test and you're done, every lance in the army will go into you, especially since Dakka Flyrants have to get close to do damage to my ships.  Once the Synapse units are dead, it's pretty much a turkey shoot.  If anything, Nid players should take from this game one important thing:  No matter what happens, enough wounds will do you in.  The 3+ cover Shroud is awesome to have, but you really need a way to hide those Venomthropes entirely.  S8 might be pretty rare these days, but there's some armies out there that are still packing them.  If they get an opportunity to hit your exposed Venomthropes, their measly cover save in the open will not be able to save them!  The name of the game is opportunity, and good players will always find an opening.

One last thing:  If you're going to bitch the second you hear Dark Eldar when you're playing Nids, you need to expand your horizons a bit more.  You're never going to become a better player if you give up before trying to out-think your opponent.  Unless he's packing a douchebagery 9-Venom/Blasterborn/3 Ravager list, you should be alright.

I'm back! My Nids list

This marine is so fucked.

Here's what I'm going to roll with this weekend since I'm still missing my Flyrants. Keep in mind that this list can be well-equipped in a huge number of ways to fight different metas. It just happens that I play in a pretty MEQ heavy meta and this list is more casual than for tournament play. However, it's still pretty mean with all things considered. There's a huge number of psychic potential and T6 wounds in this list.

1850
14 kp

HQ:
Swarmlord = 285
Hive Tyrant (Strangle, Reaper, Adrenal) = 240

TROOP:
10x Termagaunts = 40
10x Termagaunts = 40
10x Termagaunts = 40
10x Termagaunts = 40
10x Termagaunts = 40
10x Termagaunts = 40

ELITE:
3x Hive Guard = 165
Venomthrope = 45
Venomthrope = 45

HEAVY:
3x Carnifex (TL Devo) = 450
Trygon = 190
Trygon = 190

This can be re-adjusted to take Mawlocs, in fact, it'll drop your list to 1750 exactly. This gives you 2x Tyrant Guard if you so choose. Another variation would be 1x Mawloc and 1x Trygon Prime for added Psyker hate.

The biggest thing to note in this list is that I'm walking just about everything. The way this list will be successful is by interlacing infantry and hiding your Venoms behind the wall of Fexes. Cover is pretty easy to come by, and even your most basic Terms can get cover if you use a dotted formation to mix the squadrons and maximize on cover. Swarmlord and the other HT can get cover from the Fexes, and the two Trygons will offer a lot of deadly options for your opponent to shoot at. In total, you're looking at 39 T6 3+ wounds through Shrouded cover that your opponents need to chew through to.

Just don't pop out your Trygons like an idiot, the 2+ reserves from Swarmlord should help. Play with 4x Term units for starters and then reserve 2 to backcap points. Keep the Venoms separate because your opponent will have to waste fire at one without wounds carrying over the other.

Oh, and I don't care about flyers much.  You can ignore them just fine, but if they don't down your Fexes, they'll be walking into a no-fly zone.

So how about those Tyranids

I'm still on vacation in Southeast Asia and I've read some crappy stuff on the new Nids book.

The gist of it is that while costs went down on most units, we lost Biomancy, a lot of problem areas were not fixed, and some units were nerfed for no reason.

I'd love to read what you guys think..

Tyranids, BFG and Overtime

Working, working, working..

Sorry for the lack of updates guys, but you know, Heart of the Swarm is coming out soon and we're crunching pretty hard for it!

Anyways, you might remember in my earlier posts that I acquired a fairly large Tyranid army.  This is true.  Now.. how am I going to run them?  Well, my Swarmlord will be leading the way, just like it did in 5th Ed.  Fortunately, we now get to roll some badass spells via Biomancy and its going to be pretty exciting to play with the new and improved Nids.  If Tyranids had a superhero, it would be Bioman the Fearless.

Check out the list:

1751

HQ:

Swarmlord (Bio) = 280

+Tyrant Guard (LW) = 65

TROOP:

10x Termagaunts = 50

Trevigon (Claws, Cluster, Adrenal, Toxin, Catalyst, Onslaught) = 235

10x Termagaunts = 50

Trevigon (Claws, Cluster, Adrenal, Toxin, Catalyst, Onslaught) = 235

19x Genestealers = 266

ELITE:

Doom (Pod) = 130

2x Hive Guard = 100

2x Hive Guard = 100

HEAVY:

Trygon (Prime) = 240

It's one point over, but hey, if anyone really complains, I'll just drop another Genestealer and add more Termagaunts.  The idea here is pretty simple:  Cascading cover as much as you can while giving yourself the option to reserve hard or pressure harder.  Infiltrating Genestealers away from your enemy while your Trygon Prime and all your MCs run towards his lines will certainly make him sweat.  Target saturation is the name of the game and as long as you a lot of that, you're playing Nids correctly.  The last thing you want to do is get yourself into a situation where your opponent can focus on one thing at a time.  Spread your threats out and Tyranids will do just fine.

Doom comes in in the Pod on T2 on a 2+ because of Swarmlord and even though the Outflanking changes made Genestealers less stellar, it's still problematic for anyone who's bundled up.  No one wants Genestealers on their flanks in a reliable manner, and that's exactly what Swarmlord does with his Alien Cunning special rule.  As you can see, I don't have anti-air.  You know what?  I don't really care!  Air units in this game have to climb all over my little gaunts while I go ahead and score in the backfield.  Of course, should the need calls for it, I can always mod up an AA Flyrant with dual devos and call it a day.

At 1850, I add an additional Hive Guard in each unit and voila!

+++++BFG+++++

As for BFG, well, I honestly love the game.  I don't really play it for the rules because there can be some wonky imbalance, but I do love myself some space battles.  As some of you know, I play Eldar in BFG.  I used to own an epic asston of Corsair Eldar, but that was so long ago that I no longer own the army.  Looking through the current factions, I want to get CW Eldar, but I don't think I''m going to invest any more money in a game that's no longer updated/supported.

The current system of BFG is that you either play FAQ2010 or play with the older 2007 official rules, or play with BFG:R.  I hate it when games have to be "modded" in order for things to be fun.  As much as I love the mechanics of BFG (orders, weapon types, lore/fluff), I hate the fact that there are several different versions of the game.  The most popular version of the game now is FAQ2010, but it's not an official GW product.  Sure, it might have been made by some of the designers, but GW never signed off on it.  2007 is the official rules, but there's a lot of questionable stuff in there that's a little hazy.  BFG:R is completely fan-made and unofficial, so as good as it might be, it's not the real game.  In fact, it's pretty far from it.

Then, there's the price.  I looked at the GW website the other day because I was thinking about ordering a fleet, and holy shit did the prices change.  Given, it's been forever since I've played the game, but I didn't expect the prices to be this!  For crying outloud, most of the capital ships are 35 bucks a piece!  For solid metal, meant to be played in a dead/unsupported game.  You've got to be kidding me.  Who knows?  I might even alter/re-design some of the BFG rules to allow for Initiative/alternating player phases to playtest.

With that in mind, I decided not to jump into BFG with the actual product line, but I have a bunch of Aquan Prime sitting around doing nothing that I feel comfortable with proxying.  I asked around and it seems like no one really cares, since realistically, all you need are flight stands.  Oh, and I never understood why Eldar ships needed Solar Sails to get around the galaxy.  You're masters of the universe; more advanced than all save the Necrons, stealing suns, building cities inside different dimensions, and here you are cruising around in a fucking boat.  I never understood that nor cared for it, so I'm happy to use my AP models for some BFG.  Oh, and most likely we're going to be playing with the 2010 rules.

+++++Random+++++

Did you guys hear that there's a new flyers supplement that's coming out for 40K?  I don't know if these are going to be new rules, new models, or errataing/FAQ'ing the existing models, but I'm really looking forward to this release.  Do not confuse this with high hopes though.  I have no idea what kind of supplement this is going to be, but I'm hoping for better flyer rules, maybe a points hike on some underpriced pieces of shit like the Vendetta/Valkyrie, and add some god damn Vector Dancer to my Eldar aircraft.

Lastly,

The buyer that wanted my BAs canceled on me last minute so the army is available again for sale.

Asking for 350 for the lot.  I will only sell it as a whole.

Blood Angels
PICS:
http://lkhero.blogspot.com/2010/04/blood-angels-released.html
30x ASM with BA Icons, kit-bashed with Death Company stuff
2x Infernus pistols as meltas in every squad, each squad has a Champ with Fist
3x kit-bashed Sanguinary Priests, 2 with JP, 1 on foot
1x kit-bashed Libby with JP
5x Sanguinary Guard, Fist, Banner
3x Baal Predators (new plastics)
Metal Tycho
Metal Mephiston
Metal Dante
An epic ass ton of BA sprues

Look what I picked up today

Looks like I got a bug problem.

Man.. Merry Christmas to me!
Looks like that some very alien battle reports are going to be rolling out in the next couple of weeks.

Have fun with this one guys.  I need to grab myself the new Hive Tyrant kit and 3x Tervigons to finish it all.

PS - If anyone has any Carnifex Devourer sprues, let me know.  Two of my fexes don't have any weapons!

PPS - The Blood Angels are claimed! Everything else is still left!

More Tyranid stuff

In my first article, I touched upon some rather unexplored options in the Tyranid bestiary in hopes to expanding your Hive Mind.  A lot of the units I mentioned are often overlooked, but I assure you, they kick ass when giving a specific purpose.  The more I play with Tyranids, the more I realize that army design is very important.  Each and every unit has to play a specific role and they have to work in conjunction with the rest of your list.  I'll provide some lists in my following article so I can show you guys what I mean.

So far, we have explored the following units:
Swarmlord
Deathleaper
Venomthropes
Dakkafexes
Genestealers

Now, we will talk about:
Tyranid Warriors, Shrikes
Gargoyles, Harpies, Winged Tyrants
Zoanthropes
Ymgarl Genestealers


Tyranid Warriors are often overlooked because they're viewed as a direct comparison to last edition.  They're more expensive, don't have Eternal Warrior and can't be customized as much as last edition.  The for some wild reason, the Tyranid didn't help them either because you mysteriously can't take Primes w/ Warriors in a Spore Pod.  Weird?  You bet you ass.  Useless?  Far from it.  Tyranid Warriors w/ LW/BS and Toxin Sacs are arguably the best assault units in the game.  They're WS5 base, 6 with the Prime and have 3 attacks by themselves.  Add in the fact that they don't really care for frags because they're lashing everything they touch and going first with power weapons and re-roll wounds (vs. T4 and under), they're absolutely devastating.  I don't think I've ever seen a 10-man unit of Marines manage to hit back under the right circumstances.  You can either choose to go Scything Talons for re-roll 1s, Rending Claws for vehicles or just keep the Devos/Venom Cannon if you have a Prime to lend his BS4.

Another interesting option for Tyranid Warriors is giving them Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs and taking them in a pod.  Believe me, they're a threat to everything save for Land Raiders as soon as they land.  People will be foolish react and relocate their vehicles once these guys hit the field on turn one.

So what now?  Let's talk about the flying threats that Tyranids can take but are often overlooked.  Who cares about Trygon models when you can make half the army flying while the rest of your army drops on his face!  The only way you guys can take a flying army work is you take Gargoyles.  They're small, dirt cheap and you can take an assload of them to provide a flying screen of mobile cover.  Can you guys imagine how much hurt a Flyrant flying around with two Harpies w/ Stranglethorn Cannons can pour out on horde armies or even Marines?  S6 large blast all over the place from 12" flying creatures that can exploit any exploding transport.  Sure, they might get cover saves, but you're pouring out so much hurt it doesn't really matter.  Anyone wishing to shoot at these will have to kill the Gargoyles first.  Taking a full unit of 30 Gargs costs 180 points.  They'll die to anything your opponent throws at them, but that's their entire purpose in life - to serve as a living, moving meat shield.

As for the flying Tyrant combination, I personally like the Flyrant with a Stranglethorn Cannon, Adrenal Glands, BS/LW and maybe Implant Attack.  Keep in mind that this is no way set in stone, you take whatever configuration you need to fight your metagame.  I just think that when combined with 2 Harpies shooting twin-linked Stranglethorn Cannons, and 2 Cluster Spines, you're looking at a possible 3 S6 Large Blasts and 2 S5 Large Blasts landing on people's faces per turn.  Adrenal Glands is also preferred for the Harpies because they're MCs and S6 + 2d6 charging tanks and hitting rear armor isn't all that bad.  Shrikes are also pretty good with a large unit of Gargs because you can pair them with a Flyrant with Old Adversary (Preferred Enemy 6" bubble) and go to town with BS/LW and Toxin Sacs.  This gives them re-roll hits and wounds with power weapons and everyone in base contact with you is swinging last.  Sounds overpowered doesn't it?  Give it a try.

Zoanthropes are often on the back burner compared to Hive Guard and with good reason.  They need to take psychic tests first, your opponents can stop it, then they have to shoot and possibly miss, then roll to wound and pen, then if your opponents have cover saves, they take those.  This is some pretty bad odds with all things considered especially when most of your opponent's vehicles can stay out of 18" range.  So what makes them worth it?  They shoot the most powerful anti-tank weapon in the entire game.  S10 AP1 Lance or S5 AP3 blast is capable of blasting apart the strongest tanks and the strongest marine.  The only bad thing about these guys is that 18" is in range of hoods and runic weapons.

So they suck right?  Wrong.  Tyranids is all about flexibility and applying threat.  Even if your opponent has the tools to stop Zoanthropes psychic abilities, they can't stop it 100% unless they're killed.  Their S10 shot can take down any tank in the game with relative ease and their S5 AP3 blast scares the crap out of any marine out of transports.  When you factor this in with an army that can fly, drop pod in, outflank or deploy as normal, an entire host of strategies begin to open up.  The key to using Zoans is to take 3 of them and drop them in in a pod.  You can either choose to do this outside the 24" hood/rune range and shoot at viable targets or you can choose to drop them in on force with an all out attack.  Zoans are best with a Drop Pod army that can force a lot of threats and target saturation early and unexpected.  With Mysics and Inquisitors out of the game, Drop Pod armies will definitely more play.  More on this later.

Lastly, I want to talk about a funny little unit that competes with one of the most coveted spots in the Tyranids codex - the elite slot.  Most of my lists only run with 2 units of Hive Guard and thus my 3rd slot opens for something else.  Sometimes, I take the dreaded Ymargl Genestealers because they're hysterical to use.  I don't know how else to put it, but anyone deploying Devastator-type units (infantry carrying heavy weapons) is in a whole world of shit.  You either force them to stay inside their dedicated transports, not deploy in terrain at all, or deploy in terrain and spread out in all kinds of stupid ways just to find out you popped out from somewhere else.  Nothing plays more mind games than Ymargls and for good reason.  Once they pop out, they can move, fleet and assault freely, which means they can threaten anything on the turn they arrive.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Ymargls should be taken over the other Elite choices in the book, but it's fun to see Long Fangs spammers get ripped a new asshole once in a while.

Some Tyranid tactics

The purpose of this article is to touch upon some of the units that people might not use, but they're actually really good in their own right.  I advise everyone to think outside the box every now and then.

Have any of you guys try the Swarmlord yet?  I have and I think he's amazing.  For 280 points, I think that's perfectly acceptable for a T6 5W 3+ and 4++ in close combat.  When the close combat invul combine with the WS9, the Swarmlord becomes an absolute menace in close combat.  Throw on the fact that he's I6 with 4 Bonesabres that cause Instant Death, I think we got ourselves a real winner.

My favorite thing about the Swarmlord is his 18" synapse and the ability to give a unit Furious Charge or Preferred Enemy.  This happens every turn and there's nothing your opponent can do about it.  Throw in the fact that he can make units WS/BS1 for 1 entire turn with Paroxysm, I see no reason not to take him when the Hive Tyrant I want is about the same amount of points.

If I was to take a Hive Tyrant, he would have..
Hive Tyrant, Stranglethorn Cannon, Hive Commander, Old Adversary = 240

So for 40 points more, I get a 2 psychic powers a turn, WS9, 4++ in CC, awesome special rules and a cooler looking model.  I think there's just no comparison imo.

Let's say I didn't want to take a Hive Tyrant at all, to save points I'd probably just take a Tyranid Prime w/ Toxin Sacs and Lash Whip/Bonesword.  He's 120 points and is perfect for taking Warriors w/ the same load out.  He's perfect for allocating S8 missile shots (especially with cover) and he's just a very solid buffer.  I don't know about you guys, but 5x Warriors with BS/LW makes every assault unit in the game think twice about assaulting your lines.  No one, not even assault-heavy armies wants a piece of WS5/6 Warriors that strike first with power weapons that always wounds on 4s and re-rolls vs. T4 and under.

Next, I want to talk about the Deathleaper.  For 140 points, he's pretty expensive for a simple Lictor model.  The key notes is that he reduces a IC's leadership by D3 at the start of the game.  This is mainly cast on enemy psykers because it makes his spells harder to cast and his hood less effective.  For armies like BA, GK, SM and other armies that rely on psychic hoods to dispel your dreaded Paraoxysm, a nerfed leadership is a huge blow to assault-based armies.

Deathleaper is a very fragile unit, but can reap great rewards when used well.  A 12" bubble of 1d6 less when moving through difficult terrain is extremely frustrating once enemy vehicles have been destroyed.  Just make sure you deploy him out of LoS or far away enough to take advantage of his super Night Fighting rules.  To make matters a little worse for your opponents, he can disappear T4 and re-appear T5 to contest any objective, anywhere.  This can be great for opponents rushing for objectives at the end of the game because their positions are getting overrun by your mans.

Now, I want to talk about Venomthropes.  No other unit frustrates assault-based armies as much as these dudes.  Dangerous Terrain tests + defensive grenades on every unit within 6" of the Venomthrope makes your army unassailable by assault.  It's just SO frustrating running into Nids and having the strength of your charge robbed from you.  Take in the fact that 2 Venoms can cover the entirety of most Tyranid armies and still keep their 4+ cover makes them attractive yet frustrating units to shoot at.  Do you want to shoot missiles at these things or do you want to shoot them at the BS/LW Warriors, Carnifexes or Hive Tyrants?  I think that's the key for a successful Tyranid lists:  Load the board with so many dangerous targets that your opponents sweat thinking about what he's shooting at.

Oh yes, the Carnifex.  More so, the Dakkafex.  A lot of you guys have turned your Fexes into Trevigons and I feel your pain.  GW made them almost twice as expensive in an attempt to sell a bigger and more expensive model (the Tyrgon).  Fear not, for I am here to tell you that the Dakkafex is still one of the most dangerous units in the game.  First, they can be covered by 4+ cover from your Warriors of Hive Guard.  Second, 3 Dakkafexes in a unit is 12 T6 3+ wounds with FNP thanks to your Trevigon.  Third, they can shoot 36 Twin-linked BS3 S6 shots at 24" of threat range (6+18").  Forth, you can't get in combat with one without getting in combat with all of them.  Do you like taking 12 S9 attacks?  I don't.  Fifth, they are much dangerous than Trygons because of their range and they're much harder to kill because they can be covered.  Three of these guys in a unit is 570 points, about the same as a unit of whatever in a Land Raider, which is perfectly acceptable.  Pop a Rhino with your Hive Guard and shoot at its contents.  I promise you, full squad or not, those Marines are going to get murdered.

Many of you have seen lists out there with a lot of Genestealers.  I don't know about you guys, Genestealers are really good.  They've always been good, and even without Flesh Hoods, they're still stupid amazing.  WS6 I6, Rending Claws and the ability to take Toxin Sacs makes them extreme killers.  They can also Infiltrate, which means they can Outflank and thus can apply pressure from the very start of the game or later in the game.  With the Swarmlord, I have greater control over where and how I want to apply pressure so GS are always a must for me.  To keep things even more effective, a small unit of GS hanging out by your backlines makes you near invulnerable to assault.  Unless the GS are getting shot to death by Marines coming out of a Drop Pod (and which case you should Outflank them), no one is going to be able to get near you without risking getting fisted by Genes.  Tie units up with your cheap ass Gaunts and then run Genes in to clean house.  My preferred loadout is 20 strong for 280 points in an Infiltrated position.  Move your Trevigon first, get up there and give them FNP for some Move Through Cover, Fleeting, highly resilient shock troops.  Believe me when I tell you:  Anyone who underestimates Genestealers is a noob.  Genes have been ripping Marines a new asshole since as long as I can remember.

That's all I got right now, more to follow later.

Tyranids, the new pro?

The more I look at the Tyranid book, the more I think it's one of the most difficult armies to play.  It's been a long time since Tyranids joined the 5th Edition party and I think it's time to revisit them as an army.  Let's talk about some of the flaws of the Tyranid book really quickly:

• A lot of stuff doesn't make sense:  Why aren't there frag nade equivs on a lot of the assault units?  Why can't the Carnifex take 2+ armor?  Why the hell is it priced so high?  Why can't Lictors pop out and charge?  There is a LOT of these questions vs. the last army book.
• The FOC is all messed up:  The elite slot has like 3 pages worth of units.  Really?  All this for 3 unit slots?  Why couldn't some of these been placed in the heavy slot.  In fact, why's there so many units all over the place?
• Why is everything so expensive?  Compared to the 3rd Ed. army book, almost everything went up in cost.. by a lot.  This leaves lists with very "limited" options for the most part.  I put limited in quotes because what I'm going to say next is going to make you think Trygons over Carnifex isn't as clear cut any more.

Now that that stuff is out of the way (and if you disagree, please let me know), let's talk about the good stuff:

• Everyone knows that compared to Cruddace's other book, the IG codex, the Tyranids book looks like a rush job, sloppy piece of shit that's horribly imbalanced both internally and externally.  Then we look at how the book plays and it is nothing like last edition.  Then we slam our faces against a wall for over a year, bitch and moan all over whinseer and fakka and then play with every single unit in the book trying to "crack" the winning build.  Just when all hope is lost, I'm here to tell you that Tyranids is actually a "master-class" army.
• What?!  You can't be serious?!  Well, I kind of am.  I think Tyranids are one of those armies who's synergy and list composition has to be so tight that there's virtually no room for error.  Everything in the army has to make sense and every unit you take has to do its job according to your army's design.
• But, what do you mean?  I mean the general has to be superb, the list has to be a well-oiled machine and that he must play his heart out against the horrors of the current meta.  Like Dark Eldar, the only other army I would put into the mythical "master-class" category, there needs to be a battleplan in your head before your deployment against every army.  This isn't a I'm-going-to-shoot-this army like Vendetta/Chimeras, Razorspam or Psyfleman where the only true skill of the army lies in target priority, but an army that can be destined to fail from deployment to movement, to shooting to assault.
• Lastly, I want to say that no matter what, by book flaws alone, that they'll struggle to place at the top tables.  It doesn't help that Venom spam ruins the shit out of the army and that seems like the new WAAC DE thing.

I will elaborate more as the week goes on.  I want to hear what you guys think first.

Revisiting Tyranids

So Tyranids have been out for a year now and people have got in a lot of games with them.  I've heard many things from many different people, but one thing's for sure:  A lot of players don't like the current book.  To make a long story short, they find the book stale, some thing's don't make sense, it's overcrowded and limited in competitive options.

This is not going to be another one of those posts complaining about Tyranids, but it'll be a post to talk about why I think Tyranids are actually fun.  Call me a loyalist bastard all you want (considering I have like 4 MEQ armies), but Tyranids is still pretty fun to play.  Let me rephrase; Tyranids is a blast to play in a semi-competitive to non-competitive environment.  At the top tier competitive levels, Tyranids just isn't there.  Now I know this depends from region to region, but there's a lot of competitive options from other books that causes a lot of issue for the options that Tyranids like to field competitively.  Big scary bugs are indeed pretty scary, but you can only get so many of them on the field before things get melta'd or plasma'd to death.  Compared to the Nidzilla of last edition, the combat effectiveness vs. cost just isn't there anymore.

I've been playing with my 2K Swarmlord list on Vassal lately and I have yet to lose a game.  Sure, I'm not playing against the most competitive lists vs. the most competitive people, but that's exactly what I'm talking about.  Tyranids might not be the best army competitively, but they're definitely not out of the game.  Check out my list:


1996
12 kp

HQ:
Swarmlord = 280

TROOP:
12x Genestealers = 168
12x Genestealers = 168
14x Termagaunts = 70
+Trevigon (Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught) = 200
14x Termagaunts = 70
+Trevigon (Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught) = 200

ELITE:
Deathleaper = 140
3x Hive Guard = 150
3x Hive Guard = 150

HEAVY:
Trygon = 200
Trygon = 200

The Termagaunts wall the Hive Guard, the Hive Guard wall the Trevigons and Swarmlord and the Trygons can't really hide.  A lot of people like to DS Trygons in every game, but I see them as great fire magnets if the opponent is lacking long range-anti tank.  You throw them on the board and all of a sudden, your opponent's gameplan changes completely.

For some reason, a lot of people don't like Genestealers either.  I still think they're one of the best counter-charging units in the game.  Any unit that's trapped in combat with fearless Nids is a dead unit once they receive a charge from Genestealers.  You can keep them behind your main wall of units (behind the Swarmlord) and anything that hits that wall of flesh in front of you is dead.  The best thing about Genestealers is that they work perfectly with the Swarmlord in this list.  Having that +1 to reserves and re-rolls for outflanking means that the stealers are insanely deadly and unpredictable.  It completely mind-melts your opponent's deployment, his actions and the way the game is played.  No one wants outflanking GS running down their lines.. especially when you have close combat with a tarpit on a denied flank.  If you have the points, Toxin Glands makes them the premiere MEQ-killer in the game for the points.  With the Swarmlord's Preferred Enemy, things just get ridiculous.

Another thing about Genestealers is that they are infiltration units.  That means after both sides deployed, you have the luxury to start 18" away from him in a very uncomfortable position.  This can draw a lot of fire away from your primary army and cause a lot of problems for heavy weapon teams.  The right way to play Tyranids is to provide your opponent with so many threats that he can't possibly deal with them all.  Genestealers are one of those units that gives me those options.  Sure, they lose their frag grenades in this edition, but they are still deadly enough to pressure and threaten any unit in the game.

You guys probably look at this list and wonder why I didn't take another unit of Hive Guard.  Honestly, I don't really care for them.  Zoanthropes are amazing pressure vs. MEQ and depending on your metagame, they can destroy things left and right with their psychic attacks.  If you're playing a Space Wolf/Eldar heavy environment, they're not going to do much, but they're not necessarily out of the game.  As you can see, the only thing I have that can reliably punch through AV14 is my Trygons and my Swarmlord.  S6 and 2d6 to armor pen is enough to punch through the thick armor of a Land Raider on slightly above average rolls.  Hive Guard is good for taking out light transports and skimmers because Impaler Cannons makes any light transport worry.  LoS simply doesn't apply to them and often times then not, they're not getting cover from the shots they take.

What I did take in the place of that 3rd Hive Guard unit is the Deathleaper.  Now I don't know about you guys, but this guy's hysterical.  You can't see/shoot at him if he's chilling in cover.  Not only do you halve the results of your night shooting roll vs. him (max roll is 12" range), but he makes all infantry units within 12" of him roll one less dice when moving through difficult terrain.  Your opponent is never going to get near him unless you play it wrong.  Once you have combat going with enemies locked in close combat, the Deathleaper keeps anyone trying to help them out of combat.  Not saying that DL is weak in combat, WS9, S6, I7 and 5+ rending makes a lot of units cry.  The D3 leadership nerf on enemy characters is also great at nerfing down psychic hoods and watching beefy characters run off the map never gets tiring.  Probably one of the best things about the Deathleaper is also his ability to contest points at the last minute.  Unless, of course, your opponent plays it right and spreads his unit on top of a point so the leaper has to deploy 1" away.  Oh, and before I forget, once this dude gets on the board, the Swarmlord is calling in reserves at +2 next turn.  Pheromone Trail also allows units DS'ing in like Trygons come in without scatter 6" away from him so they act as mini-homing beacons.

Lastly, I want to talk about the Swarmlord.  He is the centerpiece to my army and I take him because of the following reasons:

• I love the idea of him and the model that's represented.  I mean, look at him.  He has 4 freaking Bone Sabres and looks absolutely bad ass.  Besides, he's the only one that's ever slapped Marneus like a small child.
• His Bone Sabres absolutely destroy enemy ICs.  They inflict instant death regardless of toughness and any successful invulnerable saves have to be re-rolled.  All ICs should just cower in fear.
• WS9 and Blade Parry laughs at most units trying to hit him.  Marines hit him on 5s and 4+ invulnerable keeps the fists that do get through at bay.
• 18" Synapse range is very important for tarpitting units and having your Genestealers come in to finish the job.
• Swarm Leader gives me 18" of Preferred Enemy, Furious Charge or Acute Senses.  This is free, can't be stopped and just happens every turn.  The 2x psychic abilities a turn comes in handy as well.
• Last, but certainly not least, is Alien Cunning.  +1 to reserve rolls is boss and the ability to re-roll outflank is great with Genestealers.  I love this ability and you should love it too.

Back to having fun with Tyranids!  I love my Swarmlord.

My Swarmlord Tyranids list

Here's the list:

2000

HQ:
Swarmlord = 280
+2x Tyrant Guard w/ Lash Whips = 130
Warrior Prime (BS/LW) = 95

TROOPS:
10x Genestealers = 140
10x Genestealers = 140
14x Termagaunts = 70
14x Termagaunts = 70
+Trevigon (Catalyst, Onslaught) = 190

FA:
3x Raveners (Rending) = 105

ELITE:
2x Hive Guard = 100
2x Hive Guard = 100
2x Hive Guard = 100

HEAVY:
Trygon Prime = 240
Trygon Prime = 240

Strategy, deployment and game plan:

• Termagaunts form a wall of cover in 2 14x1 formations.
• They will cover the Hive Guard who will in turn, cover the Swarmlord & Co.
• The Warrior Prime will be moving from the Swarmlord's unit to absorb wounds with T5.
• Genestealers will deploy in reserve and will outflank with the help from the Swarmlord.
• A single Gene unit can also opt to deploy behind the Swarmlord and offer a strong counter-charge unit.
• Trevigon will be behind the Hive Guard ~around the Swarmlord and generate more cover.
• Catalyst will be cast on the Termagaunts giving the cover or be used on the Swarmlord's unit.
• Raveners will be a distraction/harassment unit that will apply pressure on any long range guns.
• Hive Guard will shoot at everything that needs to be shot and can-opened.
• Tyrgons will be in reserve and will come in to apply pressure on the opponent's flanks or rear.
• Hopefully things don't suck for me and I roll my opponents off the board.

Let me know what you guys think.

DE vs. Mech IG and Tyranids

I don't normally take anything from Warseer seriously because most of that forum is filled with terribads and trigger happy mods.  Good thing that once in a while, I'll run across a thread or two that's actually worth a damn.

The topic of the day here is about footslogging IG being a problem for Dark Eldar.  Umm.. no.  I don't know how many times people have tried to talk across the table in 5th Ed. and have lost.  If you're not playing Castle Eldar or Horde Orks w/ Killakanz then I have no idea what you're doing outside of transports.  The only time I've seen Horde IG work was against 50/50 Blood Angels list because there's too many IG dudes to kill before they shoot you to death.  Seriously, one of the worst things to happen to assault units this edition is not being able to consolidate back into assault.  You know what, I really hope next edition features some kind of "overrun" option for assault troops winning combat.  In this edition, you almost always want to stay in combat so you don't get fucking shot in the face by Mech IG's 3 billion AP3/2 blast weapons before you can do anything heroic.


Against DE, the only type of "footslog" I can see is a good portion of Chimeras and Auto-cannon HWT spam.  I'm telling you right now, point for point, AC HWTs is going to stomp most DE players if they're taking a good amount of Raiders.  I predict Mech IG will have little problem with the Dark Eldar book.

Like Vaktathi explains in the Dark Eldar vs. Mech IG matchup:

I honestly have a hard time thinking of a worse army for DE to have to face than mech IG. The popular Soul-trap/huskblade combo on your HQ? pointless (most IG armies have no IC's and there are no MC's in the army). Expensive incubi unit? Overkill against infantry and worthless against tanks. Wyches/Wracks? You don't need anything that CC specialized to smash guardsmen in CC. Heat Lances? Worse against AV12 than a normal meltagun in terms of average armor penetration. 4+ Poisoned weapons on everything? Sorta weak against T3 5+sv infantry (awesome when one can rapid fire a wraithlord to death with basic guns, not so awesome when they aren't that amazing against basic IG infantry). Power through Pain? Great, you have to shoot up a bunch of tanks, *then* kill a bunch of infantry to get a pain token, which gives DE units FNP, negated by the massed Autocannon/Multilaser fire and anything heavier that IG tend to bring in droves (and the second and third pain tokens are of far more dubious value). The basic Chimera is a nightmare for DE. Lots of Dark Lances? Great, they hit on a 3, glance AV12 on a 4 and pen on a 5 and kill on a 5+ penn.  Multilasers hit only on a 4, but glance/pen on the same value back, but kill on a 4+ pen/6+ glance, with *3* times as many shots, and Heavy Bolters can kill any vehicle in the army as well. Blasters? They do to IG tanks and infantry what *grenade launchers* do back to DE vehicles and infantry (aside from the Lance being incredibly useful against Leman Russ tanks, definite point there) with twice the range and a Blast mode.

DE aren't a bad army at all, rather they look to be very good against most opponents with the exception of IG, and most especially mech IG. If anything, I'd expect to seem them push many IG players *to* mech instead of *away* from mech. DE are an army that is wonderful at destroying large units, very tough units, IC's/MC's, and expensive and highly capable units. They fall flat very hard when trying to deal with lots of weeny stuff, as most of their stuff is grossly overkill and results in being rather wasted points.

I honestly have to agree with him.  Dark Eldar is overkill vs. the entire IG army that points for points, they lose in effectiveness.  S8 Lance weapons are mediocre vs. AV12 Chimeras and they can field a lot more tanks that can fight you for better points.  I'm not going to explain it any further because I think Vaktathi did a good job, so I'm going to leave it at that.

Now another thread that I noticed in the Dark Eldar matchup discussions was the OMG Tyranids are going to get raped! thread.  Now this thread is seriously funny.  Yeah, Poison Weapons and Agonizers is going to shit on your big beasts and yeah, Dark Lance spam is going to shut down Warriors.. but hey guess what?  That's the metagame.  Adapt or die - take more cheap Hormagaunts and try out Venomthropes instead of massing Swarmlord tactics and Trygons.  Kthx.