Tyranids, yep, back again. I took my bugs to the tournament last weekend and did well with them. I had decided to use some units that I haven't used in a while. I used carnifexes and warriors, I was going to use venomthropes but switched them out at the last minute.
My final list looked like this
Alpha warrior; boneswords adrenal glands
Alpha warrior; Bonesword and lashwhip, adrenal glands
2 Hive Guard
2 Hive Guard
2 Zoanthropes
Tervigon; stinger salvo, toxin sacs, adrenal glands, catalyst
10 Gaunts
5 warriors; deathspitters, talons and barbed strangle
4 warriors; bonesword pair, devourers, toxin sacs
Carnifex; talons
Carnifex; Devourers
The thought is everything essentially takes heavy weapons to kill. Warriors can take infantry fire decently well, and pretty much everything should be getting 4+ cover.
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| I hate Dawn of War deployment. |
I ended up winning my first two games, which put me on the top table in the third round. I was pitted against a very well painted Ultramarines force. It was a pure VP match, and by the end of the match (bottom of Turn 7) neither of us had much left alive. I ended up losing by only like 100 VP, and it wasn't helped my zoanthrope failed to damage the Land Raider. Out of range, rolled a 1 to pen, or stopped by hood (5 times).
I'll be honest, I was surprised I did so well. I took a list I have never tried before, and basically went there with the intent to have fun just goofing off with my Nids. Makes me consider playing them a little bit more.
I'm thinking of a revised list
Alpha warrior; sword & whip, adrenal glands
3 Hive Guard
3 Zoanthropes
10 Ymgarl stealers
Tervigon; stinger salvo, toxin sacs, adrenal glands, catalyst
10 Gaunts
5 warriors; deathspitters, talons and barbed strangle
4 warriors; bonesword pair, devourers, toxin sacs
Spore pod for bonesword warriors
Carnifex; Devourers
I've had one practice game with the new list, ymgarls did horrible but the game went decent, but still a loss. A little more tweaks and I might be onto something, or I might end up going full circle and end up with something like a normal tyranid list.
I was surprised by how well the Devil fex did, it had been so long since I've used him. The bonesword warriors also did surprisingly well, and I love how they look.
I think for this next month, I'm going to focus a lot more on my tyranids, and try and update my army's paint scheme, as most of my old models were my very first painted models (warriors) and my newer models I lost motivation to paint (30+ gaunts)
Edge- Glad to hear you are taking up the bugs :-) I've been to several (15+ish) tourneys with my nids normally placing atleast in the top 3. Yes there have been a couple really good tourneys where I just got stomped but o well.
ReplyDeleteI could give you a little advice if you'd like. I wont tell you not to run something but your list has a lot of. . .well inefficiencies.
Lictors- Not as good as you may think. The FAQ hurt them along with the standard codex rules saying they need to be on the table for a turn before they can help with scatter and reserve rolls. If you want a lictor take the 2 out find the points to use deathleaper. WIth GK and SW along with the psychic power carnival that is 5th edition deathleaper is great.
2 troops is rough- 20 dev gants is a tough unit, they will mop infantry up slowly but surely :-) They are in a way the same thing Gravemind uses his warriors for blowing holes in squads then assaulting to finish them off. Not a bad unit but don't expect them to stay around, they have a shortish range needing to be in the front lines so you will be left to the terv as your only troop along with w/e he/she spawns. (yes there are boy tervigons.
Spore mines are a funny unit. Reason being you shoot one spore mine you lose the whole unit before they do ANYTHING :-( sure they help limit deployment but that's about it. Sadly I wish they just deep struck with the rest of the army but they don't.
Doom- This is the unit people either love or hate. I love using him I take him in combination with 2 mawlocs. Which I use for large anti-infantry aiming for blobs or packs of long fangs. Back to my point, Doom needs a lot of Anti-tank help ASAP. Reason being on turn 2 if he comes in most players will be meched up. With the ruling saying he doesn't effect vehicles and gives cover saves you really need infantry out in the open. The best way to do this is hive guard or tyranofexs. The other option would be a mawloc STR6 on rear armor 1/3 chance to pen most vehicles. Not an amazing option but it's one of the few we have. Also he needs a ton of distractions one meltagun has killed my doom more than id like to admit. Doom has no synapse by the way remember this. They say he acts as a zoanthrope but didn't give him synapse so a lot of people will give you a hard time if you say he hasn't it but the word isn't under his entry.
Winged tyrant, he's faster that's for sure :-) but for the points may I suggest swarmlord? I see that you want him to get there quickly but without Tyrant Guard he more than likely wont get there at all. Winged tyrants scare people. They draw all your fire turn one. You only have 2 synapse creatures :-( this is a scary thought. I really would suggest a warrior squad, another tervigon or a warrior squad tyranid prime.
Lastly the fexs- You are using them for anti-infantry. Large blast, small blast and a handful of anti-infantry shots. However will it work? After you drop you will shoot but then what? if the army is meched you killed 3 rhinos (105 points) or 3 razorbacks (225 if they are Las/plas SW). What happens then? A carnifex wont win combat with 10 grey hunters and a Powerfist. He wont win against a GK squads force weapons. A libby force weapon, melta fire and a charge, plasma. :-( I love carnifexs but sadly they haven't been doing it for me in 5th edition like they did 4th.
As for an overall view of the list: If it was space marines it would work. If half your stuff could come on turn 1 you'd be golden, but it doesn't. Deepstriking tyranids went out the door when they FAQed ICs could not be in spore pods. Lictors didn't help unless they were already on the table at start of turn, pheromone trail doesn't work like it should. If you want to run the carnis have you though about trygons? Trygon primes give you two handfuls of anti-infantry shots. Synapse, I4 along with more attacks in combat. Also you save points going this route. take the 2 lictors out and add deathleaper and put in a squad of 3 hive guard.
Rionney was right for most of the points, as much as it pains me ;P
ReplyDeleteTyrant, the winged set up really doesn't work well in 5th ed, since losing the 2+ armor save and the missile spam, along with the price increase. Also note that acid blood and toxic miasma are going to do so close to nothing that it really isn't worth the points.
Outflanking Tervigon can't make gaunts the turn it comes in, and it is already coming in later so the earliest you could even make gaunts would be Turn 3 with good dice. And if you roll doubles then, well you have a Sacrificial drop gaunt squad, a small sized spawned squad and the tervigon. The two gaunt squads probably won't last long. I would really consider at least adding in some Stealers
The only lictor really worth taking is Death Leaper, he is so good. And as stated, it frees up an elite slot for zoanthropes or hive guard.
Fexes... where to start. You've paid for 3 weapons where you can only fire two a round. I'd either only give them bio plasma to fire on the drop (since you should be dropping close) or two pairs of Devourers.
Right now you are dropping in 255 point MCs, For those points you could be buying Tyrgon primes. They have more base attacks, better Ws, they will have something like 12 S5 shots and will be synapse. Make 1 a prime, and the other two normal, and you'll be saving around 100 points. (spend on elites)
A Null deployment/ reserves list is possible and can do well, but it takes luck, practice and it is still an uphill battle. We have the options to do so, but sometimes that doesn't mean we should.
I think Grave is on the right track also. The 1 Trygon Prime 2 normal is a fairly good idea also. May I suggest outflanking the 20 dev gants instead of tervigon? use the tervigon with a small squad of gants and 3 hive guard moving forward. The hive guard can block 1/2 the tervigon and the gants block the guard. This will give you a 'mobile' troop yet still give you a outflanking threat for infantry :-)
ReplyDeleteGrave and I have two different styles I guess you could say yet we both agree on a few things. I think if you take our advice to heart you will be fine and you'll find a list that works well for you :-)
It is not bad, you'll want Toxin sacs instead of glands on the Genestealers. And glands are not worth it on the mawlocs and they probably will not be assaulting.
ReplyDeleteAny reason for the Parasite? He doesn't really do too much for the list.
Also you don't have any reserves manipulation so you could come in completely piecemeal. If you are running that many stealers, and possibly playing up to 2k, consider fitting in the swarmlord.