Saturday, August 27, 2011

Sending in the Next Wave

My FLGS, http://www.facebook.com/fourhorsemencomics, is holding its inaugural tournament next weekend. At 3 rounds and 1500 points, it should provide a nice chance to make up for a dismal showing at Ard Boyz.  I'm thinking of taking a more conventional swarm than my usual reserve list; after some testing today, I may have a rough list.

HQ: 

Hive Tyrant  w/ Leech Essence, Paroxysm, Heavy Venom Cannon, TL BL devourers, Armored Shell 

Elites:

2 Hive Guard

Troops:

10 Termagants

Tervigon w/ Dominion, Catalyst, scything talons

15 Hormagaunts w/ toxin sacs

15 Hormagaunts w/ toxin sacs

8 Genestealers

8 Genestealers

Heavy Support:

Carnifex w/ TL BL devourers x2

Tyrannofex w/ rupture cannon, cluster spines, dessicator larvae


It's somewhat resistant to missile fire, can put out a decent amount of shooting, and can still do some damage in assault.





Friday, August 12, 2011

Making Planetfall...

Orbital defenses have been breached, the Hive Fleet is entering orbit, and the Mycetic Spores are on the way. Consumption begins in roughly twelve hours. 

After some more testing I decided to change up the list, and like this version much more. It's still not as much anti-tank as I'd like, and Mission 2 will be pretty unforgiving in my deployment, but hits much harder in assault and doesn't hemorrhage kill points quite as easily. The Swarmlord proved to be even more useful than I had anticipated; Genestealers and Warriors with Preferred Enemy are certifiable nightmares, and the 18" allows for much more flexibility than Old Adversary. 


HQ:

The Swarmlord (280), 1 Tyrant Guard w/ rending claws and scything talons (60) - 340

Hive Tyrant(170) w/ Leech Essence, Paroxysm, Scything talons, TL BL Devourers(15), Wings(60), Hive Commander(25)  
-270

Elites:

2 Hive Guard-100

2 Lictors - 130

2 Lictors – 130

Troops:

10 Termagants -50

Tervigon (160) w/ Dominion, Cluster spines,Catalyst(15),Toxin Sacs(10),scything talons(5) -190

10 Genestealers - 140
10 Genestealers - 140

5 Tyranids Warriors w/ lashwhip & bonesword(15), toxin sacs(5), rending claws, (200) in Mycetic Spore(40)
-290
Fast Attack:

15 Gargoyles - 90

Heavy Support:

Trygon - 200

Trygon - 200

Carnifex (160) w/ TL BL devourers (15)x2 (190) in Mycetic Spore(40) - 230

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The Swarm Gathers...

After a little more playing, here's the rough draft of the list I'll be fielding next weekend.

HQ: 

The Swarmlord w/ 1 Tyrant Guard

Hive Tyrant w/ Leech Essence, Paroxysm, Scything talons, TL BL Devourers, Wings, Hive Commander

Elites:

2 Hive Guard

Zoanthrope in Mycetic Spore

Zoanthrope in Mycetic Spore

Troops:

15 Termagants

Tervigon w/ Dominion, Cluster spines, Catalyst, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal glands, scything talons

10 Termagants w/devourers in Mycetic Spore

20 Genestealers w/toxin sacs, Broodlord w/ toxin sacs, scything talons, implant attack

Fast Attack:

20 Gargoyles w/ toxin sacs

Heavy Support:

Trygon

Trygon

Carnifex w/ TL BL devourersx2 in Mycetic Spore

Still feels rough around the edges. I'd considered the Doom of Malan'tai, but it never seems to do anything other than die after sucking off a wound or two, and I think I'll need the Hive Guard more. Not really wild about the Termagants on foot, but the Traitor has to hide somewhere in Mission 1, and they can at least claim an objective in Mission 2; in Mission 3 they can ... die, hopefully taking something with them. I'd prefer the Genestealers in 2 groups to claim objectives in Mission 2, but with the Swarmlord on hand they have a good chance of appearing where they need to and can take some punishment without going down, particularly if I can keep Catalyst on them. It's tempting to swap the Mawloc back in for one of the Trygons. As dense as the board is likely to be it should at least have a target.

Mission 1:  I'll have to play aggressively and focus fire. If I can arrive together, cripple a flank, and absorb the return attack, then I should have a chance. I can't afford to spread out, especially against a list with fewer units; in my test game I managed to kill the Traitor, keep mine alive, tie on victory points... and still lost the game by a good 6 KP. While I'm at it, I'd like to give an extra special Fuck You! to the FAQ writer who decided ICs couldn't ride in Mycetic Spores - because of you designing this list was much more frustrating than it needed to be. But not quite as much as in...

Mission 2:  And an extra, extra special Fuck You!! to whoever wrote this mission. Since Outflank would be amazingly useful here, particularly for an army with limited mobility, obviously it must be disallowed. I'm going to have to start on the table here; how many units go on will depend on the opponent, but the Swarmlord, Gargoyles, Tervigon, Gaunts, and Genestealers will likely form the core. Hopefully I can hold the center and 1 of the secondary objectives while contesting the others.

Mission 3: Finally, Victory Points! I can afford to do what my swarm does best here - appear from nowhere, pick off high value targets with expendable units, then move in for the kill. Deployment and target priority will depend largely upon my opponent and how they react to my (non)setup.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

'Ard Boyz

*Obligatory joke about what a terrible name for a competition the above is here*

Still working on finalizing my list for the competition on the 13th. Got in a small test game yesterday to try out some new unit combinations. Results were mixed; on the one hand I lost. On the other I had just about everything that could go wrong for my swarm go wrong and still came within one leadership test of tabling my opponent, so I at least managed to put the fear of the Hive Mind in him. In an objective or VP mission I think I could have pulled it out, but a KP mission against foot Orks is one of my harder matchups - squads of 20 Orks are much harder to kill than empty Mycetic Spores. I think I can iron out the kinks at 2500, but 1500 still leaves me without much in the way of ranged antipersonnel or screening - I can do some damage in assault, but my best shooting is geared towards short range AT.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to try out the same list against Dark Eldar this evening.