Arkham Games will be running a 1750 tournament later this February, and it's time to start crunching possible lists. I've got one ready and awaiting playtesting for the Daemons, but I'd really like to take the Tyranids out for a meal. At the moment this is the best I can do; null deployment with lots of mid-strength shooting backed by melee heavy hitters. The swarm is subject to change given time and specific scenarios, but this seems like it could work.
HQ:
Hive Tyrant w/ Leech Essence, Paroxysm, Scything talons, Wings, Hive Commander, TL Brainleech Devourers -270
Elites:
1 Zoanthrope in Mycetic Spore w/ TL deathspitters -100, x3
Troops:
10 Termagants in Mycetic Spore w/ TL deathspitters -100, x3
9 Genestealers -126, x2
Tervigon w/ Dominion, Cluster Spines, Catalyst, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands - 195
Heavy Support:
Trygon -200, x2
This should give me enough angles of attack to surround just about anyone, decent scoring capacity, and enough firepower to soften up infantry and seriously crimp the style of most "parking lot" style lists. My melee units will struggle against some of the possibilities (Mephiston, Paladins, etc) but I'm hoping to even the playing field with fire support and buffs from the Tyrant and Tervigon. Pure hordes will also prevent a problem, as they can drag me down in melee if I'm not careful, and I don't have enough firepower to cripple units before they can reach me. Grey Knights will be a problem, but I'm gambling that Shadow in the Warp can take some of the bite out of Psychic Pilot, Hammerhand, and Force Weapons.
Warp Quake will be a problem, but there's little I can do about it. Ymgarl Genestealers and Lictors are an option, and would also improve my combat ability somewhat, but would require points to be cut from somewhere, as well as decreasing Synapse and Shadow in the Warp Coverage.
Thoughts?
I would throw the Zoans together or at least a squad of 2. I don't see the benefit of running them in singles, so you could possibly hit more targets or to mitigate bad reserve rolls? Zoans also make me mad since you have to roll too many dice just to pop a tank.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any hive guard or can you convert some warriors into hive guard. I also would like to see Adrenal Glands on your trygons to mitigate some attacks (Dreads and other Trygons for example) also to make your even better at popping armor.
Finally, why 3 squads of 10 termagants with only 1 tervigon? Maybe a squad of 20 and one of 10? I would love to see upgrades on the genestealers as well. I would drop the Tyrant as much as it pains me. Mine has been blown up too many times by missile launchers. It is a points sink, as much as I want it to work.
The Tyrant is pretty necessary to the list - everything is reserved, and the +1 from Hive Commander is essential to build up a critical mass of units and prevent me from being completely screwed if somebody brings an Officer of the Fleet (or whichever Guard advisor reduces reserve rolls) to the party. I agree its not an optimized unit, but the alternative is even worse.
ReplyDeleteI have Hive Guard, but I've been continuously disappointed by them. They need a Synapse babysitter, and have to either lose range walking on from the board edge, or risk being the only target on the board for 1-2 turns.
The Termagant and Zoanthrope squads are so small mainly to increase the chances of getting some units in and because I'm using the Mycetic Spores as weapons platforms. Even at BS2, 9 shots will garner some hits. They'll suffice for most transports; the Zoanthropes are there to spread Synapse, Shadow, and give me something that can crack vehicles who don't have a convenient AV of 11 on one of their facings. The multiple rolls for the Zoanthropes make me mad too (outright enraged when eating the -4 from GK dreadnoughts) but I don't see anything better in the codex for cracking heavy armor.
The Termagants aren't expected to do anything more than score objectives and die, although I can usually bank on 1 being close enough to the Tervigon to do some damage before they go.
I could probably get away with dropping one of the Termagant broods in return for some upgrades on the Genestealers - toxin sacs and more bodies are never bad choices with them. I was trying to maximize the number of units when I built the list, but I'll have to see how that plays out...
I like the list Ben. I think its by far one of your better null deployment lists. I'm not sure how the MSU style will suit the Nids, but you have a knack of making things work out well.
ReplyDeleteAre there any upgrades on the Trygons? If you can manage it, I think FC is a must.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. My main issue right now is that the list feels overtuned - it will hurt anything that relies on massed vehicles, but less conventional forces could potentially do a number on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sold on the Furious Charge upgrade, but am willing to be convinced. How would it be useful? The only attacks a Trygon cares about from Marines are Powerfists, and Dreads without dual autocannons are few and far between. Might help with the odd Dreadknight I'm seeing, though.
Almost everything else that could take it in combat will be slower than I4 or faster than I5, and 6+2d6 is plenty against most rear armor. Granted, S7 gives better odds against Land Raiders and Monoliths, but only marginally so.