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Vince comes over to Frontline Gaming with his Tyranids to challenge Reecius' Eldar!

great game, great comeback I thought that actually you would loose that one

keep it coming please

Yeah, I was on the ropes mid game, but luck shifted and I came back in the end. Had his Tervigons not both pooped out on the first shot, I think he would have had me dead to rights. Great game, very fun!

Unbelievable combat between the hellions, ymgarls and gants. I think that turned to game in your favor.

And the fact that both his tervigons ran out after just 1 round of spawning didn't hurt your causes.

Yeah, Vince and I both agreed that the combat where I killed off the Gants and Ymgarls is what did it. Getting the 2+ on the Fire Dragons saved my ass, they tanked a lot of the wounds and Vince just rolled terribly in that combat. Had he won that fight, I was toast.

Very lucky there against the Doom, I thought he would have done more. Good game overall, I still believe that a min-maxed Tyranid list can challenge the Eldar quite a lot, even if they fell apart late here. A second Flyrant would have done wonders for your opponent I think, and he really needs to let those Hive Guard go. HG are a relic of 5th edition honestly.

Nids can definitely beat Eldar, no doubt.

You don't like Hive Guard? Really? I still love mine. What about them don't you like?

And so many folks are going double Flyrant, I am actually going away from it and thinking about dropping mine. I always see them die quickly and early in the game, mine hardly ever survives and is just a big points sink.

 Reecius wrote:
Nids can definitely beat Eldar, no doubt.

You don't like Hive Guard? Really? I still love mine. What about them don't you like?

And so many folks are going double Flyrant, I am actually going away from it and thinking about dropping mine. I always see them die quickly and early in the game, mine hardly ever survives and is just a big points sink.

I dropped my Hive Guard after a GT in October where they just didn't fit the meta. Hive Guard can pop mid to low AV vehicles, which with Hullpoints can be done just as well by Flyrants. Plus, with Flyers, Flyrants do this better, and with a faster maneuverability and speed can do it first and from Side Armor. Hive Guard also used to have utility from Instant Killing stuff, but with Enfeeble (which I play as stacking) Devourers can do that too. Also, if you are running a single Flyrant, then he's not a great investment. But 2 (or more, I own 3) can overload your enemy if timed properly.

Basically, Hive Guard are too slow and short ranged for an advancing army. Flyrants will get there first and take side armor shots to destroy whatever vehicles you need to before The way I play the game, I don't ever need to target his big Tanks, just transports. Flyrants are great vs almost all transports. The only ones that trouble me are Land Raiders and Ghost Arks, neither of which are common, and both I can still assault. Plus, Elite slots are valuable, and 5 Ymgarls will do more damage more consistently for less points.

The only reason I can think of to take Hive Guard is if you aren't taking Flyrants (a mistake IMHO). However, the new Wave Serpents have made me consider them again, for their Jinking Shenanigans plus Armor 12.

As to Flyrants, I would say Double or Nothing is the best way to go. They do fill a good Niche in the army of dedicated anti Air, but also are one of the biggest distractions possible, and deadly with Psychic Powers. The biggest mistake I see with them, time and time again, is to fly forward on turn 1. They either should be reserved if against Tau/DEldar, or otherwise hiding behind terrain, and arriving simultaneously with reserves. If you do run no-Flyrant Nids though, I'd love to see some BatReps and see how it works. The Swarmlord is certainly viable in my mind, as are Tervigons as HQs.

Good points.

I find my Hive Guard still get it done for just the reasons you list. He drops vehicles like nothing.

My Flyrant never, ever gets Iron Arm! Haha, that is half of it, honestly. He just gets crummy Whitchfire powers he will never use.

Secondly, and perhaps because my list doesn't have enough high speed threats to make target prioritization more difficult for my opponent, he dies so fast. Perhaps 1 in 5 games he will not be a total disappointment. Safety in numbers though, I can see the benefit of taking 2 as they become infinitely more survivable. Honestly, you need a lot of high priority threats to diffuse fire.

You run 5 Ymgarls? Hmm, I have no luck with less than 8. I find that one good round of overwatch and they're reduced to too low of a number to do anything useful.

But yeah, I almost always run Swarmy. He's my guy! Dude with Iron Arm is the last word in assault. I have had him just get it done time after time and I always take him.

5 Ymgarls can take out most vehicles in one assault or tie up a Dev/LF/Havoc/Broadside squad for a very long time. Tau Overwatch however is very tricky for the "Assassin squads" as I call them. I run 2 x 5 and will either combine them to hit a single squad or spread out and hit two small units. The small squads are very easy to place and play some major mind games.

And Flyrants have to synchronize with the build. Unlike Tervigons, they aren't always good. I like having a lot of reserving threats as it allows me to react to opponents and usually guarantees I'll get damage in. At 1850 I usually have 2x5 YummyGurls and the Doom plus two Flyrants, that will all sweep in at the same time. With a 2+ reserves it often results in too much pain to handle.

I agree on the Flyrant, as with any unit (especially with an army like Nids that relies on synergy) you really need to make sure each unit fits. In my previous list I think the Flyrant was a bit out of place which is why I had sub-par results with him as he was a tad out of place.

Tau interceptor and overwatch are a huge PITA, I agree. That is one of the main reasons I hesitate to use the buggers!

I will have to try the 2x5 Ymgarls, may have better results.

Is that daft punk playing when you are introducing Vince? lol...Actually I'm quite sure it is, though the other music sounded like it was from the Sound of Music or something.

Anyway, I like Hive Guard, they are so good IMO. Just ally with someone that can get Prescience and...Oh... Dang =(.

In all seriousness though, ignoring Jinks/cover for the most part is pretty awesome and one of the few decent anti-tank shooting nids have. One unit should thrash a Serpent/light vehicle a turn, for example (since they will likely be ignoring cover and jinks usually). I think they should probably have been 30-36" range but meh. They are essentially Tyranid Long Fangs but with short fangs instead?

PS: I love the fact that Vince's Hive Tyrant was missing its head...I had one of the same versions and the head would never stay on or glue easily.

Great report, well played on both sides ... I enjoyed it a lot. As someone trying to build up a tyranid force (and someone who's scared of NewDar) I learnt a lot from this game.

Something I've been wondering about is splitting biovores. Is it worth it?

On the one hand, it's great to be able to choose different targets. On the other, first blood becomes pretty easy for the opponent (although they might have wasted a lot of fire to do it... fire that potentially would've killed two biovores anyway). I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing to be taking 2 Instinctive Behaviour tests if you lose synapse...

Man great game there Reece I really thought this was going to be the first batrep we get to see you lose. What's crazy about all of these reports is that these aren't even your optimized lists. I'm really looking forward to the reports when you get your wave serpents.

Don't pick up wave serpents Reece, noooooo. The main places that I get to see Eldar (my friend at home and Fresh Coast 40k) use heaps of waveserpents, I enjoy your eldar batreps a lot because they are so dramatically different from those two players.

But you do need to do what will give you the most enjoyment ha

Really loving the amount of reports yourself and Jy2 are respectively pumping out lately. Keeping me psyched about 40k.

@Mortetvie

Yeah, we're loving the new Daft Punk album, it's awesome!

I like Hive Guard too, mech is coming back around here so the old trusty Hive Guard still have a place. A lot of it depends on your local meta, though.

Haha, and yeah, the headless tyrant was in effect! Maybe that's why he hit the dirt so fast!

@DexKivuli

Vince is a great player to look to for inspiration, he is an excellent Nid player.

I never used to split my Biovires but now after seeing how Vince used them, I am definitely going to consider it. Pro is that you can shoot more targets and less odds of having a total miss, however, you have less potential high end damage output against a single target. First Blood is a concern so long as your opponent can actually see them.

@Yodisisray

Yeah, I thought I was definitely on the ropes mid game, but luck was with me and when I the key combat I was able to fight back to victory. It was a super close and fun game, though.

@Motyak

I think I will use 1, probably not more than that, honestly. They are good but spamming them is too one dimensional, IMO. I think a list gains a lot of strength from having a diverse mix of units. The main thing is keeping a scoring unit mobile and protected from things like Turkeys.

@Godless

Thanks! Yeah it is good to hear that people are gaining a lot from them, that is why we do them!

I am learning SO much from watching these kind of videos.. thank you for making it. Tervigons drying up 1st try is so much bad luck haha

Glad you are learning from them! That's why we make them, well, that and it is always fun to play 40K!

But yeah, both Tervies pooping out so fast was a huge boon to me, that game would have been much, much more difficult had that not happened.

I really thought your winning streak was at an end there. With two really skilled players involved it was always going to come down to who made the last mistake (which would be the genestealers forgoing their extra attack) but even then luck seems to have been a huge factor it swinging the game back and forth.

Really good game. Great report. Lovely painted minis.

Thanks, glad you liked it!

And yes, I find that between two equally skilled players, with roughly equal armies in a mission and on a table that does not overly favor either player, the biggest variable becomes the dice.