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Well, I have my third game scheduled for this weekend, and I thought I'd get a little feedback on the list I plan to use. The guy I'm playing has been in wargaming for a long time, but he's just starting to use Tyranids. I'm expecting a Flyrant, lots of Hormagaunts and Termagants, maybe a Tervigon. He also has models for a Hive Crone, Zoanthropes/Venomthropes (Don't know which. I can't yet identify 'Nid models that well by sight) and a Carnifex. Maybe a little bit more. We are going to be playing 1250 on a 4'x4' table with 3 objectives. Here is the list I plan to run:

CAD

HQ

Overlord (190 pts)
Warscythe, Gauntlet of Fire (I had the extra points, so why not?), Phase Shifter, Rez Orb, Veil of Darkness

Troops

Warriors (235)
10 in a Ghost Ark

Immortals x2 (85 each)
5 with Tesla Carbines

Elites

Lychguards (125)
5 with Warscythe

Deathmarks (90)
5

C'Tan Shard of the Nightbringer (240)

Heavy Support

Monolith (200)

The Deathmarks, Shard, and Monolith are new additions to my collection. I know the Shards are kind of overcosted and underpowered right now and Monoliths are in a similar boat, but I want to test them out, and I think the number of pie plates I'll be tossing out will help against the Tyranid hordes. I'm using Warscythes on my Lychguard because there are a LOT of TEQs in my local meta, so that's what I have to play with. I figure that the GA will be my primary objective capturer while the Immortals grab the nearest objective and sit on it. I'll start the Monolith on the table (not comfortable DSing a model that big on such a small table) and maybe Eternity Gate the Immortals if I need to get them across the board quickly. The Deathmarks will start in reserve. My only real concern is if he uses the Hive Crone. I have a Night Scythe/ Doomscythe, but I don't know where I would free up the points. Any thoughts or suggestions on my strategy or list?

A Hive Crone only has 4 haywire missiles that can really threaten you. The rest is just gack to you. But if you really want it dead, then use the Nightbringer's ability... I forget what it's called, but it doesn't require a roll to hit or anything and I think Hive Crones have a lower than normal leadership, so you might be able to one-shot it with that ability.

If you have the models, I'd suggest running Praetorians instead of Lychguard and give them the void weapons instead of rods. It'll give you a fast melee unit that has plenty of attacks you can use to easily mow down swarms of gaunts, while also being capable of tackling larger beasts. Lychguard with Warscythes are more of a brick that you use as a speed bump and hope your opponent runs into it. You won't be able to pick the engagement due to their slow mobility. The best you can hope for is to intercept gaunts running towards your troops.

The rest of your plan seems solid. Good luck!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
To get points for Praetorians, I'd drop the Veil of Darkness and take a Voidreaper instead. It'll give him a boost in melee against a Tyrant, Tervigon or Carnifex. Veil is a little redundant when you can use Eternity Gate to move the unit. The only thing Veil gives is the ability to leave melee, but honestly your Overlord should be able to out-melee anything in his army.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I don't have any Praetorians yet. I built them all as Lychguard. Like I said, they aren't really build for the Tyranids in my meta, they're built for the TEQs that we have an abundance of. I'm just working with what I've got for now.
I can see what you're saying about the Veil, but I don't really see the benefit of a Voidreaper over a Warscythe on an Overlord. The difference is that the Voidreaper adds Fleshbane and Mastercrafted. Fleshbane is redundant since OLs already wound on 2s against pretty much everything. I just think the mobility from the Veil is better than spending the extra 10 points on a weapon for Mastercrafted. I may be wrong, though. I'll have to play with what I can do with the extra points.

 EnTyme wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I don't have any Praetorians yet. I built them all as Lychguard. Like I said, they aren't really build for the Tyranids in my meta, they're built for the TEQs that we have an abundance of. I'm just working with what I've got for now.
I can see what you're saying about the Veil, but I don't really see the benefit of a Voidreaper over a Warscythe on an Overlord. The difference is that the Voidreaper adds Fleshbane and Mastercrafted. Fleshbane is redundant since OLs already wound on 2s against pretty much everything. I just think the mobility from the Veil is better than spending the extra 10 points on a weapon for Mastercrafted. I may be wrong, though. I'll have to play with what I can do with the extra points.

Ah I see. Well if you get the chance, Praetorians with Rods of the Covenant make excellent counters to TEQ and do a better job at it than Warscythe Lychguard IMO due to their mobility and the extra boost of having a ranged AP 2 weapon.

I suggested Voidreaper because the flesbane will come in handy vs the Toughness 6 monsters that are common in the Tyranid army (Hive Tyrant, Carnifex and Tervigon to name a few of the ones you mentioned your opponent owning). It also helps if your meta includes anyone with Wraithknights, Dreadknights, Daemon Princes etc. But even if they don't have these things, mastercrafted is still a handy ability for 10 points.

Your overlord's current set-up is good, and Veil is by no means useless, I was merely suggesting swapping it for the Voidreaper to fit in Praetorians since it would save you 15 points and Veil's ability is redundant with a Monolith. But since you can't fit in Praetorians anyway, you should just leave him how he is.

You'll be thankful for the void reaper vs tyranid big boys. You want your overlord killing and doing so quickly, not stuck in combat for hours whilst you roll poorly.

Another tactic to consider for the future, since you're running Deathmarks, is to play a Destroyer Lord instead of an Overlord and attach him to the Deathmarks. He will provide them with Preferred Enemy for the turn they arrive and he'll be able to detach on the following turn to assault whatever he pleases. The only upgrades he needs is a Phase Shifter and Warscythe (or Voidreaper). With Toughness 6, Strength 7 and AP 2, he's Monstrous Creature without the label.

I don't expect that you own a Destroyer Lord but it's something to consider for a future purchase.

No destroyers as of yet. They aren't fluffy for my dynasty. I do plan to get a Cult somewhere down to road for competitive play, though. Can D-Lords deepstrike, though?

 EnTyme wrote:
No destroyers as of yet. They aren't fluffy for my dynasty. I do plan to get a Cult somewhere down to road for competitive play, though. Can D-Lords deepstrike, though?

They can. Whether or not they should...

So basically, Maulok (spelling?) deepstrikes in thinking he's all big and bad. Deathmarks and D-Lord deepstrike in on ENEMY movement phase, reroll misses and failed 2+ wounds, reconstitute the atoms of said devil worm, thus denying the Hive Fleet a significant amount of biomass. I like this.

 EnTyme wrote:
So basically, Maulok (spelling?) deepstrikes in thinking he's all big and bad. Deathmarks and D-Lord deepstrike in on ENEMY movement phase, reroll misses and failed 2+ wounds, reconstitute the atoms of said devil worm, thus denying the Hive Fleet a significant amount of biomass. I like this.

I think you may be overstating the effectiveness of the Deathmarks a little...?

 EnTyme wrote:
So basically, Maulok (spelling?) deepstrikes in thinking he's all big and bad. Deathmarks and D-Lord deepstrike in on ENEMY movement phase, reroll misses and failed 2+ wounds, reconstitute the atoms of said devil worm, thus denying the Hive Fleet a significant amount of biomass. I like this.

-D-Lord can Deepstrike but he can not Deep Strike with the Deathmarks if they are using they're Ethereal Interception
-They won't be able to re-roll the 2+wounds
-Synaptic disintegrators fire leptonic beams that affect the nervous system, so it would kinda flop on the ground but not have it's body broken down into its constituent atoms

 Kharne the Befriender wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
So basically, Maulok (spelling?) deepstrikes in thinking he's all big and bad. Deathmarks and D-Lord deepstrike in on ENEMY movement phase, reroll misses and failed 2+ wounds, reconstitute the atoms of said devil worm, thus denying the Hive Fleet a significant amount of biomass. I like this.

-D-Lord can Deepstrike but he can not Deep Strike with the Deathmarks if they are using they're Ethereal Interception
-They won't be able to re-roll the 2+wounds
-Synaptic disintegrators fire leptonic beams that affect the nervous system, so it would kinda flop on the ground but not have it's body broken down into its constituent atoms

The wording on Ethereal Interception uses "this unit". Since the D-lord (who does have the Deep strike rule due to him being Jet Pack) is attached to "this unit" it will deep strike in with them.
The D-lord's preferred enemy ability will let the Deathmarks re-roll any ones when they shoot.

But you are correct about the Gun, it fries the target's nervous system leaving the body intact.

Draco765 wrote:

 Kharne the Befriender wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
So basically, Maulok (spelling?) deepstrikes in thinking he's all big and bad. Deathmarks and D-Lord deepstrike in on ENEMY movement phase, reroll misses and failed 2+ wounds, reconstitute the atoms of said devil worm, thus denying the Hive Fleet a significant amount of biomass. I like this.

-D-Lord can Deepstrike but he can not Deep Strike with the Deathmarks if they are using they're Ethereal Interception
-They won't be able to re-roll the 2+wounds
-Synaptic disintegrators fire leptonic beams that affect the nervous system, so it would kinda flop on the ground but not have it's body broken down into its constituent atoms

The wording on Ethereal Interception uses "this unit". Since the D-lord (who does have the Deep strike rule due to him being Jet Pack) is attached to "this unit" it will deep strike in with them.
The D-lord's preferred enemy ability will let the Deathmarks re-roll any ones when they shoot.

But you are correct about the Gun, it fries the target's nervous system leaving the body intact.

Thanks for pointing that out So I can have an OvL with VoD join them? I have new ideas

 Kharne the Befriender wrote:

Draco765 wrote:

 Kharne the Befriender wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
So basically, Maulok (spelling?) deepstrikes in thinking he's all big and bad. Deathmarks and D-Lord deepstrike in on ENEMY movement phase, reroll misses and failed 2+ wounds, reconstitute the atoms of said devil worm, thus denying the Hive Fleet a significant amount of biomass. I like this.

-D-Lord can Deepstrike but he can not Deep Strike with the Deathmarks if they are using they're Ethereal Interception
-They won't be able to re-roll the 2+wounds
-Synaptic disintegrators fire leptonic beams that affect the nervous system, so it would kinda flop on the ground but not have it's body broken down into its constituent atoms

The wording on Ethereal Interception uses "this unit". Since the D-lord (who does have the Deep strike rule due to him being Jet Pack) is attached to "this unit" it will deep strike in with them.
The D-lord's preferred enemy ability will let the Deathmarks re-roll any ones when they shoot.

But you are correct about the Gun, it fries the target's nervous system leaving the body intact.

Thanks for pointing that out So I can have an OvL with VoD join them? I have new ideas

Yup, sure can. Just remember that only the Deathmarks are able to shoot when they arrive via Ethereal Interception.

It's a neat trick. Most likely, your deathmarks won't actually kill the Mawloc. But the voidreaper wielding Overlord will finish it off on your next turn.

Though i should say Warscythe wielding Overlord since the Overlord would need Veil to do this and can't have both Veil and Voidreaper. That's why I like to use Destroyer Lords for this, they get to Deep Strike without an upgrade and can thus wield a voidreaper.

Right. It's gauss weapons that disintegrate the target (partially). I'm assuming Mauloks have a lot of wounds, but I would think that 5 Deathmarks rapid firing and wounding on 2+ would be able to put a significant dent in that, especially if any 6s are rolled (resolved at AP2). And I think Kharne may have a point about D-Lords not being able to DS in with Ethereal Interception. There is a massive thread in YMDC about whether or not ICs benefit from the special rules of the unit they are in, and I'm inclined to agree with those who say they do not. So the D-lord could DS in with the group on a normal DS, but not using Ethereal Interception as they don't get the special rule.

5 Deathmarks with Preferred Enemy and rapid fire will inflict on average 3.36 wounds to a Mawloc or any other creature with a 3+ save and no invul/cover. You'd have to get pretty lucky for them to kill a Mawloc. 10 Deathmarks however should do the trick.