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Came in 3rd at a very competitive 14 player tournament yesterday with the following list. It should be said that my wife and I met in the 2nd round, where her list is functionally a hard-counter to mine (Sisters + Imperial Soup with 8 Heavy Flamers, and 16 regulars Flamers = not-so good for Genestealer spam).

My wins were incredibly decisive, but the lessons were that we used the new ITC missions with Maelstrom 2nd-ary, and I did feel less perfectly tuned than I thought. In book missions this list would've rolled the room even more easily, but the issue I faced was that one a unit of Genestealers eats its target, they tend to get removed handily in the next shooting phase. They just aren't objective holders, and without shooting, would frequently spend the rest of a game off somewhere out of the principle action.

They ALWAYS traded their lives for notably more points in return, so good on them, but Maelstrom really prefers bodies that last longer than said trade.

2000pts

Tyranid Battalion
Swarmlord
Malanthrope

3x Ripper Swarm
25x Termagants
27x Hormagaunts w/Adrenals

Trygon Prime w/Adrenals
Tyrannocyte with Barbed Strangers

2x Biovores

GSC Vanguard Detachment
Primarch w/2x Familiars
20 Genestealers
11 Genestealers
11 Genestealers

Astra Militarum Auxillery Detachment
3x Heavy Quad Mortar Batteries

Everything contributed, and I would've been playing for 1st or 2nd, if not for drawing a tough tie against my wife, as I said.

The only list in the room I would've dreaded playing against was a Storm Raven spam, which might've tabled me, although it would've struggled with the Maelstrom Missions, thus ending that lists reign of terror. The dude met his own hard counter 1st round though against a Guilliman list with several Deredeo Dreadnaughts which really give Storm Ravens fits (they're still hitting Flyers on 3+ re-rolling)

DoggieDoo wrote:
Pages 18 and 83 Stone Crusher Carnifex
– Bio-flail
Change the abilities text to read:
‘Each time the bearer fights, one (and only one) of its
attacks can be made with this weapon. When the bearer
fights with this weapon, make a number of hit rolls
against one target unit equal to the number of models
that the target unit has within 2" of the bearer.’

Hmmm. Guess thats alright.

How do people feel about this? Wonder how many that translates to if you throw a Fex at a horde

Has anyone played with Spore Mines? The tactical uses of these things seem more impressive than ever. Being able to decide when and where they come in without scatter seems really powerful. Granted, it's easier for a unit to split-fire and kill them with lasguns or something, but with no scatter it is easy to put them down in line-of-sight blocking cover, or plop them down to threaten whatever you want. I was also thinking about the possibility of sitting them in your line - protecting valuable targets from assault. The blow up within 3" of an enemy in the charge phase, so with clever positioning you can deter opponents from wanting to get near them in a charge. Any more thoughts on their uses?

 rollawaythestone wrote:
Has anyone played with Spore Mines? The tactical uses of these things seem more impressive than ever. Being able to decide when and where they come in without scatter seems really powerful. Granted, it's easier for a unit to split-fire and kill them with lasguns or something, but with no scatter it is easy to put them down in line-of-sight blocking cover, or plop them down to threaten whatever you want. I was also thinking about the possibility of sitting them in your line - protecting valuable targets from assault. The blow up within 3" of an enemy in the charge phase, so with clever positioning you can deter opponents from wanting to get near them in a charge. Any more thoughts on their uses?

I've had a couple games where someone will get cheeky and split-fire ONE guy into it, and miss... now having to deal with it.

They're good, and your opponent will always feel bad putting any amount of fire into them, but I definitely don't feel as passionately about them today as I did the day 8th Edition dropped.

Yeah I dont think I would load up on them, but a unit here or there has it's tactical uses that could really be exploited by a clever general. I want to try a unit or two in my next couple games to see whether they are useful. They are a bit pricey now - 3 for 30pts, so the question will be whether they are worth it for the tactical use over 30pts of Rippers.

The most fun I have had is using 27 Biovores as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. I proxied them up and played a game with them. It was hilarious vs a Razorback spam list. I seized on him, moved on all the biovores, then shot all of them at the Razorbacks. I then used all the misses to surround his line of Razorbacks with spore mines. He was unable to move them and had waste his shooting on them. I continued to pin them for the entire game. It was humorous to watch.

I'm just getting back into the game and thinking about running a list like this:

Battalion Detachment

Hive Tyrant with Wings - 195
-2x Monstrous Rending Claws, Two Deathspitters with Slimer Maggots, Toxin Sacs

Broodlord - 162

20 Genestealers - 240
20 Genestealers - 240
20 Genestealers - 240
15 Genestealers - 180

10 Termagants - 40
10 Termagants - 40

3 Zoanthropes - 120

Trygon, AG - 180
Trygon, AG - 180
Trygon, AG - 180

1997


Deep striking 3 squads of genestealers and 3 trygons turn 1 right in front of the enemy face, followed up by a fourth squad supported by a broodlord the next turn. The flyrant goes after fliers or squishy evasive targets, and the zoanthropes and gants capture objectives on my side of the map, since the opponent is going to be too busy dealing with genestealers and trygons to clean them up.

Is this a decent plan, or will it play out significantly worse than this in practice? I haven't played 40k in 7 years, so my theorycrafting is quite rusty.

Fragile wrote:The most fun I have had is using 27 Biovores as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. I proxied them up and played a game with them. It was hilarious vs a Razorback spam list. I seized on him, moved on all the biovores, then shot all of them at the Razorbacks. I then used all the misses to surround his line of Razorbacks with spore mines. He was unable to move them and had waste his shooting on them. I continued to pin them for the entire game. It was humorous to watch.

I'am painting my 24 biovores right now! Really looking forward to my first local tournament...

Zyrnak wrote:I'm just getting back into the game and thinking about running a list like this:

Battalion Detachment

Hive Tyrant with Wings - 195
-2x Monstrous Rending Claws, Two Deathspitters with Slimer Maggots, Toxin Sacs

Broodlord - 162

20 Genestealers - 240
20 Genestealers - 240
20 Genestealers - 240
15 Genestealers - 180

10 Termagants - 40
10 Termagants - 40

3 Zoanthropes - 120

Trygon, AG - 180
Trygon, AG - 180
Trygon, AG - 180

1997


Deep striking 3 squads of genestealers and 3 trygons turn 1 right in front of the enemy face, followed up by a fourth squad supported by a broodlord the next turn. The flyrant goes after fliers or squishy evasive targets, and the zoanthropes and gants capture objectives on my side of the map, since the opponent is going to be too busy dealing with genestealers and trygons to clean them up.

Is this a decent plan, or will it play out significantly worse than this in practice? I haven't played 40k in 7 years, so my theorycrafting is quite rusty.

Like any other 'right in your face' army you suffer from the enemies 'get of my lawn' units.

Astra Militarum uses 2/3 scout sentinels to scout forward and you basically 'pop up' at your own deployment edge. Also, if the enemy goes first and got his own deep strike units it deep strikes mid field forcing your trygons to deploy another 9 inch away. From that point on you just got to walk towards the enemy gunline and get shot to pieces. Your genestealer horde can still win the mission but against a decent armylist you will bite the dust after a few rounds.

If you want this kind of armylist I would suggest to upgrade one of your trygons to a 'Prime' because after you drop, that hive tyrant is your only synapse creature until the broodlord catches up. No synapse could give a smart player the opportunity to just move forward a rhino and all your trygons and genestealers are forced to assault the closest unit.

I would also switch one genestealer unit with 20 guants including 10 devourer upgrade. This frees up points for other stuff..

Zyrnak wrote:
I'm just getting back into the game and thinking about running a list like this:

Battalion Detachment

Spoiler:

Hive Tyrant with Wings - 195
-2x Monstrous Rending Claws, Two Deathspitters with Slimer Maggots, Toxin Sacs

Broodlord - 162

20 Genestealers - 240
20 Genestealers - 240
20 Genestealers - 240
15 Genestealers - 180

10 Termagants - 40
10 Termagants - 40

3 Zoanthropes - 120

Trygon, AG - 180
Trygon, AG - 180
Trygon, AG - 180

1997

Deep striking 3 squads of genestealers and 3 trygons turn 1 right in front of the enemy face, followed up by a fourth squad supported by a broodlord the next turn. The flyrant goes after fliers or squishy evasive targets, and the zoanthropes and gants capture objectives on my side of the map, since the opponent is going to be too busy dealing with genestealers and trygons to clean them up.

Is this a decent plan, or will it play out significantly worse than this in practice? I haven't played 40k in 7 years, so my theorycrafting is quite rusty.

Unless you really want to the broodlord for a certain psychic power the first thing you should do is switch all of those stealers to purestrains and the broodlord to a patriarch (Although I guess synapse is also a thing but with your army almost entire genestealers not much of a thing. If you do this switch you save 162 (Literally the price of a broodlord)

Here are some suggestions I'd make:
Hive Tyrant - Adrenal Glands over toxin sacs easily. Getting into combat is way more important than the statistical maybe one extra wound per fight. Or both but Adrenal is the superior upgrade hands down.
Zoans - Add a nuerothrope and bring the model count up to 4. 5 is the sweet spot I've been experiencing but even at 4 until they knock off one model it's going to be a gak-show watching what they fire at your zoans especially if you've cast catalyst on them. The neuro also gives you a small amount of extra survivability if they hadn't killed a zoan and you want to pump him back up to full health.
Trygons - I actually take a prime just because I like the synapse/shadow and also because bio-static rattle gives him an extra phase of attacks. Most may not make it but it makes him a completely different beastie than just the punchy trygons.
Gants - Min squads are not even good screening units. Maybe you'll use them for some back field objectives but they'll get murdered by any strong breeze that blows backfield. I'd consider using some of the 162 points youre saving by switch to geiko and increase at least one squad to a 30 blob.

New List I'd offer:




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Correctioin, I imagine you're taking the Genestealers along the trygon pony ride? My new list means youd be taking your gants because GSC purestrains arent troops but the amount of upgrades you get by switching... Not sure. I've had literally zero problem walking my stealers up the board and with the AoE 6+FNP and maybe a lucky catalyst here or there it really is a mess. I'd really say give it a try. The trygons are going to be great distraction carnifexes that are only going to help your stealers get up the board and if youre smart about it you can even use youre very tiny squads of gants to screen those trygons until the second turn (Though unlikely since you need an opening to attempt the charge)

If you're taking GSC Stealers, you don't want trygons unless you have other units to taxi like hormagants.

And you should be taking GSC Stealers

 SHUPPET wrote:

DoggieDoo wrote:
Pages 18 and 83 Stone Crusher Carnifex
– Bio-flail
Change the abilities text to read:
‘Each time the bearer fights, one (and only one) of its
attacks can be made with this weapon. When the bearer
fights with this weapon, make a number of hit rolls
against one target unit equal to the number of models
that the target unit has within 2" of the bearer.’

Hmmm. Guess thats alright.

How do people feel about this? Wonder how many that translates to if you throw a Fex at a horde

just quoting myself to restate, would love to see some discussion on this unit

I'll bite. I saw some discsion on one of the threads with these with old one eye would be good.

It is very strong. It is a couple of points more then a regular carnifex and for that you get the big swing ball witch just dishes out damage vs many miodels. also descent Ap. The claws are very good, the only source of 2x withouth the-1 to hit. That is very strong. And you get both one one model.

So unless you are just going for cheapest T6 wounds (mawlock and fexeS) possible there is suck a small price to upgrade it to a stone crusher.

But as many have pointed out, Shuppet not least, you really want your fexes to be dakka. This little gem can onlu grav the 12" plasma shot. Not very good.

RIP Screamer Killer

 Niiai wrote:
I'll bite. I saw some discsion on one of the threads with these with old one eye would be good.

It is very strong. It is a couple of points more then a regular carnifex and for that you get the big swing ball witch just dishes out damage vs many miodels. also descent Ap. The claws are very good, the only source of 2x withouth the-1 to hit. That is very strong. And you get both one one model.

So unless you are just going for cheapest T6 wounds (mawlock and fexeS) possible there is suck a small price to upgrade it to a stone crusher.

But as many have pointed out, Shuppet not least, you really want your fexes to be dakka. This little gem can onlu grav the 12" plasma shot. Not very good.

RIP Screamer Killer

I agree, as fair as this looks I'm much preferring the Dakkafex. I mean I've been playing the Dakkafex so I know it's a good unit, and I haven't played the Stonecrusher's yet, but it doesn't seem like it's particularly worth swapping over for, they don't seem particularly better than Dakkafexes. But hey just thought I'd look for opinions, maybe I was missing something, but eh. I think this one, while playable, is slightly weaker than the Dakkafex to be straight honest and requires more work (getting into CC) and probably wants an Old One Eye there to make it consistent because it doesn't have near as many dice as Dakkafex. It also can't hit Stormravens

EDIT: Also - I am Shuppet

 SHUPPET wrote:

 Niiai wrote:
I'll bite. I saw some discsion on one of the threads with these with old one eye would be good.

It is very strong. It is a couple of points more then a regular carnifex and for that you get the big swing ball witch just dishes out damage vs many miodels. also descent Ap. The claws are very good, the only source of 2x withouth the-1 to hit. That is very strong. And you get both one one model.

So unless you are just going for cheapest T6 wounds (mawlock and fexeS) possible there is suck a small price to upgrade it to a stone crusher.

But as many have pointed out, Shuppet not least, you really want your fexes to be dakka. This little gem can onlu grav the 12" plasma shot. Not very good.

RIP Screamer Killer

I agree, as fair as this looks I'm much preferring the Dakkafex. I mean I've been playing the Dakkafex so I know it's a good unit, and I haven't played the Stonecrusher's yet, but it doesn't seem like it's particularly worth swapping over for, they don't seem particularly better than Dakkafexes. But hey just thought I'd look for opinions, maybe I was missing something, but eh. I think this one, while playable, is slightly weaker than the Dakkafex to be straight honest and requires more work (getting into CC) and probably wants an Old One Eye there to make it consistent because it doesn't have near as many dice as Dakkafex. It also can't hit Stormravens

EDIT: Also - I am Shuppet

I'll post it up later but for the twin claw Wrecker Fexes, they're point for point the most efficent thing vs T7 / T8 and T8 2+ units in the index by FAR. They're only slightly beaten by Walkrants with Rending Claws / Toxin & Toxin Sac'd Genestealers, however no one is taking walkrants and Cult GS are too cheap to consider 16 point toxin sac stealers.

If you can use a Hierodule and Swarmy as distractions, Wrecker fex in theory should be insane. Their numbers are on paper are beyond amazing

Edit:

Here they are, all previous charts. Using Imgur to host them now, hopefully the resolution is better. I'd been working out Rending incorrectly (And as a byproduct the mini-haywire on the Hive Guard), thanks to Astmeister for pointing it out, it's even better than previously calculated. I've added in some more units to the AA table and added a new Anti-Tank table. As always optimum scenario for the nids is considered so take the cals with a grain of salt.

nvm imgur didn't work at all.

TLDR for anti tank

Wrecker Fexes #1, Genestealers #2, Scythed Hierodule #3, Trygons #4, Carnifex with Scythings Talons + Anything #5. #1 & #2 can be buffed further by Old One Eye // Broodlords & Patriarchs.

excellent stats. I guess Stonecrushers are really nice if you can get them in there. That efficiency would bump right up with Old One Eye hanging around as well. Might have to reconsider my perspective on just double wrecker SC fex. Is the Flail worth getting as an upgrade?

Get the flail. The flail is ridiculesly strong, meaning they cut through butter on any oponent.

 SHUPPET wrote:
excellent stats. I guess Stonecrushers are really nice if you can get them in there. That efficiency would bump right up with Old One Eye hanging around as well. Might have to reconsider my perspective on just double wrecker SC fex. Is the Flail worth getting as an upgrade?

I'm gonna try out 2 twin claws and 1 flail with old one eye and a Malanthrope. Fairly pricey but should be devastating if they get on the backline.

Hopefully the Scythed Hierodule will look too scary compared to lil ol fexes

 Zande4 wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:
excellent stats. I guess Stonecrushers are really nice if you can get them in there. That efficiency would bump right up with Old One Eye hanging around as well. Might have to reconsider my perspective on just double wrecker SC fex. Is the Flail worth getting as an upgrade?

I'm gonna try out 2 twin claws and 1 flail with old one eye and a Malanthrope. Fairly pricey but should be devastating if they get on the backline.

Hopefully the Scythed Hierodule will look too scary compared to lil ol fexes

let us know how it goes

the smart move will be for them to take out the fexes first before they can make it to combat i think. But then again, letting a Heirodule go to town on your back field unphased is no good situation either. That's gotta be difficult to play against

What is the best support for that sett up? Long range? Foot sloggung? Deep strikeshenanigans? Swarmlord slingshot?

Edit, never mind. Fexes cant have rending claws.

Can somebody explain why the genstealers cult genstealers are considered better?

 Niiai wrote:


Can somebody explain why the genstealers cult genstealers are considered better?

Let's make a pros and cons list for using GSC Genestealers over Tyranid Genestealers

Pros:

2 points cheaper per model. Because reasons
180 points cheaper per squad. Because you don't need a Trygon
Can NEVER be alpha struck, and can come in on whatever turn you want them to
You can have each squad either come in or not come in based on what you roll for the other squads' CA. This is worth its own point and then some
The Patriarch is flat out better and cheaper than the Tyranid Broodlord, and not just because of the psychic powers, which are their own pros below:
Mass Hypnosis. WOW. The Horror on steroids and then some
Mind Control. As long as your Patriarch is Cult Ambushing, might as well steal his guns too
Might From Beyond. Why yes, I did want to more than double my damage output against T8 targets, and increase by roughly 150% for all other targets. Thanks for asking!
Cult Ambush is a lot more reliable than most people give it credit for, especially with a CP re-roll. Over 90% of the time, you're getting a 9" charge or better if you spend a CP re-roll to avoid the 12" deployment option.
The "bad" result that most people worry about, 1 on the CA table, really isn't terrible. Most of the time, one of those edges are totally fine. I mean, I'd still probably spend a CP re-roll to avoid it, but it's not awful and can totally still result in a 9" charge.

Cons:
You do miss the Tyranid Psychic powers, but just grab 2-3 patriarchs and 3 squads of 20 stealers in a vanguard detachment and carry on building your Tyranids army with a Swarmlord or something
They are so good that people are liable to complain about it
GSC are a little more CP hungry than regular stealers, sometimes wanting the CP re-roll for CA deployment and their charge roll, instead of just the charge roll for Nids. Grab 99 points' worth of Rippers and call it a day with the Swarmlord and a Malanthrope and I don't think you'll regret it though.

Better late than never!

Finally had my 1st game with Tyranids this week. It was a very interesting experience. Ran a non-spam TAC Tyranid list with just some units I wanted to try out. Haven't been following this thread so I actually don't know what is optimal with bugs yet. Played against a flamer-heavy Immolator-spam Sisters mech army with Shadowsword.

Battle report coming this weekend. I will throw a link here when it comes out.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 luke1705 wrote:

 Niiai wrote:


Can somebody explain why the genstealers cult genstealers are considered better?

Let's make a pros and cons list for using GSC Genestealers over Tyranid Genestealers

Pros:

2 points cheaper per model. Because reasons
180 points cheaper per squad. Because you don't need a Trygon
Can NEVER be alpha struck, and can come in on whatever turn you want them to
You can have each squad either come in or not come in based on what you roll for the other squads' CA. This is worth its own point and then some
The Patriarch is flat out better and cheaper than the Tyranid Broodlord, and not just because of the psychic powers, which are their own pros below:
Mass Hypnosis. WOW. The Horror on steroids and then some
Mind Control. As long as your Patriarch is Cult Ambushing, might as well steal his guns too
Might From Beyond. Why yes, I did want to more than double my damage output against T8 targets, and increase by roughly 150% for all other targets. Thanks for asking!
Cult Ambush is a lot more reliable than most people give it credit for, especially with a CP re-roll. Over 90% of the time, you're getting a 9" charge or better if you spend a CP re-roll to avoid the 12" deployment option.
The "bad" result that most people worry about, 1 on the CA table, really isn't terrible. Most of the time, one of those edges are totally fine. I mean, I'd still probably spend a CP re-roll to avoid it, but it's not awful and can totally still result in a 9" charge.

Cons:
You do miss the Tyranid Psychic powers, but just grab 2-3 patriarchs and 3 squads of 20 stealers in a vanguard detachment and carry on building your Tyranids army with a Swarmlord or something
They are so good that people are liable to complain about it
GSC are a little more CP hungry than regular stealers, sometimes wanting the CP re-roll for CA deployment and their charge roll, instead of just the charge roll for Nids. Grab 99 points' worth of Rippers and call it a day with the Swarmlord and a Malanthrope and I don't think you'll regret it though.

I ran regular stealers in my game. Haven't looked into GSC stealers yet, though I have heard good things about them.

 luke1705 wrote:

 Niiai wrote:


Can somebody explain why the genstealers cult genstealers are considered better?

Let's make a pros and cons list for using GSC Genestealers over Tyranid Genestealers

Pros:

2 points cheaper per model. Because reasons
180 points cheaper per squad. Because you don't need a Trygon
Can NEVER be alpha struck, and can come in on whatever turn you want them to
You can have each squad either come in or not come in based on what you roll for the other squads' CA. This is worth its own point and then some
The Patriarch is flat out better and cheaper than the Tyranid Broodlord, and not just because of the psychic powers, which are their own pros below:
Mass Hypnosis. WOW. The Horror on steroids and then some
Mind Control. As long as your Patriarch is Cult Ambushing, might as well steal his guns too
Might From Beyond. Why yes, I did want to more than double my damage output against T8 targets, and increase by roughly 150% for all other targets. Thanks for asking!
Cult Ambush is a lot more reliable than most people give it credit for, especially with a CP re-roll. Over 90% of the time, you're getting a 9" charge or better if you spend a CP re-roll to avoid the 12" deployment option.
The "bad" result that most people worry about, 1 on the CA table, really isn't terrible. Most of the time, one of those edges are totally fine. I mean, I'd still probably spend a CP re-roll to avoid it, but it's not awful and can totally still result in a 9" charge.

Cons:
You do miss the Tyranid Psychic powers, but just grab 2-3 patriarchs and 3 squads of 20 stealers in a vanguard detachment and carry on building your Tyranids army with a Swarmlord or something
They are so good that people are liable to complain about it
GSC are a little more CP hungry than regular stealers, sometimes wanting the CP re-roll for CA deployment and their charge roll, instead of just the charge roll for Nids. Grab 99 points' worth of Rippers and call it a day with the Swarmlord and a Malanthrope and I don't think you'll regret it though.

AFAIK you can just use the reroll on the CA once per turn. This is certainly a downside.

 Astmeister wrote:

 luke1705 wrote:

 Niiai wrote:


Can somebody explain why the genstealers cult genstealers are considered better?

Let's make a pros and cons list for using GSC Genestealers over Tyranid Genestealers

Pros:

2 points cheaper per model. Because reasons
180 points cheaper per squad. Because you don't need a Trygon
Can NEVER be alpha struck, and can come in on whatever turn you want them to
You can have each squad either come in or not come in based on what you roll for the other squads' CA. This is worth its own point and then some
The Patriarch is flat out better and cheaper than the Tyranid Broodlord, and not just because of the psychic powers, which are their own pros below:
Mass Hypnosis. WOW. The Horror on steroids and then some
Mind Control. As long as your Patriarch is Cult Ambushing, might as well steal his guns too
Might From Beyond. Why yes, I did want to more than double my damage output against T8 targets, and increase by roughly 150% for all other targets. Thanks for asking!
Cult Ambush is a lot more reliable than most people give it credit for, especially with a CP re-roll. Over 90% of the time, you're getting a 9" charge or better if you spend a CP re-roll to avoid the 12" deployment option.
The "bad" result that most people worry about, 1 on the CA table, really isn't terrible. Most of the time, one of those edges are totally fine. I mean, I'd still probably spend a CP re-roll to avoid it, but it's not awful and can totally still result in a 9" charge.

Cons:
You do miss the Tyranid Psychic powers, but just grab 2-3 patriarchs and 3 squads of 20 stealers in a vanguard detachment and carry on building your Tyranids army with a Swarmlord or something
They are so good that people are liable to complain about it
GSC are a little more CP hungry than regular stealers, sometimes wanting the CP re-roll for CA deployment and their charge roll, instead of just the charge roll for Nids. Grab 99 points' worth of Rippers and call it a day with the Swarmlord and a Malanthrope and I don't think you'll regret it though.

AFAIK you can just use the reroll on the CA once per turn. This is certainly a downside.

its not a downside, it's still better than the alternative

There are some Con to GSC stealers actually.

1) Can receive "Synapse" only from 1 model.
2) Patriarch has no SitW and does not help your other gants.

And there is one more Pro:

1) Can actually charge what they want even if outside synapse.

Regular genestealers do not have instinctive behavior Spoletta.

That's one pro that goes out of the window then.

 Astmeister wrote:

AFAIK you can just use the reroll on the CA once per turn. This is certainly a downside.

Can be compensated with by having them arrive alongside a Primus instead of a Patriarch when they ambush if it is too great a concern. He can reroll the result for free when arriving and is quite a bit cheaper than a Patriarch at the cost of not having the moral immunity bubble (still offers +1 to hit though).


Also has anyone fielded a Hierophant Biotitan yet? I was generously given one as a birthday present by my brother and have been itching to field it, but have no clue what to run with it and what point level would be ideal (though obviously it will have to be more than 2000 points). It certainly got a lot meaner than the old one if nothing else.

ambush is a strong feauture, i played a list with 57 purestrain and 2 patriarchs, with trygon 30 hormagants and swarlord in spore you easily overload ur enemy, psy powers like mass hypnosis and mind control helps you take less fire, for me they are a strong choice.

 blackmage wrote:
ambush is a strong feauture, i played a list with 57 purestrain and 2 patriarchs, with trygon 30 hormagants and swarlord in spore you easily overload ur enemy, psy powers like mass hypnosis and mind control helps you take less fire, for me they are a strong choice.

Those are about 1650 points and 7 reserves.

What are you actually deploying with your points left?

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Tyranids) ++

+ HQ +

Malanthropes: Malanthrope

The Swarmlord: Power: Catalyst, Power: The Horror

+ Troops +

Hormagaunts: 30x Hormagaunt

Termagants: 18x Termagant (Fleshborer)

Termagants: 20x Termagant (Fleshborer)

+ Elites +

Hive Guard
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon

+ Heavy Support +

Trygon: Adrenal Glands, Bio-electric Pulse, 3x Massive Scything Talons, Toxinspike

+ Dedicated Transport +

Tyrannocyte: 5x Barbed Strangler

++ Vanguard Detachment +1CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) ++

+ Uncategorised +

Cult Ambush Table

+ HQ +

Patriarch: Power: Mass Hypnosis

Patriarch: Power: Mind control

+ Elites +

Purestrain Genestealers: 18x Purestrain Genestealer, 18x Purestrain Talons

Purestrain Genestealers: 15x Purestrain Genestealer, 15x Purestrain Talons

Purestrain Genestealers: 18x Purestrain Genestealer, 18x Purestrain Talons

this is the complete list, only 5 units deployed so usually i go first, trygon+hormagaunts and close to them swarmlord and spore deep striking, cult could pop up 1st or 2nd turn depend by opponent.
The only thing i could change is one unit of termagants, instead use 3 warriors with bonesword and lashes +1 venom cannon you get another synapse and a unit in the backfield helping with some CaC if needed.