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Is skuttler worth it for genestealers? Most good players deploy slightly back so it is difficult to get the first turn assault with them which is one of the reasons to take the ability. Seems not worth the points.

I been taking extended carapace for my genestealers but I see some people just take then with out upgrades. It does get expensive at 4 points per model. When you hide them behind the Monster Creature wall or in cover it seems that the points are better spent getting more genestealers but when they do get attacked or shot it seems to be a good ability to have. What do you think?

My list has 7 Monster Creatures and 3 Zoeys and then rest genestealers in groups of 6-8. Depending on the points I play at and what upgrades I give them.

In your list, I would not take the extended carapace and definitely not scuttler. You should hide the genestealers behind the TMC's and try to assault on turn 3 at the earliest.

In a stealershock list with mostly genestealers I take EC and scuttler on my genestealers.

Darrian

I have seen a list similar to yours and when push came to shove the fact that he had both Scuttlers and EC on his stealers allowed him to get a few surviving stealers into combat with my Tau wining the game for him. While this might not always be the case you need to remember that it only takes 1 Carnifex to drop to allow shots at the stealers behind them. Also with the quantity of Tau out there that can lay waste to those fexes with primary weapons then target the hiding stealers with SMS it is advisable to take EC on those stealers.

The correct answer is: Buy spinegaunts.

Say you have 12 stealers. You buy them all EC and Scuttlers, the points of 2 x 8 spinegaunts or thereabouts.

When I ran any stealers I generally ran equal numbers of spinegaunts instead of any upgrades.

Extended carapace really ups the life expectancy of stealers. Just about every gun out there is ap 5 or better. Having a 4+ armor save really helps when confronted with small arms fire. Scuttlers is dependent on play style. From the looks of your list, its not going to be useful to you, so skip it.

There's been a ton of debate about both of these upgrades. Many people seem to swear on taking Scuttlers, but it only really works if you have enough Genestealers to survive the hail of fire it inevitably brings you in the first 1-2 turns.

As for EC, some people love having hardier genestealers, others swear by skipping the upgrade and simply buying MORE of the buggers. It's a matter of personal taste, mostly. I always use EC unless we play Cityfight, in which case 4+ cover saves are ample anyway. As Phoenix said, EC really helps against small arms fire, but to add to that, it also helps some in close combat.

Play Marines a lot? Take EC.

In 5th, Longshot will be very right, though. In 4th, those spinegaunts won't shield the Stealers very effectively (1/3rd of the time at best, from Marines), and they aren't going to help much in CC.

i always take EC and scuttle. as well as talons and flesh hooks. i find scuttle a great way to get into the enemy lines faster. where i play we have alot of infiltrators and terrain, so stealers ususally get the assault on any unot stpid enoug to get to close.

for the record my normal troop selection is 6 units of 6 genestealers.

Even in 4th, having 16 spinegaunts running ahead of or with your stealers will effectively shield them from a lot of shots. Because if they shoot the stealers, they get shot by spinegaunts then charged, which seems like it's not much of a threat until it happens to you

Not to mention target priority tests and LOS blocking assaults.

You'll pretty much always, in a Godzilla list, be better off taking a mix of spinegaunts and stealers, or all spinegaunts.

In stealershock in 4th, obviously you will want genestealers

people tend to more afraid of hormagaunts than spine gaunts. Truth be told both suck in assault. Hormies are just faster.

Sadly you can't just give Gaunts scything talons and be done with it... The extra speed is nice and all, but isn't worth almost double the price tag.

Greets
Schepp himself

With a nid zilla list you dont need either scuttle or carapace, just hide them behind the MC wall and then let them come out with they are in range.

When running stealer shock scuttle is a must, and most people seem to vote in favor of carapace...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought you were allowed to take naked gaunts. I thought it said you MAY take biomorphs rather than had to.

Biomorphs are optional, weapon-symbiotes are not.

If you want dirt cheap meat shields take Rippers, 10pts for three wounds. Noone will dare spare them S6 firepower in a zilla list.

For gaunts dont mock the weapon in the numbers you get them the 1-3pts for the gun are points well spent.

Gaunts with spinefists are actually very decent at shooting for their points. Termagaunts and devourer gaunts are even better.

I'd like to try out running an absolute mess of devourer gaunts with two shootie tyrants and 3+ carnifexes some time, to see what can be done with them. basically, replacing dakkafexes with devourer gaunts (which I think wind up being about 8 or 9 pts apiece with their +1 str?).

I think you could wind up fitting around 50 devourer gaunts, 6 fexes and 2 walking tyrants in a list at 1850.

Longshot wrote:Gaunts with spinefists are actually very decent at shooting for their points. Termagaunts and devourer gaunts are even better.

I'd like to try out running an absolute mess of devourer gaunts with two shootie tyrants and 3+ carnifexes some time, to see what can be done with them. basically, replacing dakkafexes with devourer gaunts (which I think wind up being about 8 or 9 pts apiece with their +1 str?).

I think you could wind up fitting around 50 devourer gaunts, 6 fexes and 2 walking tyrants in a list at 1850.

the main problem i see there is durability dev gaunts die in droves, in a nidzilla list they are going to get shot by things that can't hurt your MC's

gdurant wrote:people tend to more afraid of hormagaunts than spine gaunts. Truth be told both suck in assault. Hormies are just faster.

If you want Hormies to be a viable offensive threat, toxin sacs is worth it. Otherwise they're just twice as fast for twice the points.

gdurant wrote:
the main problem i see there is durability dev gaunts die in droves, in a nidzilla list they are going to get shot by things that can't hurt your MC's

If you are playing marines, or IG that seems acceptable as it will take any heavy weapons in the units off of your MCs right?

As far as the dev gaunts, put them in 4+ or 5+ cover and they're pretty resilient, and the squads are fearless.

Also, if a squad gets low you can lurk and get a superior cover save, or hide behind another squad.

I'm not sure they would be great, but I think playable at least, particularly if they advance behind a wall of carnifexes.