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It seems like "Secure and control" is a difficult tactical dillemma, with most games going to a "Draw" result. Personally i belive that we are often in a 4th ed mindset when devloping tactics and/or lists, and we need to re-look at what certain mission, like "secure and control' require out of our lists.

So thinking about this, I thought of a tacti for tyranids in "secure and control" it has elements of the old 'zilla list, with some new thought to it as well.

Overspecializing can be dangerous in 5th. too much mech=death by killpoints. All assault=not securing your own base in secure and destroy. All gunline=not enough mobility to take objectives in size ground/lose precious shooting to run in order to gain enough mobility. Now these are gross generalizations, but I think that in general this seems to hold true.

What I am proposing here is only a partial list for the tyranids, not a full list. this is a "fortress" section that is designed to keep an objective, while projecting significant firepower.


first make sure you place a objective counter in some type of cover.

The base of the fortress is 3 zoanthropes with psychic scream and synapse creature. they GTG every turn in cover, getting a 3+ cover and 2+ armor save, they are only here for synapse and scream.

the teeth of the fortress come from 4-5 Blastfex's. A blast fex is barbed strangler+talons, these have great range, and str, but are also pinning, which, combined with scream can make your fortress nigh unassailable by all but fearless troops.

Finally you need at least one large squad of gaunts to hold the objecive, they will GTG most turns as well.

a squad of 6 stealers with tendrils might fit in here too, relatively cheap(?), and good for if a fearless assaulty unit gets in close, as the feeder tendrils act as an effecive force multiplier for the stealers, gaunts, and fex's.

now these units will all be very much pushed close together, making the fortress a very tempting target for ordinance and blast templates, but this formation should be relatively immune to those templates, due to the 3+ cover save, and the fact that most hits will be on the relatively cheap gaunt squad. remember this is only a partial list, there arn't all the answers in this section, you still need to be able to silence those cannons DA whirlwinds will be particularily devastating, as only the zoanthropes and blastfexes can really withstand hits from those 85 point cans of awesome.


the rest of the nid list should be relativly assaulty, and maybe GTG in other cover, as theoppnent will be looking to silence the guns of the blastfex's and take your fortress down. I was condsidering something like a flyrant, a broodlord+retinue, and stealers.

Why assaulty? well this is capture and Control! The fortress with allow you to control your objective, now you need to capture you opponent's objective, and 'nid assault is a great way to do that! this goes against the normal 4th dogma of All assaulty or all shooty, but I think we are finding that in 5th, those types of lists bring about a lot of draws, and we are here to WIN, right?!?

what do you all think? Is this madness, or will a fortress like this allow you to keep control of your objective, whilst contesting/capturing the opponents?

Great idea... if your sure you are going to play capture and control.
If you play another mission, you might end up with squad combos that are not very useful.
However, I'm sure you can still use these same squads to your avantage in the other missions.
-Over all, I think it's a good idea!

Good one!

Make sure the objective is "near" your edge and make the troops choice gaunts without number. If you go second it is IMPOSSIBLE not to at least contest that point - i.e. the "fortress".

I have had great luck with broodlord+feedertendrils and GS retinue with acid maw for the assault side.

shrug

Genestealers with scuttle will be the no-brainer for your assault. Since they have scuttle they are scouts and can outflank. 6 squads of 8 genestealers will have a very good shot at overwhelming whatever defenders your opponent has.