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Well yak gave me the idea of how nasty a Hormaguant based army could be with the right support, so I figured I'd give it a try. Here it is:

HQ
Tyrant - Scytalons, Lash Whip+Bonesword, Toxin Sacs, Acid Maw, Implant Attack, Flesh Hooks, The Shadow in the Warp
3x Tyrant Guard - Lash Whip+Rending Claws, Flesh Hooks

Hive Tyrant - Wings, Scytalons, Scytalons, Toxin Sacs, Flesh Hooks, Catalyst

Troops
14x Spinegaunts - Scuttlers

14x Spinegaunts - Scuttlers

14x Spinegaunts - Scuttlers

19x Hormagaunts - Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Gland (WS)

19x Hormagaunts - Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Gland (WS)

19x Hormagaunts - Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Gland (WS)

Heavy Support
Carnifex - Venom Cannon, Scytalons, Enhanced Senses

Carnifex - Venom Cannon, Scytalons, Enhanced Senses

Total: 1750


The primary goal of this list is to get the Hormagaunts into combat and tear through everything.

Hive Tyrant w/ Guard - He provides some tough Synapse to run behind the Hormies and is great at killing just about any unit in CC.

Flying Tyrant - He's there primarily for anti-tank and synapse, but he can also reak havoc on an infantry unit.

Spinegaunts - They're there to scout move in front of the Hormies and give them a 4+ cover save. They can also go to ground on an objective if neccessary.

Hormagaunts - They're the core of this army. 3 Str4 attacks each that hit most enemies on 3s do a lot of damage. The 12" assault isn't too shabby either.

Carnifexes - They're there to shake/stun vehicles until they or the Tyrants get into assault with them.


So what do you think?


Scroll down for alternate list

Maybe run a minimal squad of Stealers with feeder tendrils in the middle of the gaunt castle?

I usually run my uber-hormagaunts with S and I boosted; hitting first is really helpful in making sweeping advances. I will definitely try the WS boost.

Biggest concern for the army: have fun painting all those %#&@ing gaunts. Although, dipping is an option....

I've seen the numbers and I agree with doak22: +1 S +1 I is key. Think of it as Furious Charge all the time.

As far as painting goes, a simple bone and brown ink scheme wouldn't look terrible.

Also, with the current template placement rules blah blah blah why don't your Carnies have Stranglers? SPLAT goes the other guy's horde. Else Zoeys or even running melee fexes have a better shot against NME armour.

Checkerboard formation and go to ground are your friends.

My thoughts regarding taking I boost over WS:

1. Many times my opponents are going to be sitting in cover, which pretty much nullifies the I bonus.

2. I have two catalysts in the list (Bonesword+Flyrant) so even if my opponent is striking first, I'll typically still get all of the attacks still.


The reason I took the VCs on the Carnifexes is because of my fear of LRs. VCs at least have a chance of slowing them down before I can assault them.

Any other comments?

The problem with mixing a Venom Cannon and Scything Talons is that you're either using one or the other, which makes the other half very useless. A melee fex would Run its happy little heart out to get to that Land Raider and tear it in half. A Sniperfex would stunlock the Raiders or use the combination of VC and Strangler shots to blow up whatever its shooting at, or annihilate hordes. In your current state, though, your Fexes will be wasting the Talons most of the time as you walk forward slowly shooting every round. All these shooting phases and no S8 large template shots? For shame. You might see people advocating a Strangler/Talon mix, but that's not due to added effectiveness, that's so they can have S8 big blast shots in the Elite slot. You aren't aiming for that, you're filling your Heavies. No reason not to bring Snipers if you're doing any kind of shooting. You can still lock up the Raiders with a Sniperfex or two, then have the Flyrant swoop in to finish it off. 6+2d6 to penetrate AV14 with 6 attacks on the charge isn't terrible at all, especially if your Snipers cripple it first.

Just a little nitpicking, your Tyrant Guard have Lash Whips and Rending Claws, not Bone Swords.

I'm assuming you fight a lot of Eldar? Otherwise there's no reason for Shadow in the Warp on your walking Tyrant. You might consider dropping the whip and sword on your Tyrant. You already have your Guards causing -3 attacks, at that point I'd say having another attack on your Tyrant would be more beneficial than trying to give people -4 attacks. If you fight Eldar who use their psychic powers regularly, then Shadow in the Warp is a good thing. Otherwise, you can switch the whip and sword to another set of scything talons and pick up Catalyst.

I'd say either lictors or tendril stealers would be great. The killing power of the gaunts goes up a lot with prefered enemy.

Shadows is the only psychic defense nids get, no reason not to take it. I've lost count on how many times I've made people fail lash tests or veil of time tests with it.

I'd say stick with the LW + BS. Tyrant guard will get killed on the way in. After your flyrant that unit will be priority to kill. Plus putting a demon prince, opposing tyrant, greater demon, avatar, or anything else big at 1 attack is just plain ole fun.

Khornatedaemon hit the nail on the head for the most part.

I'd love to add some tendrils into the list, but I don't know where to fit them in.

I'm considering dropping 2 hormagaunts to give the Fexes Barbed Stranglers instead of Scytalons.

Any other comments?

I agree and wish to reinforce the idea that you should choose what your Carnifex wants to do.

If you make it 1/2 cc and 1/2 ranged you will be missing out on both grounds.

As an eldar play when I play my nid friends the first thing I want to do is get into melee with the monstrous creatures by tossing 5 shining spears at a carnifex or on one occasion 20 Howling banshees at a Hive Tyrant.

But when he leaves them sitting back I get annoyed and am way worse off having to kill my way through 3 million small things to get to whatever is killing me gak.

Alright, I've been thinking about the list somewhat more and I came up with a couple of variants.

The first one is the same as the original list, I just drop 2 Hormagaunts to give the Fexes Barbed Stranglers instead of Scytalons.

The second one looks like this:

HQ
Hive Tyrant - Scytalons, Lash Whip+Bonesword, Toxin Sacs, Acid Maw, Implant Attack, Flesh Hooks, The Shadow in the Warp
3x Tyrant Guard - Lash Whip+Rending Claws, Flesh Hooks

Hive Tyrant - Wings, Scytalons, Scytalons, Toxin Sacs, Flesh Hooks, Catalyst

Troops
14x Spinegaunts - Scuttlers

13x Spinegaunts - Scuttlers

13x Spinegaunts - Scuttlers

18x Hormagaunts - Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Gland (WS)

18x Hormagaunts - Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Gland (WS)

17x Hormagaunts - Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Gland (WS)

Heavy Support
Carnifex - 2x Scytalons, Toxic Miasma, Adrenal Gland (WS)

Carnifex - 2x Scytalons, Toxic Miasma, Adrenal Gland (WS)

Carnifex - 2x Scytalons, Toxic Miasma, Adrenal Gland (WS)

Total: 1749


I dropped a few Hormagaunts and Spinegaunts to free up points for a 3rd Carnifex. I think the Fexes are even nastier because they are much cheaper. This build will make my opponent have to make some tough decisions. They can either try to shoot the Hormagaunts down and get assaulted by the MCs. Or they can try to shoot the MCs down and get assualted by all of the Gaunts.

It doesn't have any ranged weaponry, but I think the CC fexes fit in with the overall theme. The fexes will also smash any tank they get near.

So what do you think?

I like the second new list more. The Catalysts are even more useful and the Carnifexes aren't schizophrenic.


Still...it is very thin on synapse. I would replace one Carnifex with 2 pimped out Zoeys.

Also, you may want to experiment with running one huge squad of hormagaunts and two/one smaller one(s). The bigger squad usually lasts longer and does significantly more damage than the smaller, whereas the smaller's two advantages are forcing the opponent to spread their fire and objective-grabbing mobility. I prefer the larger squad because the smaller, once it reaches combat, frequently loses assaults.