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Hello all, Im a new WH40k player (read under 2 months) and purchased a nids battleforce to get myself introduced to the game in general. After painting (or attempting to) the bf up and playing a few games with my friend who got me started Ive ran into a small problem. During assults I find it very difficult to get my troops into base contact wth the enemy, let alone into coherency, with all the claws talons etc. I usually end up twisting and turning them until they are so tangled up that whenever I pluck out a casulty it ends up looking like the Barrel of Monkeys game.

Ive toyed with the idea of using empty bases or quarters when I get into assult range but I fear that will drastically reduce the immersion of the game. Also was thinking of just keeping them spread out abit more but in a game of millemeters (which this game seems to be) it would reduce the value of gameplay and strategy. My freind playes SM so he just laughs when he see my vain attempts to squeeze them together like the proverbial can of worms.

Keep in mind im just playing friendly/casual games with a couple friends atm, but Ide like to get in the habit doing the right/accepted thing to prepare myself if I want to start playing on a higher level some day.

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Yoda]The ability to slot models into place, come with time, it will.[/Yoda]

One thing to keep in mind, any model that is within 2 inches of a model that is in base contact will get their attacks. So even if you cannot get all your nids into base to base, it does not mean that only those models in base to base get to attack.

you may just want to brush up on the assault rules. You are required to move each unit one at a time into CC while remaining in coherency following these steps:
-If the model can reach base to base, put it in base to base.
-If the model cannot get into b2b then place that model within 2" of another model in b2b
-If neither of the above can be reached then just place it as close as you can to the CC while remaining in coherency.

On top of this after you make your assault the opposing play then makes a "defender's react" move where they do the same as above up to a maximum of 6 inches. If you follow these rules then you normally won't have an issue getting the maximum number of attacks possible.

I have about half of my Tyranids facing the wrong way in any given assault phase, it helps crowd them in.

Assuming no terrain issues, if you make spaces between each model in each ring, you can easily fit three rings of models around a single enemy. 5 rings if the Tyranids in question have leaping.
A full brood of hormagants can engage a remarkably small number of models. It does not start to be a problem until the second brood joins. (Then the main problem is that a second brood joined the assault)

As for proxies/empty bases/just saying they are close, I would really avoid it.

kirsanth wrote:I have about half of my Tyranids facing the wrong way in any given assault phase, it helps crowd them in.

Assuming no terrain issues, if you make spaces between each model in each ring, you can easily fit three rings of models around a single enemy. 5 rings if the Tyranids in question have leaping.
A full brood of hormagants can engage a remarkably small number of models. It does not start to be a problem until the second brood joins. (Then the main problem is that a second brood joined the assault)

As for proxies/empty bases/just saying they are close, I would really avoid it.

Definitely avoid proxies... And I too face my guys backwards, sideways, upside down, etc. Either that or let my opponent see that they do in fact make into base, but I'm setting them a little further apart just for sake of sanity.

Thanks for the tips and info all.

Much appreciated

Yeah, its all about the dreaded 'ass' attack with Tyranids, in that you turn the models around and attack the enemy with their ass first.

This allows you to get your models into base contact with the enemy. The other thing I'd recommend is after you move all the Tyranid models into base contact with the enemy that you'll be able to with the charge, stop moving your models at that point. Hold your tape measure up over the rest of your models and show your opponent how far the rest of your remaining models will be able to move and figure out how many 'should' be able to get within 2" of one of your models that are already in base contact.

Then say to your opponent: "It looks to me like I'll be able to get X many of these models within 2" of one of my base to base contact guys, do you agree?" He might disagree a bit, so you come to an agreeable conclusion and then just move the rest of the models in, now not having to worry about whether their bases are exactly 2" away anymore.

This makes the whole game run much smoother and I have never had an opponent have an issue about it, as long as you don't try to gain an advantage and try to claim that you can get more models engaged then you would really be able to.

'ass' attack, lol I knew in my heart I made the right choice in nids

edit: Ive been toying around with this after work tonight and it works great!! Thanks again guys, exactly the advice I was looking for.

Hormaguants and genestealers are particularly fun i have enough trouble geting the hormaguants to stand up especially when trying to move a bunch of 30 strong units.
Most of the time me and the opponent tend to agree on how many we think would be in close combat and go with that as usualy theres more than enough to take care of whatever in front of them

I remember having to put my gaunts facing backwards and sideways to make base-to-base.

I started converting them so they were further back on the base just to make base-to-base contact possible without attacking in reverse.