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Got Hobbycraft vouchers for xmas and as my local store didn't stock any Skaven, I picked up a Hive Tyrant for a fun modelling & painting project. I've got some other nids & I guess this could be the start of a new 40K army so...

In gaming terms, what's the best way to put this beastie together?

Scything Talons & Venom Cannon
Scything Talons & Stranglethorn Cannon
Lash Whip, Bonesword & Venom Cannon
Lash Whip, Bonesword & Stranglethorn Cannon
Lash Whip, Bonesword & Scything Talons

If you are not going to use magnets so you can swap the arms at your convenience the best option is -

Lash Whip, Bonesword & Stranglethorn Cannon

Lash Whip is the closed to Assault Grenades you can get and means you will always strike with or before opponents*. Bonesword can cause instant death. Stranglethorn is a long range large blast weapon. Most of the Psi powers target Infantry so you want the best weapon to shoot at them as well.


*except possibly Banshee Masked Eldar, not sure on who wins there...

Lyracian wrote:If you are not going to use magnets so you can swap the arms at your convenience the best option is -

Lash Whip, Bonesword & Stranglethorn Cannon

Lash Whip is the closed to Assault Grenades you can get and means you will always strike with or before opponents*. Bonesword can cause instant death. Stranglethorn is a long range large blast weapon. Most of the Psi powers target Infantry so you want the best weapon to shoot at them as well.


*except possibly Banshee Masked Eldar, not sure on who wins there...

IMHO, Vemoncannon could be better than Stranglethorn Cannon, not mean Vcannon is any good by itself(in the fact it sucks with only 50%hit and -1 to damage), but what the tyranids short are always tools to deal with Vehicle in long range ,not method to kill infantry.

ED209 wrote:IMHO, Vemoncannon could be better than Stranglethorn Cannon, not mean Vcannon is any good by itself(in the fact it sucks with only 50%hit and -1 to damage), but what the tyranids short are always tools to deal with Vehicle in long range ,not method to kill infantry.

Having a 200+ Point Tyrant Shooting Tanks is a waste especially with a gun that is unlikely to do permanent damage. There are lots of Anti-tank options and Tyrants are not it.

As opposed to having a 200+ pt Tyrant shooting Infantry, something the army already excels at killing? My thoughts on Tyrants are either Swarmlord, or Bonesword/Lashwip plus Venom Cannon. I'm not taking a Venom Cannon to Destroy enemy tanks, but just to keep them from shooting me until the T-Fex gets around to shooting them.

Keep in mind that every psychic power the tyrant can take is a psychic shooting attack, and since none of them work on vehicles, you're limited to shooting infantry with your primary gun when you use them.

Aduro wrote:As opposed to having a 200+ pt Tyrant shooting Infantry, something the army already excels at killing? My thoughts on Tyrants are either Swarmlord, or Bonesword/Lashwip plus Venom Cannon. I'm not taking a Venom Cannon to Destroy enemy tanks, but just to keep them from shooting me until the T-Fex gets around to shooting them.

NOt killing the Infantry, ideally *pinning* them.

Me, I went Lash Whip, Bonesword (for obvious reasons, quite aside from coming in the kit and being pretty) and Stranglethorn. In fact, all my Carnifex also have Stranglethorns, as I reason I'm going to come up against more Infantry than armour, generally speaking, and I can tear Tanks apart in HTH with my big stuff.

Plus I have the rather fun Hiveguard!

I run my tyrants with only a VC, and Tactical command.

Hes cheap, gives outlfank and +1 reserve rolls, and as long as you keep him moving forward hes still not to shabby in combat.

IIRC, he actually comes with Scything Talons, Whip and Sword yes?

But I agree on keeping him cheapish. Seems no point loading him up, as you then need to shell out the points for the 2+ save to protect your investment, eating even further into your points.

I gave mine Stranglethorn, +1 to Reserves, Acid Blood (just in case he goes down without a fight, I want something out of it!) and erm...another option which I can't remember!

I was thinking that the sweet spot was bonesword, lashwhip and twin-linked devourers.

Broken Loose wrote:Keep in mind that every psychic power the tyrant can take is a psychic shooting attack, and since none of them work on vehicles, you're limited to shooting infantry with your primary gun when you use them.

Nothing stops you from firing Vcannon on infantry, plus some ID on T4 ,it's still a blast. btw dont expect those 12" psychic power could hit things on turn 1.

For those concerned about the Heavy Venom Cannon, you are remembering the thing is Assault 4 yes?

I only ask because this was something I noticed only today!

Lyracian wrote:Having a 200+ Point Tyrant Shooting Tanks is a waste especially with a gun that is unlikely to do permanent damage. There are lots of Anti-tank options and Tyrants are not it.

It's depending on the list ,if you already got Tyrannofex for long range tank hunting,I will say throw away Vcannon and run for melee ,keep it cheap it's the way to go, otherwise take a Vcannon in case your Zoanthropes shut down by psychic hood or other similar things. However in both cases no need for Stranglethorn Cannon, running into combat is a better way to kill infantry and avoid from shot at ,besides you could buy 3 big S4 blast with pinning for 135pts , why tyrant?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:For those concerned about the Heavy Venom Cannon, you are remembering the thing is Assault 4 yes?

I only ask because this was something I noticed only today!

How I wish that's ture

Indeed. Just checked my book (forgot I'd actually taken it home tonight!). I was looking at the AP.

Sorry folks, my bad!

Lol, no consensus of opinion so far.

Think I'll probably go for the classic Bonesword, Lash Whip & Venom Cannon look.

Upgrade wise, I heartily reccomend Acid Blood. At the end of the day, you're likely to get knacked in combat more than shooting (Terminators pulling your legs off etc) so you might as well take the relatively cheap upgrade to seriously punish them!

My tyrant is sitting on my desk with a lashwip and a bonesword awaiting upgrades. No idea what to do haha.

I would recomend that you magnetize all of the arms so you can interchange them. All of the Hive Tyrant's options are great, for a specific thing. It all depends on what you go after, which game-to-game will change, so just magnetize all the weapons.

My Tyrant's currently got a Bonesword and Venom Cannon. I've managed to wrangle up a Lashwhip in a bitz trade, but now I'm deciding if I want to make him into Swarmlord or not.

I'm definitely turning mine into the Swarmlord. Figure if I pick up a 2nd one, he'll get the magnetism treatment, but this one will do just fine as the biomechanical version of General Grievous.

I've given his lash whip-holding hand to one of my Tyrant Guard, on the grounds that they're always going to want lash whips. Just waiting on some new pinning wire through the post, and then I'll get the Swarmlord assembled (and hopefully post pics).

ZacktheChaosChild wrote:I would recomend that you magnetize all of the arms so you can interchange them. All of the Hive Tyrant's options are great, for a specific thing. It all depends on what you go after, which game-to-game will change, so just magnetize all the weapons.

Magnet wont hold the metal ones like bonesword or lash whip so good, they are too heavy.

Depends on the magnet -- some of the bigger ones will hold 1/8 pound, or even 1/4 pound.

Pinning Wire? I just clip up Paperclips?

ED209 wrote:

ZacktheChaosChild wrote:I would recomend that you magnetize all of the arms so you can interchange them. All of the Hive Tyrant's options are great, for a specific thing. It all depends on what you go after, which game-to-game will change, so just magnetize all the weapons.

Magnet wont hold the metal ones like bonesword or lash whip so good, they are too heavy.

I magnetised mine. Bonesword is fine. Lashwhip tends to swing down toward the models base but it never falls off.

Lyracian wrote:

ED209 wrote:

ZacktheChaosChild wrote:I would recomend that you magnetize all of the arms so you can interchange them. All of the Hive Tyrant's options are great, for a specific thing. It all depends on what you go after, which game-to-game will change, so just magnetize all the weapons.

Magnet wont hold the metal ones like bonesword or lash whip so good, they are too heavy.

I magnetised mine. Bonesword is fine. Lashwhip tends to swing down toward the models base but it never falls off.

That's the way why I dont like them! make my tyrant looks like a sad/tired puppy. I think the way to improve the magnet method is useing pinning also, make a small pinning point beside the magnet will hold the arm in position. anyway this is offtopic already, I will stop here, let's go back to the Tactic

I tend to prefer Swarmlord in place of a generic Tyrant. He's just the best answer Tyranids can produce to combat some of the ridiculous close combat units like Thunderwolves. He also gets the full compliment of Psychic Powers (important because Paroxyism is very good) and can give FC or Preffered Enemy to a unit with greater reach than a normal Tyrant. He misses out on ranged weapons which is something of a shame, but the style list I tend to prefer with the new bugs is one that focusses on a rock solid core that can dominate the center of the table. Swarmlord is great for protecting and buffing this core.

So, what would you rather take for a Tyrant with No Guard, Swarmlord, or a Tyrant with Lashwhip/Bonesword, Venom Cannon, Old Adversary, Armored Shell, Paroxysm and Leech Essence?

No ones mentioned wings yet. Two flyrants backed up by gargoyles and harpies?

The Flyrants get bonesword and lashwhip, and Heavy venom cannons so they can fly around and get side armor shots. The -1 on pen won't matter then.

GG

I'm going to go with Scything Talons/Lash Whips/Bone Sword combo, since I'll probably be forgoing venom cannon shots for Leech Essence anyway.

Im going with 2 sets of talons, wings, and the reserves option.