Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Tomorrow is going to be the third battle between a friend I made at the local GW. He's fielding Black Templars, and this is for the tiebreaker. We are playing 2500 points double FOC, and unfortunately I dont have the models to really make this work for me. I know he has a hard time bringing down MC's and takes lots of vehicles.

This is the list Im taking ATM:

2 Flyrants each with HVC/Devourer, one with HC
Venomthrope
Venomthrope
Tervigon w/Cluster spines and miasma cannon
30 Gaunts outflanking, 10 have devourers
12 Gargoyles (cover screen)
Hive Crone
Hive Crone
3xCarnifex w/HVC and Devourers, however I may run all Devs
Trygon w/Toxin Sacs
Haruspex (my Harpy wont be in the mail yet :( )
Mawloc
Tyrannofex w/Acid and shreddershard beatles

So lots of big bugs. He's got at least two storm ravens and for that reason Im considering giving at least two of the Carnifex all devourers. Im hoping I can get catalyst/onslaught on at least one tyrant.

Just had a large 2500 pt game yesterday.




It helped solidify some things about the codex for me, particularly that small gibblies arent where its at for troops and Tervigon as a troop is just too expensive in lower point games.

It also showed that the codex is a lot of fun to play and is actually flexible, I switched from full on assault to strat defense halfway. I made some mistakes but a lot of my 'theories' worked out. I loved the Reaper/Lashwhip Tyrants and my fliers. I cant wait to run my list with the Harpy added as well.

Well I used the Gants purely because it was 2500pts and could afford the Tervigon. I do agree that they could have done a lot more, Id like to have trapped Lysander and detached Prime, or at least get some of the firing off of my heavy hitters. But without that Prime attached,
that unit could have easily come in wrong and then run off the field after failing synapse checks. Gants have a synapse tax, and that tax is expensive.

My 2000pt list just uses Warriors, a large group outflanking and another 100pt group for field synapse. Once I get them painted up I'll face them off against the wife's Eldau list. It's her birthday week so there will be a new Wraithknight or two to face, should be an interesting BatRep itself.

Gotta decide on whether to go with three Crones or 2/1 Harpy. This would be a TAC with easy variants to make it more antiinfantry

2000pts
Flyrant w/HVC, HC, Reaper
Flyrant w/HVC, Lashwhip/bonesword, toxin

Venomthrope

6 Warriors (outflanking) w/rending claws, devourers, 1 LWBS
3 Warriors w/Barbed strangler

Hive Crone
Hive Crone
Harpy/Crone
2 Carnifex w/Devourers
Mawloc
Trygon


The Harpy is great for infantry blobs but lacks the utility of a Crone and glancing vehicles with tentaclids in high volume feels great. The strength 8 vector strike works against pretty much everything in the game, especially Crisis Suits and Wraithknights, let alone Marines.

 tetrisphreak wrote:


I would go with 2 Crone/1 Harpy. The vector strikes and tentaclids of the crone are great, and the drool cannon ignores cover - awesome. However, the huge base (5" oval, if not 6") means that to successfully vector strike a 1" infantry model you must begin movement within approx. 15" of the target unit to clear it. That's hard to do when the enemy is bogged down with lots of infantry models - this is where the Harpy comes in. Paired with a mawloc or biovores, the large blasts can really clear areas for the crones to swoop into and do their damage as well. Also, it is cheaper (though I recommend giving the harpy cluster spines for +15, as it adds another useful large blast to it's fusillade).

Thats true enough. But I can easily trade an HVC for a ST on one or both Tyrants if I'm up against infantry. I think it boils down to in a TAC situation the Crones are effective against anything, why a Harpy is stuck against Infantry only.

Finished painting my 6 new warriors today.

Now I have to decide these two troop options:

A) 4x2 Warrior Brood, all have dev/rending claws and one has LW/BS. Both troops outflank

B)Outflanking 7 Warrior Brood with devs/rending claws, one ST cannon and one LW/BS. Then 16 gaunts deploying regular.

Hey, we have something to look forward to in a few years now!

All the local Tyranid players here have kept running hordes and have been losing disastrously, blaming the codex and bringing other armies to the bunker. There's a teenager who last weekend 'quit' his Nids, saying he's
not won a game since the new codex. But I just see him running massive gant and gaunts blobs up the board.

I've been cleaning up on the other hand. The battlereports Ive filmed have been the losses I've had, and the victories have far outnumbered them. I'm running a hordeless Nid army because for me, right now its more fun.

I'm really curious how my Warrior list is going to do. I'm on leave right now and I've just finished painting 6 warriors and a Harpy, so I can field the list I want for the first time. I'll report back whether its a success or massive failure.

SBG wrote:


Let me know how it goes. Our playstyle seems similar and I'm looking into running warriors as well - probably backed up by slower MCs though.

Looking forward to hearing what you make of Warriors. Cheers.

Wife gave the go ahead to go to this tourney on Sunday http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/579342.page so Ill hopefully play a game today and tweak whatever then go test it against some more competitive builds.

So far today I had to scratch build/convert/paint 2 biovores and spore mines for a surprise tournament tomorrow. Thankfully I had the Guard kit lying around and this guide here.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/575587.page

Here are the speed painted results.

Also some bad pics of my Harpy. I've since lifted her base so that she's not dipping down towards the ground and looks normal/proper.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
So here's the list Im taking, but its not to late to change it. Critiques are welcome and appreciated, I'd like to go do good for a Tyranid.

1850pts
2 Flyrants, one with HVC and Reaper, the other with STC and LashwhipBS/toxin sacs combo. Both have HC
Venomthrope
Tervigon (troop)
30 Gants w/10 Devourers (Outflanking)
6 Warriors w/devourers, 1 Barbed Strangler, 1 Lashwhip/BS, all with Rending Claws (Outflanking)
Harpy
Crone
Crone
Biovore Brood (2)
Mawloc

I wanted all of my list to have a singularity to it, which is hitting the opponents deployment. I therefore lost my Dakkafexes because I felt they were awesome, but stuck out as a walker. Same thing for
Trygon since this was 1850 pts. I kept Mawloc for her cost and for the fear she causes with deployment. Flyrants are NOT being rushed in but are instead buffing first turn/taking pot shots and staying alive
so that they can help headhunt. Warrior brood is also a headhunter unit. Tervigon will be pushing forward fast. The 30 gants are a distraction that will hopefully catch a lot of bullets.

Thanks for any advice. Also wanted to know if its the consensus that its better to run the Biovores together or as two separate units.

Played a tournament yesterday and got some good data.

My first matchup and only loss was against none other than Eric Hoerger, the nice gentleman who won 2nd at the LVO last weekend. He used the same list although I apologize that I cant remember what he added in to make it to 1850 pts, he had 2 storm talons
and something else.
I actually didnt realize who he was until after the game when he told me, but I'm glad I got to play against a top tier list and player.



I went first and rushed my crones/harpy/flyrants. I inflicted a few wounds but the real joy came 2nd turn when everything came in and outflanked perfectly.



Unfortunately, my guys were just not able to capitalize on that turn, and despite killing some units the bikes were able to break out and go down the center to engage the Tervigon. My flyrants moved down to follow and I lost 26 gaunts to the thunderfire
cannon. My crones flew off the board which was a great move on my part, however when they came back on they whiffed on bringing down his newly arrived storm talons, despite rolling explosion results for haywire. A two flyrant combat ensued that killed
many bikers, but again they were able to hit and run out of there. Tervigon died in that combat. The game ended with 8-5 in kill points and he controlled more objectives.

I really like how well my Tyranids performed and I learned a lot about bikers/white scars. I blame myself and inexperience, I think they could have done better.

Game two was against a mechdar list:

4 Wave Serpents w/scatter lasers (5 DA in each)
2 Fire Prisms
2xLarge warp spider groups (I think about 6-8 in each) with an aspect warrior attached I believe, it improved reserve rolls)
3xWar walkers outflanking w/Starcannons
Crimson hunter w/Exarch

We played Vanguard strike, with the relic in the center and objectives in each of the 4 corners. He went first.

Turn 1 I deployed my Mawloc on the table because I wanted her to dive and come up on turn 3 when there were actual targets on the board, however this proved to be a mistake because Warpspiders ate her alive. With extra wounds inflicted on my Tyrants, I was worried immediately. But my crones and harpy were off the board. My flyrant was in a position to be brought down and it was a situation where it took a good chunk of his army trying to bring him down to do it. He had disembarked 10 DA to help do this, but that was a mistake. Both crones came on turn 2, one vector striking and destroying a warwalker, glancing a Prism, then one melted 9 Dire Avengers with drool cannon. The other fired a single tentaclid at the crimson hunter, I rolled a 6, and he couldnt jink it, so one shotted the Crimson Hunter out of the sky.


^ thats the end of his turn 2.

His next turn went worse for him as one of his serpents became immobilized. My warlord tyrant (red winged one) lived and flew off the board, vector striking and killing the last warwalker shown there. My 30 gant blob outflanked on the Warrior's side, and they served to shoot down
the last lone Dire avenger and secure the corner objective. My warriors ran towards my edge the rest of the game to secure the bottom corner objective.



^ bottom right corner.

The Harpy did...not a lot, all day. She vector struck and killed off some Warp Spiders, her cannon never pinned any one. The rest of the game was shooting down Warp Spiders, and one crone flew off and came back on to melt another group of DIre Avengers in the Bottom Right corner
trying to hold an objective. My Tyrant died to mass shooting, but both crones kept going to work and I eventually killed his last group of DA's with bile. I was unable to secure the relic once all gaunts were dead, Tervigon couldnt grab it. But a solid win.

My final game was unfortunately against Tyranids, a matchup I never really have any fun with. I knew his list would fall to mine. He had one flyrant, swarmlord with guard, exocrine, two mawlocs, large gant blobs, a tervigon, one zoanthrope, venomthrope and 3 hive guard. Also
a small genestealer brood outflanking. This isnt mean egotistically, but my only regret is I didnt crush his army more. I stole the initiative, but I made a boneheaded move turn two and basically wasted a huge right push by moving my Flyrant warlord up to assault his flyrant...who
had swooped. AGH. So my grounded Flyrant got shot and vector striked off the board, easily the dumbest move of the day. But I just ignored his blobs and Swarmlord, handled the Flyrant and Mawlocs in my backfield and used my Biovores to keep the herds at bay. My outflanking
gaunts tied up his backfield, my warriors killed off the genestealers then instakilled the other mawloc. I even ignored the exocrine, and just focused on threat removal. I secured enough points in the Scouring and held my Emperors will for the win.


^ My turn 1

So for the day I learned a lot, and I understand how these tournaments work better and that every little point can help. The results are on TOF somewhere but I cant seem to access them, if anyone can help thatd be great. I finished in the middle, so much so that I won a 'middle of the road' award, a $25 gift certificate for the store, so I'm actually glad I landed where I did. My list for the day was

1850
Flyrant w/Reaper and HVC, HC
Flyrant w/LW/BS and STC, HC, toxin sacs
Venomthrope
Tervigon
30 gants/10 devourers (outflank)
6 Warriors w/rending claws, devourers, barbed strangler and LW/BS (outflank)
Mawloc
Biovore brood x2
Crone
Crone
Harpy

Things I would change? The venomthrope is leaving because in this list it just doesnt carry any weight. Everyone is gone on turn 1. I didnt want to spam Crones, but damnit if Harpy didnt do much of anything. I'll either have to add in a crone or swing in a Trygon or second Mawloc, something with backfield disruption. Also, I think I'd like some thorax weapons on Flyrants because the vectorstriking then flaming is a trait I'd like to have all my flyers rocking.

Which is true, but the utility of the Crone keeps me wanting more. If I'm using a Harpy and bombing a unit that can be affected by s4 ap4, then why not just vector strike with strength 8 close enough to flame them afterwards?

My whole army is ready to do it at once, its the way it plays.

 jy2 wrote:

I played against Eric as well....at the LVO. We were both 4-0 going into the crucial Game #5, where he knocked me out of the Championships. He's a very good player. Damn those White Scars. Lol.

Congrats against Eldar!

Yea but he's also nice, which is always good to lose to.

I cant help but consider that the Eldar player would have been much less wont to disembark his DA and pushed his Prisms up and around had he encountered Crones before. Having said that, one of the biggest issues I consistently run in to is
I just dont know other armies well enough yet. I often play blind and have to ask about some units over and over again, especially characters. So I dont feel too bad.

^ Yep. Running them with HVC and headhunting with the Reaper or LW/BS combo has kept my Tyrants alive and kicking ass for many games now. Vector striking vehicles, pegging tanks and instakilling crisis suits until you're able to assault a high value target/hide in a blob is a lot of fun.

Hey jy2, this is a list I changed from yesterday, whats your opinion on it?

1850
Flyrant w/Reaper and HVC, HC, Electroshock
Flyrant w/LW/BS and HVC, HC, toxin sacs, Electroshock
Tervigon
30 gants (no devs, 30 shots vs 50)
6 Warriors w/rending claws, devourers, barbed strangler and LW/BS (outflank)
Mawloc
Biovore brood x2
Crone
Crone
Crone (Harpy could stay and give Tyrants AG with minor tweaks)

Are the Tyrants top heavy in this list? Yes. But played 'properly' aggressive, they are flexible enough to vector or shoot tanks, shock tanks, or strength 5 template troops, and then assault targets of opportunity. The AG option ensures assaults and allows instant death on a lot of tough marine leaders.

A lot of points to put into 2 HQ's, but augmented with the three other fliers they are pretty damaging.

 tetrisphreak wrote:
Here's something I did last night that I think will help our FMC's out a bit. Please call me out if you feel this is MFA.

Most players will mount the cross pieces of their flight stands, so that the nose of the plane/flyer is parallel with the longer axis of the oval base. If you measure the base in inches, it's something like 4.5"x5.5". I've taken my flight stems for my FMC's (harpy, crone) and rotated it 90 degrees, so that the nose of the flyer is facing the shorter part of the oval. It's not much, but with a 24" only move, the extra inch to inch and a half of free space will help pull off some moves and vector strikes that would be impossible or very narrow if the flight stem was rotated the other way.

Since there's no instruction of how exactly to glue the flight stand to the oval base, is this MFA? TFG? Or just a savvy tyranid player taking every (much needed) advantage he can grab?

Like mine?



There is no guidance on it, and if GW sees fit to put my "not always flying especially turn 1 when opponent gets to shoot first" Flying MC on a stupid high flier base then I cant see how people can cry foul.

 Lansirill wrote:
Two things:

Why no love for Trygons? Is it just that people would rather buy the cheaper Mawloc and spend the 100 points elsewhere?

I'm going to play in an oversized Tyranids vs. Everyone Else game on Saturday. I plan on bringing mostly big bugs so that I'm able to have fun. Are there any load outs that people have been wanting to try? I'm tempted to see how over upgraded MCs do. I imagine they die to shooting before I can make use of anything, but what the hell. .. May as well see for myself.

I'll be there too but not to partake, I cant play all day. (Assuming you're going to Bowie bunker)

I'm excited to try this list out over the weekend, it's my alternative to the 1850 I ran in the tournament last week and this one sounds like a lot of fun.

1850
Flyrant w/Reaper, HVC, HC, Adrenal Glands
Flyrant w/LW/BS, HVC, HC, Adrenal Glands, toxin sacs

22 Termagant
Outflanking Warrior brood 1 w/LW/BS/Scything, 2 w/Deathspitter/rending
Outflanking Warrior brood 1 w/LW/BS/Scything, 2 w/Deathspitter/rending
Warrior brood 1 w/Venom Cannon/rending, 2 w/devourers/rending
Crone
Crone
Harpy
Mawloc
Mawloc
2 Biovore Brood

The two outflanking warrior broods are objective grabbers and headhunters, the other brood holds my objective or moves up.

I'm tempted to trade a lot of the 22 gant unit for a Lictor but am frightened of easily giving up 1st blood. Either way, the AG Tyrants sound even better than what I've been running and it will be nice to know Im getting into that charge when I need it, as well as having more attacks for vehicle killing with the Reaper Tyrant reaching strength 8.

Work schedule changed so it looks like I can go back to the monthly tournament in Ashburn with my Nids on the 16th.

Im working on my list but it looks like this right now:

Warlord Flyrant : AG, Electroshock, HC, Scything Talons, Reaper of Obliterax (Thats right, a full CC tyrant. More attacks, and I cant tell you how often this Tyrant vector strikes and the grubs would be able to hit several vehicles, if not just the one he vectored. And he is S8 on the charge)
Flyrant w/LW/BS, toxin sacs, HVC, HC
2 Lictor Brood (Not sure if its best to run them together or separate for bring the Mawlocs home to good targets without giving up firstblood/killpoints too easy)
17 Termagant
2x Outflanking 4 Warrior Brood, 3 w/devs and rending claws, 1 with scything and LW/BS
Harpy
Crone
Crone
Mawloc
Mawloc
2 Biovore Brood

A rush and threat overload list. Im getting the two lictors next week and will play test a few times.

 tetrisphreak wrote:
Interesting rules blip - the gargoyles score if another scoring unit is in range, but denial units can still prevent them from controlling objectives.

Confused

So...why cant I buy the dataslate right now, isnt it out already? It still says preorder.

Actually I just paid for it and it let me download it despite it saying its preorder.

Played a game with the Skyblight formation today, and possible unconnected, had my first 'rage quit' opponent.

My list was

1850

Flyrant w/Reaper, Electroshock, AG, HC

Lictor
Outflanking 5 Warriors, devourers w/rending and 1 LW/BS
3 Warriors w/1 Venom Cannon
2 Biovores
2 Mawlocs

Skyblight Formation
Flyrant w/Devourers, LW/BS, Toxin
10 Gargoyles x3
Harpy w/HVC
Harpy w/HVC
Crone

His list was Salamanders...A whirlwind, storm talon, two other tanks (I'm sorry I suck at remembering unit names) sternguard, scout squad. A ton of tactical marines, an Aegis defense line with AA gun, a thunderfire canon.

I played him before with old nids and while I won that game, I dont remember him being douchy or unpleasant. But today was a different story, complaining about rules constantly and when he'd look them up he'd snidely say "If thats how you want to play it."

He'd argue over how many units were under the Mawloc's blast, sarcastically roll his dice on saves he didnt think he should have to take, etc...pretty lame. Turn 4 I pretty much had him crushed and he flipped out that my Mawloc gets a 5+ cover save, which I made on two wounds, and he conceded, angrily packed up and left.

So, does the new formation cause your opponents to freak out? I doubt it because we played Purge the Alien and I basically used the same list I always do + Gargoyles.

/My day

What I'm digging is Lictors in these flier lists. The reason being is yes, they start out up front infiltrated for the most part, but when you have five FMC's fly ahead of them turn one they get a blind eye turned to them. Plenty of time to intelligently maneuver them into position for the Mawlocs. Given that its about turn 3 when the time is best, starting 1 of them on the board to ensure they come in turn 3 worked great.

Also, yesterday I deep struck a gargoyle brood from this new formation to push even harder with the Lictors. When the brood tied up the marines in combat with blinding, I brought the Mawloc in pinpoint. Sacrificed the remaining brood but annihilated the SM squad, and the gargoyles had a 50% chance of just coming back on the board (They didnt though)

I started Warhammer last year with the old codex and played tournaments as a clueless newbie, learned the game and fought spam quite often.

Then I got dealt a somewhat subpar codex and I've kept on loving the bugs regardless and continued to face Tau and Eldar, even suffering repeated defeats in my own home vs my wife.

Now we get a new slate fielding a few more FMC's that are STILL T5W5 4+ and scoring gargs and people cry foul? I feel no remorse.

Indeed.

That Tyrant is back to using HVC though.

Got out of work today due to weather and finished my two Lictors and my wife's Wraithknight...now depending on our baby's refusal to take a nap or not this afternoon we will start a new batrep.

Fighting a very uphill battle upstairs.

Its turn 1, I had to go second, and already her Wraithknight has ID'ed my crone for 1st blood and a scouring point. Lost a Gargoyle unit as well, but I regen'ed them (running Skyblight formation)

I can only wonder how many FMC's will die turn 2, our daughter decided one turn was enough fun for mom and dad today so the game is on hold.

A huge part of that problem on our board is lack of truly LOS terrain. At the end of the day, Im glad the Crone took the shot rather than a tyrant (She had rolled 6's), but ugh.

Eldercaveman wrote:

 Iechine wrote:
A huge part of that problem on our board is lack of truly LOS terrain. At the end of the day, Im glad the Crone took the shot rather than a tyrant (She had rolled 6's), but ugh.

An excuse to get terrain building then!

Yea...we're moving soon and I want to get one of those megamats but they arent on sale for a few months. Once we get a new map Ill get to work on nicer terrain.