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Will the Dark Eldar Bandwagon make Hydras a good choice for IG?

I tried a 2 Hydras squadron and my opinion is they not so good for the various Space Marine match ups because they can not fire to full effect while moving and you want to keep moving to avoid getting hit in rear armor by powerfist wielding scouts or bikers. They tended to maybe pop a razorback and then get killed to scouts or outflankers of some sort.

Dark Eldar might change this as they don't have any out flankers and although they cover ground quickly, the Hydra ignores their moving fast save. This might not be that great if people buy flicker fields for everything though.

Also any good ideas on converting good looking Hydras other then the Aegis Guns? Might actually have to pay Forge Rip Off.

I don't know why people hate them, but love rifleman dreads so much. Sure the moving thing is a problem, but if you bubble wrap em, or set em up in a parking lot type IG army, they are just as good as a Rifleman, better against DE. My one experience with a Hydra battery, playing a buddy's IG army, they performed excellently.

In my books Hydras have always been a solid choice. They don't tend to draw too much fire, they come dirt cheap and they put on the hurt to infantry and transports. And don't even think of proposing taking a Manticore instead, two is enough for every list
Since you mentioned rifleman dreads, you get almost two Hydras for the cost of on, so your argument should be backed up a little

Are dark eldar scary enough to change IG lists? I wouldn't think IG would struggle against them, but I haven't played them yet either.

You seem to be implying that Hydras aren't a great choice already when they are in fact an awesome unit. They are dirt cheap and you can squadron them if you need to fit in other heavy support units. Even against Marines forcing them to roll a bunch of saves will cause some infantry to drop, but their main use is dealing with light vehicles. Against AV11-12 transports they are incredibly effective.

You shouldn't be losing them to Outflankers unless things go really bad, Hydras, along with any of your other expensive/killy units should be in the middle of your formation well away from the board edges. If its Space Wolf Scouts you are worried about then just park on the board edge and make them come on from the edges of your formation anyway. People should have to fight their way through any bubble wrap infantry and a bunch of Chimeras before they can assault your more expensive units.

Hydras have always been awesome, killing silly, pointy-headed, wackos only make them awesomer.

Except that I play deldar and my brother plays ig....being on the recieving end of the aweosme stick hurts. Especially when the sticks are actually bulltes.

Theres a reason why hydras are a part of leafblower lists

But yes if not taken out quickly, hydras can tear apart the light vehicles and fast attack the DE have. Pray those dark lances hit home

OK I might as well ask now, or I'll never know, what the heck is the "leafblower" list I keep hearing about? My guess would be flamers maybe?

Kirika wrote:Will the Dark Eldar Bandwagon make Hydras a good choice for IG?

I tried a 2 Hydras squadron and my opinion is they not so good for the various Space Marine match ups because they can not fire to full effect while moving and you want to keep moving to avoid getting hit in rear armor by powerfist wielding scouts or bikers. They tended to maybe pop a razorback and then get killed to scouts or outflankers of some sort.

Dark Eldar might change this as they don't have any out flankers and although they cover ground quickly, the Hydra ignores their moving fast save. This might not be that great if people buy flicker fields for everything though.

Also any good ideas on converting good looking Hydras other then the Aegis Guns? Might actually have to pay Forge Rip Off.

I think they'll make hydras a stronger option yes. depends on what other tools are available but DE definitely give guard players a reason to revisit hydras.

asimo77 wrote:OK I might as well ask now, or I'll never know, what the heck is the "leafblower" list I keep hearing about? My guess would be flamers maybe?

Basically it is an infamous alpha strike list with like x2 medusas, manticore, x2 hydras, and a boatload of angry special weapon armed guardsmen in chimeras.

sorry for getting a little OT

Oh ok thanks, though still don't see the leafblower aspect. Maybe the shape of medusae? It blows all other lists away (supposedly). But enough of about that, OT indeed

What DE bandwagon?

There is no DE bandwagon. The codex is good, and the new minis are good, but there is no bandwagon.

DE are a good army in the hands of a good player, but they are not easy to play, thus there is no bandwagon.

Even after DE win a major tournament I don't see a real bandwagon. A top tier player can be vicious and unforgiving with de, but a newbie at the flgs and the mid tier player going into a tourney will get their glass hammer smashed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ps hydras and ac hws are solids units in an all comers list before the new de codex came out.

asimo77 wrote:OK I might as well ask now, or I'll never know, what the heck is the "leafblower" list I keep hearing about? My guess would be flamers maybe?

Mech IG.

It is called a leaf-blower list as one person playing against the list said some thing like "that army blew my models off the table like a leaf-blower..."

A top tier player can be vicious and unforgiving with de

He will also be rampaging and merciless with IG.

Hydras have always been a solid choice and even more so now. Just look at the cost of that thing for one second. 75 points for av AV12 chassis and two TL autocannons with a special ability plus a heavy bolter. Underpriced by about 25 points, especially because it can be taken in squadrons.

Take anything from four to six of them and one Manticore. Add three Vendettas and about six Chimeras with tons of special weapons (1.75K) and you don't need to care what your opponents are playing anymore. Multi-lasers glance Raiders on a 4+. Same number what the Dark Lances require to glance Chimeras. Except multi-lasers aren't even the anti-tank guns of the IG army.

Surround the Hydra's with a blob squad with a commissar - outflanking problem solved.

Hydras have always been solid. 150 points for 8 x twin-linked S7 shots that ignore SMF? Even against Marines they smash Rhinos and Razorbacks to little pieces, and the high S even ensures MCs are forced to take a bunch of saves.

Bottom line: Hydras are inexpensive for the firepower they bring to the table, and I always take 2 in my 2k list. Their usefulness is increased 10x when you face an army full of AV10 open-topped skimmers.

L. Wrex

There seems to be a Dark Eldar bandwagon in my area because I know personally over 15 people doing Dark Eldar which is quite a bit.

At 2k I been running 2 Manticores w HHF and a Leman Russ Executioner with a HHF for Heavy Support along with the usual 3 Vendettas and bunch of Chimeras carrying my troops. The Executioner is for killing Marines who fall out of transports but the Executioner isn't very good in Xenos match ups like Dark Eldar or Orks and loses value without the Inquisitor Mystic combo so considering replacing the Executioner with Hydras which would still be decent vs Mech Marines at killing their transports. However the outflankers can be murder on Hydras which lose half their firepower on the move.

I do now run a couple infantry squads for bubble wrap which I didn't when I first tested Hydras so this might change things a bit.

Will have to give them another shot.

Also those who use Hydras how did you convert them or did you buy forgeworld?

BuFFo wrote:

asimo77 wrote:OK I might as well ask now, or I'll never know, what the heck is the "leafblower" list I keep hearing about? My guess would be flamers maybe?

Mech IG.

Technically (as technically as you can get with a nickname for a fictional army), the leaf-blower list is an Imperial Guard list that compromises of A LOT of artillery and heavy weapons that relies on getting the first turn.
That way its guns stay within range as long as possible and the enemy is more tightly bunched due to deployment, particularly in high-points games where it was first introduced.
The means that the large amount of high strength large blast weapons are almost certainly going to hit something due to the tightness of deployment and range etc.
IIRC the first time this was used, the guy won a tournament through getting all but one or two 1st-turns therefore maximising the effectiveness of his set-up.

Now however, Leaf-blower is a much over-used term, used to describe any competitive guard army, as BuFFo as so aptly demonstrated.

It's also a build that was designed and excelled at 2500pts, not the 1850 or so that most tournaments are played at.

If the Hydras only force a de player to focus fire all their lances on them the first couple of turns then sure the Hydras have paid for themselves. Hydras can spew out lots of S7 shots - glancing armor 10 on a roll of 3 and penning on rolls of 4+... that's just bad news for de. If de become popular I think more IG players will use the Hydra. IG basically have a cheap answer to everything - that's one of the main reasons why they are a top tier army. As a potential de player am I afraid of Hydras? No but I certainly respect what they can do.