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Hey everyone,

Well I just finished converting my second Tervigon up (mostly using Carnifex bits and Trygon bits) and was curious
to hear other peoples opinions on good Tervigon tactics and uses. I have seen alot out there about weither or not
they are useful, if they cost too much, or how quickly they can lose their Brooding ability, but I'm curious to hear from
people who actually play with them and like them.

So, what I want to know is how they perform for you, what you use them for, and so on. So far I've had reasonably
good results with my first kit-bashed Tervigon, and so built a second to help with a mixed-force list I'm working on. So,
I'm looking forward to seeing what other people have to say about the brood-mother herself.

They are very good.

They provide a good synapse, they are hard to kill and they enshure that you will at least get of one good termigant charge (spawn and charge, rince and repeat.)

I personaly am having a really hard time understanding how nid's beat gunnlines, but the moast awsome tervigon is what I always come back to.

I field mine with adrenald glands, toxic sacks, catalyst.

I watched a game last weekend between 2 friends, one of them played horde nids and used his Tervigon to great effect. It pretty much stayed back and continuously spawned Termagants. Before rolling doubles, it spawned 33 Termagants. I think Tervigons work better in horde-style nid lists, where they can be held back behind droves of gants and gargoyles. If you're concerned about survivability, you could always run a squad of Venomthropes to ensure they get a cover save.

I see alot of discussion about holding it back and basically using it as a spawn-factory,
but it *is* a Toughness 6 MC who makes its own cover (spawning Termagants in front of it).

It also has good assist Psychic powers, and while not a beast in CC, it could still be relatively
respectable if you need that extra MC slam against a armored unit, or such. So far, it sounds like
alot of people play them very conservatively, is it not effective to use them as backup MC and
as mobile buff-platform / spawner?

Jareth009 wrote:it *is* a Toughness 6 MC who makes its own cover (spawning Termagants in front of it).

According to the rule book that's not true regular infantry don't give cover saves to mcs just by being infront of them. The MCs can only get cover by being 50% or more obscured or having another MC infront of them. It's to show they are so much bigger then regular infantry.

Now what you can do is put hive guard infront of the tervigon with termagants infront of them. That will give the tervigon a coversave due to the hive guard obscuring 50% of the tervigon. Then the HG get it from the gants.

The Tervigon is awesome.

The Spawn power is brilliant when it works well but can burn out quickly with bad luck, so don't rely on it.

By taking a big unit of Termagants to start with, you can make your Tervigon a Troops unit which means it can occupy objectives. Difficult to shift when the objective is in cover, which they often are.

That starter unit can also be boosted with the Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands transfer rules, which turn the Termagants into something to worry about for most enemy units because of poisoned attacks at S4 on the first round. (Remember that with poison melee attacks, if the poison unit has S equal to or greater than the target's T, failed To Wound rolls are rerolled. That means your Termagants have a 75% chance to wound SMs on the first round.)

As mentioned above it is a W6 Monstrous Creature. Even though it doesn't have a lot of attacks it can still mince up vehicles nicely. It also has Synapse and some useful space magic powers.

In general you can and should use the Tervigon offensively provided you support it properly. (This principle goes for a lot of Tyranid units.) I like to give Regeneration to my Tervigon. It's an ability you need to be lucky with.

Like any MC, the Tervigon can be taken down quickly by massed lascannon/meltagun/poisoned attacks. You have to screen it behind cover, or by distracting the enemy with other units, or by using Venomthropes.

You must also be careful to avoid getting stuck into multiple melee situations where Fearless bonus wounds on your Termagants will spill over and kill the Tervie. (This is another good principle with Tyranids -- fear Fearlessness!)

I'm not sure how effective a tactic this is, but if you give your Tyrant the Hive Commander ability, and you have 1 unit of Termagaunts, then you can outflank a Tervigon. I tried it once and I managed to capture an objective with it, but they should be supported with Genestealers, Gargoyles and other units to make sure they don't get gunned down.

One in HQ with Regeneration, Adrenal glands, Toxin sacs and Catalyst. Some termagants to hold a Objective. A second Tervigon, same as HQ one, in Troops. Maybe more Termagants with third Tervigon.

HQ
Tervigon..........225pts
Regeneration, Adrenal glands, Toxin sacs and Catalyst.

Tervigon..........225pts
Regeneration, Adrenal glands, Toxin sacs and Catalyst.

Troops
Tervigon..........225
Regeneration, Adrenal glands, Toxin sacs and Catalyst.

Tervigon..........225pts
Regeneration, Adrenal glands, Toxin sacs and Catalyst.

Tervigon..........225pts
Regeneration, Adrenal glands, Toxin sacs and Catalyst.

Termagants x10..........50pts

Termagants x10..........50pts

Termagants x10..........50pts

Heavy Support
Trygon..........225pts
Regeneration

Total Points...........1500pts

@ Luna dragon your list has 200points waisted on regeneration you should lose all of the regenerations for 1 more trygon

Good advice.

Also, Hive Guard are a good way of keeping Chimaera-borne meltavets away from your MCs.

OMG REGEN VOMIT ><

Man regen is a horrible ability...

Like many things in 40K, it's brilliant if it works, and crappy if it doesn't.

The difference between Regen on all your MCs and an extra Trygon is that the Trygon guarantees you six more wounds and a bunch of attacks, while the Regen is a high risk strategy.

Some lucky rolling will make the other guy wonder why he bothered shooting at you.

Well, last tourney I went to, my Tervigon somehow managed to spawn over 40 units by round 5, and never once rolled
doubles. I literally killed a Swarmlord using the Termagants spawned by the Tervigon in CC with the beastie. They all
had Toxin Sacs (4+ Poison) and dumped so many wounds on it, it couldn't make enough saves!

DE laugh at you.

Sothas wrote:DE laugh at you.

And I laugh at you. Honestly, this is a pretty unhelpful comment. You might as well go and shout this at someone outside your window, it would be no more irrelevant than it is here.


Two things I've learned from facing tervigons: One is that you often shouldn't use the spawn until you have a use for the unit. Wait until the appropriate time so that the termagants get their whack in before being rapid-fired or anything. Two, you can spawn a full 6" from the tervigon, and then move/run or shoot/assault, so a tervigon can actually 'throw' a gaunt assault a good 18", further than many people will expect by looking at an MC with an apparent threat range of 12". This can help tie up or destroy shooters that think they are safe for a turn.

So i would definetly drop the regen and add 2 squads of 2 hive guards!!




So much stronger already

Tervigon spawm is a good way to go

and are you using stinger salvo's? or cluster spines because its a pretty important decision with a list like this, i would maybe go half half depending on what you were playing against.

Luna, I think your list is actually very weak but definitely looks scary on paper.

How will you deal with a mass mech army? Will you assault the vehicles and need 6's to hit? And if you destroy one, the guys inside pop out, shoot melta/plasma at the tervie then assault it with a fist. Goodbye gants.

Hive Guard are needed. Agreed. Or Zoanthropes.

The tyranid player I fight against uses his tervigon to cast feel no pan on his genesneakers giving them a better chance to rip me to shreds!

I use this - although I haven't played my Nids in four months

HQ: Terv, AG, Toxin, Catalyst, Crushing Claws
- You think crushing claws are overpriced? they have been golden for me. I spawn from turn one ... no waiting.

Elites: 6 Hive Guard
- I would never play without either Zoans or HG.

Troops: 3 squads of toxic stealers
- Yes it's a little light on troops but I'm spawning.

Fast: 20 Gargs, AG
- At 1500 it does just fine and no my gargs don't always run back to the Terv. Seems risky but in fact they do just fine.

Newest discover with the Tervigon:

Tyranid vs. Tyranid: Surprisingly 30 Termagants with poison *IS* a effective way to screw over
someone elses Swarmlord. The look on their face when the SL went down to Termagants was
...memorable.

Tyranid vs. Chaos Marines: Yay distractions. Not only did the Tervigon spawn well, but when it finished,
managed to still charge up and help wipe out Abbaddon with a nice group of friendly Hormagants.

Tyranid vs. Grey Knights: ...Well at least I so outnumbered the guy he seemed pretty spooked. Stormraven's
are a surprising pain to take out. Tervigon didn't do *bad* just... didn't do anything memoriable.

@fexicat: I know quite a few people who play the tervigan offensively... Kind of like playing a more useful version of the Carnifex... but not really. Most people don't expect the tervigan to actually want to be in close combat.

@OP: My tactic with the tervigan is simple... avoid spawning.

What??? Avoid spawning??? I thought that's all it was good for!

No... the Tervigan is far more useful than just pooping out gants.. and there is actually a downside to trying to get as many gants on the table as possible.

1) Scoring monstous creature. Nothing like having a 6W T6 scoring unit right :-) Problem? goes down as easily as a trygon does... so hide it or take a venomthrope brood. Because Missiles, plasma, lascannons will be unforgiving.

2) Catalyst: Great psychic power. Again we get to the missiles that are the bane of tyranids. You don't get your armor, but you do get FnP. Add venomthrope to the equation... holly crud am I shooting at plaguebearers/marines? This applies for any of your monstrous creatures. For me it tends to by my trygon that I give FnP, because he is much more threatening than my tervigan just sitting there looking all Innocent. If your opponent perceives the tervigan as a threat... your army is built wrong.

This also applies to small guys to. Gants that get cover saves and FnP against bolters? Yea.

3)Onslaught: A great power. You really shouldn't take both in my opinion, but onslaught is really worth it. Why? Hive guard have a 24" gun, 30" threat range. being able to run and shoot adds D6" to that. Why is this important? Play against DE and cry as they stay out of range of your guns... especially if they put night shields on their transports. situational, but really worth wile.

4) Here is where I get into my spawning rant. Now your playing your game, and you are thinking Yea! My tervigan is going to make so many termagants!!! I'm going to win by outnumbering my opponent with 3D6 gants a turn!!! and then it happens. You first roll, it doesn't matter what the number is, is a double. Your tervigans primary goal that you brought it for... is now gone. You spent 160 points on 3D6 gants... NOOO. Never! You save those spawns until they count.

Tervigans tend to not like close combat. You see... say 5 ork nobz, 2 have powerklaws coming at you. If you hit menopause.. you just lost that tervigan. However, you have a spawn, and ta-da, the nobs can't charge you because of your wall of gants.

Turn 5? You are tied on objectives.. you need to capture this last one. Your tervigan is your closest model and you are 16" from the nearest objective. Pooped out and you just have to hope the game continues. Still have babies and you can get that objective. Spawn", move 6", run 1" at worst, be within 3" of an objective to capture it. You just pulled an eldar tactic.

5) Supergants: Venomthrope + tervigan + Hive tyrant. If a gant unit is in all of these buffs... they are one of the scariest close combat units in the game. Charge them and the person who charged doesn't get a charge bonus, takes dangerous terrain, might even attack second, and the gants counter-attack with their poisoned attacks that reroll to hit because of preferred enemy.

You charge them? 2 attacks each that reroll to hit and to wound against T4, striking at I5.

Tyranids need to work as 1 unit, and make use of all of their aura buffs... a tactic that is foreign to space marine players. They don't understand that splitting their army in 2 with tyranids will only help the opponent win.

6) You can make a gant farm... but I don't like this tactic. If you insist on it... be taking 3 tervigans, and give them a use other than spawning gants.

That's my 2 cents.

To spawn or not to spawn ...

My lists are very aggressive and my sole Terv is an HQ not a troop. I usually spawn early - well I run first turn so i won't spawn then. For me spawning early means turns two or three when I'm close to mid table. I'm not afraid of rolling doubles. I'll take my chances. My Terv and Terms aren't priority targets. But I see your point. At 1500 points i can include a beefed up Terv, 40 toxic Stealers (4 squads), six HG, a Parasite w/ twenty Gargs. Trust me - eighty percent of my opponents always get to thinking about that Tervigon late because it's not a perceived threat.

A Tervigon with claws is a cc monster BTW. Casting Catalyst on itself makes it even more durable. I have plenty of shields for it in Stealer units if need be to avoid the nastier squads.

felixcat wrote:A Tervigon with claws is a cc monster BTW. Casting Catalyst on itself makes it even more durable. I have plenty of shields for it in Stealer units if need be to avoid the nastier squads.

Pun intended? XD

No. But I'll take credit now.

Just been looking around the forum at a few tyranid articles and I've noticed a lot of people saying that they are giving their Tervigon's toxin sacs which then gives the gants it spawns toxin sacs as well. Is this true?

As the rule in the book states that the gants spawned are identical to the entry in the book and they have no biomorph upgrades. Or has their been an FAQ that I have missed?

Fat Joe wrote:Just been looking around the forum at a few tyranid articles and I've noticed a lot of people saying that they are giving their Tervigon's toxin sacs which then gives the gants it spawns toxin sacs as well. Is this true?

As the rule in the book states that the gants spawned are identical to the entry in the book and they have no biomorph upgrades. Or has their been an FAQ that I have missed?

Its under the "Brood Progenitor" rule on pg. 52.

Thanks Jareth. So they only gain that when they are within 6" of him.

One thing to consider when spawning Gaunts: You have a 44% chance of rolling doubles. Assuming that the expected value of 3d6 is the same whether you roll doubles or not for simplicity, this works out to an average of about 18 Gaunts total spawned over the entire course of the game, assuming that nothing kills the Tervigon before it burns out.

The average number of gants of the course of 7 turns is 23... which I have the math for if you desire.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Fat Joe wrote:Thanks Jareth. So they only gain that when they are within 6" of him.

Yep... and if they charge out of the aura, they do not get to keep any of the benefits during that combat.

Robin... Cruddace... The brood prognator rule is one of the dumbest things I think he put in the codex. The spawned gants should be the ones getting the benefits, not the ones within 6". The way the rule is worded now, Tyranid Primes joined in the unit also benefit. It doesn't make sense :-/

Tervigon needs a little finesse, but it's definitely worth taking. My crappy, free, spawned shooty-gaunts, with (free!) toxin sacs and adrenal glands managed to wipe out a unit of Ork bikers with a charge without taking a single casualty. Boy was the Ork player surprised!

It has drawbacks. Never have I managed to pump out more than two spawns, in about tan games. It is a huge fire attractor (although that's partially because I made mine out of a Starship Troopers Plasma bug) if your opponent has had experience with it. But then they aren't shooting at your other stuff.