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Hey All-

So I started collecting nids officially (first 2 boxes bought last night) and am trying to get a solid all comers list put together. My local group plays with 1850 usually and here is what I have so far:

Troops:
2x 20 Termagaunts (Devourers)
2x Tervigons (Cluster Spines, AG, TS)

Elites:
2x 2 Hive Guard

Heavy:
2x Trygons

This skeleton list leaves an extra 440 points to play around with.I am having a lot of trouble deciding what to do with them. My thoughts so far are: Flyrant with Gargs or Shooty Tyrant (so I can more effectively DS those Trygons into parking lots if needed). A venomthrope for the 5+. Ymgarls. Or really going crazy with the MC's and getting a carnie or two worked in somehow.

Any and all input is appreciated and thanks in advance!

Fyrant with gargoyles is good in this army

How big would you run him, what kind of loadout, and why? How about the rest of the army, is that ok?

Thanks for the input.

I would run him with 2 x TL Devs and hive commander, then a unit of at least 15 gargoyles. You could then take a unit of stealers (somehow?), or just go for a pod for one of the devgaunt units. Dropping that on someone's doorstep can really hurt.

So I ran the list against a blood angels razorspam list. Happy to say I won! The winged tyrant helped a TON!! He got blown to pieces, but the 'oh crap there's a mc getting to me turn 2' factor drew all of his fire and let my trygons and terv's get into melee.

One thing I noticed is that my devgaunts did nothing, so I am thinking about lowering the squad size and dropping the devs. Would hope to add in some ymgarls or the doom. What do we all think??

*edit: typo*

i think you shouls leave the dev gaunts as is, they are amazing just had a poor game. its just so many shots! what extra stuff did you run in your list aside from the flyrant?

I threw in the flyrant and a squad of 20 upgraded gargs (TS & AG).

The gargs were another group that seemed to only provide a 4++ to my army (amazing in itself) until I could assault. I was able to multiassault 2 sets of assault marines and keep them tied up until my MC's were there.

I liked the gargs a lot I just don't know if I needed to have them upgraded or if the points saved from them could have been used elsewhere.

I don't think Devgants are worth their points...

In Mycetic Spores, maybe. But even then your paying double the price of a standerd gant for some extra (not all that wonderful) shots)
If you drop them down to 2x 10 with no upgrades, that gives you 300 points. You could take a unit of 17 genestealers with a Broodlord, all with toxin sacs. And believe me that unit does really well (although only seen when used with another identical unit, only having one might limit its effectiveness).

When your taking the gargoyles with TS and AG, at full strength your maybe pushing the squad number a little too high. With no upgrades they are mainly a screen/distraction/holding up something in combat unit, and they do that really well. You could drop all the upgrades and then a couple of them altogether, to get another Hive Guard (would then be nice to get another one to have 3x2 or 2x3).

When taking more than one Trygon, I think you need to seriously consider Venomthropes, giving your Trygon a 5+ cover save could just help it make it all the way.

The fact you beat a Razorspam list, with only 4 Hive gaurd, no Stealers is pretty good in my book. Nids are surprisingly good at taking out vehicles I think if used right, Mech spam is actually not too much of a problem at all for Nids (apart from De, they are essentially anti-nids...). If you decide to try our the Stealers, I think you will find they will help a lot (they need FNP from a Tervigon to be most effective), infiltrating as close as possible to the enemy, getting them in cover as much as possible (but preferably assault not in cover) they will kill nearly anything else, they are one of the best combat units in the game, add that to your immediately successful 5 MC base, you could have a tough list to face.

Also, what points level is this? Is it 1850?

First off, thanks to everyone for the discussion, I am loving it and it is helping a ton!

The point level was 1850.

For the DevGaunts I thought about doing 1 squad with the devs and the other without or dropping them all together, because from the game last night it looked like, if I am reacting/playing correctly my MC's are almost always in an assault.

I played it so my MC's and gargs surged forward in an arc, essentially forcing my BA player to "Castle". When he did this, I was able to send my tyrant and trygons out to pop vehicles and used the gargoyles to wrap the vehicles and control where he could deploy. 2 Trygons and 1 tervigon got multi-assaulted by a terminator squad (the 3 MC's came out on top with one VERY wounded trygon and the other & tervigon untouched) and the gargs ate 2 assaults from 2 5 man marine squads. When the gargs got assaulted I counter assaulted with a newly freed trygon and tervigon, and went vehicle hunting with the other trygon and tervigon.

Vehicle hunting wasn't bad at all, but I can see it being a much bigger issue against skimmers. The hiveguard underperformed, but I can see them being able to shine, so I wouldn't mind having a couple more in there (or at very minimum keeping my 2x2).

I really really like the venomthrope idea, just didn't have the points, but if I trimmed the fat on my tyrant, gargs, and terms I would have more than enough points to play him and a big squad of genestealers.

The only thing that scares me about stealers is that my local meta is very very very mech heavy, I wouldn't want the stealers to come in and just sit around to be lit up by unpopped cans (is this a big issue typically? Or irrational fear?).

I recently used 3 groups of 20 Devilgaunts in Spods against new Necrons to great effect. They're easy to kill, sure, but put out a hilarious amount of shots for the points. A bit expensive, though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Venomthropes are sweet, you should definitely try them. They work best with multi-wound models, though. Warriors, Raveners, MCs, that stuff.

And about Stealers, they can do some tank hunting if need be, with S4 and Rending. Not ideal, but they have a chance. I would use other things for anti-tank, though. Tyrannofexes, Harpies, Hive Guard, etc.

Yeah, being able to throw out 60 shots for a 200 point squad is just silly. I just get worried that if I am always popping an xport then getting assaulted immediately, I won't have many opportunities for them to earn their points back. I will keep them around for a couple more plays to see if they can do a little more.

One thing my buddy and I were tossing around is giving the tyrant the ability to modify reserves rolls, DSing the trygons, and then using the hole that was made to bring in the doom. If I did that, though, no venomthrope.

I am not sold on tyrannofexes, they are very expensive and they feel like a unit that I would march forward and use like a trygon (at which point, why not take another trygon). I have a hard time trusting BS3 for a ranged punch. Do you think I am approaching that incorrectly?

Tyrannofexes are a divisive one. Personally, I love the idea/concept of the unit, and have some ideas for how I want the model to look. In terms of gameplay, yes, bs3 is a slouch for ranged shooting, even if it is 2 shots. However, if you equip it with acid spray, that and the other templates is can drop (up to 3 including thorax swarm) and suddenly you have a potent close range beasty that can clear out buildings and hurt hordes with abandon. They are however, stricken with negatives, like a lack of fleet, high points value and succeptibilty to combat against hihger initiative opponents with power weapons. The latter is exacerbated by putting him forward with your main body of troops. Lastly, he competes with the other significant heavy choices, like trygons and dakka fexes, which can do some of its jobs for cheaper, and come with other strengths.
Ultimately, for the t-fex, your best bet is to try it and see whether the coolness of the unit justifies it for you.

Fair enough, and very well put Reanimator!

I will probably set him aside as something to try once I am much more comfortable with the nids and the way I play nids. That way I can afford to throw in a ringer or two without completely compromising my ability to compete (by not knowing/understanding the proper niche a unit fills, etc. etc.)

Very sensible idea- let us know how your experiences continue with your list, its nice to see someone give the rest of us feedback on gameplay- after all we can't all try everything!

Oh definitely will, and unfortunately, at least in my area, Nids players are definitely the minority.