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Just got 3 boxes of the things for Christmas... those wings are seriously annoying to paint.

But that's besides the point. Once I've got them all looking pretty and put together, how should I use them?
I'm sure a popular option is using them as a general screen for the scuttling tides. But is deepstriking a viable option? If I DS, should they be in a large brood (30) or smaller ones?

I have a friend who uses them to screen for his Hormagaunts. It is a real pain because they are fast enough to not slow the gaunts bounding leap down. and if lucky enough to get into range can soften up the unit you want to charge.

I use them quite a bit, and love the little buggers.

I never DS them. I use two units of 20 and even 20 gargoyles have a huge footprint that makes DS them a difficult proposition with scatter. Even if you do get them safely on the ground, their fleshborers are probably not going to inflict a lot of trauma, and they will get mercilessly shot into uselessness before they get to engage anything in CC. On top of that, you have a good chance of them being out of synapse and failing the IB roll. I slap AG and TS on them and run them in front of a Swarmlord+ Hive Guard and a Tervigon (and the Tervigon's spawn). Let Swarmy give them Preferred Enemy and the Tervigon give them FNP, then let them go to town.

I wouldn't DS them. I used to do this when I first got them, but they don't have the firepower to make it worth it, and they'll get mashed in the process. Using them as a mobile screen and bubble-wrap has always been better in my experience. Plus if you have a big brood, then there will almost certainly be survivors and you can use these to assault enemy units. Gargoyles are surprisingly good at assaulting infantry due to Blinding Venom.

AG and TS seems like a waste to have both considering they already have the Blinding venom rule. Since AG no longer affects Int and they don't have grenades, I can't see why you'd want Str 4 on the charge with the exception of glancing rear armor AV 1. Also they can get HoW but at Str 3 no matter what.

I don't play Nids but I'd save the AG and TS upgrades for the Tervigons to give your termagants a free boost.

Otherwise the bases help give more cover to the units behind them, especially the MC's. I think they look like a great, fearless disposable unit to harass the enemy quickly, tying them up until the MC's get there. Once again I don't play Nids but my main opponent for years only played Nids and SM and I've been on the receiving end of all different types of units from the previous codex.

They seem pretty good. I do like the models too.

Any Nid players out there know if they're big enough to give 25% to a MC? That's what I see as their greatest ability.

Don't try DS - the footprint is too large and you won't generally have a safe enough spot on the table and getting those bases close enough with those wings is near impossible. Also, they are a screening unit so you want them out T1.

I am in the process of magnetizing mine onto the stands rather than the stick in base which makes them far easier to use on the table.

As for 25% cover for MCs, it depends. They will cover a carnifex that it slightly crouched and a basic tyrant is not that tall either. Trygons/mawlocs you can forget it. Tervigons I would then to say yes, but I do have my own converted models as I built them before the official model came out.

 PipeAlley wrote:
AG and TS seems like a waste to have both considering they already have the Blinding venom rule. Since AG no longer affects Int and they don't have grenades, I can't see why you'd want Str 4 on the charge with the exception of glancing rear armor AV 10. Also they can get HoW but at Str 3 no matter what.

I don't play Nids but I'd save the AG and TS upgrades for the Tervigons to give your termagants a free boost.

The reason you want S4 on the charge is so the toxin sacs cause re-rolls to wound against T4. It's quite a nice damage boost.
But depending on how you use them, you might just want the gargoyles to be a fast moving screen, so having extra bodies becomes better.

Arson Fire wrote:

 PipeAlley wrote:
AG and TS seems like a waste to have both considering they already have the Blinding venom rule. Since AG no longer affects Int and they don't have grenades, I can't see why you'd want Str 4 on the charge with the exception of glancing rear armor AV 10. Also they can get HoW but at Str 3 no matter what.

I don't play Nids but I'd save the AG and TS upgrades for the Tervigons to give your termagants a free boost.

The reason you want S4 on the charge is so the toxin sacs cause re-rolls to wound against T4. It's quite a nice damage boost.
But depending on how you use them, you might just want the gargoyles to be a fast moving screen, so having extra bodies becomes better.

This.

As cheap as TS and AG are for Gargs, you are bumping up their effectiveness vs T4 considerably. Much more so than if you took extra bodies instead.