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So, I recently had a friend approach me about doing a swap of a Tempestus Firebase for his unassembled Harridan. I have decided to take him up on it, as he doesn't like the model, but am hesitant about this unit's uses. I know I will need to pick up escalation, but with you guys around, I figured I would inquire as to how well the Harridan tends to perform. So, if you guys can give me some tips and tricks on it's do's and don'ts, I would be grateful.

Also, on a side note, with me picking up this harridan, it means I would also need to start looking at a Imperial titan as well, and I have my eye slowly gazing on the forgeworld Reaver Titan. again, general opinions and tactics for this model would be greatly appreciated. Also help on the loadouts as well! I was thinking about something crazy like a pair of the mega bolters with the missile launcher on top.

Harridan I do not have and have never seen fielded, but the idea of a multi wound, high toughness, Flyer scares the crap out of me. The Bio Cannon looks a little weak though. The Reaver is Epic, but at 1400+ points, it had better be.I find that a Warhound is a better buy most of the time. Turbo Laser Destructor+Mega Bolter for fire support, or Mega Bolter+Inferno Cannon to run to mid field and wreak havoc, then do more damage when the titan expoldes in a 15 inch blast. All for 720 points. Even at 1500 you can still field the Warhound and still support it.

Titan tactics 101:

1) Put as many D-weapons on it as possible.

2) Kill everything.

 Peregrine wrote:
Titan tactics 101:

1) Put as many D-weapons on it as possible.

2) Kill everything.

I was hoping for something a bit more profound, like most common set ups, common counters, best ways to defend against said counters, etc etc....

 Unyielding Hunger wrote:
like most common set ups

All D-weapons. No other setups are relevant.

common counters

D-weapons, deep strike mass melta, that Necron character who takes over your titan and uses it to wipe out your own army, fast assault units that can lock it in combat for the rest of the game.

best ways to defend against said counters

Warp quake, Coteaz, interceptor Riptides, meatshield infantry blobs, hiding the titan behind a bastion with a farseer giving it a re-rollable 3+ cover save, or a landing pad for a re-rollable 4++.

If you are going to play tyranids in escalation then the haridan is the way to go due to it's flyer rules (which make it immune to almost all the D weapons out there).

Interestingly enough the tyranid codex is actually not bad in escalation where they can spam haywire FMC, FMC tyrants, and cheap MSU troops (genestealers or termigaunts both work here).

The secret to escalation is that the game becomes much simpler. It boils down to AA, MSU, and titan. You need enough titan killers to kill a ~12 HP vehicle off of what are essentially glances, you need to only allow blasts to hit either cheap models or ignore them with flyers and you need to score at the end. Therefore you can do well with a basic setup involving void shield generators, 2 flyrants with dual devourers (to kill troops mostly), 3 crones (kill flyers and SH), cheap troops to pop out of reserves when needed for scoring, and a harridan to support everything else from the air.

The only thing that will rofl stomp such a list is a necron flyer spam with pylon. You would still have a chance but it would be extremely difficult.

BTW you should probably check out some of Jy2 and Reeces batreps on escalation and tyranids. It will be somewhat discouraging but will give you a much better idea of what you are looking at.