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OK, so for fluffy reasons I want to play a Genestealer insurrection horde-style list. Opponent will be Imperials - probably IG or Vanilla Marines of some description, probably Imperial Fist. Only limitation I have in mind is that the vast bulk of the force should be genestealer broods. Here is what I came up with;

HQ
Deathleaper 130pts
Deathleaper 130pts

TROOPS
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts

Ripper swarm x 6, Deep Strike, toxic sacs 90pts
Ripper swarm x 6, Deep Strike, toxic sacs 90pts

Total 1744

Tactics would basically be to infiltrate the death leapers and hide for first turn, while the salivating genestealer horde dances across the turf towards the enemy and probably takes a lot of fire. Turn two and the deathleapers strike, while also helping guide in deep striking rippers who will go after objectives. Remaining Genestealers will hopefully be in combat turn two.

I realize I have no synapse cover at all, but the Genestealers don't need it and the deathleapers should only fail their instinctive behavior if I am really unlucky. Rippers will just have to deal with it and hope they don't eat each other.

Any ideas on how this could be made to work? Any changes of upgrades you would recommend to make this perform better? Also, why would you ever take the scything talons instead of rending claws on genestealers?

Ok first off, Deathleaper is (unique) so you can only have one of him per army.
Huge problem is realistically, Your opponent only needs to kill 4 units. and at 1750 points that will be very easy to do. I made an 1850 genestealer list, and It only had Genestealers and a broodlord, and it worked fairly well, because I had 24 squads of 5 man genestealers. The reason you do this, is lets say your opponent has a squad of flammers. Now if you have a unit of 20 genestealers 6 flamers will probably wipe out the squad, in one turn. But if you have 4 units of 5 at most he can only kill 5 models per turn, rather than 20. Take a look at the Tyranid Rising Dataslate, its formations really help the stealers

If you want a stealer list, id just use one of the formations that gw gave us for them. That way you can have a stealer heavy theme, get a few additional bonuses to them, but be able to have a few additional units to help you from being completely hard countered by any av spam or flyers. Themes are awesome to play with, but this one leaves you completely open to certain builds unfortunately.

 Iapedus wrote:
OK, so for fluffy reasons I want to play a Genestealer insurrection horde-style list. Opponent will be Imperials - probably IG or Vanilla Marines of some description, probably Imperial Fist. Only limitation I have in mind is that the vast bulk of the force should be genestealer broods. Here is what I came up with;

HQ
Deathleaper 130pts
Deathleaper 130pts

TROOPS
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts
Genestealers x 20, Adrenal Glands 320pts

Ripper swarm x 6, Deep Strike, toxic sacs 90pts
Ripper swarm x 6, Deep Strike, toxic sacs 90pts

Total 1744

Tactics would basically be to infiltrate the death leapers and hide for first turn, while the salivating genestealer horde dances across the turf towards the enemy and probably takes a lot of fire. Turn two and the deathleapers strike, while also helping guide in deep striking rippers who will go after objectives. Remaining Genestealers will hopefully be in combat turn two.

I realize I have no synapse cover at all, but the Genestealers don't need it and the deathleapers should only fail their instinctive behavior if I am really unlucky. Rippers will just have to deal with it and hope they don't eat each other.

Any ideas on how this could be made to work? Any changes of upgrades you would recommend to make this perform better? Also, why would you ever take the scything talons instead of rending claws on genestealers?

As noted above, only one Deathleaper, there is a new "super" Broodlord in the Sheild of Baal that gives Stealth to Broods..(plus other stuff for sure) Brood Lords can help Stealers get home, by using "The Horror" to pin the foe.

A few non stealers would add a lot to the force, say 2 or 3 Venothropes, or Malanthropes.

Scything Talons are in addition to Rending Claws, so they cost extra, and add an extra attack in CC. I used to use Toxic Sacks on Stealers, but these days it is not a worthwile mod. If you think you'll see MCs then it Might be an "OK" mod. You also have no answer for Fliers, so a Crone or two are also valid considerations as well.

There are several Stealer Formations on the Dataslates, so they would be worth looking at.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Check out Tactics, The strength of the new Tyranids...P. 263 it has the new Spawn of Cryptus etc. It looks like the Annihilation Swarm is a playable thing. (and so is the Spawn, and his rowdy friends.)

Great, thanks for the tips - had no idea these formations existed, makes it a lot easier to make this list work.

I like the look of the Manufactorum Genestealers Formation, gives me masses of stealers and a few nice bonus buffs Would have gone for the Deathleaper’s Assassin Brood too but jus couldn't fit it in, so have opted for a few loose Lictors to help guide in the rippers (which I have gone bare bones on as I only really want them of ObSec.

Amended list below - an improvement?

HQ
Deathleaper 130pts

Troops
Ripper swarm, Deep Strike 45pts
Ripper swarm, Deep Strike 45pts
Ripper swarm, Deep Strike 45pts
Ripper swarm, Deep Strike 45pts

Manufactorum Genestealers Formations x 3
5 x Genestealers (x5), Adrenal Glands 400pts
5 x Genestealers (x5), Adrenal Glands 400pts
5 x Genestealers (x5), Adrenal Glands 400pts

Genestealers x 5, Adrenal Glands 80pts

Elites
Lictor x 1 50pts
Lictor x 1 50pts
Lictor x 1 50pts

Total 1740pts

16 units of stealers, 20 obsec units in total, all infiltrating or deep striking.

Certainly better. But it still has the weaknesses noted above...you have no answer for fliers, and are weak against armored vehicles. As long as that is not an "issue" this should be a fun list.

Yeah, I could trade in a stealers brood and the death leaper for a Flyrant with all the trimmings to help with flyers and AT, but I kind of want to keep it fluffy and pick the 'pre-invasion infection' style units. Flyers I will just ignore as Im not expecting so many as to ruin my day, and against high AV I will just be hoping for good rending roles - outside chance of AP15 if I roll 6,6,6 (ha ha ha, yeah it might happen) but again I will generally avoid anything too high and target the softer ObSec units.

If concerned about high armour values, Broodlords are your friends.

Manufactorum Genestealers can't add extra genestealers to their broods. Adding broodlords is allowed.

The broodlord is a genestealer, so you can't add broodlord in this formation.

I am a big fan of this type of nids army (lurking elite models, in opposition to a horde or a flying circus).
I will suggest you also look at the Broodlord 's hunting pack formation. When coming from reserve, you can place them in ruins, for me this is very powerful.

XC18 wrote:
The broodlord is a genestealer, so you can't add broodlord in this formation.

I am a big fan of this type of nids army (lurking elite models, in opposition to a horde or a flying circus).
I will suggest you also look at the Broodlord 's hunting pack formation. When coming from reserve, you can place them in ruins, for me this is very powerful.

And you get a "u-pick" Prefered Enemy. a very nice, and fluffy addition.

locarno24 wrote:If concerned about high armour values, Broodlords are your friends.

Really? Am I missing something with broodlords? They are only S5 so even with adrenal gland they only stand a slightly better chance of hurting AP13?

XC18 wrote:The broodlord is a genestealer, so you can't add broodlord in this formation.
I will suggest you also look at the Broodlord 's hunting pack formation. When coming from reserve, you can place them in ruins, for me this is very powerful.

The rule only states that Manufactorum Genestealer Broods may not include additional genestealers. I guess you can argue that Broodlords are not referred to as genestealers anywhere in the text and are therefore not subject to restriction, but since this is a fluffy list I will go with what was clearly intended and not select broodlords in this formation.

XC18 wrote:I am a big fan of this type of nids army (lurking elite models, in opposition to a horde or a flying circus).

When it is ready I will give you a game down at Fun Atelier!

pinecone77 wrote:And you get a "u-pick" Prefered Enemy. a very nice, and fluffy addition.

You are right, it is nice and fluffy, but I'm just not sure the Broodlord is worth the points - almost the same cost as another brood of genestealers? I think I would rather have more broods on the ground

well, a Broodlord is hardly a super star, but it is S5,T5, and has The Horror (ML1) and can cast Dominion (6" range) to grant Synapse as a trick. In theory, it can glance a Landraider. You just need to Rend, then add +3 to the roll. Not terribly likely. The biggest "boost" is the Preferred Enemy. Anything that grants re-rolls is a major boon to Rending Claws. And you can Challenge with him....not a long list of advantages, but there are some ....

The biggest boon is "The Horror" if you can "Pin" a unit, it can be charged with impunity.

Well I don't really need synapse since it almost all 'stealers in the list, but pinning a unit you are about to charge could be worth it. If I fit in a Broodlords hunting pack I will loose the extra 'stealer brood but still have 75 of them on the board

Yeah, thats a lot of stealers. Its obviously a for-fun list so just talk to your opponent beforehand. As long as they dont bring av13-14spam or several flyers, you can have a fun game.

 Iapedus wrote:
When it is ready I will give you a game down at Fun Atelier!

Sure!

 Iapedus wrote:
Well I don't really need synapse since it almost all 'stealers in the list, but pinning a unit you are about to charge could be worth it. If I fit in a Broodlords hunting pack I will loose the extra 'stealer brood but still have 75 of them on the board

The Synapse trick, is going to ground to increase your cover save, them put them in Synapse, by rule, they are now Fearless, and pop back up. So you can charge and stuff....

pinecone77 wrote:

 Iapedus wrote:
Well I don't really need synapse since it almost all 'stealers in the list, but pinning a unit you are about to charge could be worth it. If I fit in a Broodlords hunting pack I will loose the extra 'stealer brood but still have 75 of them on the board

The Synapse trick, is going to ground to increase your cover save, them put them in Synapse, by rule, they are now Fearless, and pop back up. So you can charge and stuff....

*rushes to check rulebook and runs off laughing maniacally into the night.....*