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Tremble wrote:
Thanks for the advice guys!

Looks like I will be magnetizing my Fexes then, not built any yet, are they easy to magnetise? Are the arms heavy for small magnets? Think I have some 2mm and 3mm magnets kicking about somewhere.

I really like the idea of using Hive commander to outflank the warrior squad, if I go down this route do you think I still need the Venom? He was in the list to protect the main warrior squad as it advanced, but if they outflank is there any need for him?

What about dropping the Gargs down to terms, pays for Hive commander, then dropping the venom to pay for upgrading the CC fex to a dakka fex plus adding an additional warrior to the larger squad?
This would take the outflanking squad to 5 with 1 VC, 1 stock and 3 with death spitters and RC. This also gives me 11 warriors on the field.

Is the Venom cannon worth it? I kinda like the idea of making one with it just to give me more options in the future - if I ever make LAN etc - but I have enough warriors that if it sucks in an assault type unit I can drop it.

Dropping the Venomthrope kinda helps me financially as it is the only thing in the proposed list I don't have, I really like new models and know I will add some later but it is an expensive box when I will only use one initially.

On the flip side if I really need him I proxy/get a box.

Thanks again for the help!

Tremble.

The venomthrope is a necessity for the army to win games. You can still win without him, but your games will just be much tougher without him. He is just such a great force-multiplier to make the entire army better.

BTW, outflanking shouldn't be a must-use strategy. Rather, look at it as more flexibility for your army. There are times when it makes sense to outflank. Then there are times where it's better just to leave the unit on the table instead.

This is my take on the venom cannon. I'd consider it for the smaller warrior unit just sitting on an objective, but not for the bigger "hammer" unit of warriors. That is because shooting discourages moving. With your larger warrior unit, you want to advance them as fast as you can (at least get them all into devourer range). More often than not, I'd prefer to run my large unit of warriors rather than firing just 1 gun. Get them all into devourer range and start shooting. Thus, the VC is ok, but it is far from being a necessity on a unit of warriors.

I prefer gargs over termies. Just drop 1 warrior and now you've got your 2x TL-Devourers for your 2nd carnifex.

durecellrabbit wrote:
Turns out I didn't have to worry about choosing between a Tervigon and Tyrannofex, I got another one for Christmas. I've come up with a basic 1000 point list to help focus my painting.

Hive Tyrant with Wings, 2 TL Devourers and Electroshock Grubs

30 Termagants
Tervigon with Electroshock Grubs
3 Warriors with a Barbed Strangler

Carnifex with 2 TL Devourers
Tyrannofex with Electroshock Grubs

Hopefully it'll be a pretty base to expanding from.

I've got a few ideas on how to expand it with stuff I own.

A) I bought the Deathstorm box and would like to try out the formation some time.
B) I've got 60 Hormagaunts and some Genestealers I'd like to use at some point. I don't own any Venomthropes yet which seem like something I'd want to go with them and I think after doing the Termagants I won't be in a hurry to paint them.
C) I've got a bunch of cool monstrous creature to try out. This brings me to a new problem.

How do you deal with having more cool heavy choices than slots? I have 5 Carnifexes, Tyrannofex, Mawloc/Trygon, and Exocrine to fit in.

You can always run a formation like the LAN. You've already got the warriors and exocrine. Now all you need to do is add biovores and now you've got 3 free Heavy Support slots.

Just make sure to add a venomthrope of malanthrope to your army first.

Crimson Heretic wrote:

what would you all recommend for the next phase(next models to look into getting?) i was thinking a few nutsacks(the drop pod) and to curve out the rest of the carnifex brood?

I'd go with these units and in this order:

1. A 2nd dakka flyrant.

2. Tyrannocyte for your carnifex

From there, it really is up to you what you want to run. Some suggestions:

1. Add an exocrine and biovores and now you can run the Living Artillery Formation.

2. Another dakkafex in another tyrannocyte.

3. More gargoyles.

4. More gribblies (termies and/or hormies).

Garukadon wrote:
Sky Tyrant Swarm question!

I want to run the Sky Tyrant Swarm Dataslate/Formation and I need help deciding how to kit out the unit. I do want to run unit 1 and unit 2, with 30 bodies per unit. So that would make the whole unit 60 gargoyles and the lone Flyrant. That is a lot of wounds and you can make the Flyrant/Skyrant your warlord, thus making it very difficult for the enemy to score Slay The Warlord.

Okay, so do I keep the Gargoyles cheap and no options? Or do I give them Adrenal glands and or Toxin sacs? I figure I could multi-assault vehicles with AV10 and glance them to death in combat. With poisoned attacks, I think a lot of things would fall ( monstrous creatures mostly ).

And then the Flyrant/Skyrant. Do I give him the typical loadout, or try making him a melee monster? With enough Bio-morphs and Bio-artefacts, I can get his strength up to 9 on the charge. Strong enough to threaten high AV vehicles and really high toughness monstrous creatures.

60 gargoyles is overkill. That's 360-pts of meat shields! I think 40-50 is good enough in most cases (I personally run 40 in my Skytyrant formation). Keep them cheap with NO upgrades. If you're looking to multi-charge, then the bonuses from Adrenal Glands do not count anyways.

You opponent can still kill your Warlord Skytyrant by issuing a challenge. Certain beatstick characters can still kill you Skytyrant in challenges.

For my flyrant, I kit him out to be super-effective in combat. That includes the Reaper of Obliterax and Toxin Sacs. I also like to give my Skytyrant 1 set of TL-Devourers for a little added flexiblity, but that is more of my preference than anything else.

pinecone77 wrote:
Well there are a couple of simple ways, one Formations. They are desperate from your CAD, so that can help. Also you can run multiple CADs, this one tends to ruffle some feathers, so you might not go that way.

But adding a Living Artillery Node (LAN) adds an Exocrene, and a Biovore Brood, plus a Warrior Brood, leaving all your heavy slots open.

 jy2 wrote:
You can always run a formation like the LAN. You've already got the warriors and exocrine. Now all you need to do is add biovores and now you've got 3 free Heavy Support slots.

Just make sure to add a venomthrope of malanthrope to your army first.

Thanks, that sounds fun. Will get the Venomthrope box first.

 jy2 wrote:
For my flyrant, I kit him out to be super-effective in combat. That includes the Reaper of Obliterax and Toxin Sacs. I also like to give my Skytyrant 1 set of TL-Devourers for a little added flexiblity, but that is more of my preference than anything else.

What do Toxin Sacs do for you if you already have Shred for RoO? It actually would make you worse against high toughness MC's like Wraith Knights, because 6's are ID.

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
For my flyrant, I kit him out to be super-effective in combat. That includes the Reaper of Obliterax and Toxin Sacs. I also like to give my Skytyrant 1 set of TL-Devourers for a little added flexiblity, but that is more of my preference than anything else.

What do Toxin Sacs do for you if you already have Shred for RoO? It actually would make you worse against high toughness MC's like Wraith Knights, because 6's are ID.

Could be for Iron Arm GUO mabye? They're T10 I do believe

 Zande4 wrote:

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
For my flyrant, I kit him out to be super-effective in combat. That includes the Reaper of Obliterax and Toxin Sacs. I also like to give my Skytyrant 1 set of TL-Devourers for a little added flexiblity, but that is more of my preference than anything else.

What do Toxin Sacs do for you if you already have Shred for RoO? It actually would make you worse against high toughness MC's like Wraith Knights, because 6's are ID.

Could be for Iron Arm GUO mabye? They're T10 I do believe

S7 can still hurt T10. You would be better off against them with only RoO without Toxin Sacs. It would only be if they had endurance as well to get eternal warrior that it would make sense to include toxin sacs, and I feel like you are going to see more Wraith Knights, Wraith Lords, and Great Unclean one's without Endurance than you are going to see GUO's with Endurance.

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
For my flyrant, I kit him out to be super-effective in combat. That includes the Reaper of Obliterax and Toxin Sacs. I also like to give my Skytyrant 1 set of TL-Devourers for a little added flexiblity, but that is more of my preference than anything else.

What do Toxin Sacs do for you if you already have Shred for RoO? It actually would make you worse against high toughness MC's like Wraith Knights, because 6's are ID.

Let's compare the performance.

With Toxin Sacs/Poison:

5 attacks, 3.33 hits = 1.67 regular Wounds + .83 ID

Without Toxin Sacs:

5 attacks, 3.33 hits = 1 regular Wound + 1 ID

Without TS, you will average 1 Instant Death wound, which is = 6W for wraithknights, compared to .83 ID wounds for with TS. The difference is small, but you are right. Performance against high tougness units like wraithknights, no Toxin Sacs perform slightly better.

 sn0zcumb3r wrote:
You.don't.have.THAT.many.Tyrannocytes.

Yes I do. Not the official models, but the proxies everyone's been running for the last years


I'm in the process of adding the official models.

I'm not allowed to use my old proxies for those pod's as I've been told there too small. Sad panda me.

Now, that I have some time (at least until my next battle report), I am going to try to do 1 review a day.


Tyrannocyte: (by jy2)

The Tyrannocyte is currently the only transport option for Tyranids (not including Tyranid Gargantuan Creatures, or TGC's). While by itself, it isn't all that great. However, tactically, it gives Tyranids a large amount of tactical flexibility that a Tyranid army just wouldn't have otherwise. Just like Space Marine drop pods, it allows a Tyranid army to get specific units exactly where they need to go and fast. It makes the unit much more survivable by reducing the number of turns the opponent has to shoot at the unit. It also allows the Tyranid army to play a certain style - Maximum Threat Overload, or MTO - that just may be one of their most successful strategies.

So why should Tyrannocytes be included in a Tyranid army?

1. The Tyrannocyte is a very good delivery system to get the units that you want to where you want it and quickly. Now why is this good? Because it minimizes the amount of return fire that the unit needs to take before engaging the enemy. Against shooty armies like Tau, Eldar and Astra Militarum, it gives Tyranids are better chance to hit their lines without dying.

2. The Tyrannocyte helps to make a playstyle - MTO Tyranids - even better. When you hit your opponent with 2 or 3 units, that he can still handle. But when you hit your opponent with 6 or 7 units all at once - for example, 2 flyrants, 2 dimachaerons in tyrannocytes, 1 dakkafex in a tyrannocyte and 2 mawlocs all on Turn 2 - that is something that many armies just cannot handle. Basically, it helps to overload your opponent with more threats than he can handle.

3. The Tyrannocyte gives the Tyranid army much greater flexibility in terms of how one wants to play the army. Against a shooty army, put your units in tyrannocyte spores and overload the enemy. Against my aggressive armies, deploy your units on the ground and drop the tyrannocytes onto distant objectives instead.

4. Resiliency. As a Tyranid monstrous creature (TMC) with T5 and 6 Wounds, it is actually quite durable against anything that is not Strength 10 in nature. Drop it onto an objective (and preferably in ruins) and most non-ObSec (Objective Secured), non-elite infantry units will have problems taking it down. It is also resilient because it is a very low threat priority target. Most armies will ignore it due to the much greater threat of other Tyranid units (including the unit that just disembarked from it). Thus, in most cases, it can "avoid" enemy firepower and just stay on an objective, at least until the other Tyranid "threats" have been neutralized.

5. It can move! Yes, that is an improvement over the previous generation of Tyranid drop pods, which were immobile. Now, the tyrannocyte can actually go to claim/contest an objective or to act as a screening unit.

6. It cannot mishap if it lands on top of another unit. That is another improvement over its previous incarnation. Now, you can deepstrike very aggressively with it.

7. Firepower. With 15 S5 shots or 5 blasts/large blasts, it's actually got some respectable firepower.


While the Tyrannocyte opens up a lot of tactical flexibility for the army, the model itself has a lot of drawbacks.

1. It cannot assault.

2. While it is a low-priority threat, Toughness 5 means that it can easily be insta-killed by any army with S10 offense.

3. Instinctive fire means that you cannot control who you shoot at. This can cause some potential problems as you may be firing at a unit you cannot hurt (i.e. deathspitters into a dreadnought) or you could potentially hurt your own units (i.e. barbed stranglers scattering onto your own gribblies).

4. For what is mainly a delivery mechanism, the Tyrannocyte is actually quite expensive. While its previous incarnation, the mycetic spore, did not have as many features as the tyrannocyte, the mycetic spore was also only half its cost. Thus, the mycetic spore allowed you to drop even more units in a Tyranid MTO list. With the current cost of the tyrannocyte, it is not feasible to run more than 2 or 3 of these units. Thus, with the increased cost, you can't fit as many spore pods into your army as you once could (and still maintain a balanced Tyranid army).

5. While you can take an unlimited number of tyrannocyte spore pods, the fact that it is a Heavy Support selection means that it is a liability in Big Guns Never Tire missions (where the opponent gets bonuses for killing Heavy Support options). It is also a First Blood liability, especially against armies with S10 offense or force weaponry.


Individually, the tyrannocyte is not a very impressive unit in and of itself. However, in terms of overall army strategy and synergy, the tyrannocyte opens up a world of possibilities in terms of army flexibility and tactics. It allows the Tyranid army to do what it normally can't do in a more traditional Tyranid ground list. It also makes a lot of the Tyranid units better. Finally, it addresses one of the biggest weaknesses in a Tyranid ground army and that is its lack of mobility. In comparison, its individual drawbacks are a very small price to pay indeed for the tactical flexibility that it provides to the entire army. It is a unit that is definitely highly recommended for many Tyranid armies.

Grades: D (by itself), A (as a transport option)

 jy2 wrote:
5. While you can take an unlimited number of tyrannocyte spore pods, the fact that it is a Heavy Support selection means that it is a liability in Big Guns Never Tire missions (where the opponent gets bonuses for killing Heavy Support options). It is also a First Blood liability, especially against armies with S10 offense or force weaponry.

The Tyrannocyte rules explicitly say "A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organisation Chart." Are you arguing that it still awards a bonus kill point as heavy support even though it doesn't use a slot? Is there any other example of this?

Also re: First blood. A Tyrannocyte can't come in on turn 1, so in order for the opponent to use it to get first blood, you would have to fail to kill a unit on both your 1st and 2nd turns, and they would have had to fail to kill anything on their 1st turn. While this is possible, you've probably got bigger problems at that point. The most likely scenario where a tyrannocyte gives 1st blood is that is mishaps off the board, but that is a risk you take if you want to be really aggressive with it, and it is such a fringe case that it is barely worth mentioning,

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
5. While you can take an unlimited number of tyrannocyte spore pods, the fact that it is a Heavy Support selection means that it is a liability in Big Guns Never Tire missions (where the opponent gets bonuses for killing Heavy Support options). It is also a First Blood liability, especially against armies with S10 offense or force weaponry.

The Tyrannocyte rules explicitly say "A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organisation Chart." Are you arguing that it still awards a bonus kill point as heavy support even though it doesn't use a slot? Is there any other example of this?

Yes. Any Heavy Support Dedicated Transport is the same.

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
5. While you can take an unlimited number of tyrannocyte spore pods, the fact that it is a Heavy Support selection means that it is a liability in Big Guns Never Tire missions (where the opponent gets bonuses for killing Heavy Support options). It is also a First Blood liability, especially against armies with S10 offense or force weaponry.

The Tyrannocyte rules explicitly say "A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organisation Chart." Are you arguing that it still awards a bonus kill point as heavy support even though it doesn't use a slot? Is there any other example of this?

Unless the unit explicitly tells you that it doesn't award Victory Points (i.e. spore mines), units that don't take up FOC slots still do award VP's. They can also claim/contest objectives. Examples include Honour Guards, Command Squads, Techmarines, Priests, Primaris Psykers, eldar warlock council, Necron Royal Court and many others. Those units do not take up any FOC slot (though there are requirements for running them) but are still worth VP's and can give up First Blood as well as claim Linebreaker.

tag8833 wrote:
Also re: First blood. A Tyrannocyte can't come in on turn 1, so in order for the opponent to use it to get first blood, you would have to fail to kill a unit on both your 1st and 2nd turns, and they would have had to fail to kill anything on their 1st turn. While this is possible, you've probably got bigger problems at that point. The most likely scenario where a tyrannocyte gives 1st blood is that is mishaps off the board, but that is a risk you take if you want to be really aggressive with it, and it is such a fringe case that it is barely worth mentioning,

Take, for example, a Tyranid Airforce. Most of the units will take off into the air on Turn 1 (while troops stay in reserves) so it isn't very easy to get First Blood from that type of army, especially if the opponent's army doesn't have a lot of shooting.

Another example is a null-deployment or reserves-based Tyranid army, where the only thing that starts on the table are 2 flyrants who will take off into the air while the rest of the army starts off in reserves (except for the malanthrope in the bastion with the comms relay). Not easy to get First Blood off of this type of army as well, depending on what the opponent runs.

 jy2 wrote:

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
5. While you can take an unlimited number of tyrannocyte spore pods, the fact that it is a Heavy Support selection means that it is a liability in Big Guns Never Tire missions (where the opponent gets bonuses for killing Heavy Support options). It is also a First Blood liability, especially against armies with S10 offense or force weaponry.

The Tyrannocyte rules explicitly say "A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organisation Chart." Are you arguing that it still awards a bonus kill point as heavy support even though it doesn't use a slot? Is there any other example of this?

Unless the unit explicitly tells you that it doesn't award Victory Points (i.e. spore mines), units that don't take up FOC slots still do award VP's. They can also claim/contest objectives. Examples include Honour Guards, Command Squads, Techmarines, Priests, Primaris Psykers, eldar warlock council, Necron Royal Court and many others. Those units do not take up any FOC slot (though there are requirements for running them) but are still worth VP's and can give up First Blood as well as claim Linebreaker.

But none of those units award bonus points for their FOC slot as far as I know. I interpret the rule that it doesn't take up a FOC slot to mean that it also wouldn't award bonus points for any FOC slot.

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
5. While you can take an unlimited number of tyrannocyte spore pods, the fact that it is a Heavy Support selection means that it is a liability in Big Guns Never Tire missions (where the opponent gets bonuses for killing Heavy Support options). It is also a First Blood liability, especially against armies with S10 offense or force weaponry.

The Tyrannocyte rules explicitly say "A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organisation Chart." Are you arguing that it still awards a bonus kill point as heavy support even though it doesn't use a slot? Is there any other example of this?

Unless the unit explicitly tells you that it doesn't award Victory Points (i.e. spore mines), units that don't take up FOC slots still do award VP's. They can also claim/contest objectives. Examples include Honour Guards, Command Squads, Techmarines, Priests, Primaris Psykers, eldar warlock council, Necron Royal Court and many others. Those units do not take up any FOC slot (though there are requirements for running them) but are still worth VP's and can give up First Blood as well as claim Linebreaker.

But none of those units award bonus points for their FOC slot as far as I know. I interpret the rule that it doesn't take up a FOC slot to mean that it also wouldn't award bonus points for any FOC slot.

It's explicitly a Heavy Support choice that doesn't take a slot.
The rule gives extra points when a Heavy Support choice is killed.
Kill a Tyrannocyte, was a Heavy Support choice killed?

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:

tag8833 wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
5. While you can take an unlimited number of tyrannocyte spore pods, the fact that it is a Heavy Support selection means that it is a liability in Big Guns Never Tire missions (where the opponent gets bonuses for killing Heavy Support options). It is also a First Blood liability, especially against armies with S10 offense or force weaponry.

The Tyrannocyte rules explicitly say "A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organisation Chart." Are you arguing that it still awards a bonus kill point as heavy support even though it doesn't use a slot? Is there any other example of this?

Unless the unit explicitly tells you that it doesn't award Victory Points (i.e. spore mines), units that don't take up FOC slots still do award VP's. They can also claim/contest objectives. Examples include Honour Guards, Command Squads, Techmarines, Priests, Primaris Psykers, eldar warlock council, Necron Royal Court and many others. Those units do not take up any FOC slot (though there are requirements for running them) but are still worth VP's and can give up First Blood as well as claim Linebreaker.

But none of those units award bonus points for their FOC slot as far as I know. I interpret the rule that it doesn't take up a FOC slot to mean that it also wouldn't award bonus points for any FOC slot.

Because none of those units are specifically listed as Heavy Support, FA etc.

It's a Heavy Support choice that you can take an unlimited amount of as dedicated transports. I believe Space Wolf, BA drops pods and Ork Truks are FA and give up bonus VP's in the Scouring.

Please show me the rule that says if something has no limit to how many times it can be taken overwrites it giving up bonus VPs.

 Zande4 wrote:
It's a Heavy Support choice that you can take an unlimited amount of as dedicated trasports. I believe Space Wolf, BA drops pods and Ork Truks are FA and give up bonus VP's in the Scouring.

Please show me the rule that says if something has no limit to how many times it can be taken overwrites it giving up bonus VPs.

The Tyrannocyte isn't a dedicated transport though. Though it certainly gives up VPs.

In the White dwarf it says word for word on pg 17

"Transport Spore: A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organization Chart."

It goes on saying "It can carry a single unit" and shows rules for that.

It doesnt say it has to be dedicated nor does it have to carry something. It says it doesnt take up a slot. If the Baal of Leviathan book is different let me know.

 Amishprn86 wrote:
In the White dwarf it says word for word on pg 17

"Transport Spore: A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organization Chart."

It goes on saying "It can carry a single unit" and shows rules for that.

It doesnt say it has to be dedicated nor does it have to carry something. It says it doesnt take up a slot. If the Baal of Leviathan book is different let me know.

Both the White Dwarf and Shield of Baal display the Heavy Support icon on the page with the Tyrannocytes info, they both also say that it is a Heavy Support choice that does not use up a FOC slot.

 Zande4 wrote:

 Amishprn86 wrote:
In the White dwarf it says word for word on pg 17

"Transport Spore: A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organization Chart."

It goes on saying "It can carry a single unit" and shows rules for that.

It doesnt say it has to be dedicated nor does it have to carry something. It says it doesnt take up a slot. If the Baal of Leviathan book is different let me know.

Both the White Dwarf and Shield of Baal display the Heavy Support icon on the page with the Tyrannocytes info, they both also say that it is a Heavy Support choice that does not use up a FOC slot.

But Im saying even if its a heavy support it doesnt say you need to take it as a transport to get it as an Un used slot, it doesnt take a slot up no matter what.

You can take 10 of them empty if you really wanted too.

 Amishprn86 wrote:

 Zande4 wrote:

 Amishprn86 wrote:
In the White dwarf it says word for word on pg 17

"Transport Spore: A Tyrannocyte does not use up a slot on the Force Organization Chart."

It goes on saying "It can carry a single unit" and shows rules for that.

It doesnt say it has to be dedicated nor does it have to carry something. It says it doesnt take up a slot. If the Baal of Leviathan book is different let me know.

Both the White Dwarf and Shield of Baal display the Heavy Support icon on the page with the Tyrannocytes info, they both also say that it is a Heavy Support choice that does not use up a FOC slot.

But Im saying even if its a heavy support it doesnt say you need to take it as a transport to get it as an Un used slot, it doesnt take a slot up no matter what.

You can take 10 of them empty if you really wanted too.

Oh yeah I don't disagree with that.

 Amishprn86 wrote:
It doesnt say it has to be dedicated nor does it have to carry something. It says it doesnt take up a slot. If the Baal of Leviathan book is different let me know.

No one's arguing that it has to be dedicated.

But it not taking up a slot doesn't mean it doesn't award VPs in BGNT.

The tyrannocyte's battlefield role is "Heavy Support". It doesn't take up a slot on the FOC, but it maintains its Battlefield Role for all other rules purposes, including Big Guns Never Tire bonus points.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
@Crimson Heretic
The Tyrannocytes and the Carnifexes would be a good addition, but you might also look into getting a second Flyrant as soon as you can as well. A pair will rule the roost.

yes i've been thinking about getting another tyrant(winged this time) i had high hopes for the swarm lord but he seems to be an overpriced bullet magnet

Crimson Heretic wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
@Crimson Heretic
The Tyrannocytes and the Carnifexes would be a good addition, but you might also look into getting a second Flyrant as soon as you can as well. A pair will rule the roost.

yes i've been thinking about getting another tyrant(winged this time) i had high hopes for the swarm lord but he seems to be an overpriced bullet magnet

Swarmlord in a Tyrannocyte coming in along with about 2 other melee threats (mawloc, dimachaeron, toxicrene, etc) can be placed in cover, and in threat range of the enemy. Between all the targets coming in at once, whatever decision your opponent makes trying to remove the threats typically won't be enough. Something of that group will make combat and start shredding the enemy.

It might not be an unbeatable combo but it makes swarmlord much more utilizable instead of just plodding him across the table on foot.

edit - to be fair a mawloc isn't a melee monster but he does wreak havoc in the enemy lines when he drops in. Any and all distraction units are great for this tactic.

 tetrisphreak wrote:

Crimson Heretic wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
@Crimson Heretic
The Tyrannocytes and the Carnifexes would be a good addition, but you might also look into getting a second Flyrant as soon as you can as well. A pair will rule the roost.

yes i've been thinking about getting another tyrant(winged this time) i had high hopes for the swarm lord but he seems to be an overpriced bullet magnet

Swarmlord in a Tyrannocyte coming in along with about 2 other melee threats (mawloc, dimachaeron, toxicrene, etc) can be placed in cover, and in threat range of the enemy. Between all the targets coming in at once, whatever decision your opponent makes trying to remove the threats typically won't be enough. Something of that group will make combat and start shredding the enemy.

It might not be an unbeatable combo but it makes swarmlord much more utilizable instead of just plodding him across the table on foot.

edit - to be fair a mawloc isn't a melee monster but he does wreak havoc in the enemy lines when he drops in. Any and all distraction units are great for this tactic.

I'm still just not a fan of the melee monster in a pod. I can't stand something dropping in, and just standing there for a turn. I mean, we've always been able to Deep strike in melee shrikes, and how often has that ever been brought up? I don't even remember seeing it in any fourth/fifth edition tacticas. Of course resiliency of this versus that, but like I said back when warriors had Eternal Warrior I don't remember it ever being brought up. When you compare the damage you could do of two turns of shooting and an assault with a turn of standing there and then assaultin it usually doesn't stack up unless it's just such a hardcore melee unit and a resistant defender. But usually you could save on the pod and just walk him in the same amount of time(of course you get one turn where you aren't being shot at for deep striking).

I wonder if anyone could give me advice to play against a Brass Scorpion. I'm running the Tyranid Tournament build (3 Flyrants, Malanthrope, Barbed Heirodule)

S10 AP2 Ignore Cover threatens my backfield. AV 14/13/10 w/ 9 HP and a Demon save is hard to kill, especially if it gets defensive buffs. If it fails invis and doesn't get the Grim, I will throw a pile of devourer shots up its tailpipe, but otherwise, I mainly target supporting units right?

 tetrisphreak wrote:
The tyrannocyte's battlefield role is "Heavy Support". It doesn't take up a slot on the FOC, but it maintains its Battlefield Role for all other rules purposes, including Big Guns Never Tire bonus points.

Fair enough. I was dubious of this because it is the only example in all of 40k of this phenomena, but it seems like the RAW argument is clear. I'll save future debate for the YMDC forum.

tag8833 wrote:

 tetrisphreak wrote:
The tyrannocyte's battlefield role is "Heavy Support". It doesn't take up a slot on the FOC, but it maintains its Battlefield Role for all other rules purposes, including Big Guns Never Tire bonus points.

Fair enough. I was dubious of this because it is the only example in all of 40k of this phenomena, but it seems like the RAW argument is clear. I'll save future debate for the YMDC forum.

Except it's not. Any Heavy Support dedicated transport is a Heavy Support choice that doesn't take up a slot.

tag8833 wrote:
I wonder if anyone could give me advice to play against a Brass Scorpion. I'm running the Tyranid Tournament build (3 Flyrants, Malanthrope, Barbed Heirodule)

S10 AP2 Ignore Cover threatens my backfield. AV 14/13/10 w/ 9 HP and a Demon save is hard to kill, especially if it gets defensive buffs. If it fails invis and doesn't get the Grim, I will throw a pile of devourer shots up its tailpipe, but otherwise, I mainly target supporting units right?

 tetrisphreak wrote:
The tyrannocyte's battlefield role is "Heavy Support". It doesn't take up a slot on the FOC, but it maintains its Battlefield Role for all other rules purposes, including Big Guns Never Tire bonus points.

Fair enough. I was dubious of this because it is the only example in all of 40k of this phenomena, but it seems like the RAW argument is clear. I'll save future debate for the YMDC forum.

Back armor is it's Achilles heel. Egrubs then grab back armor and pepper the front with your barb. Should die in 2 turns of firing. Goes without saying but stay 24' away with the Malanthrope and don't let it assault you.

Played my buddy from the dice abide (Adam) with his... It's a brutal LoW but the mobility of Flyrants are really hard on it.. Back 10 and only a 5++ is a pretty exploitable thing.. Now if they can grimoire it? Yeesh.

tag8833 wrote:
I wonder if anyone could give me advice to play against a Brass Scorpion. I'm running the Tyranid Tournament build (3 Flyrants, Malanthrope, Barbed Heirodule)

S10 AP2 Ignore Cover threatens my backfield. AV 14/13/10 w/ 9 HP and a Demon save is hard to kill, especially if it gets defensive buffs. If it fails invis and doesn't get the Grim, I will throw a pile of devourer shots up its tailpipe, but otherwise, I mainly target supporting units right?

Barring shooting to the rear, which has already been mentioned several times, there is another tactic you can use against it:

1. Screen it out with your 2-3 flyrants. He cannot assault them and will have to waste movement to get around them. Just make sure you leave enough distance so that it cannot fully clear your flyrants. Then next turn, it's brainleech worms to the ass.

2. Screen it out with another cheap screening unit.

3. Hide your malanthrope behind BLOS terrain (fortunately for me, I usually have a bastion for him to stay in).

4. So what if you malanthrope dies? How much shooting does a Chaos army with a ~700-pt super-heavy normally has anyways?

5. Ignore him and kill off the rest of the Chaos army.

6. Who cares? Just let him duke it out with your barbed hierodule. As long as you keep Barbie completely in terrain, you have a slight advantage. That is because 1) you would have done some damage to it already between flyrant and Barbie shooting, 2) Barbie strikes 1st in terrain, 3) Barbie WS4 vs Scorpion WS3, 4) Barbie has FNP so does have 1/3 chance to deflect any wounds from it and 5) Barbie cannot be stomped on. Now if the scorpion gets Invisibility or Grimoire, then bye bye Barbie. In that case, move Barbie back so that it will take 3 turns to get to him. By the time it kills Barbie, it will be Turn 4 and the scorpion will potentially only have 1 more turn to do something.

The mistake I see a lot of players make is in thinking that the malanthrope or barbed hierodule is all important and must survive. To me, they are only sacrificial units. I really don't care if they die as long as my opponent doesn't kill my ObSec rippers/troops on objectives.