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So I'm currently running this list in a league at my FLGS and have had incredible success. I know our leagues aren't as competitive as tournaments, so I just wanted to ask, is this list tournament ready do you think?

HQ
Swarmlord
Biomancy

Hive Tyrant
Wings
Lashwhip.bonesword
Twin linked dev
proxism
leech essence
Old adversary

Elites
2x Hive guard

2x Hive guard

Doom in a pod


Troops
20 devilgants in a pod

10 termagants

Tervigon
Stinger salvo, Biomancy, 2 powers, TS, AG

Tervigon
Stinger salvo, Biomancy, 2 powers, TS, AG

Trygon Prime
TS

At least 6 troop choices helps a lot with so many objective based games, and the MC can eat any tank and most units thrown at them, I know I'm light on anti air, so cron air, or even guard air force will be a problem, but I haven't run into either of those... yet. Thoughts?

Having only one flying monstrous creature means he will be shot out of the sky very early and then that leaves your opponent with two turns to pop your synapse creature, i think your way too light numbers wise I'm not sure what your intention with running 2 hive guard units is either

A dual flyrant list is certainly a dangerous one and possibly preferable here. A single flyrant will be a target and I would question OA upgrade here as no one else will really be in his bubble to use it. His shooty attack is already twin-linked as well. Also prefer 2 TL devourers as he's AP2 anyway in assault.

Swarmlord benefits from a tyrant guard for taking the shots coming at him after the flyrant has been downed. Give it a lashwhip as well on the off chance it survives to reach combat.

Hive guard are good, as are the tervigons. The only possible points trim is the devil gants in order to pay for the tyrant guard.

I would agree with whats been said above.

2 winged Tyrants with TL Devs rather than one if you are going down that route, take them bare bones with no additional upgrades to keep points down which I think means they each weigh in at 260 points.

Swarmlord needs one guard, He will die too easily with concentrated fire solo.

20 devils in a pod is hard to work because you still only have a 2 inch deployment from the pod.
getting anymore than 15 to be able to shoot at the desired target is hard to place.

Doom in a pod is a great distraction element.

I would suggest decide if you want Flyrants or not.
If you go with Swarmlord you then need additional shooty stuff for flyers. Devilfex's work well with a Prime attached.

Tiarna Fuilteach wrote:
Having only one flying monstrous creature means he will be shot out of the sky very early and then that leaves your opponent with two turns to pop your synapse creature, i think your way too light numbers wise I'm not sure what your intention with running 2 hive guard units is either

Two turns to pop my synapse? Over half my army is synapse, and if they all get popped in two turns, then I'm dead either way. I don't see another flyrant helping with that. As for the 2 units of hive guard, they are back support. They hide in terrain with my termagaunts on objectives and shoot at medium armoured vehicles and flyers. sure, needing a 6 against flyers doesn't exactly make them reliable, but if I get that 6, then I'll probably only need 3+, sometimes 2+ to take out a flyer, and with HG, you don't get a jinx save. For only 200 points it seems like a no brainer.

 ruminator wrote:
A dual flyrant list is certainly a dangerous one and possibly preferable here. A single flyrant will be a target and I would question OA upgrade here as no one else will really be in his bubble to use it. His shooty attack is already twin-linked as well. Also prefer 2 TL devourers as he's AP2 anyway in assault.

Swarmlord benefits from a tyrant guard for taking the shots coming at him after the flyrant has been downed. Give it a lashwhip as well on the off chance it survives to reach combat.

Hive guard are good, as are the tervigons. The only possible points trim is the devil gants in order to pay for the tyrant guard.

I agree with pretty much everything you're saying. I didn't take dual devourers on the HT because I read the rules wrong and thought that your highest point HQ was the warlord, and I wanted Swarmy to be the warlord, so i had to keep him at 280 or less. As forthe OA bubble, I find it does have it's uses, but you might be right, it's just not as useful as I had thought when making this list. My devilgants are normally in range of it though, and 60 shots with PE is MEAN to any infantry. I took out 4 of 5 thunderwolves (or whatever the termies on wolves are called) in one volley.

I agree that the SL should have a guard, but when the league started I didn't have the model. I think he'll get written in before tourney time. I don't really want to get rid of the devilgants though, they are just too good at distraction at turn 2.

 L0rdF1end wrote:

I would suggest decide if you want Flyrants or not.
If you go with Swarmlord you then need additional shooty stuff for flyers. Devilfex's work well with a Prime attached.

Why the prime? just for challenges? Synapse?

I would ditch the Swarmlord and Doom, both are too expensive and a bit meh at what they do. Doom is more of a funky gimmick than anything.

Instead I would boost your units of Hive Guard and take three units of two; these guys are just so good.

I would consider taking a single Tervigon. Reason is having no synapse isn't that bad, rage just means two attacks on the charge and lurk means fire at closest target. Another reason for taking a single Tervi is because one they burn out the only real thing they bring to the table is holding objectives. This is awesome when they are troops, but do you need two of them, especially when the churn out other troops.

With your remaining points I would look at a Harpy. These guys are great and can give your Flyrant a buddy to hang with. Depending on your anti flyer meta, you may want another one of these bad boys.

Consider Gargoyles or Raveners for fast flank attack. Personally I prefer Raveners as they are good against infantry and vehicles, of course they have weakness, but doesn't everything?

If you can try taking two Trygons. It's also best to take things in pairs for target saturation.

Here's a possible list:

Hive Tyrant - 2 x twin-linked devouers & wings

2 x Hive Guard
2 x Hive Guard
2 x Hive Guard

Tervigon - toxin sacs & adrenal glands
10 x Termagants
whatever troops (I would take Hormagaunts)

Harpy - twin-linked heavy venom cannon
Harpy - twin-linked heavy venom cannon
5 x Raveners - rending claws & death spitters

Trygon - toxin sacs
Trygon Prime - toxin sacs

Hope that helps

 L0rdF1end wrote:

I would suggest decide if you want Flyrants or not.
If you go with Swarmlord you then need additional shooty stuff for flyers. Devilfex's work well with a Prime attached.

Why the prime? just for challenges? Synapse?

I don't have the codex with me, but doesn't the harpy only have blast weapons, making him useless at anti air?

Yes, Harpy sucks.

If... you face an opponent that doesnt know anything about nids then potentially they would be useful because they will draw fire away.

They are good for initial blast templates but outside of that they are dead weight, especially when it gets towards end game.
Dont get me wrong, they have some nice abilities but very situational.
If your going for flyers go for double flyrant or not at all.

I dont have my 1850 list with me but this is a 1500 list and will give you an idea of what I use. 1850 i maxed out the Hive Guard and added addtional powers plus crushing claws to the tervigons.
Crushing claws with Smash attacks is no joke either. If you get Warp Speed on top of that...

HQ-
Swarmlord+One Guard. 340
Prime/Lash/Bone/Regen (He goes with the dakka Fexes for LoS). 105

Troops-
Tervigon+1power+CC 200
Tervigon+1power 175
x10 Termies 50
x10 Termies 50

Elites-
2x Hive Guard 100
2x Hive Guard 100

Heavy-
2x DakkaFex. 380 each has 2 sets of TL Devourers. Thats 24 shots, TL Str6.

 L0rdF1end wrote:


This is probably the first time for me to disagree with mercer.
Doom is a great distraction element and your advancing force works well with one. Its not 100% essential but 130 points can by you one hell of a distraction.
Landed in a good place means it has to be dealt with which takes shooting away from other elements in your army.
I do not currently use him but I have done for this purpose. Currently I removed him for more Hive Guard because I don't use Flyrants and I eeded the extra shooty protection against flyers to accompany my Devilfexes.
But, he may find it back into my list.

Swarmlord is not meh. He is ultra powerful in combat, the issue is getting him there. 4 rolls on Biomancy is no joke either which gives you very good odds at rolling Iron arm.
Having a Swarmlord with one guard and rolling iron arm gives that unit a majority toughness of 7-9.
As stated its getting him into combat and if your opponent is sensible he will stay well away from the Swarmlord.
The advancing Swarmlord will draw fire away from your other units as he gets closer.
He can also aid in board control as nothing wants to go near him.
Also don't forget the additional abilities the Swarmlord can give units like preffered enemy to your Hive Guard for instance.

first time for everything!

That's the thing about the Doom, an expensive distraction who uses a gimmick by sucking up life to get by. Anyone who has a clue about Nids or had a run through before hand will torrent that sucker to bits before he gets a lot of life or introduce him to his worst enemy; instagib! I think really you've just agreed with me by saying you switched the Doom out for Hive Guard.

I think you've just given enough reasons why the Swarmlord is meh. He maybe good in combat, but a slow combat unit isn't very good. Anti tank guns will torrent him from a far. A regular Tyrant can give preferred enemy too.

Each to their own and all that, and of course I am not a huge fan of special characters, but in both these situations both of these units are far more expensive than their base counter parts and give little in return.

Hey mercer, I agree, each to their own and what works for you.

So you established above that Doom creates distraction and draws fire and thats precisley what you want him to do.
If he survives 2 turns you've made your money back.

Regarding the Swarmlord and your statement above, this is exactly what you want your opponent to do, shoot him lots!
Again drawing fire away from your other components.

For years I stayed away from Swarmlord because i didnt like the march towards enemy playstyle, in 5th I was more about null deployment and podding in right on top of the enemy.

Since running Swarmlord soon after 6th came out I fell in love with him and see how much potential he has.

I would say test both setups, decide what you like or what you feel works better for you in your local meta.

It appears that your army is done already. Are you looking/willing to make some changes to your army? It's a decent list. It would even do alright in a tournament environment. However, I don't feel that it has what it takes to win in the bigger tournaments.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Get Swarmy 1 lash whip tyrant guard....always. It's a must if you want to keep him alive.

2. Keep your flyrant minimal. Just wings and 2 (or 1) TL-Devourers. He should be 260pts (or 245pts with just 1 set of devourers). I really recommend 2x devourers and keep him in the air for as long as possible to keep him shooting. The moment he assaults, he's going to get shot down easily after the assault is done (assuming you finish the assault on your turn).

3. Elites are good.

4. I'm not big on devgants in a spore. They're a 1-hit wonder unit. They come in, dakka one unit and next turn gets wiped out by bolter-fire and other short-mid-range enemy shooting (or perhaps by assault if they are out of synapse). They may perform big in some games, but I really don't see them performing consistently. If it was me, I would swap out that unit for 10-termagants and a unit of 15-20 gargoyles with AG+TS.

5. For tervigons, consider getting them 3 powers - Dominion, Catalyst and Onslaught. Then trade all for Biomancy powers.

6. While some people like trygons, consider taking a unit or 2 of biovores. Really good anti-infantry unit that will give you a little bit of range.

7. With the exception of the Doom, get Biomancy powers for all your bugs. Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Endurance and Warp Speed are all excellent powers that would really help your big bugs.


Good luck.

 L0rdF1end wrote:
Hey mercer, I agree, each to their own and what works for you.

So you established above that Doom creates distraction and draws fire and thats precisley what you want him to do.
If he survives 2 turns you've made your money back.

Regarding the Swarmlord and your statement above, this is exactly what you want your opponent to do, shoot him lots!
Again drawing fire away from your other components.

For years I stayed away from Swarmlord because i didnt like the march towards enemy playstyle, in 5th I was more about null deployment and podding in right on top of the enemy.

Since running Swarmlord soon after 6th came out I fell in love with him and see how much potential he has.

I would say test both setups, decide what you like or what you feel works better for you in your local meta.

While you're correct I agree with you, I believe those are negative points for those two units and reason why they shouldn't be taken. Doom is a too much point sink for only last two turns; usually when people play Doom against me I just dakka him to bits or bring out my trusty meltagun - only so many 3+ inv saves that big old bobble head can make .

Swarmy, I wouldn't want to pay 300+ points (inc Guard) just to get blasted in the face and get into assault pretty slow. Sure you're absorbing fire away from other units, but that's not the best use of points for a big expensive gribbly.

But yeah, horses for courses

I'm running almost the same list for competitive environment. I recently had a decent ranking with it in a strong no limit 2Kpts tourney. (check my blog for tourney report and list detail - in french)

I'd drop the swarmlord for a second flyrant with 2x twin linked devorers.
Malan'tai is versatile, yet can be a game-breaker all by itself, it's up to you. You can also change it for more hive guards, it's more stable, as you prefer.
Definitely drop in 3xbiovores if you find the points.
For psypowers, I almost systematically go for biomancy with the 2 princes, except if I need to keep paroxysm to face very strong CaC units (e.g. mirror match). For Tervigons it's a different matter ; FNP is still a good boost but depending on opposing lists, you can also go for any other choice.

Good luck with your list.