Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've done some searching, both here and more broadly on google, and haven't found any recent discussion. But if I've missed something, feel free to point me in the right direction or link me.

My best friend helped his wife build a Tyranid army, and this thing is beastly:

1x Swarmlord
2x Tervigon
1x Tyrannofex
4x Hive Guard (might as well be monstrous creatures; toughness 6, wtf)
1x Doom of Malan'tai with Mycetic Spore
1x Termagant Brood with Devourers and Mycetic Spore.
1x Tyranid Warrior Brood

I'm not even going to post my army list because it changes every time as I proxy my tail off trying different lists and strategies.

Here is what I own in actual models:

Pedro Kantor (counts-as conversion)
20x Tactical Marines, 2 Missile Launchers
1 Dreadnought
2x Drop pods
25x Scouts, 9 snipers, 1 Missile Launcher, 5 Bolters (I like bolter scouts, I got them to paint with
Sgt. Telion
5x Sternguard Veterans
2x Razorbacks (these can become Rhinos, obviously.
3x Landspeeders: 1 Typhoon w/ HB, two with MM/HB


So. Rather than get into what I -think- could work (I literally sketched out a list earlier with 700 points worth of scout sniper/ML spam), I'd like to hear some thoughts from this community. Nothing is too weird, except I want to say that I really don't like bikes. I get that they're great and effective, I just have no interest in collecting or painting them.

Also, I feel like there are a lot of people who maybe don't play all that often but who spend a lot of time doing mathhammer and offer up advise based on that alone. Doom, for example, is absolute mayhem and carnage for 130 points and anyone who says otherwise has either not played against this thing or has fantastic (loaded) dice.

Anyway. Ultramarines vs. March of the Giant Bugs. How would you do it?

Take as many plasma guns as you can. Wounds all the MC on 3+ and no armor saves.

Doom can be devastating. Try keeping your units seperated to minimize its impact then shoot it to pieces once it lands.

Stern guard with their special ammo can be pretty effective as well.

Edit: missile launchers also good obviously

The incrediby good news for you is that your opponent has all her legs (not boots this time) on the ground. Simply load you tacs with plasmagun, combi-plasma and missile launchers. Take sternguard with some combi-plasma in drop pod and spam predators and typhoon speeders.
Quite easy, just point and shoot. Target priority is a must here and take out a bug at a time with focused fire. Try to take out the tervigons as quickly as possibly. Tyranid players tend to leave one or two behind to spawn termagants and camp their objective. If you Drop some Sternguard there and take out the big, fat bug, he will possibly have to commit a part of her force to double back instead of charging forward and that means you win!!
Always combat squad your tacs and either let them be killed in CC or fall back with combat tactics.
Do not focus on the Swarmlord at the start of the game, he is quite slow and there are bigger threats.

This kind of list is perhaps one of the best mathups for vanilla marines

Sternguard with combis I've been doing, to pretty good effect. I've had some crappy luck with bringing them in (it scatters in exactly the direction it needs to not go, etc) but it's a sound strategy. Ten of them can reliably kill a MC the turn they come in, although their survivability after that is tenuous.

I'm reluctant to bring any light armor aside from razorbacks because they tend to get blown out of the sky by the Tyrannofex (blessed with Preferred Enemy by the Swarmlord, obviously). If I'm gonna spam missiles, I'd rather do it in Devastator squads, at least against this army.

How do you guys suggest dealing with the Hive Guard? She tends to park them out of LOS and take pot shots at anything that gets close (such as my Sternguard or other units trying to score). It would take just about all game to kill them with a whirlwind (can't wound reliably and they each have 2 wounds. And there's 4 of them.)

IG allies? Tau?

Whenever I play nids I take as many sternguard as I can they wound on a 2+ with there special ammo I also take a counts as Lysander for the rerolls on bolter ammo and he's a power house in his own right

If she wants to waste Hive Guard shooting at marines in power armor, let her! They are AP4, so 2/3 of the time you save. Marines in power armor are just about the least efficient targets possible for hive guard!

 Verthane wrote:
If she wants to waste Hive Guard shooting at marines in power armor, let her! They are AP4, so 2/3 of the time you save. Marines in power armor are just about the least efficient targets possible for hive guard!

Yeah.

The problem, really, has been that she's shooting the crap out of my vehicles with the Hive Guard and Tyrannofex, which are AV10 and 11, so their low AP doesn't matter so much. What I've decided is to make a list with many, many fewer hard targets and to keep the ones I have out of range:

In 1500 points:

Pedro
2x 10-man Scout Sniper squads with missile launchers
Rifleman Dreadnought w/ Drop Pod
10-man Sternguard with combis and Drop Pod
2x Devastator Squads with ML spam, each with a TL Lascannon Razor

The list doesn't particularly play to the objective game, but it's based on models I already have, and it has the firepower to take down those big mammas (as I've come to call the Tervigons).
Most importantly, a lot of my firepower stays at long distance, I don't need the Razors to actually GET my scoring units anywhere, which won't give her any tinfoil targets to pop with big guns.

Obviously, this thread is more about tactics than list building, but the two go hand in hand.

If she tries to drop the Doom into my back field, there will be 8 missle launchers waiting for it (if they don't get zapped). If they can't ID that thing in one round of shooting...I just...quit.

My biggest worry at this point would be the drop pod full of turbo-shooty gaunts.

Remember that there aren't a lot of weapons in the Tyranid codex that have a decent AP value. This means your Space Marines only need to be in cover if you are being assaulted as most Nids lack assault grenades.

Fire your bolters at maximum range. When the swarm closes in, move back 6" and fire again. Don't make the mistake of placing your force as far away as possible. You need to maximise your shooting.

could you get your hands on any CC terminators between thunder hammers ID and lightning claws r-roll wound those big mamas dont look so scary.

try and throw your dreadnought at the termagaunts there weak strength will mean he gets to take his time untill they've had enough.

CDRAlbrecht wrote:

 Verthane wrote:
If she wants to waste Hive Guard shooting at marines in power armor, let her! They are AP4, so 2/3 of the time you save. Marines in power armor are just about the least efficient targets possible for hive guard!

Yeah.

The problem, really, has been that she's shooting the crap out of my vehicles with the Hive Guard and Tyrannofex, which are AV10 and 11, so their low AP doesn't matter so much. What I've decided is to make a list with many, many fewer hard targets and to keep the ones I have out of range:

In 1500 points:

Pedro
2x 10-man Scout Sniper squads with missile launchers
Rifleman Dreadnought w/ Drop Pod
10-man Sternguard with combis and Drop Pod
2x Devastator Squads with ML spam, each with a TL Lascannon Razor

The list doesn't particularly play to the objective game, but it's based on models I already have, and it has the firepower to take down those big mammas (as I've come to call the Tervigons).
Most importantly, a lot of my firepower stays at long distance, I don't need the Razors to actually GET my scoring units anywhere, which won't give her any tinfoil targets to pop with big guns.

Obviously, this thread is more about tactics than list building, but the two go hand in hand.

If she tries to drop the Doom into my back field, there will be 8 missle launchers waiting for it (if they don't get zapped). If they can't ID that thing in one round of shooting...I just...quit.

My biggest worry at this point would be the drop pod full of turbo-shooty gaunts.

Your Rifleman dread will be just as easily destroyed as AV 10 or 11 by those hive guard. Str 8 is more than enough to take care of AV 12 unless its a flyer.

Eldenfirefly wrote:
Your Rifleman dread will be just as easily destroyed as AV 10 or 11 by those hive guard. Str 8 is more than enough to take care of AV 12 unless its a flyer.

I figure if I've let my Autocannon Dread get within 24" of the Hive Guards, I should just give up wargames altogether. The only reason he has a drop pod is so my Sternguard can pod in on turn one. The Dread isn't an ideal choice, but I really can't afford to go out on a buying spree to replace my ENTIRE Space Marine collection. Financially, I need to try and make it work with what I have, at least for a while.

Carlos, I've definitely thought about CC Terminators. I have a couple of concerns, though. One is that we play 1500 points around here typically, and in addition to the 200 points to bring them, I need another 200-250 for a reliable way to get them into combat against the big mammas. That's a lot of points for five models and a metal box.

It's not necessarily a NO WAY JOSE, and I actually think I'm still in the pre-6th edition mindset of just not bringing them to fights because Orks used to reduce their armor save, and everyone else just blew them up with power weapons at equal or higher initiative. That was shooty terminators, obviously.

Anyway, I want to play a few more games with the Sternguard, who I think are more tactically flexible, but if they keep disappointing me, I may just go get some terminators and bring the thunder to those monsterous creatures. If I change my HQ to a terminator character and stick him with the squad, they can do some serious monster smashing, at least on paper.

Anyone have any practical experience with smashing giant monsters with TH/SS Terminators?

TH/SS are ok, but not necessarily the best against monstrous creatures. They all get AP2, and will go first before your SS/TH. If its a small squad of 5, losing just 2 to 3 before you get to strike is going to hurt. So, unless its a big squad, it may not work.

This doesnt even factor in what happens if they manage to get Iron Arm and cast it...

Also, if your target is his Tervigons. Don't forget he can spawn his gaunts and immediately move them in that turn. Likely your TH/SS will be bogged down long and swarmed with gaunts before they even get a chance to touch the Tervigon. Gaunts are fearless when they are within synapse range of their Tervigon.

His Swarmlord is one of the most scary close combat monsters in warhammer40k. Seriously, it can even beat Abaddon. A bunch of TH/SS will be eaten alive by Swarmlord before they even get to strike.

Beating Nidzilla. Bolters, lots of them, the same way you beat everything else. Just keep shooting at it.