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It was sudgested to me on the "list" forum that I should drop Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs from my Hormigants so I could take a 3rd Biovore, and some more hormigants.

Just wanting to see what everyone thinks. I have always ran with the upgrades because adrenal glands let the little guys charge most vehicles. And Sacs are great for attacking things tougher than you, which as hormigants have 3 str most things are tougher.

I dont think the advise given was bad. Just that the tourney is in 5 days, and I've never ran my hormigants naked so cant compare them with/without the upgrades.



Whats everyone's thoughts? Upgraded hormigants or no in your armies?

upgraded is good for when you want to use them as an actual assault unit, while unupgraded is generally better for a bullet magnet.

My 2 cents.

So you can roll a 4+ instead of a 6 on anything higher than T5. Its pretty awesome dude.

You can afford to drop the adrenal glands, but keep the Tsacs. They're quite snazzy.

I think it is more task dependent than anything else. I use mine as a fast moving cover, that is still a viable threat to infantry. That means I run them naked and in large numbers. On the few times I have run them as a dedicated assault unit, I did give them the upgrades, but outflanked or otherwise get them near the enemy in a safe as way possible.

barnowl wrote:
I think it is more task dependent than anything else. I use mine as a fast moving cover, that is still a viable threat to infantry. That means I run them naked and in large numbers. On the few times I have run them as a dedicated assault unit, I did give them the upgrades, but outflanked or otherwise get them near the enemy in a safe as way possible.

This is the thing. A blob of 30 Hormagaunts is reasonably cheap, moves pretty quickly, can kill a good number of GEQ in melee and through sheer numbers can tarpit a surprising number of units.

Toxin Sacks bumps their price up by another 60 points, which would actually be enough to take 40 Hormagaunts rather than 30. If your Hormagaunts are purely there as a screen and distraction, I would be tempted to run them without upgrades and spend those points you would have used making them dangerous on something else to kill things in their stead. On the other hand, adding those Toxin Sacks makes the Hormagaunts far more dangerous than you might think. Those massed S3 Poisoned 4+ atttacks will annihilate high toughness monsters that rely on their toughness to survive, overcome the defences of MEQ (and T5, Wrathguard style units) much more readily and absolutely destroy GEQ (as you'll re-roll those 4+ to-wound rolls).

Personally, I always take the Toxin Sacks. Then again, I invest in psychic powers to significantly boost my Hormagaunts' lifespan, making it much more likely that they see combat.

Xyptc, what psychic discipline do you usually go for with regards to buffing your gaunts?

SBG wrote:
Xyptc, what psychic discipline do you usually go for with regards to buffing your gaunts?

gaunts are gaunts. if anything devourers. I have started taking a single squad of 20 gaunts with devourers to sit on my back objective. Its cheap, and it holds pretty well. But the price of the devourer is the same price as a gaunt.....and why wouldn't i ever take more gaunts if could??

The problem with Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands on Hormagants is that they are 2pts each. Each upgrade increases the cost of your unit by 33% which adds up quickly. Hormagants are extremely fragile too so you will lose a bunch as they get across the field. This puts the upgrades at odds with their survival. To get across the field you need a lot of them but to get good killing power, you need the upgrades. Upgrades = less gants.

If you have something that can distract from or protect your Hormagants, then taking TS is fine. Both TS and AG just feels too expensive. 10pts per hormagant is a lot.

If your Hormagants are meant to tarpit, screen, distract your opponent from some other threat; then don't take TS. The extra bodies would be better.

These are the general rules I follow at least.

Everyone here is saying pretty much the same thing I agree with - you need a "task" in mind for the hormagaunts when you write your list. A screening unit with mad-fast running and distraction capability should be naked so you have more bodies. If you want a MC/meq combat tarpit/assassin unit give them poison - but have some flying tyrants and/or trygons on the table to draw enemy firepower. That's the trick - confuse the enemy into making poor decisions regarding where your danger units are.

Ok guys, thanks a lot for the thoughts...

I'm hoping to get a game in before the weekend so I can try them out.

SBG wrote:
Xyptc, what psychic discipline do you usually go for with regards to buffing your gaunts?

Again a bit task dependant, but I find FNP either through biomancy or Catalyst is always nice for wading through small arms fire and great when used as fast moving cover unit. When I upgrade them I really want Telekine dome for the 5+ though it also is nice with small arms fire as it will bounce the shot back in to enemy squads within 6". And finally iti s hard to go 2 wrong with TP. I have found a way to use about every power in that list to make the Hormies scarier or improve the survival chances.

SBG wrote:
Xyptc, what psychic discipline do you usually go for with regards to buffing your gaunts?

I roll a Tyrant and two Tervigons with three powers each all on Biomancy (mostly for Iron Arm, but it's all good). If I get Endurance on them, then if I'm running Hormagaunts they will tend to throw Endurance at the Hormagaunt blob.

I also always, always run at least three (preferably six though) Zoanthropes. These will either take more Biomancy until I get a few Enfeebles and Endurances to throw around (depending on what the Tyrant and Tervigons got), and after that I tend to run Telekinesis for Objuration Mechanicum and Telekine Dome. My ideal scenario is Telekine Dome and Endurance both on the Hormagaunts. It's great watching opponents direct what should be enough firepower to kill a good number of T3/6+Sv models at them only for half of the kills to fail.

A word on the Adrenal Glands though; I would never run them; my "cost vs damage" line is drawn at the 8 point mark with the Toxin Sacks.