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a 4+ would be nice...they definitely look like a 4+...instead of straight dying to bolterfire.

Sure, there's stealth and terrain...but that's not always a guaruntee, and then you have to charge through cover as well.

So how are people going about transporting their Skyblight Formations?

By not using them

My only FMC is a Flyrant, and I magnetised his wings quite easily, using a couple of pins to stop them spinning around. It's much easier to transport, and I can see the same working for the Harpy/Crone kit.

I use a large plastic bin. It looks dangerous but very rarely do I suffer damages. Usually the only threat to the Hive Fleet is my 22 month old daughter.

 xttz wrote:
By not using them

My only FMC is a Flyrant, and I magnetised his wings quite easily, using a couple of pins to stop them spinning around. It's much easier to transport, and I can see the same working for the Harpy/Crone kit.

I've also Pinned and magnetized my Flyrant wings. Both of my flyrants are older metal models that I've converted by adding deamon wings to their backs.

I had planned to magnetize the Crone's wings as well, but I'm struggling a bit with how to do it, and maintain their structural integrity. There are 2 connection points, and I need 2 Pins to give it structure, and am then not sure where to place my magnets.

I magnetized the Cone and harpy head, and the Spike / Spore mine deployer just fine, but when I magnetized one of my Harpy weapons mounts with 2x2 mm at the connection point as well as along the torso, I was disappointed with the stability of them. They stay put, but tilting or shaking the crone can dislodge them. I'm going to go back and swap in larger magnets, but 2mm was the maximum diameter that didn't require reshaping of the connection points. I was hoping to use the squared edges to provide extra stability against tilt, but that apparently isn't going to work out. I use N50 magnets, and I know a lot of people use weaker N35 or N45 magnets.

ETA:
It is my hope to magnetize my Crones sufficiently that I can easily fit at least 3 on a layer of foam. That means the Wings must be magnetized.

Eldercaveman wrote:
So how are people going about transporting their Skyblight Formations?

In an old CSM Renegade Strike Force box with lots of bubble wrap.

So yesterday I tried out a 3-Tyrant list, without using a Flyrant. Again I swapped the 3 Tyrant Guard from the formation to protect my warlord in the primary detachment. I also tried a Tervigon for the first time in 6E, outflanking it to threaten my opponent's backfield.



My opponent was running vanilla marines with mostly armour - 2 Predators, Las/plas Razorback, LRR with assault termies, Stormraven plus some tac marines / scouts and a bunch of sternguard in a drop pod. We rolled the mission with one objective each, and he went first. Despite psychic 7 rolls, I didn't manage to get Catalyst, instead picking up a mixed bag of Onslaught, Paroxsym, and Warp Blast on the HVC Tyrant.

I used the gaunts to bubble-wrap things as much as possible from the drop pod with combi-meltas (a few weeks ago I lost an Exocrine to this before it fired a shot). His only option was to land next to my Warlord, blowing away 2 Guards and wounding the Tyrant. The Land Raider with Termies + Captain rather bravely advanced toward two Tyrants, while the Predators hung around the back corner of the field sniping at anything they could. There wasn't enough cover to approach them safely, but I was able to reach a building in the middle of the board that blocked line of sight, preventing them shooting anything more worthwhile than gaunts.
The veteran squad was neutralised with a combo of The Horror and an Exocrine blast, preventing further plasma shenanigans. HVC and Warp Blast failed to scratch the LRR, and it managed to unload terminators in an attempt to kill the HVC Tyrant. I challenged the Captain to try and last a bit longer, which paid off. I piled in Termagants and a second HT, wiping out the Terminators with ease. Thanks to a combination of poor to hit rolls and lucky Iron Halo saves, the Captain lasted 3 turns in combat, with the HT surviving on 1 wound. It's worth nothing that Paroxsym was really valuable here - making TH/SS Terminators hit my WS8 Hive Tyrant on 5+ instead of 4+.

The Tervigon outflanked next to a combat squad, killing three tac marines including the missile launcher with Shreddershards. The following turn it spawned enough gaunts to finish off the rest, while making a beeline for his objective. Meanwhile, the Biovores obliterated absolutely anything that could walk, thanks to the Living Artillery re-roll. By turn 3/4 he had nothing left to hold objectives with, thanks to them. I'll definitely be taking this formation again.

We called the game during his 5th turn (I didn't play my 5th), as he only had a Predator and Stormraven on the board, and no troops. Two of my Tyrants survived (no guards did), and the Tervigon plus 2 spawned broods were in solid control of his objective. Mine was held by the Warriors, and I also had all three secondary objectives.

While my Hive Tyrants did perform fairly well, I don't think I'll be taking 3 of them again. The guards needed to make them durable mean they're pushing 300pts, which is expensive. I suffered mostly from lack of anti-armour, and some Fexes or even Hive Guard would have made it a massacre. Despite being mostly decent, the psychic powers I rolled didn't help much thanks to the lack of troops in range. I'm considering experimenting with 6+ Fexes next time instead.

Interesting. I don't think walking Tyrants are all that bad. I mean they are what 45 points more than a Dakkafex, for Synapse and WS8 / I5 ? Who can also take Tyrant Guards and Thorax Swarms and whatever else?

I think they are overlooked and spending 70 points on wings in a walking list just to throw your Tyrants forward and likely lose them.... I personally find Tyrants to be quite flimsy, especially for 240 pts, and while wings never hurt they are an expensive upgrade that I think is often not necessary.

Sounds like Tervigon did well, although against marines I expect them too.

Here's a list i'm thinking of trying at 1250 points this coming monday:

HQ - Hive tyrant - wings, 2x devourers, ES Grubs - 240
HQ - Tervigon - C. Spines, Regen - 230
TP - 10x Termagants -40
TP - 10x Termagants -40
TP - 3x Warriors - 2x ScyTals/D.Spitters, 1x ScyTals/B. Strangler - 110
TP - 15x Genestealers - 210
EL - 2x Lictors - 100
EL - 3x Hive Guard - 165
FORT - Bastion -Ammo Store, Escape Hatch - 115

TOTAL - 1250 Points. Model Ct - 45

The basic idea is to plant the Bastion Midfield, with the main door facing the enemy DZ. The Escape hatch will be placed 12" towards my DZ. On the first turn they are able to assault (Bottom of 1 or Top of 2 depending on who goes first), the genestealers will disembark from the bastion, and the hive guard will use the escape hatch to get in after it's empty. The ammo Store will let them re-roll 1's when shooting their impaler cannons, which will be able to protect about a 54" bubble from the center (or flank depending on terrain) of the table. The flyrant will use the bastion for cover before moving up and aiding the genestealers in whatever they need to assault, whether it be softening up a unit with shooting, buffing/debuffing with pyschic powers, etc. The tervigon's job is to guard the mid field, and spawn termagants to claim/contest objectives - the warriors and the 2 10-man termagants will hold the backfield. The lictors can go where necessary, and thanks to flying synapse/dominion, go to ground when shot at then become fearless to get up and move/assault their target (usually going to be backfield infantry or tanks & such).

@1250 points i don't think I will need more than 1 flyrant for AA support, and the hive guard with re-roll 1's to hit seem like they could be worth their investment.

Any suggestions/opinions on the list?

SHUPPET wrote:Interesting. I don't think walking Tyrants are all that bad. I mean they are what 45 points more than a Dakkafex, for Synapse and WS8 / I5 ? Who can also take Tyrant Guards and Thorax Swarms and whatever else?

I think they are overlooked and spending 70 points on wings in a walking list just to throw your Tyrants forward and likely lose them.... I personally find Tyrants to be quite flimsy, especially for 240 pts, and while wings never hurt they are an expensive upgrade that I think is often not necessary.

Sounds like Tervigon did well, although against marines I expect them too.

The Tervigon didn't do a whole lot of damage, but tactically it was decent, grabbing an objective plus Linebreaker. I can't help but think how hilarious it would have been if it had outflanked next to the two Predators instead, though The only way for them to get safe would require moving toward a Hive Tyrant.

Walkrants would be awesome if they had a way to reliably get Catalyst or Biomancy, or a 2+ save. My MC list for this game ended up like this:
HT1: 1 wound left
HT2: 1 wound left
HT3: dead
Exocrine: dead
Tervigon: 4 wounds left

They work well enough in casual games, but against a reasonably competitive list, they'd all be dead.

tetrisphreak wrote:Here's a list i'm thinking of trying at 1250 points this coming monday:

Any suggestions/opinions on the list?

How come you're not taking the Tervigon as Troops? If you combined the Termagant broods it won't be too hard to find 40pts to unlock that, and it's arguably a better backfield scoring unit than 2x10 Terms (which themselves will be an issue if you roll the killpoint mission).

Do you really need 2x2 Venoms? I can usually make a list work with 1 or 2 x 1


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@Tetris...ammo store is a neat idea...I just take Swarmy half of the time for preferred enemy for the same effect.

xttz wrote:

tetrisphreak wrote:Here's a list i'm thinking of trying at 1250 points this coming monday:

Any suggestions/opinions on the list?

How come you're not taking the Tervigon as Troops? If you combined the Termagant broods it won't be too hard to find 40pts to unlock that, and it's arguably a better backfield scoring unit than 2x10 Terms (which themselves will be an issue if you roll the killpoint mission).

I hadn't thought of that when i was just brainstorming the list on notebook paper. Now that you mention it, i guess i could drop 1 lictor, blob the termagants into a 30x brood and troop the tervigon, and add a thorax flamer (probably shreddershards). That really would change the battlefield role for the lictor, but I think i'd still keep it in for distraction/linebreaker, and a single lictor is still pretty good at shredding tanks with rear AV10. Thanks for the input!

ductvader wrote:
@Tetris...ammo store is a neat idea...I just take Swarmy half of the time for preferred enemy for the same effect.

It's really the only thing I could think of to really make hive guard worth bringing in a serious format. Swarmlord is good to have if you're taking him anyway, but 285 just to buff the shooting of 3 hive guard is too much. The ammo store is a 15 point upgrade to the bastion, which i'm really only taking as a delivery system for the genestealers and terrain for my flyrant to duck behind. The escape hatch/ammo store idea was an afterthought but i think it combos well with the hive guard, and i'm excited to give it a try.

Thanks for the input !

Well that's not all Swarmy does...he's also slinging around 3 powers a turn, maintains synapse solidarity and presents a decent sized do-not-enter bubble.

Use just using an anecdote for one of his uses...I do the same with the Exocrine as well, especially since it's widely accepted that it can even TL the blast.

Oh, I know. I love swarmlord - I just didn't want to use him in this particular list because I'm mainly trying bastion+stealers.

 tetrisphreak wrote:
Oh, I know. I love swarmlord - I just didn't want to use him in this particular list because I'm mainly trying bastion+stealers.

I do enjoy the bastion swap.

But can't only 2 Hive Guard shoot out of the Bastion?

Its good to see some people have success with swarmy... personally I hate his guts now... he dies.. dies like a fruit fly every time he touches the table. I don't like walkrants either but they are cheaper at least.

 Roci wrote:
Its good to see some people have success with swarmy... personally I hate his guts now... he dies.. dies like a fruit fly every time he touches the table. I don't like walkrants either but they are cheaper at least.

I completely retired him outside of Homebrew/Houserule games.

 ductvader wrote:

 tetrisphreak wrote:
Oh, I know. I love swarmlord - I just didn't want to use him in this particular list because I'm mainly trying bastion+stealers.

I do enjoy the bastion swap.

But can't only 2 Hive Guard shoot out of the Bastion?

2 models per fire point - the bastion has 8 fire points all around, so the hive guard will all be able to shoot.

 tetrisphreak wrote:

 ductvader wrote:

 tetrisphreak wrote:
Oh, I know. I love swarmlord - I just didn't want to use him in this particular list because I'm mainly trying bastion+stealers.

I do enjoy the bastion swap.

But can't only 2 Hive Guard shoot out of the Bastion?

2 models per fire point - the bastion has 8 fire points all around, so the hive guard will all be able to shoot.

That's actually very nice for Hive Guard. No matter where the fire points are, you don't need LOS to shot.

Addaran wrote:

 tetrisphreak wrote:
2 models per fire point - the bastion has 8 fire points all around, so the hive guard will all be able to shoot.

That's actually very nice for Hive Guard. No matter where the fire points are, you don't need LOS to shot.

Now if only we had a way to put more than 3 Hive Guard in a Bastion.

 PrinceRaven wrote:

Addaran wrote:

 tetrisphreak wrote:
2 models per fire point - the bastion has 8 fire points all around, so the hive guard will all be able to shoot.

That's actually very nice for Hive Guard. No matter where the fire points are, you don't need LOS to shot.

Now if only we had a way to put more than 3 Hive Guard in a Bastion.

If you want to be really obnoxious, take the following:

Tyranid Prime

Venomthrope brood

1-2 broods of Hive Guard

Bastion with Escape Hatch + Void Shield building upgrades, Ammo Dump battlefield debris.

Place the ammo dump on top of the bastion. Get one unit of Hive Guard onto the battlements, and an optional one hidden behind it. The Prime joins the Venom(s) inside the Bastion. You end up with:

Anything within 6" of the bastion is Shrouded
Anything within 12" of the bastion is in Synapse
The Prime fires an emplaced Heavy Bolter with BS4, Venomthrope(s) fire theirs with BS3.
The Hive Guard on top get re-rolls of 1, protected by a 2+ cover save and a void shield.
The optional 2nd Hive Guard brood behind the bastion are probably out of line of sight, but can fire as normal.

You don't get the fire point shenanigans like before, but you do get a nice Synapse/Shrouded aura, better Heavy Bolter firepower, and Hive Guard protected by 2+ cover and an AV12 barrier. It's a 48" radius no-go bubble in the middle of the board that only gets stronger the more units are nearby.

I just wish the Tyranid Prime didn't take up an HQ slot and wasn't hideously overpriced.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I just wish the Tyranid Prime didn't take up an HQ slot and wasn't hideously overpriced.

I wish you could have multiple per slot like heralds and the damn thing got a price cut. And could get wings to keep up with shrikes.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I just wish the Tyranid Prime didn't take up an HQ slot and wasn't hideously overpriced.

Agreed, yet my Primes always seem to be more reliable in damage output than other HQs, flyrants included.

...I also don't run them outside of the formation too often.

 ductvader wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I just wish the Tyranid Prime didn't take up an HQ slot and wasn't hideously overpriced.

Agreed, yet my Primes always seem to be more reliable in damage output than other HQs, flyrants included.

...I also don't run them outside of the formation too often.

If you're running warriors, taking the 3 broods + the Prime and getting 10 norn crowns for free isn't a bad deal at all.

 tetrisphreak wrote:

 ductvader wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I just wish the Tyranid Prime didn't take up an HQ slot and wasn't hideously overpriced.

Agreed, yet my Primes always seem to be more reliable in damage output than other HQs, flyrants included.

...I also don't run them outside of the formation too often.

If you're running warriors, taking the 3 broods + the Prime and getting 10 norn crowns for free isn't a bad deal at all.

The thing is that Norn Crowns are heinously overpriced themselves.

tetrisphreak wrote:

 ductvader wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I just wish the Tyranid Prime didn't take up an HQ slot and wasn't hideously overpriced.

Agreed, yet my Primes always seem to be more reliable in damage output than other HQs, flyrants included.

...I also don't run them outside of the formation too often.

If you're running warriors, taking the 3 broods + the Prime and getting 10 norn crowns for free isn't a bad deal at all.

I follow the "formation takes up your allies slot" house-rule and am already using the Living Artillery Node, but yes, that is a good way to get a Prime outside of the FOC and strengthen your Synaptic web.

Kain wrote:The thing is that Norn Crowns are heinously overpriced themselves.

He's referring to the extra 6 inches the Synaptic Swarm formation gives you.

 PrinceRaven wrote:

tetrisphreak wrote:

 ductvader wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I just wish the Tyranid Prime didn't take up an HQ slot and wasn't hideously overpriced.

Agreed, yet my Primes always seem to be more reliable in damage output than other HQs, flyrants included.

...I also don't run them outside of the formation too often.

If you're running warriors, taking the 3 broods + the Prime and getting 10 norn crowns for free isn't a bad deal at all.

I follow the "formation takes up your allies slot" house-rule and am already using the Living Artillery Node, but yes, that is a good way to get a Prime outside of the FOC and strengthen your Synaptic web.

Kain wrote:The thing is that Norn Crowns are heinously overpriced themselves.

He's referring to the extra 6 inches the Synaptic Swarm formation gives you.

I know, I'm saying it shouldn't be a great bargain because the Norn Crown costs far more than it should.

Oh yes the actual wargear is overpriced but getting them for free on warriors makes up for it.


In my games lately the warriors haven't been bad, either. There really is a lack of s8+ weapons now that the game has gone to hull points glancing out vehicles with S7. The occasional battle cannon or basilisk definitely causes them some concern but overall it's S6 and S7 spam where i play. Also at base level, they're a small, easily hidden fearless scoring unit. Not terrible at shooting, and actually pretty decent in melee.

I might just for fun run a whole warrior-sized list in the near future and see how it performs. Hive guard included, of course, and zoanthropes just for the anti-tank.

 tetrisphreak wrote:
Oh yes the actual wargear is overpriced but getting them for free on warriors makes up for it.


In my games lately the warriors haven't been bad, either. There really is a lack of s8+ weapons now that the game has gone to hull points glancing out vehicles with S7. The occasional battle cannon or basilisk definitely causes them some concern but overall it's S6 and S7 spam where i play. Also at base level, they're a small, easily hidden fearless scoring unit. Not terrible at shooting, and actually pretty decent in melee.

I might just for fun run a whole warrior-sized list in the near future and see how it performs. Hive guard included, of course, and zoanthropes just for the anti-tank.

My zoeys often go unchallenged by my enemy...they just float up doing nothing and then go berserk on units. I think people have prioritization issues with them.