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Is it legal to put your hive crone or harpy in glide mode, and then remove it from its stem and place it on its own base, to represent that it's sitting/ perched on the ground. Most likely this would be done while hiding behind terrain.

I ask this question because I keep seeing posts about crones and harpies not being as good as they can be, because they sit so high on their flight stand and being unable to hide them from enemy fire. My flgs does not really have any tall terrain to hide such flying models, so if we use these new models and we can't hide them better, it's an early curtain call most likely.

No, you have no permission to alter your model during the game.

You still grab cover for flying over area terrain, however.

Yeah, as odd as it may seem, even when grounded a flyer is still floating way up above the table...

However, even if you had a specific allowance to remove the base for grounding (which I don't think the Tyranid flyers can be anyway, if I'm remebering the rumours correctly) it still wouldn't make much sense for the model to be sitting on the ground to represent gliding...

Almost wished the model functioned like the flyrant then, with its tail firmly propped onto the stand. It looks like it's flying, but still low enough to hide behind terrain. Very cool looking model though, the crone and harpy.

Gliding is just a slow moving flyer, it says nothing about the model changing height with its change in speed.

rigeld2 wrote:


You still grab cover for flying over area terrain, however.

This is your best bet for gaining a cover save without Diving. As long as part of the base is in Area Terrain the model will get a cover save (even if it's swooping).

Good to know airmang, thanks!

 insaniak wrote:
(which I don't think the Tyranid flyers can be anyway, if I'm remebering the rumours correctly) ..

Don't we wish.... :(

There's also nothing saying it has to be perched up on the flying stand. Like the hive tyrant can be modeled with wings and the jumping tail or hooves. Or Daemon Princes with wings, they stay on the ground, why shouldn't crones fly that low? They are described as superbly agile.

Just like how modern military helicopter pilots stay as low as possible, only gaining altitude to clear obstacles, to avoid presenting a target. I would think an advanced species being controlled by essentially a cloud-computing AI could manage this easily.

inb4modelingforadvantage: It's not the altitude that makes us require skyfire or make snap shots, its the speed. I.E. velocity tracker. I would argue that sticking the crone on top of the stem is modeling for disadvantage.

I personally wouldn't have a problem going against lower harpies/crones. I also don't own a single 'nid.

That is why I glue all of my Helldrakes directly to their base rather than on the flying stand - there is nothing saying that I cannot do that.

I hope that's a joke rapture, because you are required to use the flight stand.

It's part of the base supplied with the model.

 ShadowCaptainYeti wrote:
inb4modelingforadvantage: It's not the altitude that makes us require skyfire or make snap shots, its the speed. I.E. velocity tracker.

Skyfire or whatnot has absolutely no bearing on modelling for advantage.

ShadowCaptainYeti wrote: I would argue that sticking the crone on top of the stem is modeling for disadvantage.

That's sort of the point. The model comes with a disadvantage of being easy to shoot at. Modeling it any other way is modeling it for advantage.

 ShadowCaptainYeti wrote:
There's also nothing saying it has to be perched up on the flying stand. Like the hive tyrant can be modeled with wings and the jumping tail or hooves. Or Daemon Princes with wings, they stay on the ground, why shouldn't crones fly that low? They are described as superbly agile.

Just like how modern military helicopter pilots stay as low as possible, only gaining altitude to clear obstacles, to avoid presenting a target. I would think an advanced species being controlled by essentially a cloud-computing AI could manage this easily.

inb4modelingforadvantage: It's not the altitude that makes us require skyfire or make snap shots, its the speed. I.E. velocity tracker. I would argue that sticking the crone on top of the stem is modeling for disadvantage.

I personally wouldn't have a problem going against lower harpies/crones. I also don't own a single 'nid.

While reality is never a good thing to bring to these arguments, how high are the flight stems in relative height? 40 feet? That's not that hight off the ground for a jet fighter or similar.

Don't the rules say thst you must use the base your supplied with, so if thats the case, do you even have to use the flying stand?

Ya you do kinda need to use the stand. Otherwise your modeling for advantage which is just not cool.
If you think thats ok I could just put a wall on all my models bases and say they walk around with ruins or just make an army of guys lying down so you cant see them behind anything.

 Formosa wrote:
Don't the rules say thst you must use the base your supplied with, so if thats the case, do you even have to use the flying stand?

Yes, as it is the base the model comes with...

You must use the base supplied with the model, and this includes the stand.

See that's why I was asking , and yes I will be removing the flight stand and making a sorta tower for the harpy to be sitting on all menacing and such, just gonna tell my opponent to ignore it for los purposes


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And will of course make sure it's the correct height

chris56ryan wrote:
Ya you do kinda need to use the stand. Otherwise your modeling for advantage which is just not cool.
If you think thats ok I could just put a wall on all my models bases and say they walk around with ruins or just make an army of guys lying down so you cant see them behind anything.

You can make them lying down if you want to, you wont be able to see anything and Ill just walk up and blast ya.

The wall thing is answered in the BRB pg 18, they dont exist and your models can be shot normally.

As for the base, all you are required to do is use the base, not the mounting accessories that come with it. Which would be the stem. Pg 3 and the GW website which identifies the stem as not part of the base

False. The stem is a part of the base.

Yeah the stem is part of the base I'd say, pretty conversions aside taking off the stem to gain advantage does seem a bit gamey

Worst offender I've come across was a guy that modeled his cron wraiths laying down flat with the torso and tail sticking out about an inch over the base on both sides. And to make things worse, when he was targeted by a blast he argued the template was over the model, not the base so did not count as a hit. I had to walk away and let his opponent handle it however he wanted to cuz my blood pressure went up as a spectator.

We have a term for those people, it is not very polite....
******* Win at all cost *****.....

POKEYtheBIG wrote:
Worst offender I've come across was a guy that modeled his cron wraiths laying down flat with the torso and tail sticking out about an inch over the base on both sides.

Honestly, GW sucks at making worm type models. Snakes don't spend their life in a coiled and upright position.

POKEYtheBIG wrote:

And to make things worse, when he was targeted by a blast he argued the template was over the model, not the base so did not count as a hit.

He is correct. Only hitting the base counts. While it could be argued that he was cheating in your first example, you are the cheater in the second one.

"Cheat" and "WAAC" aren't helpful terms to this discussion.

Modeling for an advantage is legal, but very silly if done intentionally.

Not using the base provided with a model, though, is not legal. The stem of a gargoyle's flying stand is part of the base, just as the stem for a flyer is part of it's base. To use no stem at all would not be legal.

Well crap all my of army is not on the bases that came with the models

This is another case of Tyranids getting the short end of the stick.

A walking Harpy is pointless given these base rules. I considered using one as a support assault unit.

My riptide came with a flying stem, am I modeling for advantage by not using it? Actually I'm curious did anyone else get a stem with their riptide or was mine a mispacked box?

Fiberdonkey wrote:
My riptide came with a flying stem, am I modeling for advantage by not using it? Actually I'm curious did anyone else get a stem with their riptide or was mine a mispacked box?

No ,it wasn't a mispack. What you got barely changes the height of the riptide, whereas a flyer's flying stem matters a fair bit. I don't have the instructions around, but it probably shows that the riptide's stem is optional , where the crone's isn't.

Just leave the Harpy/Crone in area terrain when you fly. Its not a vehicle, as long as it touches Area Terrain it gains a Cover Save.