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Challenge Match! Matt of Team Zero Comp challenges Reecius' Imperial Guard & Wolf army to a challenge game! Since Matt is new to Nids, Reecius toned down his list a bit to make it less brutal and the game more fun. Can Matt win with the Nids and fulfill the terms of the challenge?

Awesome report, love the dirty dozen ha ha. I think you need to flood the table with synapse in that style list. Just don't bother with the venomthropes because they won't keep up and bring a second and even third pair of zoanthropes. I think I would bring 3x2 zoans every time now. Even when playing genestealers the extra shots at catalyst are useful.

I think a prime and 2-3 dakka fexes is also better then the 2nd flyrant to be honest, for the ectra points just drop the crone, such a POS IMO.

Some things from my play-testing with the Crone (all in solo "simulated battles" so caveats obviously apply).

1.) Instinctive behavior doesn't hurt them, really. They're LD10, and have :"Hunt" but are Fearless, This means that even if they Fail their IB check, they're going to shoot the closest enemy...with a flamer...and you're not limited in their movement. So effectively, they're not hampred by lack of synapse.
2.) Tentaclids, when they hit, can finish off a pesky vehicle sitting on 1 or 2 HP. The vector Strikes are amazing as well.
3.) If you're going to run 1, Run 2 instead. Save that third fast slot for some shrikes, raveners, or gargoyles.
4.) If you're going 2nd, reserve them. They make your 1/2 of the table dangerous for any 3+ save unit to tread, knowing that they can come on from reserve and raking strike with S8 AP3. If you're going first, put them in area terrain. They'll benefit from a 5+ (3+ with a venomthrope) cover save in case you get the initiative stolen.

Overall I don't think this battle was as terrible as the end result made it appear to be. After all, a few key rolls going differently (Rune Priest makes Jaws test on LD7, failed Deny the Witch, followed by a failed 50/50 shot on losing the tyrannofex and whatever else got eaten) would have put the Wolf/IG list on a more defensive role.

Flying hive tyrants are still money, the Exocrine is a solid artillery piece (onslaught him when possible so he's assaulting tanks by turn 3).

Overall i'm coming around on the nid codex. I'll have to post some battle reports of my own when i get to do some real games. Saturday is my first foray with the book (aside from a kill team game i won the night the book came out - 5x warriors vs 23 shoota boyz). However it's a themed APOC game where the players have to cleanse a planet of a tyranid invasion.

Great report Reece.

TL;DR: Crones are OK, the Batrep was good, Nids are coming along and I think we'll be alright vs most armies.

I'm 99% certain the crone has feed. Doesn't change your statement much though. Just pretty much be used for vector strike..

Reece were you in Shadows range when you casted JotWW? I was surprised it went off and killed as much as it did. Great report it does seem like you're getting closer and closer with each batrep.

 tetrisphreak wrote:
4.) If you're going 2nd, reserve them. They make your 1/2 of the table dangerous for any 3+ save unit to tread, knowing that they can come on from reserve and raking strike with S8 AP3.

I doubt that'll matter much, considering it's on a 120mm base (= about 4.7 inches) and you need to completely clear enemies + stay 1" away from them, it's only about an 18" range from your when coming out of reserve. Most units don't even have the speed to be that far in your deployment zone when it'll come out of reserves.

The problem with flooding the field with synapse is that it takes points away from kill power. A prime is garbage, all he does is stop your army from killing itself or running away for a big price tag. Such crap.

Zoans are ok at buffing and providing Synapse, but again, 3x2 is a 300pt tax that can occasionally kill something but doesn't provide much offense at all. That and a Prime will account for 1/3 of your points! Ouch.

Carnies are good but I have found that Dakkafexes with slow speed and 18" range have trouble getting into range a lot of the time. People keep talking about taking 9, but the logistics of the tabletop often make it hard to shoot them all each turn. With little bugs in the way, taking up real estate, it isn't as easy as people think to bring your guns to bear.

The Crone is OK, I think he is just a little too weak in too many areas. He needs a 3+, or to be able to move 36". Or torrent. As he is he dies so easily, is hard to hide and you want to reserve him but his move onto the table top is really short. He isn't bad per se, and he gives you some AA, but I almost would rather take more little bugs for board control.

@Ray

I placed the Rune Priest 12.1" away from the Zoan.

So why nor run 3x1 zoans? Thats only a 150 pt tax and super easy to hide. It can kill heavy tanks in a pinch and other wise can be a synapse anchor. Since gants went down 1pt each they are basically free except for the slots which I will give you sucks to have to fill but still.

PS I still feel genestealers are the best troop option currently. You can quote me. If synapse is such a tax then why not use that tax on a troop that doesn't care, is better, and save the slots? Food for thought.


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Oh btw, thanks for letting me down with those rough riders! I had such a nerd boner imagining them as big game hunters ready to take down that massive alien wild pig only to get hosed

Hahaha, I know, I was so juiced for them to kill that Exocrine and be cool for a change! They suck so bad but I love them. The conversions I made are sweet too, but I never got around to painting them as they are so crummy. Poor guys =(

It's fun to use them all the same. Ogryn are good fun, too! Smash really hurts them, though, unfortunately and that is all over the place these days.