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Hi all,

Having a get together with some friends in the next while and we are looking at 1250pt games. My group of friends use Tau, Necron, Dark Eldar, and CSM... and I could come up against any of them as we aren't sure who will be there and we will roll off for opponents

So here is the list I have put together for it, no formations, allies or anything... just vanilla codexes.

HQ:
Hive Tyrant - Wings, 2xTL Devs

Troops:
Termagants x30
Tervigon - Electroshock grubs
Warriors x3 one with Barbed strangler
Genestealers x5

Elites:
Venomthrope x1
Zoanthrope x1

Heavy:
Biovore x3
Mawloc
Exocrine

1250 points exactly.

Basic thought on tactics is the Tervigon and Exocrine advance with venom and warrior squad close behind, with the obligatory gant meat shield leading the blob. This group pretty much gets to the mid table and does whatever is needed to win the game. It will be my first time using an exocrine, so I'm hoping he gets into position and can stand there gaining his +1 BS and do a lot of damage.

Biovores hide in back field with zoanthrope synapse point and launch disruption into the opposition lines. Mawloc will be in reserve and will deepstrike bomb as required. Flying hive tyrant will generally hold back to start off with in the game and then react to where he needs to be, whether it is getting into the opposition lines with the Mawloc to take heat of the mid table blob or whatever... we will see. He is my swiss army knife.

The genestealers... will generally be held in reserve, coming onto the board in a later turn to hold objectives, take on anything in my deployment zone (threatening biovore blob etc). Either that or they will infiltrate, or could start in the blob... I'm using these guys with some flexibility to react a bit to what my opponent is/has got.

So yeah, my tactics are a little general because it depends on what is on the table in front of me, both in army type and what happens in game. Plus, you can make all the detailed plans in the world, but one thing could make them fall apart so you have to be flexible I reckon.

So, anything glaring out at you that I may need to reconsider?

Thanks for reading team

Mad.. wrote:
Hi all,

Having a get together with some friends in the next while and we are looking at 1250pt games. My group of friends use Tau, Necron, Dark Eldar, and CSM... and I could come up against any of them as we aren't sure who will be there and we will roll off for opponents

So here is the list I have put together for it, no formations, allies or anything... just vanilla codexes.

HQ:
Hive Tyrant - Wings, 2xTL Devs

Troops:
Termagants x30
Tervigon - Electroshock grubs
Warriors x3 one with Barbed strangler
Genestealers x5

Elites:
Venomthrope x1
Zoanthrope x1

Heavy:
Biovore x3
Mawloc
Exocrine

1250 points exactly.

Basic thought on tactics is the Tervigon and Exocrine advance with venom and warrior squad close behind, with the obligatory gant meat shield leading the blob. This group pretty much gets to the mid table and does whatever is needed to win the game. It will be my first time using an exocrine, so I'm hoping he gets into position and can stand there gaining his +1 BS and do a lot of damage.

Biovores hide in back field with zoanthrope synapse point and launch disruption into the opposition lines. Mawloc will be in reserve and will deepstrike bomb as required. Flying hive tyrant will generally hold back to start off with in the game and then react to where he needs to be, whether it is getting into the opposition lines with the Mawloc to take heat of the mid table blob or whatever... we will see. He is my swiss army knife.

The genestealers... will generally be held in reserve, coming onto the board in a later turn to hold objectives, take on anything in my deployment zone (threatening biovore blob etc). Either that or they will infiltrate, or could start in the blob... I'm using these guys with some flexibility to react a bit to what my opponent is/has got.

So yeah, my tactics are a little general because it depends on what is on the table in front of me, both in army type and what happens in game. Plus, you can make all the detailed plans in the world, but one thing could make them fall apart so you have to be flexible I reckon.

So, anything glaring out at you that I may need to reconsider?

Thanks for reading team

Looks "OK". I don't know that you'll get any value out of the "Stealers though....you might want to spend the points elsewhere.

At low point games Big Bugs rule So I suggest you look most closely there. You kind of have to use the models you have...but if you have others, I really like Tyranofex. Add in Thorax Hive, and Adrenals, it runs 200. Drop say the Exocrene, and the Stealers, and you have about 240 to play with....maybe toss a Thorax Hive on the Terv? And still have 30...if you cant find a spot to spend it...then grab some Spore Mines for Fast Attack , they can deep strike in.

The other place to look at spending on is a second Zoey, either Double the Brood, for durability, or add a second Brood to get an extra Powers of the Hive Mind! If you want to keep the Exocrene, this is where I'd look, find 25 more points, and you can double the Veno Brood as well Good luck!

Late enry: You already Have a Hive on the Terv.!

Hi Pinecone.

Thanks for your thoughts. I have been having a exocrine vs t-fex debate raging in my head for a while. The way I figure it is I have already got stuff there that can handle the infantry I'm likely to face that the t-fex would excel against. Whereas the exocrine fills a bit of a hole that I think I have in the list, although it is going to be easier to take out than the t-fex.

Also first time using an exocrine, so figured I'd give it a go, it isn't hard to swap it out for a t-fex. Heavy support gives me the most headaches when building my lists in Tyranid 6th

The poor genestealers... I love them and want to use them, but you're probably right... in this set up, value for points wouldn't be great. What about a squad of gargoyles instead? Could be good to assist with target saturation, and then put a couple of Deathspitters on the other two warriors to increase their range a bit and use up the last ten points?

Mad.. wrote:
Hi Pinecone.

Thanks for your thoughts. I have been having a exocrine vs t-fex debate raging in my head for a while. The way I figure it is I have already got stuff there that can handle the infantry I'm likely to face that the t-fex would excel against. Whereas the exocrine fills a bit of a hole that I think I have in the list, although it is going to be easier to take out than the t-fex.

Also first time using an exocrine, so figured I'd give it a go, it isn't hard to swap it out for a t-fex. Heavy support gives me the most headaches when building my lists in Tyranid 6th

The poor genestealers... I love them and want to use them, but you're probably right... in this set up, value for points wouldn't be great. What about a squad of gargoyles instead? Could be good to assist with target saturation, and then put a couple of Deathspitters on the other two warriors to increase their range a bit and use up the last ten points?

Well one nice thing about Exocrene is ...add a Warrior Brood, with a Cannon and you have a Living Arty Node (1 Warrior, Cannon, 3 Biovores, 1 Exocrene, Special rule: re-roll scatter for blasts if within Synapse of Warrior Brood ) Lots of folks seem to like it.

I do recommend tossing Deathspitters onto any Warrior Brood. Thaose points are always going to payoff Gargoyles are a very good FA choice, and they can escort a Winged Tyrant to provide a cover save. In the current rules environment I'd say that 80 to 90 % of building a "good" Nids list is located in the Heavy slots Though "Skyblight" builds out using FA (but it uses a Special Rule to make this work )

Heck it looks like you could run a Formation "as is". Maybe you should try it out. At 1250 it would be a heck of a thing to deal with

Ok, here is the list I will run in a couple of weeks time:

HQ:
Hive Tyrant - Wings, 2xTL Devs

Troops:
Termagants x30
Tervigon - Electroshock grubs
Warriors x3 1x Barbed strangler, 2x DS

Elites:
Venomthrope x1
Zoanthrope x1

Heavy:
Biovore x3
Mawloc
Exocrine

Fast Attack:
Gargoyles x10

1250 points exactly.

I have been looking at the living artillery formation for my Hive Fleet as like you say, I already have all the components for it in my army... just can't use it in the upcoming games as we are using vanilla codex... no formations, allies, or anything else.

Moving into bigger point games with formations allowed is probably when I'll throw in the living arty node and then can look at throwing a t-fex into the mix as well

Better get my exocrine and gargoyles built huh

Thanks

This second list looks a lot stronger. A flier, a good amount of troops to score, and enough synapse.
Personally, I am not a fan of the exocrine (I like to run t-fexes), but the heavy section is where nid players can run a lot of different looks and still have a strong list.

As much as I like stealers, the gargoyles will work better with this list and for what you intend.

If you do find you can run formations I would break the warriors, biovores and Exocrine out to form the "living artillery node". It costs the same points but gives you a few perks like re-rolls and a pinning exocrine.

barnowl wrote:
As much as I like stealers, the gargoyles will work better with this list and for what you intend.

Yeah I agree. I didn't even think about gargoyles when I first made the list as have never used them before, when I went back and had another gander, I figured they would be a nice fast screening unit for the WHT or just another fast in your face threat to overload my opponent, whereas the genestealers weren't going to be able to do that effectively in this list.

barnowl wrote:
If you do find you can run formations I would break the warriors, biovores and Exocrine out to form the "living artillery node". It costs the same points but gives you a few perks like re-rolls and a pinning exocrine.

Definitely looking at doing this on games where formations are "allowed" as it is same points with a couple of perks... however main bonus for me would be the fact it re-opens two heavy support slots, allowing me to stop worrying about the t-fex vs exocrine debate and just take one of each

So a call has been made by the group that no flyers will be coming to our little gathering, there is a bunch of us that are getting back into 40k after a lay off for quite some time, so we thought we would keep it low points and as "simple" as possible to get through the games, hence the limitations to what we can bring. Moving forward as we get back into it we will increase points limits, add flyers, formations etc and generally get back fully into the game.

So here is my altered list:

HQ:
Hive Tyrant - TL Devs, HVC
- 2x Tyrant Guard

Troops:
Termagants x30
Tervigon - Electroshock grubs
Warriors x3 one with Barbed strangler

Elites:
Venomthrope x1
Zoanthrope x1

Heavy:
Biovore x3
Mawloc
Exocrine

1250 points exactly.

Good thing about this list is I can very quickly alter it... swap the HVC for TL devs on tyrant, and then I'll have the 175 points to swap exocrine for t-fex if required.

Dropped the tyrant wings and gargoyles and put the points into a tough walking tyrant. The tactics shift a bit with this list:

- Hive Tyrant, Exocrine, Venomthrope and Warriors all advance with Termagant bubble wrap.
- Biovores and Zoanthrope camp out and bombs away!
- Tervigon is bit more backfield/midfield in this list as don't need to be as aggressive with her any more. Spawning away and taking objectives. Although I can advance her with the bubble to do more threat overload.
- Mawloc tunnels around the place randomly exploding up out of the ground to mess up the enemy troops formations

I reckon this will be pretty fun to play, and a tough nut to crack! Four MCs and the ability to upset my enemies gunlines at this points level should be pretty solid.

I think this looks like a strong list. The only suggestion I have is to drop the zoanthrope for another venomthrope. You already have plenty of synapse between the tyrant, tervigon, and warriors. Use the second venom to either ensure that your swarm makes to to the opponent on to give your biovores some nice 3+/2+ cover.

As for tactics, I would actually leave the warriors behind to babysit the biovores and have the tervigon move up and spawn. The reasoning is that the warriors and biovores can sit on your backfield objectives and be efficient. Having the tervigon forward will allow it to be a threat (as its an MC and still dangerous), and all of the spawned squads can either be meat shields or can take midfield objectives while the MCs move into your opponent's backfield.