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Reecius has a great article up on the Frontline Gaming site about Imperial Armor 4 giving Tyranids some much needed love! Click through and give him some views by reading it over there

http://www.frontlinegaming.org/2014/07/24/nid-players-get-pumped/

Anyway, I was just curious what some tournament player's thoughts were on these 3 units that he discusses (Malanthrope, Dimachaeron, and Stonecrusher Fex).

The Malanthrope seems to be being really well received by basically everybody, while the Fex is interesting but really just another Fex option among many. The real question is the Dimachaeron! Getting a very polarized reception- absolutely panned by some posters in the Tyranid tactica thread on Dakka, but Reecius is very positive about it, as is jy2 I think.

So, does the Dimachaeron have a shot at being in some competitive builds? And is every other nid player ordering their book and a Malanthrope right now? Because I know I am, as soon as the DCM group order goes through this month . Hopefully, I'll be able to run 1 / 2 Dimachaerons, too

Malanthropes are the only actual thing to get excited about, that and having all the Hierophant rules in one spot.

The Dimachaeron has been discussed at length (and to death) in the Tyranid tactics thread. General consensus is he is another slow, large MC who is not fearless that has to foot slog (the silly 6" leap doesnt speed things up) with a 3+ save. If he gets in to combat thats great, but it'd be great if a lot of our MC's could get in to combat.

Malanthropes are awesome and an automatic take if FW is allowed.

I did see that discussion regarding the Dimachaeron- but I particularly wanted to get tournament player's thoughts on it (and Forgeworld buffing up Nids in general), based on Reecius' article above.

And yeah, Malanthrope looks like buttered bread dipped in gravy. A definite include in most lists, even just for that extra synapse!

Shouldn't this be in 40k Tactics?

Yeah, I guess so! Rookie mistake, sorry . Moving it there now...

 RiTides wrote:
I did see that discussion regarding the Dimachaeron- but I particularly wanted to get tournament player's thoughts on it (and Forgeworld buffing up Nids in general), based on Reecius' article above.

And yeah, Malanthrope looks like buttered bread dipped in gravy. A definite include in most lists, even just for that extra synapse!

The Dimachaeron is not a bad unit, he does fill a good niche for the Tyranid codex of being a great CC model adept at killing other big things. Surprisingly most single models for Nids are bad at that. But, in my personal opinion he does not change the power level of Tyranids at all. Is he worth his points yes, but no more so than some of the other options we can bring. I think you would get just as much mileage out of 200 points of poisoned gargoyles, or rending Raveners. The Dima's problem is that you have to go through a lot of extra effort to get his rules and his model, but he doesn't stand out as any better than some of the other options in the Fast Attack slot. So, me personally, I will be leaving him at home. If you have a ton of money to spend he can be fun to get, but from a financial perspective there is no reason to get the Dima instead of, say, 30 Gargoyles.

The Stonecrusher fex is slightly over rated in my mind. I used two of them in a game recently, and they did well. I killed a Knight on the charge that had suffered one Hull point previously, before he got to swing back thanks to Hammer of Wrath. But, using them once told me all I needed to. They are way too slow to keep up with the rest of my army personally, and they only saw action because my opponent came to me. With our need for cover, they have to hit area terrain but are too slow to do so efficiently. Once they were seen as a threat my opponent killed them. In a list designed for MC saturation they have potential, but in my list (4+ flyers and a Knight Titan) they are too slow to keep up with my assault and so fall behind. Again, in other lists they are potentially good, but not in mine.

The Malanthrope is amazing. I'm not the first or last to realize this, everyone knows it by now. I've only used it once but holy crap is it good. It frees up a Kill point, and is cheaper and more durable than a Venom+Zoey. My personal opinion is that a brood of two is perfect. It allows for a tough target and some good coverage of synapse/shrouded. I will be starting mine inside a Bastion and disembarking to move up the field and support for turns 2-3. They are just too amazing not to use, for every single Tyranid list out there. I bought my IA book already, its great.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Malanthrope. Ordered 1 the night that the IA4 stuff leaked and have loved it in the two games I've proxied it whilst it ships to me.

It's probably one of the best support units in the game, the fact that it does all that a two Venomthropes do, but tougher, cheaper, and with Synapse is enough, but you put on top of that all the nifty little things like the challenge shennanigans, poisoned 2+, and the preferred enemy buff, and it's just amazing.

I think I'll be getting another one in the near future!

The malanthrope is a "must-take" no-brainer. He is a much, much, MUCH better version of the venomthrope and those guys were must-haves in practically every Tyranid army anyways.

The stonecrusher fex appears somewhat 1-dimensional IMO. While great at taking out armour, he isn't so good against infantry. Personally, for the same price, I'd take the dakkafex over him. The dakkafex is a much better TAC unit due to its ability to shoot as well as assault.

The dimachaeron does have potential to shine if properly supported, though I wouldn't say he is the most competitive unit. This guy is a cc-powerhouse in an army that ironically isn't all that great in assault anymore. He can also handle all but the AV14 vehicles. However, he will have problem surviving against the more shooty armies....though that is not necessarily a bad thing as it lets the rest of the army survive a little longer. Overall, I can see an army being built around it.

Too bad they don't have another super-shooter bug like the dakkarants or dakkafexes. The strength of the bugs is in its mobile shooting. In other words, maximize on the best unit in the dex, the dakka flyrant and you won't go wrong.

The stone crusher carnifexes are very very interesting. The Hammer of Wrath huts are almost better than the actual attacks. I need to test it, but the Flail seems like the way to go, since it's much harder to tar pit and it only loses a bit of effectiveness against vehicles.

The Malanthrope becomes so much more effective if you use it aggressively and join in charges with Devilfexes or other beefy assault units, sincetc it can help to neuter power fists, and let the other units do the heavy lifting and then dish out that juicy preferred enemy. I think two separate ones to spread the bubbles about are the way to go. I'm thinking of ditching my two single Zoeys and using a second one, and using the points for Adrenal Glands on a Tervigon or Tyrannofex.

The Malanthrope is nice, but nowhere near what some people think. It's a very playable Synapse option - not an auto-include, it's a nice 50 pt Venomthrope upgrade for some lists though. I don't personally like throwing away 50 pts pretty much for Synapse, choosing to find it elsewhere in the dex in ways that stand a better chance of making their points back. I'd also prefer 1 or 2 Venom over a Malanthrope. But combine these two things together and he might just be the right answer for some lists. Nothing game changing, and I still prefer Venom, but it is a usable option.

The Dima is ridiculously bad, with the main supporting argument for it appearing to be "But don't you see how good it is in close combat!". Yes, we know, but that's ignoring 6" movespeed and it's terrible durability, making this thing seeing an optimal combat, highly unlikely. Which is another note - if it's getting shot, this is definitely a bad thing, not a good thing for being a "fire magnet". It's 200 pts for 6 T6 wounds.that's the durability of a 140 pt Mawloc, except far less likely to do damage. It's less durable than the cheaper Tyrannofex. To sum things up its a monstrous size glass cannon that's impossible to hide, threatens nothing up until mid-late game, moves at 6" and is easily kiteable, and for some inexplicable reason was placed in the fast attack slot, clashing with the fact that all you can really take to support his speed issues is as many cheap Gargoyle tarpits as possible.
He will excel against low-level/unfamiliar players who feed Wraithknights and other expensive crap to him. This is a pretty inconsistent role to bank 200+ pts on for every Dima taken. He is top 3 worst units available to Nids.

While I appreciate that view Shuppet, I did read a lot of it in the Tyranid tactica thread, so maybe I should've phrased that I'd be interested in how people might use some of these units competitively. I can definitely see it's not the best unit out there, with some major weaknesses, but I'd like to hear how tournament players might try to use one. No harm if you don't like it, of course, but hopefully those who are interested in possibly using it can have a constructive discussion about the possibilities over here.

jifel- You don't think putting 2 Malanthropes in a Bastion is a bit of overkill? I'm totally putting one in, and I guess if you had 2 they could be more effective once you've moved up the field... but that seems like a pretty pricey way to go (85 + 85 + 75 for the Bastion = 245).

I like all the additions especially the Dimachaeron, I will copy and paste what I said about it in another thread. As far as the Mal it is an auto include in tyranids armies easily one of the best buff units in the game. The new carnifexes best attribute ironically is its defense - 1 to str to shooting weapons is deceptively useful and its hammer of wrath having ap 2 makes them decent in combat.

We are underestimating the leaper rule, its a jump pack that gives the Dimachaeron a guaranteed 6 inches of movement. It is not slowed down by being in difficult terrain and remember unlike a dakkafex you are not shooting any weapons so you will be running every turn and with fleet you should move around 10 inches a turn easy. Their 6 inch movement is better because it is jump pack like allowing you to take advantage of terrain easier especially los blocking terrain, as the threat of it jumping out of cover to assault becomes a serious issue. The guaranteed 6 inches out of cover followed by a charge with re-rolls due to fleet should mean you get in cc. If you place the objectives in the middle of the board the Dimachaeron will be a threat by turn 2 if your opponent is trying to claim objectives. Turn 3 the rest of your walking threats should be range to be a threat such as dakkafexes.

Secondily the stats of this thing is amazing for 10 points more than a trygon you get more wounds more attacks higher iniative at the same weapon skill as a Hive Tyrant. Which means its going to hit most things on a 3+ and wound on a 2+.

In cc is where the Dimachaeron shines, first off lets discuss the number of attacks it gets. The sickle claws and grasping talons should grant an extra attack, 1 more for charging, and up to 3 more for rampage thats up to 10 attacks on the charge! After that you are looking at a minimum of 7 a turn. It gets better when you charge with your 8-10 attacks they are resolved at strength 8, plus 1 because of FC and another 1 because of grasping talons. With the number of attacks you have you should roll a 6 to hit to activate the maw. This is a ruling question as it says the maw may target any none extremely bulky model if we get to select the model the instant death attack is really good. We simply target the model that has multi-wounds and no invulnerable save, and extremely bulky units is rarer than most think I believe centurions are very bulky. Either way you should be able to get feel no pain for 1-2 turns depending on what unit you charge. Sickle claws on the other hand is alot simpler on a wound roll of 4+ instant death. The Dimachaeron is design to instant kill stuff either with the talons with str 8 atks, the maw which depending on the ruling gets to target a model to instant kill, or if that is to difficult just roll a 4+ with the sickle claws.

This thing is going to be really good once players learn how to take advantage of its unique movement.

 RiTides wrote:
While I appreciate that view Shuppet, I did read a lot of it in the Tyranid tactica thread, so maybe I should've phrased that I'd be interested in how people might use some of these units competitively. I can definitely see it's not the best unit out there, with some major weaknesses, but I'd like to hear how tournament players might try to use one. No harm if you don't like it, of course, but hopefully those who are interested in possibly using it can have a constructive discussion about the possibilities over here.

jifel- You don't think putting 2 Malanthropes in a Bastion is a bit of overkill? I'm totally putting one in, and I guess if you had 2 they could be more effective once you've moved up the field... but that seems like a pretty pricey way to go (85 + 85 + 75 for the Bastion = 245).

The malanthropes will not stay in the Bastion, so I want to two to protect the unit once it gets out. A few markerlights and firewariors could kill a lone Malanthrope without much trouble, but that second one helps a lot. Sadly, I only have one converted at the moment which is troublesome for "running two" when I have a tourney on Saturday... I may scrap an old Walkrant and Green stuff him to heck. I still think the Bastion is worth it though as it will protect the Biovores and provide Line of Sight blocking to other units, plus lets me purchase Barricades.

Forgeworld rules strike again I suppose. Seems like forgeworld puts out mostly lemons, but the few units that get past RnD are -snip- auto includes. Bad rule writing all around.

Edit: Apparently you can't say Re re on the internet anymore.

To be perfectly honest here.

Malanthropes are the real stars. For less points than a pair of Venomthropes you get something significantly better. Better base toughness, better save and synapse pretty much turn the Malanthrope into the must have for me.

Stonecrusher Fex...the more I consider it the more I find myself shying away from it. It suffers the same problems as a close combat fex but with the following flaws...

Its base cost is higher. No access to Adrenal glands - sure, you have increased Strength as base but the fleet reroll for running and charging sure would help an awful lot more...

It also effectively has 2 less attacks than a Carnifex. One less base and I realise that it will never claim the option for 2 CCWs. This makes it much, much less reliable in combat and much, much more dependant on its AP 2 HoW hits to have an impact.

The Dima - well, this thing has the close combat bug problem with a far, far steeper points cost for it. It seems like a gigantic pile of stats which are mostly redundant for what it does. I don't have much faith in Dima to be honest. The models size has me sad as I seriously wish they'd had just ramped it to 100 points more, upped its toughness and called it a Gargantuan Creature LoW - the Gargantuan Creature rules alone would have solved so many of its problems and would have given us something worth considering for that slot in a lower point range...

I refuse to play the Dimachaeron only because of how ridiculous it is for such a large model to only be able to "leap" as far as it would move if it "fell" forward on it's face. Just add whatever it would cost to make it a Beast to it's points total and call it a day. You could even get rid of (or not) the bonus to it's STR and strikedown on the charge...I could care less. It's a huge murderous looking monster that looks like it should be tearing lines of death across the battlefield, but in reality is only interested in taking one stride before making another deadly pose and roaring at the camera. Dreadfully stupid...

That's not to say I think it's super handicapped by the 6" leaping move. It does have fleet, as CKO points out...it'll get there. I just hate how DUMB it's movement turned out to be.

Malanthropes are great. Not sure they are auto include though.

Consider you can get almost 2 venomthropes for the cost of one. They still are not immune to ID, but at toughness 5 only str 10 and weapons that ID are IDing them. Prey adaption will almost never come into play as they have to kill something for it to work. its actually arguably worse in Assault as it doesn't have lash whip and grasping tail doesn't automatically always go off, the 2+ poisoned attacks is the same as the venomthrope and they both have toxic miasma.

It does have a better save, 3+ versus 5+ and more wounds higher S/T and move through cover, SiTW[which is much nuetered now] and synapse.

Overall its better than a venomthrope in pretty much every way, other than assault. I think it comes down to what do you want it for. Most people take venomthropes for the cover save, which is mostly why you would be taking the malanthrope. If you want that cover to move up, some malanthropes are better than venomthropes. if you have stuff you want to hang out of LOS to fire off barrages, or put in a bastion, venomthrope is probably still fine and saves you points.

The Dima is pretty amazing, but costs a lot. Obviously its also slow, yeah it can jump 6" But that's still 6" and now your rolling DT tests if you are starting or ending in terrain/cover, so its only really great for ignoring terrain in the way. As the jump is 6" that wont be happening often unless you are jumping over small walls. I guess you could jump up onto skyshields or battlements.

The Dima is interesting because its difficult to tarpit. It gets a good amount of base attacks, has an extra set of CC weapons, can opt between doing the spine maw strike which can also try to swallow things, or doing the sickle strike which may come with ID on it. Short of dreadnaught with an Inv save (hello incoming sw shield and axe dread ...) theres not much that is tarpiting this thing.

The one thing that would make the Dima really good, would be flesh hooks...and of course wings or moving like a beast, but flesh hooks would have been nice.

I thought I saw somewhere that the spores were updated as well?

blaktoof wrote:

The Dima is pretty amazing, but costs a lot. Obviously its also slow, yeah it can jump 6" But that's still 6" and now your rolling DT tests if you are starting or ending in terrain/cover, so its only really great for ignoring terrain in the way. As the jump is 6" that wont be happening often unless you are jumping over small walls. I guess you could jump up onto skyshields or battlements.

MC's have Move Through Cover so DT isn't an issue.

Not sure how I always overlook that. thanks!

Sorry RiTides, didn't realise you had followed the Tyranid Strategy thread and still wanted to discuss how you use them, I thought this was more a question on whether they were good models or not.

If I was going to run the Dima, hes overpriced defensively and offensively and this is silly to argue, so taking this into account the list needs to be built around the decisions and map control he forces which is what he does best. Running 1 will just be an expensive waste of wounds, I think 2-3 minimum is necessary. I think my build look something like this:



Flyrant
Flyrant

Malanthrope

3x Rippers, DS
3x Rippers, DS
10x Hormagants
10x Hormagants

Dima
Dima

Mawloc
Mawloc
Mawloc
Mawloc
3x Biovores




It wants to be capable of fighting and even punishing a backfield deployment, Mawlocs do this great for him and tarpit extremely well regardless of the situation, and are almost never anything but really cost effective. It's also putting down 18 T6 wounds turn 2 in the middle of their army (assuming 3 out of 4 come in from reserves), 26 if you include the Flyrants, this may force your opponent to focus something other than Dimas, although I think a good player will still just finish at least one the Dimas before they do anything. The other good thing about Mawlocs is that they do a massive burst damage turn 2, combined with Flyrants may be just enough to water down incoming fire to allow the Dimas to assault turn 3, through virtue of also having the 3+ cover save thanks to Thrope + screen. Hormagants are there to screen the Dimas, not sure if they are big enough, if not a unit of Gargs (or turning one of your troops into Warriors) is worthwhile for that 3+ cover save. I'm also not sure on the size of Dima model so IF he is big enough to block LoS to a Venomthrope but not big enough to block a Malanthrope, than the Venom is a better choice here, and change one of the units of Horms or Rippers into Warriors, for Synapse. This list assumes you either can or can't block LoS to BOTH of them. 3 Dimas might be better than 2 but would require dropping a Mawloc, making the Biovores extremely cost in-effecient at basically a 200 pt squad when you factor in the Ripper tax for dual CAD, make single FOC probably the better option if you go this route. You also probably only need one Flyrant the second is for dual FOC, so there is different ways to achieve what this list is trying to do, look at it as a building block. This list comes out just below 1850, I'm not going to dedicate too much time to tightening it up but you get the idea of how I feel the best way to play him would be.

If I were to go dual-CAD, then there is no question which unit I would spam (and no, it isn't the mawlocs). At 1850 2x CAD, I'd go like this:


Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs

Malanthrope

3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers

Dima
Dima

Mawloc - Adrenal Glands (so that he could more reliably kill tanks should he opt to stay on the table)

Bastion

1849

So how exactly is does dropping 3/4 of your Mawloc tarpits and a full squad of Biovores, for 2 extra Flyrants, at all beneficial for the Dimas? And then, with 14 wounds of Flying Synapse and only 2 units in the entire codex needing it's Synapse, why is there 170 pts of Bastion antics dedicated to doing just this? A Venom with LoS blocked saves you the points cost of the Biovores or even another Mawloc here if you go without AG. And if the cover save is worth that much to you, why did you swap out the Hormagant screens for 2 more Ripper squads?

Is there any actual logic behind those changes or is it just the regular "spam Flyrants/make sure all troops are Rippers/always have a Thrope in a bastion" advice for every single list ever? Because for this list iin particular it especially seems to stand out pretty shortsighted advice, unless I'm missing something here. The one good suggestion was AG on the Mawloc, which I would have included if it fit. The Flyrants are the least questionable thing you changed because they are so aggressive and can thin numbers out quite well, but after the first two I don't see how putting ALL your points into the basket of paying 20 pts per S6 AP- shot is going to be better than far more efficiently covering a broader range of targets with the Biovore squad and the Mawlocs? You are already getting dimishing returns on Powers and Synapse, this isn't like FMC spam where everything is flying, 2 units in that list stand out as pretty sore thumbs to be nailed by every single AT they have, making their role one even a Tyrannofex would do better in this list. Leaving you very very quickly with 900 points of units capable of threatening ANYTHING. Seems like a recipe for disaster tbqh, but maybe I just missed the logic behind this decision (which if I did, it is entirely because the only explanation you gave was "no, spam Flyrants instead!$$")

 jy2 wrote:
If I were to go dual-CAD, then there is no question which unit I would spam (and no, it isn't the mawlocs). At 1850 2x CAD, I'd go like this:


Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs
Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs

Malanthrope

3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers

Dima
Dima

Mawloc - Adrenal Glands (so that he could more reliably kill tanks should he opt to stay on the table)

Bastion

1849

I'd really be tempted to drop the bastion and mawloc and get some decent troops. Saturation of small units would work wonders with the rest of the mc's in that list.

Why not just run:

Flyrant with eg
Malanthrope
Malanthrope
Rippers with DS
Rippers with DS
Dima
Dima

+ stock Skyblight formation

It has good speed, lots of opportunity for shrouded (1 malanthrope can stay with a Dima each for synapse), 5 FMC and 5 OS units

This comes in at 1745 so you have points to spare if you play 1850

 SHUPPET wrote:
Sorry RiTides, didn't realise you had followed the Tyranid Strategy thread and still wanted to discuss how you use them, I thought this was more a question on whether they were good models or not.

If I was going to run the Dima, hes overpriced defensively and offensively and this is silly to argue, so taking this into account the list needs to be built around the decisions and map control he forces which is what he does best. Running 1 will just be an expensive waste of wounds, I think 2-3 minimum is necessary. I think my build look something like this:



Flyrant
Flyrant

Malanthrope

3x Rippers, DS
3x Rippers, DS
10x Hormagants
10x Hormagants

Dima
Dima

Mawloc
Mawloc
Mawloc
Mawloc
3x Biovores




It wants to be capable of fighting and even punishing a backfield deployment, Mawlocs do this great for him and tarpit extremely well regardless of the situation, and are almost never anything but really cost effective. It's also putting down 18 T6 wounds turn 2 in the middle of their army (assuming 3 out of 4 come in from reserves), 26 if you include the Flyrants, this may force your opponent to focus something other than Dimas, although I think a good player will still just finish at least one the Dimas before they do anything. The other good thing about Mawlocs is that they do a massive burst damage turn 2, combined with Flyrants may be just enough to water down incoming fire to allow the Dimas to assault turn 3, through virtue of also having the 3+ cover save thanks to Thrope + screen. Hormagants are there to screen the Dimas, not sure if they are big enough, if not a unit of Gargs (or turning one of your troops into Warriors) is worthwhile for that 3+ cover save. I'm also not sure on the size of Dima model so IF he is big enough to block LoS to a Venomthrope but not big enough to block a Malanthrope, than the Venom is a better choice here, and change one of the units of Horms or Rippers into Warriors, for Synapse. This list assumes you either can or can't block LoS to BOTH of them. 3 Dimas might be better than 2 but would require dropping a Mawloc, making the Biovores extremely cost in-effecient at basically a 200 pt squad when you factor in the Ripper tax for dual CAD, make single FOC probably the better option if you go this route. You also probably only need one Flyrant the second is for dual FOC, so there is different ways to achieve what this list is trying to do, look at it as a building block. This list comes out just below 1850, I'm not going to dedicate too much time to tightening it up but you get the idea of how I feel the best way to play him would be.

You sure don't know how to make a list without spamming units x3 onwards

Terror from the Deep wrote:
Why not just run:

Flyrant with eg
Malanthrope
Malanthrope
Rippers with DS
Rippers with DS
Dima
Dima

+ stock Skyblight formation

It has good speed, lots of opportunity for shrouded (1 malanthrope can stay with a Dima each for synapse), 5 FMC and 5 OS units

This comes in at 1745 so you have points to spare if you play 1850

I'd have to chime in and say this seems to be stronger to me, at least on paper. Maybe squeeze some points to add in the second flyrant if it's there. It has plenty of target saturation, OS units, and threats that must be dealt with. All without relying on finnicky reserve rolls.

 jy2 wrote:
If I were to go dual-CAD, then there is no question which unit I would spam (and no, it isn't the mawlocs). At 1850 2x CAD, I'd go like this:
3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers - DS
3x Rippers

Do not understand the Ripper obsession. You need Gaunts to bubble-wrap against things like drop pods and scouting bikes. 1 maybe 2 squads of rippers might make sense if your opponent's ignore them aka doesn't know WTF they are doing, but This list is just begging to get alpha struck.

Just wanted to say guys, this is all very helpful, so thanks for considering how you would run these!

Jy2 would you mind if I posted the single CAD list you shared with me for running 2 Dimas? I'm really considering giving it a try

Shuppet, I like where you're going with that list, but I feel like with the Dimas basically alone on the board, they're going to get shot to pieces? My thinking of how to best support them was to run Tyrannofexes alongside. With that sweet 2+ save model in front of them, and Malanthrope behind, a Dima could advance right behind the Tyrannofexes and then leap over them on the critical turn!

Something like:

Flyrant - 2x TL-D's, Egrubs - 240
Flyrant - 2x TL-D's, Egrubs - 240

Malanthrope - 85

3x Rippers - Deepstrike - 45
3x Rippers - Deepstrike - 45
3x Rippers - Deepstrike - 45

Dima - 200
Dima - 200

Tyrannofex - Acid Spray, Egrubs - 185
Tyrannofex - Acid Spray, Egrubs - 185
2 x Dakkafex - 300

Bastion - 75

1845

That's a lot of beef coming up the middle! But maybe a Crone and a Mawloc would be better than the Dakkafexes, to spread out the points?

Considering he can only leap his 6" movement or a charge, I think a Tyrannofex base is too large to leap over.

I don't know if I can get behind the Bastion idea anymore. With the apparent shift to alpha striking armies that are all packing strong melta groups, it seems very likely you'll just lose the bastion and whatever was hiding inside on the first turn; unless you bubble wrap it with gaunt squads (which no lists seem to be doing)