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I'm kinda liking the look of Warriors now.
The ignore -1 and -2 AP adaptive physiology trait should work nicely with them. Particularly if you can throw it on a couple of units. Alternatively the +2 to cover one would work fairly well too, if you want Jorm warriors with a 2+ save.
They also have a fairly decent sounding stratagem to reduce the damage of weapons fired at them by 1.
Coupled with our usual defensive stuff (malanthrope, catalyst, maybe the new maleceptor stratagem), you get a unit that seems pretty hard to put down.
Not to mention they're now a couple of points cheaper.

I might finally paint up all the second hand ones I bought for cheap a few years ago, and try running them in a few games.

Did I see 40 pts biovores...if so I might dust off my bad boys and start using 9 again.

I would never look at Kraken again (or any other standard fleet) with the custom adaptation we have.

If i'm reading it right, we can put a unit of horma in melee turn 1 without even charging if we start. If we don't, we can put all our horma in melee end of turn 1.

Kraken is too slow now compared to the other options.


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Edit: Ok no, exact wording of the adaptations is out. Too bad, it didn't work as spoiled...

It did seem too good.


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addnid wrote:

 Emicrania wrote:
The problem with 300 HG you will never do anything after T2/3 because you LL get clocked out.
I play 192 models with orks, 115 grots that just need positioning for grot shield, and, even with movement trays, I barely make it .

So do I, and just like you I barely make it. 300, even just 200 Hormas will take longer and trays for them are next to impossible with the talons sticking out. But a 90 horma battalion stacking ap2 on them sounds ok. Though when you math it out 60 attacks hitting on 4s is not great. How can we make em hit on 3s ? They are garbage otherwise at killing no ? Ok they reroll ones but that ain’t so great. You do what 13 wounds to a toughness 4 or 5 unit with a full 60 strong unit ? Mmmm

12 wounds with a 30 strong unit, which for 150 points isn't exactly bad. With -2 AP it means almost wiping out an intercessor squad. With -3 it is wiped.


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By the way, what is hyve consensus on the new tyrannocite?

As i see it, it is the better pod right now in game.

The smurf one costs 10 points less and can arrive turn 1, but it is so limited in what it can bring that is rarely used. It is also bad equipped and cannot move.

Our pod for 10 point more can carry a lot of stuff, including monsters, has a decent firepower and after landing is not a useless lump of metal that an enemy can hug to become immune to shooting, but is a little monster going around capping and putting things in melee (with fly).

All the Baal stuff, the strats especially seem like beta testing to me. Most of them are specific to a particular unit as a sort-of band aid, like they wanted to buff the unit but didn't want to risk making an OP mess for a year or so till the next codex comes out.

I wouldn't be surprised to see stuff like the Hormie -1AP or Haruspex reroll hits become am on-the-charge rule in the next codex.

Big winners of recent changes:

Exocrine. If there was ever a meta for high RoF + high AP, it’s this one. On top of the point reduction, the Exocrine benefits from adaptations both defensive (Invul + Double bracket) and offensive (D3 bonus mortal wounds on a pinged unit) which I believe can be selected as per match up, he also gets big mileage off the Kronos power for a ton more hits, as well as their very own stratagem.

Big bugs. This sort of goes without saying, but also not. The biggest thing holding back big bugs was the fact that no other big bugs were good. Any one good bug you include will just provide an obvious first target for any hostile AT. Big bugs that didn’t get much better actually did get much better just by virtue of there being other big bugs worth pairing them with.

Lictors. These things were already better Rippers some games. Their new stratagem is amazing. Very low investment to deal with hostile overwatch (something that has been growing increasingly scary). Might not sound like much on paper, but when it’s 33 pts to save you like 10 Genestealers or more, this starts looking a lot better. And in match ups where that’s not relevant, just save the CP and use them as Rippers, or a targeted scalpel to help out on offense with a few more dice. These are very strong now. And the custom Hive Fleets actually have a purpose here. Lictors never really got much from our main Hive Fleets, they already deploy where they need to be and reroll charges so Kraken and Behemoth do very little for them, most of them are pretty much wasted in Lictors. But a custom Hive Fleet Vanguard of 3 of them, I’m sure there’s some more utility you can squeeze off them. At a cursory glance, -1 LD bubble helps a Mental Onslaught Patriarch ally (STILL zone of the most powerful spells in the game), and leading the detachment with a Neurothrope rerolling all casts can only be good. But I’m sure you could find better. Point is it’s another way it got better.

On the topic of Neurothropes, Resonance Barb is absurdly good. What a great relic. Guaranteed inclusion in every single mono Nid list, and probably in Nid soup too. Just so damn good. It’s a Crouchling that doesn’t expire, and gives an extra deny, and that was GSCs best relic already. I will be taking this so often that I might even model a barbed psychic crown around my lead Neurothropes head. Well, maybe not based on how quickly GW retires relics in each edition, even then I’m still considering it.

OOE. Thanks to adaptation. S8 OOE is amazing. He’s now wounding Knights on 2+ with Claws and marines on 2+ with Talons. Rhino sized vehicles on 3+ with Talons too. Flat 4 damage has obvious application vs vehicles but also helps put multi wound Iron Hand things like Cents and Aggressors and in the dirt for good. And AP4 means they don’t even get that niggly 6+ anymore.



I’ll post again later with the things I think are a bit of a bill, I think there’s a bit of theory hype for some stuff that might fall a little flat in practice.

 Nitro Zeus wrote:
Big winners of recent changes:

Exocrine. If there was ever a meta for high RoF + high AP, it’s this one. On top of the point reduction, the Exocrine benefits from adaptations both defensive (Invul + Double bracket) and offensive (D3 bonus mortal wounds on a pinged unit) which I believe can be selected as per match up, he also gets big mileage off the Kronos power for a ton more hits, as well as their very own stratagem.

Big bugs. This sort of goes without saying, but also not. The biggest thing holding back big bugs was the fact that no other big bugs were good. Any one good bug you include will just provide an obvious first target for any hostile AT. Big bugs that didn’t get much better actually did get much better just by virtue of there being other big bugs worth pairing them with.

Lictors. These things were already better Rippers some games. Their new stratagem is amazing. Very low investment to deal with hostile overwatch (something that has been growing increasingly scary). Might not sound like much on paper, but when it’s 33 pts to save you like 10 Genestealers or more, this starts looking a lot better. And in match ups where that’s not relevant, just save the CP and use them as Rippers, or a targeted scalpel to help out on offense with a few more dice. These are very strong now. And the custom Hive Fleets actually have a purpose here. Lictors never really got much from our main Hive Fleets, they already deploy where they need to be and reroll charges so Kraken and Behemoth do very little for them, most of them are pretty much wasted in Lictors. But a custom Hive Fleet Vanguard of 3 of them, I’m sure there’s some more utility you can squeeze off them. At a cursory glance, -1 LD bubble helps a Mental Onslaught Patriarch ally (STILL zone of the most powerful spells in the game), and leading the detachment with a Neurothrope rerolling all casts can only be good. But I’m sure you could find better. Point is it’s another way it got better.

On the topic of Neurothropes, Resonance Barb is absurdly good. What a great relic. Guaranteed inclusion in every single mono Nid list, and probably in Nid soup too. Just so damn good. It’s a Crouchling that doesn’t expire, and gives an extra deny, and that was GSCs best relic already. I will be taking this so often that I might even model a barbed psychic crown around my lead Neurothropes head. Well, maybe not based on how quickly GW retires relics in each edition, even then I’m still considering it.

OOE. Thanks to adaptation. S8 OOE is amazing. He’s now wounding Knights on 2+ with Claws and marines on 2+ with Talons. Rhino sized vehicles on 3+ with Talons too. Flat 4 damage has obvious application vs vehicles but also helps put multi wound Iron Hand things like Cents and Aggressors and in the dirt for good. And AP4 means they don’t even get that niggly 6+ anymore.



I’ll post again later with the things I think are a bit of a bill, I think there’s a bit of theory hype for some stuff that might fall a little flat in practice.

1 Lictor is autoinclude in any melee Tyr list (even more with GSC allied). 34 points and a 8" rerolling charge without overwatch is just PERFECT for any melee based list (and in GSC it's practically unmatched since it's effectively makes your acolyte bombs hit HARD)

I’d honestly take 2 or 3, multiple turns worth of no OW is good and even if they can’t ds beyond turn 4 it still means they have to clean all 3 off the table to deny you doing it further, and as individual 34 pt units it just seems like it would tie up more resources than it costs. And they have a lot of application out of that. Definitely great with GSC allies too.

 Nitro Zeus wrote:
I’d honestly take 2 or 3, multiple turns worth of no OW is good and even if they can’t ds beyond turn 4 it still means they have to clean all 3 off the table to deny you doing it further, and as individual 34 pt units it just seems like it would tie up more resources than it costs. And they have a lot of application out of that. Definitely great with GSC allies too.

Not really needed, especially when GSC also has Relic + Psychic Power to deny Overwatch. Hit HARD on turn 2 turning off multiple OWs and keep them in melee (if they manage to survive somehow) and you've greatly increased your chances of victory. Multiple lictors kinda defeat this strategy because at this point you're not getting much value off the cost (since it's always one lictor that does this but you're spending multiple 34 points) and unless shot on the deepstrike you're almost sure to make use of the combo

My GSC is already maxed out on relics (Crouchling, Vial, Kelermorph/Sanctus gun), plus I find the target I want to Hypnosis is often not the one I want to deny Overwatch from anyway. Also, assaulting after turn 2 is very big as well, trying to crash the party with everyone at once often isn’t worth. I’ll be waiting for BattleScribe updates before restructuring my Nids but I see low likelihood of me running less than 2 Lictors.

Personally I don't soup GSC into my Nids so being able to turn off Overwatch with Lictors is very welcome.

Kronos Exocrines are insane, remember that they have +1 to hit, so with the Kronos power they generate extra hits on a 5+.

That's basically a 50% increase in firepower and would average at 14 hits, which is more than the original shots.

Yeah, it is an on call "I want that repulsor down for 230 points and 3 CP, oh and i get to put 2 monsters on the table".

It's honestly broken.

Edit: Ok no, repulsor no because it has 16 wounds, but a TC goes down. The repulsor would require a little support from something else, but still....

Tyran wrote:
Kronos Exocrines are insane, remember that they have +1 to hit, so with the Kronos power they generate extra hits on a 5+.

That's basically a 50% increase in firepower and would average at 14 hits, which is more than the original shots.

I HOPE your not saying this is a bad thing!


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 Nitro Zeus wrote:

Lictors. These things were already better Rippers some games. Their new stratagem is amazing. Very low investment to deal with hostile overwatch (something that has been growing increasingly scary). Might not sound like much on paper, but when it’s 33 pts to save you like 10 Genestealers or more, this starts looking a lot better. And in match ups where that’s not relevant, just save the CP and use them as Rippers, or a targeted scalpel to help out on offense with a few more dice. These are very strong now. And the custom Hive Fleets actually have a purpose here. Lictors never really got much from our main Hive Fleets, they already deploy where they need to be and reroll charges so Kraken and Behemoth do very little for them, most of them are pretty much wasted in Lictors. But a custom Hive Fleet Vanguard of 3 of them, I’m sure there’s some more utility you can squeeze off them. At a cursory glance, -1 LD bubble helps a Mental Onslaught Patriarch ally (STILL zone of the most powerful spells in the game), and leading the detachment with a Neurothrope rerolling all casts can only be good. But I’m sure you could find better. Point is it’s another way it got better.

Man that IS good....

 Nitro Zeus wrote:

OOE. Thanks to adaptation. S8 OOE is amazing. He’s now wounding Knights on 2+ with Claws and marines on 2+ with Talons. Rhino sized vehicles on 3+ with Talons too. Flat 4 damage has obvious application vs vehicles but also helps put multi wound Iron Hand things like Cents and Aggressors and in the dirt for good. And AP4 means they don’t even get that niggly 6+ anymore.

I'm liking this, but sadly I believe this should have been a regular stat with ALL Carnifex units and not a adaptation. Here's to hoping for the NEXT codex...Sadly these guys were one of THE MOST feared models in all of 40K. They need to be respected once again.

So a few things stand out to me.

First i hink using Progeny of the hive to get another (2 total) Adaptive Physiology is a must pick.

Lictor with Suprise Ambush T1 to tie up units. No overwatch especially against Tau. Charge him in, then send in the genestealers. Use kraken synaptic lure to reroll charge from deespstrike if needed, with a +1 to charge, so an 8, (just under 60% chance to get it off). To bad cant stack with Adrenal glands for a lovely 7. GW really doesnt want Charging out of DS to be so fast. Dont forget the -1 to shooting, so things like tau overwatch on 5's becomes 6s.
Use Hunters Drive. Have a Flyrant pick off a Single MODEL for the intended Charge target. Pop this strat. now you can roll 3d6 drop the lowest (twice). Odds of getting 3d6 drop the lowest the average of 8.5 with 68% chance. Rerolls



If they manage to fall back dont forget Savage Distraction for another -1 to hit. So they could be -2 to hit for anything with Venom/Malnthrope shroud or Fex spores or the lictor himself.

Arachnacyte Gland on a Melee Fex or Broodlord to support GS could be good.

Stacking Sything Talon AP to -2 for Hormagaunts and maybe even genestealers, but then they are not as fast.

Possibly taking the HF Reroll Advance with another trait of flavor to get almost as fast as kraken. Combine with 6" pile in and you have hormie/GS hybrid. Other options for Hive Fleet adapations that stand out are buffed Sything talons AP, or 2+ Warriors.

Warriors at a 2+ Armor save with Malanthrope -1 ( possibly -2 see above). Then Unyielding chitin for reduced damage. Park these guys in the middle of the board and hold the line. To bad it doesnt work for melee.

Hive Instinct can be good if you get a Broodlord, Swarmy or Prime in combat, use that to extend charge range of unit of GS if needed.

Aggressive Adaptation on Swarmlord or OOE or even GS/Gants for increase AP is always good, though that unit just became target priorty. Could be a good wait to bait opponent into focusing that unit down if you need another one to survive or not draw fire.

The Resonance Barb Relic seems to be a must take for having the ability to use any power needed. Finally pychic dominance is possible. Possibly casting up to 4 powers a turn when combo with power of the hive mind. Potentially a catalyst, onslaught, horror and smite, or just 4 smites. Synaptic channel to just cast whatever power you want.

Unsure if rules allow placement off the new Adaptations on named characters, if so buffing Swarmy and OOE seems obvious.

Exorcine Kronos with Symbiostorm & Symbtioic Devastation. +1 to hit reroll 1s, and can still move and shoot twice. Then with shoot again stratagem essentially making it like having 4x shots. I see 3 of these being a staple . Too bad they dont have monsterous brood.

Using it on hive guard can be good as well, gettin gan extra hit on the 6s, but I think the exocrine is probably the better option.


Stacking Kronos soul hunger with new pysker Pyschic Fissiure to get 2d3 mortal wounds on a failed save. Dont forget deepest shadow to force the test on a single dice and you shadow in the warp.

 Dynas wrote:

Lictor with Suprise Ambush T1 to tie up units. No overwatch especially against Tau. Charge him in, then send in the genestealers. Use kraken synaptic lure to reroll charge from deespstrike if needed, with a +1 to charge, so an 8, (just under 60% chance to get it off). To bad cant stack with Adrenal glands for a lovely 7. GW really doesnt want Charging out of DS to be so fast. Dont forget the -1 to shooting, so things like tau overwatch on 5's becomes 6s.

You can't deepstrike the Lictor turn 1. And he already re-rolls charges. And -1 to hit doesn't turn Tau overwatch into 6's the same way +1 to hit doesn't turn overwatch into 4's, their Sept rule is a static 5.


EDIT: there's a TON more mistakes in your post. I know it's an exciting time, but have a re-read through the rules a bit man. A big word dump like that which hasn't been thought through properly isn't helping anybody.

You cannot let an Exocrine double fire with single minded annihilation! (just on infantry)

 Nitro Zeus wrote:

 Dynas wrote:

Lictor with Suprise Ambush T1 to tie up units. No overwatch especially against Tau. Charge him in, then send in the genestealers. Use kraken synaptic lure to reroll charge from deespstrike if needed, with a +1 to charge, so an 8, (just under 60% chance to get it off). To bad cant stack with Adrenal glands for a lovely 7. GW really doesnt want Charging out of DS to be so fast. Dont forget the -1 to shooting, so things like tau overwatch on 5's becomes 6s. Edit: Doesn't apply since it can't be overwatched anyway.

You can't deepstrike the Lictor turn 1. And he already re-rolls charges. And -1 to hit doesn't turn Tau overwatch into 6's the same way +1 to hit doesn't turn overwatch into 4's, their Sept rule is a static 5.


EDIT: there's a TON more mistakes in your post. I know it's an exciting time, but have a re-read through the rules a bit man. A big word dump like that which hasn't been thought through properly isn't helping anybody.

You can hide him on board T1 or Deepstrike him in your deployment zone. How does he already reroll charges? He gets that from the Kraken Synaptic Lure. And +1 to charge from the surprise. The lictor rule states you must subtract 1 on to hit rolls that target that unit. Since it doesn't specify a phase (like shooting) then it still applies. Though you are correct in that Tau overrides this. Nevertheless it doesnt matter since you ignoring overwatch anyway.

Lictors has reroll charge as an built-in special rule. Also overwatch is always unmodified.

I was tinkering around the new gorgon psy power, which is extremely interesting because it affects all friendly models and not only Gorgon models, and was looking for the best psyker to deliver it to our frontline.

The obvious answer is a flyrant (but a broodlord works too), and while trying to make a useful gorgon flyrant, i thought about the following combination:

Gorgon flyrant + toxin sacs + reaper of obliterax + huge melee weapon.

Such a beatstick has 5 attacks at S8 (rerollable for a CP) AP -4
Damage as follows :

4 on a 2-3-4
5 on 5
10 on 6

Plus a tail at S7 AP-2 damage D3 (+1 on 5 and 6)

Probably just something for fun, but this guy delivers more than 20 damage on average rolls against a T8 3+ target (without fighting again, in that case it downs a Stompa). With just a little softening from other sources, he can solo a knight.

all Nid stuff in PA baal
https://www.goonhammer.com/blood-of-baal-the-goonhammer-review-part-2-tyranids/

Except for a few things like Symbiostorm, Resonance Barb, Psychic Fissure, Progeny of the Hive it's all pretty meh. But maybe in combination with the points drops it could help us not been one of the bottom tier armys.

 Astmeister wrote:
Lictors has reroll charge as an built-in special rule. Also overwatch is always unmodified.

Thats only on the turn they arrive, so unless your are able to positions appropriately T1 or wait until DS for T2 its not going to apply. Besides, the point for the Kraken power is to grant reroll charges to the follow up units like the Broodlord or Genestealers after the lictor has already made it in.


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 nordsturmking wrote:
all Nid stuff in PA baal
https://www.goonhammer.com/blood-of-baal-the-goonhammer-review-part-2-tyranids/

Except for a few things like Symbiostorm, Resonance Barb, Psychic Fissure, Progeny of the Hive it's all pretty meh. But maybe in combination with the points drops it could help us not been one of the bottom tier armys.

Yeah. Ive been messing with the custom hive fleets pairing but not sure if anything is better than Kraken or Kronos, especially since you will lose those specific stratagems. I wish we could take more than 2 Physiological Adaptations though.

Best pairings I see are:
Feeding Frenzy and Hypermetabolic Acceleration on Genestealers to get 6" pile in and reroll advance.

Can use Shrewd Predators Strat to consolidate in any direction and combo with Adrenal Webs physiological move in 2d6" can be a good way for some sneaky movement after a fight. Also using UNnatural reaction to allow a unit of GS to heroically intervene could catch some people off guard.

Accelerated digestion to heal up Swarmy OOE (until the FAQ that to non named characters) and then put on a Melee Fex with Dermic Symbios for 5++ Invul. Uue Jromagunder wit Dynamic Camo, mybe metamorphic regrowth to help heal as well.

Hive Fleet Adaptations of Biometalic Syches for +1 AP on scything Talons for (homries, GS, trygons, carnifexes, even HT) WIth Pack hunters for another +1 AP for swarm units like Hormies and GS. Then for hormies can use Feral Instincts for another +1, so thats +3 AP on 30 hormies rerolling 1's to hit and wound with 20+ models. Genestealers can get +2 AP with reroll 1s on the sycthing Talons. Not sure if the mathhammer on a flat 2 is better than the possible Rend. Having +2 AP on things like Trygons, Carnifexes, Hive Tyrants etc.. (assuming it applies to monsterous) would also be helpful Only problem, go to get in close.

 nordsturmking wrote:
all Nid stuff in PA baal
https://www.goonhammer.com/blood-of-baal-the-goonhammer-review-part-2-tyranids/

Except for a few things like Symbiostorm, Resonance Barb, Psychic Fissure, Progeny of the Hive it's all pretty meh. But maybe in combination with the points drops it could help us not been one of the bottom tier armys.

The catch is every other army also got points drops. For me, I'm going to do the following:

Kronos Batallion - Hive Guard (ignore ap -1, -2), exocrine, neuorthrope with Resonance Barb

Kraken Batallion - Genestealer sling (2 stealer squads, 1 hormie blob) no real changes

After the skeleton of my list is together I can manage to fit in around 100-200 more points. Now it's just about debating what to take to fill it out.

Maybe a Lictor to help charges? Maybe a tyrannofex?

Love the maleceptor and toxicrene strats but the units still don't pull their weight.

Some customs hive fleets are also decent if you get creative with monsters.

Melee monsters need that +1 to hit. Dakkafexes can work with that reroll one hit roll, advance and fire full BS or re-roll advance.

Reroll one hit roll and 6+++ for not moving can work with Rupture Tyrannofexes.

And 6++ in gaunts is also good if you want a full swarm build.

Hey ladies and Gents, I've come into recent ownership of some secondhand nids from a roomy moving out and thought it might be fun to put them to good use as the true swarm army I've only ever dreamed of.

The models so far consist of 1 Hive Tyrant, 1 Trygon, 3 Tyranid Warriors and 40 Hormagaunts. I've got a 1000 point list written up taht I will use as the base for a 2000 point list later down the road. I'd like to add 1 Carnifex, 1 Tyranid Prime, 2 more Tyranid Warriors (unit of 5 now) 3 Tyrant Guard and 20 additional Hormagaunts to make two units of 30 to fill a battalion. I'm heavily influenced here by Stormship Troopers so a swarm of endless claws and teeth are what I'm going for with only a couple larger ranged bugs, Exocrines in this case. I'm going with Kraken for now since it grants me the mobility I'll need to get into combat as well as the fallback (forwards) and charge rules I'd like to use to have my swarms roll over my enemies front lines and charge the back lines a round later. In theory that's how it'll work at least.

I have a couple questions about loadout on the Tyranid warriors and Carnifex in particular.

First up on the warriors, rending claws and boneswords are the same cost. The former has a higher potential AP but requires some good rolling (which can be helped by the Tyranid Primes' aura) whereas the latter has a flat decent AP of -2 and comes with an extra attack. It doesn't seem to have a clear winner in either case here and I'm just wondering is there's something I missed that can help me narrow the choice?

Next up is the Cranifex. I like the idea of the crushing claws to give me some real vehicle and monster crumping power but... that -1 to hit with a monster that already has WS4 is just painful. For less points I jut threw on tusks with dual monstrous scything talons and a wrecking ball tail and he has more attacks that although weaker individually will hit much more reliably. This seems like the better option but again is there anything I'm missing that actually makes the claws a more viable pick?

Sorry for the wall of text but I greatly appreciate any help/advice you guys have here. I'm excited to get this force up and running and just want to make sure I don't accidentally kneecap myself before I get started.

 Dynas wrote:

 Nitro Zeus wrote:

 Dynas wrote:

Lictor with Suprise Ambush T1 to tie up units. No overwatch especially against Tau. Charge him in, then send in the genestealers. Use kraken synaptic lure to reroll charge from deespstrike if needed, with a +1 to charge, so an 8, (just under 60% chance to get it off). To bad cant stack with Adrenal glands for a lovely 7. GW really doesnt want Charging out of DS to be so fast. Dont forget the -1 to shooting, so things like tau overwatch on 5's becomes 6s. Edit: Doesn't apply since it can't be overwatched anyway.

You can't deepstrike the Lictor turn 1. And he already re-rolls charges. And -1 to hit doesn't turn Tau overwatch into 6's the same way +1 to hit doesn't turn overwatch into 4's, their Sept rule is a static 5.


EDIT: there's a TON more mistakes in your post. I know it's an exciting time, but have a re-read through the rules a bit man. A big word dump like that which hasn't been thought through properly isn't helping anybody.

You can hide him on board T1 or Deepstrike him in your deployment zone. How does he already reroll charges? He gets that from the Kraken Synaptic Lure. And +1 to charge from the surprise. The lictor rule states you must subtract 1 on to hit rolls that target that unit. Since it doesn't specify a phase (like shooting) then it still applies. Though you are correct in that Tau overrides this. Nevertheless it doesnt matter since you ignoring overwatch anyway.

You can’t deepstrike into your own DZ turn 1 anymore. And even if you could, you’re basically guaranteed to have the Gants there to eat any Overwatch, and there’s no way they could have an Overwatch castle in your side of the field turn 1 anyway, so that would be thoroughly useless. I can’t think of a single situation where a Lictor can deploy and still be able to whiff a relevant amount of Overwatch for your army turn 1. You could use all the movement strats on them but then your Genestealers won’t be making that charge that turn anyway, you’ll just be throwing away a Lictor and a turn worth of opportunity and resources. On top of that, you're 100% wrong, -1 to hit does not affect Overwatch, though it's not relevant in the first place as per the entire purpose of the Lictor.

If i see that my opponent has ravenguard centurions, i would always deploy 1 lictor on the field, out of sight, so that after the firestorm i can come out, negate the overwatch and let everyone else charge them for free.

I don't have the reroll on the charge, but the lictor moves 12", i don't really need it, just need any kind of terrain element near the centurions to trigger the stratagem, or just charge out of LoS without using CPs.


Also, the -1 hit from lictors does not work on overwatch. No modifier is applied to overwatch shooting except for the ones who specifically mention overwatch.

Spoletta wrote:
Also, the -1 hit from lictors does not work on overwatch. No modifier is applied to overwatch shooting except for the ones who specifically mention overwatch.

Rather you still hit on 6's but modifiers do affect roll. So lictor makes overcharging plasma more dangerous.

Yes, don't conflate the whole "hit on 6's irregardless of modifiers" as Modifiers do not apply.

Plasma overheats more often, Necron tesla doesn't explode, and T'au cept drones overwatch will miss due to modifiers just fine.

It just means the 6's will hit no matter how many modifiers you have. -3 to hit will still hit on 6's, but the total on the roll may well be 1 or 2 after the modifiers.

They need to change it to state natural rolls of a 6, but they didn't really start using that phrasing till later.

I love me some custom fleet detachments:

Spearhead - Custom: Advance+shoot w/out penalty, reroll 1 hit if in synapse.

Then play a Hive Tyrant with Heavy Venom Cannon and Deathspitters, the relic of +8" range and rerolls

Add 3 Carnifex, Heavy Venom Cannons, Deathspitters, -1 to hit, +1 Ballistic

What you get is a super mobile gunline, that can deploy way back out of range of the enemy, and on their turn can move 8" (9 for the tyrant) + advance + shoot with no penalties on a 3+ and a single reroll per monster. Suddenly Heavy Venom Cannons on the carnifexes become 48" range, Deathspitters become 36" range and the hive tyrant can shoot its cannon up to 60" away. You can literally kite enemies by moving backwards and outranging them and you can reach far edges of the table very fast.

They basically get the benefit of Kronos (1 reroll to hit) but instead of having to stay still, they can move super fast all over the place. The Hive tyrant also has 2 reroll hits and 1 reroll wound, and their weapons are all flat 3 damage.

Paint me interested baby.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Hey ladies and Gents, I've come into recent ownership of some secondhand nids from a roomy moving out and thought it might be fun to put them to good use as the true swarm army I've only ever dreamed of.

The models so far consist of 1 Hive Tyrant, 1 Trygon, 3 Tyranid Warriors and 40 Hormagaunts. I've got a 1000 point list written up taht I will use as the base for a 2000 point list later down the road. I'd like to add 1 Carnifex, 1 Tyranid Prime, 2 more Tyranid Warriors (unit of 5 now) 3 Tyrant Guard and 20 additional Hormagaunts to make two units of 30 to fill a battalion. I'm heavily influenced here by Stormship Troopers so a swarm of endless claws and teeth are what I'm going for with only a couple larger ranged bugs, Exocrines in this case. I'm going with Kraken for now since it grants me the mobility I'll need to get into combat as well as the fallback (forwards) and charge rules I'd like to use to have my swarms roll over my enemies front lines and charge the back lines a round later. In theory that's how it'll work at least.

I have a couple questions about loadout on the Tyranid warriors and Carnifex in particular.

First up on the warriors, rending claws and boneswords are the same cost. The former has a higher potential AP but requires some good rolling (which can be helped by the Tyranid Primes' aura) whereas the latter has a flat decent AP of -2 and comes with an extra attack. It doesn't seem to have a clear winner in either case here and I'm just wondering is there's something I missed that can help me narrow the choice?

Next up is the Cranifex. I like the idea of the crushing claws to give me some real vehicle and monster crumping power but... that -1 to hit with a monster that already has WS4 is just painful. For less points I jut threw on tusks with dual monstrous scything talons and a wrecking ball tail and he has more attacks that although weaker individually will hit much more reliably. This seems like the better option but again is there anything I'm missing that actually makes the claws a more viable pick?

Sorry for the wall of text but I greatly appreciate any help/advice you guys have here. I'm excited to get this force up and running and just want to make sure I don't accidentally kneecap myself before I get started.

Well Crushing claws are a bit of a pain. Maybe take a look at Acid maws for anti vehicle CC? Currently I'd say twin bones, but that can change at any time... Most of my Warriors run Claws, but that was the best choice "back in the day"