Ok, here's my over all thoughts (and changes to) the 2000 point list I brought to my last RTT. If you're reading this and haven't read the Batreps, I basically beat a Tau and Khornate CSM army, only to lose in a horribly embarrassing fashion to a GK/IG MSU spam army in a kill point game with first place on the line. Anyway, here's the list I brought:
Swarmlord +1 Guard
Flyrant with 2x Devourers
2x3 Hive Guard
2x20 Hormagaunts
2x10 gants
2x Tervigons with (1x AG) , TS, 3 psychic powers and Crushing Claws
6 Ymgarls
Ok, I tried out a few "new" units that I either haven't used before, or were new to 6th Edition for me. Here comes judgement day!
Start from the top!
The Swarmlord: Geez, I'm still not sure about him. He'll probably get his own "vs." article when I try out the Armored Tyrant a bit more, but for now I like the look of a DakkaTyrant, with Armored shell and Old Adversary. The increased range and less vulnerable to small arms fire/missile launchers will help. The Swarmlord actually has only survived twice in 6 games so far, and not at all last saturday. He's a bit too slow I think for a CC only monster, who's buffs are great but not quite worth what you pay. Plus, he's a huge fire magnet, and frankly too expensive considering that's 340 points for 7 wounds at T6 3+, and my Tervis cost around 200 for 6 wounds at T6 3+. So, for the purpose of refitting my list, lets just say that he is off the Island!
DakkaFlyrant: I have run a Scything Talon Flyrant since before 5th Edition came out, and boy do I love him. However, I ended up ripping off two of his arms and replacing them with the Fleshborer hives left over from the Tervigons. As much as it grieves me, the Dakka is staying on for a long time. He was a monster, drawing fire and shredding every target I pointed him at. For the 30 points extra, he is definately worth the cost. I even tossed in Preferred Enemy a few times for rerolling ones. Nasty stuff. So, he gets an A and will stay as he is!
Tervigons: Ok, they're not new, but the build I used was. Instead of the basic "psychic beast" (sub 200 points for 3 psychic powers) I was running all the bells and whistles. Adding crushing claws, Toxin and Adrenal ends up costing you the full cost of a Biovore in upgrades! I think for now that I'll be dropping Crushing Claws off of the Tervigons. The other upgrades are iffy. I'll hold on to them, but if I need points that's where I will go to drop them. Frankly, the Tervigon is too slow to warrant Crushing Claws, and I think will only see CC as a "mop up" unit, for when youve got a few gants and a few Grey hunters locked in combat, and you need that extra push. I have much faster and more deadly assault units when the time comes for hitting things!
Ymgarls: Yikes... I'm torn here. Honestly? They're not worth it. Tyranids are ALL about Synergy, and the Ymgarls played as a wild card. They did what they did well. Every game they came in and killed something, but that was just a unit trade off. I have plenty of killy things in my army! For an Elites slot, the price just isn't right. So what is? Venomthropes. These guys are great. I had a lot of people question their use in 5th, but I stuck to them, and they've served me well so far when I have used them. the cover boost is massive in keping everything else alive, which overall increases the killiness of my army by far more than a random Ymgarl assault could ever do.
Overall, I'm dropping a few things. Here's the tally:
Swarmlord-280
6 Ymgarls- 138
Crushing Claws (two) 50
Over all, this frees up a goodly number of points. From a 199 original total, this gives me ~470 points to play around with. Ok, here we go!
Tyrant: Old Adversary, 2x Devourers, Armored Shell
2x Venomthropes
This leaves exactly 95 points left to use in a 2000 point list. However, with the loss of the Ymgarls I dont have many "Backfield hitters". So, lets add... Biovores! Yes, no matter how badly they sucked in 4th edition, I see a lot of potential for these little guys. Quite simply, just drop them well out of LoS, or at the very least have them advance right behind some MCs. They can hit Long Fangs and heavy weapons teams, and all the other nasty shooters that Bugs hate, plus they're ready and waiting for the second your Hive Guard explode a transport and leave the poor guys clumped up and ready for templates. Even better, if they scatter too close to your guys, just remove the Spore Mine without an explosion! How awesome is that? Adding two of these is enough to throw Lash Whips on to the lone Tyrant Guard, which can certainly be usefull to assault into a unit and touch a character then challenge him, he's still Initiative 1!
Well, that's my daily knowledge bomb for you all. I'll be trying this list, and others like it, out a LOT in preparation for BeakyCon coming up in October. Yikes, that's soon!
What have you thought of the Flyrant in combat? After this weekends GT I am doubting the glide. I think he is more useful as a flying boogieman. I just find him a lot of points in that role.
ReplyDeleteI love the model and mobility, he is just disappointing for a combat monster. I might try OA this weekend to see how that shapes him up. I will have to drop HC for that though.
I agree he's sick flying around, and while he's nasty in combat, I wouldn't try it until late game. When I ran the Scything Talons Flyrant, he always hovered around, then nuked one unit, but in the next shooting phase he was automatically gliding and then would just get shot to pieces. Definately, he needs to go as a shooting threat unless youre playing a super-fast army where there will be a lot of "in yor face" targets. Think about dropping some Trygons and spores right in front after you assault with the flyrant. Talk about target priority!
DeleteThere's a debate whether Tyrant Guard Lash Whips affects challenges - it says in the rulebook that only the challegners are considered to be in the combat...although it doesn't say that challegne can't be affect by Lash Whips. Maybe it will be FAQ'd.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving CC on Terv's btw - they are now awesome tank hunters with their Smash attacks.