"Dear Mr Kirby or whoever reads these,
I have been playing a bug army since the 5th edition book came out. And while I have done very well with it locally I feel that the army lacks a certain something. I am not sure what this something is, possibly tyrannofexen, but I would appreciate help with the list. The prime attaches to the warriors, the army moves up in a castle. The gaunts either stay back to hold objectives or go out in front depending on what kind of army I am playing against. I shove the gargoyles down the enemies throat to slow down certain units and what not.
Any help would be appreciated.
Tyranid prime-100
Boneswords, scything talons, toxin sacs
3 hive guard-150
3 hive guard-150
3 zoanthropes-180
4 tyranid warriors-205
All with boneswords, toxin sacs, 3 deathspitters, 1 with barbed strangler.
10 termagaunts-50
10 termagaunts-50
Tervigon-195
Cluster salvo, adrenal glands, toxin sacs, catalyst
Tervigon-195
Cluster salvo, adrenal glands, toxin sacs, catalyst
20 gargoyles-120
Trygon-200
Trygon-200
Trygon-200"
It's Dr. Kirby. The army is solid overall with a few things that need fixing. You have minimal firepower (which is fine with 3 Trygons) so you need Onslaught on those Tervigons. The more turns your HG aren't firing the more likely you'll get your face beat in. So we need 30 points there. Also the Tervigons should have Cluster Spines, S5 5" template > 4 S5 shots. The Trygons also need Adrenal Glands to get that higher I and important S7 against AV14 tanks. And the Prime needs a Lash Whip so that Warrior squad really is super deadly. So how are we going to scavenge these points? Zoans and Warriors.
Drop the Zoans to Hive Guard, saves you 30 points and you've increased your firepower but increased your vulnerability to AV14. Oh well, part of life and you've got 3 Trygons to help if needed. Next the Warriors. You don't really need the Deathspitters/Barbed Strangler. Whilst shooting with them at BS4 is pretty nice, these guys should be flooring it towards their opponent and I'd rather see then with Boneswords and Scything Talons. This means we can only give 2 Trygons Adrenal... Drop two gargs and you're set!
8 pinkments:
Another option would be swapping Catalyst for Onslaught on one or both of the Tervigons; I'm no a big fan of paying for two powers, as you're already sinking a lot of points into those guys.
Agree with Kirb on the Warriors, though; this is clearly a list that wants to be getting into melee as quickly as possible, so the DS/BS are just wasted points on them. Go Sword/Whip on the Prime and drop the guns on the regular ones. (Adrenal is also a possibility for them rather than Toxin- it works better for guys without Whips, as it gets you going ahead of Marines.)
Finally, the Zoanthropes seem like a mediocre choice; their short range is a real liability in a foot list. If you run double-Onslaught I think they'll do okay, or you could drop one to give them a Mycetic Spore. You could also try running a Harpy in their place, or a T-Fex (although this would necessitate freeing up some more points somewhere.)
Adding Adrenal to the Trygons is nice, but not critical. Look at as a final place to put your points in.
Nice armylist, I'm building a similar one. I have two questions you perhaps can help me with.
Do you think 3x3 Hive guards and 3 Trygons are enough anti-tank?
What do you think about the trade-off between Hive tyrant and Tyranid prime? For ca 100 p more you get +1 on reserve rolls and 2 psychic powers, are that worth 100p?
Thanks!
Martin
For a 2K list that should generally be enough, although you are doing to struggle with higher AVs- Land Raiders will deliver their cargo, since you can't kill them except in melee, and Russes and Predators will get several turns to shoot you unhindered. (BA and Eldar vehicles in particular will be troublesome.) However, it is doable.
Tyrants and Primes serve very different roles; also, a Tyrant should never be taken without at least one Tyrant Guard, since the extra wounds and cover save (remember the rules for units with partial cover) make it infinitely more survivable. The Tyrant is a support unit, buffing the swarm with its abilities and debuffing the enemy with psychic powers, all while remaining a formidable combat threat. Primes are the budget HQ for when you need points elsewhere in the list, but they are still quite dangerous in CC. They are also useful for pulling some tricks (Fexstars) and making your Synapse hard to kill, since they can hang with squads and avoid getting shot.
The Prime works well with the Warrior unit in this list; if you wanted to switch to a Tyrant, I would say drop both of them and add a Tyrant + 2 Guard with Old Adversary. (The rerolls in combat, along with Tervigon buffs, can make your Termagants into a serious threat, and he himself is pretty deadly as well. A Venom Cannon or paired Devourers are both options if you have a couple points to spare.) OA is preferred over Hive Commander here because you won't really have any exceptional choices to outflank with and your army is not focused on reserves- with the rest of things on the field, Trygons should be deploying on-board in many scenarios.
Thanks for the advice, I have always thought that trygons should deploy by deep strike to get them behind enemy lines, but that will of course delay their arrival.
At the moment my armylist looks like this:
1 Tyranid prime 105 LW, BS, Toxin s
3 Tyranid warrior 105 Rending claws
3 Hive guard 150
3 Hive guard 150
3 Hive guard 150
10 Termagants 50
10 Termagants 50
1 Tervigon 185 Ad glands, Catalyst
1 Tervigon 185 Ad glands, Catalyst
6 Raveners 210 reding claws
1 Trygon 200
1 Trygon 200
1 Tyrannofex 265 Rupture cannon
Tot 2005p
I changed one trygon to one tyrnnofex to improve anti-tank in the list, but maybe its better to focus on 3 trygons?
I also added raveners to include a fast counter-attack unit, but perhaps there are better options for this list.
Feel free to give comments on the list.
/Martin
I think I like it better with the T-Fex mixed in; gives you a bit of flexibility against ranged opponents, but is still a big, scary MC.
Six Raveners feels like a bit much, the squad is just asking to get pie plated to death. Also, Warriors with RC aren't really worth it- either give them Boneswords or just use them as a Synapse link (which your list isn't particularly in need of, I don't think.) Dropping one Ravener gives you enough points to give them all Boneswords and add Toxin to both Tervigons. (I prefer Toxin to Adrenal as a rule; it gives you reroll to wound on the Tervi, which is nice, and is more useful on Gaunts as well.)
I'm also not a fan of the Warriors in there and would actually drop them. With the extra points upgrade the Tervigons as Puppy said (could also give them Onslaught if you wish) and slap on Adrenal to the Trygons. Could also add in 2 more Raveners (split them into 2 squads btw) or just a 3rd squad in general and shave points elsewhere to get Toxin on the Tervigons.
Ok, but Kirby, don't you think its nice to have warriors because they are troops, I'm not sure that termag and 2 terv are enough at 2000p?
The Tervigons can safely be expected to deliver 22 models each over the course of the battle. These 44 reinforcements should do a good job of cleaning up stray infantry units and objective nursing.
The warriors would seem to be better delivered in 2 broods of raveners (Rending and spinefists)to force the opponent rethink their target priority. (Raveners in my back 9? Its more likely than you think!) With this shift to raveners I think a trygon prime would be an excellent replacement for the T-fex.
Post a Comment