A New Breed: Lictors

Begin transcript of interview with subject 24601
"Shoot, man, I don't belong in here, you know? I ain't done nothin'. Now, my man Ripper over there- THAT muthaf***** got his ass in here for real. Stabbed about thirty Guardsmen to death and cost about five hundred points doing it, you know? Second offense, too, back before they laid the new rules down he was every bit as bad, so you know he's in for life."

...

"What? No, he ain't the only one. Big V over there set a buncha guys on fire I hear; I believe it, too, dude creeps me out with his... well, shit, I just wish he'd wear some pants, you know? But problem was he didn't set enough folks on fire, so they tossed his ass in here. Guys like that, there's no savin' 'em, they're already resigned to it. But me, I'm different; I got hit with a bad rap this edition."

...

"That ain't fair, man, you know the deck was stacked against me before. I'm reformed now, though- took some programs to help deal with my antisocial behavior, cut back on my spending so I can get by with fewer points, even been workin' out in the gym here when I can so I got some real heavy-duty stats backing me up. Plus I've been all over the work-training programs here, gettin' some special abilities so the moment I'm out I got a whole host of options. Assuming anyone's gonna overlook my past, of course, which ain't real likely at this point I guess."

...

"Hey, I ain't so different from all you fancy-ass folks what've always done good. You think I ain't got three wounds to my name and a three-up save? Betcher ass I do. Think I don't pen on fives, wound on twos? Three editions running now, man. They make me a free man and I can get anywhere I'm needed, do any job you want- you just gotta ask me and not some hotshot newcomer that everyone's creamin' their pants over 'cause he's got some two-shot piece for bustin' rides. Shit, son, I got that and when I pull chrome, it's execution style, you get me? Tougher, longer, doin' it all and still I get no respect and you wonder why I'm pissed off? I'll f****** tell you why I'm pissed off: I get no play, no matter what. Ain't nothin' I do that's good enough for folks, it's always gotta be somethin' more."

...

"F*** you, man, I spent eight years in here, I wanna see you get a running start after doin' the same. You let me catch my breath and I will tear some punk-ass b****** up, you hear? Yeah, you go ahead and write that down, see if I give a shit. I'mma get out of this hole and make a name for myself, just you watch."

End transcription.

Victor the Lictor there is right: he's got a bad rap. When someone brings up all the terrible units in the Tyranid codex, Pyrovores and Rippers always get mentioned, and rightfully so. Mawlocs and Spore Mines generally get brought in as well, with pretty good reason. And also Lictors, despite them being significantly improved since the last book and given some real reasons to exist.

Now, those of you who read my Tyranid Review may be saying "Wait a minute, AP, you said Lictors aren't very good in there!" You're right, I did. I make no pretensions of always being correct, and at first glance I made some assumptions about them that turned out to be misleading or outright wrong. Lictors, like most of the units I talk about in this series, are a fairly usable (if not great) unit that can be made to be rather dangerous in the right army. Let's look at the Lictor in a little more detail...

Strengths

First, precision and survivability. With the ability to arrive anywhere on the board it wants, Lictors are good at doing the one job you need done at a given moment, and with three wounds and Stealth they end up being quite hard to put down no matter the weapon used- Missiles and other big guns have to punch their cover while Bolters and small-arms have to contend with chewing through a huge number of wounds. They also have reasonable offensive potential- two shots (albeit very short-ranged ones), S6 and Rending, and a good number of attacks make them able to take on squads of a limited size reasonably well. They also have a number of utility abilities (Pheremone Trail, Fleet, Hit and Run) that help them and other units arrive when and where you need them to be. Add in Frag Greades, which are more or less unique to them in the Tyranid codex, and you have a unit with a lot of unique capabilities.

Weaknesses

At 65pts each, they're kinda pricey, and add in mediocre combat power for what is nominally a melee specialist and taking away valuable slots for Zoeys/Hive Guard/etc and you have a unit with a lot to measure up to. BS6 S6 is not the most reliable of shooting and relying on Rending to cause damage against most enemies means that they can very easily charge into a fight they can't handle. They are also utterly reliant on cover for protection, as their 5+ just doesn't cut it against... anything.

So where does that leave us? Well, comparing them to Hive Guard they just... don't. Alright, we can work with that; what kind of armies can't or don't want to run Hive Guard? Drop armies. With only a 24" range and no option to take a Spore or otherwise arrive via special means, Hive Guard do not sync well with reserve strategies, leaving Tyranids looking for other options for AT in such a list. Tyrannofexes have range, but are expensive and very unreliable (also their main benefit of providing cover to other MCs does not function in such a list.) Harpies are cheaper and can bring good, accurate shooting, but exacerbate the fragility of a drop list. Zoanthropes are great against heavy tanks but struggle in the face of psychic defenses or large numbers of hulls.

So one plan is to use the Lictors to work as suppression shooting, shaking vehicles as we arrive and guaranteeing the remainder of our forces come in the next turn. We take one or two squads of them, some Zoanthropes to handle bigger targets, and round it out with Harpies to shut down any other vehicles; Venom Cannons scattered over the rest of the army (Tyrant, Warriors, Spores) help in this regard as well. Our aim is to shut down enough of his vehicles as we arrive that we can charge him next turn and wreck things.

Another option is to slot a single squad of Lictors (or, potentially, Deathleaper) in as a "problem solver" that hunts down Devs, artillery, etc hiding in the backfield and gets rid of them- Tyranids can't easily get to such units, and something like a Manticore running wild on you for multiple turns can be a real problem. Tyrannofexes and Heavy Venom Cannons are the only guns in our arsenal that can hit a unit like that (assuming there's no LOS-blocking terrain), and both of them are unreliable enough its nice to have another option in there. Keep in mind, however, that they detract directly from your ability to take Hive Guard in a walking list, so you will rarely want more than one of them. As a specialist unit this isn't particularly unusual, though.

They can also aid in somewhat less competitive-styled lists by bringing more mass of T4 wounds in the Elites slot, for those that enjoy Warrior lists, or by improving reserve rolls and giving options in a melee-heavy list (they pair up quite well with Ymgarl Genestealers in this regard.) In an even more gimmicky list, they can guide in Mawlocs, etc, although at this point you are looking at some pretty un-good builds, but the important thing to remember is to look at what unique abilities that Lictors bring to the table. Their pinpoint precision and shooting the turn they arrive are two of their greatest strengths, with their resilience as a major asset as well.

We'll leave things off with some lists

1750 Tyranid List
Hive Tyrant (Wings, HVC, HC)
2 Lictors
2 Lictors
2 Zoanthropes (Spore)
3 Warriors (DS, 1 VC, Spore)
3 Warriors (DS, 1 VC, Spore)
16 Termagants (Devs, Spore)
16 Termagants (Devs, Spore)
1 Harpy (HVC)
1 Harpy (HVC)

1850 Tyranid List
1 Hive Tyrant (HVC, HC, OA)
2 Tyrant Guard
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
3 Lictors
13 Termagants
12 Termagants
1 Tervigon (Adrenal, Cluster, Catalyst, Toxin)
1 Tervigon (Adrenal, Cluster, Catalyst, Toxin)
3 Raveners (RC)
3 Raveners (RC)
1 Tyrannofex