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| BBF (ew) |
"Hi Kirby,
I've been reading your blog for a month or two now, and I've got to say, it's fantastic. There's just one problem: I liked it so much I showed my housemate and now he's using your lists and advice and I can't bloody beat him! Would you mind giving me some advice to even the balance a bit? It's at the point where no matter what I bring I'm lucky to last to the end of Turn 5, and then I lose anyway. I play Imperial Guard, he plays Nids. He's been using something like
Tyranid Prime w/ Lash & Bone, Deathspitter
2x Hive Guard
2x Hive Guard
2x Hive Guard
13x Termagant
13x Termagant
Tervigon w/ Adrenal, Toxin, Onslaught, Catalyst, Cluster Spines
Tervigon w/ Adrenal, Toxin, Onslaught, Catalyst, Cluster Spines
4x Ravener w/ Rending Claws
4x Ravener w/ Rending Claws
Tyrannofex w/ Cluster Spines, Rupture Cannon, Electroshock Grubs
His Hive Guard and T-Fex chew up my tanks, I can barely hurt the huge pile of T6 wounds, and then suddenly there are Termagants everywhere and the tanks I'd use to kill them are suppressed or wrecked.
I'm by no means an amazing player, but even when he's watching he can't identify any consistent mistakes I'm making, but I just can't seem to hurt him. It's really confusing as from what my internet searches have shown, it's usually Tyranids having trouble with IG, not the other way around.
The actual models I have number about 80 guardsmen and misc officers/commissars/commanders etc, 9 tanks (+3 I can assemble) and 2 Vendettas. We're pretty relaxed with proxying so I've been trying a lot of different things within my limitations. Some of my attempts against this list or similar lists have been
CCS w/ 3x Plasma, Chimera w/ Hull HF
3x Veteran Squads /w 3x Plasma, Chimera w/ Hull HF
PCS
5x Infantry Squads
Vendetta
Vendetta
2x Griffon
2x Griffon
or
(this one has done the best so far, we actually got to Turn 7. Then I lost 2-0 on objectives)
2x CCS w/ 2x GL, Vox
6x Veteran Squad w/ 3x Plasma, Vox, Lascannon
Leman Russ Battle Tank w/ Plasma Cannons
Leman Russ Battle Tank w/ Plasma Cannons
Leman Russ Battle Tank
or
CCS
PCS
4x Infantry Squad
3x Veteran Squad w/ 3x Plasma Gun
Hellhound
Hellhound
Hellhound
2x Hydra
2x Hydra
2x Griffon w/ Enclosed Crew Compartment
or
CCS
2x PCS
3x Infantry Squad w/ 2x Lascannon, 1x Missile Launcher, Commissar (blob squad)
3x Infantry Squad w/ 3x Lascannon, Commissar (blob squad)
Vendetta
Vendetta
3x Hydra
2x Griffon
2x Medusa
My next idea is six plasmavet squads in chimeras and three vanilla Leman Russes.
We generally play at 1500 points as he doesn't have the models to do 2k properly. Anyway, am I going crazy and playing with awful tactics or are the lists just outright bad? I'm getting absolutely destroyed - we've had one game out of the last 6+ go to a natural finish. What can I do to combat his list?
I would really appreciate any help or advice you could give.
Thanks for your time,
William"
This was actually posted up on Reddit as well as emailed into me, so I'll take my reply from Reddit and add to it a bit.
What are you shooting at? IG shooting is generally pretty decent at taking high toughness stuff off the table and whilst good Tyranid builds and generals can make a very good game out of it, I'd generally give the nod to IG (if not as much as many people normally do). The Hive Guard and Tervigons are generally the focal points of any Tyranids list, your friends is no different. Whichever unit does not have FNP on it - kill it. Don't be shooting on the stuff with FNP. This works out like this -
Tervigons get FNP. Hive Guard are more likely to die and really hamper the Tyranid's anti-tank. Hive Guard get FNP. Hive Guard live a bit longer to shoot your tanks dead but Tervigons die faster and thus the FNP ability is lost.
This is where all your autocannons and multi-lasers come in handy as they will reliably put a bunch of wounds on T6. They still get their saves but you have enough shots to torrent through this and their wound count.
Once either of these units falls, you'll have a much better time of it and you'll be able to focus fire more on whatever is left. The T-Fex is generally going to be a pain and something you cannot really remove without dropping all your lascannons on it - something you don't want to do until the Tervigons are gone at a minimum (since they deny saves and FNP).
Make sure the Termagants and Raveners are hitting moving tanks in combat - don't be afraid to lose Chimeras to these guys (or the MCs). This sets them up great for mass Heavy Flamers the next turn from any remaining Chimeras.
And that's basically it .
In terms of lists I think you should be running something like: CCS, PCS w/Chimeras 2-3 Infantry squads w/Chimeras + ACs, + some HWTS 2-4 meltavets w/Chimeras 2-3 Vendettas 2-4 Hydras 1-2 Manticores
That's generally the standard IG list I practice against though you'd obviously be needing to use the lower numbers for 1500 and you don't need everything there (i.e. Blob squad).
