The Harpy Brothers

So, I've all but finished off my first of 3 harpies, and started on my 2nd of the brother.....

And the start of Harpy #2:

And the current state of some other nids, Most of which still need a bit of finishing on the painting side, but are near completion:

Tyranid "Heavy Weapons" and their usage

The Heavy Venom Cannon

A recent development in the Tyranids armory is the HEAVY Venom Cannon. rules changes and all that has brought about the need for a Heavy version.

36" Range S9 AP4 Assault 1, Blast *-1 to VDT against non-open topped vehicles

So, A nice high strength weapon that can and will kill quite a few things.

We can mount it on

Hive Tyrants
Carnifex
Harpies in a TL version

So, what is our best option?

Without a doubt it is the harpy, You get it Twin Linked (never underestimate that re-rolled scatter dice)
On a "Fast" platform for 170 Points. And it's platform is T5 and W4.

A tyrant costs 195 for just this upgrade and nothing else, and it's not twin linked.
If you want it on the fast platform, you're paying out the nose for it at 255 points

A carnifex rings in at 185 points for a non-twin linked version it's on a Durable platform at T6 W6, but again, slow and more expensive.

To me, it's a no brainer way to get some nice high Strength weaponry without paying through the nose too much for it.

The Stranglethorn Cannon

Another recent development in the Tyranids armory is the Stranglethorn Cannon. rules changes and all that has brought about the need for a Heavy version of the barbed strangler..

36" Range S6 AP5 Assault 1, Large Blast Pinning

So, A decent strength weapon that can pin and can wound more with it's single shot

We can mount it on


Hive Tyrants
Carnifex
Harpies in a TL version


Seeing a pattern?

Again the harpy is your best choice. both points wise at 160 and effectiveness for the above reasons.

People just don't seem to get how good the harpy really can be.

Honestly, it will take more wounds.
At a point of T lower than other MC's in the army, you're going to take DOUBLE the wounds from small arms fire. BUT, with a twin linked wepon with an effective range of ... 48" WHY are you in small arms fire range?

You have a 12" movement and 36" range to shoot from out of their range. USE IT.

Another reason I love the harpy.

Would I take a HVC on a Hive Tyrant? perhaps, but to be honest the Bone Sword/Lash Whip/ Scything Tallons combo is your best bet. Just get him into CC and watch stuff die quickly.

Tyranids at 1500 Points

You may have heard before the 40k is a completely different game at different point levels, I have no choice but to agree with this statement as I've been playing for a LONG time now.

You may say: "But you're just getting more options with the bigger points games"

While in theory this is true, in truth it is not. You still have all the same options, but you just need to plan better.

This is part of what I call the Metagame.

Some people will tell you that there is no Meta-Game, but i have to disagree with this. Meta-Game is not a reaction to what is going on around you, but a reaction to the twists and turns of the game itself.


Why is the game different?

Well, let's take armies of 1500 points:

You still need to fufill the FOC requirements so 2 troops and 1 HQ are required.

You fill those and you're looking at 1,000 points (roughly) of points to spend on the rest of your army.

2 Land Raiders? there goes half of the rest of your army. Now the termies to go in them, and you're left with all of 200 points to spend on everything else.

Not much right.

So, you drop the 2x termie/LR squads and start again.

This is what I mean by Metagame.

at 2,000 and 2,500 points you have a lot more leeway with what you can and can not put in your army and still make it cohesive.

So how do Tyranids work at 1500 points?

Well, first off to get the most bang for your buck, the Hive Tyrant goes away as an option.
Why? well, let's see....
170 gives you the base tyrant, Tac on another 120 for his extra wounds (2 Tyrant Guard) and make him more useful than just get shot to death as I run across the board for another 25 Points (Heavy Venom Cannon)
and you're up to 315 Points. Before you go to your 2 required troops choices. that is more than 1/5 of your army for your single required HQ choice.

This leaves you with only a few options for an HQ choice.

Tervigon (very useful as a troop, and also very useful as an HQ choice at 1500 point games. Take him with Catalyst for 175 points and you've got yourself a very resilient and potent HQ choice.)

Parasite of Mortrex (fun, but only useful in certain army builds)

Alpha Warrior (Nice Cheap choice, but if you're not wanting to run a Warrior Squad then he's out.)


So there you go. Take a Tervigon and you're good to go. less than 1/3 of the cost of the Hive Tyrant and at this point level, I think It's more powerful.

So I have an HQ.

Now on to Elites, Here it is a tossup between Hive Guard and Zoanthropes.

I chose zoans every time. Personal Choice, but you can take either. I'll take 3 squads of 2.

Troops:
Need more Tervigons. I love monsterous creatures. So I add their 50 point tax and take 2.

4 Troops taken

Now, Personally I am very less than impressed by the Tyranid Heavy Support choices, don't get me wrong, there are some monsters there, but I'd rather take the Fast Attack MC's before the HS choices.

So I'll take 3 Harpies, with Heavy Venom cannons. (see I get better HVCs from the FA slot than the HQ slot)

This gives me an army resting at 1495 points.

For good measure I'll add 1 Termagaunt and fill out my 1500 point army.

It looks like this:

Tervigon
- Catalyst, Cluster Spines

Zoanthrope x2
Zoanthrope x2
Zoanthrope x2

Termagaunts x11
Termagaunts x10
Tervigon
 - Catalyst, Cluster Spines
Tervigon
 - Catalyst, Cluster Spines

Harpy
 - Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines
Harpy
 - Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines
Harpy
 - Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines

This gives me 9 Anti-Tank Shots per turn, plus quite a bit of other fire power. and 6 Monsterous Creatures that can take a lickin and keep on ticking.

This is how my brain works.


Don't forget to sign up for the LE Apothecary Giveaway. I'll be picking a winner on monday morning.

Troll Forged Miniatures - Brain Alien

In my recent endeavors to create my Tyranid Army, I came across the guy pictured to the left. It is the newest of the "Troll Forged Miniatures" Aline bugs.

The Brain Alien.
It comes with a choice of heads and a random body (i really wish you could chose your body style, but meh, they're both nice.)

You can have it cast in either metal or resin.

I chose resin as I prefer light-weight to heavy and I live in a climate where it will NEVER melt.


I'll try and cover a decent review.

Cost: $15 USD
Shipping: $4 USD

Total $19 USD


Quality:
My resin version was extremely well cast, I've been casting in resin for about 3 years now for pieces, I can not produce something with so little flash, Very high quality casting

The resin itself is very lightweight and extremely hard. A bonus when a lot of the resin pieces available on the Net are softer than they ever should be.

Size:
The Alien Brain is similar in size to the Tyranid Zoanthrope, though it is smaller. by enough that I noticed right away. The Zoey is about half again as wide with it's back spines, and about 3/4 of an inch taller. This is somewhat alleviated by the fact that the Alien Brain comes with a clear plastic "Floating" I refuse to call it flying Base. With a bit of effort they CAN be the same height, but not the same width without adding quite a bit to it.

Here is a picture of it next to a standard current edition Zoanthrope:

As you can see, the sizes are similar, but still not quite perfect, which to me is just fine as it should not be a replica of the Zoey.

Detail
This model really is beautiful. While I would personally never use the Tentacled Head, The bladed head is beautiful. The details are superbly defined. and extremely well sculpted.

I war really hoping to use this guy as a Doom of Malan'Tai model, but because of the size, never will.

I will however be purchasing 2 more of them and fielding them as a squad of Zoanthropes.

Overall, I'm quite Impressed by the sculpt, quality and especially the Price. A resin model of this quality is unheard of for $15.

The Wookie Reccomends. This is not a sanctioned review and all images are either my own or from the Troll Forged website.


Don't Forget to leave a comment on THIS post to sign up to win a Limited Edition Model!

Tervigon Painting Commencement

First off, I AM NOT A PRO PAINTER!

I hate those things on Ebay. I can paint better than a LOT of the things listed as "Pro Painted" just because you paid your 4 year old cousin to paint the thing does not make it PRO PAINTED!

Now, I've started the painting on my First Tervigon.

I've come across about 10 of the old smaller termagaunts that I'll be painting up to mount on the 3 Tervigon bases to be Hatching.

Otherwise here are the pics of this thing so far.

Let me know your thoughts...

Also, don't forget to sign up HERE to enter to win a Limited Edition Apothecary... Drawing is in 7 Days.

Tyranid Synergy: The Flyrant

Ah, the old standby of the Flyrant. An amazing little bugger, only costs 230 points for a base flyrant...... ouch.

So, if you want to run a flyrant, what to do to make sure that 230 points does not die in relatively quick order?

Well you've really only 3 options:

1. Harpies - Target Saturation
2. Shrikes - Target Saturation and A bit of Synergy
3. Gargoyles - Pure Synergy.

First Up:
Harpies-
These are your other option for Winged Monsterous Creatures. They come in at T5 and have 4 Wounds. Not a bad little package for 185 points with the TL HVC and Regenerate. (Always go for the Cluster Spines 'cause with bs of 3 you are hitting 2x with the stinger salvo. hit 3-7 with the Cluster spines.... Yes? Yes.

Shrikes-
These are great for a more tempered player as you get a VERY NICE set of CCW options and a decent ammount of power in a small package. Beware the ML armed marines and any full tac squad in rapid fire range.

Gargoyles-
Wow, here is where the synergy becomes really apparent.
Give your Tyrant the Old Advarsary upgrade and Paroxysm and run him close behind/next to the gargoyle unit of 20 Give the Gargoyles all of their options (Sacs and Glands) ringing this unit of 20 in at 240 Points.

Why you ask? well, lets see.....

The gargoyles get 40 attacks on the charge (we'll say vs Terminators :D)

Hit the Termies with Paroxysm (auto Hit and they become WS1)
Charge the Termies with the Gargoyles and now were off into mathhammer land:

40 Attacks
6.6 Auto Wounds
20 Hits.

13 Re-Rolls give you:
2.16 Auto Wounds
6.5 Hits

For a total of
8.76 Auto Wounds and 26.5 Hits

Now you take those 26 (we'll drop the .5) hits and roll to wound:
S4 VS T4 with a re-roll to wound (Thank you Glands and Poison)
9.5 Rolled Wounds Plus
8.76 Auto Wounds

Gives that terminator TH/SS Squad (Usually 5 but up to 7 as the most I've Seen)
18 Base saves to roll. So out of those 18 they should fail 3. Leaving 2 terminators to strike back at WS1:

4 attacks hitting on a 4 =  2 dead Gaunts.....

You see how this picture continues to progress.... not good for the SMs.

Yeah. Bad for the Terminators.

fine the synergy and enjoy the results.

Pic Shameless Stolen from Forgeworld.

Tervigon Update

So, my tervigon conversion is now complete and has the first coat of white primer......

Did a lot of epoxy puttying on him to obliterate his eyes, add some bulk to the hollows of his legs, and add to the brood sac.

I also added the head decoration, to me it looks rather.... psyker-ish so fit with the idea of the Tervigon.





The Brood Sac:

 

And other pics of him primed:

  

  

 

Harpy Conversion

So, having started with 2 Carnifex Kits, I set out to convert up a tervigon (previous post) and a Harpy.

The tervigon has had a bit more done to it since yesterday, but I wanted to get the Harpie's main work out of the way before I started Green Stuffing, Get all that done at once too. So here are some additional pics of the harpy:

 

 

 

 Yes, I know she's missing her other arm.....



Since it takes a bit of work to make a left handed Heavy Venom Cannon, I'm going to finish it before attaching it.


Since she has no legs, I'll have her mounted on a piece of either acrylic or brass rod.






Thoughts?

Hive Fleet Argus

A small hive fleet, Argus earned it's name from the curious bio-forms that have no eyes, each and every Tyranid spawned by the Hive Fleet can see without the need for ocular device. It appears that they have all developed a keen echolocation ability, probably from their interactions with the worlds first encroached upon near the Twilight Stars. With little light present, the Hive Mind deemed fit to retrofit all of this Fleet's sensory organs with enhanced hearing and a greater link to the Hive Mind itself to get a Psychic reference point for it's sensory perception.

----- -- - Ordo Xeno's Inquisitors have dubbed this Offshoot fleet Hive Fleet Argus.- -- ----------

It appears that the entire fleet has a perception ability akin to that of the Hive Guard, while they are unable to adjust the trajectory of their bio-weaponry like that Hive Guard, they sense the enemy in the same way. This makes them an extremely dangerous enemy to face in any terrain as they seem to be able to "See" as well in any condition as if it were clear skies.

--- END TRANSMISSION



And that is the beginning of my fluff for my Tyranid Army.

Having perused quite a few forums, taken advice on changing, adjusting, and everything else, combined with a few playtesting games, I've come to a few further conclusions.

1. As much as I like the IDEA of Tyranofex's, at any point level below 2,000 they are a waste of points, as I can take elites for the same purpose and fill the role better.

2.Harpies are an awesome and yet surprisingly overlooked addition to this codex.

3. Tyranid Primes are far to under powered for what they do and what they provide for their points.

4. Tervigons are Great (Duh) but the upgrades are not worth it as it just makes them a more inviting target. And they kill your own gaunts. Keep them stock (with Catalyst) and call it a day. Otherwise you'll see a large portion of your army disappear with the tervigon's death.

So..... on to the list (in it's most current form):

Hive Tyrant
  - Lash Whip, Bone Sword
  - Scything Tallons
  - Dessicator Larvae
Tyrant Guard x2

Zoanthrope x2

Hive Guard x2

Doom of Malan'Tai
  - Mycetic Spore, Cluster Spines

Termagaunts x10

Termagaunts x10

Tervigon
  - Catalyst

Tervigon
  - Catalyst

Harpy
  - Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon
  - Cluster Spines
  - Regenerate

Harpy
  - Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon
  - Cluster Spines
  - Regenerate

Putting me at 1495.

I'm loving this list more and more, and the fact that I get to play with a lot of Green Stuff is always nice.

And in case anyone was wondering, The reason I've exchanged the Stinger Salvos for Cluster Spines is that with A BS of 2-3, I'd rather hit 4 with a template than 1-2 with 4 shots....

New Nids List Revamp

So, at my tournament this weekend and seeing how 2 different Tyranid Lists performed, I've decided my list needs a re-vamp.

My original List was this:

Tyranid Prime with Bonesword, Lash whip and Devourer - 95 Points

3 Hive Guard - 150 Points




Doom of Malan'Tai- 90 Points

Termagaunts x10 - 50 Points

Termagaunts x10 - 50 Points

Tervigon - Catalyst, Cluster Spines - 175 Points

Tervigon - Catalyst, Cluster Spines - 175 Points

Harpy - Regenerate, Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines - 185 Points

Harpy - Regenerate, Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines - 185 Points

Tyranofex - Rupture Cannon, Regenerate, Dessicator Larvae - 295 Points

Seeing that the Tyranofex performed.... less oppertounely than expected and that the Tyranid prime was..... basically a "Cheap" choice, I've decided that my list needs a bit of a change.... SOooo...


Hive Tyrant - Lash Whip, Bone Sword, Scything Tallons, Thorax Swarm - Dessicator Larve - 195
2 Tyrant Guard - 120

3 Hive Guard - 150 Points


2 Zoanthropes - 120

Doom of Malan'Tai- 90 Points

Termagaunts x10 - 50 Points

Termagaunts x10 - 50 Points

Tervigon - Catalyst, Cluster Spines - 175 Points

Tervigon - Catalyst, Cluster Spines - 175 Points

Harpy - Regenerate, Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines - 185 Points

Harpy - Regenerate, Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines - 185 Points

This gives me better and more reliable fire power (in the Zoanthropes) as well as the same number of Monsterous Creatures in the army. I'm still quite satisfied with this setup and don't think that the changes will cause any problems for the army.

Thoughts?

Tyranids: The Tyranid Prime

Picture Taken from Omega Hobbies

So, the Tyranid Prime, The Big Baddie of all Tyranid Warriors, How can he help your amry and why take him over the other HQ Choices?

Well, Let's dive right in.

He's Infantry, with no option for wings. this can hurt a bit but is not really that big of a deal.

He's an Independant Character. This is his biggest benefit. Since he is a Synapse creature, it is a definite bonus to be able to join him to a unit of say.... Hive Guard. This keeps them in line and gives them the added bonus of ablative wounds. and a 3+ save to make those ablative wounds count for something.

So he's WS6 so can handle himself in combat, in fact in most cases if he is attached to a hive guard unit, i'd un-attach him and charge that nasty cc unit that is geting close so they can continue to do their job for another turn or 2. With only S10 and other special weapons being able to kill him he's pretty safe in CC. He also is built for CC, sure he has some ranged options, but for this guy, I'd rather change them out since he can not take any larger weapons. I'd equip him as follows:

A Pair of Boneswords and a Pair of Scything Tallons. This lets him re-roll 1/2 of his misses (on average) and any wound causes instant death on a failed LD check on 3D6. Nasty as all hell.

You can give him adrenal glands, but it's not really necessessary. Toxin Sacs are a viable option as you'd be re-rolling to wound on anything with a T of 5 or lower. Combine that with the Boneswords and you can cause a lot of damage to a squad. Especially being at I 5.

So this guy is a protection unit. no Psychics, but he does have shadow in the warp.

Use him to free up points for other selections. because 100 points for this guy is a lot less than the 280 of the Swarm Lord or the 170-300 of the normal hive tyrant.

Very nice option to have.

Stephen

Tyranid Biomorphs: The Other Stuff

Next up are the non-Weapon Biomorphs. Here We Go:

Acid Blood: You Hurt Me and you get some back. Is fun at times, but the only place that I can see that it would be really useful, is on a carnifex kitted out for close combat (oh wait, you can't), Tervigon (Same.) or a Tyrant kitted out for combat (you can here).

Acid Maw: Yay it's a power weapon.

Adrenal Glands: Furious Charge For Everyone in this book. Though the only ones who should take it are Tervigons, Carnifex w/o crushing claws, and (surprisingly) Gargoyles. Never underestimate that Blinding Venom at Strength 4 and Initiative 5. Especially when combined with a Flyrant Granting them Prefered Enemy. Great Fun.

Blinding Venom: Only comes on Gargoyles and makes any roll to HIT of a 6 and auto wound. AMAZING!

Chameleonic Skin: Great way for Lictors and Death Leapers to arrive.

Containment Spines: In the Weapons

Frag Spines: Frag Grenades

Implant Attack: Another Way To Cause Instant Death, Less reliable and more expensive than boneswords, and comes as an option on mosters that can take boneswords. Just take the boneswords.

Regeneration: A cool ability that lets you re-gain wounds. On most things it is a waste though. Take it on Harpies, and Tyranofex though. They'll benefit the most from it. Tervigons not so much since they will be taking either too many wounds, or not worring about wounds.

Toxic Miasma: a very useful little kicker to melee. not available on too many creatures though. Sure would be nice if you could take this on a carnifex... alas no.

Toxin Sacs: Poison 4+ wooooo. Great on Genestealers, and Tervigons, not much else.

Wings: Poor wording since they will Move As Jump Infantry instead of being jump infantry. too many wording screwups in this book.

Pic taken w/o permission from GW.

Tyranid Weapons: Ranged

So today we can recap the Ranged weapons of the New Tyranids:

First off we have the:

Acid Spray:
Flamer Template that operates like the IG tank one - 12" range to place the small end and big end must be closer to the target than the small end.

Fun for sitting out of cover and blasting people in cover S6 is nice as you're wounding most infantry on a 2+ with an auto hit, ignores cover is nice, but the AP4 of this puts me off using it since it is only available on the Tyranofex who should ALWAYS have a rupture cannon.

Barbed Strangler:
With a 36" range and a Large Blast that pins, it is useful to have. S4 means that you're wounding most of the infantry models on the table with a 4+ (so 50%) not a bad little gun, but there are much better ways to get large blasts out there, and for my personal taste, i'd rather have a Venom Cannon. The one bonus this does have over the venom cannon is that even with a BS of 3, you're still likely to hit things.

Bio-Plasma:
Bio-Plasma took a hit with the new dex. it was really nice that you could use it in Melee in the last dex, but well, you can't have it all. Still, can be a useful upgrade for a carnifex to take to help soften up a unit that he is about to charge.

Bio-Electric Pulse & Containment Spines:
These, at least to me, are amazing little weapons and one of the primary reasons to take a Tyrgon Prime (besides the synapse of course). Spines are nice at 12" Range 5&5 with assault 6, but the real beauty is when you upgrade to the prime (40 points) for 18" range 5&5 with Assault 12!
worth the 40 points on that alone, not to mention the attainment of +2 LD, Synapse and Shadow in the Warp.
With a BS of 3 you're only hitting with half, but you CAN completely destroy a unit if you know what you're doing. It's great fun to pop up with a Trygon and shoot 12 shots at a small-ish squad with a 6+ save and drop 6 hits, 4 wounds that they can not save and watch them run (all from deep strike) then on the turn in which you can act normally you drop the same on another squad then charge it.

Cluster Spines:
For me it is a required upgrade from a stinger salvo. With almost all of the Nids having a BS of 3, having that Free upgrade to a pie plate that is 18" range and S5 is too valuable to pass up. sure you're not doing anything to armor, but you have other weapons for that. This is an anti-infantry weapon meant to make them make saves. The more they roll, the more they fail.

Deathspitter:
So, it's basically a pulse rifle with a shorter range on steroids. I'll take it. While 18" range is not the greatest, it is an assault weapon which means it's effective range is 24". not quite the 30 of a pulse rifle, but with 3 shots, how can you go wrong?

Devourer & Brainleach Worms:
Well, we lost Living Ammunition, but we gained a consistant rate of fire and the ability to usually make our target roll lots of dice. Still a great weapon. I'd still take it. Especially the MC version that drops 12 S6 shots at a target. sure you're only hitting with 6 of them, but 5 should wound. and at least 1 should fail causing them to make a LD test at -1 to run away.

Flamespurt:
Will anyone really take these things? ever?

Fleshborer & Fleshborer Hive:
It's our standard infantry weapon, and it's not horrible. with an effective range of 18" it's not horrible, but still not the best S4 AP5 assault 1 makes it.... sub par, until you realize that it comes standard on a 5 point model.
The hive is an interesting Big weapon..... 20 shots. still you're only hitting with 10 of them, and 5 should wound. out of which marines should fail 1-2 saves. not a good thing. Skip the Hive and take the Rupture Cannon.

Flesh Hooks:
S6 AP- Rending Assault 2 Weapon that only comes on a few guys. also counts as frag grenades. Not bad. Rending helps S6 means you're wounding on a 2+, but you will only usually get 1 hit and a 6" range means you're just wanting them to make a save before you charge them.

Venom & Heavy Venom Cannon:
These have a lot of utility, and a major drawback... Strong weapons with a decent range they suffer an additional -1 to the vehicle damage chart, but at the same time, they can now penetrate as opposed to the only glance in the last dex.  I think the HVC on harpies because they are twin linked and you get to have cluster spines for anti-infantry as well as the HVC for anti-tank. DUAL PURPOSE MONSTER!

Impaler Cannon:
Amazing little weapon meant to take out light vehicles.

Ripper Tentacles:
Not a bad standard weapon, but with only a 6" range, it suffers the same as the Deathwind of the Drop Pod, people simply move out of the way.

Rupture Cannon:
An amazing piece of weaponry that can destroy even the toughest of vehicles. It auto pens AV10 and can penetrate a Land Raider. Always take these on your Tyranofex.

Spike Rifle:
All of the weapon upgrades (at least to me) to the Termagaunt should be free with the exception of the Devourer, which should be priced at 3 points not 5. Skip them all I say.

Spinefists:
See the Spike Rifle.

Spore Mine Cysts:
Interesting weapon. I like the concept, but well, your chances are fairly good that you will end up hitting yourself. And that is never good. Use in case of emergency or great opportunity.

Stinger Salvo:
Always upgrade this to the Cluster Spines. you have a BS of 3. 2 will hit, 1 will wound, and likely it will be saved.

Stranglethorn Cannon:
A bigger and stronger Barbed Strangler. S6 means a 2+ to wound roll, so it's much more useful than the Barbed Strangler. good for forcing tests on an infantry squad.

Strangleweb:
NEVER PAY FOR THIS PIECE OF CRAP! Str Test 2 vs average of 4 means you're rolling to wound with a 6. 5+ vs Tau. CRAP.

Thorax Swarm:
Always take the Dessicator Larve. 2+ to wound is going to net you far more than the other options. no you don't fire it at armor.


There you go.

Thoughts, disagreement?

Pic taken from the 40k Wiki

Tyranid Weapons

Ok so today let's talk about tyranid weaponry. Specifically their close combat weapons. Since they never gain any bonus attacks, they simply have upgrades to their existing ones.... Ok, now what do we have:

Bone Swords- Sweet Jesus I'll take as many as i can get!
Really that is about it with them too.

Claws & Teeth - Well, yeah it's just attacks. nothing special to see here, move along

Crushing Claws - ok so i get an extra D3 attacks and strike at I of 1. so it's kind of an upgrade, but only take it if your are low initiative anyhow. otherwise you're wasting the attacks.

Lash Whips - Make anyone in base to base with you I1 with no way out of it.... yes please. Take that you eldar scum!

Rending Claws. While not as good as they were in 4th edition, they are still very good. lets Genestealers Auto-Pen rhinos with a rend, and kills lots of marines when you have lots of attacks. Great stuff on Raveners.

Scathing Tallons- While completely different than they used to be, they can be quite useful on SOME of your creatures. basically any with a WS of 5 or better can benefit from a Single pair. since you get to re-roll 50% of your misses most of the time.

So my advice? take lots of boneswords, preferably in pairs. LD on 3D6=Somebody is going to fail and die.

[EDIT TO ADD TO DISCUSSION] Now the question that a lot of people are asking is "Do Tyranid Biomorphs Stack? The simple answer is yes. since the tyranids never benefit from additional attacks and none of their weapons are "special weapons" the answer is yes. The biomorphs you add (at least IMO) are just that. upgrades. they're not "power weapon/plasma pistol" type combos. NOW, there are a few exceptions Bear with me as I explain this:

Boneswords (basically a force type weapon) you can take two or you can combine with a Lash Whip.
 - This is a Special Melee weapon. You can't get bonus attacks so.... cool, 1 Special Weapon.
 - Claws and Teed are your basic nid weapons..... so ok.

And that is it. Rending claws add rending to your attacks, (so not a special weapon)
Crusing claws add to your attack profile and modify your initiative (not a special weapon)
Lash Whips modify your opponent's Initiative(Not a special weapon)
Scything Tallons give you re-rolls (again, not a special weapon)

So you've got the option for 1 special weapon. No problems.

Picture taken from bat-reps.com

The Harpy - Big and Flying.

The Tyranid Harpy

 The Flying monster of the Tyranid Army. Just how devastating can he be? Well, let’s just say he can be a monster or a liability.

 Pros:

Fast. As Jump Infantry, he can be quite Fast. With an initial Threat range of 18” from the deployment edge, he can reach the enemy on first turn possibly.

Tough: With a T5 most things will need a 5 to wound him.

Twin Linked Guns- With a Ballistic Skill of 3, this makes him essentially a BS of 4.5. Better Than a Space Marine!

Close Combat: While his Weapon skill is only a 3, you do get the opportunity to re-roll any 1’s your roll to hit, It’s not much but it helps. But with only 2 attacks, you’re not best suited for Close Combat.

Having that Twin Linked Heavy Venom cannon is a great option.

The Spore Mine Drop is a potentially amazing weapon, but with only a 12 inch move it can very easily land on the harpy itself. Single Shot in the Movement phase makes it good for using over infantry (orks) and then shooting it's cluster spines and perhaps the barbed strangler into another unit to do a lot of pie-plate damage.

Cons:

No Model, you have to convert this guy if you want to use him. Your best bet is a Carnifex with a pair of daemon/balrog/dragon wings. Simply don’t give him the “Feet” of the Carnifex and use the back sockets for the Scything Tallons.

Toughness 5 -  Means he’s vulnerable to Instant Death to Vindicators, Railguns, Vortex of Doom, and Force Weapons.

1 Shooting Weapon - So, with a BS 3 (twin linked) you get all of 1 shot. 160-170 Points is a lot for a single shot monster.

CC - With a WS of 3 he is very weak in CC. Though his Str of 5 will let him penetrate up to a 17 AV. so he may be used against vehicles that have..... not moved.


Non-Synapse - This guy can hurt you with his lurking (since he's a monsterous creature) hard to gain cover.


All in all:


I love the concept, and will use him, but GW could have priced him a bit more efficiently.
Like much in this codex....

My Ideal Setup:
Harpy - Twin Linked Heavy Venom Cannon, Regeneration, Cluster Spines - 185 Points

(Photo Used without permission from Bell of Lost Souls)

The Parasite of Mortrex & Rippers - Practical?

The Parasite of Mortrex is a fun little bug, one of two independant characters in the entire Tyranid Codex. Basically he is an insurance policy you take out on your opponent. He transforms what he kills into ripper swarms, Makes your opponent think twice about outflanking and provides a large web of synapse for rippers.

Implant attack make's him a MC's and IC's nightmare since his unsaved wounds cause instant death, Rending Claws combined with 4 WS 5 attacks make him a very large threat. Especially at Initiative 6.

Implant Parasite:
Your opponent Must make a toughness test for each casualty removed because of wounds inflicted by the parasite of mortrex. For each test failed, roll a D6. At the end of the assault phase, place a ripper swarm with a number of bases equal to the sum total of all the dice rolled such that all bases are within 6" of the parasite of mortrex. All bases that cannot be placed due to impassable terrain, enemies within 1" or because you have run out of models are lost.

he is the king of Rippers, spawning them like flies. Ruthless and Efficient.

The Sarge is acting Strangely...
Every enemy infantry unit that arrives using the outflank ability may harbor a squad member infested with ripper parasites. At the end of their Movement phase, one model in each of these units (owning player's choice) must take a Toughness Test. If the test is failed, that model is instantly removed as a casualty and the Tyranid player may place a Ripper Swarm unit consisting of D6 bases anywhere within 6" of the Victim. If the victim was inside a transport vehicle, it is assumed that he staggered out before dying. Any bases that cannot be placed due to impassable terrain, within 1" of enemy models or because you ran out of models, are lost.

Like I said, It's an insurance policy. it Likely will not force a Morale check, but in some small cases, it can.
Against a Korsorro Khan Outflank army this ability can be devistating.

So, we have this "Flying Monstrosity" that can join other units, kill fairly easily, and poop out new Ripper Swarms. Also He can keep Rippers in line fairly easily.

So we'll look at the ripper swarm and then go on to tactics that I would use.

Ripper Swarm
Low WS, Low BS, High Attacks, Medium S and T, 3 Wounds and LD 5.
Basically you do not want these guy's out of Synapse Range, EVER.
So, what do we do?
We join the Parasite of Mortrex to their squad. Not so devious, but can keep him alive almost forever.
They come in swarms of 3-9 Bases each with 3 wounds. Take 9 and that squad has 27 Wounds. Great Fun.
Now their options are a bit odd, Guns (Worthless with BS2) Furious Charge (Can Be Fun, but ultimately not worth the points) Tunnel Swarm (Why Bother?) Toxin Sacs (Invaluable for when attached with the parasite)

Toxin Sacs give them poison 4+ (and don't forget the re-roll to wound vs T3 or less) So yes, you can wound monsterous creatures and High T IC's.

So with a 9 Base Squad with Toxin Sacs, you're looking at 117 Points. Not bad at all for a 27 wound swarm that can and will eat just about everything. Sure at T3 they can be instikilled by a lot, but really, that is fine.
Now add in the Parasite of Mortrex and this unit costs us  277 Points (more if you go with flying Rippers)

You've got an amazing HTH unit that gets 45 attacks on the charge (always wounding on 4+) plus 5 WS5 I5 Rending Attacks that can cause instant death. not bad. Now consider that against marines, those first 5 attacks will all but guarantee 2d6 ripper bases that will be able to charge the same unit (if it's not dead) on your next turn.

To play these, have lots of ripper swarms. LOTS OF THEM. In a combo like this you can easily create a LOT of rippers (think 10-20 D6 Rippers) against most armies.

Now, on to the Synergystic Tactics:

Zoanthropes- Bust your opponent out of his transports. with the S10 AP1 Lance shot you can all but guarantee that they will be jumping for cover just in time for the Parasite's Teethy Swarm to arrive and eat them all.

Hive Guard (Same as Above)

Tervigons:
this may seem like a waste to some, but imagine this squad with Feel No Pain. yep, that is a 31 wound squad with Feel No Pain. Ouch.

This squad WILL eat Nob Bikers, SM Bike Command Squads. And anything else it can get into hand to hand combat with. Now, Thundershield terminators will cause you problems as each of their power weapon attacks will instantly kill a base. This does not matter. with a squad of 5 - 7 (have you ever seen more?) they are getting (roughly) 15 attacks on the charge, 8 will hit, 6 will wound. remember they are at Initiative 1. you are at a higher initiative. so with your (if the Termies charge) 40 Attacks you should hit with 18 Poisoned attacks, and 3 Implant Attacks, and cause 10.5 wounds causing 2 deaths. so they're down 2 already. they get 12 attacks back, 6 hits and 5 bases die. next turn they get 2 attacks and 1 base dies. then they're gone and you've lost 7 bases. big loss, but not so big when you realize you just killed 200 points of I Kill Everything Terminators.

Go make more swarms and have the Parasite join the bigger swarm. He replenishes his own retinue.

So, go grow the swarm.

Pics courtesy of the alien movie, and GW (used without permission)

Tyranofex, Red-Headed Stepchild?

Image from aduro on Dakka Dakka (used without permission)

So while perusing the blogs of FTW, I found this : THIS

And in the midst of my reply, I found that i was getting a bit long winded, so i've decided to make a blog post about the Tyranofex myself.

So, the tyranofex is a Big Bug, and when i say big i mean big. Toughness 6 Wounds 6.

He gets some nice options, but for any of my points, i can see only one loadout for him that would be worthwhile:

Tyranofex
Regeneration (I.E. You Can't Kill Me short of a Force Weapon or Special Ability)
Rupture Cannon (48" Range, S10 Assault 2, Ap4, but you'd get a cover save anyway right?)
Cluster Spines (18" Range S5 Large Blast. Hell Yeah)
Dessicator Larve (Template S1, Wounds on a 2+)

Why this configuration?

First, Regeneration makes him all but impossible to kill. Sure, with High Str weapons you're going to wound him, but he's got 6 wounds, and can get them back. Force Weapons and the like will still kill him, but well yeah, if you let a Librarian get into HTH with him, you've screwed up pretty good.

Rupture Cannon is a must, sure you're not going to kill infantry with it, but against armor, you're not going to get a better weapon short of Zoanthropes.

Cluster Spines - I took these simply because with a BS of 3, his other shots will miss more than this will. a large blast that can deviate at most 9" is much better than a stinger salvo.

Dessicator Larve- sorry, against anything close enough, the Dessicator Larve is your best bet. wound on a 2+ is far better than any of the other options.

So, now you've got a MC that is neigh unkillable, who can pop tanks, and if your plan is not going quite well, can decimate infantry. yes, 2 weapons can shoot per turn, so you can launch that large blast, then shoot the dessicator larve and really soften up a unit.

now on to CC. You are a Monsterous Creature so you've got power weapons, and roll an extra D6 vs vehicles. so you CAN penetrate a land raider with your Strength of 6. (6+6+6=18) though on average you're only penetrating 13 (vs average rear armor of 11)

Yes, he is 295 points. is it worth it? Very much so.

ok, vs an Assault Space Marine Squad (That Charged Him), he will take (on average) 20 Hits (Ouch) and from that, take 4 wounds, which he will save 3 (and a third) of. Now let's add in their bolt pistols (10 shots)
6 hit, 1 wounds, he saves it 5/6 times.

so he Takes 1 wound. attacks back and causes 1 wound. yay, now he has the advantage because their odds just go down from there. so he can and will. do a lot of damage.

now let's turn it arround. he shoots his blast template (for ease of reference he'll miss completely.) - 0 hits
fires his Dessicator Larve (little, but we'll say 3 hits) 2 wounds, 1 fails.

same as above, he takes 1 wound. now he causes 2 on the charge. he wins combat. they may or may not get away. now against SM tactical squad he does better.

and against a TH/SS squad he gets romped, but who does not?

He's worth his 300 points every day of the week.

while he may not compare to the fire output of a Leman Russ, well he's infinately more survivable.

Rules Interactions: Hive Tyrand & Tyrant Guard

SO YOU CAN IGNORE THIS FAIL OF A BLOG POST! 


as pointed out by eriochrome, i failed to read the rules again and this does not apply in this edition.



Ok, so there are many questions about the Shieldwall rule.

In it's entirety:

"Shieldwall: The Tyrant Guard are used as living shields whose entire purpose is to protect the Hive Tyrants from harm, heedless of any personal injury.


A single Hive Tyrant (Including the Swarmlord) may join a unit of Tyrant Guard exactly as if it were an independant character. If a Hive Tyrant (or the Swarmlord) has joined a Tyrant Guard unit, the unit can not go to ground, Voluntarily or otherwise."

Wow, Great! just like the last book right? Wrong.

Unfortunately, GW kind of screwed the pooch on this one. Their intention was VERY clear. Make it so you can not pick the Hive Tyrant out during the shooting phase. Unfortunately, their wording sucks and you still can. He joins as if he were an Independant Character, this does not negate his Monsterous Creature status. Expect an FAQ on this horribly written rule. It will likely read:


"Shieldwall: The Tyrant Guard are used as living shields whose entire purpose is to protect the Hive Tyrants from harm, heedless of any personal injury.


A single Hive Tyrant (Including the Swarmlord) may join a unit of Tyrant Guard exactly as if it were an independant character. While a Hive Tyrant is joined to a Tyrant Guard Unit, he may not be singled out during the shooting phase as he normally would be because of his monsterous creature type. If a Hive Tyrant (or the Swarmlord) has joined a Tyrant Guard unit, the unit can not go to ground, Voluntarily or otherwise."

One sentence makes a world of difference.

New Nids Rules Interactions: Mawloc

Ok, continuing my mini-series of the new Tyranid Codex's Rules interactions, we're on to the Mawloc.

His main point of contention is his deep striking attack.

So, In it's Entirety:

"Terror From The Deep:

If a Mawloc Deep Strikes onto a point occupied by another model, do not roll on the Deep Strike Mishap Table but instead do the following.

Place the large blast template directly over the spot the Mawloc is emerging from. Every unit under the template suffers a number of Strength 6, AP2 hits equal to the number of models in that unit that are wholly or partially covered by the template. Vehicles are always struck on their rear armor. If any unit has surviving under the template, move those models the minimum distance necessary to clear all models from beneath the template whilst maintaining squad coherency and avoiding impassable terrain. Models that were locked in combat prior to the Mawloc's attack must remain in base contact if possible, but otherwise may not be moved within 1" of an enemy model. Vehicles, including immobile vehicles retain their original facing if they are moved. Any models that can not be moved out of the way are destroyed. after all casualties have been determined, replace the large blast template with the Mawloc."

Ok, that is a lot of rules to say that when the Mawloc deep strikes he does not mishap, but causes a LOT of damage to anything on the board that he hits on his Deep Strike.

Now, the main question that I've been seeing cropping up is: Can the Mawloc deep strike directly into an enemy unit?

Well, let's look at the rules for Deep Striking:

Big Rule Book: Page 95:

"First Place one model from the unit anywhere on the table, in the position you would like the unit to arrive, and roll the scatter dice. if you roll a hit, the model stays where it is, but if an arrow is shown this determines the direction that the model is scattered in. If a scatter occurs, roll 2D6 to see how many inches the model moves away from the intended position."

And goes on to say:"If any models in a Deep Striking Unit cannot be deployed because they scatter off the table, land on top of a friendly unit or impassable terrain, or on or within 1" of an enemy model, something has gone horribly wrong. The controlling player must roll on the Deep Strike Mishap Table and apply the results."

Ok so, now we have all of the rules in one place. and while it may seem complicated I really don't think it is. You may disagree, but here is my reasoning.

1. The initial placement of your model on the board is not "Deployment" so they are not really there. it's just where you want them to be. This is supported by the fact that they are not deployed until after the scattering has happened. per page 95 of the BRB.

2. Since you are not really there you CAN place a Mawloc in the center of a unit and then roll for scatter. (Simply hold the Mawloc over where you want it to be.)

3. Since you don't mishap from enemy models, you simply drop the big template on them, you cause lots of damage if you do not scatter.

That is how I read the rules, If you disagree, you are welcome to explain why. (Please comment away)

Now, the other problem that people are not getting is that you must place the blast template CENTERED on where the Mawloc arrives. Not touching it's base somewhere as this allows you to counter scatter. the rules say Directly Over, and they mean it.

So, there you have it. Next up is the Tyrant and His Guard. (Oh Boy)

Doom of Malan'Tai Rules Interactions

Ok, so there is a LOT of discussion on the web about some of the new rules introduced in the Tyranids Codex. I'm not a Rules Lawyer, but I've done a bit of research, and looked at a lot of the arguements so here are my interpretations:

First up: The Dreaded Doom of Malan'Tai

His major gripe comes from the "Soul Leech" rule so in it's entirety:

Soul Leech: At the beginning of every shooting phase, including the foe's, every non-vehicle unit within 6" of the Doom of Malan'Tai must take a leadership test on 3d6. If the test is failed, the unit suffers a single wound for each point they failed by, with no armor saves allowed.

Ok, now the big points of contention that are cropping up are Cover Saves (Are They Allowed) and units embarked in vehicles (are they affected)

First we'll start with the Embarked units.

Common Arguements against affecting Embarked Units:

- Nothing in the game can affect an embarked unit
- Wrong. Blowing up a transport affects them.
- Necron Pariah (EDITED FROM EARLIER VERSION - Morning Needed Coffee.) Squads Affect Them.
- Parasite of Mortrex Affects them.

- Embarked Units are not on the table and thus can not be affected.

The main reason these arguement does not work is that in the BRB on page 66 2nd Column there is a rule that states: "If ever the players need to measure a range involving the embarked unit (except for shooting), this range is measured to or from the vehicle's hull."

- Psychic Powers Can't affect embarked units, it's in the FAQ
- True, however this is not a psychic power, it's a special rule.

- Shooting Can Not Affect an Embarked Unit
- True, However this is not a shooting attack, it just takes place in the shooting phase.

So, now that we've established that there are things in the game that affect embarked units, and that we can indeed measure to and from the unit, the main arguement against is that GW would not put something out there that can do this.

Why not? Tyranids don't have transports. at all. A mycetic spore can let them deep strike, but from there they are foot sloggers. Why would GW not put something in the codex that can alleviate some of that advantage? The only real answer that I can come up with is that people don't want their mini bunkers to be neigh indestructable.

Ok so if they can and do affect an embarked unit, now we've got another problem. What happens when the unit takes enough casualties to have to make a morale check?

well we've got some rules to cover this too.

Page 44 "A unit losing 25% or more of it's models during a single phase must pass a morale check at the end of that phase, or else it will fall back. Do not count casualties caused by close combat attacks as they are covered later in C) losing an assault"

Ok so say we've got a unit of 5 Sternguard Veterans, in a rhino, that lose 2 members due to Soul Leech, Have they met the 25%, yes. Do they need to check? Yes. Ok, so we test. Say they fail, what happens? well, here is where the rules take hold again.

EDITED TO ADD FURTHER
Emergency Disembarkation rules for this are on page 67 of the BRB. and if they can not do this, they can not disembark which will supercede my further comments about trapped.

Page 45 BRB "Trapped! Sometimes a unit will find it's fall back move blocked by impassable terrain, friendly models or enemy models (remember they have to stay 1" away from enemy models.) The models in the falling back unit may move around these obstructions in such a way as to get back to their table edge by the shortest route, Maintaining coherency. If the unit cannot perform a full fall back move in any direction without doubling back, it is destroyed."

So, since they cannot disembark because it is the shooting phase (not movement) and the vehicle itself is not destroyed (since the rules don't affect vehicle units) if they fail their morale check, they are destroyed.

Wow. The world is ending! not quite. let's look at the "Balancing" factors of the Doom of Malan'tai.

First, he is not an Independant Character so can be picked out to shoot at any time.
Second, he is only Toughness 4. Bolter fire can bring him down.
Yes, he has lots of wounds, but well, any S8 or better or a Force weapon will Instant Death him.

Second. Range. 6". if you're within 6" of this guy with a 5 man squad in a transport, how badly did you plan your game? Really? Yeah.

Third, and this is the kicker (at least to me). Let me get this right, You're just fine with a Wolf Lord that can conceivably get upwards of 30 attacks, or a 100 point model that can conceivably kill any character of mine with no save allowed (or 2 in one shot) but this thing is cheese balled all to crap? Really? sorry. no.

This guy has a lot of death potential, but in the end it is a very situational effectiveness.

Problem 2 with him seems to be the arguement of Cover Saves. Do you get them? well, in the end, the answer is yes. Since the only outlawed save is Armor Saves, Cover saves and Invulnerable saves are allowed.

HOWEVER, since it is not a shooting attack, there are several types of cover saves that will not be allowed to be taken.

- Intervening Models (Applies only to shooting.)

Basically any cover saves that apply only to shooting (as defined by their rules)will not be allowed to be taken. Sorry.

Area Terrain, Smoke Clouds (Ork Bikers), Kustom Force Fields (Ork Big Mek) and the like will be allowed to be taken. Them's the brakes guys, when your army's codex gets updated, expect some goodies as well. You'll get them in time, in the mean time just deal with the new codexes being a bit more powerful and harder to beat.

Now, to be fair, I believe these will be FAQ'd within a month or two, but from a strictly Rules As Written Standpoint, this is how it works to the best of my knowledge. if you've got something to add, by all means please put up a comment.