New Nids, hooooo! And wow, that was rough. We sound pretty flippant and bummed out in this one because we are. We hold out hope that there is more to learn about the book and that we are wrong that it isn’t awful, but it looks grim so far…. Reecius’ 6th ed Nids vs. Stave Stiff’s Eldar and Tau. As always, check out the Tactics Corner for more videos and articles!
I would a expected some more Los blocking terrain from Reece lol
thats what i was thinking.
apparently taudar shoot really good lol
You guys didn’t see the 6, giant buildings on the table? haha
haha, this video feels like it was edited to remove some particularly libellous rants and death threats.
Looks like its going to have to be all synapse armies then; maxing out on Flying Hive Tyrants, Zoeys, Warriors, Shrikes and Trygon primes. Maybe that’ll be… less bad.
I hope so. ANd yes, haha, we were tired and sad after the horrible thing that has happened to us!
I think everyone’s looking at this the wrong way. Look at the upside….which is that Chaos is no longer the worst new dex.
Chaos never was the worst new dex, dark angles hold that title. The chaos isn’t bad it’s just a one trick pony.
Although I normally enjoy your battle reports, this one basically sounded to me like what I would imagine 12 year olds playing call of duty. I was actually excited to see you guys play the new book because you are normally very good for playing strong armies and close games that showcase all the armies. Didn’t you just write an article on the joy of playing the underdog?
You’ve gotta appreciate that Reece loves his Tyranids and GW’s new book just took a massive shit all over them. I, like most of the nid players out there, feel thoroughly hard done by!!
I suspect it’s not just the underdog factor it’s that a bunch of the exciting and fun units were removed and a mechanic was added that pulls a lot of control out from under you. Me and my group have already house ruled deathleaper and broodlords as synapse. It gives genestealers a use and deathleaper more tactical choices when deepstriking.
I think he just could have done with a day to cool off, like you said Reece is the champion of the underdog. He’s just kind of feeling what a lot of nid players (and non nid players) are feeling. Nids where meant to be the army that brought assault back!
There is a difference between enjoying the underdog and then getting a book where obvious problems weren’t fixed. And our humor is definitely not at the 12 year old level, more like 7-8 years old, I think.
Synapse is a real problem with the new dex. The default strategy against Tyranids will be to shoot the Synapse creatures (since most are NOT IC’s and can’t be hidden inside squads). And the drawbacks of being out of synapse, just brutal.
I…am…..so…bummed…
Reece, let me show you how it’s done. Tomorrow….my bugs versus Spam Adam’s Triptide-Tau army…..
….and there will be a battle report.
jy2, you are our only hope…
I believe in jy2
I think the biggest problem with nid players is you will have to go back to 4 th edtion centepid where you always had synapse coverage. How would wave after wave of gaunts work backed up by a walking tyrant with guard and broods of warrior or zoe’s
Warriors will be owned in almost every game. They are so flimsy.
at least the beer was cold?
sure seems like we will need a ton of synapse. hello zoanthropes?
They aren’t that good, though. It seems lame to HAVE to take them just so that your army doesn’t commit suicide.
There is a small RTT type tournament and two Tyranid players are coming, and all they have for synapse is Warriors, and Im bringing Tau 🙂
That’ll be fun….
Whats with the rant about synapse?
Of coarse you need bloody synapse if your running lots of little bugs! That’s always been a core mechanic for bugs.
I share the sentiment about the amateurish feel of the new rules in general but that video really felt like you tailored a list to have synapse problems. Not to mention your opponent was playing with one of the best combos of shooting armies around at the moment.
I feel your starting to get a reputation for crying about the sky falling when ever something is released of late Recius. It seems your either crying about it being to powerful or not powerful enough with every release. Granted GW have not been doing great work, but most of the time after the initial crying you change your tune a week or two later and i have little doubt this will be any different.
The problem with synapse now is that, unlike literally every other army in the game, synapse is a special rule that doesn’t benefit you in any real way other than not killing yourself.
When armies like Eldar and Tau get Battle Focus and Supporting Fire, or IG Orders, or Space Marines and ATSKNF… nids eat themselves on a 4+ unless you’re right next to your HQ. And most of the units with synapse are pretty bad.
That right there is fundamentally bad game design. If synapse did something, it could get away with the severe penalties. Like if, say, a Hive Tyrant with adrenal glands would hand out furious charge and fleet to all gaunts within his synapse range, then you could afford to have drawbacks to being out of synapse, and it would feel fluffy and functional. But it doesn’t work like that.
I think you’ve nailed it there Gordy, I’ve never seen an armies core mechanic be such a handicap.
Exactly, that is what everyone is missing. Their army “shtick” is a zero sum game. If it works, you function normally, if it doesn’t you fall apart. It is only negative.
Synapse was never a big deal like this as most of the bugs got rage and ran forward, no big deal. Now they can kill themselves, get pinned and such, it is garbage. Again, I hope I am proven wrong, truly, but this feels like total crap to me.
And Escalation has proven to be OK? Haha, that was the last thing we said sucked and it does. Please, again, come and beat me in a game with a Rev, I will change my tune. So far it hasn’t even been close.
Getting seized on a board with no terrain vs a top shooting army and only having 2 synapse models is a pretty unfair look. Bit disappointed this is the first bat rep of them. Venomthropes really missing here.. Passive buff to units giving them a sick cover save? Put em in the middle with some cover or Los blocked and you are bullet proof first turn.
not versus an ignores cover army. I imagine that the venoms were intentionally left out because they would have performed subpar versus the opponent
No terrain? Why do people keep saying this? Haha, that was WAY more terrain than the average tournament table, I am sorry to say.
I think you need to cut Reece some fucking slack. I felt pretty pissed off about this codex and i don’t even play nids. I’m a chaos guy, So I totally feel tyranid players collective pain. GW continues to show just how out of touch they are with their own product and the people that usd them. I’m not saying that there aren’t viable builds in the book but they clearly weren’t listening to What the players have been asking for.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, it’s all good. They’ll see how bad it is when they play it. Some good lists will emerge I am sure, but not many.
Any player that knows or plays tyranids already know this codex is shit. I want all of you that say this codex is good or better make a list play a game with it then come back and tell my how you feel after that. 90% of you will need a hug or be glad that your main army is lot nids.
Yikes jy and I apparently don’t play Nids now! Good to know! Or I guess we just don’t know em 😉
Why don’t you play against Space Marines? or Necrons? Or Dark Angels? why did you have to start with Taudar? That list will ruin anyone. I’m willing to bet that if you played A 5th ed or a 4th ed, or any other edition of Nids, you’ll have the same results because of how powerful tau and eldar are.
Lol. I’m going to start off my 1st new Tyranid battle against a Taudar list with 3 skyfire HBC riptides and 6 broadsides. Fun days indeed!
Maybe I should bring my Harridan. Hahahaha….j.k. 😉
Good luck, buddy!
You need to be able to take Taudar on or why bother? It is one of the most common tournament builds. And, Stave Stiff was the only guy around to play at the time! haha
I hear you iNcontroL,
The jury is definitely still out on where this codex will sit in the current meta but it won’t be in the top tier. That said I have a feeling it will be better than the old book once everyone settles on builds and synergies that work best.
You honestly think it will be better than the last book? Really? What makes you say that because I am not seeing it at all.
Btw bigpig yeah eldau ignore a lot of cover. All else i said applies though 🙂 vs almost every other army venemothropes are more than worth the 45pts I would say! I’m home tomorrow and I’ve got games Monday and onward. Will share it as I go!
The whole ‘Eldar & Tau ignore cover so why use it’ line is the best lie Eldar and Tau ever told. For Eldar it’s only the Serpent shield (ok there is the power from the prescience tree too), isn’t it worthwhile getting cover saves from the scatter lasers and shuriken cannon shots from the Serpents?
The buff commander can’t be in every unit, I saw no Markerlights in this Eldau army so cover would’ve helped from the units that Gadgetpants wasn’t with.
Yeah Eldar & Tau break the rules but as an Eldar player I know I love it when my opponent gives up on cover as that means I don’t even have to think about where I put my shots any more.
The above being said the new instinctive behavior seems over punishing given the ease of targeting the synapse creatures (other than over costed Tyranid Prime IC).
More Carnifes and tonnes of Biovores and push for Escalation as that Harridan (not in the book but in Escalation) is nuts. Other than that it’s hard to see much exciting in the new book. 4+ regen doesn’t do anything if you’re dead!
Two Plus Cover saves on those Biovores, behind a defence line. OUCH. But then have fun storing the venomthrope with its finecast tentacles
Would you even be able to see a Biovore behind a defence line? I forget how tall it is.
Yeah, it peaks over the top, but not by a ton.
Perfect Timing, Wave Serpents, SMS, and Buffmander. All of this units largely ignored cover. I was just going to slow myself down. Escalation doesn’t fix it, IMO. But hey, the way this shit is going totally off the deep end, why not! haha
Prove me wrong! Please!! haha
Ha you fuckers getting raged over this batrep! Reece is having a laugh and making a good joke outa the shenanigans that is this book. Why be so critical of which army the nids play first? Surely you’ll want to see how they do against all other armies anyways? I don’t play nids ( I had thought about starting if the book was exciting enough) but I fully appreciate how upsetting this is for exsisting players.
I fully believe we should all sign a petition and request this book is redone immediately.
It sucks turtle nuts!!!
Ps cheers for sharing your game!!
Haha, yeah, the second game was a joke (obviously, I thought) but some people miss it =P
I agree the dex is bad but 2 snaps models in the new world of nids is not going to cut it.
Obviously not =)
Wow, the Eldar really bent them over and went in dry
Judging by the wording for Hive Commander, I believe an FAQ is en-route for the Tyranid ally issue…
Choose a single troop from the same detachment. All models in the unit gain the outflank rule.
Or they’re possibly setting it up for a supplement.
Please god!
Couple of random thoughts:
First, as soon as you proffer, “Granted, GW have not been doing great work,” you seriously weaken anti-whining criticisms. GW is as close as you can be to blowing goats on this one.
Second, claiming that the jury is still out on this codex is actually insulting to 40K players of all types; the greybeards, the receding hairlines, the expanded waistlines, the faintly (or strongly) body odored, the borderline autistic, the completely OCD, those that like to make lists of loosely related things…. This codex can be judged from several angles (perhaps more), and found wanting from all of them: experience, intelligence, comparison.
So, as we move forward in our collective attempts to put some shine on this turd, let’s at least consider keeping the arguments objective. This is, at its heart, a game of numbers and probabilities, yes?
Haha, fair enough!
I think people are approaching this book from the wrong way. I think the tyranids look like they are fine. I think that the problem is that Tau and Eldar are at a level where it is just not fun.
Tau and Eldar are a problem for almost all the books in the game and I would rather see more books near the tyranid level rather than the tau eldar level.
That is illogical. If a codex is a problem, then the solution is to make everything else weaker? That sounds rotten to me.
No what I am saying is to not exacerbate the problem by increasing the number of books at that level unless you plan on having all the books at that level.
Right now if they added tyranids to the tau/eldar level then they would be competative against tau and eldar, but many MANY more books would not be able to face the tyranids. I would rather have an army that loses against 2 armies consistently but provides a good game against 10-12 armies than have a army that does decent against 2 armies but crushes 10-12 armies to the point where no one wants to play those armies.
Also everything is relative, so by definition if you increase one then you are weakening the other but for some reason people think it is different to weaken one army than to strengthen another army. The net result is the same. If one army starts at 2 and drops to 1, that is the same as an army that started at 1 going to 2 for competitive ability.
To add to my previous point about relatively. An army’s power level is obviously only determinable by what it is compared to.
So current tau might be considered powerful, however if tomorrow an army came out with every model having the ability to ignore overwatch and assault from reserves then their power level would drop. Did they actually get weaker? Nope, but we would say they are a weaker book because they got weaker by comparison.
Sorry, one final point. I like to see the game as a whole instead of on a individual book by book comparison. So lets say you could give each book a objective power rating factoring all the interactions between the books For example Eldar might be 8+ and Tau might be an 8+. Space Marines might be a 5(just random numbers) and do this for all books then find the mean power level of the game. You would want as many books to be released as close to the mean score, this would have the effect of bring more books into balance with each other over time. So even though it might not be able to compete with the top books it will help to create a closer balance within the entire game instead of making it skewed by the extremes as much as it is.
Against Eldau was probably a bad match up but hey as u said diving right in to the deep end right haha.
My first game with new Nidz was Big Guns as well against wolves in 1500 running a Flyrant tooled out with regen, reaper of obliterax and ymgarl (died turn 2), tervigon, 20 termagants, 15 poison horms, 20 gargoyles, 2 zoans, exocrine, 2 biovores and a trygon prime.
Ended up winning 10-1 holding 3 objectives and first blood and only giving up warlord.
Overall I overpowered flanks and used cover from long fangs on top of catalyst from tervigon and zoans making lots of FNP on big bugs, Regen was fantastic in keeping my big bugs alive, paroxysm was good on long fangs making them hit on 5’s. other than that it was the same old hide behind things and get into charge range
Good for you, that is nice. I hope that is a sign of what is to come with Nids.
The Tyranid book needs something that rivals the awesome power of the CSM Defiler! *snicker*
Lol!
Yup. I’m ticked off too. I really wanted a good codex, but got crap for $42.
Here’s the bottom line:
Nids are solid against: Sister’s of Battle, Orks, Blood angels, so-so space marine players, and, oh wait, that’s right, Nids.
On the other hand, Nids don’t have a chance against Tau, Eldar, Demons, Dark Eldar, good space marine players, and Grey Knights… and probably Space Wolves… Oh, and more than likely Chaos too.
Can I get a refund, GW?
Pretty much. I do not see this book competing with the big dogs.
One ok tactic I saw a dude use at a mini tournament was death leaper min using a GUOs LD. That plus shadow in the warp meant he was shutdown as far as psychic powers
he did the exact same thing last edition. The problem now is that he is more vulnerable, does not have his redeploy rules, and takes up a HQ slot. Oh, and he is not a synapse node despite taking in HQ slot. I like the unit I’m just not sold on its competitiveness in a tournament environment
Yeah, a lot of folks are making DL sound like he got a new power. It’s what he’s always done.
And I’m not convinced that spending 130pts just to make your opponent’s HQ -D3 Ld is even close to worth it.
He did the same thing last edition and no one took him, then. Now he lost rending on his shooting but gained some better defense. Eh, he is good, but I would rather have him in Elites than fighting for a spot with a Flyrant.
Wow, I’m primarily an Ork player but when I heard GW was doing the Tyranid book first I was really happy. I thought Tyranids needed it more in a meta that was increasingly shooty at least I still have dakka, though I miss all that’s choppy.
I was looking fowards to a codex which would have innovative solutions to make assault armies competitive. If anyone should have a top tier assault army it’s Tyranids i thought. So they deserve a solid book. Having played since second edition I always loved playing tyrannid opponents fluff wise their ravenous hordes are fantastic grimdark.
But now condolences to the tyranids out there, I hope you wont pack your armies away because they’re unique to the game, but a whole edition of being buthurt aint fun. Additionally I’m now sceptical my choppa boys or foot nobs will ever be cracking heads. It seems that GW doesnt really have a way to breath life back into assault armies.
I sincerely hope Orks don’t get this treatment.
If it helps, the rumor is your spiritual liege Matt Ward is doing Orks. I can only hope he gives them the same kind of love he did for the Necrons
I hope they’re good. I love Orks and the Nids got shafted.
You people are all crazy
What do you mean by ” you people” lol couldn’t resist
Just trying to get my cook on…
I smell a challenge coming on!
How did the Broadsides move and cause so much damage? They’re Infantry with Heavy weapons, should be snapfiring since they’re moving.
Twin-Linked. They still do massive damage.
Well sure… but that means 75% hits drops way down to 30% hits… or is there something I’m missing?
No, but that many shots, wounding on 3’s or 5’s with rerolls is still brutal.
It felt as a battle report that the bug player and his opponent already had a preconceived idea about the bug book. And that idea was that the Tyranid codex wasn’t very good and you went a fair way in a short video to show it, It felt oddly insulting to listen to gamers who want to be respected for their opinion (and are in many forums and places-otherwise why put so much time into this?) put the game together in such an overtly negative way.
How is this good for the hobby?
The terrain, while more than most tourneys have and utilize, wasn’t placed in any way that the Bugs could use. I mean total los blocking would have been nice. Just saying eltau ‘ignore cover’ so why bother? seems a copout and reinforces the negativity of the whole piece.
Both presenters seemed at times bored or tired during the games. Presenting the new codex in bad light as the elder/tau line up on the board edge and blast the bugs off the board is hardly a sincere way of showing new tools to this game system.
It took nothing to run a hyper-mean list against the bugs. There was no new tools of the bugs explained, nor demand that terrain was reasonably placed without the ignore cover so why bother nonsense, no looking at more controlled generalship to find success, no lauding the non auto win of a unit type in the new bug book, and lastly, no seemingly multiple playtest games beforehand to present real tactical/codex challenges during the presentation. It felt like you didn’t like this codex and wanted to make sure we all should agree.
Overall I find your site and your info generally good and with the overwhelming negative feedback from the 40K community about the newer game releases all over, I was disappointed you didn’t do a better job of showing the new stuff in an unbiased light. From comments and statements throughout the video, your hearts didn’t appear in it. And how will that help our game?
There WAS total LoS blocking terrain, haha, how are folks missing this? Is the angle bad? The middles of the table was almost entirely terrain peices. 2, large pieces of area terrain and 2 large buildings, that totally blocked LoS on the bottom floor, which are very tall.
If you felt this was “scripted” or something you are free to hold your opinion of course, but that is absolutely untrue. And yes, when an army ignores cover, almost entirely, it is better to not slow yourself down as an assault army by going into terrain. That is simple logic.
We were very, very tired though, yes. We’ve been working crazy hard. The second game was a joke, straight up. We were just fooling around.
If you went to come and take a shot at it and prove us wrong, please do. A lot of the guys here think the book has potential. I am confident we’ll find a few good lists, but our first impression is that it is a terrible, terrible codex written by people far out of touch with the game.
And I understand it can be a downer to hear so many folks be negative on something, but hey, maybe that means it is a shitty product, you know? Why should we pretend to like it when we don’t? How does being false help anyone, either?
Here is something interesting I haven’t seen people talking about.
Shadows of the warp is now – 3 LD to all enemy unites with 12″ not just enemy psykers. Couple this with the amount of pinning weapons they can take, the Horror, and warp scream seems like it would be pretty good
Nice one! I didn’t catch that.
Hey Reece,
First off how you been man?
Alright down to the the nids,
I think the top builds that emerge from this codex are going to include maxing out heavy support most likely Carnifex’s, loading up on some shooty goodness and some biomorphs to keep them around. Also your going to need a safe supply of synapse creatures. Finally, never run hormagaunts in competitive environments… lol
Ide like to see how the following hold up:
9 dakka fexes and 3 Haruspex all with regen. Its some expensive monster mash!
Hey dude! I am well, hope you can say the same.
Yeah, I agree with you, Heavy Support and HQ are the bread and butter slots for Nids. They do their killing there. I think T-Fexes are money, Carnies are great for the points, and I thought about the Haruspex with Regen, too. If you can figure out how to get there, it’s game on, but they’re so slow. I wish they moved like a Beast, then they’d be gravy.
Flyrants are excellent, too.
Actually a template that I would like to start with:
1 tervigon (beetles; regen;) 235pts
1 tervigon (beetles; regen;) 235pts
1 tervigon (beetles; regen;) 235pts
30 termagaunts 120pts
30 termagaunts 120pts
Hive Crone (regen)185pts
Hive Crone (regen)185pts
Hive Crone (regen)185pts
3 biovores 120pts
3 biovores 120pts
I like it, but I don’t think you need Regen on the Crones, they tend to drop like flies.
“Just take 500 more points than your opponent”
well, the only go-to net list for tyranids in the last book revolved around generating 300+ more points than your opponent and spamming biomancy, so it sounds about right.
And you WERE playing against of the other most tried-and-true cheese-dick army in the current meta, so you really shouldn’t be too surprised.
I think the new book is quite fun.
I am not seeing it, honestly. This book is a train wreck, IMO. So far it has been nothing but frustrating and disappointing for us.
We have an Orks vs. Nids match in the pipe as I write this.
Now THAT will be fun.
I agree that there are some really rough match-ups for this new book, but there’s alot of good too; an example being the Lurk and Hunt instinctive behaviors, which are all-around better than the older ‘Lurk’ responses. Haywire missiles to deal with heavy vehicles or aircraft, assault grenades on warriors and shrikes, better biovores, spore mines, and venomthropes, and decently cheap ranged AP2 in the exocrine.
‘Nids just require finesse and synergy, and I’m sure you’ll figure them out and have fun as another of your ‘under-dog’ armies.