Yeah, I said it.
Hey everyone, Reecius here to talk about the new Nid dex and how to try and pull something slightly resembling a good list out of it.
And here I thought we were on a roll with 6th ed. Space Marines? Aweome. Love that book. So many good builds and a few outstanding builds that actually play like the fluff! Sweet.
Eldar? Brilliant book. The Jetseer Council is lame and I would prefer the game to not have that type of unit and combo, but, I will accept that for what is otherwise a beautifully crafted Codex with multiple viable builds and the biggest problem is deciding which awesome unit to use.
Then we get Nids. Wow.
This book feels like someone has a few extra minutes on the crapper and scribbled down some notes on a piece of toilet paper and turned it in to be printed. We got everything from last edition…but worse! Wee!
I don’t know what happened, maybe someone on the Dev team was getting owned by Nids all the time and it skewed their perspective of them. I can’t say. But all I know is that at this point in time, I can honestly say I think this may be the weakest, most disappointing codex I have ever read. And I have been playing this game for a LONG time. We’ve played about 7 games so far in the shop and they have been massively disappointing. I still hold out hope that there are some good builds in the book that we have simply not discovered yet (and I believe a few will rise out of the crap) but so far it’s been brutally bad.
Without devolving into an emotional rant (and I love Nids, I have a huge Nid army, fully painted which is one of the reasons this book pisses me off so much) I will just touch on some of the key points that really grind my gears:
Synapse is crippling. You have to invest points into units that stop your army from falling apart. While everyone else is putting points into units that actively participate in the game, do damage, take objectives or force multiply your army, Nids have to take babysitting units that simply stop something negative consequences from happening.
The inverse of this is, obviously, the other guy simply has to kill your synapse to make your army fall apart. This is alarmingly easy to do and once the Synapse web starts to collapse, the whells just come off the bus and the Nid army folds. This would be acceptable if the Synapse creatures weren’t so easily dispatched.
A lot of already weak units got weaker. A lot of weak units stayed weak. This to me smells like a dev team that either didn’t have time to do it right, don’t know what needed to be fixed, or just didn’t care. I can’t imagine things like Genestealers were deemed to be just right as they were? Tyranid Warriors? Rippers going UP in price? Haha, what? It is seriously comical and defies logic.
Losing BRB powers was not needed at all. Wow that hurts. That was one of the only thing Nids had to keep them alive and kicking in the meta. Now granted, most of the new Nid powers are really good, the fact that you pretty much have to use Dominion a lot and take it as a power, and the randomness of the others means you just can’t count on them being there and plan strategies around them.
But enough of that, I’ve already covered a lot of this negative stuff, let’s look at some of the positive.
So what seems to actually be playable so far?
Flyrants
These gents got a lot better! Basically what we had before, but BS4, cheaper, and Mastery Level 2. Tyranid Powers are actually really good, but I have found you pretty much have to take Dominion all over the place to be able to cover wholes that appear in your Synapse web. As Flyrants are so dynamic, this is almost a must, IMO, or the rest of your army can be in serious peril as the Flyrant flies all over the table.
Their extra Tyrant upgrade powers are OK, I don’t really use them or see much of a use for them, honestly, not for the points. Flyrants have a short shelf life and many amount of dedicated AA, or even a lucky shot, will bring these guys down easily. Don’t invent too heavily in them as they are a risky unit to use.
Not having BRB powers hurts a bit, but they only got one roll before, so for me it’s not too bad.
Biovores
For me, these are auto-include. I always took a unit of 3 before and now they got so much better! Nice! Cheaper, another wound, etc. This is a fantastic barrage unit, and barrage is such a great tool. Particularly in a meta of Cultists, Scouts, Fire Warriors, Guardians, Horrors, etc, these guys do great.
Tyrannofex
Very good! So far we have found him to be a standout unit with his huge points drop. His 2+ and 6 wounds really make a HUGE difference and this is one of the only models I would consider putting Regen on as a good player will always seek to choose a target and shoot or punch it to death in a single turn, not allowing the opportunity to regen. For how expensive it is, and only working 50% of the time, I would only ever put Regen on the most durable units to protect the investment.
Acid Spray is fantastic as a torrent, Str6, AP4 weapon is sweet for killing all of the 4+ or low tough troops we see now a days. It’s good against light vehicles and even Marines, really. Stinger Salvo is a dud, but hey, more shots. Adding a Thorax Biomorph to him is worthwhile, too, as it increases his assault defense and as he is an aggressive unit going forward, he will often get into range to use it, particularly with Onslaught. Again, TMCs are really, really easy to kill in general terms, so keep them points light and take lots of them. I really dig the T-Fex so far, though. Just be careful as a few fists or something similar in combat will make short work of him. He needs support units to really work.
Exocrine
I actually dig this model a lot. He brings in some much needed AP2 firepower, pairs up with the T-Fex well, and is another aggressive TMC that goes up field adding firepower and eventually assaulting. Now, prepare for him to die almost every game. T6, 5W, 3+ is not hard to kill at all, and with his firepower he will draw a lot of attention, particularly if you are running him near a T-Fex or unit of Carnies which being harder to kill, will be a less appealing target. But, at only 20pts over a Dakkafex, I think he is a very tempting choice.
Termagants
These little boogers are actually solid. At 4pts a pop, and the option to mix weapons (and the Devourer going down in points) they went from a strictly speed bump/scoring unit to a unit that actually has presence on the battlefield. I have been messing around with units of 15 to 20, with 10 Devourers and 5-10 wound chumps and the unit is actually really good. They shoot and scoot well, can go after objectives with enough mass to be hard to kill (so long as they are in Synapse of course) and can tie up units for a decent amount of time if needs be. For the points, I would go so far as to say this is one of my favorite scoring units out their right now. I no longer take Tervigons, I just take lots of medium sized Termagant units. This may chaneg but for now it seems to get the job done.
Hormagants
They didn’t really get better, they didn’t really get worse, but they’re still really useful. They lost offense (ScyTal nerf) gained Speed (+3″ run) and dropped a point naked but styaed the same cost with Poison…which was overpriced as it was. So, now I use them naked as a cheap scoring unit and tie up unit. With their speed they are good for going after objectives later in the game, or tying up a unit with bodies.
Zoanthropes
I was not sold on them at first but with their points drop and the really nice utility of Tyranid powers, these guys are not really great, but become borderline auto-include for many builds to provide reasonable Synapse. A 3++ is great, but T4 with 2W is disarmingly easy to take out. And if these guys are holding the backfield and get killed, it forces you to send offensive units back to keep Synapse up which is brutal. Therefore, a good player will do just that. Sigh. Nids are quite easily hamstrung if your opponent understand target priority.
Crone
This one is borderline bad, but it is cheap and if you play it wisely it can be good. I go back and forth on this, but for now let’s say good. It has a strength 8 vector strike which is great because we think of how nasty a Turkey is…and then you realize the Crone can only go 24″ and it isn’t nearly as rough as it seems. However, it is a FMC so it can start on the ground, it can assault, and it is overall pretty useful. It died turn 1 or 2 in most of our first games as it is SO fragile. You have to be ultra careful with it. As a counter flyer unit it can be good but you have to reserve and hope to come on second. It is really hard to hide it as it is a huge model and the only FMC that is actually on a flying stand. T5, 5W and a 4+ is brutally fragile, but I think this unit has a place. With 2 Flyrants and a Crone or 2, you have enough units to get across the table (unless you are playing Tau) and then do some work but you will almost certainly lose some to attrition on the way.
That said, with Flyrant support you should be able to dominate other flyers pretty well if you get a little luck and play well. If you are on board when other flyers show up though? Good night. Scythes, Storm Talons, etc. will gut a Crone in a single volley. Ouch.
I am coming around on the Harpy. At first I wrote it off as pure junk, but as an FMC with Grenades and providing a buff to other units on the charge, plus decent range, you could play it safe with this guy and hang back, shooting it’s blast and then going to where needed, Free Safety style. I will experiment more.
Carnifex
Ye Old Trusty, the Carnifex has gotten quite a boost from his sad days of 5th, but not back to his 4th ed Glory days.
His big points drop is the key. I still like the Dakkafex which with 12 str6, Twin Linked shots on a really reasonable price point TMC is a solid unit. Being able to take more than 1 in a slot is nice too, as HS is so crowded for Nids now (ohh, if only they could ally with themselves!). We’ve also discussed taking 6-9 of them naked, just run up field, take your licks and hopefully deliver a knock-out blow when you finally get across the table.
Again, T6, 4W, 3+ is very easy to take out. Keep them as cheap as possible to accomplish your goals and then cross your fingers! Their slow speed and short range is tough to manage on the tabletop, especially when they have to move around hordes of little bugs that take up a lot of space and get in the way.
The Haruspex falls into the Fex category, IMO. It has the advantage of being in Elites, but it is oh so slow, and has very few attacks. WS and I 3 stink, too. Even on the charge you will usually only get 1-2 bonus attacks, so it is hardly the lawn mower the Trygon was before the ScyTal nerf. The Trygon was also faster and had more wounds, more initiative, and WS, better shooting and you still rarely saw it. So again, maybe with Adrenal, Maybe with Regen (which would be a godo combo if you could actually get it into combat) but for me, I think he isn’t worth the points as of now.
Gargoyles
Yeah, they got nerfed, IMO. No more Blinding Venom as it was and more expensive upgrades hurts a lot. They now cost 25% more for the same upgrades, but losing their old Blinding Poison means they really do not pack a punch in combat at all anymore. Blind and Poison 6+ is not great at all as a substitute.
However, they are still a cheap cover providing unit, tarpit and distraction unit. They are still fast, still have an OK shooting attack. They now fly forward and die, contest objectives. I run them dirt cheap and they serve that role fairly well.
I was thinking they would pair well with Venomthropes to provide cascading cover…and then I read that Venomthropes only work on MODELS in range. Wow. That blows. So yeah, with giant broods of bugs that isn’t so hot. Still works on Big Bugs if you keep them close to the Venomthropes but as you move around the battlefield that is not going to be something you can maintain without really limiting your mobility. Sigh. -Edit, Shrouded is conferred onto the entire unit if any model has it. Nice! Venomthropes are reasonably good again, glad I missed that! Still rough against the top tier armies that largely ignore cover, but better than I thought.
Tactics
So if you make the choice to play bugs, you are playing on hard mode. Accept that. I reserve the right to be bitter about it though, as while I like playing the underdog, this book missed the mark by a country mile and is so annoying in how easily it could have made so many more units viable.
But I rant again. Tactics.
Lots of Bodies
You need lots of bodies to do two things: harass your enemy and hold objectives with enough mass to be hard to kill in a normal length game. That means lots and lots of little boogers flying up the field to force target priority on your opponent and lots and lots of little gribblies in the back to be able to soak fire once the first wave dies horribly and the enemy turns their attention on your objective holding units.
I choose Hormagants and Gargoyles for operation die a terrible death, and Termagants for operation die a terrible death after the other guys, but hopefully not before the game ends!
Going all big bugs isn’t that viable in my eyes yet as they die so easily. Yes, Catalyst helps, but you can’t count on getting it. Assault armies beat them to death in combat, shooty armies blow them away.
Synapse
You also need reliable synapse which gets hard to do as your army spreads out to take objectives and takes casualties. This is the hard part. Flyrants are so good, but they tend to die and fly away from the rest of your army so they are not reliable.
Warriors are pathetic, contribute almost no offense, are expensive, slow, die incredibly easily and pretty much suck. A unit of 3 just for synapse is an OK choice if you plan on hiding them all game but what a tax, yikes. If you still had sPods, they MIGHT be usable with a Prime (assuming they allowed them to come in in the same sPod this go around), but as of now, I’d pass in anything other than a friendly list. Too many things in the game ignore cover and a 4+ save, or are Str 8+ to warrant their huge points cost. Shrikes fall into the same boat and while they’re speed means ins some games they will kick ass, often a few bolter rounds is all it takes to shred them.
Tervigons are reasonably resilient, and Regen is a consideration here, but they are very expensive, can poop out on the first turn they spawn which makes their bloated points cost even more of a liability, and got nerfed hard. They are not what they were and I find myself moving away from them.
The Trygon Prime is interesting. He is very expensive, again, dies pretty easily and got a big hit on offense with no rerolls. He is relatively fast though, with the option to Deep Strike and decent shooting. Eh, he is OK. You rarely saw him in the last book and he was better. I doubt that will change.
The Tyranid Prime is such a rip-off in price, but he can hide in a unit of Gants which makes him much, much more durable. He competes with Flyrants though, who actually kill stuff where often, the Prime will simply sit there picking lent out of his belly-button with his little Gant buddies. For what he does, especially with a Norn Crown (which bloats his points cost even more) he can provide reliable backfield Synapse. Oh, and a lot of people seem to think he buffs any units BS and WS, but it is only Warriors.
Swarmy is dead to me. Don’t bring him up, it only twists the knife!
Zoanthropes are solid and probably the best choice. Again, not great, they can get some good powers but you need at least one in each brood with Dominion. They have a decent shooting attack, too. I see Zoeys as they go to choice for Synapse management. 2 squads of 2 will be reliable, reasonably priced and provide a good shot at getting solid buffing powers, too. Considering the other options, this seems to the best of some not so great options.
Look for Tricks and Ways to Use Units “Out of the Box”
Tyranids need to be tricksy. Maybe taking a unit or two of min/maxed Stealers with a Broodlord for the Horror on armies that are weak to it, or for going in as Skirmishers to hit backfield units. Broodlord still gets it done in combat but like so many other things in the book got nerfed hard for no apparent reason.
Combos don’t jump out at us yet, but maybe there are some there. A Carnie star…maybe? I struggle with it, too many combos in here strike as being of the Warp Talon variety…you know, the kind that sound good on paper but don;t actually work and usually end up getting you killed.
But don’t let that stop you, keep hunting for those combos that can unlock powerful tricks and units that we don;t see just yet.
Fortifications
It seems the Hive Mind has figured out triggers and that we can now use Fortifications. Ok, whatever, we can model up some cool Nid Aegis and Quad Guns like the ones Mr. Dandy makes.
Nids can use these to give themselves places to hide, cover, an invul save (Skyshield), more AA options, etc. Look for some good ones that might help you survive a first turn Alpha Strike if you find yourelf going second against a shooty army.
Maximum Threat Overload
You need to apply a lot of pressure. You cannot take a punch. You have to deliver it hard, and first. Play ultra aggressively, accept that half or more of your army is getting blasted off of the table, and hope what remains can do work.
So hopefully that helps a bit. I am bitter as hell about this half-assed book (as if that isn’t painfully obvious) but I hold out hope that we will find some playable lists in this book. Pray to the Hive Mind for a supplement though, haha, as we need to at least be able to ally with ourselves to get any real power out of this thing =(
hey Reece, I’m sure you’ve noticed it in the other comments, but you only need one model in a unit to grant the entire unit shrouding, so venoms and gargs etc are actually great:)
whoops, just went from the bold article to here… I see you’ve red lettered that bit on venoms glad it’s been noticed:)
Yes, missed that! Thanks.
Just played and won a practice game at 1750 against my stepson. Was very close, will post up a batrep.
…and remember, you can’t polish a turd but you CAN put googley eyes and a tail on it and sell it to tourists.
Haha, nice! That;s a good one.
And I look forward to the bat rep.
I prefer to run a couple of units of solo Zoanthropes for mobile synapse and to maximise my chance of picking up a good power (besides the blast).
Now that the unit has brotherhood of psykers, it’s really sucky that even a brood of three Zoeys only gets two powers (one of which is always Warp Blast), and only has two warp charge points. Making the choice between Warp Blast and Dominion (with a wasted warp charge point) can be tough.
I like the solo Zoanthrope idea… but it seems sad to burn elites slots you could use on fun units. Hive guard are still pretty great and 100 pts of lictors can really throw a wrench in an opponents plans.
Yup, and I cheated in the Bat Rep and gave them 2 powers. So they aren’t as good as I was using them. I think solo is the right choice, but they give up First Blood so easily.
I operate in a Tau, Eldar, plasma heavy environment… so I gave up on retaining first blood last edition (I’d often run solo biovores so that I could shoot each separately, without having to barrage them together).
The reason I stopped caring about it was that I found that my opponent could usually take first blood somewhere. My general ‘nid strategy was to try and push forward, taking the punches, while trying to make sure enough of my gribblies got through to seal the deal.
The beauty of solo Biovores/Zoanthropes (if you give up on First Blood) is that they usually absorb more shots than they need. If a person deals 8 wounds to a Solothrope, that’s 6 wounds that aren’t going eslewhere.
I think small units of Genestealers could actually have a place now as a good distraction, they can go to ground to max out on cover saves and even one unit misplacing shots could be devestating.
Unfortunately I think scything talons become near mandatory in this role to max out the amount of attacks a small unit can generate…
With a Lictor playing wingman, I’ve been thinking that Deathleaper would be perfect in this role.
Also, needs some more play testing, but a Prime with the Norn coming up from DS has shown potential, his arrival on turn 3 on a failing flank as battle was joined and Synapse became thin was a godsend. Unfortunately this rapes you of ‘Nyds new and improved target saturation, which is problematic…
Yep – I played a unit of two Lictors for this reason. It worked pretty well in my first test game, when it popped up target priority was focused on venomthropes and taking apart my main wave, so the Lictors were free to eat a dakka predator and then a unit of cultists. If they had been shot with anything serious, I’d just have had them go to ground in area terrain for a 2+ cover save.
Nice tactic, might have to steal that one to take me out of my Nid depression if only slightly.
You said it. The Prime is so overcosted and crummy, but he is probably the safest bet for synapse and he takes away another Flyrant.
You said it. The Prime is so overcosted and crummy, but he is probably the safest bet for synapse and he takes away another Flyrant. I will try out the Min/Maxed Stealer squads, but I won’t go for ScyTals, myself. The unit dies like nothing, don’t want to put more points into it.
I am seriously considering just throwing talons on the Broodlord as its just 4 points and gives him 6 attacks on the charge. I mean, for these squads the actual stealers are meaningless and everything is about the Broodlord so why not maximize his potential to do something.
On the Broodlord, for sure, and I think it is free for him as he gets Biomorphs, not the GS upgrades. He pretty much comes with them standard.
As I sit here touching myself at work:
If you take a Flyrant, why could you not take a unit of Guard and stuff your shit head prime into it… 2 with him so they can pick each other belly button lint.
Haha, nice!
The only good thing about brotherhood of psykers is that it will give some redundancy to the unit so that if you lose the one Zoanthrope that had a particularly lucky power roll up it’s not lost to the rest of the unit
True.
The other thing I like as well is that you don’t have to make separate psychic checks for each Zoanthrope for the warp lance/ blast anymore… I guess all in one basket approach but getting to shoot lance/blast assault 3 is a plus I feel.
Bevor you take a Prime with norn i would Upgrade him to a tervigon. For the points u get at least one additional troop and another psylevel. In my opinion a tervigon with norn solvs at least the backfield synapse problem. Also i would always roll last for his powers, so that u know what the rest of your psikes have.
@rees: can u pls point out, why swarmi is dead for u? with some guards he cost less to the privous book and he solves some of the synapseproblems. With guards an venoms he is hard to kill, can kill the annoying terminators (last batrep) an has three powers witch can result in a 24 synapsebubble
Swarmy is now not very good. He needs psychic buffs to be durable, and he lost that. Catalyst isn’t enough. On foot, with a 3+, T6, and 5W just isn’t going to cut it on a slow, expensive model.
If you say catalyst isn’t enough, then where is the different to the 5te Swarmy? Now he can at least have a 3+/2+ Coversave with the Venom.
But on the other hand (i dont play Tyranids, so it is all Mindhammer ;)) he delivers things u need and preferred enemy for example is “better” now because u dont have the rerolls through scys.
One more thing you forgot about Gargoyles is how the Blind rule actually plays out. I’ve been pretty aware of this since I started using blind all the damn time with my Nova Sorc, but the wording on the rule is that you take a test immediately when hit by a model or weapon with blind. Unlike rules like pinning, which say when you are hit by “one or more” this rule specifically says you take a test immediately when hit by a (singular) weapon or model. Blinding Venom falls into that weapon category, getting hit by 10 separate blind weapons means 10 separate blind checks, which is pretty likely to fail.
The gargoyles are the ultimate tar pit now. Also poisoned 6+ isn’t that bad, it means always wounding like before (though after you roll to hit, which will be on a 3+ due to blind), but it also means re-rolling to wound against T3.
So much this ^^^ I love this rule now, against higher Init armies this couples with the Harpie perfectly. Dual charge and spit all over the fucking place, plus it only removes regular attacks so Gargoyles still get HoW
Ninja’d!
Yeah, the harpy combo charge is quite nice, making the gargoyles even strike simultaneous if they have to charge into cover. Similarly, a harpy charging with a unit of carnifexes means those fexes are going to swing at effectively I7… Now that’s gross.
That is solid, actually. The trick is just keeping the stupid Harpy alive.
Yeah, they definitely are a bit squishy, but I’m really thinking 2 with venom cannons is not a bad way to spend 280 points, it gives you some anti-tank before you go in for the kill. Being monsters, they can still smash, and if the enemy is WS1, it’s a bit less likely that they’ll get pummeled in combat.
Also, combo it with a Harpy which gives you -5 to your Initiative.
Yeah, that’s a blind ass unit, haha.
I saw this interaction vs T3 and see it as a lateral move for the gargoyle and a change in the way you use them vs a buff or a nerf. Though losing autowound on 6s to HIT is a huge loss, I really liked that on the charge :(. I haven’t actually tried it yet, as I’ve run other stuff in my games so for me its conjecture. Will try them out soon. Basically they get fewer attacks or are less effective on the charge but can use blinding venom on subsequent turns and do better. All this for 1pt cheaper than poison gargoyles in last edition.
Still, the problem even as we find some of these little easter eggs is that damn synapse. In my game last night (batrep up) maintaining synapse was a constant chore and if it went down half my frickin army was likely to run off the damn board. Last edition and in 4th they either ran to cover and shot or did nothing. Now having all your gribblies run away or eat themselves its just brutal! This single mechanic is what hamstrings us.
Losing it on 6’s to hit is a loss, but when you’re hitting on 3’s because your enemy is blind, it’s only marginally worse, plus the increased survivability from being hit back on 5’s.
How do you reliably get Blind wit a Sorc? All I can find is the Sunburst nova in the Pyromancy tree. I’d love to know B).
In the Black Legion supplement, the last dream of Urantheros or something silly like that. It’s an awesome power.
Good attempt. Needs more spit.
Haha, nice!
My wife is going to be pissed on laundry day…
Polishin’ the fuck outta this turd!
We shall find a way to make this turd, shine!
Nicely done as always Reece!
We’re finding them combos, we’re finding them, slowly but surely!
One thing to try is an assault from a forward bastion with genestealers.
Holy crap, I never though of that…that is genius! Although, disembarking from a Bastion is like disembarking from a vehicle, so you wouldn’t be able to assault =(
Still a good trick, though with infiltrating units.
Not if you use stronghold assault rules. All buildings have “Repel the Enemy” when disembarking, which means you can assault (not with an escape hatch though).
Exactly. The new building rules are actually much better, not just for fortifications, but for ease of play in general.
If you really want to keep shenanigans to a minimum, don’t play with fortification networks… you can have a Void Shield, but you cannot have 3 Void Shield Generators, haha.
I still have a hard time seeing the value in a stock T-Fex, but when you take the Rupture Cannon, suddenly you can put some pressure on tanks at range. Combine that with a pair of Venom Cannon Harpies, which are just laden with utility, you’ve got a fair amount of long range anti-tank weaponry.
I really like the Tfex with his napalm setup (Beatles and Acid Spray), you just have to be aware what function he serves (killing groups of infantry). The rupture cannon is good but the BS3 scares me from using it.
Well, 2 shots means you have a pretty solid chance of hitting with at least one. While you can miss with both, you have the exact same odds of hitting with both.
And its still just one hit with an unreliable chance to pen and explode an av13+ vehicle. If you’re hunting small transports with it its a waste of points. I also like the spray setup
It’s a far more reliable chance to pen an AV13 vehicle than anything else in the nid book at that range. Additionally, it’s the AV12 vehicles that tend to cause them more problems. I would never consider killing a wave serpent a waste of points.
I don’t disagree with you there, Adam. I was talking more about Rhinos and Rarzorbacks, trucks, etc. Popping Wave Serpents is always a plus. Though, again with a 50% chance to jink the one shot that hits, you have less than 25% chance to get a pen and then without AP1, 2 you aren’t blowing them up. Stunning may be just as good for a turn or two I guess. That AP4 really is a bummer; maybe if they could have been armourbane or something :(.
I still like Hive Guard for Wave Serpent work. For 1/3 less points you get 3 hits and at least one pen that can’t be jinked. Of course, less range, etc. Depends on what you face I guess, as well as personal preference.
The book is good people, I will argue it from the high heavens, assault armies just don’t look as good on paper this edition as shooting armies do. Crazy good invuln saves is not the only way to be durable, there is still something to be said for high toughness and high wounds. You just have to get them on the table more and figure it out.
Synapse is the issue. How many nodes are you running and how do propose to keep it alive vs a smart opponent. How do you spread it across the map enough to cover all the objectives you need to?
At 1,850 I run 6 points of synapse, two flyrants, a tervigon, 2 zoeys, and two units of 3 warriors with a strangler. I squally end up trading two of my generated powers for dominion on top of this.
Warriors synapse overlaps back and mid field, taking long range pinning long shots and rarely get shot at because there’s more important things to kill. They also auto regroup anything mid to long field that starts to run away.
Tervy and zoeys secure mid field overlapping with forward and back.
Flyrants secure forward field, overlapping with mid field. Although they rarely last the whole game, by the time they’re both dead my forward units don’t really need synapse anymore (or can get it from dominion cast by tervy or zoeys).
Also I try to run up the centre of the board, and not spread out so much so all my buffs from powers or venomthropes reach more units, and synapse coverage is easier.
This works for me, and my main opponent is tau – hope to get a bat rep up sometime in the near future.
Be glad to see it. I posted one up last night. That’s 700 pts in synapse. How is the tervigons working.
I really like one man Zoey broods too, it’s a good force multiplier and you get an extra power with synapse. All for 50pts, and when the going gets tough he can drop a Str 5 Ap3 blast on something.
New article title: What’s left when you polish the shit out of a turd?
They did, it was called the marine codex
I think this book was designed to see how far a consumers’ rectum will stretch and still have us pay for product. At least they could have bought us dinner BEFORE THEY FUCKED US!
A lot of hate on bols on facebook on this one. Anyone who can’t see the glaring weaknesses of this codex well, lets just say id love to play them ;).
Games Workshop put a stop to the viscious talk of codex creep. On a serious note, thanks for your insights.
Torrent of Fire posted a ‘nid list that has alot of merit to it. The only change I would make would be to ditch one unit of hormagants and take a unit of shrikes. Synapse is going to be heavily targeted and though 75 hormagants jumping up in my face isn’t a good thing to prep for, losing those flyrants and having to “wait” for the zoans to help push the synapse web forward is just going to get your hordes killed. The addition of shrikes lowers your body count but they add one more unit that your opponent will want to target. Perhaps even moreso than an unmolested 25 man unit of bugs.
I’m down on the ‘nids myself but again, that list had alot of good ideas going for it. The potential to have 8+ units in your opponent’s deployment zone T2 is frightenly fast.
Is the harpy/crone required to be on its flight stand for the las vegas open? A few players locally have come to odds about this and its not described anywhere in the rules…
Yes, it must be on the base provided.
If you guys keep having bad luck with the codex, why not just piss all over it and stick to the 5th edition codex? Hell, go back to the 4th edition codex if it suits your fancy. It’d be nice if a way to polish the turd were found, but if not, then if enough Tyranid players ditch the current codex and go back to an earlier version and just play with that then GW might stand up and take notice. It’d be especially great if tournament organizers would be willing to allow the 5th or maybe even the 4th edition codex to be used in their tournaments.
It’s sad & ridiculous that the game has gotten to a point where we say T6 4-6W 3+ is easy to kill. Just think about that a few years ago. Craziness.
This is the big power creep in the game, more shots at higher S & longer range ignoring cover.
One question stands out for me that I haven’t seen anyone address… The first time a tyranid supplement confess out that can ally with a tyranid codex does the effectivenessof this codex increase dramatically
That will be a big help as it means another all important HS slot.
and hq
Has anyone seen any hypothetical self ally lists? Interested to know if they look scary!
I im I’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of time before we see one.
Trip hive tyrant and a mix of harpies and crones sounds pretty boss to me for example.
If Nids could ally with themselves that would help so much.
Is there any army that can deal with 100+ pointy things with monsters here and there?? Just wondering, coz that makes me go GULP!
Do you mean a little bug horde?
I’m thinking could a Prime with norn crown in 30 Gaunts be the most reliable synapse?