For most of this ITC season I have been trying to make my beloved GSC perform on the tabletop, and that has been a rewarding experience. The kind of rewarding where you realize you are banging your head against a wall repeatedly, and the reward is you stop. I am going to start putting my Tyranids on the table for the rest of this ITC season, so I thought it would be useful to cover how Tyranids can stay relevant in the Warzone: Nephilim meta. Tyranids are still doing extremely well at events, but they are no longer the put stuff on the table, take Stranglehold and To The Last, and win faction. Prior to Nephilim Leviathan was the clear choice when it came to Hive Fleets, but now there is some argument to dip into the other Hive Fleets included in the Codex. The price hikes of Warriors and Harpys, combined with the loss of two extremely important Secondaries, may mean Tyranid players need to start looking outside of Leviathan for some better Secondary play.
Hive Fleet Adaptations:
Hive Fleet Gorgon caught my eye when the Tyranid Codex first launched. Getting 4+ to wound in combat on your entire army seemed amazing when that army could consist of a ton of Hormagaunts putting out a massive amount of attacks. Those same Hormaguants can even benefit from Toxin Sacs to automatically wound their target on 6+ even if it was a vehicle or monster.
Their adaptive Hive Fleet rule lets Gorgon models re-roll one wound roll when Shooting or Fighting. This is a nice perk, but now that you have to pick your adaptation during list building you may find yourself sticking to the best sub-category in Lurk. Although re-rolling a Wound roll knowing that against most targets a 4+ will be a success is nothing to turn your nose up at.
There are a couple Lurk Adaptations that are a solid trade for the re-roll Wound roll Adaptation. Naturalized Camouflage means all of your little bugs are sitting at a 3+ save while in Light Cover. Many players are trying to pack higher AP weapons into their army lists due to Armor of Contempt, but these weapons generally do not have the volume of shots needed to deal with 60-80 Hormaguants. Any high volume AP1, or AP2, shooting is going to look a lot less scary with a 3+ save.
Territorial Instincts from the Lurk category is also very compelling. Giving all the Monsters in your list Objective Secured, as well as making them count as 5 models, means your opponent is going to have an extremely hard time outscoring you in the Primary game. This rule can effectively make every unit in your Tyranid army ObSec.
Psychic Power Poisonous Influence:
When GW was writing the rules for this Hive Fleet they really made sure everything worked well together. Some sub-faction rules just don’t seem to mesh, like the Necron’s Mephrit Dynasty Relic making a character better in close combat. This Psychic Power lets one unit cause a mortal wound for each 6 to wound in melee. Hormagaunts have a ton of attacks, and can put out a respectable amount of mortal wounds with this power.
Warlord Trait Lethal Miasma:
Ok, now we get something terrible. That’s fine, it can’t all be good. Doing D3 mortal wounds to units within 3 is never going to be good GW. If you put this on a Winged Hive Tyrant, and your opponent is playing an army with a ton of units, this could be interesting. Unfortunately, there are just going to be so many games where this will cause 2 or 3 wounds, and you will wish you took one of the better generic Tyranid Warlord Traits. Direct Guidance is great Warlord Trait for Hive Fleet Gorgon. Getting +1 to hit on a swarm of Hormaguants seems better than that D3 mortal garbage.
Relic Hypermorphic Biology:
Giving an extra toughness, and making a Monster harder to bracket, can be very good. There are much better Relics in the Tyranid Codex though, and you should be looking elsewhere to spend those precious Command Points before the game. This could have been an interesting second Relic prior to the Nephilim CP changes, but now every CP is at a premium. Especially when some Stratagems are going to cost 2CP on those big Hormagaunt units!
Stratagem Hyper-Toxicity:
Speaking of amazing Stratagems you are going to use almost every Turn, this one makes Gorgon into a terrifying melee threat on the tabletop. Getting automatic wounds on a 5+, against ANYTHING, is amazing. It is even more amazing when you realize how many attacks 20 Hormagaunts can throw out.
Overall:
Tyranids biggest weakness right now is their Secondary game. Losing To The Last, and Stranglehold, really hurt (otherwise known as balanced) the army. While it is obvious Gorgon will make big swarms of Hormaguants into terrifying blenders, the Hive Fleet also gives Tyranid players some extra options in the Secondary game. Simply by including more, and faster, Troop units Secondaries like Spore Node/Retrieve Nephilim Data become easier to score once your opponent’s army is clogged up dealing with your swarms of Hormaguants for a few turns. Engage/Behind Enemy Lines become more reliable with the massive amount of fast moving bodies a Gorgon army can bring to the table. A Gorgon swarm army also has the benefit of denying your opponent primary points by using your ObSec Hormagaunts to pile into your opponent’s Objectives. Leviathan may be the most popular Hive Fleet currently, but there is definitely something to the competitiveness of Hive Fleet Gorgon.