The Great Devourer is upon us, and in part 5 of this review we dive into the Tyranid Fast Attack units to explore what they have to offer! Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of this review if you missed it.
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Fast Attack
The Fast Attack slot has seen some shrinking for Nids as the Hive Crone and Harpy have become Flyers (which in all honesty, they always should have been). However, you have some fun and effective options here.
I have always been a fan of Gargoyles and have used them for years. In the index they were fairly lackluster as they simply didn’t present enough of a benefit to be taken over Termagants or Hormagaunts, however now that they have the ability to deep-strike they gain an entirely new utility. For 6pts per model that is an amazing benefit. As stated on this blog time after time, any unit that can deliver itself into battle via deep-strike or outflanking is solid gold. Not only for defense against the alpha strike but to respond to changing battlefield conditions and apply pressure where you have an advantage or to shore up your own lines where you are faltering. Gargoyles now give you this on a unit that has quite a bit of utility in addition to deep-strike. While their basic stats are nothing to jump up and down about at toughness 3, with a 6+ save and WS, BS 4+, they have the same weapon and rules as the Termagant in regards to re-rolling wound rolls of 1, and of course they can also use the Scroch Bugs stratagem in the same way Termagants can, and are a great candidate for the Caustic Blood stratagem to deal Mortal Wounds to your opponent as they kill the Gargoyles in melee. And in melee they have the cool Blinding Venom attack which if you deal even one unsaved wound to a unit they have a -1 to hit for the rest of that turn. Obviously, having them swing before the unit they are attacking can be very beneficial, especially when used in conjunction with a unit like Deathleaper who already has a -2 to be hit. I have had best results with Gargoyles by using them in conjunction with a winged Hive Tyrant as stated in Part 2 of this article series. To recap: I drop them in with a Flyrant and the Gargoyles surround him to protect him from smites and assaults. The pair then attack, typically digging in to my opponent’s backfield and grabbing objectives from them. Gargoyles are also excellent at taking up space as they have a huge footprint for such a cheap model, and can be used for excellent board control. They benefit most from aggressive Hive Fleets such as Hydra, Behemoth, and Kraken (who allows them to leave combat and still shoot and charge as they Fly), etc.
Raveners are a fun unit with some cool tricks. First of all, they have Tyranid Warrior stats but with a 12″ move, 4 base attacks and a 5+ save. As with Gargoyles though, their most valuable ability is that they can deep-strike. At only 23pts per model for basic kit, that is awesome. As you can take them in units of 3-9, they can be a great choice for filling Fast Attack slots in a Birgade, too. Again, any unit that can deliver itself into battle where you want them is extremely valuable and this is their main benefit over Genestealers who perform a similar role. Now, they come standard with 2 pairs of Scything Talons which don’t have any AP, but they do give you re-rolls of 1 to hit and a bonus attack for the 2 pair. 5 attacks re-rolling 1’s to hit on a model that is WS 3+ is a solid melee unit to bring into your opponent’s backfield. I run double Chainsword Vanguard Vets in my Space Marines army who pack 4 strength 4 no AP attacks each and they do work! Raveners fight in a similar way and in my opinion, that is what they should focus on doing: killing lots of low save units. Genestealers can take on the heavier units, Raveners can pack in lots of re-roll attacks to clear out screen units such as Brimstones or Cultists. However, if you’d like to beef them up a bit at the expense of an attack and re-rolls of 1 to hit in melee, you can give them Rending Claws for 2pts per model. You can also give them some firepower with your choice of Spine Fists, Devourers or Deathspitters. At BS 4+ this is an investment that really depends on how you plan on using them, but for me, the Spine Fist is not a bad choice as it is only 1 pt, can be fired in combat and gives you 3 shots per model. They may be only strength 3, but as these gents want to be in melee, it’s not a bad investment. The only real drawback to these guys is the fact that they need synapse. You have to consider that when using them as otherwise they will suffer to Instinctive Behavior and morale. With that piece of the puzzle in place, a unit of 9 Raveners popping up on someone’s flank and making a first turn charge with 45 scything talon attacks, or 36 Rending Claw attacks is going to sting. This is doubly true if you pop the Adrenaline Surge stratagem to make them attack twice. A unit of Raveners in that instance would pack in 90 Scything Talon attacks! That should easily sweep aside your average screen unit to clear the way for the rest of your army. As for Hive Fleets, Behemoth is an obviously awesome choice for them, but Kraken is also very good. Gorgon and Leviathan benefit Raveners quite a bit but we have to mention Jormungandr as they allow the Raveners to bring other units onto the table with them using their unique stratagem.
The Red Terror is a goofy looking dude, but he’s quite good. First, he’s actually an Elite choice but I wanted to cover him in this article as he interacts with Raveners. Secondly, he’s very affordable at only 75pts and he buffs Raverers (including himself) with a +1 to hit in melee, meaning they will all be hitting on 2’s. He’s got the same statline as a Ravener but with strength and toughness 5, and 6 wounds. His weapons are the same but he additionally has a Prehensile Pincer Tail which gives him a bonus attack in melee with it, which is strength 5, no AP, D3 damage. However, his really cool ability is Swallow Whole, which allows him to destroy an enemy model if he hits with 4+ of his Scything Talon attacks (and remember, he has 5, hitting on 2’s re-rolling 1’s to hit). Instead of dealing damage normally, he can opt to instead roll a D6 and if the number exceeds the highest wound characteristic in the unit, one model in it is slain. Gulp! If chosen as your Warlord, he comes with Heightened Senses, allowing him to ignore negative modifiers to hit which is cool when fighting things like Howling Banshees. If you plan on using Raveners as a part of your list strategy then it makes sense to take the Red Terror as his buff alone gives you a ton of utility. Plus, when you get lucky and gobble down someone’s key character in melee, that is a moment you will never forget, lol!
Mucolid Spores are mindless, living bombs. They’re cheap as chips at only 20 pts per model and come in units of 1-3 making them ideal for cheap Fast Attack slot filler. They also deep-strike which as we’ve mentioned previously, is great for on the table tactics. However, keep in mind they do have to land more than 12″ away from enemy units unlike the standard 9″ for most deep-strike capable units. The only weapons these little buggers have is themselves! If at the end of a Charge phase they are within 3″ of an enemy model they explode, dealing no damage on a 1, D3 Mortal Wounds on a 2-5, and D6 Mortal Wounds on a 6! Considering they have 3 wounds at toughness 3 with a 6+, they actually have good odds of surviving over-watch and man, they can pack a punch with that explosion. Lastly, they are created for free in matched play if another unit creates them, such as a Sporocyst. As they don’t count for any mission win conditions, the best bet is to either play them as backfield disruption units or on defense, dropping them down to block the route of enemy units coming at you. As they only move 3″, you need to put them where they need to be before they need to be there or the enemy can easily avoid them.
Spore Mines are incidental to Mucolid Spores in every way apart from the fact that they come in units of 3-9, cost 10pts per model, and are T1 with 1 wound and a 7+ save. They also do less damage when they explode, resulting in no damage on the roll of a 1, 1 Mortal Wound on a 2-5 and D3 on a 6. You play these exactly as you do Mucolid Spores.
Fast attack over and done, and on to Heavy Support, which you can read here.
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So, Hive Crone and Harpy were moved from Fast Attack to Flyer, which makes sense, but did I hear correctly that they did not gain the “Airborne” and “Hard To Hit” abilities that literally every single Flyer has? I get that half of their fire power comes from their melee, but would it have been so difficult to have a “swooping” mode similar to other flyers’ “hover” option?
Having those two move over seems and not gain the default bonuses enjoyed by every other (to my knowledge and the Indexes at least) Flyer in the game seems kind of odd to me.
Not every flyer has Airborne and Hard to Hit. The Heldrake doesn’t, the Lynx (which acts as a flyer sometimes) doesn’t, and I believe there are one or two others as well.
Basically, anything that doesn’t have a minimum move value doesn’t get the -1 to hit. I mean, would you actually WANT them to have the Airborne role? Not being able to charge would kinda make them fairly worthless.
Yeah, exactly. Like the Heldrake, they need to be able to assault.
Not too much to comment on Fast Attack… I think after the leaving of Harpies and Crones we need a few new options on this slot, but at least Mantifexes and Gargoyles are solid.
I can’t see Spore and Mucolid Mines as real options. You produce them with other stuff to field them. That’s it. Unless used as “slot fillers”.
Gargoyles are perhaps a little bit expensive, as in this times a 6 points model is not as cheap as it were (lot of 3-4 point chaffs spammed everywhere), and they’re not really offensive or defensive but, as you said, blinding venom is pretty useful, they take a lot of space in the table and their new deep strike equivalent will help them deploy everywhere.
I can’t see Mantifexes in every list, but they have an interesting niche in Jormungandr, and the jormun is a new, fun and effectiv way to play ‘nids. Not convinced about playing them in other fleets, as I see Warriors and Genestealers better at their tasks, but with the improved synapse/non-vehavior range they can be played more extended to get use of the extra movility and reach further places. Luckily they’re infantry and not beasts.
The Red Terror doesn’t look really good, but not bad also. Playable, but more fun than competitive. Can he make tunnels for Jormungandr?
Red Terror has the Ravener keyword now, I believe, so you should be able to use him. Normal Raveners are a little more useful for cheap Drop Pod duty, though, as they’re fewer points, more attacks, and a MUCH larger footprint. Very easy to bring in 2 full squads of 30 gants with 1 unit of 3 raveners and 2 CP
I could see using a group of Spore Mines in my backfield to counter something crazy jumping back there. With Metobolic Movement, you could get a 2x Move+Advance, push them to within 3” of the enemy and not even have to charge (so don’t have to worry about taking overwatch).
My eBook’s version just unlocked. They nerfed the damage of spore mines. They used to do on a 2-5 d3 damage and on a 6, d6 damage. Now they do 1 damage on 2-5 and 1d3 damage on on a 6.
So it brings them in line with the Biovore’s?
Still awesome with that stratagem, 3 CP to get 2 squads of 9 spores on the board, although not as awesome if they had their old damage
They always did that – the rule you referenced was for the bigger version of the spore mine – the mucolid
They did that on direct fire from a biovore. But the tactic was to make them miss, then you damage them with the spore later. The spore once created was superior in the index.
Sounds like a nasty tactic; however, doesn’t this depend on there being a charge phase, is there a charge phase if no unit is charging, or does it activate in a charge phase because some gaunts are charging something totally different on the other side of the board?
However this is a bit convoluted but I think you could; drop the spore mines in using the sporefield stratagem, move and advance, Drop in a Flyrant. use Onslaught on the spore mines, charge the Flyrant so you don’t lose any spore mines to overwatch then charge in the spore mines. With Behemoth for the extra charge or Kraken for the extra advance for more chance of it working.
They can blow up on either player’s charge phase, so I think that is legit. Also, you can Heroically Intervene (sp?) even if no one charged, so another reason to say yes. With the squishiness of the spore mines, you want to avoid charging if possible. So much better to float into 3”.
Seriously Reece, do you even read the rules. Neither in the index or the new codex does Raveners have access to adrenal glands.
Which is something that has been pissing me off for ages. It’s arguably the most blatantly obvious improvement to make to the Dex, and they haven’t managed it in the last 3 re-writes.
This. I mean what is up with Raveners not getting adrenal glands – edition after edition, no glands for the cc unit. Hive Guards get them. Termagants get them. Warriors get them. Trygons, Hive Tyrants. But not Raveners.
I think the guy can be forgiven for misremembering an upgrade that a unit probably should have access to, after writing like 5 articles in as many days.
Just like I’m forgiving you for making more grammar mistakes than you wrote sentences.
You have a point if this was his only mistake, but his articles are filled with rules mistakes. This is just one of them.
AG for Raveners is one my biggest pet peeves with the rules design, and if the playtesters don’t even read through the rules in several books how is it ever going to get fixed.
To give some more example so you’ll understand my frustration.
Literally right before the Adrenal glands, he claims that spine-fists give 3 attacks, when it doesn’t, it give attacks as user. Raveners have 4 attacks, hence 4 shots.
Etc..
Next time you spent a lot of time posting something for the benefit of other people, let me know so I can be a real jerk and point out every flaw, instead of politely correcting you and appreciating your work.
If I was a play tester and I made that mistake, I deserve your criticism.
Surely he playtested more than one army, these guys have had to play with multiple sets of rules through playtesting. Then I would guess that the index rules were decided. Then they continued to playtest for some of these codex rules (as FLG have at least inferred they knew rules that would be being changed). Then they went back to index rules, then have had multiple indexes released in quick succession
“Then they went back to index rules, then have had multiple indexes released in quick succession”
I meant multiple codexes released in quick succession, see how easy it is to make a mistake 😉
There’s a difference between criticism and being obnoxious for the sake of it.
Disagree-
1) Playtesters don’t see the final rules
2) Reece seems to have a preview dex that differs from the published dex
If you want the final rules, buy the dex
Well, not true, buddy in regards to getting rules. There was a mix-up on this one which is why I for example I was off on Old One Eye, but unfortunately I can’t explain what hapenned in depth due to my agreement with GW. However, any errors have been corrected and I am sorry for the confusion.
Oh interesting on item 2- I just assumed you had an earlier dex!
But I wasn’t referring only to you for item 1… it’s very common for playetesters to get one version of a rule to test, then find on release a totally different rule in place.
I still prefer the version of Big Guys my group playtested in Blood Bowl, and am disappointed some of the cool expansions for Necromunda never were published in the late 1990s!
But all said- I think it’s very defensible to remember Ravebers with 3 attaches instead of 4, lol!
Yeah, GW is very cool about it, we stay in the loop but in this specific instance there was a mix up, oh well. Sounds like you have experience in the same thing yourself, which is cool!
And yeah, lol, I just made a mistake, it happens. No reason to get upset about it as it is easily fixed.
Prolly VERY different, LOL!
Blood Bowl was very much player developed with JJ stepping in at random and saying “Yes”, “No”, or “Monkey Wrench” 😉
Necromunda we actually got e-mailed a text file with random rules for each gang in a totally informal process. If it wasn’t for the name sending the e-mail it would have been very dodgy 😉 But I think the Specialist Games direction completely ended any of those efforts (basically, they had a way to make the 6 vanilla gangs differentiate upon creation, not just in advancement.)
Sounds like you have a much more professional and organized experience… which honestly has lead to a great product so far… Even if no Nids and Knights 🙁
Totally agree. xenomorph85 you are the worst of the internet
Dude, are at a 10 you need to be at 2. It was a harmless comment, people who make hyperbolic personal insults, those are the worst people on the internet.
Alright guys, just chill, please.
I very much appreciate the support though, and Xenomprph, yes, I made a mistake, no these articles aren’t “riddled” with mistakes, there have been a few though, I admit, but you can certainly present your point of view in a less abrasive way.
Constructive criticism is usually more polite.
You know, when they sent us to Hogwart’s Playtesting School in preparation for this task, I sure am regretting sleeping through the class where they taught us the photographic memory spell. Dang it!
Also, you have to write reviews rapidly for quick turn-around to appease all of us on the web, so the occasional mistake should be readily forgiven. As to the original “issue” of raveners not having adrenal glands, I assume that genestealers still don’t have access either. I think that this is a game balance issue – give everything the option for the upgrade, and you might as well make it an army-wide ability. Keep it from 2 of the more potent of the “infantry-sized” units, while providing it to the smaller, less harmful gribblies, and/or the bigger nasties with fewer attacks and no potential to encircle foes (thereby disallowing the fall back) and it is a potent yet reasonable and balanced upgrade.
As it stands, adrenal glands is a completly random upgrade. Give them to Hive Guards, I mean wtf. Raveners have suffered on the shelves for many editions. It’s not like they would be OP with +1 to charge.
I can totally see the reason for keeping them off Raveners and Genestealers (who have high movement, and the option of starting off the board.)
It gives a tactical choice of starting them in reserves or not.
It’s just stupid to give options out for Hive guard though, lol!
The Red Terror is actually kind of appealing to me. His odds of nomming a character aren’t great, but he seems like he could be good for chomping low-Wound hard targets like Terminators or Bullgryns.
Gargoyles still seem kind of underwhelming, but free Deep Strike is definitely a substantial improvement over the Index version.
I’m also trying to find an excuse to include them in a Kraken detachment. So easy to charge over screening units, and falling back and charging on a unit that has fly is just gravy. See: Kraken Dakka Flyrant
Don’t forget the hilarity of rolling that 6 and GULP!ing a broadside
When we played him he is surprisingly good, and his Swallow Whole rule kicks in more often than you would think.
It does seem like a good option to save a CP re-roll for. Huge effect when it actually does go off.
It is? The Astra Militarum-equivalent characters you usually can Gulp successfully are usually more dead if you just had used his normal attacks. It’s a goofy and weak special rule for narrative play.
I’m thinking MEq support Characters. Librarians, Chaplains, Lieutenants, Techmarines, stuff like that. 5+ with a re-roll is better than 50/50 odds, and certainly better than the chances of pushing 4 Wounds through a 3+ Sv with 5 AP- Attacks.
gargoyles for me suck… I just can’t transport them without breaking them, lol! They are actually a pretty awesome unit aside from that, in my book.
That is a serious issue with them, yes. I just gave up, did a crappy paint job that I don’t care about on them, and carry them around in a ziploc bag. And remember to bring glue to my games.
Use magnets for connecting them to the bases really does help a lot. I have 90 of the little ones 60 metal ones
I’ve found that the ones that are just pressure-fit on the flying bases do the best. Use a little white glue to bulk up the stand a bit if need be, but they’re way less fiddly than the ones I magnetized. I kind of regret having done those.
I’m very curious to know if it’s really clear about who OOE buffs, out of the three carnifex variants, himself, and the stonecrusher. Please write about that directly Reece, thanks!
Probably all of the above, as long as they have the CARNIFEX keyword
Any data sheet with the CARNIFEX keyword at the bottom. It’s perfectly clear. That’s how all of them work. The keywords determine everything. It’s one of the better rules ports from AoS.
He buffs anyone with the Carnifex keyword, which includes himself, the Thornback, Screamer Killer and Carnifex. Hope that helps!
but… but… the word “carnifex” on a carnifex is not the same as “carnifex” on stonecrusher carnifex because if you look at the ink of carnifex on the carnifex it is subtly darker than the ink on the definition of the carnifex rule referencing the carnifex keyword on the old one eye Carnifex. Also, carnifex on hunt thornback carnifex is in a different position on the page than the carnifex on the carnifex rule. Clearly not meant to be the same.
Sheeeeshh….. I’m so glad to finally see that mess of wordplay on the internet got sorted out on the side of reason instead of rules lawyering.
…..CARNIFEX!! 😉
Yeah, lol. He buffs Carnifexes, why is this so difficult, haha?
I wanna use a combination of jormungandr trygon (might have to be prime) and raveners bringing in a unit of stealers and a broodlord with them.
I would skip the trygon. The raveners is all you need to bring any number of units in. You would pay 2 CP for it though.
Trygons are such a good value for the points, I rarely play without mine. But, as Xenomporph points out, you can use Raveners too who also have quite a large footprint.
Trygon prime is also very fairly priced now. in 7th Edition the Trygon was unserwhelming and the Prime too much, they are both good models fairly costed now (in my view)
I can’t believe the made the red terror worse in the codex. He is not great for 75pts. It would be great if the swallow rule worked on remaining wounds rather then wounds characteristic
They probably did it for fluff reasons. If it was wounds remaining, he could conceivably swallow a warlord titan. Or, slightly more realistically in game terms, a landraider, leman russ… stuff thats way bigger than he is. Limiting it to 5 wounds means at most, hes going to swallow very small mcs or light walkers. Thats still kind of weird, but at least its going to be a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of deal.
I was under the impression he could only swallow Infantry models, but I could be wrong about that.
Still, tho, doesn’t he _deserve_ to be able to swallow a Warlord if you get it down to five wounds? Hasn’t he earned that?
There’s no limitation on Infantry.
House Rule: Base it off current Wounds, but if he swallows something that has more than 5 Wounds on its statline, his Mv is halved for the rest of the Game because he’s too full to go full speed 😉
totally worth it for the time he swallows a Brass Scorpion!
I think gargoyles have a lot of potential, DS is a hige improvement, the are fairly cheap, highly mobile and blinding venom is cool, as well as taking up a lot of space as you said. The problem I’m having with all of this DS units is that Nids might have a problem with starting half of the army on the table, as there are so many things that want to DS and so many ways to do that! Even cheap slot fillers such as spore mines or devourers. So what can be used as relatively cheap units to start on the table? Maybe a biovore line with a malanthrope and some hive guards would work… Or maybe just deploy a lot of mucloid spores to pull that off.
Also, you didn’t mention the spore stratagem, it seems a bit lacklustre for 3CP unless playing against AL, in which case it might even be worth it, specially considering that you can get free spores with a biovore…
Yeah, the 50% DS thing is really interesting. I found myself in the index starting sometimes with Lictors, ripper swarms, or spore mines on the board, lol! and that’s without HT or gargoyles DS.
But flexibility is awesome too.
I think the spore mine strategem looks really good (as long as they’re free) 18 spore mine that denies a lot of space on the board and forces then to deal with an extra 18 shots not going at your main troops
Sporefield mines aren’t free (nerfed in the codex), you must pay in advance for them when you build you army. Which suck.
The critics and rules guys will always be there to make you stay sharp, which is good for selling the right choices, haha. Overall coverage of 5 parts in such a limited time while you are busy running the business is a lot of work, theres only so much you can do. I mean, you could just be more vague and be like: these are in these slots. They can do this. The codex comes out on X. The fact you took the time to post strategies and then spend even more time going back and trying to fix errors people noticed is respect. Thank you for the codex preview!
I agree with this statement.
Thank you.
Gargoyles are a great fast moving screen since they can shoot, charge then fall back and shoot again t be next turn if any are left.
As far as spore mind’s, it’s hard to find any unit that can prevent deep strike opportunities like they do. Also, if your play Kraken, they can be pretty fast moving.
What is the opinion on spore field strategy? Does it require “points” to be paid at army creation? or are these “free” spore mines (per the standard spore mine rules for spore mines created during the game) that you just pay for with the command points (still a hefty cost, but worth it to push that 30man AL blob back)
My interpretation is that it requires reinforcement points.
Jural, I assume because the wording of the spore mine rule which says they don’t cost points references making them with “units” rather than stratagems? Seems to be RAW. Lets hope for an FAQ otherwise it is a very expensive CP investment