I fancied doing something a bit different from my normal Marine or Marine(ish) armies. Unfortunately due to still being unemployed this needs to be done on the cheap.
While searching through my pile of shi...I mean stuff I found a Tyranid Assault Brood box set, a Hive Tyrant and a Trygon all boxed and unused. The Trygon was going to be the basis for a Skaven Hellpit Abomination, the rest were bought as presents for me as I was planning on doing a Tyranid army for a change of pace.
Obviously I never got around to it...
This time will be different...hopefully.
So I have available,
1x Tyranid Hive Tyrant
6x Tyranid Warriors
16x Genestealers
32x Tyranid Gaunts
3x Tyranid Carnifex
1x Trygon/Mawloc
After mentioning this in the comments section of a Blog post on YTTH several suggestions were forthcoming about how to turn this into a usable army. For some reason non of them mentioned using the Genestealers...
So the Plan is this.
Convert 2 of the Carnifex into Tervigons and 1 into a Tyrannofex
Convert the 6 warriors into Hive Guard
Use 20 of the Gaunts as Termagants so my Tervigons become Troops.
My HQ will obviously have to be the Hive Tyrant as I have no models as an alternative.
Not sure which variant to make the Mawloc/Trygon as I don't know which will compliment the army best (if at all)
So far that gives me the following,
1750 Pts - Tyranids Roster - What I had lying around Nids
HQ: Hive Tyrant (1#, 195 pts)
1 Hive Tyrant @ 195 pts (Lash Whip & Bonesword x1; Heavy Venom Cannon; Leech Essence; Psychic Scream)
Elite: Hive Guard Brood (2#, 100 pts)
2 Hive Guard Brood @ 100 pts
Elite: Hive Guard Brood (2#, 100 pts)
2 Hive Guard Brood @ 100 pts
Elite: Hive Guard Brood (2#, 100 pts)
2 Hive Guard Brood @ 100 pts
Troops: Tervigon (1#, 190 pts)
1 Tervigon @ 190 pts (Catalyst; Onslaught)
Troops: Tervigon (1#, 190 pts)
1 Tervigon @ 190 pts (Catalyst; Onslaught)
Troops: Termagant Brood (10#, 50 pts)
10 Termagant Brood @ 50 pts
Troops: Termagant Brood (10#, 50 pts)
10 Termagant Brood @ 50 pts
Heavy Support: Tyrannofex (1#, 265 pts)
1 Tyrannofex @ 265 pts (Rupture Cannon)
Heavy Support: Mawloc (1#, 170 pts)
1 Mawloc @ 170 pts
Total Roster Cost: 1410 so far
I obviously need to save the rest of the Gaunts to use as the ones that the Tervigons crap out (My finances can probably stretch to another couple of boxes of these which is going to be necessary I'm sure).
Which means I either have to add every possible upgrade to every unit to reach 1750 or use the Genestealers that everybody tells me are rubbish.
So if anybody reading this knows anything about Nids then I'm open to suggestions.
Genestealers can be potent, but running them up on their own may not be the best plan.
ReplyDeletePicking up another T-fex and some Warriors to turn into Tyrant Guard (or just Tyrant Guard) would be the "safe" choices.
Taking 2 good sized Broods of Genestealers and turning your Tyrant into the Swarmlord would be riskier, but you won't be wasting money.
@Chumbalaya - thanks for the advice. I'll probably magnetise the Hive Tyrant so I can change his weapon options. Means I can try out using him as a Swarmlord as well as a normal Tyrant. As money is a bit of an issue I think I'll have to use the Genestealers at 1750 for now. Any idea what's the best biomorph options to give the Genestealers?
ReplyDeleteI run Genestealers as infiltrators/turn 1 area denial/assassin units, or to act as a hammer unit to an anvil pulling attacks away from the Stealers(be it something with numbers like a Termagant blob, or durability like a Tervigon). I think people try to use them like Assault Terminators then wonder why they lose.
ReplyDelete@Magic Juggler - What options do you give your Genestealers as I don't want to load them up with unnecessary upgrades?
ReplyDeleteToxin Sacs would be all I'd use. Re-rolling wounds with rending is so nice. Also Broodlords rock face.
ReplyDeleteNever use Mawlocs, they're just kinda bad. I've seen them go entire tournaments without managing to score a single wound on anything- and this is against foot armies. Trygons are so much better it isn't funny.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Chumb, Genestealers should be run with Toxin Sacs and nothing else. If you see a lot fo Dreadnoughts in your area, a Broodlord is not a terrible upgrade, but I wouldn't agonize over it. You could also potentially run your Hive Guard 2x3 and turn some of the Genestealers in to Ymgarl 'Stealers, which are pretty nasty against anyone who runs heavy weapons squads, stationary vehicles, etc.
Genestealers aren't rubbish, they just have some issues in 5th and there are a lot of other good options in the book. You will not end up crying yourself to sleep at night because you decided to use them. If you use them as regular Genestealers, definitely outflank them and go with the Swarmlord, as Chumb says. (It's fairly easy to make Scything Talons into Boneswords for this purpose, and you could potentially Ebay the metal bonesword off, since you wouldn't need it- last I saw, they were going for ~$8 or so.)
A Tyrant Guard for the Hive Tyrant would be a huge upgrade- the model is a bit pricey, but as with Hive Guard, there are options for converting one out of Warrior bits. Between the extra wounds and cover save, you triple your survivability for 60 pts, which is a fantastic deal.
You definitely need more Termagants- two of the new boxes of twelve should suffice, or you can find them second-hand off Ebay for rough $1/model if you poke around and bide your time. You can find Spinegaunts/Devilgaunts cheaper than this much of the time, so if your local players are cool with you using these are counts-as (most people don't know the difference, even), you might be able to get away even cheaper than that.
@AbusePuppy - Thanks, I had rewritten the list and posted it before I read your comment. Looks like I'll be tweaking it again now, lol.
ReplyDeleteI've edited the newest Tyranid Post (the one posted after this one) based on advice from MagicJuggler, Chumbalaya and AbusePuppy.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think.