Friday, 16 July 2010

Tyranid Project - Part 5 - The difficult first game.


So I have my first test game arranged for Sunday against my friend Mikes Blood Angels.

Considering that Blood Angels are the current 'Flavour of the Month' and are generally considered to be up there with the Imperial Guard in the 'They can do fucking what!!!' dept. this seems like a pretty good way to start.

Hopefully this first game will go some-way towards helping me with the 3 Major problems I can see me having,

1) How the fuck do I deploy?
2) Making sure I'm using the various psychic powers in the most beneficial way to the army.
3) Remembering what the hell all the special rules do.

I'll be using the following list *

* I can safely publish this in advance as Mike writes 'all-comers' lists and doesn't tailor his lists to individual opponents (well that's what he tells us all anyway, lol).

Given my own experiences with new armies coupled with the advice of everybody else I'll be sticking with this list for my first 5 or 6 games in order to properly evaluate each units performance.

1750 Pts - Tyranids Roster - Tyranid Test list

HQ: The Swarmlord (1#, 280 pts)
1 The Swarmlord @ 280 pts

: Tyrant Guard Brood (2#, 130 pts)
2 Tyrant Guard Brood @ 130 pts (Lash Whip)

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#, 195 pts)
1 Tervigon @ 195 pts (Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst)

Troops: Tervigon (1#, 195 pts)
1 Tervigon @ 195 pts (Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst)

Troops: Termagant Brood (10#, 60 pts)
9 Termagant Brood @ 60 pts
1 Termagant (Strangleweb)

Troops: Termagant Brood (10#, 60 pts)
9 Termagant Brood @ 60 pts
1 Termagant (Strangleweb)

Heavy Support: Tyrannofex (1#, 265 pts)
1 Tyrannofex @ 265 pts (Rupture Cannon; Cluster Spines; Thorax Swarm (larvae))

Heavy Support: Tyrannofex (1#, 265 pts)
1 Tyrannofex @ 265 pts (Rupture Cannon; Cluster Spines; Thorax Swarm (larvae))

Total Roster Cost: 1750

This list gives me some semi-reliable anti-heavy armoured vehicle shooting from the Tyrannofex (S10 which is nice to have, BS3 which isn't great but at least its Assault 2) and a fair bit of light transport busting from the Hive Guard (2x BS4, S8 shots each so that's 4 shots per 2 'man' unit).
The Tervigons and Termagants give me a fair bit of objective holding potential, with the chance of some more if I roll okay for the Tervigons 'Spawn Termagants' ability.
The Swarmlord and Tyrant Guard should make a mess of any unit they assault but I have some concerns about their ability to reach the enemy intact enough to be a threat. I've swapped out the Boneswords for Lashwhips as I think overall this will more greatly benefit the unit.

I'll have to 'Proxy' something for the Swarmlord, Tyrant Guard and the 2nd Tyrannofex for that game but everything else should be up and ready.

Any last minute advice will (as usual) be gratefully received.

4 comments:

  1. Looks fine to me.

    Some things I've picked up playing a similar list:
    1) S10 has a reasonable chance of hurting AV14, but it's really really good against AV10-12 too. Don't forget it and your T-fex can be a nasty can opener.
    2) T-fexes can bring the pain against infantry too. They can fire every gun and assault, so 2 S10 shots, a S5 pie plate and a flamer that wounds on a 2+ will make things go away just from forced saves. Very versatile critter.
    3) That Deathstar is slow, so keep it near your army so it has somewhere to go should the enemy commit assault troops.
    4) Gaunts with furious charge and toxin sacs fuck shit up. It's unreal, especially if you have Catalyst and Paroxysm going too.
    5) Tervigons have furious charge and toxin sacs too, and it's also a 6 wound MC. Same goes for the T-fex. They can mop up in assault quite well.
    6) Save your poops. You don't have to spawn from turn 1 all willy nilly, having a clutch of gaunts saved for turn 3 or 4 can very well turn the tide.

    Hope that helps.

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  2. @ Chumbalaya - Thanks for the advice.

    One question about point 2 - I thought Monstrous Creatures could only fire 2 weapons in the shooting phase or am I misremembering the MC shooting rules?

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  3. You are correct, but check out the rules for the thorax swarm. You can fire it in addition to all other guns, making the T-fex ridiculously shooty, especially if you can put Onslaught up.

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  4. @ Chumbalaya - I had somehow completely missed that. Apparently I fail at reading...

    I need to 'Mathshammer' the free upgrades a little as I'm not sure which ones will give me the best overall results.
    Provisionally for testing I'm probably going to go with Cluster spines and Larvae for the Thorax Swarm.

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