Armies

Army Showcase

Army Lists

Evolution of the Bug - Tyranid Playtesting Part I

Posted by Man Boy Genius Tuesday, February 2, 2010
So I had a chance to playtest my nids over the last week, and overall I'm very happy with their performance.  I've learned a lot and I think these guys really can do some damage to all comers, including Imperial Guard Mech.

My first list variant went up against my Ork Mech Guard. You can checkout that army list here.




List 1 1850

  • Swarmlord
  • 2x Guard with lashes
  • 3x Zoeanthrope
  • 3x Hive Guard
  • 2x Carnifex w/ Brain Leech Worms
  • Tervigon
  • 10x Termagants
  • 10x Termagants
  • 10x Termagants
  • 20x Hormagaunts
  • 20x Hormagaunts

We just lined up 12" in and went at it. The tanks were deployed from the left edge to midtable in a firing formation.  I just ran at him with the 'fexes and Tervigon making a slight flank. It was a tough fight and after my synapse broke on turn 3 with not too many tanks popped, I reworked it some more.
 This was the Tyranids first try, they had to adapt.

What I learned:
  • Psychic Hoods shut down nids. They dont just shut them down they smack them in the face and say "NO". Why? Well an average roll on a hood negates any psychic power. So no Lances from the Zoes, no buffs from the Broodlord, nada, nothing.  Now there is a counter to this, the Deathleaper, which gives one enemy model -d3 LD if hes alive. 
  • Carnifexes get 12 S6 Twin Linked Shots! However they are 190 points now, which may seem terribly steep but you have to remember 8 shots for 115 may have been under priced.  Anyways I like them because they give your opponent something else to shoot and you can hide stuff behind them.  Plus if protected by a Termagant speed bump, great staying power and counter assault especially when combined with preferred enemy from a nearby Tyrant/ Swarmlord.
  • Hive Guard rock. There really isn't much bad to say about these guys, even thought their save is 4+.  Hide them behind a Tyrant squad, or 2 'fexes and they will serve you well.
  • Rolling doubles sucks when spawning Termagants with the Tervigon, cause you can't spawn any more!  Lucky me I did it on my first try.  I mean its good for holding objectives but bad for it's main purpose.
  • Swarmlords, and Tyrants for that matter, die unless they have 3 Tyrant Guard, the end period. When you add in that third guard it seems to make shooting at the squad a waste. You really have to try to burn down a 3 guarded HQ.  The best way I think to defeat it is to just give it table space and time.



My second game was against Brother Chaplain Ginn of Dakka Dakka fame.  He brought a janky foot Marine list that gave me a run for my money. In the end it would have probably been a draw- he could have very easily cut me down had he rolled better.

He lined up from his mid-table to his right edge, and I counted with my mid to my left edge. It was killpoints so I figured I'd stand off for a while and then smash his flank.  There was also one of those Chaos Ruined Temple terrain pieces in the middle of the board making life difficult for my movement.
We both danced around for a few turns countering each others thrusts, but in the end I got burnt down a little too quick in the beginning to make it a massacre.

List 2 1850
  • Hive Tyrant, Lashwhip Bonesword Paroxysm, Psychic Scream, Old Adversary; 3 Tyrant Guard
  • Tyranid Prime Lashwhip Bonesword, Deathspitter, Poison Sacs
  • Hive Guard x3
  • Deathleaper
  • Zoeanthrope x3
  • Tyranid Warrios x6 Deathspitters, Poison Sacs
  • Hormagaunts x15
  • Hormagaunts x15
  • Termagants x10
  • Termagants x10 
  • Mawloc
  • Genestealers x12
What I learned:
  • Mawloc- Whomever wrote his rules was either drunk or high at the time (or possible both). the wording makes no sense, however the meaning is there.  We played it RAW and he sucked, burned down in one turn.  Very sad, I had higher hopes for that fella.
  • Hive Tyrant FTW! This squad made it clear across the board and hit like a ton of bricks.  Making the enemy Initiative 1, BS1 WS1 and re-rolling your hits is quite possible the most broken thing in 40k right now.  I highly recommend it, please try it at home.
  • Warriors spit hot fire!  Wow these guys really came on strong.  They are relatively cheap and deal out 21 S5 shots at BS4 within 18", plus they hold their own in combat? Throw them behind a Termagant speed/cover bump and they are an amazing asset. They basically can hold a quarter and say "mine".
  • Genestealers while slightly nerfed still require a response from your enemy. Especially if you infiltrate them on a flank.
  • Deathleaper is a wussy. Better keep him hidden if you are trying to mess with you enemy commander's head. He really only can hurt a small understrength squads. Better uses are to contest objectives, and provide disruption than for full on engagement.  Plus the fact he isn't synapse gives me some doubts.
  • Swarmlords are expensive. OMG 280 points, I think ill keep him in the case for bigger games. I also prefer the Tyrant's effect based Preferred Enemy than the lord's targeting one.
Okay so that's it for part one.  I've got two more great playtest games ready to go for the next post, one of them from the GT I went to over the weekend.

What do you think so far about my lists?
    Related Posts with Thumbnails
    blog comments powered by Disqus

    Spikey Bits Followers- We have Punch and Pie!

    What's The Next 40k Release?

    6th Edition Leaked PDF?

    Recent Conversion Articles

    Recent Painted Figures Articles

    Disclaimers

    This web site is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited.

    Adeptus Astartes, Battlefleet Gothic, Black Flame, Black Library, the Black Library logo, BL Publishing, Blood Angels, Bloodquest, Blood Bowl, the Blood Bowl logo, The Blood Bowl Spike Device, Cadian, Catachan, the Chaos device, Cityfight, the Chaos logo, Citadel, Citadel Device, City of the Damned, Codex, Daemonhunters, Dark Angels, Dark Eldar, Dark Future, the Double-Headed/Imperial Eagle device, 'Eavy Metal, Eldar, Eldar symbol devices, Epic, Eye of Terror, Fanatic, the Fanatic logo, the Fanatic II logo, Fire Warrior, Forge World, Games Workshop, Games Workshop logo, Genestealer, Golden Demon, Gorkamorka, Great Unclean One, the Hammer of Sigmar logo, Horned Rat logo, Inferno, Inquisitor, the Inquisitor logo, the Inquisitor device, Inquisitor:Conspiracies, Keeper of Secrets, Khemri, Khorne, Kroot, Lord of Change, Marauder, Mordheim, the Mordheim logo, Necromunda, Necromunda stencil logo, Necromunda Plate logo, Necron, Nurgle, Ork, Ork skull devices, Sisters of Battle, Skaven, the Skaven symbol devices, Slaanesh, Space Hulk, Space Marine, Space Marine chapters, Space Marine chapter logos, Talisman, Tau, the Tau caste designations, Tomb Kings, Trio of Warriors, Twin Tailed Comet Logo, Tyranid, Tyrannid, Tzeentch, Ultramarines, Warhammer, Warhammer Historical, Warhammer Online, Warhammer 40k Device, Warhammer World logo, Warmaster, White Dwarf, the White Dwarf logo, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Blood Bowl game, the Warhammer world, the Talisaman world, and the Warhammer 40,000 universe are either ®, TM and/or © Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2010, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. Used without permission. No challenge to their status intended. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners.

    Random Thought:

    People without hopes, dreams, vision, ambition, or desire to win will go out of their WAY to kill yours. -MBG

    Conversions and Hobby Topics

    'ard Boyz (8) 40k Flash (3) 40k Meta (3) 5th Edition (1) Adepticon 2010 (3) Adepticon 2010 Coverage (3) Adepticon 2011 (30) Adepticon 2012 (4) Airbrushing (1) Apocalypse (28) Apocalypse Datasheet (2) Apocalypse Now (6) Apoxie Sculpt (2) Armies on Parade (117) Army Construction (18) Army Lists (34) Army of One (83) Army Showcase (21) ATCs (1) Badab (1) Battle for Terra (1) Battle Reports (10) Beast (5) Beef (7) Best of (11) BITS (9) Black Templars (9) Blog Help (4) Blog Spotlight (4) Blood Angels (38) Blood Angels Playtest (4) Bloodcrusher (2) BoLS (3) Cabin Fever GT (7) Campaigns (1) Chaos (64) Charity (3) Cheap 'n Easy (1) Conversion Contest (5) Conversion Corner (43) Conversion Gallery (3) Conversion Potential (1) Conversions (103) Cosplay (1) Counts As (2) Custodes (2) Custom Bases (3) Da Boyz GT (1) Daemons (24) Dan The Deamon (6) Dark Angels (5) Dark Eldar (16) datasheet (1) Death Squads (1) Deck The Halls (1) Deff Skullz (7) Dreadfleet (1) Dystopian Wars (7) ebay (3) Editoral (13) Eldar (13) Feast of Blades 2011 (46) Flashback Friday (6) Follow Us (1) For Sale (6) Forge World (19) FRAG (2) FTW Games (15) Galleries (4) Game Review (1) Game Store (3) Games Day 2010 (6) Gaming (2) Gaming Superstitions (1) Gladiator (1) Grand Tournament (24) Greatcoats (2) Grey Knights (47) Hell Dorado (1) Heroes of Armageddon (1) Hobby Basics (14) Hobby Wreck Challenge (4) How To Guides (34) Imperial Guard (48) Iron Hands (11) Iron Pianter (1) Iron Warriors (1) Jkin (14) Knowledge Bomb (7) Lolcats (2) Looted Guard (11) Magnets (3) Malifaux (1) Master Shake (2) Mechanicon GT (4) Meeker (3) Mega Build (2) MERCS (3) Miniature Market (4) Missions (3) Model Reviews (4) Monthly giveaway (36) Necrons (20) New Releases (4) NMM (1) Nob Bikers (4) Nova Open (6) Nova Open 2012 (1) Nurgle (1) Orks (46) Orkuisition (5) Painted Figure Showcase (7) Painted Figures Gallery (2) Painted Minis (46) Painting Contest (4) Photography (1) Pre-Heresy (7) Product Review (2) Pub Quiz (1) Raging Asian (2) Renegades (4) Rogue Trader Era (1) Rogue Trader Tounament (3) Scarab Occult (7) Sisters of Battle (2) Skaven (1) Slaanesh (1) Snow Effect (1) Space Marines (75) Space Wolves (18) Spikey Bits Game Store (28) Squats (1) Stormraven (10) Super-Heavy (4) Tactics (2) tanksgiving (15) Tau (10) Terrain (1) Terrain Workshop (3) The Mas (2) The Seige (5) TheWarStore (2) Thunderwolf Cavalry (4) Titan (3) Titan Mega Build (5) Togashi Shinkaze (3) Tourament Coverage (22) TPM Blood Angel (10) Treadheads (1) True Scale (3) Tyranids (21) Unboxing (5) Valkyrie (1) Vampire Counts (2) Vendetta (1) video (1) Videos (11) Vogen (1) War Games Con 2010 Coverage (18) War Torn (3) Warboss (2) WarGamesCon 2011 (17) WarGamesCon 2012 (1) warhammer 40k (451) Warhammer Fantasy (27) Warkitteh (3) Warriors of Chaos (4) Waterbugz (6) WMG (2) Work In Progress (18) yepimadork (8) You Decide (2) Your Move (3) Zail (1)

    Blog Archive

    Spikey Bits Videos

    Spikey Bits Blog

    Spikey Bits is a blog about the hobby of Warhammer 40k and Fantasy Battles, both tabletop wargames. I try to cover all of the aspects of that hobby from converting and painting models to actually playing the game.

    By nature I am a competitive tournament player, but my true passion is converting and painting. I will spend more time making a figure than actually playing with it, lol.

    The aim of this blog it to keep me motivated to produce new work, and to share my experiences along the way. I very much value all feedback about my work, and will answer any questions about it.

    Feel free to send me an email or post a comment about anything on here.

    However please no cursing, first offenses will be edited, second offense results in a ban. You can disagree with me of course, just don't curse!

    Thanks for reading, and happy gaming. -MBG