Anti-Tyranid Tactics

[LardO'Blood]

Hey guys,

Well my best friend plays Tyranids and he always seems to beat me so I decided to ask for help.

Overview of enemy forces

My friend has a much larger force then me, as such he can vary his army a lot between games, roughly this is what he owns (My memory of his force and tactics is a bit rough so pardon mistakes legality wise):

12ish termagants

20ish genestealers

Brood lord

30-40ish hormagants

3 warriors

3 or 4 lictors

Carnifex

Biovore

I think hes building a trygon/mawloc (not sure)

 

His tactics:

He generally sits back and camps objectives with his termagants and warriors (warriors go in for CC near games end), shooting at stuff in range while fleeting with genestealers and broodlord. Deepstrikes his lictors, charges madly with carnifex (sometimes the genestealers accompany it I think), camps with biovore in a bastion or something, secures objectives/keeps my terminators and dreadnought stuck in CC.

Overview of my forces

My troops:

5 Terminators, power sword on sergeant, all have storm bolters.

10 tactical marines, ML, flamer, chainsword/bolt pistol on sergeant (generally teleport homer and melta bombs on sergeant)

Captain with bolter and power sword (I generally use hellfire rounds)

Dreadnought with MM and DCCW with storm bolter.

Scratch drop pod for the tactical marines

My current tactics:

A ) Shoot with terminators and dreadnought then assault while avoiding lictors and carnifex. Drop pod in tactical marines and captain to pressure his campers or secure an objective.

B ) Move out with tacticals and captain, avoiding units with strong CC, use dreadnought to engage them. Eventually use the teleport homer on tacticals to deepstrike terminators in for CC help.

C ) Take out anything thats medium on the danger meter with dreadnought. Prance around him with terminators shooting in and perhaps assaulting. Use tactical squad to secure objectives/long range back up.

 

Basically what other tactics could I use? I know my army isn't really legal right now, but I should be getting a second tactical squad soon. My friend doesn't mind its not legal so that's not a problem.

Thanks in advance,

Lard O' Blood

[spartan249]

Anything fast and long ranged is gold. Land Speeders with heavy bolters or Typhoon missile launchers can play keep away very well.

 

A rhino rather than a drop pod would help tremendously.

 

A deathwind missile launcher on your pod would help in acting as deterrent from getting anywhere near the pod.

 

Target priority. Genestealers are what will mess your stuff up the most in close combat, so whittling them down first is always a good idea.

 

Land Raiders can prove notoriously hard to crack open thanks to AV 14 on the back. Just keep moving and shooting whatever weapons you want (Crusader Variant works well here).

[wizard12]

firstly, I think you need more troops. Get about 2 more tactical squad in pods. Give them flamers and heavy bolters.

 

Then a sternguard squad would be useful, pod it next to the big nasty things. A cheaper way of getting non-metal sternguard is to use the sternguard rules for deathwatch. a tac squad and deathwatch bits can go along way and it's fluffy for tyrainids.

 

Is he playing all his guys in the games because if he is he's got about 1500 points and you've got about 500. I know tyranids are pretty cheap but are they really THAT cheap?

[LardO'Blood]

Thanks, I try to whittle the stealers with my terminators while keeping a safe distance. I am in the process of a scratch land raider right now. The main problem is my budgets very tight right now, I currently am getting a tactical squad so I cant throw cash around for a landspeeder right now.

No wizard, that's his total force, he usually doesn't use much of it (I think its 1300 points) against me but its still a lot.

[Frosty the Pyro]

Alas poor carnifex, you are a thing of the past, replaced by tervigons. Most tactics we can give you wont last month.

[LardO'Blood]

:) I know, but his army isn't going to grow very quickly any time soon so I don't have to worry about any new units.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Hmmm...I'll go through both lists with my suggestions:

 

- Termgaunts are easy to kill. Unless he brings a Tervigon, ignore them.

- Hormagaunts are pretty good now (because they're not overpriced), but they're still easy to kill. Give them priority if they threaten to tie up a shooty unit in HTH.

- Genestealers are pretty awesome now, and that Broodlord is now a Stealer Sergeant (so your opponent will need a new HQ, because Warriors are Troops now). Like with Hormgaunts, kill them when they get close to assaulting you. They can still Outflank, so be sure to deploy your army accordingly.

- Warriors are a problem in 5-strong or larger broods. As he has them now, they're powerfist bait.

- Lictors can't assault on the turn they show up anymore, so you can just spam bolter into them quite easily.

- Carnifex is going to die pretty quickly if you fire all your anti-tank into it, it maxes at 4 wounds now, and no 2+ save either.

- Biovore is a joke, ignore it.

- Trygon/Mawlock is a worry, the latter more so because of its S6 AP2 blast when it appears inside your units via Deepstrike. I'd recommend mechanising, at least that way it only blows up the Rhino, not the squad inside.

 

He generally sits back and camps objectives with his termagants and warriors (warriors go in for CC near games end), shooting at stuff in range while fleeting with genestealers and broodlord. Deepstrikes his lictors, charges madly with carnifex (sometimes the genestealers accompany it I think), camps with biovore in a bastion or something, secures objectives/keeps my terminators and dreadnought stuck in CC.

 

So, you'll need a Whirlwind to scour them out from cover. If he just charges the Stealers at you without Outflanking, they'll be easy to kill, likewise with Carnifex.

5 Terminators, power sword on sergeant, all have storm bolters.

10 tactical marines, ML, flamer, chainsword/bolt pistol on sergeant (generally teleport homer and melta bombs on sergeant)

Captain with bolter and power sword (I generally use hellfire rounds)

Dreadnought with MM and DCCW with storm bolter.

 

- Terminators are good, I'd add a cyclone to them so they can soften up that Carnifex

- Need another Tactical squad, and a powerfist on the Sarge.

- Captain needs a relic blade

- Dreadnought should take an assault cannon and a heavy flamer on the DCCW.

 

My current tactics:

A ) Shoot with terminators and dreadnought then assault while avoiding lictors and carnifex. Drop pod in tactical marines and captain to pressure his campers or secure an objective.

B ) Move out with tacticals and captain, avoiding units with strong CC, use dreadnought to engage them. Eventually use the teleport homer on tacticals to deepstrike terminators in for CC help.

C ) Take out anything thats medium on the danger meter with dreadnought. Prance around him with terminators shooting in and perhaps assaulting. Use tactical squad to secure objectives/long range back up.

 

Don't drop pod in the Tactical Marines, thats feeding them to the swarm. Keep them back (preferably inside a Rhino), blast wounds off the Carnifex. Dreadnought is a good counter to his fex, especially if you can get the charge. Dreadnought or Terminators will make a mess of his Warrior brood.

[Koremu]

Rules of thumb for Bug Hunting (these won't change for the new codex);

 

Mechanise up. Rhinos are very much your friends. Force the 'nids to crack your transports before they can get at your precious gene-seed!

 

Form targeted strike units. You need to be able to positively identify threatening units and launch killteams against them. Of particular note will be the new Hive Guard, who appear to have STR8 weapons which can be fired indirectly using BS if White Dwarf is to be believed. Heavy Bolter Attack Bikes are an excellent tool for gunning down Genestealers especially. Sternguard and Plasma Command squads are also good at the job, as are Terminators, or of course the Land Speeders.

 

Horde units are best dealt with using Templates and Blasts. The winners are the Heavy Flamer Speeder, the Typhoon Speeder, The Whirlwind and the Thunderfire. Flamer armed Tactical Squads can do well if you can avoid being swamped.

[Justicar Valius]

Land raider crusader

 

As a pure DH player i use 2 crusaders at 1500 points. His build could get slaughtered by my list...

 

And remember the no.1 and no.2 rules! 1. never get into assault with stealers 2. blast templates are your friend

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Form targeted strike units. You need to be able to positively identify threatening units and launch killteams against them. Of particular note will be the new Hive Guard, who appear to have STR8 weapons which can be fired indirectly using BS if White Dwarf is to be believed. Heavy Bolter Attack Bikes are an excellent tool for gunning down Genestealers especially. Sternguard and Plasma Command squads are also good at the job, as are Terminators, or of course the Land Speeders.

 

Yeah, Hive Guard use the Impaler, and no LOS is required. So they'll just hide behind a Tervigon or Tyrant+Guard and beat your transports/speeders.

Genestealers can be countered by a good old disembark+rapidfire+flamer from a Tactical squad.

 

I would advise against taking Landspeeders, as Hive Guard will make short work of them. Heavy bolter attack bikes is a good idea though.

Land raider crusader

 

As a pure DH player i use 2 crusaders at 1500 points. His build could get slaughtered by my list...

 

And remember the no.1 and no.2 rules! 1. never get into assault with stealers 2. blast templates are your friend

 

Tyranids have the Zoanthrope, which will land in a spore pod and blow away your Raider. Doesn't matter if you then kill the Zoey brood, you've still lose your assault bunker.

[Koremu]

I would advise against taking Landspeeders, as Hive Guard will make short work of them.

 

AFAIK they don't have very many shots, and a Squadron of Land Speeders with 2 cheap Speeders and 1 Assault Cannon will almost certainly get the AC there to do the job, especially given that they will have a 4+ cover save as a Fast Skimmer moving Flat Out.

[IvorTangrean]

Ok so you have just the Black Reach guys and a scratch built drop pod. My advice is grab a dark angels veterans box. It is relatively cheap at $22 USD and will net you a five man Sternguard squad and an assault cannon for your Terminators ( Out of the box ) / Dread ( With some conversion ).

 

The nice thing is that at short range your new Sternguard would make a right mess of his 'stealers and warriors with Kraken and Vengeance rounds.

[LardO'Blood]

With the DA veteran box do I have to use tabards or are there non tabarded vets?

I'm Crimson Fists.

[IvorTangrean]

With the DA veteran box do I have to use tabards or are there non tabarded vets?

I'm Crimson Fists.

 

There are no bodies without the robes

[Reclusiarch Darius]

AFAIK they don't have very many shots, and a Squadron of Land Speeders with 2 cheap Speeders and 1 Assault Cannon will almost certainly get the AC there to do the job, especially given that they will have a 4+ cover save as a Fast Skimmer moving Flat Out.

 

Basically the Impaler is a S8 autocannon, which is Assault and doesn't require LOS. Plus, you can have units of 3 Hive Guard, which is dishing out a lot of pain per turn. They will make short work of light armour, cover save or not. They also outrange speeders, so good luck killing them before they blast you out of the sky. Did I mention they don't need to see you either?

 

The nice thing is that at short range your new Sternguard would make a right mess of his 'stealers and warriors with Kraken and Vengeance rounds.

 

Don't ever use Vengeance rounds, they routinely kill Sternguard. Breakdown is;

 

- 5+ armour, use Hellfire

- 5+ armour in cover, use Dragonfire

- 4+ armour, use Kraken

- 4+ armour in cover, use Hellfire

- Everything else use Hellfire

 

The only time I risk Vengeance is against Tau Crisis or Stealth suits, or against Sisters of Battle. Against anything else, Hellfire is default, unless you can negate both armour and cover, in which case Dragonfire or Kraken.

[Bartali]

....while fleeting with genestealers and broodlord.

 

Just a quick note, a Broodlord with a Genestealer retinue can't fleet. No doubt this may change with the new codex though.

 

With general tactics, as most everyone else has said, mech up and don't get into assault with Genestealers.

[IvorTangrean]

Don't ever use Vengeance rounds, they routinely kill Sternguard. Breakdown is;

 

I am going to disagree with you there I have used Vengeance rounds multiple times against Necrons, and yes I might lose one or two Sternguard in the process but I have destroyed whole units in one round of shooting before from just the Sternguard.

[LardO'Blood]

Ok so you have just the Black Reach guys and a scratch built drop pod. My advice is grab a dark angels veterans box. It is relatively cheap at $22 USD and will net you a five man Sternguard squad and an assault cannon for your Terminators ( Out of the box ) / Dread ( With some conversion ).

 

The nice thing is that at short range your new Sternguard would make a right mess of his 'stealers and warriors with Kraken and Vengeance rounds.

Just to make sure do you mean this:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/...dId=prod1060242

Or this:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/...dId=prod1060236

Or do both work?

[wizard12]

Ok so you have just the Black Reach guys and a scratch built drop pod. My advice is grab a dark angels veterans box. It is relatively cheap at $22 USD and will net you a five man Sternguard squad and an assault cannon for your Terminators ( Out of the box ) / Dread ( With some conversion ).

 

The nice thing is that at short range your new Sternguard would make a right mess of his 'stealers and warriors with Kraken and Vengeance rounds.

Just to make sure do you mean this:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/...dId=prod1060242

Or this:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/...dId=prod1060236

Or do both work?

 

it's the second one but the first gives you twice the amount of stuff

 

the first is 2 sprues of DA stuff

 

the second is only one sprue of DA stuff plus a combat squad I think

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Just a quick note, a Broodlord with a Genestealer retinue can't fleet. No doubt this may change with the new codex though.

 

Yeah, they can Fleet now, and as I said the Broodlord is now a Sarge.

 

I am going to disagree with you there I have used Vengeance rounds multiple times against Necrons, and yes I might lose one or two Sternguard in the process but I have destroyed whole units in one round of shooting before from just the Sternguard.

 

I don't think we are disagreeing ;) . Vengeance does work in certain situations, but you have to weigh up the loss of 1-2 dudes with your damage output. Against SoB, you'll wound on a 3+ anyway so negating their armour is important. However, if they turn on 'Martyr', you might as well just use Hellfire (because their 3+ invul will deflect your Vengeance rounds). Most other MeQ's will make use of cover, which kinda defeats the purpose of using Vengeance rounds.

 

I'd use it if you have a MeQ unit in the open and you need to finish them off (as you said, Necrons would be a great target, as they typically advance in a phalanx). If they're at full strength or in cover, Hellfire is a better option as you'll force more saves.