Beating New Tyranids

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Had two games against new Nids now, two very different lists (mine was largely the same both times). I'd like to share some thoughts, as I think whilst Nids have gotten nerfed, they might be back with their old mojo in 6th edition: Infantry R Best

 

FMC's: Annoying, hard to get rid of without Skyfire or Fliers of your own, and they can cause damage. Crone can murder vehicles with tentaclids (haywire is a thing), Harpy can dump heavy venom cannon into infantry along with stinger salvo, and Flyrants are still very much a thing. Quad Gun helps but I really feel like you need a Raven to deal with them properly (see further)

 

Exocrine: You will learn to hate this. It murders both DK's, vehicles and infantry pretty efficiently. 24" range means it's not usually a problem Turn 1, but Turn 2 onwards you will be in range normally. Six plasma shots or a plasma large blast is painful. You need some long range AP3/2 to deal with it. 

 

Sea'O Dudes: With Warriors nerfed into complete oblivion, Genestealers lacking any way to quickly get into melee, and Tervigons hit hard with the nerf bat, I feel that Tyranid players are going to turn back to their roots with the trusty Termagaunt and Hormagaunt. They're cheap and provided they don't waste points upgrading them, you can field huge numbers (30 strong broods are doable). They die like flies, but if you don't deal with them, they can and will tarpit and drag down your units. Horma's are insanely fast now too, so they can put you on a 2 turn clock to deal with them before melee starts. 

 

Elite is Meaningless: Nothing Tyranids have except Tyrannofex (which is still an iffy choice, especially now the Exocrine solves so many ranged problems for Nids) has a 2+ save, and you're still unlikely to fight mass Carnifex. Thus, Terminators are largely a waste of time against Nids, as they simply will get bogged down and usually never reach the annoying MC's (the FMC's just run away laughing). 

 

 

So, after some rejigging of my earlier list, I'm thinking of trying this out instead;

 

HQ:

 

Coteaz

(100 points)

 

Inquisitor w/force sword+bolt pistol, Prescience

(55 points)

 

Elites:

 

Flame Knight w/halberd, Purifier w/hammer 4 x Purifiers w/incinerators, 4 x Purifiers w/halberds

(250 points)

 

Troops:

 

6 x Jokaero

(210 points)

 

3 x Servitor w/plasma cannon

(60 points)

 

(2) Justicar w/sword, 2 x Knights w/psycannons, 7 x Knights w/swords

(220 points each)

 

Fast Attack:

 

Raven w/twin assault cannon, twin heavy bolter, hurricane sponsons, psybolts, locator beacon, 4 minstrike missiles

(270 points)

 

Heavy Support:

 

Dreadknight w/greatsword+heavy incinerator, teleporter

(260 points)

 

Aegis Line w/Quad Gun

 

1,750 on the dot

 

 

Coteaz joins the Servitor squad camping the Aegis line and mans the Quad Gun. Jokaero deploy inside the Aegis Line as well. Dreadknight deploys up further to get good shunt coverage. Inquisitor joins the Purifiers in the Raven, Raven and Strike squads go into Reserve. 

 

Turn 1 Coteaz puts Prescience onto the monkeys, hopefully they soften up an enemy Tyrannofex or Exocrine. Servitors dump plasma cannon into the horde, hopefully killing a fair chunk. Dreadknight moves or shunts into a good BBQ position and starts thinnning out the horde as well

 

Turn 2 sees the Raven arrive, along with hopefully both Strike squads. Raven zooms on 36", obliterates a brood (hopefully opening up a charge lane for the DK to eat a ground Tyrant or Exocrine), Purifiers hop out and dispense glorious BBQ death, Strike Knights back them up with even more shooting. Careful deployment should ensure that the enemy can't charge anyone but the Purifiers, thus preventing the Strike from being locked in melee. 

 

Turn 3 onwards is about drowning the enemy in firepower and killing off key targets. Combined with the Jokaero and Servitors, should be able to get rid of the ground forces. Meanwhile, the Raven and Quad Gun can combine their efforts to get rid of the FMC's. 

[Gentlemanloser]

Any of the FMC Psykers?

 

'Nids were a near no brainer easy with for us with thier old 'dex.  After taking a nerf bat to the face, I'm not sure we really need a tactical discussion on how to beat them.

 

Sadly.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

 

Any of the FMC Psykers?

 

Flyrant is. 

 

 

 

'Nids were a near no brainer easy with for us with thier old 'dex.  After taking a nerf bat to the face, I'm not sure we really need a tactical discussion on how to beat them.

 

I thought so too, but after two games against them (first one was an unqualified curbstomp, second one I got swamped), I have to say they're not as bad as the doommongers say. They can put a shedload of dudes on the table, and whilst they remove handfuls, so you do when they hit melee or when that Exocrine gets range on you. 

 

Shadow in the Warp is a thing. Ld6 or 7 for psychic tests is a pain, I was failing tests left and right once that Flyrant swooped close (can't charge the fugger cos he's FMC, and I had no Skyfire so it was hard to bring him down). 

 

Exocrine is legit. In six shot mode it almost took out a DK by itself (luckily he only wounded three times). The large blast mode (I repeat, large blast plasma cannon, in an edition with reduced cover saves) is hell on our infantry, especially Terminators. It's also next to impossible to get to, because he surrounds it with a billion Gaunts (hence my suggestion of a Dakka Raven to clear the chaff out of the way, thus leaving a charge lane for the DK to exploit). 

 

I'm not saying Tyranids are a tournament army (they're not, Tau and Eldar wreck them), but they can and will do nasty things to small elite forces like us or Marines. 

[Gentlemanloser]

Mindstrike the Flyrant?

 

As for the Exo, we've faced that ages ago in the Chaos Exoplasma beast.

 

I fail to be worried by the little beasties.  I Prescience my Storm Bolters, which removes handfuls of Marines when I shoot.  I'm not worried about removing more little bugs (as they get no saves!).

 

Sorry, I just can't get worried about 'nids.  They're no where near the threat level of Riptides/Eldar.  They need to be planned and catered for, nids, not so much. :(

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Mindstrike the Flyrant?

Can't use blast weapons on Fliers or FMC's :( but I reckon I can force enough grounding tests and wounds to kill him with a Dakka Raven and Quad Gun

As for the Exo, we've faced that ages ago in the Chaos Exoplasma beast.

Nope, because that's a vehicle, and thus dies to glancing. This is a 6 wound, T6, 3+ save monster that can't be easily charged. Also, can I reiterate its a LARGE BLAST or SIX SHOTS! GW basically gave them the Nid version of a Riptide (after realising that they needed to A: not give it S8 and B: make it slow and not 60" range).

I fail to be worried by the little beasties. I Prescience my Storm Bolters, which removes handfuls of Marines when I shoot. I'm not worried about removing more little bugs (as they get no saves!).

'Catalyst' can grant Feel No Pain to the psyker and one friendly unit. Its one of the few powers (aside from 'Warp Blast' or 'Horror') that is actually legit. I had Gaunts FNP against storm bolter wounds, it was terrible :( . Keep in mind these are 30 strong units, even if you wipe half in a Shooting phase they're still a problem in melee. I had two understrength Gaunt units tie down my Terminators all game, same for my DK :( .

Sorry, I just can't get worried about 'nids. They're no where near the threat level of Riptides/Eldar. They need to be planned and catered for, nids, not so much.

As I said, tournaments will laugh them out of the door, but in casual games, Nids have some moves. Not unique by any means (I still feel like Orks do horde the best of all the races), but you'd be surprised how much stuff they can throw down.

[Gentlemanloser]

'Catalyst' can grant Feel No Pain to the psyker and one friendly unit. Its one of the few powers (aside from 'Warp Blast' or 'Horror') that is actually legit. I had Gaunts FNP against storm bolter wounds, it was terrible . Keep in mind these are 30 strong units, even if you wipe half in a Shooting phase they're still a problem in melee. I had two understrength Gaunt units tie down my Terminators all game, same for my DK .

Hold on a second, I can hear Crowe limbering up on the bench. He's getting all excited about taking his Purifiers out again!

Silly guy, doesn't he realise people will just use them with a GKGM to make them scoring?

[Reclusiarch Darius]

 

Hold on a second, I can hear Crowe limbering up on the bench.  He's getting all excited about taking his Purifiers out again!

 

I have a dream that one day, I'll field Crowe, and my opponent will take the Swarmlord. And the tears will be glorious

 

 

Silly guy, doesn't he realise people will just use them with a GKGM to make them scoring?

 

True, but GM's are expensive. I'm almost coming back to Crowe these days, just because having them always score is handy. 40pts is almost a Prescience Inquisitor.