To stomp a bug: The Calibanite way

[Varizel]

Now i'm speaking of my meta, so take it with a grain of salt. 

 

The dangerous bits on the new Nids codex are the Carnifex, Flyrant, Termagants, and imho the Tyrannofex. Carnifex will be using TL Devourers or just naked with Adrenal Gland for melee. Tyrannofex too will be using the torrent flamers and the thorax flamer. The Tyranno is really durable, and pumps out shot or make peeps spread out more so it can be shot by the gants behind it. They MIGHT have some min number of genestealers with broodlord to disrupt and pin key units. Honestly though, with us being Fearless or Stubborn, it's not too bad. Ld 8 is guaranteed at least. Otherwise -2 Ldship for those pinning test, yikes. For elites the new hotness is the Venomthrope. Shrouded to all units around it. Always get rid these guys fast with save ignoring weapons. Hive Crone i found wasn't too scary by itself. But it is usually escorted by 2 Hive Tyrants, and they wrecked face when they got up close. 

 

With the new Instinctive Behaviour being REALLY PUNISHING, it is imperative to get rid of their synapse creatures ASAP. These are usually the Zoanthropes, the Rants, Tervigons and Warriors. Tervigons are not that popular now though since they are REALLY punishing for the Nids players when it died. It explosion range is doubled from last time (12 inch now) and 3d6 auto hits on ALL gaunts inside that perimeter. Honestly I don't see Tervigon that much anymore. The one player that took it, i punished him with the Black Knight and it took ALMOST 1/2 his gant squads with it. And the next turn, those guys turned tail cuz no Synapse around it. This is a concerted attack though, with the Ravenwing squadrons opening the side of the Tervigon free of gants to rob him of his Cover Save.

 

Zoanthropes are weaksauce durability wise (normal marines with 3+ invul and 2 wounds), so just kill them whenever you can to disrupt his advance. 

 

Don't underestimate gants too, cuz now they can mix weaponry. They are ran with some bulletsponge fleshborers on the front and side, and the juicy core of devourer shots gants at the back. And those guys are all in one squad. It will wreck any number of infantry based army if they are ignored too much, since peeps are taking like 2+ squads of those most of the time, being cheap as it is. Most of the time it's 10+ devourer guys. Those are 18 inch 3 shots str 4 guns. Combined with the fexes and rants, it made the nids REALLY deadly on 18 inch band for any infantry based army. With the rants and fexes to shepherd the target to the guns of these guys, or vice versa. The one i used most of the time are 30 gants with 10 devourers, and 20 of some spike rifles/fleshborers, those are like 160 pts persquad i think? I took 3 squads of those guys all the time now, pretty darn cheap for that amount of shots. 

 

TLDR version: Kill Venomthrope if you see them, kill synapse real quick so the nids army kill themselves, be very wary of the Fexes (both Tyranno and Carni) and the Flyrant.  If you see Tervigon surrounded by gants, smile, kill one side of its gants shields, and blast that Tervigon out of the board.

 

This is my meta though. Truth be told though, i really question the ability of dakkapole ravenwing against the new nids played by a competent player. The model count is ridiculously low for dakkapole. The amount of CHEAP shots that Nids can throw at you now is ridiculous. Sure ravenwing got 24 inch, but the nids will get soo many models on the table with those devourers, they will cordon you, and then swamp you with numerous shots. That is why it is REALLY important to take down the synapse REAL fast. And ooo.. don't bother counting the Rants as synapse most of the time. Too many people i saw are too confident on the FMC durability (which is UTTER CRAP compared to flyers). This works out on our favor most of the time, since the rants will be out of support range MOST of the time.  If the Nids players are competent though, the rants are a tough bastard to get rid of, and always kill it when it moves out alone and isolated.

 

Oh and one more thing. The rulebook specified that a unit that is shot through an intervening units gets a cover save. It didn't state that the 25% requirement is needed, just shoot through a unit. At my place, that is how it is played. So if a termagant squad stands right in front of a Tervigon, Tervigon got a cover save. Your mileage might vary on your place.

 

Edit: I forgot Biovores. They are one of the best units too in the nids codex. We still got armor save from them though, but watched out of being Heavy/special weapon sniped by these guys. Or worse yet..... Banner sniped on a Ravenwing list.