Mortarion vs Tyranids; Good idea or bad?

[Checkmate77]

So, I am hoping my fellow Death Guard Players who have more experience than I can help me with a dilemma I'm having:

Bottom Line up Front (BLUF): Is Mortarion a good choice when going up against a massive Tyranid army?

I’m going up against a Tyranid army over Christmas (PL 180), and am strongly debating on taking Mortarion.  My reasoning is that Tyranids are more of a close combat Army with a lot of massive Synapse creatures.  As the tactic to counter Mortarion seems to be massive shooting, and Tyrandis don’t (or at least didn’t used to) excel at shooting I thought this would be a great choice to get a CC powerhouse on the board myself.   I have not played many games in 8th edition yet, and haven't played Tyrandis since, I think, 6th edition, so any advice would be appreciated.

What do you guys think?  And if yes, what should I take to support him?  Initial thoughts are Deathshroud, and up to three Putrid Bloat-Drones..

Thanks in advance

 

 

[SkimaskMohawk]

My main opponent is Tyranids so I have a lot of experience in the match up.

 

First thing is that since 8th hit, they've excelled at shooting over melee, and that's been reinforced by the codex. A kronos list with biovores, exocrines and hiveguard put out amazing amounts of firepower, even more with the stratagem of shooting twice. An optimized shooting nid list will annihilate him.

 

A melee one will do far worse. Cast miasma on him and throw him in. Between blades of purification, his aura, 18 Scythe attacks, d6 nurglings and the choice of ranged weapon he'll generally kill the army all by himself. Only thing to really watch out for is genestealers with broodlords and maybe a kitted out tyrant

[Checkmate77]

Thanks for the insights SkimaskMohawk,

 

Ok, I know he's doing Hive Fleet Behemoth (which means re-roll charge distance?) so I'm banking on some CC heavy hitters vs. an optimised shooting list.

 

What would you take to support him? I was thinking:

 

- a Predator and Plague Crawler for LR support

-  Deathshroud to improve Mortarion's survivability and get him into combat

- At least 2 Bloat Drones

- A 10-man Blightlord Squad w/Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor to drop into his back lines and take care of any creatures hiding back there

- Typhus and 2 full squads of Plague Zombies

- All supported by some PM squads for addition fire support

 

once I have the list finalized I'll post it, but any initial thoughts?

[SkimaskMohawk]

Deathshroud are really good against melee armies, but mortarion doesn't really need the melee protection unless you massively misposition. Also you basically need to hold them in reserve since they're so slow.

 

Haven't had any experience with BlightLords, but I don't know if 10 is necessary. Maybe just 5 depending on the loadout.

 

Blight drones are amazing.

 

I don't like 2 units of poxwalkers. Do one max size and then cultists to turn into a battery. They punish tyranid melee infantry hard, and are another great distraction with mortarion and drones.

[Checkmate77]

Thanks!

[Lagrath]

Use Mortarion, 3 deathshroud, a unit of blightlord terminators to deep strike into his front lines, and 2-3 bloat drones vs the small bugs. You need an answer to genestealers - poxwalkers with typhus are honestly probably a good answer.

[Checkmate77]

First off, thanks again to SkimaskMohawk and Lagrath for your advice.

 

So, it has been decided, we will be playing the Narrative “MEATGRINDER” Mission with my DG defending against the Tyranid swarm from the Behemoth Hive Fleet.

 

​As I already started this thread here, I decided to post my initial army list here vs starting a new thread under Death Guard Army Lists.  If necessary I'll move it over.

 

​Based on the recommendations above I've come up with the following List, total of 179 PL.....There is no DS, and as they have to kill my entire army they will either have to do it via shooting or in CC.  All I have to do is survive.

 

HQ: 

 

-          Typhus (Dark Miasma, Putrescent Vitality)

-          DP w/Wings, 2xTalons, and Suppurating Plate (Dark Miasma, Blades of Putrefaction)

-          Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor, Combi-Plasma & Balesword

Troops:

-          20 Poxwalkers

-          20 Poxwalkers

-          7 PM, 2xBL   CHAMP w/PF & PG*

-          7 PM, 2xBL   CHAMP w/PF & PG*

-          7 PM, 2xHvy Spewer, 2x Flail of Corruption, 2xAxe + Knife, CHAMP w/Power Fist and Plasma Pistol (In Rhino)

o   Rhino with Combi/Melta and Havoc Launcher***

Elite:

-          Foul Blight Spawn (in Rhino)***

-          Biologus Putrifyer (In Rhino)***

-          Deathshroud

-          10 Blightlord Terminator, 8xCombi-Plasma & Axe, 2x Flail of Corruption

-          Hellbrute, Twin Lascannon + Hellbrute Fist w/Flamer

Fast:

-          Bloat Drone w/Plague Spitter**

-          Bloat Drone w/Plague Spitter**

Heavy:

-          Plague Crawler, 2xEntropy Cannon

-          Chaos Predator, Predator Autocannon & 2x Lascannon

Lord of War:

-          Mortarion (Dark Miasma, Blades of Putrefaction)

 

*I am debating on giving the two PM support Squads 1 Flail each, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

** Debating between the Plague Spatters and the Heavy Blight Launcher......Might just do one of each

***The Goal with the PM Squad, the FBS, BP in the Rhino is a Quick Reaction Force.  Keep them towards the rear and move them up to counter any major pushes by the Tyrannies.  Idea is to get the squad within Grenade Range and conduct a Blight Bombardment. 

[SkimaskMohawk]

Mortarion answers genestealers pretty well. Even 20 with broodlord buff to counter miasma only do 5.75 wounds to Morty. After which he kills around 12 with just his scythe, not counting his aura, nurglings, or blades.

[Bat33.1]

Blightbringer for getting poxwalkers and Typhus moving up the board? Both are so slow they can be ignored or isolated if you don't position them well. Typhus can deepstrike but you need him on the table to buff those poxwalkers.

 

Plague surgeon for reroll 1's on disgustingly resilient can help too, positioning needs to be carefully looked at as it' only a 3" bubble but it helps keep more dudes on the table which you will need against nids. Plus DR works against smite and mortal wounds so it's even better than invuln save and nids can bring lots of smite in their lists.

[Checkmate77]

Good thing being the defender on a Meatgrinder Mission, my only objective is to stay alive.  Therefore it doesn't matter how slow I am because eventually he has to come to me   (unless of course he decides to shoot at me instead). 

 

My Plan was to use the Poxwalkers supported by Typhus as a meat shield and position the Blightlord Terminators and Chaos Lord behind them, thus forcing any CC units to deal with the Poxwalkers first.  (Can't deep Strike in this mission either, all my units have to be place on the board at the beginning of the game)

 

My more mobile units (Mortarion and Bloat Drones) will stay on the flanks.  While the Predator and Crawler provide long range Fire Support. 

 

The DP and my Quick Reaction Force is to wait until the enemy gets bogged down with the poxwalkers and then counter attack.  With a little luck I should be able to blunt his initial attack enough to hold out until the game ends. 

 

 As long as we reach the end and I have at least one model on the board I win.