Hormagaunt Heavy lists?

[BaronBanana]

I've been bouncing around armies, looking for something to do while I wait for the Sisters codex later year and while I was looking around, I noticed most people just run Genestealers for troops.  Is there a reason other than maybe financial and army carrying reasons?  Or are hormagaunts just not worth their points even as cheap as they are?

[Closet Skeleton]

Hormagants are worth their points from what I hear, but I don't own any and use the not worth their points Tyranid Warriors instead so can't tell you if that's true.

 

I think genestealers are better in a pure genestealer army while hormagants want to be backed up by other stuff that they can in turn protect by tying the enemy up.

 

There's also the issue of getting 200 hormagants painted.

[Arson Fire]

Hormagaunts are alright, but better to think of them more as a support unit.  Not something you cram your army full of.  They lock up gunlines quite effectively with their pile-in and consolidation shenanigans, however they're not very good at actually killing things.

Genestealers on the other hand hit like a truck full of bricks, and just murder any infantry unit they come into contact with.

 

So while you'll often see armies packed full of genestealers, when you see hormagaunts it's usually just one unit, alongside two or three squads of genestealers.

 

 

For reference:

30 hormagaunts vs a MEQ statline

60 attacks

35 hits (re-rolling 1's from scything talons)

13.61 wounds (re-rolling 1's from having 20+ models in the unit)

4.54 casualties

 

vs 

 

12 genestealers vs a MEQ statline (similar points cost to the hormagaunts, rounding down)

12 acid maw attacks, 36 rending claw attacks

8 acid maw hits, 24 rending claw hits

4 acid maw wounds (AP-3), 8 normal rending claw wounds (AP-1), 4 rends (AP-4)

11.33 casualties

[Kallas]

There's also the issue of getting 200 hormagants painted.

I'm currently planning on building up a Tyranid force and one of things that got me excited was just the idea of running six units of thirty Hormagaunts. This is the only thing that makes me blanche a little, but that's what speed painting techniques are for!

 

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As for actual Hormagaunt-heavy lists, I think the main thing to bear in mind is that you'll need something to deal damage with. Hormagaunts are fantastic at getting to grips with the enemy, especially ranged heavy armies that don't want things locked in close combat, but they're not actually going to kill a huge amount. So you'll need things like Hive Tyrants, Swarmlord, Broodlords, Neurothropes for some good power/support, as well as some more effective punch, probably in the form of Genestealers (which would also mesh with a swarm style force, being more bodies on the table), Hive Guard and/or Zoanthropes (because Mortal Wounds are the best wounds!)

 

Tactics, Hormagaunts are pretty damn effective at just rocketing across the table and shutting down guns. If you bring Swarmlord and run Kraken, you've got a great chance of getting two units into melee first turn (one with Onslaught and Opportunistic Advance; the other with just Hive Commander but not advancing): pile on some CP to kill off a screening unit (30 Hormagaunts should kill off a ten-man Guard Infantry Squad, especially if you can soften it with one or two Mortal Wounds from Smite/Psychic Scream), then pop Overrun, then pop Adrenaline Surge to allow them to Pile In/Consolidate again (who cares if they can't attack targets they didn't charge if they lock down 50% of the enemy army's guns!) a ridiculous distance. They'll probably get beat to hell, but if they can allow you to deliver the rest of your army relatively unscathed then it's damn well worth it!

 

After that, it's just a case of bogging down the enemy with your horde of Gaunts and dogpiling tougher things with your more powerful units one at a time (and use Paroxysm if they're dangerous melee units). It's also important to remember the mission: your swarms of Gaunts locking down the enemy should give you almost free reign over the board to capture objectives, so make sure you pay attention to how to win the scenario!

 

For reference, this is the list that got me excited to try out:

1750

Two Battalions:

Swarmlord (Warlord; Catalyst; Psychic Scream)

2x Broodlord (Paroxysm and Onslaught)

Neurothrope (The Horror)

 

5x 30 Hormagaunts

1x 26 Hormagaunts

 

3x 2 Biovores (because Mortal Wounds and Spore Mines are hilarious)

 

Broodlords plus Swarmy can dogpile things and should be able to deal significant damage even to Knights, plus Smites and Biovores to put Mortal Wounds through on tough smaller things like Smash Captains.