Choosing Troops

[Evil Eye]

Following the...incident that occurred trying to strip my badly painted old gaunts, I have found myself rather lacking in troops. I have roughly 10 hormagaunts on the bench sitting in the awkward "just a few more details" stage of painting, an indeterminate number of Genestealers in a similar state, but...that's kind of it. Seems I got so carried away with building monstrous creatures I rather forgot about the all important troops. Oh dear!

 

Anyway, no use crying over spilled bio-gruel. I suppose I need to knuckle down and buy some fresh gaunts. Question is, what should my "shopping list" look like (money aside)? Out of the various troops we have the following:

 

>Hormagaunts have been my favourites for a while now, as cheap, expendable but surprisingly fast and stabby little raptor fellows have always appealed to me. Also they're marginally easier to paint than termagants due to the lack of fiddly guns. Also with the biometallic cysts adaptation they get even stabbier, which is nice.

 

>Termagants are very cheap and good for drowning the enemy in bodies, possibly to an even greater extent than hormies, though I have heard they're a little sub-par at the moment. I'm almost tempted to go with devourers on them to maximize shots per gaunt but I don't know if this is a mistake.

 

>Warriors are something of an auto include for me as simply put, I love 'em. They're just cool, to the point I had considered an army made predominantly from them for the troops. Probably a bad idea, but anyway. I'm not sure on what to equip them with; part of me thinks devourers + rending claws would be both cost efficient and fairly effective.

 

>Genestealers are quite easy to paint, relatively elite by Tyranid troop standards, and also capable of being a total blender in the right scenario. Or, so I've heard.

 

>Rippers I had a bonkers idea for years ago of a Ripper centric army, back when the Parasite of Mortrex was a thing. Still kind of want to do something similar. I have heard they're surprisingly effective though...

 

 

Now as I've said a million times before I'm not intending to take on tourney players, but I'd still rather my army was at least playable. Aside from Warriors (which I want at least one brood of, because A: Synapse and B: rule of cool) would mixed troops- so hormies and termies- be at all viable? Or is it better to stick to one or the other? As mentioned I have a few hormagaunts in progress but as this is an ever-evolving collection/passion project, I won't let that stop me from going with termagants instead, should it be required.

[XeonDragon]

These might help:

 

https://youtu.be/ORcV1JyJBHM?t=1871

https://youtu.be/GasmnUtBijE

 

Basically there are decent, but Termagants and Genestealers with the new octarius buff are pretty insane, and tyranid warriors can take the bio-weapon bond and get other benefits. Rippers are great for engage on all fronts with native deep-strike.

 

Personally I am building some genestealers, termagants and rippers. I have some warriors (eBay rescue) already built, just need to be repainted.  

[Brother Nathan]

depends greatly on the rest of your list and what you can afford to invest/loose and backing up those units or what way ypu play them. im only just getting back into playing after several years but this is my current thoughts anyway. currently for 1500 im aiming for a unit of each and will compare them on the feild. not talking upgrades unless necessary

 

stealers.- fastest troop and probably our dearest. also deadliest in cc. i love these buggers but i dont think more than 10(the building block im roughly going to work from here)are worth while as a unit and thats 130 points. when i last played id have loved their current rules 5++. amazebobs. but they will attract small fire like you wont believe because their legend precedes them. but then if you want more distractions form your monstrous creatures they are good for that. work nicer with a broodlord too. but realistically cost to suitability is a killer even with swarmlord trickery for first turn charge.. bear in mind worth watching the upcoming geanstealer cults codex as it sounds like a big change for them is due.oh and upgrades mean they take up an even bigger chunk of points.  i rate them a C

 

hormagaunts. spikey bois. for 10 it only sets you back a rather more favourable 60. so really near getting double for the cost of stealers. however not as tough and pretty much no armour. but good for board denial and such. choke an objective and make them a threat thats not a threat. if your opponent ignores them  because of them being relatively feeble then drop a strat on them to not make them killer but at least change their opinion on their threat level. slightly too expensive imho but definitely closer to target. iv always avoinded extras favouring more models rating them a B

 

termagaunts- shooty bois. an even better 50 points for 10 and have a basic ranged weapon. so near a third of a stealer if taking a terviagon they are an auto include (replace lost models rather than spawning anew) and from what i gather you can mix weapons in the unit and adding several devourers to the unit if taking 20 plus for a better weapon base and using normal cheaper gaunts as a viable sheild is a great option. add in now bio weapon bond boost em even more. but 12 inch range... can be good for an unexpected broadside. just gotta expect them to die. likely an opponent will need them to die and have to throw fire power at tthem to make sure they do and thats what you need. really i consider the shooting as an extra precombat phase attack. i rate them an B+

 

rippers. chompyss. not comparing on 10s but on rough rounds, 3 bases is 9 wounds, 36 points. your cheapest option. hideable and hopefully going to draw opponents multi d weaponry away from your bigger beasts. dont expect them to do anything amazing but stick them on an objective and crack on with the rest of your army. problem is buying them as they are essentially freebies in other kits ive taken to 3 per base to help spread them out more. if you need an objective sitter you have it. rate them a B

 

warriors. these are the complicated one as you have to pick 2 weapon options. and they are your only troop synapse. and bioweapon bond makes them amaze. well make them make a unit better. hte guys likely hit buy option changes more than any other. go the same building block as rippers. 63points basic is about average but for a rounder unit that can hold their own ok in cc and shooting. plus are our toughest troop with their 4+. their shooting is average. but i like a venomcannon to help other units out even if sitting backfield as they boost other units. very easy to over spend. even mine tooled out sits under 100 points. id be hesitant to build an army of them as they will soak up points fast but definatley atleast 1 unit should be an autotake. focused cc ones seem a waste to me as you can only use one ccw. well you cna split but id always go one of each to keep them balanced and able to contribute. rate them an A. would be more but cost. 

 

 

anyway hope that helps for now. its actually helped my mindset wwith army building and how im going to look at my list after this... needs more terms les stealer...

[WarriorFish]

I'm not familiar with what Octarius does yet, but generally speaking they're all ok. As in you can put them in a list and get use from them so long as you're not taking mostly Troop armies or expecting them to win games :P

 

Stealers are good but attract attention, this is where a varied list helps I think. If the Genestealers are struggling the gaunts are probably swarming in etc. I like the hordes as it feels more niddy but they take up space quickly so I use a split of gaunts and gants. Not all of them will be able to get around the table and into combat so some capability to hang back and shoot or sit on objectives works and as you've highlighted Termagants can be pretty cheap.

 

I prefer to keep my units cheaper - especially on units that are cheap - but sprinkling in some weapon upgrades can work here as the 5pt models heroically leap in front of bullets for their more expensive peers :P

 

I'm also keen on Warriors, but they're also good for inclusion on their own merits too. Synapse to help keep the hordes in line without tying up a more valuable synapse unit is useful and with some weapons they can provide some decent fire support as well as combat potential. The devourer and CCW is a standard for a reason I think - doesn't break the bank but keeps them flexible and capable enough :)

 

I've not got to my Rippers yet (I have plenty it seems) but I think they're obvious enough in use. A unit to support your army and cause mischief should be useful in most games, my main problem and why I've not got to any yet is that I like my Troop units so my slots get used up elsewhere.

 

TL;DR: all have a place, especially on concert I think, so since you're starting anew almost you can't go wrong with a little of everything :)

[Karhedron]

One unit of shooty Warriors to hold you home Objective seems like a solid plan while a couple of more aggressive units like Stealers plough forward. I have had nasty experiences of Stealers hurtling into my lines T1 and throwing my plans out of the window which then allows the rest of the Nids to move up and take advantage.

[Xenith]

1x 5 warriors is a cool unit - I'd go with deathspitters to keep them at range, then your choice of CC weapons. Talons are cheap, one model with LW+BS can be used for consolidation shenanigans, where he isn't removed until the end of the phase so your opponent cannot consolidate into other models/objectives. 

 

1 unit of 20 - 30 gaunts I think is fun, to swamp the middle of the board and block your opponent's movement, which is critical in 9th. I'm a fan of 1-2 units of 10 man gaunts to try and grab objectives - termagants also work for this, but the 2" extra move on the gaunts goes a long way, so does the extra pile in if you want to ObSec an opponent off their own objective. 

 

Stealers have been great in almost every game I've used them in - even at <10 models they kill stuff. They're super squishy and die fast though, so keep them protected. These are targets for the aggressive adaptation to get -2AP claws as soon as they kill one unit. 

 

Rippers are decent, really good at popping up and annoying things, and claiming table quarters for engage/linebreaker. They are beasts/swarm, however, so cannot perform actions. I'd keep it to 1-2 units of these max. 

[Arson Fire]

Devourer termagants are currently insane with the new octarius rules. The Relentless Flurry stratagem effectively gives them tesla (+2 bonus hits on each roll of a 6) for 1CP.

You can combine that with the existing shoot twice stratagem to get an absurd number of hits. I've seen battle reports where a squad of these guys deepstruck in and shot down two dreadnoughts. Which is a bit silly considering they're wielding a S4 AP- anti infantry gun.

There are other abilities which can make them even more ridiculous, such as re-rolling all hits from a warlord trait, or a couple of the synaptic links which can provide bonuses like +1 to hit, or re-rolling 1's and 2's to wound. However these abilities are a bit trickier to place on devilgaunts since they have to be applied in the command phase, and the devilgaunts are at their best when deepstriking.

 

Warriors are also incredibly good right now, due to having one of the best synaptic links. Their ability to place a +1 to hit bonus on any unit makes them a fantastic buffing unit. They can also be built as solidly tough objective holders. The ignore AP1/AP2 adaptive physiology fits them perfectly, and they have access to a -1 damage stratagem if heavier firepower gets pointed their way.

Personally I prefer them with quad scything talons, keeping them at a nice cheap 17 points per model (+15 to the unit for the synaptic link). However there's also an argument for deathspitters. I don't see much point in putting devourers on them though, as they're just weaker deathspitters for not much cheaper.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Arson Fire

[Evil Eye]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody! I wrote up a new list and may have gotten a bit carried away...

[WarriorFish]

Nothing wrong with a list full of Troops... winning isn't a primary concern right? :P The dice gods would surely have your back for such a fluffy list though.