Tyranids Unit of the Week: Neurotyrant (and Neuroloids)

[Brother Nathan]

++Neurotyrant (and Neuroloids)++

 

 

We have a new unit of the week! and our first new unit of 10th. This week it's the brand new neurotyrant and his little friends.  so give us your feedback!

 

• To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will the beta rules affect your list(s)? And at what points restrictions?
• What size unit? Will you be running multiple units?
• What Enhancements, Hyper Adaptations and Stratagems do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices?
• Are you buffing this unit? If so, how?

[Brother Nathan]

ive not got one yet but is one of the models im most likely go get soon.probably the closest thing to a replacement to the misanthrope as an hq.  for a pretty decent price i think you get a fairly nicely statted leader beast. quite tough- t8 9 wounds 4++. has a nice enough anti infantry flamer attack thats str5 - 1 d2... 6 blah cc attacks.

the units it leads (neurogaunts and tyrant guard) gets boosted hit and possibly wound rolls(unfortunately currently no ranged attacks for either...)

has the only rule that interacts with shadow in the warp... is it worth building around... not really but nice to have a boost if taking the neurotyrant anyway. 

and its neuroloids allow you to give 2 separate units each turn the benefit of synapse without being in range of it so long as they are 12 inches away at that point(so give it to a unit about to fast dash off... 

 

bodyguards.... 

one win one major loss.

hive guard with this guy are great. is it worth the combined points of the neurotyrant and hive guard compared to a tyrant? doubtful.  but sounds a fun unit i kinda want to use. 

neurogaunts... fail. no just no. i can see what they are going for here but without some sort of benefit to the protection gained by the tyrant like the hive guard giving it fnp neurogaunts do the opposite to me. a t3 unit for a t8 model would be ok it there was no way theose wounds could go near the tyrant but alas precision... wound wrapping... and that those chaffy wounds are so easily stripped id really rather have them as separate units if id even take neurogaunts at all.. (im not a fan of them.. at all..)

 

but anyway thats just my initial thoughts... whats yours. 

[ZeroWolf]

I sort of wish GW built it around leading Zoanthropes, allowing you to build a more psyker heavy force.

 

I'm going to run him to see how it goes, I think his synapse extension will be helpful for units like the leapers that are going to want to push ahead.

[Brother Nathan]

Zoans would have made much more sense  but perhaps the unit buffs were too much? Not that i think its fair the paultry selection of characters and units they join compared to marines not only having a huge selection but joining multiple characters...sigh

 

A potential problem pointed out with the neurotyrant abilitys... its grand giving the synapse buff to a unit but say hormagaunts and they charge off do their thing... they will be trapped well out of range the next turn. So gotta make sure its on a unit that counts/has an important target

Edited July 8, 2023 by Brother nathan

[ZeroWolf]

2 hours ago, Brother nathan said:

Zoans would have made much more sense  but perhaps the unit buffs were too much? Not that i think its fair the paultry selection of characters and units they join compared to marines not only having a huge selection but joining multiple characters...sigh

 

A potential problem pointed out with the neurotyrant abilitys... its grand giving the synapse buff to a unit but say hormagaunts and they charge off do their thing... they will be trapped well out of range the next turn. So gotta make sure its on a unit that counts/has an important target

Agreed,  surely the Hive mind would have recognised the importance of those extra shiny forms of bio mass leading the others and evolved appropriately. 

[Zoatibix]

I’ve found Neurogaunts to be extremely useful. Great for testing paint schemes on rather than wasting other models. 

[Brother Nathan]

neurogaunts are probably the unit best suited for the neuroloid ability, likely to remain 12 inches away and get re boosted each round to  spread synapse and support the front line effectively in that way but then thats all id really use them for as i currently think they are missing something...

[ZeroWolf]

Its odd as the Leviathan rules sheet gives them an anti-pysker role (their attacks had anti-pysker +2) which they obviously don't in the index rules. I'm holding the tiniest bit of hope for refinement in the codex, with an actual benefit for the Nodebeast (which probably will be synapse related)

[Xenith]

Seems like a cool unit, and also the probable only way to make an opponent actually fail BS tests for shadow in the warp. Still not convinced it's enough to build into an army, with the flamer being unusable in combat, and otherwise poor unit choice to attach to (in terms of synergy).

 

Until we get some actual decent rules for neurogaunts in the codex, they just seem like the cheapest chaff possible, and a bad bodyguard unit.

 

Overall unsure how to get the most from this unit! 

[Brother Nathan]

as a monster is it able to shoot its flamer out of combat? is this a thing?

[Metzombie]

3 hours ago, Xenith said:

with the flamer being unusable in combat

Why would the Psychic scream not be useable?

[Xenith]

6 minutes ago, Metzombie said:

Why would the Psychic scream not be useable?

 

Unless I'm missing something, it's now a shooting weapon

 

Double checked, I didn't realise that the Neurotyrant was a MONSTER, and thought it was just INFANTRY, appearing about zoanthrope size, whih made me think it couldnt fire. 

[Brother Nathan]

so.. burn baby burn?

 

although that does raide the point that in a unit of hive guard when they hit cc the tyrant can still be shot even with the guard right?

Edited July 10, 2023 by Brother nathan

[Xenith]

I think they will still need PRECISION weapons to specifically target the neurotyrant in CC. 

[Brother Nathan]

Ok but being a unit with a monster they can still be shot(and shoot whilst engaged... just normal targeting/allocations?

[Xenith]

That's a good point - I've fired an email to the GW FAQ team. 

[Brother Nathan]

Sweet keep us informed what they say!

[Xenith]

They dont respond to individual mails, but they'll put the answer into an faq if enough people ask! 

[Brother Nathan]

so codex updates the range of the neuroloids to 18. does this change much for anyone? from my test game 12 inches was great but 18... should be a decent solve to some armys synapse keeping up with chargers...

[Xenith]

Couple of interesting things for the NT in the codex. Well, one anyway, which is the Power of the Hive Mind enhancement, or whatever it's called for +1S and AP on psychic weapons. Seeing as the NT is the only non-epic character with a psychic weapon (seriously GW, what were you thinking?!) it has to go on him, and makes it a tasty 2D6 S6 AP2 D2 flamer which is surprisingly ok for overwatch. Normally it's units with a ton of flamers, however the D2 makes it a real threat to marines. You'll average 7 hits, 5 wounds and 3 kills on MEQ, which is usually enough to gut any MSU unit trying to come after your objective. 

 

Some other options are a -1D relic in one of the other detachments, however I think that's more use on a tervigon or tyrant, maybe even a broodlord?

Edited September 18, 2023 by Xenith

[Mandroid]

So I've seen this comment before in a few places about neurogaunts and the T3 spillover effect, and also the counter view, but I'd like to see if I am missing something.  Some people seem to be of the opinion that the neurogaunt are a terrible bodyguard because of the Toughness difference allowing the Neurotyrant to take damage from T3 spillover wounds.  I am not sure this should happen though, as the rulebook seems to be pretty clear that the rules assume you are making each wound resolution sequence one at a time, and the rules for fast rolling are a way to "speed the game up" and thus should not overrule that when it would affect the outcome of the game.  Shouldn't you as a Neurotyrant player just say "sure speed roll if you want, but only up to the number of gaunts I have until they are all dead, so we then can allocate the remaining attacks to my Neurotyrant at his different T".  

 

Am I missing something here?  The rules seem pretty clear that the default is one at a time rolling which would prevent any spillover from ever happening. 

 

Side Note: I do agree that RAW there is still the risk from precision weapons though getting to hit your tyrant at gaunt T3 wounds... because precisions are specifically not allocated until after the wound roll against the unit and the one at a time makes no difference.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Brother Nathan]

predominately it is the precision rule and its relatively commonly availability (nids can do it army wide even for eg never mind our lictors etc)

but also you roll vs unit. and its probably ok for a full unit but say theres even 3 gaunts left when a bolter squad opens fire, they are wounding against t3. you will slow roll saves  but i dont believe attacks will be slow rolled as the paragraph about slow rolling does not mention changing stats if models die. 

[Mandroid]

On 12/18/2023 at 1:20 PM, Brother nathan said:

predominately it is the precision rule and its relatively commonly availability (nids can do it army wide even for eg never mind our lictors etc)

but also you roll vs unit. and its probably ok for a full unit but say theres even 3 gaunts left when a bolter squad opens fire, they are wounding against t3. you will slow roll saves  but i dont believe attacks will be slow rolled as the paragraph about slow rolling does not mention changing stats if models die. 

Except the part where the rulebook specifically says that slow rolling one at a time is the actual rule and fast rolling is a way to speed up the game.  That would seem to give you as the Neurotyrant player the option to just say "Sorry don't fast roll against my Tyrant group... lets play by the normal one at a time rule for this unit please"  I just don't see the risk from non-precision shots unless I am missing a rule somewhere. 

[Xenith]

That's a great catch actually, and I think how it should be played! 

[Brother Nathan]

How would that work when shooting is instant. Ie tactial squad vs 5 neurogaunts and neurotyrant. All rolled at once will be vs the gaunts stays and the nid player will assign as they want but full slowroll... bolters first and those specials and heavy will likely end up on the tyrant... may well use tyrants full stats but is this really better? I feel its likely just a terrible bodyguard unit in any situation...

 

Even at best from what i can see said tactical squad would still use the highest toughness amongst the bodyguard when selecting target... the bolters say are going first will all be able to use the gaunts stats to roll together (no slow roll required) as the boltguns have the same stats to roll with and even if they do kill off the gaunts should spill onto the tyrant imho. Weither specials will have to roll fully against the tyrant stats in the same shooting attack is a different questing if the rest of the unit is killed off as that could unlock other tjings such as a character having an ability when part of a unit... if a tyrant with tyrant guard is targeted similarly would the tyrant get its fnp against the same attacks that kill its guard? Would yhat be a no but it gets its own defensive stats?... small %differances likrly but potential differances...

Edited December 23, 2023 by Brother nathan