Vanguard Onslaught Build

[Blade of Sigismund]

I am looking at making a vanguard list, and am on the fence as far as how many genestealers to bring. I'm thinking of 2x10 or 3x10, and would like to hear about others experience in balancing the genestealers glass-cannon approach with the tyranids strength of zone control.

[Brother Nathan]

Try this thread too.

 

Iv not played vanguard but what are you expecting out of them? They are glass cannons and their damage isnt great without a broodlord. Anf with a broodlord you really need 10. 

Also will depend on rest of list too. Iv lots of stealers but atm cant see myself feilding more than a squad

[Blade of Sigismund]

The idea is using the re-deploy to knock out light to medium infantry in t1-2 using an alpha strike. The re-deploy of three units allows for optimal placement pre-game, allowing for 2-3 blocks pulling charges averaging 27".

 

- Base dmg is roughly 13 wounds against t4/sv3

- That increases to 17 wounds if in range of a neurolictor, or 20 if you factor neurolictor and their re-roll abilities

 

So, in ideal conditions, I would be looking to wipe out the units that the enemy uses for board control, neutralizing their ability to contest the primary, and allowing me to focus on armor and elite infantry with the remainder of the list. If they survive, great; they can now put pressure on the enemy and hunt for targets of opportunity.

 

The brood lord is appealing, but he increases the output on medium infantry by about 35%, while he increases the unit cost by 53%. He seems to be geared more for elite infantry, but at that point, genestealers are fighting well out of their league with str4 and dmg 1. Those points are likely better spoint on neurolictors for board control, battleshock, and the potential for their psychic disruption abilities.

 

Total cost of 3x10 genestealers is 510 pts, so the question is really:

- will sufficient enemy forces of the target type (light to medium infantry) be present to justify 500 pts, or will they usually encounter t5 or higher?

- or, do hormagaunts serve the role better by being cheaper, still tying things up, and being able to be brought back in invasion swarms?

[Brother Nathan]

are light to medium infantry an issue for the rest of your army? at that point outside of seeing the rest of the list its hard to know. ive not noted any real stealer heavy lists doing great and ultimately i think they are just to expensive, perhaps the next dataslate will help. nids arnt winning on kills atm will they stem the flow? do you think two squads will cut it as if this was my opponents plan id be leaving out a flamer squad or2 (depending on stratagem access and army)it may work against some armys but in a game thats so rock paper scissors its a fair chunk of eggs in a glass basket. id be interested to head how such goes as i do miss using my stealers (have 80 odd))

[Blade of Sigismund]

I pulled the trigger and ordered 30; in large part because having one unit degraded by overwatch is likely. Ultimately, I just need something that won't bounce off of marine infantry all game while still engaging firing units.

 

I'll update once I get them built up and play a couple of games.

[Knight of Maccrage]

On 1/1/2024 at 5:00 AM, Brother Nathan said:

are light to medium infantry an issue for the rest of your army? at that point outside of seeing the rest of the list its hard to know. ive not noted any real stealer heavy lists doing great and ultimately i think they are just to expensive, perhaps the next dataslate will help. nids arnt winning on kills atm will they stem the flow? do you think two squads will cut it as if this was my opponents plan id be leaving out a flamer squad or2 (depending on stratagem access and army)it may work against some armys but in a game thats so rock paper scissors its a fair chunk of eggs in a glass basket. id be interested to head how such goes as i do miss using my stealers (have 80 odd))

 

Finally got these guys on the table. It was against a grey knights army that was mostly terminators and dreadknights, so it was  far from what I had initially planned for. That said, they still did exceptionally well.

 

In T2 draigo and paladin blob failed battleshock from the neurolictors neural disruption, and I took the opportunity to get 18 genestealers in to assault. Between an exocrine, some chip damage, and the assault, they managed to lift the whole unit. Later remnants from that blob took out a strike squad, and made it to the back field to take the enemy home objective.

 

When we called it before bottom of t5, two squads were at half strength, and one was down to the last man. They took out all enemy infantry excepting one terminator squad.