Saturday, October 30, 2010

Sneaky Nids w/Lictors!


Well some people on Dakkadakka have been asking if you can make a competitive list without multiple Tervigons and Hive Guard. I've been toying with the idea of a Tyranid reserve force for a while and my buddy Shep played one a few tournies ago and enjoyed it. So here is what I'm thinking of:

-HQ-

Hive Tyrant-285
Wings, Dual TL-Devs, Hive Commander, Leech Essence, Paroxysm

-Elite-

3 Lictors-195

3 Lictors-195

7 Ygmarls-184

-Troop-

18 Gants-220
Devourer, Spore Pod

Tervigon-195
Catalyst, Spine Cluster, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs

20 Genestealers-320
Spore Pod

-Heavy Support-

Trygon-200

Trygon-200

There ya have it. My version of a Nid reserve army. The idea is that you have options for deployment no matter what kind of opponent you're playing. If you can opt to let your opponent have first turn for the obvious reason of taking away 2 full turns of his game. You start with a +1 to reserve rolls thanks to your Hive Tyrant so 2/3's of your forces should arrive by turn 2 with the rest following on turn 3.

As for the units in the army the Lictors are there to stun and then kill transports/enemy tanks. Ygmarls are hopefully there to fully tie up the dangerous enemy shooting unit or again to assault and stun/kill tanks. The Tervigon outflank, hopefully arriving early so that the Tervigon can spawn (in subsequent turns) and also FnP your 20 Genestealers. The Genestealers pod in and put hard, nasty pressure on the enemy. The Trygons are large and scary and with either draw heavy shooting when they arrive or will start munching full units on their second turn. Their limited shooting and safe deepstrike also make it possible to use their shooting attack to possibly stun something on the landing. The hive tyrant is obviously support. The podding Devgants are a fun unit that puts out a ridiculous amount of shots and average 15 wounds on T4 units on the drop and 20 on T3 so they can lay a hurt on large boy squads or on blob units. I think I'll start with the above list and tweak from there.

Is this the most amazing army ever? Not a chance. Is it a fun and decently competitive list? Definitely. You can control the tempo of the game and you've got a very resilient and fast force at your disposal. Your worst match-ups are probably still Mech IG though it'll be Mech IG that bring 3+ Valk/Vendetta units instead of your normal ones. Ork Nob units will also be a problem unless you can get the stealers into them with FnP. I don't think scoring will be an issue with the army as by the time your Tervigon arrives you should have enough threats on the table to make it a low priority target. It's a list I think will fair pretty well against Dark Eldar as well since almost every unit in the list has a shooting attack and will be able to fire it on the drop. Overall I like the idea.

Thoughts?

8 comments:

TJ Atwell said...

I run a drop list and love the idea of nids coming from everywhere. I have been looking for ways to vary my list up and I think I may just try this out! Looks fun and if I roll it out, I'll give you my thoughts.

Lyracian said...

I think that should be 8 Ygmarls though?

It looks fun. Not sure why you are podding the stealers though? I prefer outflanking for the possible charge.

Since Flesh Hooks are still AP - even if they rend I am not really convinced on Lictors. Think I will stick with Zoan's in a Pod for my air assault army.

Bodiless said...

I thought that rending was defined as AP2.

Lyracian said...

@Bac,
No. 'To Wound' rolls of 6 become AP 2. Armour rolls just get an extra +d3, no change to the AP.

hyv3mynd said...

I actually really like this. May not be the most competitive due to the whole daemon factor, but at least you're battling 1's and 2's for individual reserves and not a whole wave.

Removing a round or two of shooting is pretty big too, and you force some really hard choices, basically ensuring a trygon, lictor unit, and/or genestealers hit home.

Biggest problem I see here is hitting transports in CC the turn after you arrive, instead of infantry. The lictors will score 1-2 damage results per unit if you place them for rear shots. Tyrant has the best chance if he doesn't scatter out of range or mishap.

I'd playtest this myself after our GT, dunno how I feel about investing financially in lictors tho hehe.

Hulksmash said...

@Old Terminator

Glad you like it. It seemed like a lot of fun when I thought it up. And then Shep and I tweaked it a bit before I posted it since he's played something similar to this.

@hyv3mynd

Don't need to invest in Lictors. Buy 2 boxes of warriors and build them. It's what I did, why the extra Scything Talons from previous box sets :)

Ben said...

@Lyracian - I had never noticed that, but you're right, by RAW there is no change in AP. That actually brings up an odd point with Death Leaper... does it rend on 5+ in close combat but only on 6's against vehicles? By RAW does it actually rend against vehicles at all? Can't remember now if it gets the rending rule in its description or just 'death strike', which only mentions to wound rolls.

(BTW - Bac and Ben are the same person, not sure why I was logged in as bac previously)

Lyracian said...

Yes, as written "Killing Strike" has no effect on Tanks just the "to Wound" roll. Deathleaper is only Rending Tanks on 6's (just the same as normal Lictor's and Genestealer's) because he still has the normal Rending rule as well as "Killing Strike".

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