Welcome to the first part in a series regarding, well, how to build a competitive Nid list without having to worry about losing that big beasty of yours to JotWW or all them new fangled force weapons people will be thriving on for a big. The following paragraph will be the open reminder for each part and then each part will separate based on the archetype deployment strategy.
“So I did mention briefly in my other Nid list that I was working on a list for Nids that could still compete but that didn’t have to worry too much about JotWW or having big, low initiative models. This list is going to need a few things so let’s get them set-up from the get-go.
-The Standard Anti-Tank
-Major speed to offset the lack of durability
-Harder hitting CC to make up for the greater lack of shooting since most of our truly great RoF weapons are on big bugs.
-Numbers! Again to offset the lack of durability
-Synapse
We also will have to decide if we want this to be a standard deployment style of Nid list, a reserve list, or a hybrid as this will heavily influence how we adjust our list to include the above.”
Since I’m pretty much all about reducing the randomness I’m going start with a standard deployment style of list. This means that 99-100% of my stuff will be on the table at the start of the game in Pitched Battle and Spearhead deployments with very little more off the table in DoW.
Side note: Now I tend to be a big believer in bringing your own cover. Rarely do I attend events, outside of Adepticon/Nova, that have proper amounts of terrain on the table. That being said it’s always best to assume you won’t have the terrain coverage you had hoped for and to just bring extra along.
Well in a standard deployment style of army our Anti-Tank is pretty dang easy. Let’s start w/between 6-9 Hive Guard is what I’m thinking for all the reasons we’ve already discussed about Hive Guard. This will be our ranged anti-tank since we don’t really have a lot of choice when building something like this. Though I think it will be enough.
Now Hive Guard, while easy to get a cover save for, are probably going to need a decent screen to ensure they do have cover as they move up the field. This means we’ll have to include some bare-naked gaunts at the very least. Now a naked gaunt is 5pts in this list. It comes with a 12” gun that is basically a single shot bolter. Not to impressive w/out a boost from mommy and it feels like I’m wasting points but I need that screen. So what about Hormagants? This is where I’m thinking they actually have a place in the codex. They cost 1 more point per model base (which is how I’d run them) but they have fleet which is going to matter in a list like this.
So we’ve covered our Ranged Anti-tank and our mobile screen. Now let’s get to work on our HQ. In a standard deployment list I don’t even think there is a choice. We want to keep it cheap yet effective so I’d look to the Parasite. Flying synapse is huge for this list so he’s in. And naturally he needs friends to fly with so a 20-25 Gargoyle unit w/Poison and FC is in order.
Real Quick let’s see where we’re at with the list, we’ll take the larger sizes since we can always scale down:
HQ:Parasite-160
3xElite:3 Hive Guard-150(450)
Troop: 20 Hormagants-120
Fast Attack: 25 Gargoyles-200
This brings us to 930pts. So far. Now numbers wise we’re not so bad off but we definitely need to bulk out as well as throw some killers in there so let’s start to look at our troops.
Some people will see the lack of synapse so far and start to turn toward Warriors. This isn’t something I’m going to do. I’m actually going to turn first toward one of the most lethal units in the game….Genestealers! We’ll start w/3 units of 15. This will give us the ability to blanket the board during infiltration or to have the numbers needed to take damage and still be able to eat 90% of MEQ units and quite a few of the more elite or horde units in the game as well. Why 15? Because I find 20 slightly to unwieldy as I normally don’t get most of the unit into CC and 15 makes for a good point total. That brings us up another 630pts to a total of 1,560.
Now we want some more speed that also has hitting power. This might be where some people might start eyeing the Trygons. Now I love me some Trygons, especially in pairs, but I think in a list like this they may be a bit of a liability due to their size. Like I said earlier, I don’t count on decent terrain so they’re out. But Raveners look awfully good and are comparative to Trygons like I’ve previously discussed here: http://hulksmash-homeplace.blogspot.com/2011/03/raveners-vs-trygons.html
So let’s add 2 units of 5 Raveners w/Rending Claws. That’s another 350pts of pure speed and beat down. Which will bring us up to 1,910 points leaving us with a few choices to make. If you look at the force org chart we’ve filled FA’s and Elites as well as most of the troop slots. I look at Synapse and see a bit of an issue as well since we want those Hive Guard advancing and allowing us to pick their targets. Well that’s easy enough to take care of since we can just add a Prime w/Dual Bone Swords. That leaves the list looking like this:
HQ:Parasite-160
HQ: Prime-Dual Bone Swords-90
3xElite:3 Hive Guard-150(450)
Troop: 20 Hormagants-120
3xTroop: 15 Genestealers-210(630)
2xFast Attack: 5 Raveners-Rending Claws-175(350)
Fast Attack: 25 Gargoyles-Toxin Sacs & Adrenal Glands-200
Looks pretty solid. I think it’s a good place to start with and grow from there plus I hit my 1k word count limit. I’ll go over deployment and tactics for this style of list in Part 2. Be sure to tell me your thoughts, even if you disagree J
