Hey guys!
My names Connor Chidley (Ratwolf) and I have been welcomed onto this fine
blog as of late, to bring another perspective of wargaming to the internet. I
am an avid player of Warhammer 40,000 (I play atleast once a week), I own 2 “full”
armies, them being Space Wolves and Tyranids. I have played in quite a few
tournaments, albeit only local tournaments, so I understand what is required of
a winning player and a winning list. I started playing at the beginning of 5th
Edition and had mixed results throughout it. But now with the release of
6th Edition, I have decided to kick it up to 11 and start hitting
bigger tournaments, playing bigger opponents and learning to understand and
play the game to the level that is expected of tournament toppers. (And
obviously topping tournaments).
If you have any questions feel free to contact me at king-dedede@live.co.uk.
Today I'm going to be talking about how Tyranids play out in 6th
edition. With the change to fleet, assault and Monstrous Creature
rules, how do Tyranids fare in the current "meta".
Now bear in mind that the "meta" depends entirely
on where you play/plan on playing. So this post will be in regard to Tyranids
vs "optimal" builds, lists that have been built to take any other
kind of list and still have a solid chance of competing with them.
I'll start with Troops:
Genestealers aren't the shock troopers they used to be. In 5th,
these bad boys (things?) could infiltrate and if your opponent was going first
and moved far enough then they could assault turn 1! If not then they could
atleast take some of the heat off your slowly advancing army or break into
enemy lines early in the game and start buggering up your opponents battle
plan. Now this they can still do, the infiltrate rules have only really changed
to prevent you from assaulting turn 1, which is fair on its own. However,
combined with the fact that you can now no longer assault on the turn you
arrive from reserves, Genestealers have undoubtedly lost their title of
"scariest troop". Simply their being in your list could scare a less
prepared opponent. Not to say they don't fulfill a role anymore, it
is just the sad fact that the role they do fulfill isn't a
role required to make a list function. The only thing they are REALLY good for
now, is to spam Broodlords for their psychic capabilities. But even then, they
are unpredictable, therefore don't really have a place in competitive
tournament play.
Warriors haven't changed too much. Give them swords and
go hunting MEQs. Or give them guns and have them run around providing Synapse.
They are only really "required" in a list that needs alot of synapse,
but with the change to the rage rules, the only reason you should really care
about providing synapse is to your shooty Tyranids that need to be
advancing up-field and not "lurking" in terrain.
Now onto Zerglings- er, I mean Hormagaunts.
Rage buffed these guy like crazy. When they fail Synapse, the only
thing that hinders them if the fact that they may not shoot. This hurts
Dakkafexes but to be honest, if your Dakkafex isn't in Synapse range,
then you are either a muppet, or have just lost a vital Synapse creature. So
let’s see:
Fearless - no more fearless wounds, makes our hordes survive
longer. You will love this rule. You will abuse this rule.
Toxin Sacs - to abuse the new poison rules.
Adrenal Glands - Yes, I get it, Furious Charge doesn't give you +1
Initiative anymore, boohoo. These guys are Initiative 5 base. So man up. Scream
"FOR THE SWARM" and just throw random amounts of dice at the table.
(Or you could actually count how many attacks you are causing per turn and
throw THAT amount of dice at the table.)
2 - 3 Units of 30 of these "Hypergaunts" might add up
points-wise and they might get mowed down by mass bolter fire( 5+ Armour, T3 ),
but that's why I'm recommending you bring around 90 of
them. 90 of anything is hard to kill quickly in this game, let alone when they
kill you first.
Now for the pride and joy of the Troops section. Termagants.
These little fellas are the backbone of most *tournament* lists.
Being cheap at 5pts base and by buying a minimum squad of 10 you can unlock a
Tervigon as a Troop, there is a reason most players favour Termagants and have
since 5th Edition.
The real power of the Termagant isn't the fact that they
are throw away, cheap and scoring, its the fact that they allow you to bring a
Tervigon as a Troop, which in turn, scores and can poop out 3D6 Termagants per
turn, who are also scoring, until she rolls a double on the spawning dice.
The Tervigon can be used in a multitude of ways, but one of the
most common ways is to buy their psychic power upgrade Catalyst, which allows
them to give one friendly unit Feel no Pain, then she can cast it on herself or
she can cast it on a horde of Poopgants and have them sit on objectives.
Now as far as Universal Special Rules go, not a lot of other units
in the codex have been massively, negatively affected.
A few units that you should look into are:
Trygons - When out of synapse, they gain Rage, which confers to
them +1 Atk on the charge, stacking up with their already massive 6 attacks and
the +1 they gain from the charge normally, they have 8 Str 6 Ap2 attacks when
not in synapse range.
Mawloc - When they Deep Strike they drop a Str6 Ap2 Large Blast
that displaces whatever it doesn't kill, and it hits Vehicles on
their side armour. NICE. But not massively reliable. Bring three, hope for the
best. In the best of situations you can displace your opponents castled up
force and bring them a little bit further up the board. In the worst
of situations, they all fall off the board and you get laughed at by
EVERYONE for being too cocky.
The Doom of Malan'tai - Drop him in a pod, jump him out the pod up
to 6" away, and just let him passively erode your opponents foot soldiers
away. Mycetic Spores are already pretty accurate when it comes to Deep
Striking, but the fact that you can deploy their contents 6" away just
makes them all the safer to enter play in. Also, Doomy can replace his base
power with a rulebook power. I personally go for Psychic Shriek and make sure
that whatever Troop he was sent to destroy, is totally obliterated. Another
tactic is to roll his single power on the Biomancy table, if he rolls iron Arm,
he gets Eternal Warrior and a minimum of +1S/T, if he rolls Warp Speed,
awesome, the subsequent turns after podding in and sapping up wounds, he can
start charging people with a minimum of I5 and 4 Attacks. (Remember
his instinctive behaviour is Feed~).
Hive Guard - FAQ'd to Ignore most types of cover, and never
require LoS. Same as 5th, just a bit better.
Swarmlord - Can exchange his 4 powers for 4 Biomancy powers. If
you thought the Swarmlord was hard standard. try him high on Biomancy powers.
+d3 Strength/Toughness/Initiative/Attacks anyone?
Flying Hive Tyrants - If you ask me, these guys are the best thing
in the codex. They can close the distance between deployment zones in a turn.
They can drop two powers on Biomancy to make them even more survivable.
Remember to keep 'em cheap. Wings alone are gonna add on a lot of points, so
don't go overboard on their weapon upgrades. Scything Talons and a set of TL Brainleech
Devourers are a common build that works efficiently. Throw in Regeneration if
you have the points.
Ymgarl Genestealers - These guys are pricey Genestealers that CAN
assault out of reserve. So long as the reserve they assault out of is their
unique ability that allows them to simply be placed in a terrain piece. This is
so good for Objective Denial, it’s good for breaking an opponent’s line, or
even HQ hunting. They can also "alter" their stats for more
Strength/Toughness/Attacks.
Biovore - With the rise of the "Buy-A-Wall", these guys
are much more viable, with them firing Ap4 Barrage Large Blasts. Blobs of
Guardsmen, 'Gaunts and Cultists cry at the sight of a 3-Man Unit of these
puppies. Careful with Synapse on them.
I have no doubt that there is other builds and other units to look
out for, but these guys really take the limelight.
Some other bits and bats to remember is that Tyranids CANNOT use
Gun Emplacements, so we have to look into other means of Anti-Air other than
the Aegis Quad Gun. (P.S., try a Carnifex with two sets of Twin Linked
Brainleech Devourers, their low Ballistic Skills counts for naught when
firing at a Flyer).
Monstrous Creatures don't roll 2D6 for Armour Penetration anymore,
but Smash really does make up for it. Smash only makes you half your Attack
Characteristic, not your total Attacks, therefore a Hive Tyrant on the charge
will have 2 Str10 Atks Base, then any he would get off Warp Speed, should he
cast it, and the charge bonus itself.
So on average, most Tyranid MCs should have 3 Str 10 Attacks on
the charge, which VS a Non-Walker, you are Auto-Penning 90% of all Vehicles,
and stripping 3 Hull Points is enough to take most Vehicles out of the game.
And don't forget the subtle Carnifex when considering anti-tank. Being Str 9
Base, give him Adrenal Glands for +1Str on the charge, and he is Smashing
naturally, only without halving his Attacks. (But with him not ACTUALLY
Smashing, you do not get to re-roll your Armour Penetration).
I feel pretty confident that Tyranids, if built correctly, will be
a force to be reckoned with in 6th edition.
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