Wednesday 22 January 2014

Tyranid Review: Final Thoughts and Army Lists





Now its time to bring it altogether. I've reviewed each section of the FOC, giving my thoughts on each unit and rating how useful they would be. As you'd expect, what units I feel are best in each section aren't always going to be the auto-includes in the lists we build. An example is Hive Guard. I felt Hive Guard were our best unit in the Elites slot, but I found myself taking them rarely in the lists I concocted. This is not because they were a terrible unit, but because they didn't synergise well with the lists. Zoanthropes were needed to provide extra Synapse and Venomthropes were needed to protect the rest of the army, which often left no more Elite slots open.

The Tau forces battle Hive Fleet Gorgon

While writing lists I found that Synapse was a consistent problem. With Hive Tyrants and Zoanthropes being the only reasonably costed Synapse Creatures, I found that you really needed to just suck it up and field some of the less cost effective options. As a result, I feel that I may have undersold the other Synapse units. Tervigons and Warriors are particularly useful as they are able to capture objectives. I found that I was taking a Hive Tyrant, Tervigon, 30 Termagants, and at least one Zoanthrope Brood in literally every list, which I have started using as a core to the army before adding other units. Similarly, I feel I undervalued Genestealers, Lictors, Harpies, and Hive Crones as they are not as dependent on synapse as the rest of the army. Hive Crones are invaluable for dealing with Flyers. Outside of Fortifications, we don' t have many other options, so two of them almost always found their way into the lists. However, if you want to use Fortifications then a Firestorm Redoubt placed slightly ahead of your deployment should be quite effective. Putting a brood of Zoanthropes inside will help protect them, while extending the Synapse bubble a few extra inches. The attached guns also don't need to be fired manually, which will allow us to use them even if we go back to our 5th edition FAQ limitations.


Before getting into the lists, I'd like to point out that these were built largely with my meta in mind. There are a wide range of armies played in my group, with various playstyles. There will obviously be more optimal builds against specific opponents and I can't just assume that every opponent is a Taudar player, etc. I've tried to make the lists as balanced as possible, so they should work well as a base which can then be altered to fit. On the other hand, I have not had as much experience with playtesting any of these lists as I would have liked so constructive criticism is more than welcome.

They will also be 1850pts as that is the standard in most places, including my area.

 Here's the first list:

Hive Fleet Leviathan descends on Octarius



HQ


Hive Tyrant                                                                                                     230pts

Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Wings




Troops


Tervigon                                                                                                          195pts



30 Termagants                                                                                                 160pts

20 Fleshborers, 10 Devourers



14 Termagants                                                                                                  56pts



14 Termagants                                                                                                  56pts




Elites


2 Zoanthropes                                                                                                 100pts



2 Zoanthropes                                                                                                 100pts



Venomthrope                                                                                                    45pts




Fast Attack


Hive Crone                                                                                                      155pts



Hive Crone                                                                                                      155pts



Harpy                                                                                                              140pts

Twin-linked Heavy Venom Cannon




Heavy Support


Tyrannofex                                                                                                      205pts

Rupture Cannon



Exocrine                                                                                                          170pts



2 Biovores                                                                                                         80pts





TOTAL                                                                                                        1847pts



This list feels light on Synapse with only four units providing it. These are reasonably resilient units however, and the Fast Attack choices are Leadership 10 so it shouldn’t be too bad. The Tervigon should hang back a bit with the Exocrine and Biovores, providing Synapse to these units and any Gaunts nearby, while the rest of the army pushes up.


If you get first turn, its safe enough to start the Flying Monstrous Creatures on the board, but if you're going second it is best to reserve them as they must start the board Gliding. Positioning them near the Venomthrope on the turn they come in greatly increases their survivability combined with Jink. Two Hive Crones and a Dakka Flyrant provide some good anti-air and are great choices in most lists because of this. Tyranids don't really have any other options for anti-air besides Fortifications, but I don't want to become too reliant on Fortifications until the first FAQ is out. As a result, I'm finding that the two Hive Crones and the Dakka Flyrant are practically always worth including in lists as even two or three good Flyers can become problematic without them.Taking them in that group of three FMCs also provides some target saturation in order to boost survivability. 

4 Zoanthropes and the Tyrannofex provide enough firepower to tackle all but the most AV14 heavy lists, and the FMCs can deal with lighter vehicles effectively. The Biovores, Exocrine, and Harpy provide some Large Blasts to handle infantry, with the Exocrine doubling as a Monstrous Creature counter. Four Troops, with the ability to spawn at least one more unit, provides enough scoring units for most games.

The first thing I would drop to make any alterations would be the Harpy. I like the unit and love the model, but it could be argued that it's out of place in this list as there are no major assault units for it to support with its Sonic Screech. Dropping it and the 8 "extra" Termagants will give you 175pts to play with. That's enough to get a third Hive Crone and Thorax Biomorphs for the Tyrannofex and Tervigon, or to add a medium sized Warrior/Shrike unit for more Synapse/killing power, or to bolster the numbers of the Elites.


Most other lists I have created are variations on this theme such as this one:

The Battle for Iyanden rages through the Craftworld

HQ



Hive Tyrant                                                                                                     230pts

Devourers with Brainleech, Devourers with Brainleech, Wings



Hive Tyrant                                                                                                     230pts

Devourers with Brainleech, Devourers with Brainleech, Wings





Troops



Tervigon                                                                                                          195pts



30 Termagants                                                                                                 160pts

20 Fleshborers, 10 Devourers



10 Termagants                                                                                                   40pts



30 Hormagaunts                                                                                              150pts




Elites



2 Hive Guard                                                                                                   110pts



1 Zoanthrope                                                                                                     50pts



1 Zoanthrope                                                                                                     50pts





Fast Attack



Hive Crone                                                                                                      155pts



Hive Crone                                                                                                      155pts





Heavy Support



Tyrannofex                                                                                                      185pts

Acid Spray, Shreddershard Beetles



Mawloc                                                                                                           140pts







TOTAL                                                                                                        1850pts






This list is more aggressive than the last list. Keeping largely the same base, this list drops the Harpy, Exocrine, Biovores, two Zoanthropes, eighteen Termagants, and a Venomthrope, but gains a second Hive Tyrant, a Mawloc, thirty Hormagaunts, two Hive Guard, and more effective use of the remaining Zoanthropes. The splitting of the Zoanthropes helps as they become separate units that must be destroyed, provides a larger Synapse web, and allows them to have an extra Psychic power than they would have had combined.

The loss of the Venomthrope could hurt, but realistically one Venomthrope is incredibly easy to kill unless there is a lot of Line of Sight blocking terrain for it to hide behind. It decreases the survivability of the FMCs, but they gain some back by upgrading the Harpy to a Hive Tyrant. The Mawloc serves much the same role as the Exocrine. It's less reliable, but has the potential to do more damage, is cheaper, and (unless it dies on a Mishap) tougher. 

There was a loss of S10 shooting, but more S6-8 fire, so you'll have to rely on Smash for any AV14 on the other side of the board. Shouldn't be too much of an issue as even the Tyrannofex should be moving up into melee range.

Between the two, I plan to stick with the top one and playtest it further. It might not be perfect, but I think it should do alright against a variety of armies.

A fitting picture for the end of the review perhaps?

Closing Thoughts

While the new Codex is undoubtedly terrible, I don't think it is as bad as people are making it out to be. The power level seems to be no worse than the last one at its release, and might even be slightly higher; although it definitely feels like a step backwards in places. Small consolation considering the last Codex had its fair share of issues (few of which were fixed), and only became accepted as a decent army once 6th brought us Biomancy. Two bland mediocre books in a row sucks, but this is what we have to work with for the next 4-5 years so we may as well make the most of it. I just hope that the Design Team actually take a moment to consider the issues people have had with the last two Codices and give us a proper update next time. 

While I don't think they will be varied, I'm sure that competitive armies can be made from the book and feel that they will look something like the first list I proposed above. The "core" of the good armies will probably always be the same, with most of the variation in the Heavy Support section. If you want an army that will win you tournaments with a variety of army lists viable, then Tyranids is not for you. The Codex just isn't of the same caliber as Eldar, Tau, or Daemons. Against such lists, the Tyranid player will have to be smart with cover and objectives in order to pull a win.

Of course, non-competitive games are a completely different story. The Tyranids have a great model range, a large selection of units to choose from, and create a great atmosphere and narrative while playing. There are few armies more enjoyable to play against. If these things are important to you, you will have plenty of fun despite the relatively weak Codex.




This is the last post in my Tyranid Tactica/Review series. Writing it has really helped me figure out my thoughts on the new Tyranid Codex to enable me to write what I think will be a good list, and I hope it has been some help to you too. 

On an unrelated note, a large box arrived today. It's got the Earth Caste symbol on it. I wonder what that could be...

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