| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:15 am
Posts: 461
Location: UK
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Well, I got a game in with the v9.2.1 Nid list mentioned above, to recap:
Dominatrix- 2xBarbed Heirodules. 2xGargoyles.
Hive Tyrant- 3xCarnifex. 1xGargoyles.
Hive Tyrant (Winged)- 8xGargoyles. 16xTermagants. 2xExocrines. 4xRaveners.
Synapse Node- 1xGargoyles.
Heirophant.
Heirophant.
Lictors- x3
It was against an Ork list with, from memory:
Gargant (BTS)
Big Guns- 10 plus Flak. 2xTitan Killer guns.
Stompa Mob- A stompa, dreads, etc. Plus flak.
6xFighta Bommas.
Kult of Speed- A lot of buggies..plus flak.
Mech Inf Mob- Orks with transports, plus flak.
Something else.
3000pts.
Thoroughly enjoyable game, some stuff in the Nid list I liked, some I didn't.
The game was hard-fought and literally came down to the last actions- ending in a draw.
I did feel that I was the underdog a bit in the game, but my opponent's lack of knowledge of the Nids (being scared of the Bio-titan's guns, for example) compensated.
He made a few crucial errors, chief among them was Doubling the Gargant into close combat range of a Dominatrix and Barbed Heirodule. To his credit the Gargant limped away severely wounded and broken, but alive. It survived the game, survived and abortive Lictor charge and claimed an objective.
I guess I should go through the Nid units and rate their performance.
Dominatrix with Barbed Heirodules. This is a great, tough 'b*****d' to face, and is one of the few places I have any firepower (6xAP3/AT4). There firepower is pitiful compared to other armies, but within the Nid list they compare impressively.
Now that my opponents know their threat in close combat, I doubt anyone will move within 20cm willingly again. My strategy is to move this behemoth forward, to grab for objectives. My opponent must shift them or be denied the objective. I'd prefer to stay out of 30cm, in cover, shooting at anything that comes close because then my Spawning is improved...
Hive Tyrant with 3xCarnifex. This is a tough little nut to crack, I like it. Admittedly I had them secreted in the centre of a woods most of the game, making it hard for the opponent to get shots on them. They spent most of the game Marshalling, to respawn protective Carnifex, whilst moving the short distance from their Garrison position to an objective.
They are too slow to initiate an assault, so much like the Dominatrix I plan to go for objectives, dare the opponent to come reclaim them- if they try, I get to use my models, if they don't, I find it easier to respawn.
In the event, the Ork Stompa mob did try to take them on at one point, with the Gargant supporting. The first round I could only firefight, miraculously it was a draw (the Nidzilla formation is one tough nut to crack with me losing nothing that round), so I moved into combat in a second combat round. A brutal combat formation if allowed into base to base- I won the combat. This put a BM on the Gargant which helped the subsequent assault by the Dominatrix (described above).
Winged Hive Tyrant, 16xTermagants, 8xGargoyles, 4xRaveners, 2xExocrines. I'll be honest, this is where I 'dumped' the Common broods, the 'chaff'. It's one impressively sized formation.
I played it on a far flank, cautiously creeping from cover to cover. It's crowning achievement was providing Supporting Fire for a Heirophant charge which broke the Kult of Speed. Everything having a Firefight 5+ certainly sped up dice rolling.
I guess this formation was where I was supposed to put Tyranid Warriors, but since I'd need other LV and AV to protect the Warriors, I might as well go for a 5+ RA Tyrant instead.
I guess it's not a truly fair test of Tyranid Warriors as Light Vehicles if I didn't take any, but I just don't see a use for them that isn't performed better and cheaper by a Tyrant.
I didn't expect much from this formation, and it didn't dissappoint.
Whilst on the subject, if I have 3 AT shots, can I spread them onto the Raveners counting them as vehicles, before having to hit the Tyrant?
Synapse Node- As Blitz guard's go, this was yet again another tough unit to crack. With copious armour saves and respawnings I held of a whole Ork Mek Mob (literally surrounding the Node) for 2 turns, finally succumbing turn 4. It did it's job well, it denied the Blitz to the opponent turn 3 (hence preventing me being defeated turn 3).
Heirophants- I think these are the most balanced unit in the Nid list, there I said it. 5+ RA helps mitigate just how tough and agile they are, and a huge advantage in a Nid army- they pack some firepower. I used them initially (turn 1) to scurry forward and put BM on stuff. Then later to do the actual charging with support from the other Nid formations. Both of them eventually collapsed to enemy attrition, but I think they provided a vital role.
Lictors- Boy, let me count the ways these guys now suck, heh. I dropped to one unit from two, now I'm dropping them completely.
Non-scoring- was needed and works.
Light Vehicle- meh, they're dead either way.
Losing MW- ouch, they're good for one suicide charge, now they can't even do that.
Gaining Sniper- a double-edged sword, now I can only ever kill 3 not 6 enemies.
My opponent's comments:
He didn't like the 3 sets of saves (Save, Reinforced, Inv)- though admittedly I did milk it for laughs "Oh, I'll take an armour save, I'll re-roll it...oh, and go on then, I'll roll another save".
He still can't grasp why the Spawning rule encourages Nids to stay away from the opponent, and encourages the opponent to chase the Nids- an oddity we both agree on.
With dropping the Lictors, I would still like to have a formation that can 'deploy' in the enemy backfield. Lacking aircraft and decent artillery, whilst having no transports means Nids are very predictable in where and how far they can go. So I will look at the Trygon tunnellers.
Somebody's comments- don't remember who brought them up me or him, but I agree with them:
The Synapse BTS was tricky for to grasp. The tournament mission is the tournament mission, it may not make sense for some armies, but it's the same for all- when you turn up to a tournament, a random game, or a one-off you both know what your trying to achieve. When new army lists make-up a 'special' mission for the opponent it kind of throughs them off.
In the event, my BTS was the Dominatrix basically (I had 14 Synapse points), kill it and you get BTS. The only added extra is you can gain the BTS by killing other formations as well- needless to say he got the BTS in the end. It's way easier than trying to kill somebodies Warlord skulking about, after all I can't preserve and protect all my formations all the time.
The Victory Points arithmetic table was pretty daunting- we just took the game as a draw on objectives. I'd dread working out Nid VP's in a tournament- seems to require special handshakes and standing on one leg.
Most of my comments are scathing and negative, and that's simply because I'm finding the things I'd have changed. As is human nature, the things that worked are enjoyed at the time and never mentioned.
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