Can you spell out what you want to hear about?  More specifically, what is your operating hypothesis: how should the LV/Mobility combination work?

I just want to see how it works in play... so far, in my playtesting, it hasn't been the "death of Warriors" as some might proclaim and I want to see what other players' actual play experience is like.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

I will try to use them against Marines tomorrow. I think they will manage.

/Fredmans

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Follow my Epic painting projects: Tyranids vs Steel Legion and Inquisition vs Lost and the Damned @
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14636

Playtest report and pictures please!  

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Is this because you're compensating by stacking the warrior swarms with light and armored 'vehicles,' or is your experience that this holds even with the warrior-gaunt swarms.

In short, what are the parameters?

You want play tests?  Are you mad?

We are theorists, not practitioners.    

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Tyranid air marshal

I've always tended to play "mixed" swarms, the old "Nexus Group" was my favourite Synapse Group of the lot...

So, I want other people to play their 'favourite' armies or put things together and see how things work.

*Of course* a swarm of three Tyranid Warriors and forty Gaunts is going to get sniped at!  But see if you can make things playable outside of that extreme.

The "parameters" are, "See if you can make playable armies (not necessarily "Gaunt Swarms") with the current list that can compete against the 'official' lists, and *feel* Tyranid-like."

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

See, I really do think the warriors + gaunts formation should be viable, which it just isn't any more. Did anyone really think warriors were overpowered as infantry? They could still be sniped with sniper and careful positioning (or by abusing the weapon arcs of flyers  ).

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

For my part I can understand and appreciate the appeal of '40k Armies' in Nid formations, i.e. a mix of Gaunts, Warriors, Zoes, Raveners, perhaps a Carnie, etc.

But Epic isn't 40k.

How much variety is enforced in:

A SM Assault, Dev, Tactical formation, etc.
A IG Storm Trooper platoon, a Tank Company, an Artillery Battery, etc.

Random Baby Hive Tyrant

Okay, here's a question I've never seen asked: *Why* should a Warrior and Gaunts formation be viable?  

Isn't it the epitome of the "shoot the big ones" weakness that was initially exploited when fighting Tyranids in any of the fluff?  This is a Phase IV, Hivefleet Kraken army list, so the Tyranids have evolved defenses against that... "bodyguard" bugs and mixed swarms... which is what v9.2 encourages; at least, that's my view.

In an earlier Phase/Hivefleet army list, I can see there being "Brood Swarms", which are mainly Gaunts *without* Synapse creatures necessarily directly leading them being thrown in waves against the enemy, with localized Synapse support... heck, gives me an idea for yet another Tyranid variant list!

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Because it's aesthetically pleasing for starters.

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

New batrep HERE and copy-paste of my comments.

AFTER ACTION REPORT

Well, I took a fait beating but this game allowed me to evalutate the impact of the 9.2 changes. I think I lost mainly due to a combination of bad army list (I wanted to try out my new bio-tanks, which sucked up a lot of points and made me short on activations) and facing the AMTL (never good for the nids). If I had to repplay this game, I'd ditch one Assault Group in favor of more Independant Swarms (Lictors, Stealers or Harridan).

The Light Vehicle for TW is a far reaching change, it really impacts the list. Mixed swarms are now compulsory and the TW are much more vulnerable. Raveners become a must-have in any swarm containing TW.

All of this, I think, is a good thing. Making an army list is now a real challenge, as you have to find a balance between all the different unit types. I feel that each Synapse choice is now balanced with the other, as they all come with flaws and advantages.

As for the Common Broods, I withdraw my comment about 4 Gaunts for 75 pts being too cheap. Even with the boost to Hormagaunts, it's OK, mainly because they're no longer targets of choice. 2xCC5+ with FS feels great for the Hormagaunts, by the way. It's powerful but now that the TW have become more vulnerable I think the 'nids should be all the more nasty if they manage to reach CC.
Also, the thing I like the most is that all 4 common brood types now have a distinct role: Gargoyles provide AA shots, Termagants decent FF, Hormies are violent in CC and Raveners are finally useful as bodyguards for the TW.

All special rules changes are great. Swarm reorg at the end of the turn, Expendable Gaunts, Mobility, Tunnelers: it's all good IMO.

So yeah, I lost but I have really good feeling about this list and I can't wait to try out new things with it.

Had a game over the weekend, a report will be forth coming. I forgot my memory card today.

Some thoughts from the game though.

LV Warriors and pricey Hormagaunts and Termagants led to very small swarms (3 of each, 2 Malefactors/Haruspex and 3 Warriors).

We encountered the LV cover save issue early in turn 1. FYI they should get the -1 for being in cover, but not the cover save nor the -1 for being next to an AV.

Also, when my swarms found themselves in the open it was actually detrimental to the swarm to keep the gaunts in base to base with the AVs to count as being "in cover". The reason being that the Warriors were then much easier to get at as they weren't in cover and could still be hit with AP.

All told 11 Synapse creatures bit it (8 Warriors and 3 Zoanthropes), 1 shy of BTS. We had to end it due to time on turn 3 but we said the Tyranids won as I had TSNP and a T&H that was so close I would have rolled for it. Had it gone for 4 turns the Guard definitely would have had BTS without any trouble.

The 1/2 casualties for Gaunts is still not needed in my opinion. I'm also not finding it very fun. I'm going to run out of people to play test against due to this little note.

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Dave

Blog

NetEA Tournament Pack Website

Squats 2019-10-17

You didn't note the official change to 4 Gaunts per Clutch  for the same costs as currently listed?

More comments once your report is up.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

I didn't, no.

By pricey though I meant with regards to 9.1. I didn't think they needed the bump with their 9.2 stats.

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Dave

Blog

NetEA Tournament Pack Website

Squats 2019-10-17