| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:52 am
Posts: 876
Location: Brest - France
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Following up on Charad's post in the "instinctive vs. disposable" thread (see HERE), here are a few suggestions to try and go back to 1. the original concept of a "horde of teeth and claws" and 2. the original "feel" of the SM/TL nid army, i.e. a CC-oriented army. So as not to clutter the original thread, I'm opening a new one here.
Right now, most brood creatures have FF5+, the only two exceptions being the hormagaunt (FF-) and the ravener (FF6+). Doesn't it strike you as odd? This is as good as IG infantry and better than Ork boyz, ans Tyranids certainly have the numbers to make this FF5+ pay...
Most of these nid units are relatively slow and have no access to transports, and since FF is more efficient than CC (well, it's easier to use, anyway), the nid army is actually an FF army.
Now, it's okay for nids to rely on assaults to win the game, I wouldn't have it any other way, but couldn't they rely more on CC and less on FF to do so?
How about FF- (or 6+ at best) AND Infiltrator for most nids units, as well as enhancing their CC? This way, Tyranids could be an efficient CC army.
OK, with this idea in mind, let's look at the common brood creatures first.
- Termagant: Speed +5cm, Arm-, FF6+, CC6+ with and extra attack, Infiltratror.
- Hormagaunt: Speed +5cm, Arm-, FF-, CC5+ with an extra attack, Infiltrator.
- Ravener: Speed +5cm, Arm5+, FF-, CC4+ with and extra attack (sense a pattern here? ? ), Infiltrator.
- Gargoyle: Speed +5cm, Arm6+ (although Arm- would be better imo), FF6+, CC6+, Infiltrator, AA6+ AND a 15cm "ignore cover" (perhaps FF6+ ignore cover, as well) shooting attack to give them a different role and also give the nid player other options that just rushing towards the enemy.
Now we have a drastically reduced FF capacity but these units also have a much easier time reaching CC, and have the stats to make the enemy suffer.
Combine this with Disposable and spawning and you really have that "horde of teeth and claw" feeling.
Additionnaly :
- Haruspex, Malefactor, Trygon and both Hierodules could gain Infiltrator to allow them to compete with the common brood creatures ;
- FF6+ for Haruspex, Trygon and Scythed Hierodule;
- CC3+ with the extra attack for the Genestealers (and now we have a nice pattern of CC6+ for the Termagants, 5+ for the Hormagaunts, 4+ for the Raveners and 3+ for the Stealers).
Now of course this would be a major change and would require points adjustment as well, but I think it's worth giving some thought to it, if only because it doesn't seem right to see nids favouring FF over CC in assault.
Also, note that it doesn't affect too many units, only the most common and/or less used (bio-tanks, for example).
EDIT: I'm aware that a CC army would have a hard time against a skimmer army, but isn't it logical that nids should have a harder time against these armies? They could still win their assaults thanks to their numbers and to the Disposable rule, for example.
Also, it's nice when an army has weaknesses, players just have to find ways around them.
EDIT: Ooops, and of course Synapse creatures would probably need Infiltrator as well in order to keep up.
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Now I understand that the fluff has changed and that an efficient CC army isn't exactly the easiest thing to achieve, but the Nid list would be unique occasion to explore an area that's been neglected.
