Tau - Where to get those markerlights

So, today's topic - where do I get my markerlights in an army?

Wait, why do I want markerlights?
Trust me, you do.  There are a few reasons you want them - some are unit/gear specific
1) Bonus to BS
2) remove cover saves
3) seeker missiles
4) Stormsurge destroyer missiles (because Strength D is silly at range)

Ok, ok, I'm sold!
Good,  because you should be.  Note that you're a shooty army that loves BS3 - as such, you really don't like missing or watching the other guy just duck you shots.

Seeker missiles are kind of TBD - most of your vehicles (and your Broadsides, if any) can take them, but you don't necessarily want to take a bunch of these.

Finally, note that your Stormsurge(s) pack four Destroyer missiles - they're S8 AP1 rounds that can upgrade to Strength D with Single Use.  And honestly, why wouldn't you pay the upgrade them to 'D' when you have a 60 inch range?  Figure on firing these at BS5 with a 'D' upgrade, which is 2 lights plus one per D missile.

So, where do I get them?
You have multiple sources of Markerlights - but they aren't all created equally.  You can get Markerlights off of a variety of sources -

1) Markerlight Drones (NOTE - they're BS2) as wargear for various leader types and/or suits
2) Leader types (IE - Fire Warrior vet sarge types, Ethereals)
3) Pathfinders
4) Drone Squads
5) Skyray missile boats

So, let's narrow this down a little, and talk about a crucial piece of gear - the Drone Controller.

Why Do I Care About the Drone Controller?
Very simple - the Drone Controller lets any drone hanging out with the owner use the owner's BS.  Considering that drones are otherwise BS2, this is huge.  A BS2 markerlight is sad; a BS3+ markerlight is worth considering.

So, what are my practical sources of Markerlights?
Pathfinders
They're the classic markerlight source.  Each guy in the squad has one.  You have the basic Fire Warrior light infantry statline, with a bonus of Scout
Pros
They fit neatly into a hunter cadre, and with a Scout move you can react to the other guy's deployment a little.  You can also get other weapons in there.
Cons
They're static, and it's not THAT hard to shoot them off the board or force a morale check.  Also, anyone who's been playing for a minute knows what they can do.  And while you COULD get other weapons in there (like an S7 gun, for example) those guns don't benefit from the markerlight.
Overall
If you're going to take them, take them as pure squads of markerlights, but be aware that they've got slightly better than a 50/50 shot to fail a morale check.  And if they do, they run out of position (if not off the board) and are potentially useless for a turn or two, which is a Bad Thing.

Skyray
These guys pack a pair of Networked markerlights.  The 'networked' bit basically means that the Skyray can paint its own targets - which is important because it's toting a half-dozen Seeker Missiles.
Pros
You've got two BS4 marker lights - and they're on a well-armored platform.  The other guy has to devote anti-tank assets to deprive you of markerlights, and in a pinch you could always jink - which means the other guy can just keep you jinking.  You don't die, but again, BS1 markerlights are...um...useless.
Cons
They're difficult to get into anything other than a CAD - you've got to take either a Hunter Cadre or go Farsight Enclaves (Hunter Cadre OR Retaliation Cadre) and then grab a formation that involves them.  That aside, you're paying a chunk for durabilty.  Also, you're still not getting that many markerlights.  Also, you have to keep track of how many missiles the thing fired, which is annoying to me at least.

Drone Squad
So, here's where it gets interesting.  And I really need to test these guys.
Pros
If you're going with a Hunter Cadre, you can take a unit of drones and satisfy your 1+ auxiliary choice.  That being said, there are two other perks these guys have going for them - the drone controller, and jet pack infantry.  You can get up to BS3 (if you're hanging with a Crisis Suit) or better (if you're hanging with a commander).
Cons
You're still stuck with the same durability as a Pathfinder, though probably not in cover.  That being said, you've got a slightly better chance of hiding out of LOS because you can jump-markerlight-jump.  Also, you are relying on a Crisis suit (or commander) to boost your BS.  You could theoretically glom on to a Cadre Fireblade or something else, but your biggest defense is not being in LOS - which is a bit of a challenge with those commander types who AREN'T in a suit.  Also, if you have one Commander means you might want to reconsider who ends up being the Warlord, since that Commander is going to be lending its BS to the drones.  But hey, BS4 markerlights?

Other Sources?
Look, you can grab a markerlight here and there if you're taking Fire Warriors and other units - but understand that without dedicated units, you're deciding to hand off fire one after the other.  If you have a small Fire Warrior team with a

Conclusion
If you didn't know already, you should bring markerlights because you're a shooty army.  That being said, you ESPECIALLY need them if you're going to get the most out of a Stormsurge's D missiles.

I'd recommend giving a Drone Commander a shot - Pathfinders can fit into an army, but need to be in position early on and are going to be a fire magnet.  There's nothing wrong with carrying multiple sources of Markerlights, but you can easily fill out a Hunter Cadre with a Commander with Drone Controller and a Drone unit.

Tau - Hunter Cadre Thoughts

So after several games, I have come to like the Hunter Cadre out of the Tau book - though it's got its perks and drawbacks.  Now, I'm gonna sit down and run through its requirements point-by-point, and explain my logic behind army composition.

Why Take a Hunter Cadre?
First off, re-rolls on Warlord Traits can be nice.

Second, you get Coordinated Fire - if 3+ units pick the same target, they get +1BS, share markerlight perks, and resolve fire simultaneously.  The bonus to BS helps with markerlight economy - especially since those are priority targets.

Filling out your Cadre
Step 1 - leadership
First, take a commander.  You have to.  Unless you're going to take multiple commanders, I have to recommend skipping the Coldstar Commander - he's not terrible, but he's likely to end up dead (and giving up the VP) moreso than an XV8 commander and you're probably not hurting for anti-air in Tau.

Step 2 - troops
Next up - troops.  You need three.  Your options are regular Fire Warriors, Breachers, and Kroot.  Personally, I'm a fan of Kroot - they're cheap, they infiltrate (so you can grab objectives) and have the magical ability to die in one assault phase.  They're also good in cover.  And if you want to burn the points, they can all grab sniper rounds for those fancy kroot guns.  Also, they die horribly in assault.

Fire Warriors - they've got range and you can snag a single markerlight in there on the leader.  They otherwise excel in bringing the S5 shooting.  You're either taking a sizeable group to camp in your DZ with markerlights and pulse rifles, or mounting up in a Devilfish - which can serve as mobile cover for your other assets.

Breachers - so, they're total murder at short range.  They'll much through any infantry short of terminators, but you're basically trying to use them either as a pseudo counter-assault, or mounted in a 'fish.

My personal favorite is kroot - they're cheap, they're assault screens, they can infiltrate and let you react.  Also, if you need some inconsequential shooting for the Coordinated Fire perk, well, it's a buncha BS3 guys with S4 shooting.  They're either helping out some anti-personnel fire, or they're contributing to some anti-tank work.

Step 3 - suits
Here's where you get to grab some battlesuits.  This is where it gets a little tricky - do you know what other formations you're going to take?  You're going to take some Crisis Suits, Stealth Suits, or Riptides at this point.  Think about what you're going to take as Auxiliary choices before you grab suits here.

I lean towards Crisis Suits here unless I'm deep-striking, though this is a place to grab Riptides as well.  Your Crisis Suits really, really want cover - either terrain or something like Devilfish.  Riptide suits don't care about cover, and can provide anti-air support OR interceptors support, because guns.

If you're thinking about grabbing a deep-striking formation/squad, then Stealth Suits are worth considering because of their Homing Beacons.  Take a couple - if the other guy figures out what you're tring to do, he's gonna try to delete your homing beacons, and that's sad.

Ghostkeel suits aren't as killy as your other options, but have a bit of survivability on them.  But they're also readily available as formation fillers.

Step 4 - Fast Attack types
Now we're onto some of the fun.  Here's where you start grabbing the good stuff - markerlights.  You'll now need to grab 1-3 fast attack types.

Vespids - not saying they're bad, but this is where you get Pathfinders and Piranhas - one has markerlights, one has speed and AV.  Also drones, but you can grab one set of drones as cheap auxiliary units if need be.

Pathfinders - here's your markerlights / distraction unit.  You could, if you wanted to, kit them out as shooting units with fancy-schmancy Ion Rifles - but why?  You want markerlights, because cover isn't your friend at all.

Drone Squads - here's your other source of markerlights.  HOWEVER - note that you'll want something like a Commander with a Drone Controller to really make use of these.  Drones aren't known for accuracy (BS2 is...sad?  Yes, sad.)  If you want Markerlights, you're using your BS4 Commander (and his Drone Controller) to get 'lights this way.

Piranhas - remember how I was talking about screening units?  Here's your other choice.  I'd slap a disruption pod on them and forget about the rest of the wargear.  If they split off their drones, then you now have two units to contribute to Coordinate Fire.  Also, you now have two screening units after you kick the drones out, and if you jink (with your 3+ from disruption pods) then you're extra annoying to kill.  Granted, you can only snap fire next turn, but if you're just trying to abuse Coordinated Fire then who cares if you're accurate?  You just need to fire.

Step 5 - Big Guns
Now you're gonna get 1-3 Heavy Support (or Lord of War) type choices.  You can go as cheap as a Broadside here, or you can go as high as a Stormsurge unit here; it's your choice based on what you're going to do with the rest of your slots.

Broadsides - grab some anti-air here, or grab some accurate long-ranged shooting if you'd like.  If you're into the minimal spending here, grab one and call it.

Hammerheads - they're still survivable, they're still nasty, they're still S10 AP1 railguns with backup pie plates.  It's hard to argue with that kind of versatility, especially with a jink.

Sniper Drones - technically they're cheaper than Broadsides, but you can get some sick anti-air out of those guys.

Stormsurge(s) - hey, you can grab a Lord of War as part of your base detachment.  Is it cheap?  No. (Especially after you grab the obligatory shield generator, and markerlight support to make those Destroyer missiles worth it).

Now You Have Your Hunter Cadre - Grab an Auxiliary!
So, your hunter cadre has run you a good chunk of points already (as it should).  You have to take at least one Auxiliary Choice.  And here's where some of your thinking is gonna have to happen, because your aux choice gets a vote on your core choice.

Drone Squad
This is your cheap choice.  Take a drone squad! BAM.  Done with your aux choices.  If you want a backup source of markerlights, grab a marker drone squad and you can grab a commander with a Drone Controller and have backup markerlights.

Optimised Stealth Cadre
Perks - you get rear-arc shots on vehicles with your massed S5 guns - which is funny.  You're also taking some sources of positional relays, so you can deep strike stuff if you want to.  You'll be taking a couple units of Stealth Suits, thus freeing up your other slots for Riptides and XV8s.

Drawbacks - your stealth suits and ghostkeels aren't super-tough.  If your enemies aren't taking AV10 rear vehicles, then your biggest trick is useless.

Retaliation Cadre
Perks - that's a LOT of suits falling on top of the other guy, and they're going to be accurate that first turn.

Cons - you really, REALLY need a positional relay to make this work.  If you're willing to grab a couple units of stealth suits and can keep them alive, this is going to be fun.  If not, that's a lot of deep striking units that aren't necessarily going to be accurate.

Allied Advance Cadre
Perks - your Vespid infiltrate, and your formation gets to use Tau-style self-supporting Overwatch.

Cons - you took a heap of infantry that could've been battlesuits and/or hovertanks.  I'm not saying it's necessarily bad, but I'm saying that it competes with points that could've been spent on something other than speed bumps.  You're already taking three troops choices, and none of your infantry are good at swatting tanks.

Firebase Support Cadre
Perks - hey, get you some Tank Hunter / Monstrous Critter Hunter love on your broadsideds and Riptides!  Buy something else in those compulsory slots in your Hunter Cadre.

Cons - really, the only con of this is that you're focusing several heavy units on a target - and that doesn't quite seem to synergize with the Hunter Cadre's Coordinating Fire rule.  Still, you economize on marker lights, which is good.

Allied Air Caste Cadre
Perks - self-repair and extra armor on flyers.

Cons - your flyers aren't that killy.  Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily great for the points - you're gonna need more bullets elsewhere.  Also, as Tau, you don't need a ton of anti-air, because Broadsides and Riptides can make mulch out of flyers.

Assigned Air Caste Asset
Take a flyer.  Just take one.  Not as cheap as drones, but hey, it's your auxiliary choice, so there's that.

Infiltration Cadre
Perks - grab some pathfinders, piranhas, and stealth suits.  You don't have to take those in your normal Cadre, and they can provide precision deep strike places (Stealth Suits) and free seeker missiles that you didn't pay for.

Cons - none of these guys have a ton of firepower.  Not bad per se, but these are all units you can take in your normal Cadre and you're probably taking more of them here.  It's the opportunity cost that's likely to get you, unless you fill out your core detachment with a lotta firepower.

Heavy Retribution Cadre
Perks - wait, re-rolls on Stormsurge to-hit rolls?  Yes please.  Keep that Ghostkeel unit alive and they'll call down accurate fire from the big guys, and also slow down whatever you're targeting.

Cons - honestly, there are only a few real cons that come to mind here - 1) Stormsurges aren't cheap (in dollar or points), 2) that Ghostkeel unit is going to take a heap of fire, and 3) Stormsurges have their own capability gaps.  Seriously, this formation STARTS at like 800+ points.

Not a con, per se - but I'd wager that more than any other, this is a formation that absolutely dictates how you build your army - you want markerlight support and screening units as a start.

Armored Interdiction Cadre
Pros - hey, this is pretty much how you get Skyrays into your army here!  And those guys are hard to get in otherwise.  Also, if the enemy congregates around a spot, you get more accurate, and you can move that spot from turn to turn.  Skyrays are nice because it's another source of marker lights - and they don't die to anti-infantry fire.

Cons - Honestly, the con of this perk is the points spent on units. Then again, you could do worse than take some Hammerheads in an army - bring the right support and this will probably be fine.  The other con is that you're building around this.

Conclusion
Honestly, you're gonna have to think about your auxiliary choice with your Cadre, and your points values.  Ask yourself the following when you're building your cadre -
1) Do I want to keep it cheap? IF yes, THEN buy a drone squad.
2) Do I want to deep-strike stuff? IF yes, THEN consider a Retaliation Cadre - provided you have the points and a willingness to bring some Stealth Suits to vector them in.
3) Do I want to bounce S5 off someone's rear armor?  IF yes, THEN grab an Optimized Stealth Cadre.  Also grab some fusion blasters for that, because it's fun.
4) Do I want to grab some Broadsides and a Riptide?  IF yes, THEN consider a Firebase Support Cadre.
5) Do I really, really want to bring some Stormsurges? IF yes, THEN consider a Heavy Retribution Cadre.  And hope you're playing like 1800+ points.

On Harpies

At last, I have finished my Harpy conversions. And, of course, I feel the need to share them and to wax poetic about the care, feeding, and employment of harpies. The first picture puts them alongside some devourer-packing Termagants for a sense of scale.

They are PRETTY. YES. THEY ARE. Side view. Coat hanger bracing FTW.

Another side view.

This is probably not what you want to see.

Construction

A cookie if you spotted the ingredients already. It's not an exhaustive list.

1) Old-school Hive Tyrant

2) Dragon Wings from WH Fantasy

3) Pair o' Venom Cannons from Warriors

4) pair o' scything talons from the trygon/mawloc kit.

The limbs were generally chosen for sake of scale. The general scale of the thing was built with transportability in mind. The wings are pinned on, as I simply could not make magnets work that well. They're secured to the base at two points; there's the coat hanger and there's an additional point on the tail, be it the base or the jutting building wreckage.

Tactics

Mobility

First off, the Harpy is fast, as it's basically monstrous jump infantry. It can get a good 12" move each turn and then fire off both of its weapon systems. However, synapse means that you will probably NOT use it to rush across the field, and frankly there's no need to close with the enemy that much. 18" is just fine for infantry-hunting, and 36" is fine for shooting at larger targets. Use the speed not to advance, but to set up shots.

Shooting

Honestly, you brought this thing because it's got guns. It starts with a twin-linked stranglethorn cannon, but I highly recommended paying 10 points to go to the twin heavy venom cannon. Why?

Simple: suppressive fire against vehicles. With twin-linked, the gun's got a base 50/50 shot of landing where you put it, just from rolling a hit with the scatter dice. More refined odds involve 2d6-3/ (size of the vehicle) and are a bit too tedious to put here. S9 has a good chance of glancing, and even with a -1 to damage from a penetrating hit it's likely to at least keep a vehicle from shooting, and will do damage 50% of the time on a good pen. Mostly, though, it's to shut those frakking tanks up for a bit. Use the mobility to line up flank shots if necessary, and you can always try to ping multi-wound T4 guys in a pinch.

In closer, you should've equipped Cluster Spines. Large blast, S5, AP-. Quantity over quality of hits, but it wounds most infantry pretty readily.

In really really close, you get the once-a-game Harpy Crap-over. You just have to move over an enemy model, and then you can barrage d3 S4 AP4 Large Blasts on top of them. Hilarity can ensue.

A word of warning: bad rolls on danger-close shots CAN hit you. As you are T5 with a 4+, it's reasonable to assume you can wounder yourself, and I kinda helped a harpy kill itself with its own large blasts.

Assault

Well, as a monstrous creature you ARE ignoring armor, and rolling 5+2d6 against vehicles. You get two base S5 hits, so pick your fights carefully: go for depleted units or go in with friends. You won't do much more than polish off a couple non-melee guys by yourself. Still, you do have Sonic Screech, which translates to assault grenades and making the enemy go at 1/2 initiative (rounded down), so if you can get buddies in there it's a good time to go to town.

Even so, I probably wouldn't try to fist-fight a dreadnought unless it's wounded or minus the Dreadnought CCW, since you'll get maybe one good penetrating hit on it in melee.

Durability

This is where some folks start quibbling about the 170pt price tag: you have four wounds at T5 with a 4+ save. At danger close, you can harm yourself with your own spore mine offal. Autocannons can ding you up, and a rail gun will break you in half.

I've got four answers for that:

1) in a pinch, hide behind another MC or grab cover if you can find it (or, say, a venomthrope).

2) ...so there's ONE ARMY that can insta-gib you at range. One. Crap happens. Are you seriously going to make your decisions based on ONE graphic mis-match? That's being a wee bit disingenuous.

3) Make sure harpies aren't the only monstrous creatures in your army, because, um, well, they won't like the attention.

4) when you get down to it, stuff like missile launchers and lascannons will wound you on a 2+ and take away your armor save ANYWAY, so how's the T5 and 4+ change that? Other than autocannons and rail guns, you're more or less identical to other MCs in terms of heavy weapons (...excepting heavy bolters, I'll grant, but they're not too common other than dakka-preds).

Overall

Harpies are mobile suppressive fire that get nastier up close. They're snipers with a point-defense system and some assault power. Use them to suppress/harass armor at range and from the flanks (since it's one of TWO guns that fire more than 24" and can harm vehicles in the 'nid book). If infantry closes, unload spore mines and cluster spines on them, and watch the wounds pile on. Take them as part of a shooty army (IE: consider Tyrannofexes, and/or hive guard/Venomthropes) to augment your long-range vehicle-harassing capabilities.

They're not all bad, but they're not auto-includes in all 'nid armies.

Tyranids in Drop Pods: More Thinking Involved

I blame this in part on Chumbalaya for making me think more, and blame work for not getting to it sooner.

In part, I'd like to get out of my comfort zone; I usually play with som hive guard, tervigons, and usually tyrannofexes past that. Is it solid? Reasonably so. However, it IS potentially a rut, and I don't think I'm using all the 'nid codex can give me, and frankly, I picked it up over Tau and Eldar because I wanted variety in my builds.

With that in mind, I'm going to run down stuff I think might or might not fit into a 'nid drop-pod/reserves list.

A Crucial Difference

Now, the other well-known arrives-in-pods lists is, of course, the Space Marines. One of the things that Marines can do that I like is bring units suited for engaging multiple targets, AND make sure they get what they want when they want it (well, other than the BT codex; the others get Drop Pod Assault) and can usually bring units capable of engaging a variety of targets (IE: MM/HF dreads, MM/flamer tac squads, combi-toting Sternguard, etc.).

Tyranids? We tend not to have as much duality, so I've got to get away from my preconceptions of what a drop-pod list 'can' do, and think about a Mycetic Spore list.

So, on to the choices, run down by Force Org slots.

HQs

Tyrants

Hive Tyrants get Hive Commander, our reserves manipulation. You get two things for the 25 points: first, +1 to reserves (optional unless it's the Swarmlord) and you get to designate one unit to outflank.

Tyrants can take wings for speed/mobility, or take a couple guard for durability and give you a 'starts on table' core. I'd think about either whip/sword + heavy venom, or look into devourerers. The Guard can probably run naked.

Tyranid Primes

Primes really only give you two things in a spore list: more points to play with, and the ability to slap synapse into any unit. The former means you're not getting the Hive Commander perk, and the latter gives you the ability to slap it in with 19 hormagaunts for comedic value.

HQs Overall

I have to lean towards Tyrants here. I think you need to try Spores at a larger points level to get enough, and because you want a Tyrant or two to make sure you can get them there.

Elites

Again, this is where we're getting the guns. For that reason, I'm not gonna touch the other reserves.

Zoanthropes vs Hive Guard

This is your big question, honestly. I think if you're gonna focus on pods, you should give serious thought to Zoanthropes. Zoeys are your 'kills the tank' option. If you're reserving Hive Guard, there's the issue of getting them into range, or starting with enough on the table to mak sure they don't get splattered on turn one.

Deathleaper?

Ok, you're taking Deathleaper for one reason: you want your Zoanthropes to get Warp Lance off. That's why you brought them. Deathleaper can give you better odds; even a Ld9 hood is a decent step up in chances to win the dice-off. If you manage an average d6 roll and knock them to Ld8 for the hood, then so much the better: it's pretty much sunk.

That aside, Deathleaper is ALSO just plain fun to field. You're NOT bringing him for the whole +1 to reserves, since he has to be on the field to use it.

Troops

Well, we need 'em. I think you can get serious mileage out of Tervigons/Termagants, though Warriors are also a nasty thing to put in a pod.

Tervigon/Termagant

But a Tervigon doesn't fit in a pod! Ok, wait. Go read Hive Commander. I'm not always a fan of outflanking, but a Tervigon has the potential to open up a whole new front in a fight when they walk on. First there's one, then there's 10 termagants, then 20...and you suddenly have to worry about that.

Termagants, well, you can slap them in pods, or just run them normally. You can at least buy pods for them and have the option, and I might think (I'm not sure how long) about throwing Devourers onto them for range, and for the ability to lay down a reasonably withering torrent of fire should I decide to land them and shoot things. I mean, a minimal 10-man squad IS throwing out 30 dice.

Warriors

Frankly, you're running these as a Deathstar distraction. 5-6 of them, whips/swords, devourers and a venom cannon. Ok shooting, but NO ONE wants that hitting the lines next turn. No one. You're looking at close to 300 points for that assembly, but it DOES have to be taken seriously. However, IG with russes might just LOL at this and feed it pie, but that's part of the game. Then you can cry a little.

Hormagaunts

Now, you CAN slap 20 of these in a pod, or 19 plus Prime. Frankly, I think this falls under a similar use as Warriors, though cheaper. Do worry about flamers, but on the other hand, Hormies CAN pretty much auto-pilot. The downside? If you're outside of synapse, they might just throw a tank at the hormies and laugh; if they move it well enough it might take a couple of glances but they can buy time.

Fast Attack

Frankly, there are two choices here for deep-striking: Raveners and Shrikes. I don't think Harpies have a place in a deep-striking list; while they can, you want them on the field shooting, and they benefit from having other targets to draw fire. I mean, they ARE only T5 with 4 wounds and a 4+ save. Target saturation is a survival mechanism for them.

Raveners

These are your cheap deep-strikers. 35 points a head for beasts with rending claws and speed 'On you next turn!' I like them because with rending claws and a solid volume of attacks, they're a legitimate threat to vehicles AND troops (...though should probably avoid Dreadnoughts, especially AV13 front-armor ones...)

The only downside is that compared to the rest of your army, they're less adept at deep-striking since they have no defense against a mishap.

Shrikes

Go read the warrior entry; remove the pod, add wings and reduce save to a 5+. Take the speed of 'on you next turn.' If you thought Warriors would draw fire, these things will SERIOUSLY do it. However, they're also 50 points a head for whip/sword + scything talons, and they do give up their ability to shoot in order to beomce adept at melee. Limits them somewhat, but seriously, they're gonna be assaulting something and praying they don't hit a dreadnought.

Given the cost, though, I'd almost lean towards regular warriors because I can put them in a drop pod and make SURE they land alive, instead of scattering a 250+ point unit off the table. Whoops.

Heavy Support

I'm inclined to look at three choices for heavy support in context of a drop pod list: Tyrannofexes, Carnifexes, and Trygons.

Tyrannofex?

Ok, it doesn't fly/fall with style. Why is it in here? Simple. It has the range to come on from reserves and contribute from the get-go. It's tough enough to survive all but the heaviest of firepower (or at least the highest of AP...) for a few turns. And, as long as you have the enemy on the back foot, they probably won't tie it up in melee. Failing that, it still has nasty close-in firepower with the flamer and cluster spines, and the durability to deal with melee for a turn or two unless they brought a heap of poison boneswords or powerfists.

...Carnifexes?!

Blame it on Chumbalaya, but I think he's got a point here. Twin-linked devouerers won't KILL vehicles, but it WILL allow a Carnifex to throw out some suppressing fire. I admit I haven't tested this theory out, but I can see some potential.

You're taking the Carnie for suppressive fire. A dozen S6 shots at BS3 twin-linked should quite down/stop most lighter vehicles, and if you can nail it with S9+2d6 melee attacks after that, you've probably solved a tank problem.

You ARE losing your re-rolls in melee and paying 190 points + pod for the thing, but it's one of the few versatile(ish) choices we can drop in. In a pinch, it's got a reasonable(ish) chance at passing Instinctive Behavior, and the enemy is pretty much sacrificing anything used as bait against it, or they're killing it.

Trygons

Pretty simple: survive a first turn of fire, then assault things with a heap of S6 MC attacks with re-rolls to hit. I'd think about finding points for Adrenal Glands, if only because S6+2d6 has given me issues against heavier armor often enough. It's also an edge if you attack other monstrous creatures (wounding on 3+ against T6? Yes please?).

Loading Out the Spores

Base 40 points, and you get some S6 attacks out to six inches. It'll do something if you actually land close enough to hit the enemy, but that's cutting it close. You have two real weapon options, the way I see it: Cluster Spines give you a large blast for your crap BS, and a Heavy Venom Cannon can potentially suppress vehicles. However, the guns ARE an investment in points, and I'd probably look to those last.

Overall

I've got whiskey and Mass Effect calling my name now (and some frustration because Blogger decided to try to EAT the post...). I am curious to hear from others who've tried reserves-heavy 'nid lists, and faced them. I think it can work, I think the tools are there, I just think it's gonna have to run it differently than other ones.

Thoughts, feedback, and insults are welcome.

Carnifex Spam Batrep

I decided to give the massed carnifex list a shot, as it had generated a heap of discussion. I ended up running an atypical scenario (from the Kalm Before the Waagh!, a heap of drama prevented me from being there but he'd made it) against an army that my oppenent was like 'well, maybe it'll do something interesting' though he had his reservations (which turned out to be correct).

So, at 2,000 points I had:
Tyranid Prime [Scything Talons, Devourer]
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
3 Venomthrope
Tervigon [Toxin, Adrenal, Catalyst]
Tervigon [Toxin, Adrenal, Catalyst]
10 Termagants
10 Termagants
2 Carnifex
2 Carnifex
2 Carnifex

My Logic: 'I wonder what a Half-Dozen Carnifexes will do with Venomthrope and Hive Guard Support.'

Chaos Space Marines
Slaaneshi Lord w/ Daemon Weapon
Berserkers w/ Fist Chump
Plague Marines w/ Fist, Flamers, Rhino
Plague Marines w/ Plasma, Fist, Rhino
CSM w/ Chaos GLory, Fist, Melta, Rhino
CSM w/ Chaos GLory, Fist, Melta, Rhino
Noise Marines w/ Sonic weapons, power weapon chump, Rhino
Oblit x1
Oblit x1
Land Raider w/ Posession
[NB: he'd overcosted his Land Raider; he'd been looking at the Space Wolf book and forgot his didn't have PotMS, so he was short about a marine or two]

His Logic: 'I Wonder What A Chaos Rhino Rush Will Actually Do'

Scenario: The 'Urty Dozen
Primary: Get Your Most Expensive Unit Killed (Dead mercs collect no paycheck and are thus free...)
Secondary: Objectives [6 total]
Tertiary: Kill at least one enemy HQ
Fourthiary: Victory Points

Deployment: board divided into six equal chunks. Players dice off; the winner then drops 3d6 (re-rolling any duplicates) and gets the correspondingly-numbered chunks. I ended up with two on one short side, and one on the far corner. Then, I won the roll and forced him to deploy first and go first. Hey, he's got mobility on me out the yin-yang and it's not like I can stop more than two rhinos tops before he gets there.

Deployment

Red circles highlight the objective. Unsurprisingly, he deploys in the middle. I take my two adjoining segments and termagant-screen my force. I figure that he'll hit me, and then I'll have to weather the initial hit and push out to force him off objectives. Hive Guard on either flank mean I should be able to get at least one brood to draw a bead on anything, since my butt's against the 48 inche side. (actually not, since there's a BOOK CASE there...)

Here's another view of the deployment. My Tyrannofex conversions, my semi-converted Tyrants, and a couple of old mech-daemon conversions are my Carnifexes, and the mech-daemons are standing in as my 'KILL MEEEE!' objective, since two carnifexes are 320 points. I fail to seize the initiative, and this is fine.

Chaos Turn 1

Chaos advances and fans out. Noise Marines move up to grab a flank with an objective and a good view for pouring fire onto one of myo bjectives. His Land Raider drives up, spits out Berserkers, and proceeds to eat ten termagants. His powerfist champ and two others bite it on the way in thanks to the Venomthrope dangerous terrain checks. His plague marines move up and only rapid-fire ONE venomthrope down, and wound the other. That last Rhino is busting toards the back, to conga-line and grab two objectives.

Naturally, the oblits are in reserve.

Tyranid Turn 1

Ok, well, time to do something about that. I explode the horse that the Plague Marine Squad (with attached lord, the white fig) rode in on, and the Rhino that a CSM squad was in BEHIND his land raider. Thought you could hide, did you? Carnifexes move up to engage his plague marines, his berserkers, and his land raider. Tervigons spawn; one closer to the bottom of the picture runs dry. One at the top promptly craps out 10 Termagants to replace the ones that the berserkers ate.

Berserkers? Gruesome death. Land Raider? Explodes. Plague Marines? Lord insta-kills BOTH OF MY FREAKING CARNIFEXES WITH SIXES TO WOUND. I die a little on the inside. He celebrates.

Chaos Turn 2

Noise marines move up, fire on termagants. Plague Marines with a commanding view open up on carnifexes that ate the land raider. His marines that got out of the exploded rhino (well, the 8 that made it out...) also open fire on the carnies. The carnies do not appreciate this, and are hurt. One oblit falls off the table and dies horribly; the other blowtorches some termagants.

His Lord and Plague Marines get into the tervigon and termagants (due to poor placement on my part and a solid multi-assault). TERVIGON IS INSTA-GIBBED BY SLAANESHI LORD. Termagants die a deadly death.

So far, the Slaaneshi Lord has single-handedly killed 515 points of my army. He costs 135. I am a sad, sad freaking panda.

Tyranid Turn 2

Well, I've got to handle this. Two carnifexes are detailed to end the plague marines and the slaaneshi lord, along with a squad of termagants, who will be on strict orders to MAKE SURE THAT THE FREAKING SLAANESHI LORD DOES NOT GET INTO B2B WITH MY CARNIFEXES. I do NOT want to see more insta-gib sixes. Other carnifexes advance towards his CSM squad that just can't seem to move through cover away from two large, hungry, pointy things the size of building running at them with murderous intent.

The Tervigon craps out another 10-11 termagants.

Assault happens. At the end, I lost a beat-up carnifex and some termagants in exchange for the Slaaneshi lord, the oblit, and most of his plague marines. I am quite satisfied. This happens in part due to the fact the lord rolled a '1' for his daemon weapon. Whoops.

This actually defines his luck; he rolled either very hot or yahtzee'd on ones. Seriously. He yahtzee'd on ones like TWICE. Considering that he pretty much was looking at 3's to hit and 3's to wound (or sixes) it was pretty surprising.

He cries a little on the inside when the lord died. Sorry, that 135 points ONLY buys you one quarter of my army.

Holy freaking hell. I would've cried if that lord had run through more of my army. As it is, I luck out and pass the instinctive behavior on the hive guard, and the termagants just kinda lurked.

Chaos Turn 3

His advance is blunted. At this point he's got two objectives locked down solidly in the back, but his inability to roll difficult terrain is probably gonna cost him that Chaos Marine squad. His Noise Marines shell my Termagants (who go to ground, lest they fail a morale check from casualties and run off the board) but they weather it with aplomb. (Ok, not really; they just hid really well in a house. Same thing, right?)

Amusingly, I can make cover saves against meltaguns and plasma weapons, but bolters take wounds off my freaking carnifexes. I got cover because one hid behind a house. A HOUSE. Ok, more like INSIDE the house, then somehow walked out and left it intact. Go figure.

Speaking of the chaos backfield, you can see the conga line.

Tyranid Turn 3

Wall of Termagants advance; Tervigon craps out MORE. The Prime splits off from his hive guard buddie and wanders over to provide synapse while the Tervigon dumps Domination to make sure. (or maybe that was last turn? Not sure, but I did actually use that 18" synapse range).

I fire on his Noise Marines and nothing happens. My other hive guard are a couple inches short of hitting anything (other than the Chaos Marines, and I want to try to get to them with the carnifexes. I've also shot myself out of assault range more than once.)

Two Carnifexes + 8 Chaos Marines = Two Carnifexes. They had to get into terrain, but the powerfist didn't kill anyone. One 'fex only has a single wound left, though.

Chaos Turn 4

There's not a lot left to do now. He moves the Rhinos up in preparation to contest objectives, since the game lasts either 5 or 6 turns. Plague marines back up, rapid-fire the 'fexes, and actually drop one. Noise marines backpedal out of terrain and fire. My Tervigon finally runs dry this turn.

Endgame

I'll summarize, since A) I forgot a few pictures, and B) it was pretty much over. The carnifex on the flank managed to get into his Noise Marines (...and eat them). The other carnifex got into and through his plague marines, tagged a rhino, and then died in assault with his remaining squad.

End Result:

Primary: Chaos

Secondary: Tyranids

Third: Tyranids
Fourth: Tyranids

Survivors

Tyranids:

Prime

1 Venomthrope

1 Tervigon

1 Carnifex

40-50 Termagants

Chaos

7 CSM

Thoughts on the game and the lists

The Scenario

The scenario was admittedly atypical. It kept us maybe 14 inches apart, though it's possible I could've avoided the first turn assault anyway. As it was, it worked out for me, since I dropped about 500 points of his army on turn one.

Getting the most expensive unit killed is sometimes a bit odd, but the other objectives were reasonably normal. I mean, headhunting the HQ is usually a good idea; most of the time they add something to the list.

The Freaking Slaaneshi Lord

In a sense, this was dice luck. On the other hand, such lords are iffy against stuff you really wanna insta-gib (while you can wound tyranid warriors with their T4, they'll have whips and swords and shank you 'til you're dead before you can go, in all likelihood).

Still, with enough attacks, you can hope for those sixes. It was just NUTS to see instant death worth something. If we really wanted to talk about a chaos HQ for hunting MCs, though, I'd look to Kharn (...because, well, it's freakin' KHARN but he does need fours to wound...) or a Nurgle Lord with Daemon Weapon (they're like poison lightning claws against regular troops, and still the poison helps against T5+ enemies, so yeah...)

The Chaos List

Long story short: he was hella short on firepower. He just didn't have a good counter to monstrous creatures in general past 'hope the hidden powerfist works after you soften them up with meltaguns before the charge.'

The Dice

...wow. My opponent's dice luck was all over the freakin' place. Seriously, the Venomthropes just about paid for themselves in the number of guys that flubbed dangerous terrain checks. I think it was a powerfist zerker, two more zerkers, then at least one plague marine (With a flamer, no less..).

Plus, he got the '1' on the daemon weapon at the exact wrong time. On the other hand, he ALSO got the sixes at the exact right time. He also managed to immobilize a crucial contest-capable rhino on terrain.

I also managed to explode half the vehicles I killed, so yeah. I ALSO had a Tervigon produce for four straight turns, so I got a total of 5 extra broods, or about 25-30 termagants. Swathes of 'em died, though, but BFD. I got more (...usually.)

The Venomthropes

Ok, honestly, unless you can hide them out of LOS, most enemies ARE capable of dumping enough fire on six T4, 4+ save wounds in a turn or two to kill 'em all off. He almost did that in the very first turn, and the noise marines KO'ed another at some point.

Still, the defensive grenades and cover have their place in some builds. Venomthropes don't belong in every army, but if you're going MC heavy (...maybe, really does depend) or going for a swarm( and want to make sure you can get cover) then it might be worth a shot.

Note, though, that like the Tervigons, it forces you to stay close and pay attention to your formation. You want at least a few guys trailing back to the magical 6-inch bubble that the venomthropes have for giving you cover/defensive grenades/dangerous terrain.

The Carnifexes

Admittedly, Living Battering Ram has a place. It helps to go before powerfists, and if I could find 30 points without a major problem I would probably think about giving them Frag Spines. On the other hand, most armies with nasty assault troops can get the charge off, and it doesn't matter that much against shooty armies.

Honestly, the 'fexes didn't face any uber-threats on the table. Two of them can nail a semi-damaged squad with decent rolls (needing 4's to hit, they should be able to kill 5-6 guys a turn) and on the charge? You're talking 7-8, and getting up to ten is possible (unless you're charging plague marines).

Even with Run moves, these guys are freakin' slow. And, well, you NEED to run them. The other worry is getting ahead of your synapse support, since Feed/Rage can be used against you and you're not always gonna make that Ld7 check to avoid being a stupid mountain of hungry, fanged, muscle with talons as long as a sedan. (I feel like I should make jokes about why T-rex is angry with regards to the functionality of his arms; t-rex at least had hands...).

And, of course, he had no dedicated melee units. If the enemy can soften up the carnifexes (...which, admittedly, most lists can) then they can probably take 'em out in assault. Pure assaulty lists can probably hurt them too; stuff like thunder-shield termies hurt and even t-wolf cav can put the hurt on.

Carnies are reasonably durable, but (lack of) speed can kill. Tomorrow I go against IG, so we'll see ho that works out. Stay tuned for another batrep.

Hive Guard

...deprived him of his mobility, and kept the Rhinos from potentially denying my the objectives. Without them, he could've just kept moving them and tank-shocking termagants around. What are Termagants gonna do if they can't furious charge the thing, try to get behind 'em and do damage with with BS3, S4 guns?

Overall

Ok, end of the day, that was an interesting match. I don't think this validates carnifexes by itself, as they really didn't have to contend with any major threats. Even then, I still lost more than half of them. I probably would've kept one more alive had the slaaneshi lord not killed BOTH of them, but even with Kharn or omething ele in his place I would've probably lost at least one. Actually, Kharn + a powerfist champ still probably would've KO'ed both, but it just would've taken longer (unless I lucked out and KO'ed Kharn, but that depends on which Carnie got wounded and which one got into assault with Mr. Kharn.)

I'm playing against IG tomorrow. Should be interesting, since this player generally does bring a pretty nasty IG list. Failing that, it'll probably be double-crusader Black Templare with Furious Charge lightning claw terminators.

Either way, both of those will be a bit rougher on the 'fexes.

Comments/Thoughts/Rage? Due to Powerpoint Making Us All Stupid, I haven't had a lot of time lately to blog. (Staring at slides for 5-6 hours a day and then having to review them or brief them the other 2-3+ hours does sap your brains and will to look at a computer screen, lemme tell ya. For like two and a half weeks straight.)

Carnifexes: Can you make them work?

I admit it, I'm trying to like the Carnifex in the codex. But, the question is, what do I use it for? With the plethora of new critters/options, it's now a good question as to just what you CAN do with the 160-point bugger.
What Does it Have Going For it?
Well, you have good ol' Monstrous Creature durability. T6, four wounds, and a 3+ armor save. And, now, you can take 1-3 per slot (more on that later...). You start with four WS4, S9, I1 attacks (I3 on the charge, and you're the one thing in the fething book that can take frags; go figure). You start with double scything talons, so you can re-roll anything you don't tag, and you'll generally hit on 4's (barring vehicles, crappy troops, or assault troops). Lone carnifexes can also take mycetic spores.

What Can it do?
Now, here comes the real question: just what are you going to DO with the carnifex? Basically, you're going to think about either shooting OR assaulting, since you can't do both at the same time. Furthermore, buying guns loses you one or both sets of scything talons, which seriously impacts your ability to wreck things in melee.

Note also that in a unit, each 'fex must be equipped identically; I guess there's just too much room to abuse three seperate carnifexes for wound allocation. (Then again, they could theoretically soak 10 wounds before losing ANY combat effectiveness, so yeah.)

So, for shooty, the options are:
1) Take a Heavy Venom Cannon.
It's reasonable for suppressing fire, as S9 can usually get hits on vehicles and slow them down. On the negative side, it's still -1 to damage rolls and you're only BS3.

While you're CHEAPER than a Tyrannofex (he's 265 with his rupture cannon, you're pushing 200) he's much better at killing armor with two S10 shots, and landing at least one of them 75% of the time.

2) Take a Stranglethorn Cannon
Mmm, S6 large blast. Ok, doesn't do crap-all against vehicles (well, nothing that a Hive Guard can't do better and cheaper) and it's okay for anti-personnel work, but that's still an 'eh' weapon, all things considered.

3) Devourers
Bright side? You're twin-linked. Down side? You're short ranged (almight 18") and not going to hurt vehicles at all. If you're committed to going shooty, take them to get a little extra oomph (points permitting) and if not, well, honestly, you should have more efficient ways of killing infantry.

When it comes to assault:
1) Crushing Claws
...leave them at home. 25 points for +d3 attacks. You have four with re-rolls, or you can get 5-7 without re-roll. You need dice to go in your favor to get any mileage out of this; with 4+ to hit you need to get 6 attacks to get mileage; with a 3+ you need to get all +3 attacks to make it work for you.

2) Adrenal Glands
Yay, Furious Charge! IF you actually get the charge, you got at I4, S10 (since you get +2I on the charge for being a really big, angry thing). The only time you'll care about being S10 is against Wraithlords and AV14. AV10 rears get auto-penetrated by S9, and you should be able to tag AV14 on average; 2d6 usually gets a 6-7. Leave 'em at home.

3) Frag Spines
...if you have five points, I guess? Mostly, this is for getting to go before stuff like units full power powerfists, since you still don't go before dreads (unless you bought Furious Charge). It's cheap, so it falls into the filler category.

4) Toxin Sacks
You're S9. Unless it's a wraithlord, you wound it on a 2+. This beats a re-rolled 4+. You already nuke multi-wound T4 on a 2+. You don't need these, frankly.

Now, Why Would We Use This?
So, you want to shoot? The Hive Tyrant is comparable in terms of weapons and BS, and brings you better support abilities for the guns you can get. In a pinch, you can ALSO get tyrant guard and get more durability.

If you want to kill heavy armor, the Tyrannofex is more expensive, but has a better gun for killing heavy tanks. It also has nastier point-blank weaponry, a better save, more wounds, and loses one attack and one WS (and is only S6, but BIG DEAL).

If you want to drop-pod it, you're inferior to the trygon. It's faster (thanks to fleet), it's got a gun (for what it matters; BS3 with assault 6, S5, AP5), more attacks (6) and it has more wounds. The spore gets a gun, but gives up a KP (or VP) as well. Frankly, I'd consider going with the Trygon here.

So, then, what would we use the carnifex for? Stuff shoots better and deep-strikes better. Also, Warriors are a source of power weapon attacks (though Warriors are more expensive) and a Tyrant + guard CAN be a nasty counterassault element. S9 insta-kills most multi-wound stuff you'd want to insta-kill. So, it IS a potential substitute for Warriors and nasty counter-assault.

Using Them...
My thought is thus: Keep them on foot, MAYBE take frag spine if you have them. There's no benefit to the assault upgrade, and there are better guns.

Run them at the enemy as a target. Bring along either hormagaunts or termagants as a means of KO'ing infantry, bring some guns to take care of enemy tanks, and go to town. I don't think it's necessarily the best way to go, but I think you might be able to work it.

Possible Example...

I would start with something like this:

6 Hive Guard (for killing light transports; could go up to more) [300]
2 Tyrannofexes (for long range fire) [330]
Unit of 2 Carnifexes (no upgrades) [320ish]

This is about 1,000 points. You've got a good set of four monstrous creature; I'd think about more. You've got the means to dismount the enemy infantry; you just need synapse.

An Alpha hiding in the hive guard is an option. Alternatively, a couple of Tyrants could be nasty mobile synapse; if you're going with hormagaunts you could try to give 'em Preferred Enemy.

Tervigons boost your MC count, at least.

Anyone else got any thoughts on using Carnifexes? This is the best I've got. When I get back to my codex, I'll crank out a list. Again, I'm not sure this is the best way to run bug, but it's what I've got. Throw the Carnies out there to draw fire; if they CAN get into assault they can do some damage.

Tyranid Troops Choices

I believe I'd promised the other week that there'd be a breakdown on Tyranid troops. Well, after a nutty week, a crazier weekend (and neither of those in the good way...) and a short nap and bike ride, it's time for that breakdown.

The way I see it, there are three basic focuses on Tyranid troops: Termagants/Tervigons, Hormagaunts, and Warriors. They can mix to an extent, but you should usually pick one and run with it.

Termagants and Tervigons
Also known as: '...how do I build this big guy, and how many of these little things do I have to PAINT?!' (the answer: I'll have my conversion of one up soon as I do cleanup on painting, and the latter is about 50-60). This is one of the popular ones on the inter-tubes so far as I can tell; everyone is enamored with the ability to spawn endless hordes of them.

This generally takes the form of two units of ten Termagants (50 points each) and two Tervigons taken as troops choices with adrenal glands, toxin sacks, cluster spines, and either Catalyst or Onslaught (195 each). Grand total? About 500 points.

T&T Pros
1) Quantity Problems are Usually Solved.
You can crank out 3d6 termagants per tervigon per turn. Averages suggest that you'll get two turns of production before you see doubles, and you'll produce 10-11 termagants each go. That means you can guess on a couple of units of ~10 termagants. This means in an objective game, you can casually crap out something to sit at home, then advance.

2) Termagants Get Nasty with Poison, Furious Charge, and Counterattack
Individually, a Termagant is crap. It's basically a guardsman with a BS3 bolt pistol and a 6+ save that 'benefits' from fearless. You generally hit on 4's, wound on 4-5's, and die in combat to fearless wounds.

Now, give yourself poison (always wound on that 4+) and furious charge (re-roll that 4+ against T4 on the charge, and against T3 all the time). That's kinda nasty. If you get charged, you get a Ld10 roll to get Counterattack. All this for the low, low price of staying within 6" of the Tervigon (read: making sure ONE GUY is within that crucial six inches).

3) Charge Range
A freshly-minted unit of Termagants can reach out to 18". You spawn within 6" of the Tervigon, you get your 6" move, and your 6" assault. It's worth considering, since a unit of 10 of these with Furious Charge can put some solid hurt on stuff.

4) Psychic Support
Do you like handing out Feel No Pain? Yeah, the Tervi can do that. The big draws of FNP are making units like Warriors and monstrous creatures much more durable, or helping your little guys take small-arms fire or Fearless wounds.

5) Anti-tank
In a pinch, your Tervigon ought to be charging with four S6 monstrous creature CC attacks. Don't underestimate the graphic damage that S6 poison can do to another monstrous creature. I lucked out against a buddy's bugs (really, really lucked out) and a Tervigon ate HALF of a Trygon in one assault phase. (His other Trygon promptly prioritized the Tervigon it was facing, and put four wounds on it...)

T&T Cons
1) Kill Points
Termagants aren't THAT hard to kill, and against something like Land Raiders or faster assault armies, you're going to use the first rank to absorb the hit as best you can. In KP games, don't spawn unless necessary.

2) Traffic Jams
It's a lotta guys, and the biggest problem? If you really want to get the benefit of the poison/furious charge, you need a guy within 6" of the Tervigon. It's very easy to let a moment of inattention cost you.

3) Shoot the Big One!
Note that losing a Tervigon inflicts 3d6 S3 hits on all Termagant units within 6". KO'ing the Tervigon thins the horde, and renders Termagants merely an annoyance instead of nasty.

A final note...
While Termagants are pretty much crap without a Tervigon to buff them, a minimal unit or two of ten make cheap objective-holders even if you're focusing on Warriors or hormies. You don't REALLY want to sit hormies back at home; they can actually kill things in assault without a mommy bug nearby shouting encouragement like an annoying soccer mom.

Hormagaunts
I covered Hormies a bit here, but the short version: buy adrenal glands and toxin sacks. It's worth dropping 10 points a Hormagaunt for something that charges at I6, and throws out a metric crap-ton of poison attacks that wound 75% of the time against basic troopers (excluding Plague Marines, that is...). Consider 40-50ish or so in a 2,000 point list, ideally in 3 or so units. You want to balance KP, the ability to get there in sufficient strength, and the ability to engage enough of the enemy.

Hormie Pros
They're quick, lethal, and...well, that honestly sums it up. They're capable of dragging down monstrous creatures and just about any infantry in sufficient numbers. In a pinch, you can S4 charge a vehicle and glance the crap out of it.

Hormie Cons
Downsides? While you CAN tag vehicles, you really need support to kill them for you so you can get to the nougat center. Dreadnoughts MUST be a priority, since a dreadnought can tie you up indefinitely, and pile-in moves might make it difficult to actually get something into assault to deal with said Dreadnought.

Past that, folks DO know they're dangerous, and WILL prioritize them. You, in turn, must bring a means of dealing with things like Hellhounds and heavy flamer landspeeders. I suggest Hive Guard, and possibly Tyrannofexes, depending on the build.

Also, if you're used to playing Tervis/Termies, you might think 'Oh, I can get more!' ...well, you CAN'T. Sorry.

Warriors
Warriors are the 'elite' choice. They're a nasty melee unit with some token shooty, but MAN is that melee nasty. The average warrior unit should carry lash whips and bone swords along with Toxin Sacks. Adrenal glands are optional, as Warriors are 50 points with the whip/sword and poison. Going up to S5 on the assault isn't that huge; the best it'll do for you is...um...get that re-roll against T5 targets, which is a short list: marine bikes, plague marines, warbosses, and ork bikers.

Note also that you CAN kit warriors out for shooty rolls. Deathspitters are 5 points and instead of the Devourer's S4 AP-, you get S5 AP5 for your three assault shots instead.

Warriors are ADEQUATE at anti-infantry fire. Don't tell me an S6 venom cannon is a viable source of anti-tank; it's for the wound allocation and the occasional shot that softens something up. S5 is simply not going to damage vehicles (...ok, I'm sure someone will say 'but what about open-topped AV10? Good job, it can do that. Big deal. Ask the Rhino and Chimera what they think about S5 gunfire. Go on, ask.)

EDIT:
You CAN pay 35pts per warrior to get someone with three S4 WS5 attacks that re-roll ones, and they have three S5 AP5 BS3 attacks at range. It IS extra synapse, and honestly it IS a possible camping unit.

However, if you want a camper you can spend 50 points on ten Termagants that just sit back and go to ground. In theory, the enemy should have to go through your army ANYWAY to pick off your objectives, so deal with it. I'd rather put 50pts to camp than 105 minimum for shooty warriors.

And, if it's anti-infantry you're after, you get it in much better quality going into assault. Sure, it's 50 points for whip/sword/poison, but it's the ONLY place you can get a unit full of power weapons that's NOT a monstrous creature.

While you CAN make warriors shooty anti-infantry, I just can't recommend it. They don't shoot that well, and they're a nasty second-hit assault unit capable of doing tremendous damage.

Warrior Pros
Warriors are ludicriously dangerous with whips and swords. Got an enemy MC in your lines? Charge them with a handful of warriors. You're going to go first, or simultaneously at the worst (you strike at I1 going into cover; anyone in base with you goes at I1 thanks to the whip). Take scything talons for the re-roll, and assuming you hit on 4+, you're going to crank 4 attacks/warrior on the charge, and then that's 20 attacks, 10 hits, one or two re-rolls generating another hit or two, and then an average of 5-6 wounds. If you hit on 3's, it gets worse, and pretty much guarantees nuclear death to any MC you can touch.

Great, ain't it? You might drop 15 points on a Venom Cannon just to get an S6 blast in there, or to use for wound allocation purposes. It's an optional thing.

I suppose you could go double swords, but you lose your ability to go into cover effectively, or horrifically subdue targets. You do get better at the insta-kill, but that's a very situational thing, given the prevalence of Eternal Warrior. (the list would be: nobs, warriors, some monstrous creatures, and some ICs).

Warrior Cons
You can't engage vehicles effectively. At best, you can drop another 20-30 points for furious charge to get S5 hits into the rear, but frankly, you should be using hive guard and monstrous creature assault to kill vehicles. It's what you have.

You are also a magnet for S8+ fire. If you are going to run a lone unit of warriors as melee support (which is perfectly viable) then you need other high-toughness targets to force the enemy to prioritize.

If you are going warrior-heavy (which is very possible) you'll be on the lower end of the model count, but you'll also have a crap-ton of T4 4+ wounds to force him to wade through.

You're not fleet and don't have Move Through Cover. 'Sad Face' is all I can say about that.

Final Note On Warriors
If you need a little extra assaulty punch, and you can spare 250-300 points, you can get 5-6 warriors to bolster the lines and get a little extra synapse. It's mostly for the extra CC power, but it's a support option to consider. (Well, them or Shrikes...which are just a huge bullet magnet because you only have to watch them rampage through your troops once...).

But Wait, What About the Rippers?
Well, they don't score. You can't really build an army around them, so they're firmly in the 'support/filler' bin. For hilarity, you can buy them the ability to deep strike. Past that, if you have the spare points, consider poison. If you have enough points to get more than 4-5 bases, consider a better investment.

They're not bad as a tarpit, but you need to be in Synapse, because if the Hive Mind isn't reminding them to breathe, then they kind of die when they flub that ld6-ish Instinctive Behavior check. Then they Rage at something. I had them rage at an immobilized Land Raider after a bad deep strike, which was good for the laughs.

...and the Genestealers?
But Raptor, you forgot the genestealers!

Indeed, I did. However, let's do some thinking. A 'stealer is 14 points base; 17 after you grab poison. You're already S4; Furious Charge doesn't do much on top of Rending.

So, let's compare a poison stealer (since S4 gives us a lovely chance to re-roll wounds against most anything we'll attack) to the 10-point hormagaunt.

Speed? The Hormie is faster.

Number of wounds? You get almost two hormies for one 'stealer.

Durability? I'd rather have more wounds, given that there's effectively nil save attached to this thing. A 5+ is NOT much better than a 6+; you still get pasted by small-arms fire and flamers, and the T4 isn't a major help, honestly, when you have the choice between more wounds. You should be in cover anyway.

So, let's do some quick math. Let's go with 170 points; that's 10 lethal 'stealers and 17 pumped-up Hormies.

Charge: 51 attacks from the Hormies > 25.5 hits + re-roll 1/3 of your misses = 29-30 hits. Vs troops, that translates to 15 wounds, and re-rolls bring you up to 20-21 wounds. Oouch.

30 Stealer attacks; you'll get 20 hits. You'll get ten wounds (and about a rend) off the bat, then re-rolls should grant you another 5 wounds and MAYBE another rend, so you get ~15 wounds and 2 rends.

So, let's drop the poison and get more stealers! We can get ~13 stealers; that translates to 39 attacks, 26 hits, 13 wounds with ~2 rends.

What did we learn? Unless you're trying to rend down vehicles (and maybe you're noticing a theme: KILL VEHICLES WITH STUFF IN OTHER SLOTS! INCLUDING DREADNOUGHTS!) the hormies are nastier.

The only major perk genestealers have (past their ability to infiltrate, and I'm sure someone will try to outflank them for the lolz and questionable disruptive value) is that they don't need Synapse and have Ld10, so they're fine to operate solo.

Mine are getting converted into other things, if that tells you anything. If you want heavier melee punch added to your force, get WARRIORS; sure they cost 50 points to equip for assault but a warrior is so much nastier than a genestealer it's not particularly funny.
Troops Roundup
I have to reiterate that it's best to pick a focus on your troops and roll with it.

Tervigons + Termagants provide a tide of bodies that are great for taking objectives and deceptively nasty in melee (until someone caps the Tervigon in the midst of its horde...). Tervis can even provide a little S5 large blast fire support. You get a troop package that can handle troops and MCs alike (depending on who hits what), and you are committing to at least a couple more monstrous creatures.

A unit of Warriors can provide melee support, points permitting.

Hormagaunts are a scuttling wave of 'I touched in in assault, buried it, ate it, and went looking for its family.' They'll take losses, but are deadly en masse. It's crucial you bring enough, and you bring anti-tank. It's not a bad idea to consider 50-100 points of Termagants to sit in the back and cheer (when they're not going to ground) on an objective.

Warrior-heavy does cut down on your model count, but Warriors are also just plain nasty to anything they can touch in CC; while they have fewer attacks than Hormagaunts they can get POWER WEAPONS that can KILL YOU INSTANTLY and whips that MAKE THEM GO BEFORE YOU HIT. Read the caps and you kind of get a neat summary. You're also allergic to S8.

When you get down to it, all the troops choices are geared towards tearing up anything that has a toughness value. Bring anti-tank or you will suffer.

Questions/comments/feedback?

Coming Soon:
-Pictures of Raptor's Tervigon conversion(s)
-Thoughts on Making Carnifexes Work

Pondering Tyranids: Using Hormagaunts

This one's prompted by King Elessar. Personally, I have like 40-50 of the bloody things myself, and I'd like to figure out a good way to use them. Here's my first draft and the logic that goes with them.

The Hormagaunt

Now, the big pro of the Hormagaunt is that it's cheap and potentially nasty, as well as being swift. It has Move Through Cover and drops 3d6 and takes the highest for the run, and then it has Fleet so it tries to get into your face.

Now, the cons? It's WS3 and S3, and also has the average 'nid T3 and 6+ save. Basically, it's a horde choice. You'll need a lot. That's not so bad. Plus, when upgraded, Furious Charge (at I6 if you're not going into cover...) and Poison can really, really pile on the wounds.

However, when you add the glands, you go from a 6pt unit to a 10pt unit. Why double the price? Honestly, I'm a fan of the glands. Why?

1) Poison: Ability to Wound Stuff

Ok, sure, you have a lot of attacks (2 attacks per, 3 on the charge) and you get to re-roll the 1's on your attacks for your Scything Talons. Downside, you're only S3. So, you wound wimpy T3 infantry (that, honestly, you'll be maiming up anyway with volume of attacks) on a 4+, and then you need a 5+ to tag the average T4 melee fellows you'll see. Poison lets you tag ANYTHING on a 4+ (like, oh, those nasty T4 infantry) and it lets you mob the ever-lovin' crap out of monstrous creatures, which would normally get surrounded and just much on your target.

2) Furious Charge: Versatility

So, you're S3. Now, if you have poison, you start wounding T3 targets on a 4+ with a re-roll; so you'll wound targets 75% of the time. Furious Charge lets you do the same to the T4 infantry, which is nice against a heap of the T4 targets.

Second point? S3 can't tag vehicles. S4 can. It's a minor bit of versatility, but you can at least torrent vehicles. I think if I was going to leave a gland out, it would be the Furious Charge.

Numbers on Hormies

So, let's take 60 points. You get 10 regular hormagaunts, or 6 upgraded hormies. Numbers look like so, assuming a charge and no cover:

T3 Targets

Normal: 30 attacks > 17.5 hits > 8.75 wounds

Upgraded: 18 attacks > 10.5 hits > 7.87 wounds

Conclusion: Ok, the cheaper ones win out here due to volume of attacks, but the re-rolls to wound help out.

T4 Targets

Normal: 30 attacks > 17.5 hits > 5.8 wounds

Upgraded: 18 attacks > 10.5 hits > 7.87 wounds

Conclusion: Upgraded is starting to show...

T5+ Targets

Normal: 30 attacks > 17.5 hits > 3.5 wounds

Upgraded: 18 attacks > 10.5 hits > 5.25 wounds

Conclusion: Upgraded wins, hands-down.

VS AV10-rear vehicles

Normal:...Nadda

Upgraded: 3 glances against an immobile vehicle, 1.5 against combat speed, precious little against flat out.

Again, bear in mind that this is just 60 points of Hormagaunts; I picked 60 because it's easy enough to work with. Realistically, you WILL be taking larger units (...so that some of them get through.)

So, Why Updgrade?

Poison is going to do good things for your ability to harm things. You can tag monstrous creatures, and you can seriously threaten anything else. You trade off some numbers, but your lethality goes through the roof. Honestly, Furious Charge is a big buff since it gives you the re-roll on T4 as well, and frankly T4 is worth tagging hard.

The Army List

HQ

Tyranid Prime w/ Whip, Sword [95]

Tyranid Prime w/ Whip, Sword [95]

Elites

3 Hive Guard [150]

3 Hive Guard [150]

3 Hive Guard [150]

Troops

14 Hormagaunts, Toxin Sacks/Adrenal Glands [140]

14 Hormagaunts, Toxin Sacks/Adrenal Glands [140]

14 Hormagaunts, Toxin Sacks/Adrenal Glands [140]

10 Termagants [50]

10 Termagants [50]

Fast Attack

19 Gargoyles, Toxin Sacks/Adrenal Glands [152]

19 Gargoyles, Toxin Sacks/Adrenal Glands [152]

Heavy Support

Tyrannofex; Rupture Cannon, Cluster Spines, & Desiccator Larvae [265]

Tyrannofex; Rupture Cannon, Cluster Spines, & Desiccator Larvae [265]

Total: 1994/2000

The Logic

Simple: throw a HORDE of nasty troops at the enemy. Gargoyles give you an element of speed and additional targets, though admittedly I'm somewhat worried about their ability to outstrip Synapse range. Mostly, I chucked them in there because I like the models and have 40 of them. They could probably go.

The Hormagaunts are there because we're trying to build with them. Glands give them lethality, and we take multiple units to bring multiple threats.

It DOES look a little light on synapse, doesn't it? Well, here's the logic. I'm a little light on monstrous creatures. The cost of monstrous creatures is pretty hefty any way you cut it; if I wanted a tyrant I'd be dropping both of my primes AND a good chunk of gribblies to fit him in, and then he'd be the prime target. As it stands, there are more than enough units to hide a Prime in.

I feel like I can get away with just a couple of Tyrannofexes, largely because of thee 2+ save. You've got a LOT of army to go through to assault them or melta them, and unless you have a crap-ton of lascannons you're probably just NOT going to engage the things. They provide long-range heavy anti-tank work.

The Hive Guard are there to crack any and all light armor they can draw LOS on. Accurate S8 gunfire is just nasty, and can also reliably wound anything you shoot it at AND insta-gibs all those annoying T4 multi-wound models.

The Termagants are objective-sitters.

Thoughts on the List; Possible Changes

Well, I'd hate to see Land Raiders, since all I've got are the Tyrannofexes for killing them. With the pure horde setup, I'm not really willing to go with Zoanthropes, since that means looking into hive tyrants, and that's a pretty sweeping change.

If I WERE going to get a third Tyrannofex, I'd probably drop a Hive Guard from each unit (150 free), contemplate dropping a Termagant unit (200) and then go looking for more points from somewhere, trimming gargoyles.

Your other priority target is any Walker; you CANNOT kill Dreadnoughts in melee (but should be able to shoot them to death reasonably well) but you should be able to take them out with shooting. Should be.

Thoughts, feedback, comments, etc? It's a rough draft hatched at 1AM, so take that into consideration.

Coming soon: thoughts on running Carnifexes.

Army Building 101: Essential Capabilities

This article springboards off of my posts on evaluating units honestly and making tradeoffs. This is a little basic, but you need to bring the tools to do three basic things:

1) Hold Objectives
2) Stop Enemy Armor
3) Kill Enemy Troops

You need to hold objectives in 2/3 of the games, but make sure that you don't actually hurt yourself when it comes to killing the other guy. When it comes to stopping the other guy, you want to be able to stop vehicles AND enemy troopers.

1) Controlling Objectives
Objective games break up into two categories: 2 objectives, or 3+ objectives. The number of objectives changes the way you play, but not necessarily how you build. Controlling objectives comes to two things:

1) Hold Objectives
2) Deny Objectives

Hold Objectives
You need troops to hold objectives. Once you hit 1500+ points, I suggest 3 troops just as a rule of thumb. The number you take ultimately depends on your army, as some troops selections are nastier/more resiliant than others. If you take too few, the other guy might decide to just KO your troops and make you fight for a draw. It's a very real risk, and it's happened to me.

You have two basic choices for holding objectives: You can take a dedicated squad to hold it, or you can just bring several mobile choices and make sure you have troops on the objective by the end. If it's a dedicated squad, ideally it's got a long-range weapon or two in it (IE: Space Marine Scouts w/ Sniper Rifles, Missile Launcher, Telion, camo cloaks).

Deny Objectives
There are two ways to do this: kill the troops on/near them, or contest the objectives. If you have stuff within 3" of the objective, then he doesn't control it. We'll cover the 'killing them' part later, but the short version is that corpses don't hold territory*. Contesting objectives usually involves swift, cheap units. Sometimes it's a Tau Piranha or Marine Land Speeder, but empty transports can do the trick as well. In a pinch, you can tank-shock people off objectives as well, unless they're in a transport.

2) Kill Armor
Vehicles (and monstrous creatures) are a fact of life in 40k. You need to be able to stop them, or they'll run roughshod over you (sometimes literally, see 'deny objectives'). In terms of killing vehicles, you're looking at two basic types: lighter, and heavier. Lighter vehicles are AV10-12; Heavy is 13-14. You need different kit to take them out. Note that vehicles may not always DIE when you damage them, but sometimes it's enough to shake/stun them or knock off the main gun.

Light Armor
Usually, weight of fire is enough to harm/kill lighter armor. Things like scatter lasers and autocannons are your weapons of choice against lighter armor; S7 lets you threaten AV12 and usually comes in decent numbers. Most S8 weapons don't have the weight of fire to do the trick.

Most light vehicles are faster, and most transports are lighter-weight vehicles. Additionally, some heavier-weight vehicles have weaker flank armor (IE: A Predator has AV13 in the front, but only AV11 on the side).

Heavy Armor
Sometimes, the autocannon just isn't gonna cut it against your target. Sometimes, you need melta weapons or rail guns. Why melta? If you can deliver it to 1/2 its range, you get 2d6 for damage penetration, and s8 + 2d6 averages to 15, which is a penetrating hit. AP1 is icing on the cake, since it's +1 to damage results, or a 50/50 shot of killing the vehicle on a penetrating hit.

Some armies have access to S10 shooting (Tyranids and Tau), and this has the raw strength to go through AV 13/14.

Taking it for the Team
Note that with melta weapons, you probably WON'T get a second shot, AND you are close to the enemy. It behoves you to have some cheap, sacrifical melta units just so you can take out higher-cost targets. Triple land raider sounds fun until someone trades 3 landspeeders or 3 squads of guardsmen for 750-800 points of your army.

Vehicles and Assault
Most vehicles have AV10 in the rear, so monstrous creatures, powerfists, dreadnoughts and the like can damage or kill them. Vehicles can counter this by moving and making it more difficult to hit, but lose the ability to use some of their guns.

On Monstrous Creatures
While there are some differences between vehicles and monstrous creautres, know that the same stuff that hurts vehicles usually wounds monstrous creatures. You generally want to throw AP2-3 fire into monstrous creatures just to deny them armor saves.

3) Killing Troops
Like vehicles, troops tend to come either in larger numbers of cheap, not-so-durable guys or fewer, tougher troops. Compare the Termagant, at 5 points, with an almight S3, T3, 1 wound and 6+ save to the Plague Marine, with T5, a 3+ armor save and Feel No Pain. Note also you can get 4 termagants for one plague marine...

Now, with infantry, you generally want to pile on the wounds. Weight of fire works on infantry in general, as you'll generally wound/kill the lighter troops and you'll force the heavier ones to take more saves (which they will eventually fail). Note also that infantry love cover and will generally have access to at least a 4+ save; marines and their ilk can operate in the open and fear far fewer weapons.

Weapons of note for anti-infantry work:
1) Flamers
2) Blast Weapons
3) Small Arms
4) Assault

Flamers
These are generally for killing lighter stuff; S4 AP5 or S5 AP4 combined with no cover saves is good for nuking as many orks/termagants/non-marines as you can fit under a template. It'll still force saves on marines and the like.

Blast Weapons
Blast weapons LOOK good on paper, but if the enemy uses their 2" coherency to the max and lines up properly (IE a line instead of a group hug) they can make sure you don't hit that many troops with a large blast. On the other hand, blast weapons in crowded areas are likely to hit at least SOMETHING, but this can include your troops if they're nearby.

Small Arms
Frankly, most infantry have these. It's not your ideal weapon, but if you catch the enemy out in the open or shoot enough of them with these, they'll work. Everyone laughs at lasguns until 30-40 guardsmen point them at you...And even a 10-man tactical squad can crank out a fairly respectable number of wounds.

Assault
Not everyone belongs in assault. Those that do tend to have either a LOT of attacks, or good quality of attacks (IE: ignore armor saves and decent strength) or both. The poster child for heavyweight assault troops is the Thunder Hammer/Stor Shield Terminator. While they only have 2 attacks each, they are hard to kill (T4, 2+ armor save, 3+ invulnerable save) and hit hard (S8, ignore armor saves, and survivors go at I1 next time). The flip side is something like the Hormagaunt, which is only 10 points for something with S3, poison, and 3 attacks on the charge with Furious Charge and I5 base.

In Summary
While this IS a critical-hit wall o' text, I (and others) could easily go into more detail on the various points. I think I've covered the salient, basic points for the scenarios you'll commonly see. I mean, most of the time you'll have to deal with objectives, and all armies can bring vehicles (or MCs) and infantry. I will probably try to break these points out in greater depth for my next few non-hobby articles.

In the mean time, I've got a heap of bugs to paint, and still have Tyranid Primes, Hive Tyrants, Hive Guard, and Harpies to convert. There's also 30,121.57 Termagants to paint. Finally, there are the Trygons to build...but it's all good.

*Unless it's zombies.