Tyranids Mk VI: Overview

Hey guys, this is BangBangTequila's several part series on the latest and greatest to come from a galaxy far, far away. This chapter will focus a little on units and stats, but mostly I'm going to cover my general thoughts on the book and the broad changes made since last edition. Without further ado...

1> First thoughts.
This book is beautiful. I bought the enhanced iPad version, and I'm wildly impressed. The artwork, the interface, and the way you can have long, independently scrolling windows of sub-text is just great. The way rules can be brought up and inspected with a tap is wonderful, and means I never have to pick up my BRB unless a game rule is in question. Very sleek, and the Force Requisition program is a phenomenal start up as an army building app. There is a great deal of recycled fluff and artwork, particularly at the beginning, but I can deal with that. After all you have to respect your beginnings before you can add meaningful background to a race, unless you do a full retcon a la Wardian writings, which I would not enjoy at all. I was only initially disappointed by the artwork because they kept the same tired colour schemes. I wanted Gorgon! Or Eurimedes!

2> Big Changes
At first, I got the impression of laziness. Things weren't balanced... In a vacuum. Things seemed nerfed, or discounted, or actually cost more. No biomancy. Instinctive behaviour became less of a mild inconvenience and more of a cripplingly dangerous situation. Some of our best stuff, such as scything talons and instant death, ap 2 boneswords got turned into jokes. Then, I read a little deeper. Lash whips and our two assault grenade equivalents are exactly what we needed, if not in the best spots. Venomthropes became incredible. Biovors got cheaper and better. Carnifex became just, mind blowing. Tyrannofex got an enormous discount, making them damn near a must-have. The powers became almost universally force-multiplying. The Horror may not be too devastating on the surface, but it could easily become the difference between a key turn of shooting or overwatch from an enemy unit. Fire Warriors become Ld 6! Crisis Suits getting pinned down when they were expecting to jump back, or a bunch of Eldar trickey bastards getting pinned in the open. Catalyst is amazing, Dominion became one of the staples to consistent success by extending your synapse web. Venom Cannons became way less terrible, and most of our guns became a little cheaper. Mostly, most of the codex became drastically cheaper. You get 10-25% more units in the same list as before, and the fundamental way in which you have to play the game has changed. We don't have the same sort of "build-and-win" lists we used to, but played well with a little luck and good use of target prioritization and threat-saturation you can do very, very well.

3>New Guys
You can play this well, and have fun. Haruspex, which comes from the ancient term referring to a type of oracle that reads the future from the entrails of the dead, is a fantastic unit. It is damn near guaranteed to kill whatever it fights, being able to fully mow down infantry and heal itself of those pesky powerfist wounds that come creeping up on it. The Exocrine is a game changer for sure, able to lay down unit-shattering firepower. Blasts will demolish high end infantry, and the 6 shots means things like broadsides and crisis suits have very good reason to fear closing in. The Crone is... disappointing. It is certainly neat, and is a huge threat but it is very vulnerable, and pretty much has to vector strike to be useful. While a nice gimmick, it isn't reliable enough to be viable at the points cost. It has a purpose, but the drool cannon lacking torrent really hobbles this unit as the staple we were hoping for. Vector Dancer, and torrent on the drool cannon and she'd be a hero. As is, a C at best.

So, in conclusion, I'm happy. I loved the monster mash before, and lovely balanced gribbly-swarms with a smattering of monsters. Like a chocolate chip cookie, it will be balanced and glorious. Enjoy, and as well like and follow me! Stay Hungry!

The Swarm Feeds: 1500 point Battle Report vs Eldar

I did a pre-codex release battle in preperation for a tournament I'm attending on the 18th. Big Guns Never Tire on Hammer and Anvil deployment, Eldar first turn. The lists:

Tyranids:
HQ
Hive Tyrant, wings, dual Devourers, rolled Iron Arm, Warp Speed

Elites
3 x Hive Guard

Troops:
2 x 15 Termagants
2 x Tervigon, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Extra Power (rolled endurance and lifeleech, Life Leech and Enfeeble)

Fast Attack:
2 x 10 Gargoyles, Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands

Heavy Support:
2 x Biovores
Trygon, Regeneration

Eldar:
HQ
Farseer, witchblade

Elites:
Fire Dragons x5, Waveserpent w/ scatter laser

Troops:
2 x 10 Guardians, with Bright Lance, Wave Serpent
5 Rangers

Fast Attack:
5 x Warp spiders w/ Exarch and fast shot

Heavy Support:
Wraithknight, bare
2 x 2 Warwalkers, scatter laser and bright lance

Turn One:
Eldar
He lead off with turn one, being very slow, only his 3 serpents and rangers on the board. They killed ~10 termagants, and shuffled a bit.
Tyranids
I got my flyrant stoked with iron arm and endurance before flying him over to the rangers. He could not Vector, unfortunately, but it still put him in range of the waveserpent bearing the warlord. Combined fire from the biovores and the flyrant got the rangers for First Blood. One hull point done with the Hive Guard. My first Tervigon spawns 8 and plugs, the second spawns 8 and continues for next turn.

Turn Two:
Eldar
Deep striking Wraithknight rolled a mishap, and I got to place. I put him in the middle of 2 units of spawned gaunts, and laughed as my gribblies closed in. His outflanking warwalkers came in in his deployment zone and hammered shots at my flyrant, but feel no pain and the need to snap shot saved him, along with all the other wave serpent shooting.
Tyranids
My Tyrant rolled up S and T 9, putting me in a position to vector strike the HQ serpent to death, which I failed miserably, rolling 1 to pen. A unit of gargoyles charged, inflicting 2 hull points. My Hive Guard wrecked a serpent bearing guardians, and the Biovores whiffed. Ended free up the Farseer unit for next time. Trygon continues moving virtually unopposed up the board in the centre, but he's well out of range to charge or shoot. My Tervigon spawns 7 and plugs. My gaunts charge the wraithknight and deal a singular wound.

Turn Three
I'm getting a little hazy on turns now so I'm just describing things in vague order
Here was a big turn, as my Tyrant shrugs off the majority of fire. That failure to kill him really spelled the future doom, as my gargoyles ravage his warp spiders and my biovores demolish guardians left and right. He did kill one with the surprise of the spiders. My Trygon and Tyrant kill off the fire dragon serpent, and tey in turn help to bring my tyrant down to 1 wound, before he starts healing from it will not die. My tervgon dies to his wraithknight after 2 turns of assault, but brought it down to 1 wound where he eventually falls to the poisoned Gaunts on the final turn. My Hive Guard destroy both units of war walkers in turns 4 and 5, and my tyrant and trygon kill the last 2 infantry units on the board for a clean table.

Thoughts:
Reserves really hurt armies opposing a wide spread tyranid list, as denying the board is easy and sweeping up can only really be stopped by mass anti-infantry fire. I'm happy with the way my list performed, though I may consolidate the 2 gargoyle squads to make them better at standing up to combat strength. Likewise, I may cut some costs and make my Trygon a Prime for added range and another tough synapse point.

As always, please subscribe at the side of the page, followers keep me posting new stuff!

Adventures in Air: My new Airbrush!

Yeah, I finally took the plunge, and over Christmas, I received a 2 gallon, 1/5 horsepower compressor with a line regulator, and an Iwata Neo gravity fed dual action airbrush!

I am very impressed with the way a local hobby center handled my inquiries and questions, they were incredibly helpful and informative. Anyone living in the Ottawa area should check out The Hobby Centre, near the costco on merivale road. Excellent guys there.

I'm going to be playing around with my brush all day, I'll post photos and first thoughts after I prime some models!