Hey guys, I'm back with another part in my review of the new Tyranid codex. This time, I'm going to break into the Troops - namely Gaunts and Gargoyles this part.
Termagants
These are the bread and butter of a good swarm. I recall once upon a time, the MC spam lists tried to avoid having great piles of these guys, but it is by far the most efficient expenditure of points you can have. You need target saturation, and even if it isn't much, a 20 gant squad for 80 points is something that needs to be dealt with and if left alone, can either swamp units or simply exist to score. They are very flimsy, dying in droves with no save to damn near anything, even getting mowed down by guardsmen flashlights with nothing but a 6+ to save them.
Be very careful with charges. Over watch can wreck these critters, and losing 2-3 to rapid fire is often enough to shore up the required charge roll and make success less likely. Once in combat, they can do some damage on the charge but flail ineffectually in following rounds of combat, so don't rely on them winning much unless they face terrible opponents (like fire warriors).
Hormogaunts
I love these, based on fluff, and crunch. The skittering tide bounding across the field is fearsome indeed, and on the board it will be something to be reckoned with. At one point more then a Termagant, or two termagants if you give them Toxin Sacs, the Hormogaunt is a cheap and versatile assault unit. They boast modest combat ability bare, able to reliably put a hurt on any basic troops choice and threaten low model count/low attack level specialists such as Crisis Teams, Marine HQs that don't have a high-powered combat escort, Tac squads, Dire Avengers, etc. With 3 attacks on the charge, and Bounding Leap, they absolutely force a threat starting turn 2. Bounding Leap is the main beauty here, as they retain fleet, but also gain a permanent +3" to every Run move. That makes the average, with Fleet re-roll, 7.5" or there around, giving these guys turn 1-2 movement close to that of Jump infantry. Combined with Toxin Sacs, these guys put a huge threat out there to anything not bearing a coveted 2+, and can be counted on to tear down anything they get into combat with so long as they hold some numbers. Alternatively, Adrenal Glands can make them a massive threat to any vehicles, with a long charge range and a mass of attacks, a unit of Hormogaunts can reliably glance any rear AV10 vehicle into scrap in a single charge . The problem, of course, is very low survivability, and expense. They remain pricey for what you get, at 100 for 20, or 160 for 20 poisoned, that can be easily wiped off the board by massed bolter fire. I personally recommend they be taken as a single unit of 20, bare, to be used as a front line screen that, using the huge first turn move+run, forces the opponent to use up valuable early game firepower on one of your cheap, disposable threats instead of your tyrants and carnifexes.
Gargoyles
I know, these are fast attack, but they fall under the Gaunt heading in the Codex, and I include them for that reason. Please keep in mind this is NOT a scoring unit.
These guys took a big hit in the form of Blinding Venom. Instead of automatic wounds on every 6 to hit, they now may opt to swap out all their attacks for a 6+ poisoned blind attack at strength 3. That is a massive nerf, and the increased cost of biomorph upgrades means they are now best run as a fast, cheap, and ultimately disposable screen unit. They are fully capable of damaging units, but they are no longer the rampage they were, so do not count on them to destroy the enemy front line. Use them as a replacement for Hormogaunts, or a cheap distraction unit to deep strike in turn 2 or 3 and disrupt the enemy units.
If you want a fast reaction unit, they are very survivable in your backfield, able to move quickly into cover and out of line of sight, and they can use their fast movement to form a powerful quick-response fire fighting unit, or late game denial.
Regarding Gargoyles, bare, their blinding venom is not great against T4, or high initiative (so marines and Eldar), but will work very well against the likes of Tau or Guard. Recall that they just have to hit with the attack in order to instigate the Blind effect, and tau at I3 will be most susceptible to this, though black sun filters will negate the advantage this gives.
ReplyDeleteSo what does this effectively mean? Well it means that you only need one hit to cause a blind effect, which if it works will reduce the opponent to WS1, which means that they can only hit back with a 5+, so your gargoyles are granted better protection. If you hit against T3, then because your strength is also T3, then you get to re-roll to wound due to the poison ability.
This means that a single blind attack has a better chance of hitting and wounding an opponent than a single normal close combat attack. The downside comes from trading in all normal attacks for this single attack, meaning that the average number of wounds caused is less for a single blind attack compared to two normal attacks.
So if charging you may wish to just use your normal attacks, but if you are wanting to attempt to bog the enemy down by blinding them, then blinding venom imay be an option. If you are the one that gets assaulted, then it makes more sense to use blinding venom attacks, since you have nothing to use. So Blinding venom to me is more of a defensive attribute than offensive.
I know a lot of people see this as being a nerf, but I think it is just a rebalancing with respect to 6th edition. In 5th, there was no hammer of wrath, but with 6th edition, gargoyles could get an automatic hit at base strength. So before the new codex came along, gargoyles on the charge got effectively 3 attacks, one hitting automatically, and the other two wounding automatically on a to hit of 6. Now a gargoyle brood can cause 2 or 3 attacks on the charge (one of which will hit automatically), and you can decide how you want to play with blinding venom t depending upon the tactical situation at the time.
The best upgrade to give to gargoyles is adrenal glands. Since they come with fleshborers as standard, giving them fleet for running, as well as a re-roll for charging if they have already used their "jump pack" ability in the movement phase.