Monday, June 28, 2010

The quest for nids on steroids




It’s been a great weekend playing a game with Ray (enrgie) to finally settle our long rivalry before he peaces out back to where he is from. We played an annihilation game at 1500 pts. Very close game. Space wolves managed to win only by meager margins. In hindsight, I actually wanted the nids to win. I cannot stress enough how much of a potential I believe nids possess.

Based on this belief, I’ve decided to give my two cents on how I believe the nids should best function. At least against my space wolves. I’m not a nid player, never used them in my army, my only knowledge of them is from the ample experiences I’ve had while playing against them.

Looking at the codex, a lot of the mc’s have really interesting upgrades to soup out your bugs. Predominately the quest for nids on steroids is to find the hardest hitting HQ build that can support the little guys instead of letting them be meat shields. While many people believe you must accept nids will most likely sustain substantial losses, I believe while doing so, nids can also take a lot more lives with them as they get shot or smashed to pulp. Its just what aliens do… I think the most obvious element to consider is timing and synchrony.

Consider this; you only need to hide your MC’s as they get into position. The longer it takes for the MC to get into position, the more vulnerable they are with only 3+ saves and to protect them means using cover (also taking more time to get from a to b) or committing cannon fodders to buy cover saves. All this can be minimized if the MC can be in position as soon as possible. This is where the nids truly shine. When they are at the right place fast enough to break the back of the opposing army.

To fulfill this role, I’m looking at making small additions to Ray’s already powerful list to something even more deadly against space wolves and marines alike. For this I’m looking at the hive tyrant:

Hive tyrants can take many different loadouts to fulfill a wide array of specialized roles to “support” your army. It is by no means a stand-alone unit. For it to function at it’s optimum level, you must make use of it’s synapse ability to buff up the little bugs. Its got heavy combat potential but again, being an mc, it is hard to hide, no invulnerable saves means look out for snipers.

This is my build for a very melee intensive angry Hive Guard, here goes nothing…

Either Lash Whip and Bonesword and Scything Talons or two pairs of Scything Talons, Old Adversary, Wings, Leech Essence, and Paroxysm.

This build is meant for rapid response and close support of your troops. It is meant for getting Preferred Enemy to the area that needs it most, and providing covering fire/extra CQC punch when it gets there. The melee intensive build saves you some points as those weapons are all free/standard, and while Preferred Enemy gives you rerolls against things with WS, it doesn't help at all versus normal vehicles, but the Scything Talons do work.

For Ray’s current list, since your trygons do nothing after deepstriking (not able to assault while shooting its pathetic guns), you might as well scrap that for something that can truly enhance the performance of your overall army. Just remember, the points I want to accomplish with this unit are synergy and synchrony. With these 2 elements, I believe nids will truly be a force to be reckoned with.

On a side note, although pricy, wouldn’t you rather pay for something that works instead of something that just looks like an ugly snake?

There you go Ray, I look forward to facing these when I come for a battle tour in sg. comments are welcomed.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Jay.

    I see one big problem with this. You have just created a very strong HQ which costs 255 points. If this is the only big creature on the table, be prepared to lose it in one turn of shooting. You will need to support it or create more targets for your opponent to split fire - e.g. Tervigons and Trygons. The way this Flyrant will work in a list is to create a MC list where the opponent will be forced to decide between the various large creatures coming in. Previously having played against other players, I lost my Flyrant really quickly. The only way I could mitigate this was to have more MC’s on the table however a smart opponent will always be targeting my Tyrant first.

    The main reason I stopped fielding the Flyrant in my lists (I have the model and he's painted as well) is that I find the Prime more tactically flexible – being able to hide in a unit of Warriors and still be only 110 points, I can field 2 Primes for one Flyrant and have points to spare!

    Regarding synergies, the Warriors work well with two main units:
    1. Gaunts
    2. Gargolyes

    This is because these two units are super cheap (5 and 6 points each) without any upgrades. Add 2 Tervigons, they can provide a brilliant screen as the Gargs move fast while the Gaunts give me an option to just cordone a part of your army forcing you to either kill them off or block off your shooting channels.

    I have the plan in my head and a list to demonstrate what I have in mind but I have not built my Gargs yet. I doubt you will see them this Tues but I promise they will be ready for our game in August.

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