As you will have noticed I have not posted much recently. This is because of the immenent release of 6th edition.
No point in posting tactics or reviews for a system which will be gone in a month.
Friday, 22 June 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
End of 5th
Gamesworkshop have removed the sale of their 5th edition rulebooks, along with a "cryptic" message on their page. I assume this means 6th edition, preorder at least, is going to occur this month, probably with a full release in next months White dwarf.
I have a number of misgivings about 6th, as I am hoping it turns out to be nothing at all like 8th edition fantasy. Hopefully it will end up just being a tweaking of 5th edition rules. Please don't let there be random psychic powers!
I have a number of misgivings about 6th, as I am hoping it turns out to be nothing at all like 8th edition fantasy. Hopefully it will end up just being a tweaking of 5th edition rules. Please don't let there be random psychic powers!
Friday, 18 May 2012
Looking into Infinity
Having looked extensively into the rumours concerning the immenent release of 40k 6th edition I have many concerns.
If it is going to be like fantasy 8th edition, and a lot of what is coming out suggests it is, then I think I will be less than enthusiastic about getting into it.
With this in mind, I have been looking into Infinity the game. For those who are not aware of this game, it is a sci fi game, using small amounts of models [usually tops out at 10 per side] which is quite similar to Necromunda in appearance, although the rules system is completely different.
For a considerably lower entrance cost, given all the rules and units rules are completely free to download and small numbers of models it looks to be an interesting game. I have already ordered a full and large selection of the Nomad faction which I hope to be putting photos up of at some stage.
If anyone is interested, information can be found http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/
If it is going to be like fantasy 8th edition, and a lot of what is coming out suggests it is, then I think I will be less than enthusiastic about getting into it.
With this in mind, I have been looking into Infinity the game. For those who are not aware of this game, it is a sci fi game, using small amounts of models [usually tops out at 10 per side] which is quite similar to Necromunda in appearance, although the rules system is completely different.
For a considerably lower entrance cost, given all the rules and units rules are completely free to download and small numbers of models it looks to be an interesting game. I have already ordered a full and large selection of the Nomad faction which I hope to be putting photos up of at some stage.
If anyone is interested, information can be found http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/
Friday, 4 May 2012
Thoughts on Warhammer 40000 6th edition
I know 6th edition isn't out yet, but it is a virtual certainty that it will be coming out in the near future. All of the clues point towards a Summer release, with the Autumn of Fliers due after it, which gives a good clue that fliers may be due after it.
Interestingly, it seems that other far more popular blog websites than mine are collecting rumours. It seems the fake 6th ed rules that were found a few months ago may have been a working document. That means it is probable that the new book has at least some of the rules mentioned in it.
What seems to be a certainty is that the psychic phase is to be altered. The reason I say this is because of the change of wording in the Grey Knights book, to having Psychic (1) or (2) which wouldn't be needed if it wasn't changing. Necrons not having psykers being released also makes sense, as they will be easier to write with 6th in mind without having these rules to take into account. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Tau being released before or around the same time as 6th hits, because they too don't have psykers.
There are also rumblings that vehicles will get a kind of wounds system. This could be interesting, as vehicle balance is not great at the moment, hence the huge amounts of mech armies around. It would probably be simpler for everyone if all vehicles were just monstrous creatures but I can't see that happening.
Interestingly, it seems that other far more popular blog websites than mine are collecting rumours. It seems the fake 6th ed rules that were found a few months ago may have been a working document. That means it is probable that the new book has at least some of the rules mentioned in it.
What seems to be a certainty is that the psychic phase is to be altered. The reason I say this is because of the change of wording in the Grey Knights book, to having Psychic (1) or (2) which wouldn't be needed if it wasn't changing. Necrons not having psykers being released also makes sense, as they will be easier to write with 6th in mind without having these rules to take into account. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Tau being released before or around the same time as 6th hits, because they too don't have psykers.
There are also rumblings that vehicles will get a kind of wounds system. This could be interesting, as vehicle balance is not great at the moment, hence the huge amounts of mech armies around. It would probably be simpler for everyone if all vehicles were just monstrous creatures but I can't see that happening.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Assaulting 101
Taking a break from all the Tyranid Codex review pages I have written recently to look at a key area of the game; Assaulting.
I think there is a common misconception as to what a good assault unit does. A good unit DOES NOT win in the turn it charges into combat. This is very bad.
Now you may be thinking why am I saying this. Surely a unit which can kill pretty much anything on the charge, such as a full squad of Paladins with master crafted weapons, is a great unit. In a lot of ways you would be correct. But not all.
In an ideal world you want to leave a couple of enemies left. This is to stop the enemy offloading a bunch of high powered anti infantry weapons into you. Melta and plasma weapons enmass will cut through your super expensive Paladin unit before you can say help. By staying in combat, you force them to come into hand to hand to fight you. This is where you are strongest, so it is a win win situation.
Once you kill the enemy in their turn, feel free to consolidate then charge into something else in your turn.
The only real problem with this is that you need to be able to kill the enemy in their turn even if they charge you, so it is a fine balance between the two.
I think there is a common misconception as to what a good assault unit does. A good unit DOES NOT win in the turn it charges into combat. This is very bad.
Now you may be thinking why am I saying this. Surely a unit which can kill pretty much anything on the charge, such as a full squad of Paladins with master crafted weapons, is a great unit. In a lot of ways you would be correct. But not all.
In an ideal world you want to leave a couple of enemies left. This is to stop the enemy offloading a bunch of high powered anti infantry weapons into you. Melta and plasma weapons enmass will cut through your super expensive Paladin unit before you can say help. By staying in combat, you force them to come into hand to hand to fight you. This is where you are strongest, so it is a win win situation.
Once you kill the enemy in their turn, feel free to consolidate then charge into something else in your turn.
The only real problem with this is that you need to be able to kill the enemy in their turn even if they charge you, so it is a fine balance between the two.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Tyranid Codex review Part 4
Tyranid Codex review Part 4: Elites Part 2
Part 4 is the conclusion of the elite choices.
Zoanthrope
This is a synapse creature, with psychic powers designed to hunt marines and tanks. So far, so good. It has a marine like stat line, but with lower ballistic skill and initative and maximum leadership. In terms of equipment it comes with a 5+ save and claws, so nothing especially useful here. However much like other psykers its true value comes from its powers.
In terms of biomorphs, it comes with Psyker, Synapse, Shadow in the Warp and Warp Field. As Warp Field is the only one not covered earlier, it is the only one I will go into any detail on now. Essentially this gives the Zoanthrope a 3++ save, which is as good as a Storm shield. Nothing to complain about here, although volume of small arms fire is still a worry due to the lowish toughness.
It has two psychic powers built in for free. The first is Warp Blast, a marine killing gun with the same strength and AP as a Eldar Reaper Launcher and a small blast. Has the same range as a bolter too. Being move and fire like everything else in the book, its pretty decent. The second power is Warp Lance, a maximum strength single shot AP 1 Lance shot. Quite probably the most lethal lance in the game, and comparable in terms of penetration as a melta weapon. Shorter range than the Blast, this is the primary reason for including Zoanthropes
This also has access to a Mycetic Spore for deep striking. This could come in handy due to the relative short range of the powers on the Zoanthrope, and you can take 1 to 3 in a brood.
Conclusion:
This is a serious competitor for the Elite slot anti tank, along side the Hive Guard. Unlike the Hive Guard, the Zoanthrope can cause serious damage to marines and heavier tanks, but at the expense of volume of fire, toughness and indirect fire abilities. It also has to pass a psychic test, which can be an issue against some defences which can cancel powers out.
The Doom of Malan'tai
Doom is an unusual creature, unlike pretty much everything else in the game. Its stats are not all that impressive, with it resembling a marine in most ways, except better wounds, attacks and leadership. This is not good for a model that costs more than 5 marines.
I think it is a special character Zoanthrope though this isn't made explicit in the rules. It has the same claws, 5+ save and 3++ Warpfield, along with Psyker, Shadow in the Warp but oddly isn't Synapse. It also gets the Cataclysm psychic power, which is a bolter ranged shooting attack, which hits at the strength of the number of wounds it has left, which could be a lot depending on events in the game (see below) This is a large blast and AP1, so quite probably very fatal for most things stood underneath, even at its basic strength. The downside is you take d3 wounds, with no saves of any kind, before gaining wounds back when this power is cast, so try not to use it when you have less than 3 wounds left, or you could see it killing itself.
Spirit Leech makes every non vehicle unit in 6 inches take leadership tests on 3d6. For every point they fail by they suffer a wound with no save allowed. This is pretty decent, and against lone characters could be fatal. Obviously most expensive things have good leadership, but 10 is the highest you can have, and 10.5 is the average on 3d6 so this should kill a couple of models per turn.
In combination with Spirit Leech is Absorb life. For every wound Doom inflicts, it adds one to the creatures total wounds. This works in tandem with Psychic Strength which matches the strength to the total wounds. I have to wonder why these two rules are separate, they could easily be covered by the one single rule, but its hardly the end of the world that they dont.
This also has access to a Mycetic spore, it could help get into range to use its power, but there are better units to use the spore on
Conclusion:
A relatively random, possibly completely lethal, special character. You need to be careful early on to ensure it doesn't die, picking on units clumped together. With the very good AP of the power, it can demolish units of pretty much anything. Just be wary about spending wounds if there isn't at least four wounds left on the model, or it could die. Avoid close combat like the plague, just use its power to shoot at the enemy units from range.
Pyrovore
This should be a short entry. This unit is terrible. Really, really terrible. Getting that out of the way, in the interest of objectivity I will look at why I think this is the case. You pay nearly as many points as for a hive guard, but you have below average weapon skill and ballistic skill, terrible initative followed by only two wounds, a 4+ save and marine strength and toughness. This is incredibly easy to kill.
Its special rules are as follows. Flamespurt is a heavy flamer, not even a good one like a hellhound, just a regular heavy flamer. So you need to be on top of enemy units with a unit which is utterly terrible in close combat. Acid Maw gives it ignoring armour save abilities in close combat, but as mentioned, it has one attack, terrible initiative and low weaponskill, it is highly unlikely to ever get to use this. Volatile means it explodes 50% of the time should it die. This is fairly likely to happen but unfortunatly more likely to happen when near your own troops than in combat with the enemy. Acid blood means if it is wounded in combat the enemy might take wounds, but it only has two, its not realistically going to win you the combat, you are still going to be dead. You can if you should desire buy 1 to 3 of these and put them in a spore.
Conclusion:
Don't use this please. It really is bad. Its only use is an expensive suicide unit, which is likely to go off amongst your own troops.
Ymgarl Genestealers
These are a special unit of elite Genestealers. Less of an assault force than their more common cousins, these are a specialist unit designed to wipe out small support units and characters hanging around at the back.
So the main question is what do you get over regular Genestealers, which are troops and not in the ultra competitive elite slot. You are paying nearly 50% more points per model for these and on stats only get +1 armour save, taking them to 4+. So you best get some value from the equipment and special rules, or these are a no starter.
They come with rending claws as weapons, with no options for Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands or Toxin Sacks. So far, so bad. No option to take a Broodlord either.
They have Fleet, Move through Cover and Brood Telepathy as the regular Genestealers do. Brood Telepathy is pretty good as it means the unit doesn't need to take any tests for Instinctive behaviour if out of synapse range.
So what you are paying for must be covered in the two special rules they have, which normal Genestealers don't. Lets look at them. First up Dormant. This ability means you nominate a piece of terrain and then write it down after both sides have deployed. The unit are in reserve, but when they arrive they are placed in it, don't scatter and can move and assault normally. This is a massive ability as you can put them in a building with enemy heavy weapons etc and they won't have a chance to defend themselves from your charge. Being Genestealers they are more than capable of wiping out most units they charge. Unit size is 5 to 10, which is fine, you probably only want a small unit as you have to deploy within the boundaries of the terrain you have chosen.
Dormant works nicely along side their second ability, Alter Form. In every assault phase they can pick either +1 Strength, +1 Attacks or +1 Toughness. There is a trick to this that any long time Wood Elf player will be familiar with. What you need to do is choose the ability which will most likely result in you winning in your opponents turn, allowing you to move and assault again in your next turn with no danger of being shot. If the enemy only have a handful of devastators, you should choose +1 toughness to limit how many kills you inflict. If however you are charged, and you need to win, you should choose +1 attack. Strictly speaking +1 strength is worse than the other two as you are relying on rending to kill power armour rather than slightly easier to wound rolls.
Conclusion:
This is a unit which competes with the Lictor, more than Genestealers. Its abilities are very similar to the Lictor, being about to appear and cause havoc. The difference being that Genestealers have far more offensive output and can charge on the turn they appear. Of the two, I would be more tempted to field these Ymgarl Genestealers simply because they don't rely on surviving a whole turn of firepower before being able to charge.
Overall Elites Choice Conclusion:
The elites choices are basically split into two camps. There are the anti tank Zoanthropes and Hive Guard, and the utility units which covers everything else. To make a competitive army, you will want at least two slots with the anti tank options. It doesn't matter which you pick really. You can then take one of the other units in your third slot, or indeed another of the anti tank ones if you should wish. You can probably drop one anti tank if you have a Tyrannofex with a Rupture cannon, but I would never drop both. As long as you avoid taking the Pyrovore, the other choices are okay support elements, it really depends on what style of play you want to do. A large gaunt horde charging across the table might want Venomthropes, but a more specialised army could get more out of a Lictor style disruption unit.
Zoanthrope
This is a synapse creature, with psychic powers designed to hunt marines and tanks. So far, so good. It has a marine like stat line, but with lower ballistic skill and initative and maximum leadership. In terms of equipment it comes with a 5+ save and claws, so nothing especially useful here. However much like other psykers its true value comes from its powers.
In terms of biomorphs, it comes with Psyker, Synapse, Shadow in the Warp and Warp Field. As Warp Field is the only one not covered earlier, it is the only one I will go into any detail on now. Essentially this gives the Zoanthrope a 3++ save, which is as good as a Storm shield. Nothing to complain about here, although volume of small arms fire is still a worry due to the lowish toughness.
It has two psychic powers built in for free. The first is Warp Blast, a marine killing gun with the same strength and AP as a Eldar Reaper Launcher and a small blast. Has the same range as a bolter too. Being move and fire like everything else in the book, its pretty decent. The second power is Warp Lance, a maximum strength single shot AP 1 Lance shot. Quite probably the most lethal lance in the game, and comparable in terms of penetration as a melta weapon. Shorter range than the Blast, this is the primary reason for including Zoanthropes
This also has access to a Mycetic Spore for deep striking. This could come in handy due to the relative short range of the powers on the Zoanthrope, and you can take 1 to 3 in a brood.
Conclusion:
This is a serious competitor for the Elite slot anti tank, along side the Hive Guard. Unlike the Hive Guard, the Zoanthrope can cause serious damage to marines and heavier tanks, but at the expense of volume of fire, toughness and indirect fire abilities. It also has to pass a psychic test, which can be an issue against some defences which can cancel powers out.
The Doom of Malan'tai
Doom is an unusual creature, unlike pretty much everything else in the game. Its stats are not all that impressive, with it resembling a marine in most ways, except better wounds, attacks and leadership. This is not good for a model that costs more than 5 marines.
I think it is a special character Zoanthrope though this isn't made explicit in the rules. It has the same claws, 5+ save and 3++ Warpfield, along with Psyker, Shadow in the Warp but oddly isn't Synapse. It also gets the Cataclysm psychic power, which is a bolter ranged shooting attack, which hits at the strength of the number of wounds it has left, which could be a lot depending on events in the game (see below) This is a large blast and AP1, so quite probably very fatal for most things stood underneath, even at its basic strength. The downside is you take d3 wounds, with no saves of any kind, before gaining wounds back when this power is cast, so try not to use it when you have less than 3 wounds left, or you could see it killing itself.
Spirit Leech makes every non vehicle unit in 6 inches take leadership tests on 3d6. For every point they fail by they suffer a wound with no save allowed. This is pretty decent, and against lone characters could be fatal. Obviously most expensive things have good leadership, but 10 is the highest you can have, and 10.5 is the average on 3d6 so this should kill a couple of models per turn.
In combination with Spirit Leech is Absorb life. For every wound Doom inflicts, it adds one to the creatures total wounds. This works in tandem with Psychic Strength which matches the strength to the total wounds. I have to wonder why these two rules are separate, they could easily be covered by the one single rule, but its hardly the end of the world that they dont.
This also has access to a Mycetic spore, it could help get into range to use its power, but there are better units to use the spore on
Conclusion:
A relatively random, possibly completely lethal, special character. You need to be careful early on to ensure it doesn't die, picking on units clumped together. With the very good AP of the power, it can demolish units of pretty much anything. Just be wary about spending wounds if there isn't at least four wounds left on the model, or it could die. Avoid close combat like the plague, just use its power to shoot at the enemy units from range.
Pyrovore
This should be a short entry. This unit is terrible. Really, really terrible. Getting that out of the way, in the interest of objectivity I will look at why I think this is the case. You pay nearly as many points as for a hive guard, but you have below average weapon skill and ballistic skill, terrible initative followed by only two wounds, a 4+ save and marine strength and toughness. This is incredibly easy to kill.
Its special rules are as follows. Flamespurt is a heavy flamer, not even a good one like a hellhound, just a regular heavy flamer. So you need to be on top of enemy units with a unit which is utterly terrible in close combat. Acid Maw gives it ignoring armour save abilities in close combat, but as mentioned, it has one attack, terrible initiative and low weaponskill, it is highly unlikely to ever get to use this. Volatile means it explodes 50% of the time should it die. This is fairly likely to happen but unfortunatly more likely to happen when near your own troops than in combat with the enemy. Acid blood means if it is wounded in combat the enemy might take wounds, but it only has two, its not realistically going to win you the combat, you are still going to be dead. You can if you should desire buy 1 to 3 of these and put them in a spore.
Conclusion:
Don't use this please. It really is bad. Its only use is an expensive suicide unit, which is likely to go off amongst your own troops.
Ymgarl Genestealers
These are a special unit of elite Genestealers. Less of an assault force than their more common cousins, these are a specialist unit designed to wipe out small support units and characters hanging around at the back.
So the main question is what do you get over regular Genestealers, which are troops and not in the ultra competitive elite slot. You are paying nearly 50% more points per model for these and on stats only get +1 armour save, taking them to 4+. So you best get some value from the equipment and special rules, or these are a no starter.
They come with rending claws as weapons, with no options for Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands or Toxin Sacks. So far, so bad. No option to take a Broodlord either.
They have Fleet, Move through Cover and Brood Telepathy as the regular Genestealers do. Brood Telepathy is pretty good as it means the unit doesn't need to take any tests for Instinctive behaviour if out of synapse range.
So what you are paying for must be covered in the two special rules they have, which normal Genestealers don't. Lets look at them. First up Dormant. This ability means you nominate a piece of terrain and then write it down after both sides have deployed. The unit are in reserve, but when they arrive they are placed in it, don't scatter and can move and assault normally. This is a massive ability as you can put them in a building with enemy heavy weapons etc and they won't have a chance to defend themselves from your charge. Being Genestealers they are more than capable of wiping out most units they charge. Unit size is 5 to 10, which is fine, you probably only want a small unit as you have to deploy within the boundaries of the terrain you have chosen.
Dormant works nicely along side their second ability, Alter Form. In every assault phase they can pick either +1 Strength, +1 Attacks or +1 Toughness. There is a trick to this that any long time Wood Elf player will be familiar with. What you need to do is choose the ability which will most likely result in you winning in your opponents turn, allowing you to move and assault again in your next turn with no danger of being shot. If the enemy only have a handful of devastators, you should choose +1 toughness to limit how many kills you inflict. If however you are charged, and you need to win, you should choose +1 attack. Strictly speaking +1 strength is worse than the other two as you are relying on rending to kill power armour rather than slightly easier to wound rolls.
Conclusion:
This is a unit which competes with the Lictor, more than Genestealers. Its abilities are very similar to the Lictor, being about to appear and cause havoc. The difference being that Genestealers have far more offensive output and can charge on the turn they appear. Of the two, I would be more tempted to field these Ymgarl Genestealers simply because they don't rely on surviving a whole turn of firepower before being able to charge.
Overall Elites Choice Conclusion:
The elites choices are basically split into two camps. There are the anti tank Zoanthropes and Hive Guard, and the utility units which covers everything else. To make a competitive army, you will want at least two slots with the anti tank options. It doesn't matter which you pick really. You can then take one of the other units in your third slot, or indeed another of the anti tank ones if you should wish. You can probably drop one anti tank if you have a Tyrannofex with a Rupture cannon, but I would never drop both. As long as you avoid taking the Pyrovore, the other choices are okay support elements, it really depends on what style of play you want to do. A large gaunt horde charging across the table might want Venomthropes, but a more specialised army could get more out of a Lictor style disruption unit.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Tyranid Codex review Part 3
Tyranid Codex review Part 3: Elites Part 1
After the mammoth entries last week, I am onto Elites choices now. These will be in places a fair amount shorter than the previous entries, simply because a lot of these units only do one or two things really well.
Hive Guard
These are an anti tank unit sporting a very good two shot Impaler Cannon, which is basically a +1 strength autocannon, but with half the range. On the plus side the gun is assault, like all tyranid weapons and doesn't need line of sight to fire. Most of the creatures actual stat line is fairly irrelvant, but it does have a marine level ballistic skill, combined with monstrous creature toughness and a 4+ save, meaning they can be quite difficult to shift. A couple of wounds completes the package nicely.
You will probably want to use of these to dispose of transports. The gun is fairly effective against most armour values, but 13 and upwards may be pushing it. They are not especially points efficient being used against infantry, as the AP isn't good enough to worry marines. Just concentrate on shooting either tough things with low armour saves, or tanks in the armour 10-12 band and they will be fine.
Conclusion:
They have no options to talk about beyond picking 1 to 3 in a brood, they are what they are, light tank hunters, and they come in at a bargain price. One of the best units in the codex, I have no doubt.
Lictor Brood
Ahh the Lictor. In the past, the Lictor was a feared unit causing havoc and being virtually impossible to see and hit. These days it is far more conventional, but has a few complex rules to look into. First lets consider its stat line. What first jumps out at me is its high weaponskill, strength and initative. It hits marines on 3s, wounds them on 2s, but not being a monstrous creature it has to rely on rending to kill things. That is a bit disappointing. The problem is that it only has a marine level toughness, three wounds and a guardsmans armour save to protect it from being hit back. Its Weapon Skill is not good enough to prevent 99% of things hitting it back on a 4+. It will struggle to kill more than one power armoured model a turn, but for every 6 marine attacks back, it will take one wound on average.
You can take 1-3 of these in a brood, which might be needed if you want them to attack squads. Even fairly weak units like devastators, which should be its ideal targets, will likely inflict one wound on it in combat.
It comes with, and can't change or upgrade, a 5+ save, Rending Claws and Scything Talons. Not great, but it is what it is.
Chameleon skin is effectively deepstriking, anywhere outside of 1 inch from the enemy without scattering or risk of death. Unfortunately no option to charge, so you are stuck either shooting, or running. As you don't scatter it is unlikely you will want to run, simply because you could have chosen to deploy pretty much anywhere you could actually run to. So for shooting, what do you have?
What you have are flesh hooks. The range is the same as a pistol, but due to deployment rules that shouldn't be an issue. You have two shots at strength 6 and rending. So effectively a two shot Assault cannon if being fired at tanks. On the plus side, you can appear behind the tanks, and shoot at their weak rear armour. This is a good use of the ability, as a Lictor brood can rampage through a parking lot of tanks, shooting and assaulting if it survives one turn of shooting.
It comes with a selection of special rules, with stealth and move through cover being very handy, as should it appear in cover, it has a very good 3+ cover save to protect it. If it is engaged in a combat it cant win, it can always use hit and run to escape, and with its high initiative, it should manage to do this.
Lastly Pheromone trail. This could have been good, if the words "on the board at the start of the movement phase" were removed from the ability. This gives the tyranid player a bonus +1 to reserve rolls when he is on the table. The downside is, the Lictor has to have arrived the turn before, or it doesn't do anything, which means it needs to have passed its reserve roll a turn or so before. You don't even have the option of deploying it normally or infiltrating. Think of this as an occasionally useful, but probably hardly ever used ability and you wont go far wrong.
Conclusion:
This is a utility unit, specialising in disruption of the enemy and tank destruction. I would avoid any infantry units unless they are heavily depleted as even relatively poor units can take wounds off them. If you can shoot a tank or dreadnought in the rear, you should hopefully be able to do something, stay in cover as much as possible. The good news with this is that the tank may need to turn round to shoot you, and if it does, hopefully its weaker armour is facing longer range guns on your side. If you do get engaged in close combat, use hit and run to escape.
Deathleaper
This is a Lictor special character, costing just over the price of two ordinary Lictors. So it better be pretty good, as it is nearly as expensive as the HQ options! Lets look at what you get on top of a Lictor statistic line. Well standing out for me is the incredibly high weapon skill, the same as the Swarmlord. This means that marines only hit you on 5+, which is a big thing. Same poor save and average toughness, but a point more initiative, although that will only really help vs halberd armed grey knights and some eldar units. You also get an extra attack, nice but by no means does this make it competent in close combat.
It has exactly the same biomorphs and weapons as a Lictor as well as the same Fleet, Move through Cover, Pheromone trail, Stealth and Hit and run rules. In addition it has a couple of unique special rules.
"Its after me" is very decent, it is perhaps the sole reason to actually include the Deathleaper. This reduces one enemy HQs leadership by D3. Best used on psykers. Ability stops should the Deathleaper die, so keeping alive is important.
"What was that" reduces enemy movement in difficult terrain by one dice, down to a minimum of one dice, provided the enemy are in pistol range. Could potentially stop you being charged.
"Where'd it go" Allows the Deathleaper to disappear if it is more than 1 inch away from the enemy, then return back to the table by Chameleon skin deployment. Can be incredibly useful for redeploying and keeping yourself alive. It has the added bonus that should you go second, that you could redeploy on turn 4 and reappear contesting an objective on turn 5 when the enemy can't kill you.
The final special rule is Killing Strike, causing both its combat attacks and Flesh Hooks to rend on 5+, which is quite nice, and makes it quite a lot more reliable at tank hunting.
Conclusion:
Much like the normal Lictor, this is a disruption unit. It is actually better at its job than a unit of two lictors, due to the variety of special rules it brings to the table. I would therefore suggest including the Deathleaper should you ever be tempted to field more than one normal Lictor.
Venomthrope
Another utility unit, of a totally different type to the two Lictors. The Venomthrope is primarily a support unit. The statistic line is not exactly impressive, sporting a marines strength and toughness as well as ballistic skill, despite having no ranged attacks. It has a poor weaponskill, only two attacks, low initiative and only two wounds.
In terms of weapons, it comes with lashwhips, making its initative somewhat better and a 5+ save, which isn't brilliant. It also comes with Toxic Miasma biomorph, perhaps the only time you will see this in a game. However you don't really buy this creature for its statistics, you buy it for its special rules.
First up, Toxic Touch, meaning all its close combat attacks wound on a 2+. Not bad, but really it doesn't have the stat line to be wanting to be in combat, two attacks and a poor weaponskill, coupled with a poor armour save, do not make this a combat beast. So this probably isn't the reason you are taking this.
Second, and most importantly, is Spore Cloud. This incredibly handy ability does a couple of things. Firstly it gives all units on your side within 6 inches a 5+ cover save. This protects everything, including Hive Tyrants etc, who are within range. All units within this range also count as being armed with defensive grenades should anyone assault you. Unlikely, but it is there. An unusual and probably unforeseen side effect of this is that units which are normally strength 3 or lower will benefit assaulting tanks, as defensive grenades give you strength 4, allowing you to target rear armour of things. Units wishing to charge units taking advantage of this cover must take dangerous terrain tests. All these bonuses are lost should the Venomthrope die.
This is the first unit which has access to a mycetic spore. This is essentially a drop pod but will be discussed in further detail in the troops entry where it appears in the codex.
Conclusion:
The Venomthrope brings a lot to the table, in terms of keeping your horde alive when crossing the table. The only real problem is keeping it alive as a single krak missile hit and that is probably it. Its cover save bonus is far more useful to the units around it than itself. With this in mind, you really need to keep it out of line of sight, preferably behind one of the giant new plastic tyranids, be it a Trygon, Mawloc, Tervigon etc.
That concludes the elites part 1 of my review of the Tyranid Codex. Click here for part 4.
After the mammoth entries last week, I am onto Elites choices now. These will be in places a fair amount shorter than the previous entries, simply because a lot of these units only do one or two things really well.
Hive Guard
These are an anti tank unit sporting a very good two shot Impaler Cannon, which is basically a +1 strength autocannon, but with half the range. On the plus side the gun is assault, like all tyranid weapons and doesn't need line of sight to fire. Most of the creatures actual stat line is fairly irrelvant, but it does have a marine level ballistic skill, combined with monstrous creature toughness and a 4+ save, meaning they can be quite difficult to shift. A couple of wounds completes the package nicely.
You will probably want to use of these to dispose of transports. The gun is fairly effective against most armour values, but 13 and upwards may be pushing it. They are not especially points efficient being used against infantry, as the AP isn't good enough to worry marines. Just concentrate on shooting either tough things with low armour saves, or tanks in the armour 10-12 band and they will be fine.
Conclusion:
They have no options to talk about beyond picking 1 to 3 in a brood, they are what they are, light tank hunters, and they come in at a bargain price. One of the best units in the codex, I have no doubt.
Lictor Brood
Ahh the Lictor. In the past, the Lictor was a feared unit causing havoc and being virtually impossible to see and hit. These days it is far more conventional, but has a few complex rules to look into. First lets consider its stat line. What first jumps out at me is its high weaponskill, strength and initative. It hits marines on 3s, wounds them on 2s, but not being a monstrous creature it has to rely on rending to kill things. That is a bit disappointing. The problem is that it only has a marine level toughness, three wounds and a guardsmans armour save to protect it from being hit back. Its Weapon Skill is not good enough to prevent 99% of things hitting it back on a 4+. It will struggle to kill more than one power armoured model a turn, but for every 6 marine attacks back, it will take one wound on average.
You can take 1-3 of these in a brood, which might be needed if you want them to attack squads. Even fairly weak units like devastators, which should be its ideal targets, will likely inflict one wound on it in combat.
It comes with, and can't change or upgrade, a 5+ save, Rending Claws and Scything Talons. Not great, but it is what it is.
Chameleon skin is effectively deepstriking, anywhere outside of 1 inch from the enemy without scattering or risk of death. Unfortunately no option to charge, so you are stuck either shooting, or running. As you don't scatter it is unlikely you will want to run, simply because you could have chosen to deploy pretty much anywhere you could actually run to. So for shooting, what do you have?
What you have are flesh hooks. The range is the same as a pistol, but due to deployment rules that shouldn't be an issue. You have two shots at strength 6 and rending. So effectively a two shot Assault cannon if being fired at tanks. On the plus side, you can appear behind the tanks, and shoot at their weak rear armour. This is a good use of the ability, as a Lictor brood can rampage through a parking lot of tanks, shooting and assaulting if it survives one turn of shooting.
It comes with a selection of special rules, with stealth and move through cover being very handy, as should it appear in cover, it has a very good 3+ cover save to protect it. If it is engaged in a combat it cant win, it can always use hit and run to escape, and with its high initiative, it should manage to do this.
Lastly Pheromone trail. This could have been good, if the words "on the board at the start of the movement phase" were removed from the ability. This gives the tyranid player a bonus +1 to reserve rolls when he is on the table. The downside is, the Lictor has to have arrived the turn before, or it doesn't do anything, which means it needs to have passed its reserve roll a turn or so before. You don't even have the option of deploying it normally or infiltrating. Think of this as an occasionally useful, but probably hardly ever used ability and you wont go far wrong.
Conclusion:
This is a utility unit, specialising in disruption of the enemy and tank destruction. I would avoid any infantry units unless they are heavily depleted as even relatively poor units can take wounds off them. If you can shoot a tank or dreadnought in the rear, you should hopefully be able to do something, stay in cover as much as possible. The good news with this is that the tank may need to turn round to shoot you, and if it does, hopefully its weaker armour is facing longer range guns on your side. If you do get engaged in close combat, use hit and run to escape.
Deathleaper
This is a Lictor special character, costing just over the price of two ordinary Lictors. So it better be pretty good, as it is nearly as expensive as the HQ options! Lets look at what you get on top of a Lictor statistic line. Well standing out for me is the incredibly high weapon skill, the same as the Swarmlord. This means that marines only hit you on 5+, which is a big thing. Same poor save and average toughness, but a point more initiative, although that will only really help vs halberd armed grey knights and some eldar units. You also get an extra attack, nice but by no means does this make it competent in close combat.
It has exactly the same biomorphs and weapons as a Lictor as well as the same Fleet, Move through Cover, Pheromone trail, Stealth and Hit and run rules. In addition it has a couple of unique special rules.
"Its after me" is very decent, it is perhaps the sole reason to actually include the Deathleaper. This reduces one enemy HQs leadership by D3. Best used on psykers. Ability stops should the Deathleaper die, so keeping alive is important.
"What was that" reduces enemy movement in difficult terrain by one dice, down to a minimum of one dice, provided the enemy are in pistol range. Could potentially stop you being charged.
"Where'd it go" Allows the Deathleaper to disappear if it is more than 1 inch away from the enemy, then return back to the table by Chameleon skin deployment. Can be incredibly useful for redeploying and keeping yourself alive. It has the added bonus that should you go second, that you could redeploy on turn 4 and reappear contesting an objective on turn 5 when the enemy can't kill you.
The final special rule is Killing Strike, causing both its combat attacks and Flesh Hooks to rend on 5+, which is quite nice, and makes it quite a lot more reliable at tank hunting.
Conclusion:
Much like the normal Lictor, this is a disruption unit. It is actually better at its job than a unit of two lictors, due to the variety of special rules it brings to the table. I would therefore suggest including the Deathleaper should you ever be tempted to field more than one normal Lictor.
Venomthrope
Another utility unit, of a totally different type to the two Lictors. The Venomthrope is primarily a support unit. The statistic line is not exactly impressive, sporting a marines strength and toughness as well as ballistic skill, despite having no ranged attacks. It has a poor weaponskill, only two attacks, low initiative and only two wounds.
In terms of weapons, it comes with lashwhips, making its initative somewhat better and a 5+ save, which isn't brilliant. It also comes with Toxic Miasma biomorph, perhaps the only time you will see this in a game. However you don't really buy this creature for its statistics, you buy it for its special rules.
First up, Toxic Touch, meaning all its close combat attacks wound on a 2+. Not bad, but really it doesn't have the stat line to be wanting to be in combat, two attacks and a poor weaponskill, coupled with a poor armour save, do not make this a combat beast. So this probably isn't the reason you are taking this.
Second, and most importantly, is Spore Cloud. This incredibly handy ability does a couple of things. Firstly it gives all units on your side within 6 inches a 5+ cover save. This protects everything, including Hive Tyrants etc, who are within range. All units within this range also count as being armed with defensive grenades should anyone assault you. Unlikely, but it is there. An unusual and probably unforeseen side effect of this is that units which are normally strength 3 or lower will benefit assaulting tanks, as defensive grenades give you strength 4, allowing you to target rear armour of things. Units wishing to charge units taking advantage of this cover must take dangerous terrain tests. All these bonuses are lost should the Venomthrope die.
This is the first unit which has access to a mycetic spore. This is essentially a drop pod but will be discussed in further detail in the troops entry where it appears in the codex.
Conclusion:
The Venomthrope brings a lot to the table, in terms of keeping your horde alive when crossing the table. The only real problem is keeping it alive as a single krak missile hit and that is probably it. Its cover save bonus is far more useful to the units around it than itself. With this in mind, you really need to keep it out of line of sight, preferably behind one of the giant new plastic tyranids, be it a Trygon, Mawloc, Tervigon etc.
That concludes the elites part 1 of my review of the Tyranid Codex. Click here for part 4.
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