Collaborative Post: A Shadow in the Warp

Ron at From the Warp is doing his usual collaborative post on the release of the newest codex. I have not received my copy yet, but I have been following the discussions on the forums about the new codex. From what I have been able to gather, here are a couple of my thoughts on the new codex:

1) Zoanthropes are going to be big. A synapse creature that takes out tanks, for only 60+ points apiece? You're going to want to take at least a single full brood of these, or at least two broods of two. Their invulnerable save is a rarity in the tyranid codex, and their psychic power is a lance shooting attack at S10. That is too good to pass up if you are frequently going up against AV14.

2) This codex is more about synergy, less about spam. For example, after my previous point, spamming zoanthropes might sound good. Consider then, that psychic attacks require tests, and there is a prevalence of anti-psykers with the release of the Space Wolves codex and IG players using old =I= psychic hoods. You'll need a way to eliminate this character quickly in order to use those zoeys. That is where the Death Leaper comes in. He can infiltrate up to that guy, and hopefully assassinate him, before blending back into the shadows. If he can't outright kill it, then his Shadow of the Warp ability can cause some problems for enemy psykers like Rune Priests. The Hive Tyrant has an ability that can benefit the reserve roll, and thus make those new spore pods more reliable. The Lictor can pinpoint their deepstrike, allowing for accurate placement of troops.

3) Lots of new modeling options are abound in this new codex. No official models have yet been made for the tervigon, tyrranofex, harpy, alpha warrior, etc. This provides tyranid modellers a bit more customization than they had access to before. That doesn't even include the biomorphs like wings, which have been a pleasingly-challenging conversion for the tyranids for a while now.

These are just my initial impressions, and I am sure they will become more defined as I play with this codex in the coming year. Until then, just remember that synergy counts more than spamming, from the looks of it.

Until next time,
--FP135

FTW Collaborative Post Contribution: Must-Have Units

Ron has asked us all to come up with some of our "Must-have" units, no matter the reason for it being a "Must-have". Since I play three different armies, I came up with one for each army.

What drew me to tyranids was the Carnifex. The idea of a creature the size of a large tank hurtling through lines of space marines was just too good to pass up. Add to that imagery the Carnifex's ability to crush tanks in CC, and I could see no other alternative. I guess it's "Nidzilla" for me!



In a Imperial Guard army, one of your greatest strengths is the number and flexibility of your troop choices. Yes, tanks are cool, and yes, they may win you the day in a killpoints game, but in the other 2/3rds of the missions you play, you will find the abundance of scoring units beneficial. I never meet much success in games where I field less than 3 Veteran squads in their Chimeras. You can sink plenty of points into them, but I like to keep the whole squad with its transport around 170 points. That is enough for 1 doctrine, a few special weapons, and a couple upgrades to the transport. Generally you'll see one of my veteran squads look like this:

1 Meltagun
1 Plasmagun
1 Grenade Launcher
Doctrine: Demolitions
Chimera with Dozerblade and pintile mounted Heavy Stubber

They work pretty well, having a meltagun for dealing with armor, a plasmagun for dealing with high T baddies or even light vehicles, and the GL for throwing a blast template at hordes or cracking a tough nut if necessary. The Demolitions doctrine has saved my butt more than once. I usually have to get pretty close to some hard vehicles to use the meltagun, so if the transport goes down at that close it usually puts them in range to assault with their meltabombs or even the demo charge in a pinch. I definitely get my points worth out of Veteran squads that are kitted this way.



Lastly, for my Blood Angels, I must simply ALWAYS take a chaplain of some fashion. Some of the special characters serve the same purpose of reigning in the Death Company marines, but I don't have any of those SCs. Therefore, I find a way to stick my plain ol' chappy in every BA list I write. I don't like the idea of my hard-as-nails Death Company marines chasing around an empty rhino.