Most, if not all, of my hobby activity this year has been tournament motivated: Play-testing the new Tyranid codex; army list number-crunching; frantic painting sessions to get models to an acceptable painting standard. I feel I got off to a good start for the year by attending Conflict in April, coming 8th with an Orks/Orks doubles team. Next on the agenda is Britcon in Manchester (August 12th-15th). Signed up this week also for Counter-Attack, a one day tournament in Edinburgh which takes place the weekend after Britcon; and I've informally nabbed a place at Rapid Fire which is in Stirling later in the year. Who needs Throne of Skulls?!
Front and centre of my focus this year is the Tyranids. I'd had precisely no luck with them in their previous incarnation but the new book, though far from perfect, presents plenty of solutions for the main things 'Nids struggled with in the past: Tanks; and getting shot to bits before coming anywhere near assault range. For anyone who's interested, here's the 2000 point list I'm taking to Britcon in a few weeks' time:
HQ
Tyranid Prime
(Deathspitter, Lashwhip & Bonesword, Adrenal Glands) - 110
ELITES
3 Zoanthropes - 180
(Mycetic Spore - 40)
3 Hive Guard - 150
3 Hive Guard - 150
TROOPS
Tervigon (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst) - 195
Tervigon (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst) - 195
10 Termegants - 50
10 Termegants - 50
19 Hormagaunts (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands) - 190
19 Hormagaunts (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands) - 190
HEAVY SUPPORT
Trygon Prime (Adrenal Glands) - 250
Trygon Prime (Adrenal Glands) - 250
So there it is. I've had a lot of success with it so far. The Tervigons are definitely the key to this army: Spawning more termegants to add further weight to the assault or grabbing objectives; conferring benefits to the smaller creatures (synapse for all of them, counter-attack and the effects of his own upgrades get passed to nearby termegants, whilst catalyst gives those buffed-up hormagaunt units the Feel No Pain special rule to make sure they hit home hard). Hive Guard are also key, taking shelter behind cover and busting tanks with their no-line-of-sight-required Strength 8 guns. The Trygon Primes don't need much explanation (well what would you do with a Toughness 6, 6 wound Monstrous Creature who is Strength 7 & has 7 attacks on the charge? CHARGE!).
I had to think a bit in light of the FAQ that GW recently released for Codex: Tyranids. When I wrote the list I was teaming the Tyranid Prime with the Zoanthropes and Deep-striking them all in with the Mycetic Spore. The Zoans can blast away the turn they arrive, and the Prime is there to gallantly take any Lascannon hits directed at the Zoans, then run riot in the enemy lines next turn. The FAQ disallowed this tactic so I was in doubt for a while as to whether I wanted to keep the Prime in the list, or re-jig a few things to get another Tervigon in there as my HQ. (Why not a Hive Tyrant you ask? Well I have issues with this Codex's version of the Hive Tyrant but that's maybe for another post.) Anyway as you can see I've kept the Prime, mainly because I didn't feel confident I had time to build and paint the 3rd Tervi before the competition, but also because after a couple of practise games with the new ruling I've found he can do plenty of damage marching in on foot, and he provides more handy synapse.
That's it from me for now!
