Daboarders Nid Review and Tactics

[daboarder]

OK all,

The new codex is here, and my opinion of everything we've heard so far has been pretty clear, but as I have said numerous times, Hypotheses are made to be challenged, changed and broken. What follows is My thoughts on the codex, not the presentation (which beyond a few pictures that looks really funnily stupid) is fantastic, but the rules, the crunch the part of the game that lets you use those beautiful models we've bought and spent hours converting and painting.

I'm going to try to refrain from comparing this codex to the last one, the last one was terrible (baring a brief bright spot at the end with the advent of 6th ed) we all know that but this is what we have now so lets dive into the deep end and learn to swim.

Army Wide Special Rules:

Instinctive Behaviour: One of the rules that literally defines a Tyranid army, You know it you love it and you probably hate it as a nid player (which is kinda the point). So the basis of how it works is that at the start of every turn any Tyranid units without at least 1 model within synapse range of a synapse creature must take a leadership test, if the test is failed you roll on a separate chart which tells you how your Tyranid creature reacts to the situation it finds itself in without the overbearing will of the hive mind.

Tactical considerations: Given the low leadership of most Tyranid units, which typically ranges mostly between 6 and 8 for non synapse creatures. It is very important to ensure that any army has a robust synapse web. Stay away from big lynchpin creatures that try to hold the whole army together by themselves, All they are doing is waving a big "shoot me first" sign over their heads. Instead Look to have overlapping fields of synapse so that if you lose a unit you don't madly have to re-arrange your army so that its back in control. Look to units such as Zoanthropes that serve dual purposes as gun batteries, support and synapse to really add that extra layer to your web.
Another tactic is to string out your units, only one model in a unit needs to be within synapse range and while risky is therefore possible to drag your units out over a wide area in order to maintain control. Kind of like bellow

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While it is dangerous as it allows mobile enemies to manoeuvre and kill lynchpin models it helps us apply board control and force those dangerous decisions concerning target priority on our opponents.

As to the tables themselves: They can broadly be designated as the "Defensive" the "Shooty" and the "Stabby" lists, the first result covering the rolls of 1-3 is usually debilitating, it's a bad thing, hope it doesn't happen, units either fall back, go to ground or eat themselves. This is worst on the assault units that actually do try and kill themselves about half the time they fail an IB roll, therefore it is even more important to ensure that you have a secure forward synapse net to hold the little bugs in line.

the second set of results (4-5) is pretty much the same as last edition, the unit either runs to terrain and is not allowed to shoot unless inside it, shoots at the closest visible enemy unit (So don't let those biovores and Hive guard out of synapse as they are not allowed to fire upon units they cannot see) and finally Feeding units must attempt to charge the closest visible enemy unit. These results aren't so bad but remember they will happen less often than the "bad" ones and more often than the ostensibly "good" results, it's wrong to think of these as the default results because they are in the middle of the table so don't do it.

And finally on a 6 we get the "benefits" of IB, Mechanically they operate like the 4-5 results but have a few special advantages that make life a little easier for the bug that rolls them. Namely Stealth, Preferred enemy and Rage.
While it is tempting to think of the hilarity that ensues when your opponent kills a synapse creature only to find your units MORE effective, dont! It's a bad idea, Instinct behaviour is bad so make sure you have synapse at all times.

Also, if you're running disruption units or units designed to range ahead of your main force your going to need extra fast synapse to accompany it as most of our "vanguard" organisms now have instinctive behaviour (see lictor)

Synapse: yeah its pretty good.

Nah, synapse is the off set to IB, its what makes a nid army tick. What does it do? gives fearless and auto-rally
Now while that doesn't sound huge it means that nids in synapse range probably give the least amount of proverbial things about moral, even more so than marines. "but what about terrify" I hear you say, well yeah terrify is still rough on us, I'll pay that, but the auto-rally in synapse that appears initially redundant (fearless gives auto-rally) is I believe specifically there to protect us from terrify, as while the unit may not get the benefit of fearless when terrified it still does not continue to run while under synapse.

So all good.

As to the other benefits of synapse, there aren't a lot of armies that can kill multiple units of 30 gants or gaunts in combat, not because gants and gaunts are hard to kill, but because they have to kill EVERY SINGLE ONE of the flippin little things.
So Synapse good!

Shadow in the Warp:

A 12 bubble of aggressive psychic defence. In an age where almost all psychic defence has become passive and force multiplying blessings are the really valuable parts of the psychic disciplines (see 2++ rerollable saves) being able to drop the casting potential of any psyker in the game to around 50% at best is fantastic. It is a shame that the radius for shadow is not intrinsically linked with the synapse special rule as then the army would be able to achieve some extremely strong anti-psycker combos with the Norn Crown, primaris and warlord traits.

Therefore we have probably 2 ways of really using this power, the first is to merely rely on it once the swarm hits home, to protect you from force weapons, maledictions and witch fires allowing you to largely ignore these powers (50% cast and still get DtW). While this is appropriate it is perhaps not the most interesting and efficient use of this rule, the other way to use it is to implement a fast mobile and dangerous synapse creature of your own (re: Flyrant) to hunt down enemy psykers, preventing them from casting the truly game changing powers like the divination tree or the eldar seer powers, and then crushing them with your tyrant.

Oh and NB: Despite the quick reference chart at the back of the book the full text for the rule means that no, shadow does NOT stack for each synapse creature.

edit: a Secondary note on shadow, the leadership de-buff is not just for psychic checks it is for all leadership test, this doesn't mean much for most support psykers who are usually hiding in squads and then therefore using the squad leadership for non psychic checks. But for units like Daemon princes's and fateweaver, it can be brutal, it is also another knife this army puts into seercouncils as they are all psykers they all take the Ld drop to their other tests.

So, Shadow good.

Next chapter (Warlord traits and Relics)

[Tyrendian]

just to chime in very quickly - feel free to delete this post quickly so as to preserve the integrity of your review - Shadow reduces the LD of psykers in general, not just for psychic checks - which stacks nicely with The Horror or any other Pinning weapon of your choice... just thought that was worth mentioning, as I feel that´s a pretty significant buff to Shadow and Trygon Primes/Flyrants in general

[daboarder]

Eh, thought I'd mentioned that, Ill put it in.

[exarkhun3997aby]

Oh very good thread, I´m looking forward to reading the next chapter

[Renegade]

Hurry up and write!

I am thinking of starting a nid army and take all well considered write ups into account.

[daboarder]

Warlord traits:


I'm going to break these down by roll for ease of analysis.

1) Natures Bane: Sigh, ok let's be honest, this thing could be cool.....if it had only allowed any piece of area terrain to be carnivorated.

It can turn any forest, jungle or wooded area into a carnivorous jungle at the start of your movement phase, just be sure to designate with your opponent which pieces of terrain can be affected by it (and considering what it represents a pretty broad interpretation should be fine). This means that any unit in the terrain suffers D3 S5 Ap- Ignores cover hits at the start of its shooting phase.

edit: It is only models that are inside of the terrain that can be allocated hits from this weapon, so if your opponent is hiding certain models outside the terrain to prevent them getting nabbed, punish him with focus fire.

REMEMBER: It's a two player game and terrain designation is ALWAYS negotiable (even in tournaments), if you plan on rolling on the Nid table then put your foot down on volume and placing. I still see this one causing a lot of arguments though.

2) heightened senses: Units within 12 of the warlord gain night vision, the use your army gets out of this one depends on your list itself, an army that has a considerable amount of fast shooters (re: FMC's) and mid-range non-ignoring cover weapons (so the exocrine and certain tyranofex builds and warrior heavy weapons)

Remember that your synapse creature and your other bugs get to move before using this, the best way to make it effective is probably combining it with onslaught (good luck!)

There is not really too much to say on this, it's not as effective as you would expect at first glance as most tyranid weapons are either too short range to use it effectively (turn 1 is most important, if it is night fight T5+ then you should already be in his lines) or already ignore cover. For the mid range guns it likely just removes stealth for a turn, not bad, but not much to write home about. So to use it keep your warlord central and spread it to as many units as you can)


3) Synaptic lynchpin: Add 6 to your warlords synapse range.

This is probably one of the most "useful" traits in the list, it's a solid choice in an army that is brutally punished by being out of synapse and as its "free", unlike other methods of increasing synapse, there aren't any drawbacks to it that don't already exist due to the unit already being your warlord.
Don't rely on rolling it but if you do it means you can play your swarm slightly looser in its formation and take a few more risks on your synapse coverage positioning.


4) Mind Eater: 2 Vp's for killing IC's in challenges.

This one honestly seems really weird to me, I mean there is tonnes of background about how nids just don't give to proverbs about challenges (hello avatar, meet carnifexes).

Again realistically it won't ever come up, your warlord should either already be curb stomping any character in a challenge, thus forcing the opponent to deny, or will likely get creamed himself (stupid chapter masters).

Tactically the best way to use this warlord trait is as an area denial threat, force your opponent to stay on the move to keep away from your warlord, but dont put yourself in a compromising position to get 2 Vp's.

Remember at the end of the day it's not how many VP's you have, that matters, only if you have more than your opponent, so keep that synapse net solid again.
NB: this trait is extra funny against Chaos Space marines who just get gutted by must challenge.

5) Digestive Denial: Reduce the cover on terrain in your opponents deployment zone.
This trait is again pretty nice, it happens before your opponents scout and infiltrate moves so they can re-deploy if they need to.

I recommend picking terrain closer to the centre of the board and forwards in their deployment zone. This is because most Tyranid long range guns already ignore cover, therefore you want to be affecting the most guns you can.

Another consideration to take into account is to place it where your opponent would likely place infiltrators, objective campers or screening units (re: Cultists, Kroot, scouts etc) that rely on cover to survive. So terrain pieces that have objectives placed upon them are prime targets.

6) Adaptive Biology: Warlord and unit gain FNP in the movement phase after suffering a wound.
Makes your warlord tougher, not much to say really. Means you can be more aggressive with him and his unit but its best to think of this as a nice little bonus or redundancy (for catalyst) than anything else. It is however particularly funny if you have regen on your warlord.

Overview:
Honestly, despite my attempts to remain positive the Tyranid warlord traits are largely uninspiring, while I don't think it's a terrible table choosing to roll on it contains risks that all tables have of getting useless traits (don't roll that 1) (And screw tau's snowflake re-rolls). IF the first roll affected any area terrain then I could probably say that there is no harm in rolling on this warlord table, but as it is I think most Tyranid lists are better served rolling on either Command (providing much needed force multiplication to our central warlords) and Strategic (Opening up potential much needed deployment options)

Next Instalment: Bio-Artifacts.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Shooting Tyranid armies make me vomit.
It just doesn't seem very Tyranid to have a gunline. Too organised, they aren't the Tau, they should be in combat eating fools.

As such, there aren't any purchased guns in my army.

[daboarder]

Shooting Tyranid armies make me vomit.
It just doesn't seem very Tyranid to have a gunline. Too organised, they aren't the Tau, they should be in combat eating fools.

As such, there aren't any purchased guns in my army.

um....ok?

not sure what your point is TDA? If your running a CC only army then your going to have a rough time, and I'd recommend Strategic as your trait table, your really going to need the deployment options.

[daboarder]

Bio-Artifacts:
OH BOY! ok here goes, let's look at the unique twists we can provide for our characters. This is where we start to get into the meat of the codex. For the relics I'm going to just go through my thoughts on each and discuss a few units I think they either have potential on, or are particularly bad on and should be avoided.

Maw-Claws of Thyrax:

S: User, Ap:5 Rending, Assimilate, Melee

Cute little things, honestly a modest upgrade to scything talons (shudder!). At the points cost they come in at they aren't bad on a number of models.

At first glance these are ok if a bit generic.
Personally I think they have potential on our "dual role" characters more than on our Close combat ones as unlike old adversary the preferred enemy they grant also applies to shooting.

Tyrants: I wouldn't recommend them on a walking tyrant as he is typically too slow to get the benefit early enough in the game for it too matter, but if you're running a CC flyrant, or a flyrant with VC/SC instead of twin devourers then they aren't bad, jump in and kill something quick to gain a modest boost to your CC potential and shooting.
NB: If you take these on a CC Flyrant consider NOT taking a bone sword and Lashwhip to keep it cheaper.

Tyranid Prime: They are a good substitute for the old cheap builds with Rending claws. If you are running a Prime and want a bit of CC boost or a bit of a shooting buff mid-late game then grab them if you have the points to spare.

Trygon Prime: This is where I think they can really shine. Seriously for a pittance of his already expensive price you give a prime rerolls of 1's to hit and wound with his mass shooting and attacks, after he munches something of course, but a Trygon should have no problem achieving this.

Don't take them on a Tervigon.

The Norn Crown:

+6 Synapse range.

Man I don't even know where to begin......


Well I do really, there are very few if ANY places to spend this exorbitant amount of points in a Tyranid list.

Yes when you stick it on a tyrant and stack it with dominion and Lynchpin you get a truly sickening synapse coverage range, but in my opinion if you try and build a list around such a tactic then you opponent is just going to kill the Tyrant and watch the rest of the swarm crumple like you just kicked it in the knackers.

The real problem with this item is redundancy, there are two other ways of increasing the synapse range of critters in this codex and neither of them has much in the way of a cost attached to them. If it was cheaper, considerably cheaper, then it would be worth considering as a means of adding redundancy to your synapse web, but at the points cost of a unit of gants or most of a 'thrope (either kind) its too many points into a unit that just becomes a primary focus for enemy firepower.

The Miasma Cannon:

A ranged weapon with two firing modes.
36 S1 Ap4 Assault1 Blast Poison (2+)
Template S1 Ap4 Assault1 Poison (2+)

I actually LIKE this one. Just not on the units I've heard most people think about running them on.
Personally I think the best way to look at this one is as a poisoned template weapon first and a ranged threat second, the reason I say this is because the small Ap4 blst is not going to hit much and is going to allow cover when it does, but the template can be really mean before a charge, or even in overwatch.

Hive Tyrant: I wouldn't take it on a tyrant, for 5 points more I can get a regular Heavy Venom Cannon and a thorax swarm, the HVC already wounds everything but the wraith critters on a 2+ due to its strength 9 and can puncture tanks. While the swarms offer better utility in their templates.

Tyranid Prime: it's not a bad choice, particularly if you're running him with deathspitter/strangler warriors, another blast template to throw down range and a nifty template are a good buy on this build, and the great thing about the MC is its not bank breaking expensive.

Trygon Prime: I'm noticing a trend here, I really, really like the biomorphs to go on trygon primes...

Your buying another range weapon for a MC that only has 1, always a plus as he shoots both.
And you get him a flamer again, what's not to love!

Tervigon: Another no from me on this one, again don't make your synapse more expensive than it needs to be. Keep the stinger salvo, grab a thorax swarm for cheaper if you really want a template and leave the Miasma Cannon to other critters.

The Ymgarl Factor:

Switch out +1A, +1S and +1Sv for each assault phase.

Another one I don't like because of its cost. It's too expensive on any of the critters really, the defensive benefit is too situational and the other benefits are replicated cheaper and elsewhere in the codex (Adglands and Charging). And before you argue that those are for only 1 turn, if your bug is in combat for 3+ turns (thus using all the morphs at some point and one twice) then you have serious problems.
IF it worked turn wide then yeah it would definitely have its place but as it is it just makes your synapse more expensive for a minimal, situational survival buff.

Reaper of Obliterax:

S+1, Ap3 Shred, Lifedrain, Swift strike.

This one is silly, particularly as its 15 pts more than a regular lashwhip and bonesword combined with toxin sacs.
It does give some slight chances to increase the ID odds against tough foes when not smashing, but I don't think the slight chance increase (it's really small, PowerKlaw did it out somewhere) is worth the cost, particularly when I could buy Adrenal Glands and completely replicate it, with extra benefits against high T critters and FLEET. (yes it's on the charge only but again how long do you want your MC's on combat for?)

In the interests of fairness however it does combine cutely with Adrenal glands to give a tyrant S8 on the charge but other than that and giving a Trygon +3I there's nothing that really comes close to justifying the price tag.

Next Installment: Psychic Powers.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

um....ok?

not sure what your point is TDA? If your running a CC only army then your going to have a rough time, and I'd recommend Strategic as your trait table, your really going to need the deployment options.

Almost everything can outflank, infiltrate, or deep strike.