Daboarders Nid Review and Tactics

[chicop76]

the range on a Torrent flamer is not that much shorter than the 24" impaler... depending on availability of terrain (which I´d assume the Scouts will kinda want to use...) you just might even be able to flame them first turn, although that´s admittedly unlikely

If they are dumb enough to deploy 18" away from it, than yes, or not know you can do that.

[Broodingman87]

If they are dumb enough to deploy 18" away from it, than yes, or not know you can do that.

Yeah but, the T-fex has a 26" threat range and that's the no man's land of deployment and in my local meta they like to infiltrate them.

[chicop76]

Yeah but, the T-fex has a 26" threat range and that's the no man's land of deployment and in my local meta they like to infiltrate them.

I always infiltrate so you don't know where they will be, but I don't always put them as close as possible and may deploy them in my deployment zone.

[Lord Aaron]

ya I had great success with infiltrating em. (but only 2 games so far)

[AlmostMercury]

First, Daboarder, thank you for this thread.

Second, what exactly is being infiltrated? Not Tyrannofexes, I hope.

[chicop76]

Sniper type models.

[daboarder]

First, Daboarder, thank you for this thread.

Second, what exactly is being infiltrated? Not Tyrannofexes, I hope.

no worries mate, I've been stuck writing up my thesis, but this thread will continue.

[daboarder]

Swarmlord: The big daddy himself.

I'm going to break my rule about comparing this guy to the last codex here, but I think a point about swarmy and why people did take him compared to why they SHOULD have been taking him (and should still consider him) needs to be made.

Swarmlord USED to force opponents to re-roll their succesful invulnerable saves in combat, this combined with 4 power Biomancy, Lashwhip guard (making enemies I1) and his ID blades of Doom, meant that he was the premier combat character in the game, even able to go toe to toe with the Arch heretic himself when used in 30k games (Yes Swarmlord used to be able to take Horus down solo, he was that much of a mean mother****er).

Now that's not to say he was OP, his lack of 2+ armour and range invulnerable save, combined with his incredible slowness has always meant that he typically didn't get into combat before T3-4 and therefore his absolute brutality was fair enough.

Now, Swarmlord has fallen far, far from grace, but I don't think he has fallen so far as to be unviable, see the thing about Swarmlord, in my opinion, is that he has never been about what he roflstomps in an opponent's army, it's about what he does to the army to make it dangerous deadly and a pain to deal with on the table.
Swarmlord is the best force multiplier available to the Tyranids, lets break down what each buff he give the army as a whole is.

1) 18 synapse warlord, pretty obvious, his wide synapse area (combined with dominion if desired) means that straight off the bat he has a reliable synapse range comparable to a Norn crown tyrant. and given the debilitating effects of IB this is a good thing.

2) He is the toughest warlord we have, at 5 wounds he is more comparable in "class" to a trygon, tervigon, or one of the new bugs. not only does it mean that his army buffs are going to be around longer, it also means that you are denying the enemy easy access to a VP for slay the warlord.

3) ML3: Ok he doesn't know all the Tyrant powers anymore, but he can cast 3 of them now (or warplance and 1 more) and given that we have established that he is a buff machine this is a good thing, throwing out Catalyst, The Horror AND Paroxysm each turn is actually pretty mean given their large ranges and shear value to the swarm (they may not be great but we can use all of our powers). My only recommendation is to always swap scream for dominion due to his speed (or lack thereof)

4) His ability to just decide, no questions asked, to give ANY Tyranid unit within 18, Preferred enemy, Furious Charge, or Monster Hunter becuase he feels like it......Know what happens when a unit of Furious Charging Hormagaunts runs headlong into an waveserpent line? the Serpent line usually disappears pretty quick. Or give prefered enemy to your zoanthropes/exocrines to really let that plasma hit home. Riptides giving you trouble? there's an answer for that.

5)When Swarmlord is in the army you MUST add 1 to your reserve rolls. this rule means that you can be pretty sure your reserves are comming in turn two, so don't be afraid to outflank a unit or two or hold that crone in reserve, odds are your getting it in soon anyway. Yes this rule also makes the terrible trygon tunnel even worse, but that thing is a train wreck anyway.

Seriously any time this guy gives a unit of gaunts furious charge, or a shooting unit preferred enemy He's probably saves you at least 20-30 pts in biomorphs alone, and for his price that's pretty good.

So how do we run him this time? Well last edition I'd have said either naked (relying on biomancy/catalyst to keep him breathing) or with a pair of lashwwhip tyrant guard (giving the Swarmlord pseudo lashwhips was hilarious) With both those options largely gone form the book I think the best way to run the swarmlord is with a pair of naked guards, your essentially buying him then 4 more wounds and two instances of Eternal Warrior (very frustrating to lose him to Distort shots first turn of the game)

His best use is probably in a swarm list, albeit one where he's not the only big bug, to help the little critters punch well above their weight time and time again.

Just keep him central, be willing to swap out either Warp Lance or Psychic Scream for dominion, ensure he's NOT your only synapse and walk him up the center of the board causing all hell for your opponent by turning your units into real terrifying gribblies.

NB: Keep him away from the likes of Draigo, Abaddon, or Shield of Bull**** Chapter masters, he's a buff machine these days not a combat monster, if you do need to kill those guys, drop 40 Furious Charge/Preferred Enemy gaunts in their face instead, in true swarm fashion.

Edit: Evrything we said about the "brick" tyrant applies to the Swarmlord, Don't rely on him solely for synapse, ensure you have the target saturation to keep him alive, and don't buy his guard adrenal glands because he doesn't have them. Finally ensure that you have redundancy in your list and aren't relying on him to be the only thing in the list doing his jobs (Psychic powers, synapse, Monstrous creature combat etc...)

[Tynskel]

good assessment.

I still dont think that the brick is that slow, if you give them fleet... Granted: the swarmy is the slowest.

[AlmostMercury]

I know that we may be in danger of losing our access to fortifications, but Tynskel's idea of putting an Exocrine on a Quad Cannon is an excellent one. Borrowing from that, putting Swarmlord on one is just as good. With a venomthrope brood, he gets a 2+ cover save along with the ability to fire a serious weapon. It gives you two shots if you have Warp Lance, and if not, you get to shoot once and buff your units 1-4 times.