Parasite/Prime/Mawloc...which???

[Sinistermind]

hey there, as i have been playtesting my ard boyz list i consider swaping out the death leaper for one of the above...

OR i could also probly fenagle(probly slaughtered this word) the pts for a plain hive commander flyrant, for that extra outflanker/+1 reserves, and an extra set of parox/leech

PARASITE:
now i realise hes pretty fragile and costs 20pts more than the leaper, but i think he could have some unique uses for my army,
first off hes an IC so he could join my multipurpose 20 strong super-gargoyle unit.. or other units if i dont need his speed(armys that come to me)....

secondly hes just cool and turns things into d6 ripper bases which although wont make or brake a game can come in handy or be a nuisance to the enemy... one particular application to this is say him and gargs are in CC and my opponent has a unit all set up to countercharge and help out, while in my CC phase i take out a few guys with the parasite and get 1 or 2 D6 worth of rippers, and i can put them within 6" of the parasite, and that being right between combat and the charging unit... im sure this can be avoided his turn by many ways but hey

thirdly i think he might even come in handy in some heavy hitter killing like mephiston(does he have eternal warrior??), MC's(wraithlords/DP's)... idk i might just be caught up in the idea of him and a better answer might just be to give a MC implant attacks..

MAWLOC:
onto the mawloc, my only question with him is since, you can deepstrike into area terrain as long as its not impassable, can the mawloc put his template over a unit in cover? if so does the unit get cover saves? and also does he take the dangerous terrain test for deepstriking into cover?

PRIME:
and the last choice seems to be one of the hives favorites, the prime, his uses are obvious, put him with my swarmlord and retinue for deathstar, or put him with podding zoanthropes(some people think its dumb but its sooo fun if he gets to charge and shred things the turn after)
or even hivegaurd and so on etc....

so any advice/ideas/C&C go right ahead

which should i choose in your opinion?? or should i just keep the leaper and his anti-psyker-ness??

Heres my list BTW

swarmlord
3xgaurd

3x hivegaurd
2x zoans in spore
deathleaper

13 gaunts
14 devilgaunts
2x tervigon w/ clusters,toxin,onslaught
2x 10 toxic-stealers

20 gargoyles
adrenal/toxin

trygon prime
adrenal

tyrannofex w/ ruptue, cluster, shredders

also i know people will say remove the upgrades to the gargs but i much prefer them both there as per my playtesting

[mercer]

Pretty sure any unit deep striking into terrain would have to take a dangerous terrain test. I guess also the unit hit by the template would get cover saves. I know there's a great whooping hole but it actually doesn't say no cover saves - just the strength and ap value. It would usually note if no cover saves. Though I guess only a FAQ can answer that question.

[blackarmchair]

Yeah, go with the Trygon Prime if you want my opinion. I don't care for the Parasite and the Mawloc is not as great as everyone says it is.

[mercer]

You only need the prime if you lack synapse btw. Getting double shots isn't worth 40 points.

[Vepr]

The prime is probably the most versatile.

Personally I like the Parasite. Combined with a big unit of gargs he has never failed to get across the table and cause havoc for me. He can take out tanks and with his implant attack he can surprise IC's that don't have eternal warrior also.

Not a huge fan of the Mawloc because it is so lackluster in CC.

[theHman]

As a fellow nid player looking at your list, here are a few ideas for you to consider:

You've got 3, potentially 4 great targets for your opponent to target each turn.
Swarmy, zoes, trygon & (maybe) the Tfex (depends on opponent).

Depending on your style of play, you can use these units to distract your opponent in order to accomplish mission objectives.

Personally, I would replace onslaught with catalyst on your tervigons - I've tried both and FNP is definitely the way to go. The problem with onslaught is that there's really only 1 unit in the Dex that benefits the most from it (the trygon).

In some instances your gaunts can benefit from onslaught as well, but mostly in order to get them in range of the enemy to shoot them.

Also, I'd drop the trygon prime down to a regular trygon with adrenal and run him next to/near the swarmlord and spend those points elsewhere.

Dropping the deathleaper and replacing him with a harpy with TL-HVC and Adrenal glands in my opinion is something to really think about.

That gives you a fast moving unit/target that can pop tanks with relative ease in CC and maybe even with some lucky shooting. Don't forget that it can also DS.

You can screen the harpy with Terrain and your unit of Gargoyles until you need him to distract your opponent. Plus, gives your other juicy targets a turn of rest from being shot at (hopefully).

Or, the other thing to do is drop the deathleaper entirely and downgrade your trygon prime to a regular trygon and with the points get a 2nd trygon.

That would definitely give you another big unit for your opponent to worry about. Plus, depending on mission objectives & deployment zones, you can deploy your swarmlord in the center of your table flanked on both sides by trygons and a tfex somewhere in the area. Or you can DS both Trygons.

I would probably also downgrade your devilgaunts to just regular gaunts and spend those points elsewhere - if you can, I'd think about getting a 3rd Tervigon as your 2nd HQ choice. But my rolls for gaunt spawnage has been horrible and I'm lucky to get more than 2 units spawned by each Tervigon. Your luck might be better than mine in this case.

But it does allow you to "poop" out 3 new troop choice units a turn (for as long as that lasts).

Good luck - and let us know what you decide upon and how you do at the tournament!

theHman

[Judge]

Take this with a grain of salt, because it's far from a complete analysis, but the Mawloc is more survivable for cost than the Prime or Parasite. (I've cooked up a spreadsheet with cost performance for shooting attacks against 'Nids. Parasite is one of the least survivable units for cost in the Tyranid army.) Given that you're running a 41 wound Toughness 6 army (just under 1/3rd of the Tyranid options now are T6 with multiple wounds), you might want the Mawloc for a wound sink.

In terms of raw stats for cost, Hive Guard are excellent choices, especially with any sort of terrain.

For a fun aside, just guess how much of your army list Mephiston could tear through before they brought him low.

[Tynskel]

interesting that you state the Parasite is the least survivable. It does have Independent Character status and is I6 with an instant death weapon (granted only instant death when it rends).

[The Madman]

maybe becuase like with all special characters people yell "OMG SPECIAL, KILL IT WITH FIRE." and then drop pie plates all over said special character.

[Judge]

Thus the grain of salt. Deathleaper, for example, has absolutely horrid durability for cost given an inability to assault on the round it pops in, but can only be targetted at half of night fighting range. Then again, a single wounded Tactical Squad on rapid fire could pop him in a round. A mid-sized IG squad of lasguns could kill him.

For the Parasite, you'd suggest it joins the Gargoyle squad in his list, one presumes? It would take three full 10 man tactical squads a single round of rapid fire to bring the squad and Parasite together down. That's 450 points invested (perhaps a little more, depending on faction), to bring down 120 points of gargs and 160 points of Parasite of Mortrex, a 62% return on investment for the Marine player in a single round. It would take 56 standard Imperial Guardsmen, or 336 points worth (more likely 360 for full squads) at a return of 83% in a single shooting round (78%). Don't even ask about Tau. Assuming it does reach melee, a single powerfist, a Mephiston (who strikes first by initiative), or almost any combination of mook-Marines you could name could single it out and kill it pretty easily. I suppose if there was jungle terrain everywhere and you jumped a costly HQ unit and managed to instant kill its leader (depends on the leader, but odds aren't great) then the Parasite could pay for itself, but that's an awful lot of maybes. Parasite's designed for situations with mass outflanking, and little else. Ripper spawning ability in melee is too contingent on survivability.

The real curiosity in the posted list is the remarkable absence of The Doom of Malan'Tai, which can deep strike, costs little, and reaps.