Captain Obvious says "........

    The other day I blogged that the Tyrannofex isn't your best anti-mech option.  In fact, he sucks.  I won't go into detail on why now.  Click the link, read up and learn a bit of wisdom.  But I'd say that 90% of Tyranid players who use him do so in an anti-mech role that is lacking in the codex.  I also blogged last week on a quick and dirty review of your basic anti-mech options.  Today I'm going discuss the most obvious option.

    You actually have multiple good choices that are very effective at taking out mechanized units.  The first and most obvious is the Hive Guard Brood and the Zoanthrope Brood.  They may have some issues with limited range but Tyranids aren't mean to be played as a long range shooty force.  If you're running them in that way then you're doing it wrong.  So my first and best advice is to load up 2 Elite slots with Hive Guard and one Elite slot with Zoanthrope.  

    Done.  You now have effective short and medium range anti-mech that is potent, survivable, and relatively cheap.  When you play Tyranids this should be your default option for anti-mech shooting.  Allow me to explain why;

• The Hive Guard can lay out more anti-mech firepower on the move for less points than any infantry in the game.  This is quite a statement but how many other infantry units can put out 6 strength 8 shots a turn at BS 4 that can go around corners and deny vehicles a cover save for 150 points?  My only complaint about the model is that it's weighted too nose heavy.  The modeler to the right solved that problem by putting him on an angled base.  I suppose the new Finecast won't be as nose heavy but if you do get a metal model you'd be best making an angled base too.
• Warp Lance can rip the top off of almost any vehicle in the game easily.  Land Raiders don't like being reduced to AV12 by a weapon strength 10 AP 1 weapon.  Only a Multi-Melta comes close and those don't have the option of launching AP 3 blast templates for 55 points and have a 3+ Invulnerable save.  My only complaint is the fact that it's an ugly spud of a model.  I absolutely hate the legless and armless look of it.  I tend to use the shorter old 1st edition version on the right.  It has legs and arm like a proper nid should.  The conversion on the left is one I found on-line and appears to be a Nid Warrior with a Zoanthropes head.  It's a nice conversion even if the head looks far too large.

A Ymgarl themed list

    The first and my absolute favorite themed list based upon the "other elite units" is the Ymgarl Genestealer list. I've had great success with them as they are now the only unit that can strike unopposed and un-counterable from reserve.  To use them properly you do need to build a list around their unique special abilities.  I'll blog about my love affair with them later and why they're so awesome but for now accept the fact that they're good.
   To begin with I need to overcome the fact that if I want to run 3 full sized broods of Ymgarl Genestealers I'll need to get my anti-mech shooting from somewhere because it ain't coming from my Elite slots.  That will ensure that the Ymgarls will have something to assault when they pop from hiding.  Since I need to also fill 1 HQ and 2 troops I'll use those first.  For my HQ choice I'll use a Hive Tyrant with 1 Heavy Venom Cannon and 1 set of Twin-Linked Devourers with Brainleech Worms.  With 1 strength 9 shot and 6 strength 6 shots it's a shooter than can open both light and medium armor.  I need more shooting so I'll go to my best shooters in the troops section, Tyranid Warriors.  I need to maximize my target priority so I'll keep the broods small with 3 models each so I can have as many shooting units as possible.  Each will be armed with a single Venom Cannon and 2 Deathspitters.  Each brood will be packing 1 Strength 6 shot and 6 Strength 5 shots.  Between the Hive Tyrant and the Warriors my weakest shooting is able to damage a Rhino and with side shots can take out a Chimera.
    Is this enough?  I think so.  Remember the idea of this list is to spam the Ymgarl Genestealers.  They are the center piece of this army.  The rest of the list is devoted to making them work.  What I have right now is only 1160 points with 1 Hive Tyrant, 30 Ymgarl Genestealers and 6 Warriors.  I now need to improve the list to make it work.
    The Ymgarls need reliability to their reserve roll.  Experience has taught me that.  I need to use any trick I can find to bring them in as early as possible and in this case that means Hive Commander on the Hive Tyrant.  Now 1 of my warrior broods can outflank and everyone gets a +1 to their reserve rolls.  I also want more shooting to guarantee my Ymgarls have infantry targets when round 2 starts so I double the Warrior Broods.
    Now I'm at 1445 and each round I've got 1 strength 9 shots, 10 strength 6 shots and 24 strength 5 shots, 4 troop broods with 9 wounds each plus 30 Ymgarls to handle the close combat.  It's a lot but it's also missing something.
    No other unit in the codex compliments Genestealers of either kind better than the Swarmlord.  He's a ton of points but he give you a few synergy tricks to your list.  The first and most useful is the +1 to your reserve roll.  It's been FAQ'd to stack with Hive Commander so now the reserves will show up on a 2+.  He also has the special rule Swarm Leader.  That allows him to bestow upon 1 friendly unit within 18 inches Acute Senses, Preferred Enemy or Furious Charge.  If the game starts with Night Fight rules he should bestow the Hive Tyrant with Acute Senses so he can see farther, when the Ymgarls pop out of cover have him give one Furious Charge (especially good when combined with the Ymgarl's Alter Form, Slashing Claws.  That's 30 Strength 6 rending attacks on the charge.)  If the Ymgarl's get stuck in close combat give them Preferred Enemy.  If all else fails throw him into close combat, he's a beast.
    The Ymgarls also need a bit of protection.  They're good but they're still toughness 4 with a 4+ save.  Heavy Bolters will tear them up.  Have the Hive Tyrant and Swarmlord keep casting Paroxysm on every shooty unit they can target.  Lowering them to BS 1 will do you a lot of good.
    Is this enough?  Maybe.  I'm 5 wins 0 losses with this exact list in non-tournament play.  It would probably get ruined in tournaments but in local play it's a ton of fun.

Tyrannofail

  What's big, costs a ton of points and is full of fail?

  The Tyrannofex.  

   There is simply no other way to put it, this nid sucks.  I'm not saying this after playing some weak metagame theory test I'm saying this after at least a dozen games that ranged from small 500 point battles to Apocalypse sized battles.  Normally I'd field just 1 or 2 in a 1750 battle to deal with vehicles but the most I've ever fielded was 3 in a 6,000 point Apoc battle.  Not once in all of these battles could I finish the game and say he was worth his point investment.  

  In all that time the Tyrannofex reaped a total of 4 vehicles kills and he went down 6 times.  All of those death occurred early on when he was still a new unit.  After my local metagame got used to him he tended to be ignored as "not a threat".  

  While even his biggest cheerleading fans have to admit that he is point expensive they will counter back that in theory he should at least be a creature with potential.  It has the longest range gun in the codex and with a strength of 10 one of the most potent.  With a second shot it's also likely to hit at least once per round and occasionally (25%) twice.  Toughness 6, 6 wounds and a 2+ armor save should also leave it relatively safe from enemies.  With it's various gun options it also has some flexibility to take on multiple roles on the battlefield; anti-mech, anti-infantry and anti-horde.  I'll also hear that he's meant not to destroy vehicles but to shake and stun them.

  So where does the Tryrannofex become the Tyrannofail?

1. Points-  Even at it's cheapest it's still more expensive than an upgraded Trygon Prime which excels at it's role.  It's also more expensive than an upgraded Tervigon and small Brood of Termagants.
2. Ballistic Skill 3-  Missing sucks.  At ballistic skill 3 it's missing half it's shots.  Even with 2 shots a round and range enough to hit 95% of the targets you want to hit you're only going to score an average of 6 hits a game with the Rupture Cannon.  If he goes into reserve, the game ends early and the opponent puts his vehicles in cover it may only score 1 or 2 hits a game.  This situation happens more than you think and it happened to me in a tournament.  
3. It's too easy to kill-  Toughness 6, 6 wounds and a 2+ save is still wounded on a 2+ with no save vrs Powerfists, Thunderhammers, Lascannons, Meltaguns, Dark Eldar and Eldar Lances........
4. Mech units are relatively safe from shooting-  If you're only getting an average of 6 hits a game and your opponent is able to claim a cover save then you're down to an average of 3 hits a game.  Even if all 3 hits penetrate (and they won't) statistically only 1 will destroy a vehicle.  Congratulations, you just spend 265 points to destroy A 35 point Rhino.
5. Shaking and Stunning a vehicle isn't enough-  These days mech is so cheap that shaking and stunning isn't an option anymore.  Cheap means redundant so shaking and stunning one means there are more out there that aren't shaken or stunned.  Nor does it mean that the vehicle isn't doing anything; extra armor, power of the machine spirit, squadron rules and psyker powers all keep that vehicle effective on the battlefield.  No, these days dealing with mech means turning them into a smoking wreck on the battlefield.

  If the Tyrannofex is the Tyrannofail you still have a need to deal with mech units.  As I've wrote before, mech units are the Tyranids weakness.  It goes like this; Tyranids = Rock   Infantry = Scissors   Mech = Paper.

  If you had 265 points to spend on something to deal with mech how would you spend it best?  I'll blog on that later.

Beep Beep, here comes the Raveners

They're fast little bastards and in 40K speed kills.  Anything you do to move this brood even faster is worth doing.  Of course there's a bit more to it than simply winding them up and watching them go.  Don't expect to win games simply because you collected, painted and deployed a big brood of Raveners.  You still have to use them correctly.
The first key to getting the most of these little speed daemons is to know their limitations.  They're relatively cheap per wound, roll a ton of dice on a charge that re-roll misses, are fast as hell and can tear up most squads before they can an attack.  Unfortunately toughness 4 with a 5+ save means you're bolter bait.  Therefore you need to expect losses.  That doesn't mean you throw these broods at your opponent and hope for the best while ignoring the worst.  Making the best use of cover will help save them from needless losses but that tends to slow them down, Feel No Pain from a nearby Tervigon casting Catalyst will help out but your speed will probably outrun him when you need him around the most.  They also lack some of the best upgrades like Boneswords and Fleshhooks.

So what does a Ravener have going for it?  The first and most obvious is it's speed.  Move through cover, a 12 inch charge and fleet means you can cover a ton of ground fast and with decent predictability.  That speed has an unspoken secondary effect.  If a Ravener player times his charge just right he won't ever be targeted with rapid fire.  The Ravener has a minimum threat range of 19 inches.  Beasts allows it to Fleet and charge 12 inches in addition to it's standard move.  A Marine squad's threat range when rapid firing is 18 inches.  As long as no cover slows you down you should only suffer 1 round of shooting from long range.
How would I use this type of brood in a Tyranid army?  My biggest worry in early rounds is the Ravener's poor leadership.  If it's not in Synapse I'm going to loose control if this unit to Instinctive Behavior or it will suffer a few bolter shots and run off the board.  It's speed also needs to be addressed for synapse.  Although a Tervigon can provide Synapse it can't provide it fast enough.  The Ravener's charge range is enough to get it out of synapse.  You will need a synapse creature fast enough to keep up or with a long enough synapse range to keep these guys under control.  Tyranid Shrikes can do a decent job.  They can keep up fast by flying 12 inches a round.  They're also just as fragile as the Raveners so you might want something tougher.
A flying Hive Tyrant is another good option but at 230 points it's an expensive beast.  My personal favorite is the Swarmlord.  Pardon my hypocrisy for complaining about the winged Hive Tyrants price when this model is a full 50 points more expensive and isn't any faster.  The Swarmlord can some abilities that no other model in the codex can match.  It has an 18 inch synapse range which is long enough to keep up with the Raveners.  It also has the Swarm Leader rules.  This rule allows the Swarmlord to bestow Acute Senses, Preferred Enemy, or Furious Charge to a unit within 18 inches in the shooting phase.  Obviously I'd pick Furious Charge to boost their strength up to 5.  Since this happens before the charge the Raveners won't be out of range.  Preferred Enemy is nice but the Ravener's have 2 sets of scything talons.  They get to re-roll misses anyway.
How does this work out on the battlefield?  Vrs Marines the Ravener gets to attack first at Initiative 6, rolls 5 attack dice, hits on 3+ with a re-roll, and wounds on 3+.  A medium sized brood of 5 should be able to kill 5 Marines on the Charge.  A combat squad will be wiped out completely and a full sized squad should be weakened enough to be ineffective.  Swap one set of scything talons for rending claws and you should kill an additional 2-3 Marines and pose a serious threat to most vehicles.  In either case a squad of Guardsmen will be wiped out completely.
Is this a guaranteed win?  No.  Will it make an easy win?  No again.  Will it make a win easier if you can learn to use it's speed and mass of attacks to your advantage?  Yes.

Tyranids and cover

If you're new to playing (or fighting against) Tyranids the first thing you absolutely have to learn is that Nids live and die because of terrain.  Terrain rules are the single biggest contributor to a Tyranid win or a Tyranid loss.  The faster a player can learn to use terrain the better they will play nids (or play against nids).
The first and most beneficial aspect of terrain for Tyranids is cover.  Before you roll your eyes and say, "Gee thanks Captain obvious" here are a few facts.

• Only 2 models in the codex have an invulnerable save vrs shooting and they're both toughness 4.    
• Over 40% of the units in the codex won't get a save vrs a bolter.
• Over 70% won't get a save vrs a heavy bolter.
• Only 3 models in the codex will get a save vrs a Missile Launcher.

In a typical battle the Tyranid player will have about 3 rounds of movement before he can get into assault against a typical opponent.  In those 3 rounds you'll probably have to suffer 2 rounds of long range bolter shots and 1 round of rapid fire.  A good tournament player might delay the assault to round 4 if he's good but let's look at 3 rounds for argument's sake.  If one squad of Marines with 7 bolters, 1 bolt pistol, 1 plasmagun and 1 missile launcher focus fires on one brood of nids this is the damage they will do in those 3 rounds of shooting.

• Vrs Termagants and Hormagaunts the Marines will kill an average of 19 models.  If you're running broods of 20 the last Gaunt isn't going to do much in close combat.
• Vrs Genestealers the Marines will kill an average of 15 Genestealers.  If you're running broods of 12 then .... um.... you're dead.
• A toughness 6 monstrous creature will suffer an average of 5 wounds.  The 4 wound Carnifex never stood a chance.

Give them a cover save and the situation changes.

• The Gaunts now only loose between 9 and 10 models.  A brood that started with 20 can now do some good when they get there.
• The Genestealers now stand a chance to do something.  Their losses of 7 models still leave enough to have an effect.  
• The Fex now has 1 wound left.  It's not much but if it were a 6 wound Trygon it would still have a lot of fight left in it.

Now comes the bad effects of terrain on nids and it comes in 2 flavors.  The first and easiest to overcome is the slowing effect of cover.  It's difficult terrain and only models with wings, the Move Through Cover rule, or a Monstrous Creature will have a way around this effect.  Fortunately most of the models worth taking have one of these rules.  In fact of the models worth taking, only the Tyranid Warrior doesn't have a way around the slowing effects of cover.  Just keep that in mind if you have to charge through cover, you may not make it.  I've lost 1st place at tournaments because my nids came up 1 inch short on a charge attempt.  Trust me, it sucks.

The second way cover can work against a Tyranid player is our lack of assault grenade effects.  In my opinion this is the single biggest handicap in the codex.  Most Tyranids have a fairly good initiative statline.  Genestealers have a fantastic Initiative statline.  Without any assault grenade like effects that great initiative is reduced to a miserable 1.  

Guardsmen will swing before us, Orks will swing before us, everyone except friggin powerfists will swing before us.  Those 10 Gaunts and 5 Genestealers who survived all that shooting now have to survive close combat before finally getting their attacks and it ain't looking good for the hive.  Fleshhooks and Frag Spines do exist and they will provide the needed assault grenade like effect but none of those are troops or even worth taking.  

Tyranids are stuck pulling tricks to maintain our speed and initiative.  They can be tough to pull off and be point expensive but they're all we've got to work with.  I shall blog about them next week.

Putting the fluff into scale

Here is a link to a site I've mentioned multiple times on the show that appeals to the SciFi fluff nut in me.

Jeff Russell's STARSHIP DIMENSIONS

It, better than any other site I've ever seen, demonstrates visually exactly how large warships in 40K fiction truly are.  What inspired me to write this post was the book cover from A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeil and Cain's Last Stand by Sandy Mitchell (Alex Stewart).

See all those little dots up in the sky over the pyramids of Tizca?

See that thing in the upper right hand corner over Cain's shoulder?

Those are battleships and cruisers in orbit.  They're big, really friggin big.  Big enough to make out individual details of the ships from the planet's surface.  But is that an accurate portrayal or just another example of artistic exaggeration?  After all isn't orbit really far away?  The largest man made object currently in orbit is the International Space Station and every time I've seen it overhead it was nothing more than a bright fast moving dot.  See for yourself on a clear night.

So I began to try to figure out just how big do 40K starships appear during an assault/bombardment when they enter low orbit?  To answer this out I needed to find out how high assault/orbital bombardment orbit was.  My answer was found in chapter 19 of Cain's Last Stand when he describes a Chaos cruiser needing "....about an hour.  More or less." to line up an orbital bombardment shot.  That duration of orbit around what's described as an Earth sized planet would put an assault/bombardment orbit at just under 150 miles high.  If a Retribution class battleship is 7.5 KM long then it's distance during an assault/bombardment would be about 20 times it's length from the viewer.

Do you want to see with your own eyes just how big these ships are?  Open this image in another window and leave it full sized, walk back about 14 feet and turn around.  This is how big it would appear to the sorry sap on the receiving end when it's firing shells and assault craft are being launched,

Does that put the size of these things into proper perspective?  Black Library book covers may be a bit on the dramatic side but they're accurate with the background imagery.

Onslaught; One way to speed up your swarm

Us poor nid players are a sorry lot.  It's nearly 2 years since the codex has been released and we're still waiting for the second wave of models.  There is still no official model for the Tyranid Prime, Harpy, Tervigon, Tyrannofex, Mycetic Spore, Swarmlord, Doom of Malan'tai, Parasite of Mortrex, or the Ymgarl Genestealers.  It's not big loss on some of these models as their rules suck anyway (I'm talking about you Tyrannofex).  Others like the Tyranid Prime, Swarmlord, and Ymgarl Genestealers can be fielded with current models with very minor conversion.
On the other hand the Tervigon is a model which absolutely needs a model of his own.  Although a Carnifex can be used as an effective proxy (I use one myself) it's really a poor looking substitute compared to the picture in the codex. I'm 100% sure that if GW would come out with a decent looking model the sales on it would be fantastic.  It's rules are just that good.  Since GW won't do it then another company has;

That's the conversion kit Chapter House Studios has put out to convert a Carnifex to a decent looking version of the Tervigon.  It's $22.50 and includes the oval base to put the larger beast on.  It's a damn good buy not because it looks great (and it does) but because it's one of the few gems in the codex.
Everyone knows about the Spawn Termagants rule.  That's the one that allows it to "poop" out 3d6 Termagants.  It's a great rule that's very flavorfull to the spirit of the codex and effective on the battlefield.  The Brood Progenitor rule is another one that may not be as famous as the one that allows it to poop out models but is twice as awesome.  It gives Termagants within 6 inches the rule counter-attack and if the Tervigon has Toxin Sacks and Adrenal Gland bestows poison attacks and furious charge on them too.  I wrote a post on some tactics with that rule earlier.
In addition this beast also comes with the Psychic power Dominion.  It's nice but I've never used it once.  My Termagants usually aren't very far so I rarely need to extend Synapse out to 18 inches.  The Psychic power I use a lot is Catalyst.  I'm also willing to be that it's probably the most often used Psychic power in the entire codex.  Why not, who doesn't love the rule Feel No Pain.
There is one other Psychic power that's rarely used.  I just started using it myself and have never seen anyone else use it.  Onslaught.  It allows a unit to run, then shoot, and then assault if it has fleet.  It's a shame that most people (including myself) have long thought of only using it on Termagants.  Only recently did I even consider using it on other broods.  Here are a few who can benefit the most from it;

• Hive Guard and Zoanthropes- The 24 inch range of their guns has long been lamented as short especially in Dawn of War deployments where they start off the board.  The Zoe's Warp Lance is especially limited with only an 18 inch range.  Hit them with Onsluaght and the Hive Guard can now move, run and then shoot at a target up to 31 to 36 inches from were they started from.  The Warp Lance enjoys a big bonus compared to it's original range and can now threaten from 25 to 30 inches from where it started.  
• Harpy- A relatively weak monstrous creature it has to pick and choose who it engages and stay away from those that it does not.  Unfortunately to drop it's spore mine cargo it has to move over a unit in the movement phase.  That usually leaves it very close to danger.  While it's a decent attack it won't wipe out any squad in one blow.  That's why a smart player would either forgo the Harpy's shooting and run it into cover or pray to the dice gods that his ballistic skill 3 is good enough (and it usually isn't).  With Onslaught the Harpy gets to move into cover and continue to shoot the target he hit before.  The D3 spore mines, Stinger Salvo and Twin-Linked Strangelthorn Cannon is a lot of firepower and should break up a unit pretty hard and should not be wasted because of a need to find protective cover.
• Dakkafex- The added d6 range boost is good for a beast with limited range but that's not the only reason you want to hit this guy with Onslaught.  It will allow you to keep him shooting and killing things as you move a strength 9 monstrous creature into close combat range.  Shooting will slow him down because he won't be able to run leaving you unable to get into assault range.  With Onslaught he can do both and maintain his speed while killing your opponents infantry every step of the way.
• Trygon Prime- Not only is the Trygon one of the best models GW has ever produced it's also a fantastic beast on the battlefield.  He kills anything he touches.  Usually I tell everyone to save the points and only take the Trygon.  The only real benefit of the Trygon Prime is the Strength 5 Assault 12 Containment Spines.  It's a brutal load of dice and will rack up the kills.  Too bad he almost never shoots with it.  If he shoots he can no longer fleet and usually that means he's out of range to assault.  He's much better assaulting than he is shooting so most people don't shoot.  Hit him with Onslaught and he can do both.  That gives you the added benefit of softening up your target before the assault.  With luck you'll take out a few of the ablative wounds so when your real blows hit he'll be targeting the all important powerfist.  

Tyranid anti-mech options

The one bright and shiny spot of the Tyranid codex is it's ability to kill infantry.  They're so good at it that it's a crying shame that 5th edition is so Mechanized.  In many of my games there simply aren't any infantry on the battlefield for me to kill.  What I do have running around in front of me is a crap ton of little boxes with soft meaty parts inside that I simply can't get at.
You see....  Mech is the Achilles heel of the Tyranid army.  If nids are making life difficult for you, buy transports.  That will solve most of your problems.  Tyranid players really only have a limited selection of anti-vehicle options available to them.

Hive Tyrant- His main use is supposed to be as general of the swarm not an anti-mech gunbeast.  But if you do use him to crack a few armored nuts you have 3 options;

• With Wings and 2 sets of Scything Talons.  The wings give him the mobility to catch vehicles and the 2 sets of scything talons allow him to re-roll misses in case the tank moved.  The added dice on the armor penetration roll is nice and his high toughness keeps him relatively safe if it blows up.  On the downside he's 230 points.
• Venomtyrant with a Heavy Venom Cannon.  Long range and very high strength usually means a good anti-armor gun but this one comes up short due to it's -1 to the damage roll.  It's not good enough to only shake a vehicle anymore.  Plus it's 195 points base with a ballistic skill of 3.  
• Dakkatyrant with 2 sets of Twin-Linked Devourers with Brainleech worms.  Rolling 12 strength 6 shots that re-roll misses is awesome in any codex.  It should shred light armor with ease.  Too bad it's AP- so it gets a -1 on the vehicle damage chart, has an 18 inch range and costs 230 points to field.  

Hive Guard Brood-  This unit could be one of the best light-medium anti-armor shooters in the game.  50 points for a toughness 6 model with 2 wounds is very hard to complain about.  The only thing I can complain about is his inclusion in the Elite section when he should be in the Heavy Support section.

Zoanthrope Brood-  Another awesome unit choice that is very effective at taking out any armor in the game.  The Warp lance is incredibly potent.  He has a few weaknesses such as his toughness 4 being magnetic to every missile launcher on the battlefield, too easy to counter with a Psychic Hood, and was wrongly placed in the Elite section instead of the Heavy Support section.

Genestealers- Both Ymgarl and normal Genestealers are highly effective as vehicle killers.  Rolling a bucket full of rending attacks is a near guaranteed way of blowing up anything with AV13 or less.  That's where the problem is; it won't work on AV14 and works way too well on AV10-13.  I've had battles where I lost more Genestealers to exploding vehicles than I have to enemy shooting.

Termagants- Don't laugh, they can do it.  If they can maneuver around a vehicle their Strength 4 Fleshborers can score a ton of glances and follow it up with an assault.  If they're equipped with Adrenal Gland they will assault at strength 4 against the rear armor.  Even though they're "only" glancing they usually do enough glances to take a vehicle apart piece by piece.  As a bonus they can't cause a vehicle to explode as rending Genestealers can.

Warriors, Shrikes and Raveners- These 3 can be dangerous to light vehicles either through shooting or close combat with rending claws.  Too bad it's a crap ton of points to be marginally effective at anti-light mech duties.  They're much better at killing what's inside the vehicle instead of the vehicle itself.

Harpy- At 170 points it's the cheapest Heavy Venom Cannon in the codex.  Too bad it's toughens 5 with a 4+ save on an easy to target monstrous creature who has a difficult time getting a cover save.

Carnifex- While he's a bit over priced the original bad boy of the codex has a few builds that can do the job.

• Basic with no upgrades will set you back 160 points but he will charge in with 5 attacks that re-roll misses and 2d6+9 to penetrate armor.  If he can catch the vehicle he'll probably wreck it.  Catching it is the hard part.  Those things won't stay still while he plods his way across the battlefield.
• His shooting options are the same as the Hive Tyrant; Venomfex or the Dakkafex.  With these guns his performance is equal to the Hive Tyrant but at a cheaper cost, 185 and 190 points.  

Tyrannofex- The Rupture Cannon is the only build I would take vrs vehicles.  It has 2 shots, beautiful long range at a very high toughness and none of that -1 on the damage roll crap.  It should be everything Tyranid players could ever want in an anti-vehicle shooter.  The problem is he's ballistic skill 3 and costs 265 points.  If the game goes a full 6 rounds he'll only hit an average of 6 times.  Now he has to roll to penetrate, roll to damage and hope they don't have a cover save.  Vrs a Marine list he's got less than 50/50 chance to destroy a 35 point Rhino.

Trygon- With Fleet he moves fast, as a monstrous creature he rolls an extra dice to penetrate, rolls a ton of dice on the attack roll that can re-roll misses, and has enough wounds to survive your opponents attempts to stop him.  Plus he's the attention magnet the rest of your army needs to survive. The moment he gets close your opponent will stop at nothing to stop him from doing anything.  This should be your vehicle killer of choice were it not for the fact that he's still more expensive than 3 Zoanthropes or 3 Hive Guard who can do just as much and from farther away.

I suppose the real weakness of the Tyranid codex is that it's completely boned by the current Mech centered metagame.  The best anti-mech broods in the codex are all in the same FOC section and compete with other just as awesome Elite choices like the Doom of Malan'tai, Deathleaper and Ymgarl Genestealers.

All hail the mighty Devourgant shooting

In yesterday's post I described a Termigant Deathstar build that has serious potential to crush opponents in close combat.  It's a proven build that is effective vrs 80% of potential opponents.  The most obvious weakness it suffers from is it's dependance on the Hive Tyrant and the Tervigon.  Without those 2 models acting in support the Deathstar combo looses much of it's effectiveness.  They fall from being a close combat killing machine to a somewhat hazardous speedbump.
So how do you include a bit of insurance in this build that allows it a bit of flexibility on the battlefield?  One way is to equip one brood of Termigants with the Devourer.  It's a major point investment that doubles the cost of the model, your 5 point Termigant is now a 10 point Devourgant.  What you get for those 5 points is an extra 2 shots and 6 inches of additional range.

While nobody argues that the extra 2 shots aren't good the additional 6 inches of range forces a full change in tactics.  The Termagant horde tactics changes from a shooty/close combat combo to a shooty centric brood.  It has now become critical to keep the Devourgants out of close combat.  Toughness 3 with a 6+ save is far too weak to survive close combat especially in a 10 point model.
So why would you use this model with it's extra range and shots;

• A big brood of 30 models has 90 strength 4 shots.  Most opponents are freaked out by that much firepower.  This brood should stack an average of 22 wounds on a squad of Marines ensuring that every model will be forced to roll a save.  
• The extra 6 inches of range allows you to keep shooting at maximum effect while staying out of your opponents rapid fire range.  If forced to function without cover and within flamer/rapid fire range a brood of Termigants will suffer an average of 11 wounds to a basic squad of Marines.  Staying out of flamer/rapid fire range brings that number down to 4 to 5 wounds.  If you can use the extra range to get them into cover you're down to loosing an average of just 2 models.  
• That extra 6 inches of range gives Devourgants a chance to keep shooting even if they can't move while under the effect of the rule Instinctive Behavior-Lurk.  
• You can have multiple ranks of shooters target the same unit.  
• This brood isn't dependent upon 2 other models to be effective.

To incorporate this brood in the same list I posted yesterday I would swap out 2 of the 30 model Termagant broods for 2 broods of 15 Devourgants and deploy them behind the larger Termagant broods.  As a smaller brood of models they appear less intimidating and therefore are less likely to be targeted.  In addition they are easier to hide in cover.  They are then positioned as shooting backup to ensure that if the Hive Tyrant and/or Tervigon falls even a weakened Termagant brood will be able to maintain the kill ratio they need.
It is possible to build a list centered around the Devourgants anti-infantry shooting ability.  Since they can't take out anything except the most basic AV10 mech units they absolutely must be backed up with effective high strength shooting broods.  Fill your Elite slots with Hive Guard and Zoanthropes to crack the cans open.  Close combat duties can be filled with Tyranid Warriors with Boneswords.  The Warriors can also provide additional anti-mech shooting with Venom Cannons and Deathspitters.

A Tyranid Deathstar that doesn't suck

Tyranids don't suck completely.  I hope that doesn't surprise everyone that I've said.  I'm well aware that I've been saying the opposite for the past year and a half.  Please forgive me; try sticking a microphone in front of your face and not contradicting yourself now and then.  You'll see how difficult it can be.
My prior statements of Tyranid suckyness can be supported by tournament results.  The recent NOVA open results demonstrated that they are the worst performing 5th edition codex.  My own personal experience has also demonstrated the inherent limitations of Tyranids.  I have also recognized what Tyranids are good at.  I can sum it up in one simple statement; they are great at killing infantry.  What they suck at can also be summed up in a simple statement; they suck vrs mech units.

I'm going to start this series of posts that will examine the Tyranid codex with the most humble and underrated model in the codex, the Termagant.
Although their stat line is unimpressive this can easily be overcome with very large broods and proper support.  In the picture above I'm running 4 broods of 30 backed up with a Tervigon with Toxin Sacks and Adrenal Gland and a Hive Tyrant with Old Adversary.  This 6 unit 1,100 point combo is being run as a single large Deathstar swarm.  Supporting them is a brood of 4 Warriors, 3 Zoanthropes, 3 Hive Guard and Doom in a Spore Pod.
What makes it good; To begin with it's cheap.  At 5 points per model you can afford to make large broods.  A maxed out brood of 30 models will only set you back 150 points.  This is important because to get the most out of little bugs you need a lot of them.
It also benefits from a few rules.  The Tyranid codex may be one of the weakest 5th edition codex's but it does have synergy that most codex's lack.  The Brood Progenitor rule on the Tervigon gives all Termigants with a model within 6 inches of it the Counter-Attack rule and bestows Furious Charge and Poison attacks if the Tervigon has Toxin Sacks and Adrenal Glands.  The Hive Tyrants Old Adversary special rule bestows the Preferred Enemy rule on broods with a model within 6 inches if it.  Careful model placement can ensure that your entire army can benefit from these rules.
This is a brutal combo.  Since the Fleshborer is an Assault weapon that shoots at strength 4 they could soften up their target before the charge.  Each brood of 30 will charge in with 60 attacks that re-roll misses thanks to the Hive Tyrant.  Thanks to the Tervigon giving them Furious Charge they attack at Initiative 5 so in most cases their attacks will go first.  Vrs. Marines that works out to an average of 45 hits from a single brood.  The Tervigon gave them Poisoned attacks so they wound on a 4+.  Another benefit of Furious Charge is the +1 strength which pushes them up Strength 4 so their poisoned attacks can re-roll misses.  Vrs MEQ this means an average of 41 wounds before the Marines get a single attack.  Most squads of Marines can't handle this number of wounds.
Of course the Marines aren't sitting there waiting to be killed.  They have guns and know how to use them.  If they can rapid fire, flamer and a frag missile the Termigants and force them to charge through cover so they loose the initiative the situation changes significantly.  If caught without cover the Termigants will loose about half their number through shooting and close combat.  In that case the Tyranid Deathstar advance comes to a crashing halt.
Of course this is why I run 4 broods of 30 Termigants.  One forms a meat shield to provide cover and 3 more broods come in crashing waves.  The Tervigon can also bestows Catalyst on a brood so they can benefit from the Feel No Pain rule.  Tyranid losses drop from 15 to just 4 or 5 and the Termigants are back up to causing 34 wounds on Marines.  I can also send in more than 1 brood of Termigants on a single target.  In a battle vrs Screaming Heretic Joe I killed off his Grey Knight Grand Master buy having 70 Termigants shoot at him in one round.  He had no chance to survive.

My experience running this type of Deathstar supports the Mathhammer you just read.  Most Marine squads will be wiped out in one assault phase.  Even Terminators should fear a swarm of Termigants.  Most people react in amazement when I say that my main anti-Terminator unit of choice is a swarm of Termigants.  Don't belive me.  Roll 40 dice and tell me how many 1's you roll.
Another overlooked advantage of this type of Deathstar army build is the mind game.  Most players never start a battle outnumbered 4 to 1.  Facing such huge numbers intimidates people and quite often makes them loose their sense of tactics.
How would a player going against this type of Deathstar deal with it?  Here are a few tips;

• Without the Tervigon and Hive Tyrant bestowing the special rules the Termigants wound have dished out an average of just 13 wounds to a MEQ opponent.  
• If their Synapse units get killed the Termigants can be easily driven off due to their low leadership of 6.
• This swarm is also fairly clumsy on the battlefield.  It's huge numbers slows it down and clumps it up so large blast templates can yield maximum effect.  
• It can't effect armor higher than AV10.  Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders have absolutely nothing to fear from this swarm.  
• Even though vehicles with AV10 sides can be glanced to death the swarm needs multiple 6's to do it.  Keep your transports moving to cut the number of hits the swarm can get and make sure your access point is away from the direction of the expected assault.  Jump out in the following round and flame the tightly packed swarm.  
• Castle up on the battlefield with cover limiting the number of Termigants who can get in base to base contact with you.  The key to this Deathstar's effectiveness is the massive numbers of dice it rolls on the charge.  If you can survive that first round you stand a fairly good chance to break it in the following rounds when it doesn't have +1 strength and initiative from Furious Charge and a bonus attack from charging.

The latest codex (slightly) changed the metagame again

It's a simple fact that every new codex changes the 40K metagame.  A couple years back IG with it's cheap mech and abundant heavy firepower were the king of the battlefield.  For a portion of a year most tournaments boiled down to IG leafblower vrs IG leafblower.  That ship has sailed and the NOVA open tournament results prove it.  The ultimate winner isn't the issue, that is Tony and he could win any tournament with any army using skill alone.  The important stat to look at is which armies were the in the top tier.

To me this is the stat that's most important to judge the current national metagame.  First these players had to win 4 perfect or nearly games to get this far so this culls the lucky newbs and players of average skill.  Second, only serious players who win local tournaments get this far so this shows you what armies dominate their local metagame.  Third, this shows you how competitive local metagame vrs local metagame are in a national tournament.
This is how I read it;

1. 10 of 16 upper tier players use MEQ armies.  Upper tier players usually only use upper tier codex's.  They're not there to simply have fun, they're there to win.  More than 60% of them chose a MEQ army as a winning codex.
2. 4 out of 16 were Xenos armies and only 1 had success vrs upper tier armies.  Necrons may change this in the future but until then the fact that 3/4 of competitive armies are Imperial suggests a bit of Imperial bias on GW codex designers part.
3. Space Wolves are still the list to beat.  5th edition is still all about mech and Space Wolf Long Fangs are the ideal in dealing with them.  They have abundant, long range, high strength, low AP firepower that doubles out the majority of the models in the game.  GK firepower is good but it's mid-range and can't double out nearly as much.
4. IG are competitive but no longer dominant.  The dreaded leaf blower list was overrated except in games over 2000 points.  Short of that it lacked the volume of firepower needed to sweep opponents off the battlefield.  

I think we can forget about those 3 points now

When I first read the tournament results from the 2011 NOVA open my first thought was "AGAIN!"  In case you haven't heard Tony Kopach won it again.  I can hardly blame you if the name doesn't ring a bell.  After all these games aren't on ESPN and not everyone follows tournament results.  He is the 17 year old kid who won* the NOVA open last year and the Adepticon Nationals this year.  He is also the one who won last year's NOVA open with a list that was 3 points over.

At this point mentioning those 3 points is old news.  He fully redeemed himself at Adepticon by proving he can earn a solid highly competitive tournament win.  Yet those 3 points are a fact and this win should finally put that controversy to rest.  Continued bitchen about these 3 points is nothing more than jealousy and useless ranting.  The simple fact is he went 8-0 with 16 total "perfect" games at both the NOVA open and Adepticon vrs the best competition in the world.  He had 24 "perfect" games if you include last years NOVA open.

The only thing I have left to say is, "Congratulations Tony Kopach, you're the best 40K player in the world today".

Thank you GW but it's not enough

It's been a well known fact for well over a year now that the Sisters of Battle were going to be given a White Dwarf update.  We never knew exactly when but we knew that is was going to happen.  Rumors (God I hate them) were inaccurate as always and the end result seems to be a lackluster effort.  Allow me to explain.
Before the rumor of the WD Sisters codex update was leaked to us the staff of GW were working on it for almost a year.  That leaves the finished result that is being printed in White Dwarf the end result of a 2 1/2 to 3 year effort.  Please pardon my pessimism but I honestly can't call the finished product a productive use of designer time.  That's more than enough time to design, playtest, and print a fully finished codex.  I won't question the end result of the update but I am going to question the intention to publish a half finished effort.
Yes, I'm a critic.  Yes, I've been an anti GW rant lately.  No I'm not being unfair.  If you're going through all the effort to make a new codex why on earth would you stop halfway through the project and publish something that's going to be replaced in less than a full year?

So now that I've said my peace allow me to contradict myself.  This update makes White Dwarf worth it's purchase price.  It also refreshes an army list that is old and years out of date from the edition it was written for.

Now that it's out I sort of wish GW would do the same for the Tau, Dark Angels and Black Templars.  If they started now they could probably have all three ready and published before the end of the year.  In fact I'd be perfectly happy if GW never printed another codex again and instead relied upon White Dwarf updates.  If every issue had an update to one of their armies it would make White Dwarf relevant again.

Campaign Creation

Campaign are fun.  They are far more than the basic definition, a series of games that have been linked together.  They are a new challenge, a source of bragging rights, an inspiration for future projects, and an opportunity to try something different.

Of course, not all campaigns are the same.  The 3 primary types are; Map, Tree (The results of one game will determine the type of game and mission in subsequent games), and Ladder (A linear series of battles that do not deviate from the original plan).  In addition to that limited definition of campaigns are subtypes that deal with other aspects.  One is campaign conclusion; Is the campaign open ended, with a specific win condition, or with a planned conclusion?  Another is Missions and Objectives;  Are the games pre-generated in advance or determined as the campaign progresses?  Does the results of one game effect later games?  Player participation is also a critical aspect; How many people are in it and can people enter after it has begun?  You also need to decide if the army composition is fixed or non-fixed; does the campaign require you to use certain units and keep your army list fixed or can everything vary from one battle to the next?  What about a sideboard style where you can have a combo of both types.

There are various elements a campaign writer has to keep in mind that make a great campaign;  A compelling story line has to be number 1 on my list.  Anything that connects the storyline to myself and my army is what will make me want to keep playing the games.  A sense of fairness and balance for everyone involved must also play a large role in the design of the campaign.  Try to avoid the “steamroller” effect and vary the types of missions and deployments.  Another critical aspect
is the inclusion of interesting battles that challenge the players in new and unique ways.

While it’s not necessary for a campaign to have a story line that links the games together,  I’ve found that if before the campaigns starts you don’t already have story line that links the games together one will naturally develop one on its own.  Don’t resist it if one does develop on it’s own.  That’s part of what
makes a campaign fun and memorable.

Story line development is often quoted as the most difficult part of campaign writing.  I find it the easiest and I can attribute that to being a DM in AD&D.  In those types of games a good story line is critical.  It is central to the game itself.  But if you’ve never written a story line for role playing games then where do you find one?  Story lines for campaigns are everywhere if you just look and use a bit of imagination.

My favorite source is the news.  A recent example is the toxic sludge disaster in Hungary.  To me, that sounds like Papa Nurge causing trouble.  The first battle can be the initial opening of a massive warp gate, the second would be the rescue of stranded units, and the final battle would be a mission to close the warp gate.  The recent news about the Quantis Jet making an emergency landing because of engine trouble can be converted to an Imperial starship having to make emergency repairs on an Ork infested planet that holds an old Mechanicus station.  The first battle could be a forced entry into an occupied area, the second is gathering needed repair parts, and the last is evacuation after repairs have been made.

Those examples quickly rose out of my mind as I was writing and need to be fleshed out in greater detail but the basics of a good story line are there.

History is another good source for a story line but it may take a bit of work and imagination to convert historical battles to something logical for a wargame deployment and mission.  You may have to admit that some historical events and battles would make a boring campaign even if they were critical events in history.  Move on to another historical event if they can’t be easily converted.  Others, like Sherman’s March to the Sea from the American Civil War, just about writes its self for any campaign type.  It’s series of major events and battles can be easily converted to the table top wargame.

Also look to fictional history to inspire a campaign storyline.  Inserting your games into the greater storyline of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade that forms the backdrop of the Gaunts Ghosts series is
easy.  After all, they aren’t the only regiment in the sector wide crusade.  It’s easy for an Imperial Guard player taking the role of an un-detailed regiment in the books or simply replacing the Tanith 1st.
Another option is to use a random story line generator.  Do a google search and I’m sure you’ll find dozens of sites for this.  I admit that most of them are designed for role playing games but that does not mean that the inspiration can’t apply.  Keep in mind that random charts for games don’t have to be used randomly. It’s perfectly acceptable to selectively pick the parts of these charts you want to use instead of letting the dice decide for you. It’s your game, use this material as you see fit.

One of the other, and most difficult to achieve, elements of a great campaign is a sense of fairness.  You may have to accept that in a campaign it may be impossible to achieve perfect fairness in every game throughout the entire campaign.  It’s the overall campaign that must be fair.  Both players should have an equal opportunity to win.

Special campaign rules that favor one army over another can lead to an imbalanced campaign.  Try to avoid this situation but accept that it may be necessary to imbalance an individual game to move the
campaign’s storyline along.  An example would be to give a planetary invader an advantage to get them on the surface in the opening battle.  The storyline would be silly for subsequent battles if the invaders were wiped out in the opening battle and never made it down to the planet alive.

Do this by allowing the defender a chance to win the scenario without actually winning the game.  If one side has a huge battle advantage let the other side have an easy win condition.  With the previous example I’d help the invader gain a needed story line foothold on the planet by giving his entire
army (including vehicles) “without number”.  That would represent the continued reinforcement of additional troops an invader would need.  To balance it out require the defender to keep a single specified model alive to win the scenario.   This model could represent the planetary governor, a general, a great hero, etc….

Be careful of giving out too many or powerful rewards to one side after a winning battle.  These rewards tend to stack and make that player even more difficult to beat in subsequent games.  That player will end up steamrolling everyone else unfairly if the rewards become too numerous or too powerful.  Consider giving rewards that don’t effect the very next battle, don’t stack, are very minor, or are balanced out
with special rules for the other side.

Players who are unable to tell the difference between a “win at all costs” type of game and a “story line” driven game are another huge problem.  Those kind of players belong in a tournament where the intent of the game is to determine the best general.  They will enjoy those types of games much more.  

Another huge issue is the inflexibility of the players and the campaigns setting.  Quite often the writer of the campaign doesn’t know the players, their playing styles, their army, the battlefield terrain or anything else that’s unique to your situation.  It’s your game, feel free to change anything you see fit.  Any of those situation can imbalance the campaign unfairly.  If it’s not fair then change it so it is and restore the fun.

Some campaigns systems like Plantetary Empires give advantages to the looser (underdog) as a means of balancing the games.  This allows players of various skill levels to still compete against one another and “forgives and forgets” bad and good luck that we all occasionally have.  While the underdog rules can be cheated to give a player too many advantages the effect is minor and will balance itself out after a few games.

If you do decide to give the players advantages then keep them limited and relatively minor.  Loosing shouldn’t be rewarded any more than a lucky win reinforced.  As with everything else the advantages should be consistent with the storyline.

So now that you have a campaign story line and a sense of fairness how do you build the series together?  I believe that is the minimum number of games you need to make the campaign interesting is 3.  Four to six games is ideal for a campaign with a specific ending point.  It’s long enough to advance a story arc yet short enough for the players to not lose interest.   Coincidentally most comic book series are about that long too.  I admit that some comic book series, like campaigns, are much bigger but those tend to be reserved for special characters and situations.

I highly recommend that you follow an abbreviated form of what’s known in fiction as the Dramatic Arc.  It consists of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion.  Unfortunately that exact format works in fiction writing but it doesn’t translate to well to a table top wargame.  It, as a form of drama, was designed for the Greek and Shakespearian stage.  The falling action and conclusion will bore the players and seem completely redundant.

Skip the lasts parts and only use the exposition, rising action and climax.  This more closely resembles the Japanese form of story arc called the Jo-Ha-Kyu.  It means that all action should start slowly, speed up, then end swiftly.  This is ideal for a wargames campaign.

The exposition literally means to set the scene.  It begins the story, introduces the players, and in this
case starts the campaign.  If you do it right it will set the theme of the campaign.  How you do it is entirely up to you the players.  You could start it big.  An example is a Tyranid invasion where they all come down in overwhelming numbers.  You could start it small such as using Killzone rules.  This is much more in line with the Japanese story arc of Jo-Ha-Kyu.  To continue my previous example of a Tyranid invasion a Killzone game could be played where a Genestealer cult tries to shut down a major piece of planetary defense or kill the defending general.

Once the campaign is started you need to build up the story.  Like I said earlier, even if you didn’t start with a story you will quickly find one developing as you go along.  Tree campaigns by their very nature are known for story development.  In their case the results of the previous game determines the next battle fought.  A loss in the first battle could suggest a need for the looser to survive the subsequent battles.  A win following that could suggest a counter offensive while additional loses would suggest the need for an evacuation.  One method of building the action is to make the battles escalate from smaller games to larger games.

For these “middle” games, who’s intent is to build up the action, I prefer them to be a bit more
complicated with more than one basic objective.  Having a central objective (be it kill point based or
objective based), a secondary and possibly an additional tertiary objective will complicate the game in new ways.  These can be challenging games that still offer story line growth.  A lose for a player can still give him a moral victory if he manages to complete his secondary objectives.

If you’re deciding these games randomly then I suggest using the DLT random “tournament” games
chart.  In time we will release an updated version that will include improvements and updates designed for campaigns.

The conclusion is obviously where you end the campaign.  You may not have a conclusion pre-planned but even if you don’t I suggest ending it with a bang.  It should be big.  It should be memorable
and it should be climactic.   A huge Apocalypse game is an awesome idea but so would a character based mission like Assassination or definitive like Annihilation.

No matter how you decide to end the campaign this is what the entire series of games has been
leading up to.  These games should be kept simple with a clear winner and loser determined by a single game objective.  Campaigns don’t end well in ties.  It’s far better to keep playing to the death than to come to an inconclusive ending.   This will force the players to put it all on the line;  will the player who was winning all along be able to maintain the win or will the guy who lost most of his games make an incredible comeback?  The last game will decide.

The under-rated Tyranid Warrior Prime

The Tyranid codex, while not as competitive as the other recent codex releases, does have a few highlights worth mentioning.  The Tervigon, Hive Guard and Zoanthropes are the 3 most common mentioned units and for very good reason.
The Tervigon is a solid HQ choice whose Psychic ability and special rules make him a force multiplier for any effective Tyranid list.  The ability to fit him in the troops slot is just icing on the cake with him.  Even without that FOC flexibility he’d be a very popular choice.
The Hive Guard and Zoanthropes bring much needed anti-mech firepower to the Tyranids like they’ve never had before.  While short ranged and competing for the same set of 3 Elite slots on the FOC they allow the Tyranids to destroy vehicles instead of only shaking them.
Traditionally that’s where the awesome end in the Tyranids codex.  I disagree.  An overlooked and misutilized entry is the Tyranid Warrior Prime.  He is much more than a basic cheap HQ choice similar to any other HQ choice that can be found in any other codex.   He is a step above and beyond almost any other HQ choice in any other codex and at a much cheaper price.
When compared to a Space Marine Captain you notice that the Warrior Prime has a much more potent stat line for 20 less points.  He has an additional point of strength and toughness and an additional basic attack.  Where the Warrior Prime begins to come out ahead is when typical upgrades are added.  For 20 points total the Warrior Prime can get a pair of Bone Swords,  an extra set of Scything Talons (re-roll 1’s in the attack phase) and Adrenal Glands (furious charge) for the cost of giving up his Devourer and 20 extra points.  The Marine Captain’s typical upgrades are a combi-weapon,  Relic Blade and Artificer Armor for a total of 55 points.  While the Marine Captain will have a potent shooting attack and a very good armour save the Warrior prime now assaults at a higher initiative with weapons that can cause instant death and ignore the Captains armor save entirely.  In a 1 vrs 1 combat the Warrior Prime should win every time when he costs 50% less points to field (100 points vrs 155 points).  This doesn’t even take the Warriors’s Synapse ability and Shadow in the Warp psychic protection.

There could be a bit of argument on how best to use the Warrior Prime because of his Independant Characters status.  Because of the Brood Progenitor rule most people will run the Warrior prime with brood of Tyranid Warriors Troops.  Although this is a good diea it forgets that Tyranid Shrikes are a varient of Tyranid Warriors too and are able to benefit from the Brood Progenitor rule.  Although they will lose the speed of wings during the movement phase if the Warrior Prime is with them the smart player will take advantage of the Independent Character rule and only attach them at the end of the movement phase when an enemy squad is within assault range.  That allows the Shrikes to stay behind and enjoy the protection of cover while the Warrior Prime charges forward attached to another squad of much cheaper gaunts.

In both cases I’d recomend giving each model in the Tyranid Warrior or Shrike brood a pair of Boneswords and Adrenal Gland for 15 points.  While it brings up the model cost to 45 and 50 points each they will gain power weapon attacks and furious charge.  This is especially deadly vrs MEQ opponents as you will be hitting on 3, wounding on 3, and allowing no save at initiative 5.
Of course if the Warrior Prime stays with that original brood of Gaunts he significantly boosts that broods close combat ability.  The humble (and dirt cheap) Termagants and Hormagaunts are unable to have any power weapons in the broods.  That liability is usually overcome with massive numbers of attacks from cheap models.  At their cheapest a maxed out brood of Termagaunts is only 150 points and can dishout 60 attacks on the charge at initiative 4.  While that many dice being rolled at once can pose a serious danger to any squad their attack is only at strength 3.  Which limits the damage they can do to MEQ opponents.  Even with that bucket of dice rolled that lower strength results in an average of 10 wounds on a typical Marine squad.
Of course anyone who runs Termagants should have a Tervigon nearby and that will boost the damage causing ability of that brood if the Tervigon is equipped with Toxin Sacks and Adrenal Glands.  Suddenly their 60 attacks go before the Marines and are now Strength 4 poisoned allowing a re-roll to wound.  That gives a doubling of wounds caused by the same 150 point brood of Termagants.  That will force the MEQ player to take an average of 22 saves from the Gaunts and 4 power weapon wounds from the Warrior Prime before their own attacks are rolled.
Another ideal use of the Tyranid Warrior Prime is to attach him to another brood of Toughness 4 multi-wound models.  This allows you to take advantage of wound allocation rules and assign the Strength 8 power fist and missile launcher wounds to the Warrior Prime.  Nobody wants Their critical Zoanthrope or Doom of Malan’tai doubled out to a single hit.

Adepticon after action review

Adepticon is over.  It was an exhausting few days in the nirvana of wargamerdom and I’m counting the days until the next one (361 if you’re counting). 

So what is my big “lesson learned”?  My first is to stop making damn plans.  No I didn’t get my 12 games vrs 12 opponents in.  Eight was the best I could do.  It wasn’t for lack of trying, stuff just kept coming up.  The podcast was a huge factor in me not getting in all 12 games.  It wasn’t that I spend all that time recording, we actually did very little recording. I went from booth to booth talking to third party suppliers trying to schedule some future interviews for the year, chatting with fans, talking with people about the differences between games (later update on that), checking out armies, scheduling tournament winners for interviews, and partying. 

That last one is new.  In previous years Adepticon and other table top wargame conventions were far more about games than anything.  For the vast majority of gamers it still was about the game and only the game but for the first time I noticed that the “con party” crept into the mix.  While it’s nothing like the party scene of more famous cons like ComicConthe party atmosphere of Adepticon is growing and will only get bigger. 

I can credit the internet for this one.  I met dozens of people who previously were little more than forum names.  Meeting the flesh and blood person is much better than their digital avatar.  While previously I had to type fast to communicate now I only had to look across a table in a bar while sharing a beer.  It’s a far different experience.  Even those people I bumped into briefly on the game floor were a pleasure to meet.

There are also the people I rarely get to meet.  I’ve often compared the Bunker to the Cheer’s bar on TV.  It’s where everyone knows your name and is glad to see you.  The problem is that not everyone is there every Friday night for 2 years straight like I’ve been.  It gave me an excellent opportunity to say hi to people I only meet once or twice a year.  Some people I haven’t seen because of their health reasons and I wish them well in the future.  Others, like Karrick, may live in the area but are still too far away to be regulars.  By the way, Karrick isn’t abrasive in person like he is online and is much more entertaining to have a conversation with.  I’ll even go as far as calling him brilliantly opinionated. It’s a goodthing, he is more opinionated in person than he is online.  Having a game with him was an education in how to beat a tri-land raider list by taking advantage of it’s major weakness (to be covered in a future episode). 

The party con aspect was very small and unplanned.  Nobody planned it, it’s just what happens when people who don’t get to see each other finally get together.  We get some beer, we start talking, we hang out and then we go out on the town.  Well, we did plan on Hooters and I’m glad that it came out well.  I’d hate to think of what would’ve happened if we posted something about it at the con. 

I’d love to see the Adepticon organizers would consider making official party plans for attendees.  It wouldn’t be hard, put up some signs, post a schedule online, and warn where we’re going.  Yes it would be that easy.  People were looking for something non-game things to do.  The Weston Hotel where the event was hosted had a good bar, Miller’s Ale House was across the street, Hooters was a little bit farther down the road, and a quick jump on the expressway took you straight into the city to some real party places.

So it’s over and I still have GenCon and Games Day to go to complete my wargamer trifecta. 

Da "Homebrew" codex

Having a blog but nothing to post sort of sucks.  So I'm drawing on some material I just submitted to the Astronomicon web magazine.  Since homebrew codex's seems to be a DLT specialty they asked me to write an article about the subject.  Being a shameful whore for publicity I agreed.  The following is the article that will appear in their next edition.  It will be followed by a second article where I'll discuss the process of making a homebrew codex, the problems that occur and make a few examples.

The “Homebrew”-

Why on Terra would someone try to write their own “Homebrew” codex?  We’ve always been told that such a feat is absolute heresy and should never be attempted by mere mortals.  After all if GW can make such horrible codexes what makes anyone believe that a mere hobbyist can write a better one. 

     That last statement isn’t completely true.  GW actually makes very good codexes.  The “homebrew” codex could and should never replace an existing codex but it does have its place in the 40K game world. A minor but essential place for the advanced wargame hobbyist. 

     There are a few occasions when a “homebrew” codex can and should be used as a supplement to existing codexes.  The primary reason is when a current codex is so woefully out of date from 3rd edition and is filled with redundant rules, wargear and concepts that it screams for an update.  GW is in the process of updating all of their older codex’s but until they complete the process it’s inevitable that some will have to wait.  Fluid 40K by the Dice Like Thunder Podcast was an early attempt by hobbyists to use minor revisions to certain rules to bring the older codex up to date with the current rule set.  To a large degree it succeeded. Speaking as one of the writers, I’m as pleased with the result as I am to see GW make it redundant with every newly revised codex.  

     What inspired us to commit such a travesty against the game?  While some of the older codex’s may still be competitive (Dark Eldar come to mind) many are simply too aged.  Within them you’ll find outdated rules, wargear and codex writing styles.  There is also the question of codex consistency, why are there so many different versions of Land Raiders and Force Weapons?  Why does a vehicle in one codex cost a certain point value while in another codex the identical vehicle is a completely different point cost?  Why does Machine Spirit work differently from one Space Marine codex to another?  These codexes may also be so old that codex creep has left it behind and now it’s in drastic need of a redux (like the Necron codex).  Many of those older codexes were written with 3rd edition rules and tactics in mind and now what once was an army limitation to maintain balance has become a crippling handicap.  An example is the Daemonhunters lack of transport vehicles.  Grey Knights are competitively priced in points compared their abilities but to be used effectively in 5 th edition they need to be mounted in a transport.  Unfortunately the only transport option for Grey Knights to use the Land Raider which will force a reduction on model count in an already high model point cost army.  The reason for that was to deny the “Rhino Rush” tactic that was so popular in 3rd edition from an army with such potent close combat ability.  The viability of that old tactic has been significantly reduced but the limitation on the Grey Knights remained. 

     So if an aged codex is a reason for a player to rewrite a codex and give it a “homebrew” revision, which ones should it apply to?  The obvious answer would be any codex that hasn’t been written with the current 5th edition rules.  The longer it’s been out of date the more of a justification a homebrew codex writer has.  Even the competitive Dark Elder codex should be open to some minor revisions to bring its 3rd edition rules in line with the current 5th edition rules. 

But what about the underpowered codex that's weak and uncompetitive?  Once again the Necron codex surfaces as a codex that screams for a revision.  Other codexes such as the Dark Angels and Daemonhunters could only be helped by a codex revision.  This doesn't mean that all older codexes are uncompetitive.  Recent tournament results will prove that these older underpowered codexes can and sometimes do win tournaments against the current crop of codexes.  While this does lend argument against changing a codex is doesn't prove it.  A talented player can win with an underpowered codex vrs a poorly run newer codex.  The older codex such as Dark Eldar, Tau, Daemonhunters and Necrons tend to be run by older more veteran players with a bit more skill than the average player.  They know how to win with any army.  That alone can more than make up for a perceived codex’s lack of power.  My own personal counter argument is that no codex should require an inordinate amount of player skill to have a chance of being competitive vrs an opponent of average skill.  All codex’s, despite their age, should be balanced in relation to each other.

     When determining which codex’s are “underpowered” I would recommend avoiding any individual player’s opinion.  Too often that is based completely upon their playing ability and self bias and not the true capability of the codex.  A website resource I recommend for this is http://www.gosfordgamers.net/ATR/YTD_Armies.htm .  Although its statistics are based upon the tournament results in Australia the army rankings can be applied anywhere.  The critical chart is where the armies are listed by their Podium Ratio.  Podium Ratio is a comparison of the percentage of times an army places in the top 3 of a tournament divided by the percentage of its appearances in tournaments.  A score of 1 would be statistically average.  Of the current codex’s only the Eldar achieved that score.  The highest scoring army was the Dark Eldar who achieved a podium finish 13 times out of 60 tournament appearances for a podium ratio of 2.49.  At the complete opposite were the Dark Angels who achieved a podium finish only once out of 77 tournament appearances for a podium ratio of 0.15.  Does that mean that a Dark Elder army is 16+ times more likely to place in the top 3 of a tournament than the Dark Angels?  Sadly, the statistics say yes. 

A “homebrew” codex should never ever be used to give a player of lesser skill an advantage because they can’t otherwise win.  If your codex has a podium ratio that puts it in the bottom tier of winning armies then you may have an excuse to make a “homebrew” codex.  If it’s not then you need to learn to play your chosen army better.  That statement may sound abrupt and rude but it’s also very true.

     But what if the current GW codex library doesn't fulfill a player’s individual thematic taste?  With the abundance of quality Black Library fiction it’s natural that players will attempt to build army lists based on what they’re read in the various novels.  Any fan of the Gaunts Ghosts series by Dan Abnett will feel the urge to build an Imperial Guard list that accurately represents the look and feel of the army they’ve read about.  The problem is that doing so forces a player to give up half of what’s good in the Imperial Guard codex, vehicles.  It’s a severe restriction in mobility and firepower that often times leaves an all infantry army lacking.  In addition leaving the vehicles on the shelf still leaves an Imperial Guard player with an army that still doesn’t represent the feel of the Tanith 1st. 

For the most part I say, “Tough breaks buddy.  That’s the army you chose to run so play what you built.  Your codex is brand new.”  On the other hand I do feel that a few minor revisions could modify the codex to allow an all infantry army to remain competitive and still recapture the look and feel of the fictional Gaunts Ghosts?  Allowing Veteran Squads to be taken in IG Infantry platoons will help.  That would give them access to the regiments signature camo cloaks and represent the more accurate shooting they are known for. 

     The same could be said for the Dark Angels Deathwing.  While it’s not a crippled list it does seem to fare poorly in comparison to other Space Marine codexes.  Many of the Dark Angels wargear upgrades are completely out of date, underpowered or overcosted when compared to the standard Space Marine codex.  Would it break the game to allow the Dark Angels to use the wargear rules and upgrade points costs from the Space Marine codex?  In light of their tournament results I’d say no.

From a pure fluff perspective all Space Marine chapters have a 1st company Deathwing.  Why should the Deathwing concept be limited it to just the Dark Angels?  Why not an Ultramarine Deathwing?  Aren’t they the ones who fought the Tyranids in the polar fortress during the Battle of Magragge?  They exist in all Space Marine Chapters so why not allow all Space Marine players the option of running a legal Deathwing?  GW set precedence when they established in the most recent codex that a Captain on a bike would allow Space Marine bikes to be taken as troops.  Wouldn’t it also be fair if a Captain in Terminator armor allowed Terminator squads to be taken as troops?

Shouldn’t a Chaos Marine who’s dedicated his life to one of the specific Chaos gods be able to summon Daemons under the influence of that particular Chaos god?  To many of the veteran Chaos Marine players the entire concept of a “generic” daemon is absurd.  Nothing is generic about chaos.  When a Chaos Marine player with an army of Noise Marines summons daemons it just seems far more appropriate to allow him to summon Daemonettes if he’s willing to pay the point cost.  

None of these examples are game breaking.  All use the established rules and points set out by GW.  They shift a few things around a bit between similar codex’s and the FOC but all of it is still found in a legal codex. 

     So now we’ve got our reason for writing a “homebrew” codex.  The last question is, could we do it and make a respectable result?  GW is full of professional game designers with years of experience, a budget, hordes of playtesters and background fiction to draw inspiration from.  A home hobbyist can’t compete on the same level as GW as an amateur athlete can’t compete with professional athletes in sports.  Of course the inability to compete with pro athletes doesn’t stop people from having fun playing a game with their friends at the park.  So why should it stop you and I from making a “homebrew” codex for no other reason than pure enjoyment of the 40K hobby. 

If the primary issue for you is the fact that you play an old and out of date codex that’s nearly as old as you are then Fluid 40K is a good start.  It’s been playtested and revised numerous times and it serves the purpose it was designed to do, update the older codexes to 5th edition rules.  We did all the work and playtesting.  It’s been updated regularly for the past year to deal with issues that come up and mistakes we’ve made.

     Unfortunately Fluid 40K was only designed to address the issue of out of date rules, wargear and rule consistency.  It never attempted to address over/under point costed units or wargear.  Neither did it make any changes to the force organization chart.  We didn’t believe that it was appropriate to address those issues.  The beauty of Fluid 40K was its simplicity and limited scope.  Like I said before, old and out of date does not mean weak and underpowered.  Dark Elder tournament results prove that older codex’s can still be competitive. 

     Homebrewing a codex for army theme is different.  It does break the rules even when held to a minimum by the simple and minor changes in the examples given previously.  All of those are perfectly good ideas that are either impossible or uncompetitive with the current codex selection. 

I firmly believe that anyone with an active imagination and an idea in mind can come up with a very good army theme and build a balanced “homebrew” codex out of it.  It is true that occasionally someone will fall into the trap of making an army with every possible advantage and no applicable weaknesses and label that monstrosity a “homebrew” codex.  Unfortunately too many players believe that example is what a “homebrew” is all about and refuse to accept an opponent who uses one.  Whatever their reason it is their choice not to accept it.  But I would like to encourage everyone for the fun of the game and friendly game play to be willing to accept an opponent with a “homebrew” codex now and then.  They can be fun to create and memorable to battle against.