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.

My thoughts on the Drake Equation

I'm a science fiction nut.  Ever since I've learned how to read my mind has been wandering to one fantasy place or another.  When I was a kid I made up my own world of fantasy and now that I'm an adult I fill them with somewhat more realistic version of what I dreamt of as a kid.

Add in my love of RPGs and an inherent nature to fill the gamer worlds I created with believable life and you can probably begin to understand my obsession with the Drake Equation.
If you don't know what the Drake Equation is then let me explain; it is an evolving mathematic formula used to estimate the approximate number of intelligent communicating civilizations in our galaxy.

You multiply the number of stars in our galaxy by the fraction that have planets, the fraction of those planets that are capable of sustaining life, the fraction of those where life actually develops, the fraction of those where intelligent life develops, the fraction of inteligent life that communicates and the final factor is the length of time the civilization lasts.
At this point in science the entire equation is little more than an educated guess.  We're little more than galactic upstarts and know very little about the real numbers the equation represents.  After all we only have our sun, our planet Earth, our biology, our race and current civilization to go on.  We're largely clueless on what the real numbers are like.

That being said I have a feeling our educated guess is probably pretty good.  With 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy even pessimistic numbers come up with over 100 intelligent communicating civilizations in our galaxy right now.  One could argue that if there are that many in our galaxy then where are they and why haven't we heard from them.  I answer back that the Milky way is a very big place and we don't know where they're at or how they're communicating.  I'm fairly confidant that we'll contact one this century.  If we don't then we'll have to ask ourselves why.  It could be that we're a heck of a lot more special than we think.
But back to science fiction and RPGs.  The Drake Equation is good for another reason.  We can guess how many world exist that are habitable and with life on them.  It's actually pretty easy, just stop short of the full equation.  I came up with nearly 2 and a half billion habitable world in the Milky Way galaxy even when I used rather pessimistic numbers.  When I used generally agreed upon accurate numbers I came up with 24 billion habitable worlds to explore.
No matter how you look at it there are a lot of habitable world out there.  Too bad NASA canceled the telescope we were going to use to find them.  Those 24 billion habitable worlds will have to stay in our science fiction and Role Playing Games.

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.  

Space Elves and Space Dwarves and Abhumans

Occasionally genres may clash in Star wars but I do have to hand it to George Lucas, he never included any Space Elves and Space Dwarves.  That's a big thing with me.  I love Dwarves and I love Elves but let's face it, they're fantasy races.  Sci-fi is a different genre entirely.  Elves and Dwarves as a sci-fi race makes about as much sense as pigs in space.


So why do I bring this up?  Warpath is about to be released and Space Dwarves are a central part of the game's theme.  Yea the models are cool looking and yes the sculpts appear to be very high quality but the fact remains that Dwarves in space are silly as all hell.

One of the things I can also compliment GW for is the Tau.  Yes I hate them but only because they shoot my nids to little bits.  In truth I find them the most refreshing sci-fi race in wargaming.  In theme they borrow almost nothing from Fantasy.  Sure they may be a very subtle parody of Asian cultures written by people who know very little about them but at least they are the most original thing in sci-fi wargaming background I've seen in years.
I also give them credit for killing off their Space Dwarves and not having any real plans to bring them back.  Now if only they can do the same to their Space Elves.  Any race that's been dying for thousands of years but still isn't dead isn't really dying.  They're just being moody.

GW's Space Ogres and Hobbits are different (but not by much).  They have taken the line that these are actually humans who have evolved into nearly a different race.  I call this 90% silly and absurd but 10% scientific accurate.  According to the GW fluff timeline humans first left Terra and traveled to the stars 30,000 years prior to the current timeline.  It may have been an accident of GW fluff writers but that's almost as much time separating some Northern Europeans from their African ancestors.  

Evolution is a bit more complicated than that simple generalization but not by much.  If 45,000 years and a geographic change was all it took to turn a black African into a blond blue-eyed Swede then I can see 30,000 years and severe environmental change being enough time and stress to change "Terra" humans into "abhuman" Ogryn and Ratlings.