On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, Elias Tiliakos wrote:
> Ok, Ok, the Tyranids are gross in HTH, but...
They can be beaten in close combat fairly easily. All they have to do is
win by only 1 ;) Bugs should and can clearly beat up all comers, but they
can't absorb too many marginal wins.
> Did anyone notice that the Carnifex does not have the Save ability? Seems
> to me they aren't worth taking at all... Sure, they have 6 armor, and they
> have Rampage, but that's more of a liability than anything else. In all other
Look right up above "... Tyranids are gross in HTH ..." so tell us again how
Rampage is a liability? Sure you die if you lose but you'll still get those
2 dice.
I tend to use my largest HTH detachments as Mycetic Spore detachments. I
love having those extra Rampage dice because it makes it so much more likely
that I will *eat your whole detachment* when I drop. Think of them as HTH
damage rerolls.
Direct example:
2 of my combat drops hit a *huge* Ork detachment. I took a lot of incoming
fire that savaged my term/horm screen but luckily some nearby Biovores were
able to even up the blast markers. The end result was some 45 bugs hitting
around 38 Orks. Tyranids were up 3 [more Ork markers, more Tyranid psykers,
195 - 130ish assault] and won by 5. Even with 6 Carnifex total one Nobz
stand survived and ran off with 14 blast markers. Sure I got 37 of 38, but
the one that got away started shedding markers, dodging Dactylis fire *and*
prevented me from claiming the wipeout bonus! All that because I didn't
score enough hits to double-up on all the Nobz. More Carnifex would have
given me more rolls [at what a 2+?] and enough to make sure I got the job
done. OK, a bit of an extreme example, but 1) it happened 2) I hope it
illustrates the point.
> respects, they are identical to Tyranid Warriors, which only cost 17 points.
> Why the 9 point difference? Just for one armor (which doesn't mean anything
> in CC, generally)?
Not to beat it in but look above about HTH. True you don't need armor, but
what happens when those Marines over there overwatch at you? Armor 6 v 5
makes you *twice* as likely to survive incoming fire. To get that you only
have to pay half again as much! Rampage almost looks like a bonus they
added for good measure.
Since you can *never* appear directly in HTH [Well, actually you can but...]
your opponent will always get at least one chance to shoot. {And before
people ask ... drop an assault group directly above the enemy detachment.
Any bug that survives the 8-12-many dice will likely be in HTH. Hey, I
didn't say it was ~smart~ just a chance that's positive and non-zero.}
Also, look at assaulting War Engines. That reaver over there can only have
4 units engage it. Sure your assault is higher once you account for support
but it takes 8 hits to kill. If all 4 hit that's 4 and only a 2/3 chance
of a critical for more. If all 4 are Carnifex you might just take it down
without having to hope for a critical. War engines are points on a stick
for a smart bug with a few Carnifex handy.
[OK maybe not quite "points on a stick" but the first 2 times I ever worked
up the courage to assault a reaver it was "3 hits, 3 crits, BOOM" and "3
hits, 2 crits, BOOM". Hey, you can be good, you can be lucky, but it's
far better to be lucky ;) ]
Anyway, I could go on [I've been playing Bugs for the last 8 or 10 games]
but I'll let you mull over what I've already got here.
Sean U
---------
Sean A Upchurch
http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~sau
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Sean.Upchurch_at_...
Member of Information Systems and Computer Science Staff - Associate
Received on Wed Jan 21 1998 - 23:07:54 UTC