"I am so fucking awesome." - Swarmlord
Gmort's List:HQ: The Swarmlord (1#, 280 pts)
1 The Swarmlord @ 280 pts
: Tyrant Guard Brood (2#, 130 pts)
2 Tyrant Guard Brood @ 130 pts (Lash Whip)
Elite: Hive Guard Brood (2#, 100 pts)
2 Hive Guard Brood @ 100 pts
Elite: Hive Guard Brood (2#, 100 pts)
2 Hive Guard Brood @ 100 pts
Elite: Hive Guard Brood (2#, 100 pts)
2 Hive Guard Brood @ 100 pts
Troops: Tervigon (1#, 195 pts)
1 Tervigon @ 195 pts (Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst)
Troops: Tervigon (1#, 195 pts)
1 Tervigon @ 195 pts (Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst)
Troops: Tervigon (1#, 195 pts)
1 Tervigon @ 195 pts (Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst)
Troops: Termagant Brood (10#, 50 pts)
10 Termagant Brood @ 50 pts
Troops: Termagant Brood (10#, 50 pts)
10 Termagant Brood @ 50 pts
Troops: Termagant Brood (10#, 50 pts)
10 Termagant Brood @ 50 pts
Heavy Support: Tyrannofex (1#, 265 pts)
1 Tyrannofex @ 265 pts (Rupture Cannon; Cluster Spines; Thorax Swarm (larvae))
Heavy Support: Tyrannofex (1#, 265 pts)
1 Tyrannofex @ 265 pts (Rupture Cannon; Cluster Spines; Thorax Swarm (larvae))
I will be providing my thoughts on this list in a Oreo Critique sandwich. Compliment, Critique, Compliment. This is a quadruple stuffed Oreo though.
Delicious.
First compliment:
Gmort, it's really great to have you as a reader man. I've been reading your blog for a while, and you are clearly a smart dude, so I know you will take this critique in the spirit it is intended: as a means of moving us further "down the road" towards a good Nids build.
Here comes the critique:
Ok, honestly I don't see what the Swarmlord is doing for you here that a regular Tyrant wouldn't. Granting Furious Charge to yourself? (You're almost always better off with Preferred Enemy, right?) Giving Furious Charge or preferred enemy to a single unit of Guants or to your Tyrannofexes?
I think this is a "I'm using Swarmlord because he looks awesome and I like having an invul in Close Combat."
Trust me, I've been there. He is fucking awesome.
But I think if we take Swarmy it needs to be because it brings something to the army that you can't get in a Hive Tyrant (who is, frankly more survivable in most situations when you use the points you save to give him another Tyrant Guard or a Prime escort and/or a 2+ armor save, or something else that's scary for your enemy to worry about). Preferred Enemy bubbles are better support for Gaunt swarms. Yeah you have a little micro-Null Zone but you are better off using the points to buy a Bonesword equipped Prime and just tossing down more swings, right?
The things that Swarmy brings to the table are:
-Rerolls to ouflanking Genestealers.
-Reserve bonus.
-Ability to project support (buffs, synapse, etc.) much farther than a Hive Tyrant, and give them to units that might not be otherwise able to get them (more on this in a sec).
-All the Psychic powers and two per turn (this is nice but let's be honest we want Paroxysm to go off anything else is a bonus).
-The ability to kill things in HtH about twice as well as a regular Tyrant if facing elite enemies, and, well, not twice as well if facing anything else.
Of these, I think the most valuable is the ability to project support, and to grant Furious Charge to units that don't have it as an option or Preferred Enemy to units that would be too far away to normally benefit. So I think if we are going to run Swarmy we need to justify his existence beyond his ability to look like a cool Hindu Goddess by including at least one of the following:
-Genestealers
-Raveners
-Shrikes
Any of which can benefit from Swarmlord in a number of ways:
-Giving Synapse support AND Furious Charge to twin Scything Talon Raveners from 18" away? That sounds nice. Yes, I like tossing 25 rerolling misses, Strength 5 attacks at parking lots also. ;D
-Allowing Shrikes with Toxin Sacs to reroll hits AND wounds with Bonesword attacks from 18" in front of my lines? Sure, I'll take it.
-Allowing Genestealers to infiltrate forward and still get the same nice bonuses, and even give my opponent something to worry about during deployment with my +1 reserve, reroll table side outflank option. I probably won't use it but it at least makes it a legitimate threat.
Even seeing these synergies, coming up with a list I like is really, really tough. I have been down the Swarmy path more times than I care to count but have never come up with something that I thought "Aha! Perfect!!" Because after you put in Swarmlord, and his bodyguard, and the unit(s) he's actually there to support, you are at like half your army. Then you try to get some actual troops choices in, some anti-tank shooting, and fuck me if I am running out of points.
Don't get me wrong, Swarmy is a beast in combat, if you can get him there. But I posit that a normal Hive Tyrant is *almost* just as scary and costs far, far less. No the 4+ invul is not worth 110 points when I can almost buy 4 more wounds for that price (that help me against shooting, which is what I am mostly scared of anyways).
Second put-up in my critique Oreo:
Luv ya Gmort, you rock, your blog is awesome. Mathletes unite!
