Synaptic Challenge: Elites & Troops

[DukeMantis]

Hey Hive


Since the release of our new Codex I've been puzzling over how to select my synapsers. I'm going to run two flying hive tyrants, with two crones dogfighting alongside them...so my ground forces will have to obtain reliable synapse elsewhere. With my HQ slots already spent (I'm writing lists around the 1750 - 2000pt level) I'm looking closely at how to get a nice mix of synapse from a combination of troops and elites.

Elites spots still seem hotly contended, I've got 2x 3 hive guard but cant decide between zoans for synapse of venomthropes for much needed protection. Similarly in troops I'm aware spending out on min-sized warrior broods is a little bit weak. Is it now going to be the standard to take dominion on your tervigon and synapse from a long distance? I'm quite puzzled by all this!

I'm intrigued to know what Synapsers you are planning to use now, and what synapse creatures in troops and elites you think are the most viable at a competitive level.


Many thanks

[gigasnail]

everyone's puzzled, it's kind of the question of the hour.

[atilha]

one tervigon and one warrior brood + a zoanthrope brood.
+ the two flyrants.

At 1750 points.

Might add another brood of warriors at 2000 points, or shrikes.

[arnestig]

I'm thinking of skipping Tervigons going for 2 Warrior + Heavy weapon warrior and use that for backfield synapse.
On the upper field use flyrants and zoans (and take the primaris on atleast one to boost the range of synapse).

[Nightmare20]

Tervigons make great back line objective holders or running up behind our heavy weapon mc's. Also still not bad outflanked away from termagants especially with a double flamer build vs xenos.

Warriors are great behind an aegis or running behind multiple gants with venoms but should probably be reserved for smaller games due to their weakness to everything (4+ armor vs weight of fire, T4 vs heavy weapons).

Trygon Prime seems really good in a swarmlord/mawloc list due to +1 to reserves, messing with priority, and throwing shadow in backlines.

At the end of the day I think I will be running 1-2 broods of 2-3 zoans and maybe a 2 man venomthrope. Behind a couple of exocrines and termagants you net yourself some meq killing pot shots or vehicle smashing lances, meq killing large blasts or vehicle melting volleys, usually 3+ cover and at the least messing with priority thanks to forcing shots on the venoms, more oppurtunity to make the most out of our psychic power table (onslaught on exo's, fnp on everything, paroxysm on chaff for gants to kill or shooting threats such as centurians).

Tyranid Prime is expensive as hell but I think he really shines in a squad of carnifex with adrenal glands, toxin, and bs/lw. He will kill anything meq that threatens the fex's at initiative, rerolls wounds for extra ID in challenges, andif put up front can assign wounds to maximize the fex's 12 wounds. Expensive but not out of the question and you can throw regen on a single fex and Look out onto it.

[commandersasha]

My main artillery unit in the old codex was 3 Hiveguard and 3 Biovores, plodding up the middle of the field, with a naked Prime attached, giving Synapse for both units and the centre of the table. This came to 365pts.

In the new codex, it comes to 385 if I change the now over-priced Prime to a pair of Zoeanthropes. Haven't tried it yet, but that's what I'm going with :-)

[dorrin]

So far I've used and liked a bare Warrior brood and a Venom tucked behind something central. I usually have gaunts left and right of this on objectives and anything else nearby like HG.

[t⊗theark]

I'm going to be experimenting with a crowned prime joined to a carnifex brood, perghaps accompanied with the exact same thing (of course without the drown). Sure, it's at the cost of a flyrant but I think they might me too fragile to be at the cost of reliable synapse.

[monkeychuka]

I've been using 2 Exocrines directly in front of and providing 25% cover for a Tervigon with a Venomthrope behind, stapled to the Tervigon's egg sac, completely out of LoS. The Tervigon always gets 3++ cover save in my terrain sparse gaming environment. It still dies eventually but it messes with your opponent's target priority.

[agonzoman00]

Jan 16, 2014 9:30:16 GMT commandersasha said:

My main artillery unit in the old codex was 3 Hiveguard and 3 Biovores, plodding up the middle of the field, with a naked Prime attached, giving Synapse for both units and the centre of the table. This came to 365pts.

In the new codex, it comes to 385 if I change the now over-priced Prime to a pair of Zoeanthropes. Haven't tried it yet, but that's what I'm going with :-)

I used a three man squad of Zoans in front of 2 full squads of hive guard. I rolled onslaught and was able to run one of the hiveguard to get into range for a first turn shot. It worked well for mid field synapse for both my hive guard and Exocrine and with a 3+ inv they were beefy to kill.

[daboarder]

We are essentially forced to run tervigon or troops.

Personally I think the lists are going to wind up as 2 tyrants mandatory

then 2x2 zoans in elites.

that then leaves us to decide if we want warriors or tervigons (Honestly I think trygon primes are about 40-60 pts too expensive)

with warriors and tervs you need to consider how many and what style of nodes you want, you get roughly 2x3 warrior squads for each node, but they are far more fragile to high strength fire, so the question becomes one of personal preference

Ideally I think we want at least 6 synapse nodes in 1850 and if your running a warrior squad I'd count it as half a node per 3 warriors.

[Deleted]

Zoans are making a strong return to my lists(probably). Tyrants have always been a favorite. Warriors and tervs(though they're scary when they 'splode) are easy choices, but I'm not above attaching a prime to a non-synapse unit) are okay. Trygon prime can do decent for a brief forward synaptic node(though don't expect it to survive).

OOE is....amusing. His leader beast/alpha beast/whatever the rule is seems almost a cheeky response to the synapse qualm.

I think venomthrope+synapse creature is going to be the norm for us in preserving order in the lines as well as helping us cross the board.

On a ranting tangent, I'm still laughing about what they've done to synapse(when I'm not trying to make a list). We wanted so badly for synapse to have some impact on the game and it seems to be the only place in this book GW ATTEMPTED to listen. I mean I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the pyrovore is still abysmal. IF THEY HAD TO GET ONE THING RIGHT it was the pyrovore not being a steaming pile, but they failed(and I think that epitomizes this codex).

[daboarder]

the thing is, If your buying a prime and sticking it with a pair of venomthropes, you could basically almost buy another tyrant and still get the venomthropes. I don;t think the prime is the way to go, its far far too expensive for just a synapse node.

[vecuu]

I plan on testing a 9-man bare-bones Warrior build (Scytal+Devourers, Barbed Strangler) with 3 Venomthropes wrapped by some Gants. WIth enough MC threats, specifically Flyrants and Crones, I suspect the Warriors won't eat enough S8+ shots early on.

[vandalex]

I'm going to try two broods of 3 zoanthropes as my baby sitting synapse. They have a 3+ invun save, and they have a decent range anti-marine weapon as well a anti-tank weapon, which is still really good without a pod. I'm definetly going to run 2 venomthropes. They are almost a must have in any tyranid army now. Giving shrouded to protect gaunts and MC's is really useful.