(Nearly) Infinite Wound Deathstar

[voraciousapathy]

"A single Hive Tyrant (or the Swarmlord) can join a unit of Tyrant Guard exactly as if it were an Independent Character."

You can bring 1 squad of Guards for every Hive Tyrant you include.

The Guards do not take an FOC slot.

You can join Guards, but you cannot leave Guards.

You automatically pass all Look Out, Sir! tests.

Fine.

But did anyone ever notice... that there is no restriction on which Guards a Tyrant can join?

I.E., if Tyrant A and Tyrant B both buy Guards for themselves, but Tyrant A chooses not to join a squad, you will now have 2 Guard squads, but only 1 squad will have a Tyrant.

Now, and here's the kicker (for a Swarmlord build, for instance.. and I'm not even sure if this is useful, but it seems legal..)

If Swarmlord and Tyrant both buy Guards... and the Tyrant has wings and doesn't choose to join one of the squads.. and the Swarmlord's Guards are all killed via Look Out, Sir!...

The Swarmlord can THEN choose to join the SECOND Tyrant Guard brood... and the third... and the fourth...

This could drastically improve a walking Tyrant's lifespan (especially Swarmy, who probably ends up with Catalyst, etc). Whether points allow it to be feasible is another story.

But is it legal? Sure as Hell seems to be.

[TheNateDevourer]

Legal? Absolutely. However, my interpretation is that once a Walkrant or Swarmlord join a Tyrant Guard unit, they're stuck in it until that unit is completely wiped. So he can't jump between the units back and forth unless the first unit joined is killed.

[olivier]

Dec 11, 2014 1:27:49 GMT TheNateDevourer said:

Legal? Absolutely. However, my interpretation is that once a Walkrant or Swarmlord join a Tyrant Guard unit, they're stuck in it until that unit is completely wiped. So he can't jump between the units back and forth unless the first unit joined is killed.

+1. Amen. They all gotta die first.

[mattblowers]

He said after they were all killed. The kicker is the cost, not the limit on how many you can join. Walkrant/Swarmy becomes pricey with one guard unit, let alone 2.

[luke1705]

In no small bit of irony, the "nearly infinite wound deathstar" is also a "nearly infinite points deathstar"

[voraciousapathy]

Two Flyrants, Swarmlord, and three sets of three standard Guards will run you 1215, which leaves around 650 points leftover for fodder, or more punchy stuff. Swarmlord can pass Furious Charge off on Gants to threaten quite a bit of the board, considering the 18'' range, plus all the psychic power you can throw around. Venomthropes also work.

You can even have a Prime attached to a Guard squad -- he can't join a unit of MCs, but an MC can join a unit he's already in. The idea is to simply let the Swarmlord unit soak up bullets and anchor himself in midfield, where he can point-and-click Gant units for Furious Charge, etc.

I'm sure we can come up with something to throw into the army for 650 points. That's a metric ****ton of Gants, and very durable scoring. Besides, 3 Guards can mulch most vehicles by themselves. It's quite a bit of T6 to put on the board, considering you can keep putting in more... Hive Guard, Mawlocs, Crones, Tyrannofexes, etc..

[voraciousapathy]

Nearly 160 Gants, to be precise. 8 squads of 20ish?

[N.I.B.]

It's legal. Eating your own feces is also legal.

[jimmyp]

Sounds expensive points wise and would prob just be shoot to death sadly. Still on the fence if to purchase hive guard models

[voraciousapathy]

I dunno. 11-14 T6 wounds in a unit with Shrouded isn't really that easy to nuke off the board, even for Eldar or Tau. I've also never heard of anyone ever doing it.

I'll get around to proxying it, and see how it goes.

[Jabberwocky]

I'm sure it's been done. I've run double deathstar in the old dex with a Swarmlord and Tyrant with Guards each.

It's a lot of points on slow moving infantry. Swarmlord stops you from fleeting. You heavily cut into any shooting/distraction/support units for some heavy combat guys; but do you need them?

What does keeping that Tyrant (warlord) alive for achieve if it comes at the cost of mobility, range and utility?

[N.I.B.]

Btw voracious, how's it going with your older list that evolves around blotting out the board with critters? Got any more games in?

[voraciousapathy]

It won a few local tournaments, because people just couldn't shoot them all to death, and it ended up crashing around 8 Flyers in 20 games due to a lack of safe landing zones, but it was absolutely brutal on my back to lean over the table and move 250+ models for 5-8 hours. It was good, but it was exhausting to play with.

[mattblowers]

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but I'm saying it ain't Napoleonic. It's nothing new or shocking. I'm not sure that many points is better off than taking some variety that gives you a 1-2 punch. I play ol Swarmy to some success. The trick is that you can't care if he lives or dies, he's a distraction that can eat face in CC and provides some awesome buffs. Trying to make him "unkillable" seems counter productive.

[tarrasque]

Dec 12, 2014 2:18:08 GMT mattblowers said:

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but I'm saying it ain't Napoleonic. It's nothing new or shocking. I'm not sure that many points is better off than taking some variety that gives you a 1-2 punch. I play ol Swarmy to some success. The trick is that you can't care if he lives or dies, he's a distraction that can eat face in CC and provides some awesome buffs. Trying to make him "unkillable" seems counter productive.

Absolutely this. Don't try to make any one model unkillable with Nids. Just drown them in threats. Sure Swarmlord is there, but so is a pair of dakkafexes, a toxicrene, and a dimachaeron.