Null deployment - as good as it gets

[acedizzle]

just used this list tonight against de. the only thing i did differnet was my tyrant had 2 sets of brainleech worms and i took a 5 man squad of yealers. every thing came in turn 2 except 1 genstealer squad and a zoanthrope squad. I have to say this list dishes out the hurt. if it wasnt for all the flicker field saves he made he would of been tabled turn 3. the best part about it was if i didnt wreck a sail boat I stuned locked it witch is just as good. the funny thing is over 50% of my damage was from spores. the game ended turn 6 with me having 4 spores and a squad of stealers, and him having a bomber(witch didnt get to fire untill turn 5)

All in all thanks for the idea NIB very fun list to play.

[henshin1]

Nice!

Are yealers Ymgarl Genestealers? Did you replace a brood of elites to put them in?
Or do you mean you just reduced a gene stealer brood to add the extra brain leech worms?

[acedizzle]

i dorped doom for 5 ymgarls and set of devz on tyrant 130pts

[N.I.B.]

Dec 6, 2011 6:09:35 GMT acedizzle said:

All in all thanks for the idea NIB very fun list to play.

Glad to hear!

Initially I had double devourers on my Tyrant, but I found that I missed a lot of attacks in combat, and those 15 points partly payed for the three Deathspitters. Plus, every time you want to use a psychic power, you're wasting the points you payed for the extra gun.

I also had 8-10 Ymgarls in an early version, but I've found that Doom does more damage and synergizes a bit better with the list (it's another spore!) and is less dependant on terrain. Plus he can really put the fear into a Loganwing/Draigowing list, for good reasons.

Yeah, spores. If you take just a few, people laugh you off the table. But when they reach a critical mass, they start laying down the hurt on light vehicles and infantry. Since this list have a shooty base, you can usually stay close to your spores, which means that if they want to charge you, they will come closer to your spores, which is what you want.

Another thing I realize I like when I play this list - I don't worry about terrain. Terrain is usually a pivotal thing for Nids. Terrain can make or break us. But this list brings the terrain (cover) with it.

[henshin1]

Cool Cool!

Just a thought though. If I knew I was up against an army like Dark Eldar or Necrons and I played this list. Would it be a good idea to take a HVC on the Hive Tyrant and take away a spore on devilgants as they can still outflank with Hive Commander?
Or is the benefit of having the drop pod much greater than the HVC?

Cheers

[agonzoman00]

Did a Null deployment in a 3 army match last week Vs Eldar and Blood Angels.

Totally smoked the Eldar but was overwhelmed by the BA Stormraven and Drop Pod combo that landed. The Blood Angels did a partial null that stole my thunder.

Hive Tyrant - Reserve
15 Hormagaunts - Reserve (Bubble Wrap for HT)
8 genestealer - outflank
8 genestealer - outflank
8 ymgarls - dormant
16 Devilgaunts - spore with tw Deathspitter
2 Zoanathropes - spore with tw Deathspitter
Tervigon - Outflank with Hive Commander upgrade

I basically outflanked the Eldars and dropped Zoans on his vehicles and then waited for the Blood Angels to arrive. Out flanking with the Tervigon was awesome. It helped support the gaunt in the spore and spawned gaunts all over the Eldar flanks.

[N.I.B.]

Dec 10, 2011 18:11:19 GMT henshin1 said:

If I knew I was up against an army like Dark Eldar or Necrons and I played this list. Would it be a good idea to take a HVC on the Hive Tyrant and take away a spore on devilgants as they can still outflank with Hive Commander?
Or is the benefit of having the drop pod much greater than the HVC?

I don't tailor lists to face specific opponents, and if I did I probably wouldn't bother with the HVC, although it's good vs DE. Devilgants need the spore, since you have to expect that they wont have synapse on a table edge. You should just drop them close to an objective and run them into cover.
But whatever fits your style, try it out.

[Edzilla]

i was running this list for a while.
flyrant tl devs bs/lw old ad/hivecommander
20 gargoyles ag/ts
20 hormagaunts(i know youd use stealers but i just love these guys)
10 genestealers
2 zopas spore
2 zoaps spore
2trygons
at 1500(it may be a few over or under it was a while ago)
I did the usual outflank stealers and hormas deepstrike trygons etc but i reserved the gargoyles and hive tyrant to push up from board edge. Ive found this to be very effective as the enemy finds itself pushing up the board in a attempt to escape back field threats take forward objectives. What are your thoughts on this?
i did the usual

[N.I.B.]

What you often see when playing null deployment is that opponents want to stay close to their own table edge to protect their rear armour and increase the chance of Nid mishaps. While it's a good thing for your opponent to force you to take front shots, at the same time you are boxing him in, and he'll struggle to take forward objectives.

If he sends out 1-2 transports, they will be isolated and you can take them out pretty easy. If he sends more of his force forward (before you come down), you'll be able to start hitting rear armour and you'll have more room for manouver.

Some go for pure defense, trench themselves in on the table edge and rely on Landspeeders and skimmers to turbo boost and contest forward objectives from turn 5. In those games they should be high on your priority list.

Imo null deployment works better the higher point level. At 2000 points you start to be more resilient to bad reserve rolls due to the redundancy you can have, and at 2500 points things are even better.

[N.I.B.]

Considering the rumour on the reserve changes, I guess extreme reserve armies like this one will be hard to pull off, or at least worse. I'm not sure we will be allowed to reserve everything, or if you do your opponent will be able to pull counter strategies against it.
And spores landing within tentacle range (6") will always scatter 3D6" even on a hit. Seems I have about 6 months of playing this baby before it's time to retire it.

[henshin1]

woah.. whats the change in the rule according to the rumours?

[N.I.B.]

bloodofkittens.com/network/members/rideroftheerk/

Highlights for Nids and null deployment in particular, my comments in caps:

less randomness, more strategic options:
- more elaborate reserve rules, can nominate turn of arrvial and has only small change to arrive earlier or later, or can intervene behind enemy lines, arrives randomly but can hinder enemy reserves, must be distributed evenly between turn two and three, later arrivals only randomly.

Deep Strike:
mishab table as before, if in 6” of enemy: 3D6” scatter, use arrow on hit symbol (BY BY SPORES)
if in 12” 2D6” scatter, hit is hit
in 18” 1D6” scatter, hit is hit (NEW FLYRANT DEFAULT NULL DEPLOYMENT OPTION)
outside 18” - no scatter.

May only advance on turn of arrival, even with fleet or flat out, count always as (advance) moving, (CHARGE ALLOWED!).

Reserves: unit(s), their transport and joined IC count as one unit for all reserve related purposes, but the unit has to start inside the transport and IC has to be in the unit, units can use special deployment options of the vehicle but not vice versa.

1. nominate any number of outflanking units to harry, place them near the table, facing the enemy’s table edge
2. flank guard: nominate half (rounding down) of the remaining units to arrive in turn 2, place them near the table, facing the small table edge
3. rear guard: the rest arrives in turn 3, place them near the table, facing the own table edge
In the preparation phase - when you put an unit in reserve you have to decide upon a deployment method (as today).

In preparation phase:
flank guard: from turn 2 on: arrives on 2+
rear guard: arrives in turn 2 on 1, and from turn 3 on on 2+
harrying units arrive on 4+ from turn 2 on
all remaining reserves are arriving on turn 6.

For every harrying unit that is in reserve in the enemy’s preparation phase, you can make the enemy reroll one reserve roll.

Units from reserves are placed in the preparation phase in base to base contact with table edge (if not deep striking), if there is not enough space, placed back in reserves.

Shock Troop: always rolls a single D6” under 18” in a deep strike, a hit is a hit.

Scout: 12” move before the game after infiltrators are placed, outflank. (GOGO FIRST TURN CHARGE GENESTEALERS!)
Infiltrator: can be placed anywhere outside 18” of enemy models, count as veiled (2) as long as they make no voluntary action. (WOOT YOU CAN ONLY SEE INFILTRATED STEALERS WITHIN 14" ON AVERAGE!)
Outflank: nominate side, on 3+ comes from there, on 1-2 from other side. (BETTER IF GOING SECOND, WORSE IF GOING FIRST, UNLESS YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE OUTFLANKING UNITS)

[Xenos]

That new scout rule sounds really broken. First turn charge genestealers is madness! We could table people before they get to play. I guess it's not confirmed and even if it's true there might be other rules to stop it.

Sad face about close-range spores going out the door, I guess the Doom will actually be worth his points if he can't be deployed in people's faces.

[henshin1]

Thanks for that update nib!
I don't quite see how genestealers can get first turn charge though.. I know they can make infiltrator moves but can they make scout moves?

[N.I.B.]

How could Doom be worth his points if he could no longer work as intended? And remember