[Wanted] 6th Edition Hormagaunt Advice!

[DukeMantis]

Strange as it may seem, the humble Horamagaunt is the model that enticed me to play Tyranids. They are reminiscent of the creature from the film Alien and i think swarms of them look really cool.

Fluffy admiration of their aesthetics aside; it has always been my intention to field them in decent numbers in my army. Now that i have finally taken the plunge to build a Tyranid army (1000points and growing towards a 1750 target) im considering the best ways to ensure the small and spiky guys make it across the board to where they can get some close combat.

At the moment i have 32 Hormagaunts and feel like i should run them in two groups of 16 with Toxin Sacs, or buy a few more and go for two units of 20. One large unit of thirty seems unwieldy to me and although i love them, i like to spend alot of points on MC's and stuff. I would intend to put a Tervigon alongside them and footslog.
Anyway, back to the burning questions.

I very rarely see Hormagaunts in new army list posts on these forums since i joined, im wondering what the active and/or accomplished players among you think of this unit in 6th.


How would you would advise fielding them with regards to unit sizing, table positioning and early game survivability?

What are they best suited to achieve?

Dangers of multi assaulting?

Is it worth attaching a Prime?

What are the best support units for them? Do they even need support?

Any tricks to tailor them to do something your opponent might not expect?

I would love my Hormies to become a trusty regular section of my Hive Fleet, and for new players to be able to glean this units potential from this thread. Any and all input from the Hive Mind is greatly appreciated! My feeder tenacles eagerly await sustenance.

[rpricew]

I have a buddy that is very successful with the following 2K list:

Swarmlord: 280
Tyrant Guard (LW): 60
Tyranid Prime: Regen = 100

Troop:
Tervigon (3 Biomancy Powers, AG,TS) = 210
Tervigon (3 Biomancy Powers, AG,TS) = 210
10 Termagants - 50
10 Termagants - 50
25 Hormagaunts (TS) - 200
25 Hormagaunts (TS) - 200

Elite:
3 HIve Guard - 150
3 Hive Guard - 150
8 Ymgarls - 184

Fast Attack:
10 Gargoyles (TS.AG) - 80
10 Gargoyles (TS.AG) - 80

1999 points

He uses the Swarmlord to grant Furious Charge on the Hormagaunts when they hit the enemy line. The Gargoyles are fast moving screening units that take fire and grant cover saves to the Hormagaunts, but are fast enough to not slow them down. Tervigons & Swarmlord cast Psychic powers like Endurance & Catalyst on the Hormagaunts (or whatever else). He just simply overwhelms the enemy under a flood of bodies. Only time he lost out of 20+ games was against Mech IG castled up in the corner on Vanguard Deployment with lots of Flamers & Large Blasts (Worst possible scenario for this army)

Depending on your models, you could take half of this army, to compliment and support your Hormagaunts. Best advice I can give you, is whatever your favorite unit... build your army around the strengths and weaknesses of your unit. He supports the Hormagaunts with abilities from his other units.

He knows they are going to die in combat since that's their purpose, so he has other cheap scoring troops to keep objectives. He also keeps the point count down on the Horms by only giving them TS so they can wound anything with 4+ (and possible re-rolls).

[krackinkraken]

In all my list from 1000 points to 1750, I take a sizable unit of 15 Hormagaunts with TS. I love them! They don't play a critical role in my army but the always serve a purpose.

Taking hits: People know how devistating they are if they get in close combat so they try and shoot them down, but with 15 of them they usually have to commit two squads to take them out which means they arent shooting at my expensive stuff.

Swarm: If my oppentent doesn't shoot them I usually use them in conjunction with another unit and swarm an enemy unit. This also works great with Paroxysm from my nearby Flyrant.

Troops: At the very least they hold am enemy objective. They are super fast and great for sprinting up the field.

For your goal I would run three groups of twenty is they are to be the core of your army. I've heard of people attaching a Prime to the squad but I feel like he would only slow them down and with much terrain on the board in 6th edition a 4+ cover save should be easy to find. With running heavy Hgaunts I feel the best tactic is to stick together, your strength is in number so use that to your advantage people with be sacred to get next to a twenty man squad and terrified if there are two twelve inches away.

[glassiya]

dukemantis
Indeed gaunts are pretty. But you better to think how to upgrade them, if you want to rely on them so much.

I mean, they can be cheap as default, but compensate this in numbers, so it'll be easier to soak enemy fire, and bigger spot of claws and tallons attracts more atttention.
Of course, there is Toxin, that you use, and AG, that is used by someone else. It grades them up a little (Poison against monsters, FC against vehicles), and still keeps their cost moderate, that's understandable.
But I'm running stack of 16-30 AG+TS hormies, and they work very well. You see, this way they combinate 4+ toxin AND ability to glance 10 rear, but that's not all. When you charging into MEQ (and there's a lot of them on our tables), your chance to Wound them raises from 1/3 (default) through 1/2 (your toxins or Furious Charge) up to 3/4 (1/2 with reroll)! More than twice damage output when fighting Necrons/Marines of all sorts! Yes, they become almost twice as pricey, but the result is totally worth it - they effectively challenge Genestealers in terms of our main assault DDers.

So, if you can balance tactics based on your own experience from game to game, your biomorphs are better to be set once and for all. So think good about what do you want from them.

[wisdomseyes1]

The only issue with usin them with TS and AG, that makes 320 points of t3 6+ wounds, where only going with one makes them 250 (about).

I have not had good experience with hormagaunts in 6th. But I can answer some of your initial questions.

Don't put a prime with them. There is no point except to have them attract even more attention.

They don't have support units and try really need one, that's why termagants are being taken in favor. Venomthropes are probably the only support unit they have access to, well, and zoantrhopes with endurance.

[elitemaster]

I use a Venomthrope in my army list all the time. In every game I played my oppent tryed shotting the Hormys in the open. When I say 5+ they are like "how". I just say venomthrope and they are like ok. Do it again the next turn and they are like "how". Venomthrope again and they are like wtf. Not only does my Hormys get it my big line of Termys get it and they cannt shot any of my guys with out cover saves.

[Illithid]

I'm at a loss with them at the moment. They were my favourite unit last edition and something I never left home without. Now, I find them expensive as they get shot to pieces and Gargoyles more effective and Termagants are doing a better role due to the Tervigon becoming such a beast.

I will let you know if I have any luck, but after 3 games, I found they performed subpar.

[maskedtyranid]

I'd have to agree you may get better value out of Gargoyles this edition. They're faster, they can shoot, they have Blinding Venom, and their upgrades cost less. They also don't take up Troops slots, so that may be a problem for some missions, but it also lets you stuff your Troops slots with more stuff. So, you could have three broods of Termagants, three Tervigons, and three broods of Gargoyles. That would be a ton of models, of course, but you could do it!

[DukeMantis]

Some excellent advice and views from you all, thanks alot for the feedback guys!

I will try to collate the suggestions for my own (and future Hive readers) to scan for reference, please feel free to correct me or add more tips:

< THE WAY OF THE HORMAGAUNT >

-Field them in decent size units and choose Toxin Sacs, if you have the points also Adrenal Glands for extra killpower and tank-glancing capabilities. Nom nom hullpoints.

-Provide them with fast moving cover such as Gargoyles, or be prepared to use a Venomthrope or two. If you take neither of these things take larger broods to avoid being rendered totally ineffective by enemy fire early in the game.

- At this stage in 6th Edition, Termagaunts and Gargoyles are perhaps cheaper and more versatile alternatives so if your going to use Hormagaunts make sure you have a clear task in mind for them and commit by covering their weaknesses with other units in your army list.

- There lack of survivability is mitigated slightly by their incredible speed (fleet, bounding leap) and potentially by buffs granted by support units such as Venomthropes and Zoanthropes with Endurance.

- Do not bother to put a Tyranid Prime with them. If you do a child will burst into tears on distant Ultramar, and no one will know why.

-Expect them to die, hopefully in combat. Dont forget that they are troops and can hold objectives if need be.

-Provide much more immediate threats to draw fire from your hormies, Ymgarls, Trygons, Flyrants etc.

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Does anyone have any comments on deployment? Do people send the swarm right up the middle? Or split them on each flank to try and cover as much ground as possible?

Are other methods like outflanking a unit or bringing them in via spore or Trygon-tunnel worthwhile?

Can a Venomthrope keep up with them to provide cover effectively?

Is it a waste of a unit to send them against anything with more than armour 10?

Thanks in advance!

[glassiya]

there is one more important point to talk about: synapce.

You can accidently (or not) run out of control and gain Rage, which will give you 4 attack per model (if charging, of course).
But: without synapce you lose Fearless, and with their Ld 6 you'll fail the very first Morale check.

So there are situations, where Rage if preferable (destroying the vehicle, for example), and sometimes you need to keep them in control (to tarpit enemy's Terminators or Dreadnaughts. If YOU are tarpitted by Dread, just remember ther other way - without Synapce you can fail Morale (even due Our Weapons Is Useless) and Fall Back to your big brothers. But if they are still Fearless, you can just forget about this unit, because they w'll never open this tincan, no one will help them, and in the end it will crush them all).

I usually cover them with a cheap Termagants line, that provides necessary cover. They lose some speed because of this, but at least they make it into assault in one piece.

[bacchusgreenman]

Cheapest and yet deadliest army screen in my opinion - I really can't fathom upgrading 'Gaunts with TS or AG - I know everyone here says you got to have at least one of them but I just can't justify it. They get shot to bits and thats thier job as far as I'm concerned. I'll be lucky to get 6 or so survive enough to be in assault on turn 2 or 3 out of a group of 30. Those 6 will usually mince the IG squads I'm always up against and thier 24 dead comrades soaked enough firepower for the other 820pts of my army to get closer to do what they need to do.

[rpricew]

I do not think Venomthropes can keep up with your Hormagaunts.

[elitemaster]

Yes a Venomthrope can you just have to plane on how you move the Hormys and the Venomthrope.

I had my Hormys out of snyaps and chraged a unit of 30 boyz. I lost the battle and ran. I had a warrior not far behide them and they just stoped and turned around. The boyz lsot over half his unit and didnt try to charge the Hormys for feer of a mass death from them. The Hormys just charged another group but sadly they were in synaps

[Jasta]

I have been having success with Hormagaunts. I take a squad of 24 with TS and put them on a flank with a venomthrope right behind. Gargoyles and a Flyrant on the other flank and everything else going down the middle. The Hormies generally get into combat relatively untouched as the gargoyles (30 of them with AG and TS), flyrant, and my main force take all the attention. It's worth noting that I keep a Tervigon near them so that they are just in synapse range. I hope you can make them work too! Good luck!

[fleetofclaw]

I had a hard time justifying them in 5e, it's even harder in 6e. Need a screen? Termagants are much better at 5pts. Need a fast moving screen? Gargoyles (if you're using hgants as a screen then being a scoring unit doesn't mean much). Need a hard hitting CC squad? You're looking at the wrong FOC slot. 6e close combat is all about weathering the gunfire on your way in. Outside of the Tervigon, our CC units in the troop slot don't fit the bill. For that you want ymgarls, raveners, shrikes, trygons, swarmy, or CC kitted flyrant.

It just comes back to the fact that whatever I want hgants to do, I can find something else to do it better or more effeciently.