HQ Choice...?

[casteel]

Alright, I'm going to start a thread in hopes to get some clarity or at less opinions on what The Hive recommends. To start, I'm trying to field a 1000 point army to play a friend who just started a new CSM. As it is, I'm currently fielding as follows:

Troops 570
Gants (15)
Gants (15)
Tervigon: CC, TS, CS, Cata
Tervigon: CC, TS, CS, Cata

Elites 220
Hive Guard (2)
Zoanthropes (2)

Which leads me to the question at hand. I have 210 points to spend. I was thinking a tricked out Prime with two warriors, A parasite with 5 Ripper bases, or another Tervigon.

What do you think?

[General Chips]

If your feeling like a jerk? another tervigon

[casteel]

Yeah, I was thinking that was the "better" of the three options. Not just in terms of power but, it also allows more spawning. I just worry that my friend may want to punch people in the face after playing. LOL

[General Chips]

Then go for a prime. I would consider kitting it out, and using the extra points for another zoan/hg. Attach the prime to a squad of gants for some survivability while he runs across the board, and enjoy! Love primes

[casteel]

Another option would be to drop one Tervigon (Troop) and replace it with a Trygon w/ TS. I could just place the Tervigon (HQ) with the second Gant group for buffs and add a bit of heavy support to the Army. I think that sounds pretty solid too.

[WestRider]

Oct 14, 2012 3:42:35 GMT casteel said:

I was thinking a tricked out Prime with two warriors,

Just a quick note here: You need at least three regular Warriors to go with that Prime. He's his own HQ Choice, not part of the Brood as such, so he doesn't count toward the minimum size.

[Psychichobo]

Hmm... unlikely that you'll have the models, but if you do, have you considered a Parasite with some Gargoyles? It would add a highly mobile element to your army, and you're not exactly desperate for Synapse in that list so him flying his posse away wouldn't be too bad. Could always shed a few points by taking away a Zoanthrope too or something.

[gigasnail]

parasite w/ garg escort would be flat nasty at 1k points. then again, another tervigon is flat nasty at 1k points. i'm running a dakka flyrant in my 1k list, he's flat-nasty too.

[casteel]

I have been debating making a Parasite. I have gargoyles too. 10 right now to be exact. I'm thinking that might be a cool option. I would love to see some gargs flying around.

[zephoid]

in terms of HQs, tyranid's are overcosted for the combat performance they provide. Tervigons are nice, but spamming them is asking for a good player to pick you apart. Tyranid prime is one of the few cost effective HQs we have. 2x Boneswords and deathspitter and throw the 100 points into 2 more hive guard or raveners. Babysit the zoans with it to protect vs S8 and add CC ability to make them harder to deal with.

[innocent]

The Prime is a competent CC beast but too slow, and with the new targeting rules he can be singled out in a squad so has lost some survivability. Also, 100+ points to baby sit a unit which might or might not see some CC doesn't sound optimised to me. Just saying Gargoyles are great but you need large squads of them, as they die as easily as Termagants and attract a lot of firepower due to being a super quick threat.

Tervigons + Gargoyles are actually very good, the Gargoyles can screen the Tervigons which in return can cast Catalyst on the Gargoyles. Dominion also becomes useful if you run a lot of them.

In the end, lots of different opinions here However I agree that your list lacks long range reach, via reliable shooting or fast assault units. I would definitely give those Gargoyles a try. If you run them with a Parasite they are more offensively orientated i.e. you try to engage something in CC. If you run them with Tervigons they are more defensive, there to give cover and soak some bullets. Up to you which approach you want to take. Note that 10 Gargoyles is a pretty small squad and not very durable, even with FnP, but it's a start and that'll give you an idea on what they can do (and you can paint that squad first instead of having to handle 30 Gargs in one go like me ). If your opponent ignores them they can do some serious damage.

[casteel]

Yeah. I was thinking of maybe dropping some points and adding some spore mines too (2 FA units of 2-3mines) At least that could give me some "maneuverability" or at least some form of cc by having some models in/around his deployment zone. In 1000 points, it's harder to take a sacrifice by chancing the encounter and a 10 point model drawing fire is great for me.

However, back to the HQ choice, I decided to definitely NOT take the third Tervigon. 210 points. I need 1 HQ. decisions, decisions. Thanks for all the great feedback and discussion.