New 2000pt list I am trying out

[wolvesoffenris]

With the changes in 6th for terrain placement and the fact that reserves arrive on turn 2 with a 3+ normally I am relooking at running Ymgarls for all of my elite spots in my 2000pt list. They will assault turn 2 on a 2+ with the Swarmlord and are very effective at taking out vehicles and shooty units to allow the rest of the swarm to advance uninjured. Below is my current build.

Swarmlord (Swaps for Biomancy to get iron arm and/or endurance)
1 Tyranid Prime with 2xBoneswords
1 Tyrant Guard
(These join up into one indestructible multi toughness/WS unit)

8 Ymgarls
8 Ymgarls
8 Ymgarls

10 Termagants
1 Tervigon w/ Catalyst, TS, AG (may swap for Biomancy)
10 Termagants
1 Tervigon w/ Catalyst, TS, AG (may swap for Biomancy)
23 Hormagaunts w/ TS
23 Hormagaunts w/ TS

10 Gargoyles w/ TS, AG
10 Gargoyles w/ TS, AG

The plan is for the swarmlord to grant +1 reserve rolls to the Ymgarls who make turn 2 charges on vehicles and shooty units. The Gargoyles act as very fast screens for the hormagaunts and also charge on turn 2 to try and glance vehicles/tie up shooty units. Hormaguants follow the Gargoyles for the cover save and will assault turn 3 to mop up vehicle occupants or with furious charge from the swarmlord to pop vehicles. In the meantime, the SL and his crew march toward the enemy while the tervigons spawn gaunts to grab objectives and take overwatch fire for my assualt units. So far it has performed well as the turn 2 assault is very difficult to avoid and can severely hurt your opponent.

I have nothing to hurt flyers, but unless I am up against a flying circus, that isn't necessarily a problem. Thoughts?

[rpricew]

I've seen this list in action... It's pretty nasty! Went toe to toe with a top tier Grey Knight Razor Spam list pulling out a win.

Of course, It centers on good powers, good spawning and enough terrain to ensure the Ymgarls can make your turn 2 assault, which either ties up or destroys 3-5 units when they arrive. But if you get your way with the Dice Gods, watch out.

I prefer the Doom w/ a pod to a unit of Ymgarls, but it's more for a Psychological/Fun effect. His damage output can either be awesome or terrible, but like Ymgarls... He affects the way your opponent deploys. Multiple units won't be caught dead in the open when there is a Turn 2 Doom on the way. It forces your opponent to spread out. Then with the Ymgarl threat added, it makes it easier to reach them because they are spread out more.

With the points saved from substituting a Doom, you can buy another Power for each Tervigon, increasing their reliability to pick up Iron Arm, Enfeeble & Endurance, without sacrificing too much in return.

[wolvesoffenris]

No other comments? I got a game in yesterday with the list and it beat a dark eldar force with splinter rack raiders. He shot me up pretty good, but I was able to turn 2 assault 2 ravagers and 2 raiders and an infantry squad with my ymgarls and gargoyles which hurt his firepower and mobility. Then I marched across and captured his objective with some termagants and hormagaunts escorted by the swarmstar while protecting my own base with two tervigons and spawned gaunt screens. Overall it was a fun game and a win for the nids. I really think the combination of knowing your opponents deployment zone and the ability to place terrain strengthens the Ymgarls significantly. I had a number of different terrain choices across his part of the board that I placed for them and it allowed me to hit him effectively when they arrived.

[bugpunk]

Whoohoo! My kind of list!

[wolvesoffenris]

bugpunk
It is a fun list, although the model count is pretty high so you have to practice playing quickly. Are you running the Swarmlord, Prime, single Guard combo? Assuming that Swarmy gets iron arm (66% of the time he will have it if you swap all for biomancy), then you end up with the Swarmlord at Toughness 7-9, the single Guard at toughness 6, and the Prime at toughness 5. Since there is no majority to the unit, you use the highest value for shooting and close combat per the rulebook making the whole unit toughness 7-9. Similarly, the weapon skill of the unit is Swarmy with 9, Guard with 5, Prime with 6. Since there is no majority, you use the highest WS making the whole unit WS9 in close combat for your opponents to hit rolls. Throw in some look out sirs to spread wounds around and Endurance to get FNP and regen some wounds and you get a unit that is extremely difficult to kill. I have had great success using it to anchor synapse for my army using Swarmy's 18" Synapse range.

[bugpunk]

Yeah my list called for Swarmlord, Tyrant Guard, Prime but I never thought to put the together! This should make things interesting my coming up game against a Dark Angels and Blood Angels. Cue the evil laughter.

How does this list pan out against Grey Knights? I wonder about that army often.

[wolvesoffenris]

You have to pick your fights. Swarmstar can take out paladins like crazy if you are careful. You need to make sure that the Swarmlord allocates any precision strikes to the brotherhood banner guy so that force weapons cannot activate automatically. Also, Iron Arm gives you eternal warrior which helps keep everyone alive longer. Regular grey knights die pretty easily to Ymgarls and gaunts so they aren't as big a deal, but keep them away from your big bugs if possible. The last time I played Grey Knights it was against a shootly list and we tied on objectives (we each held each others) but I had him on the secondary and tertiary. My turn 2 assault blew up a couple razorbacks and a dread and tied up 3 units of marines. This allowed the rest of my force to cross with greatly reduced casualties. If I had first turn instead of second, I would have blown him out as he barely survived with two rounds of shooting before I hit.

[tragik]

How does this list deal with pie plate spam and AV14?

I'd love to make a semi-competitive list that uses the Swarmstar, but I just don't see it working in my head.