Vector striking goodness? or bad idea?

[ilovedakka]

Hey guys! I'm new on the board, and I don't normally post things but I had a really interesting idea that I thought i'd run by you.

Flyrant w/ HVC, Hive Commander - 280

3 Hive Guard - 150
3 Zoanthropes - 180

5 Warriors - 150
- 1 with barbed strangler, 4 with deathspitters - +30
- in a Spore, with 2 TL Deathspitters - +60
- Total 240
2x 10 Devilgants - 200
1 Tervigon w/Catalyst - 175

2x Harpy w/ TL Stranglethorn Cannon - 320
1x Harpy w/ TL HVC - 170

3 Biovores - 135

Its an even 1850pt list. The only things I'm really unsure of are the biovores as I don't own any yet. They seem like they could be incredibly effective for the purpose they were designed for, but I'm unsure.

Basic idea behind this is obviously having Flying Monstrous creatures running around vector striking and dropping blasts everywhere. I took the Hive Commander so I could outflank the Hive Guard, a tactic I've tried once with GREAT success. Puts them pointing right at weak side or rear armour depending on where they come in. I could also choose to outflank the zoanthropes for some deep table synapse for the harpys running around. Dual TL deathspitters on the spore have also worked wonders for my warrior unit too. Drop it in, and blast the flanks and rear sides of the opponents army. 6 TL shots, even at BS 2, has still been well worth the 60pt investment.

I haven't even begun building harpys yet, and I'd rather not go invest close to $200 on them if it won't work. I'm still pretty new to Tyranids, and 40k in general. Just seemed to me, in my head, to be a really hard army to try and fight.

[ilovedakka]

A friend of mine just pointed out maybe dropping the warriors entirely, going down to 2 biovores, and taking a second flyrant with Dual TL BL Devourers.

[commandersasha]

I love my Harpy model, but I can't bring myself to use him because he just doesn't perform; AP4 is too poor with snap-shotting Heavy Bolters everywhere, S5 Vector strike is useless, too few Smash attacks to be a solid anti-tank...
The second Flyrant is way better than 2 Harpies, in my opinion.

I love my 3 Biovores: they often get me First Blood, they rarely give up a kill point, and the barrage shot sniping key models such as banners, heavy weapons etc has worked many times.

Welcome to the Hive!

[commandersasha]

Oh, and a word of warning, you're not supposed to post breakdowns of points costs on this forum, in case GW consider it to be infringing their copyright. Just put "1,500 point list" at the top, or whatever: the rest of us can figure out the breakdown if we're joining the thread ;-)

[ilovedakka]

Thank you!

I face a LOT of mech lists in my area. If its a smurf army, I can pretty much guarantee i'm going up against 2 vindicators, a predator, and a redeemer. I've had a lot of success with the warrior/spore rear armour dump technique, and as much as I know its a hot topic, my Tyrannofex with cannon consistently pops things in a shot or two. Whatever he doesn't completely destroy, i've been finishing off with vector strikes and a hvc shot from my flyrant. For whatever reason, theres only one guy in my area that seems to run flyers, and thats kinda why I wanted a flyer heavy list. Nobody in my area seems to build to defend against it.

[ilovedakka]

Oops, thanks for the heads up!

[brianb9999]

Just so you're aware, Hive Commander only lets you outflank troops. So no hive guard or zoanthropes. You may try outflanking your warriors, though, to take some potshots at side armor.

[ilovedakka]

Dang. There goes that idea haha.

I don't have any luck with assaulting, with the exception of my warriors. Right now, I run my flyrant and a prime with dual boneswords and talons with the warriors. Wrecks just about everything it comes up against, but everything else gets obliterated in overwatch. So I'm trying to move to a more shooting oriented list.