Tyrant Guard upgrades

[Bane Wordsmith]

So I've just purchased two Tyrant Guard, and I'm wondering how everyone else runs them?
At the end of the day they are just Astra wounds, and every point is valuable. 5poimys for lashwhips seems reasonable, but 15 for Bonesword seems a bit steep.
What does the rest of the hive do?

[revx]

i think it would depend on what they are doing.

if you run them like me and run 1 which is purely there for extra wounds bring him naked. if them seem to die before combat, bring them naked.

if your going to run a deathstar SL/shell tyrant, a prime, and guards then i would probably add lashwhips.

i'm not too sure if anyone finds the boneswords on the guards worth the points. remember they get rending claws for free which are nice.

[grarik]

Personally I run them with no upgrades, but from what I've read lashwhips are a very useful upgrade, especially if you run a swarmlord or a tyrant without a lashwhip of his own.

[jocke01]

They are already quite expensive so I take then plain or with lash whips. I don't think boneswords are worth the points since they got rending claws already.

[scrotatohead]

I'm not sure why people look at Tyrant Guard as just extra wounds. Yes, their job is to escort a Tyrant or Swarmy around the battlefield, but they're capable of so much more. Personally I like the idea of purchasing three along with a Flyrant, but running them independently. Flyrant does its own thing while the Tyrant Guard charge. Tyrant Guard have one of the best standard saves for 'nids, and definitely the best save for non-MC assault units. With their relatively small size you should be getting cover saves all game long. If an opponent wants to throw a S10 blast at them that's fine, that just means my Tervigon are safe for another round of baby making.

They're hitting on 3's most of the time and wounding on 2's. For comparison, a Trygon has one higher Strength but two fewer attacks than a trio of lash whip Tyrant Guard (if you include HoW attack), and costs five more points. Sure it can shoot, but you don't want to shoot most of the time you want to be running. On the charge the Trygon has four fewer attacks, six fewer if it chooses to Smash. Plus, on the off chance the Guard fail their IB7 roll, Feed/Rage gives them a total of 15 attacks on the charge. From just three models.

Higher strength, higher toughness, and better Save mean Tyrant Guard will most likely stick around a lot longer than 'stealers or ymgarls. Lashwhip upgrade makes up for a slightly above average initiative, especially if you do need to charge a unit in cover. Now you're not going last, you rolling simultaneously which means those expensive attacks are going to have a chance to go off, and that's where S5 and T6 and rending claws can really make life difficult for your opponent. Plus T6 can help you to shrug off those few overwatch shots that manage to get through when you do charge.

[Nightmare20]

Run a flyrant and 2-3 tyrant guard with at least lashwhips and attach a prime with dual swords and regeneration.

[gigasnail]

tguard brood + prime, interesting.

[zoat]

I'm not sure, what were the rules for the flyrant and guard again? Does the Tyrant has to be deployed with the Guards or can you deploy them separately? Can a Tyrant/Flyrant freely choose to leave a unit of Guards? I think it was No.

[emoge]

May 22, 2013 20:41:07 GMT zoat said:

I'm not sure, what were the rules for the flyrant and guard again? Does the Tyrant has to be deployed with the Guards or can you deploy them separately? Can a Tyrant/Flyrant freely choose to leave a unit of Guards? I think it was No.

It's all in the FAQ but basically, must purchase a tyrant/swarmy first, does not have to be deployed with, tyrant can join later but if ever joins can never leave.

[gman25639]

hmm... running independent tyrant guard actually sounds effective... one issue of putting a prime with them is that he doesnt buff them like he does warriors.

[zoat]

Thanks, emoge! I was missing the deployment thing.

Hmm, then you have 1 slow unit for 250-300 Pts with 9 wounds T6, 3+ eating your HQ slots except for one Flyrant? Even if it gets cover easily, I don't see any particular use for this.

Hmm (second thought), with LoS and the prime in front it seems really durable. Still slow, though ...

[gigasnail]

tguard is a HQ but doesn't take a HQ slot. tguard + prime would be a pretty durable CC unit, just the normal issues walking one around the table. and costly, as noted.

[scrotatohead]

Lash whip TGuard + Prime can make a nasty counter assault unit to protect home objectives. Stronger and way tougher than warriors, with identical WS, IN, and attacks.

On the offensive they don't have MTC so you don't want to try dashing from area terrain cover to area terrain cover as that will really slow them down. Since only the Prime is going to have a shooting attack, you're going to want to be running every turn anyhow so they should advance relatively quickly across open ground to either engage advancing opponents or challenge to contest enemy objectives. Screen them with naked gargoyles or a brood of toxic hormies and let them take the brunt of overwatch. The added Prime makes for a great character killer whle the TGuard butcher everything else. I think they would take some pressure off of any 'nid deepstriking units or flyrants as they are a formidable threat. And if the enemy doesn't focus attention on them they'll pay for the mistake. Sure they're costly, but for pure CC they make up in durability and offensive power what cheaper alternatives provide with numbers.

EDIT: Hit this same unit with Endurance or Telekine Dome and this unit is definitely going to be around to cause target priority issues.

[infornography]

I don't think running independent tyrant guard is cost effective. If they were 10 or 15 points cheaper then definitely, or if they got boneswords by default. But as is, I'll pass.

[milkybarnid]

If I took tyrant guard, I would never not field them with the tyrant, I don't think they are very effective, I normally take them with the swarmlord as lash whips are useful against greater deamons, allowing swarmy to neutralise that threat. I agree with scrotathead's point on endurance, though with a tyrant instead of prime