Post by mattblowers on Dec 26, 2019 17:14:57 GMT
Here are some of my general thoughts/impressions after about a month and more than a few games under my belt.*
Overall I think that this release gives us some neat things to play with. I'm still not convinced it's enough, but it is a start.
The bad:
-hierodules are still bad
-t-fexes are still bad; both the acid spray and rupture cannon options have underwhelmed for me. I've tried them with the 5++ invul/count as double wounds for degradation and while they survived well, they still didn't punch hard enough.
-toxicrenes are still bad. Prey site helps, but they just don't get there fast enough and they tend to block each other out. Thunderfire cannon tremor shells just make them a non-factor.
-I find the malenthrope too expensive for what he brings. He can't keep up with a good melee list. His bubble is too small for the waterfalling exocrine list. Probably only works in a gaunt carpet list and I can't bring myself to play that. 250+ gribblies sounds like no fun to play with or against.
the good:
-resonance barb is awesome and should be in every list
-Kronos power is great (doubly so on exocrines)
-exocrine strat makes the exocrine great.
-biovore is priced right
-+8" on quad-dev kronos flyrant is fantastic
-adaptations are really good, they have more widespread use than our meh warlord traits
General observations/tactics:
-mixing melee centric and gunline hasn't worked out for me. I feel that you have to go hard one way or the other
-Kraken and Kronos are still better than most build your own hive fleet combos you can come up with. I haven't tried carnifex rush so there might be something there. A warrior bomb also might have some play.
-I love playing 3 exocrines. I start 1 on the table and 2 podded in with t-cytes. The one on the table advances forward then I use the strat to count as having not moved. On turn 2 I pod in the second one and pop the strat. On turn 3 I rinse and repeat. This gives a hard shooting presence that is right where it needs to be your first 3 turns. With kronos power up and rerolling 1s, kronos exocrines might just be some of your best options ever. I take barbed stranglers on the t-cytes and they do work as well. With these popping up, most people ignore the double dev flyrant because of how hard it is to kill.
-kraken stealers are still our best melee unit with Swarmlord sling and broodlords. They don't seem to mix well with exocrines for me as it changes the focus of the list.
*These thoughts are based solely on ITC format games on the new standardized terrain.
Overall I think that this release gives us some neat things to play with. I'm still not convinced it's enough, but it is a start.
The bad:
-hierodules are still bad
-t-fexes are still bad; both the acid spray and rupture cannon options have underwhelmed for me. I've tried them with the 5++ invul/count as double wounds for degradation and while they survived well, they still didn't punch hard enough.
-toxicrenes are still bad. Prey site helps, but they just don't get there fast enough and they tend to block each other out. Thunderfire cannon tremor shells just make them a non-factor.
-I find the malenthrope too expensive for what he brings. He can't keep up with a good melee list. His bubble is too small for the waterfalling exocrine list. Probably only works in a gaunt carpet list and I can't bring myself to play that. 250+ gribblies sounds like no fun to play with or against.
the good:
-resonance barb is awesome and should be in every list
-Kronos power is great (doubly so on exocrines)
-exocrine strat makes the exocrine great.
-biovore is priced right
-+8" on quad-dev kronos flyrant is fantastic
-adaptations are really good, they have more widespread use than our meh warlord traits
General observations/tactics:
-mixing melee centric and gunline hasn't worked out for me. I feel that you have to go hard one way or the other
-Kraken and Kronos are still better than most build your own hive fleet combos you can come up with. I haven't tried carnifex rush so there might be something there. A warrior bomb also might have some play.
-I love playing 3 exocrines. I start 1 on the table and 2 podded in with t-cytes. The one on the table advances forward then I use the strat to count as having not moved. On turn 2 I pod in the second one and pop the strat. On turn 3 I rinse and repeat. This gives a hard shooting presence that is right where it needs to be your first 3 turns. With kronos power up and rerolling 1s, kronos exocrines might just be some of your best options ever. I take barbed stranglers on the t-cytes and they do work as well. With these popping up, most people ignore the double dev flyrant because of how hard it is to kill.
-kraken stealers are still our best melee unit with Swarmlord sling and broodlords. They don't seem to mix well with exocrines for me as it changes the focus of the list.
*These thoughts are based solely on ITC format games on the new standardized terrain.
