Gaunt carpet in 9th?

[NidNoms]

Sept 29, 2020 15:34:22 GMT yoritomo said:

The tervigon is what, 50 gaunts points wise? In order for her to spawn an equivalent amount of gaunts she will have to spawn max gaunts every turn (and that can only happen if you go second).

So the real question with the tervigon is do you want all your gaunts up front or does her abilities justify receiving your gaunts piecemeal over the course of the game?

My answer to that is no, she does not bring enough to the table. Look at what she does. She makes gaunts, but not more that you would get otherwise. She has synapse, but synapse isn’t required in 9th edition and there are better ways to provide synapse. She is a psyker, great, but tyranids aren’t hurting for psykers. She makes gaunts more offensive, again great but gaunt carpet isn’t about offensive it’s about staying put.

That is the best case with the tervigon. Worst case is in gaunt carpet. All those lascannon shots that would be wasted on gaunts now find a great target with the tervigon. What would normally be four lascannons wounds killing four gaunts is now those same four lascannons killing as tervigon and preventing 30-40 gaunts (maybe even 50) from entering the table. It’s just not worth it.



As a side note, I used the term lascannons here not because I expect every army to have a dozen lascannons, but because it is a common anti-tank weapon that everyone knows. Please feel free to substitute any high strength, d6 damage weapon for lascannons when reading this.

for one i would have all my gaunts out not in reserve, and unless your Tiamet Tyranids, Tyranids dont stay put. we could also put Venomthropes for protection, Gaunts need some kind of support.

[No One]

...I'm not sure what you're getting at there. Yes, you have gaunts on table. They're generally sort of useless otherwise. You'd also have your terv on table: same as terms, generally useless in reserves. Outside of being able to just hide behind a building all game, or having other important MCs to take agro (i.e. not gaunt carpet), the terv will die. Which cuts into gaunts, kills gaunts, and also loses you WWSWF points. So you're basically cutting your max VP scorable by ~5, for no real upside.

[NidNoms]

what about having a Genestealer Cult detachment with them?

[yoritomo]

Now I’m confused. Do you mean cult with the tervigon or cult with gaunt carpet?

If it’s cult with tervigon I don’t see how that changes things. He’s still the only big model on the table and will die quickly.

If it’s cult with gaunt carpet, well, that list took 3rd place at a recent GT. So I guess it works.

[NidNoms]

Sept 29, 2020 17:41:25 GMT yoritomo said:

Now I’m confused. Do you mean cult with the tervigon or cult with gaunt carpet?

If it’s cult with tervigon I don’t see how that changes things. He’s still the only big model on the table and will die quickly.

If it’s cult with gaunt carpet, well, that list took 3rd place at a recent GT. So I guess it works.

why not both? troops with the gaunts while tanks support the Tervigon, pretty sure they will use those lascannons on a Leman Russ or 2 then a Tervigon

[kazetanade]

because the Tervigon is pointless and expensive and a waste of resources. We usually try to be accepting and explore many different ideas, but there are no real good ideas with a Tervigon. You can of course play one for casual games or because you like the model, and you can make it work, but it isnt actually efficient at all. If you want more effective play, bring a Maleceptor instead of the Tervigon, because that will boost your Gaunt carpet durability by nearly 50% more, I believe.

[yoritomo]

Nid Noms, in order to run gaunt carpet you’re already investing 500-1000 points in gaunts. You still need HQ units, you still need synapse, and then you’re going to add both tervigon and GSC? Where are you going to find points for all that?

And remember, the more points you play the more threats your opponents have. So even if you have scary GSC tanks your opponent will have more tools to deal with them. The net effect is the tervigon still dies in the end.

[infornography]

The only use I see for a tervigon is in crusade games. If they can't heal up one of your squads of gaunts (making them more likely to survive the match and get buffed) then they can spawn more gaunts for free since it is a power level based game.

In matched play though, until we get points or dataslates SERIOUSLY reworked, the terv is dustbait.

[nidzy]

I think it is viable. I have seen successful 120 plague bearer lists in this edition that did little more than move and cast some spells and then try to charge for movement in a given turn but are consistently 3-2 or 4-1 in a 5 day event.

I would rather play my imperium (please do not swear) than that list though. I am just not into it. It seems super tactical and I bet it is rewarding to pull off but the mere idea of my playing it for 15 hours over a weekend makes me sad and tired.

[chillingworth]

I'm building my Gaunt carpet (120 so far, many to go). Should it be all Devours? A mix of Devours and fleshborers? Or just all out fleshborers and get as many gaunts on the table as possible?

[No One]

Gaunt carpet is a board control list: fleshborers for as many bodies as you can reasonably fit. You generally won't get to shoot anyway, between stuff like metabollic (and advance is similarly mediocre) and just generally being out of range/in combat/dead.

[N.I.B.]

Somebody remember that Tylert dude who had great success with his Leviathan board control list? Back in August he was on some Frontline Gaming twitch video with John Lennon and others. He had a Malanthrope, 2 Neuros, 38 Ripper Swarms, 3x4 Zoanthropes, 3 Biovores, 3 Skyslasher Swarms, Mucolids, 2 Sporocysts.
Plus a GSC patrol - Magus, 5 Acolytes, sniper Sanctus.

He won some tournament IIRC, but what I'd like to know is how he build his list now, after the FAQ that killed fortifications.

[yoritomo]

How does that apply to gaunt carpet?

[yoritomo]

Oct 1, 2020 6:47:06 GMT chillingworth said:

I'm building my Gaunt carpet (120 so far, many to go). Should it be all Devours? A mix of Devours and fleshborers? Or just all out fleshborers and get as many gaunts on the table as possible?

It depends on the kind of army you want to run.

The point of gaunt carpet is that it is durable and creates sub optimal weapon match ups. If your opponent spends 500 points on anti-tank weapons then your effectively playing with almost 500 points more than your opponent.

Devourers trade 50% of that durability for a ten fold increase in offensive. Yes, I do mean ten fold. Between the extra range letting more gaunts shoot and the 3 shots per gaunt there is a remarkable difference from fleshborer and devourer in gaunt carpet.

The answer is really match up dependent. Against low toughness low armor save armies like Eldar, imperial guard, and orks I can use that extra offense to box out a good chunk of their army. Against high toughness, high armor save armies like space marines and mechanized forces devourer shots just don’t do enough to be effective. Since I can’t control the board with my shooting I have to control the board with bodies.


I will say this, you’re going to have a lot more fun playing gaunt carpet with devourers, but in the current meta you’re probably going to win more games with fleshborers.

[NidNoms]

im going to try making a Gaunt carpet, ill post results if i ever get a chance