GSC/Tyranid Gunline

[stormcoil]

So this post is just for fun for people.  I had a discussion elsewhere where someone had asked what I was running before my current pure Tyranids list.  Well here you go.  I did very well with this list over my first 10 games or so, but once opponent's figure it out I dropped to more of a 50/50 win rate which is why I moved on.

GSC+Tyranids 2000 pts, 7 cp

Battalion, Hivecult

Jackal Alphus, warlord, Hivelord

Magus, Mass Hypnosis, Mind Control

5x Acolyte Hybrid, autopistol

5x Acolyte Hybrid, autopistol

5x Acolyte Hybrid, autopistol

5x Acolyte Hybrid, autopistol

Kelermorph, Oppressor's Bane

Sanctus, sniper rifle, the gift from beyond

3x Achilles Ridgerunner

3x Achilles Ridgerunner

3x Achilles Ridgerunner

Spearhead, kronos

Neurothrope, symbiostorm, resonance barb

6x Hive Guard

Exocrine

Exocrine

Exocrine

Now this list will shoot your way through a LOT of stuff. You've even got some snipers to take out key characters, you have anti tank shooting and anti elite shooting, and enough volume of fire to deal with almost anything.

What I discovered with this list over time was a few things. First, while making up the fewest points those 4 naked acolyte squads were scoring almost all of my points. The REASON I started using mawlocs and lictors is I was trying to see how Tryanids could pull the same tricks as a lot of naked acolytes and the perfect ambush strat. But the troops here can easily get you deploy scramblers and engage, and can show up within 3" of an enemy with a strat and are obsec, so are fantastically good at flipping objectives.

But most of my board presence actually came from the 9 ridge runners and the biker chick. Once opponents started to just completely focus on the ridgerunners, it didn't matter how much my tyranid shooting killed, I didn't score enough points.

This list worked really well at first though. And if you are against opponents that focus more on killing than on scoring you will outkill a LOT of lists with this. Just understand that it loses a lot of board presence to get all that killing power, and the ridgerunners are the achilles heel (pun intended).

[beetlejuice]

Seeing as you barely have CP to fuel double shooting HG, plus the downside of dense cover, d3 dmg, dreads -1D, and the fact that you have enough lasers to crack the few T8 targets that do see play, those 300 points could be spent elsewhere. Sure, you lose the ability to clear objectives outside of LoS but maybe RR mobility offsets this disadvantage at least a little? You can get like maybe a unit of zoans and some gaunts for better objective play on midfield while keeping the acos for secondaries and denying opponents scoring? I don’t have ridgerunners to try it myself... Love how you share your thoughts, list concepts and battle reports, very insightful.

[kukie]

that's a really KILLY list. I like it. You are right about having not much board presence. I have a similar list.

battalion of Cult of the 4 armed emporor

Alpha Jackel
Magus

5 Acolytes (naked) x3 squads
7 Acolytes (with 2 rock saws) x2 squads

Nexos

3 Ridgerunners with mining lasors

patrol of Kronos

Broodlord
Neurotrhope

30 Hormaguants x1
30 Termaguants x3

6 hive guard

1 exocrine
1 mawloc

I've run variations of this list with good results. TO be honest I lose lose most of my games with my Marines (Salamanders) army, and I have some Choas Marines that I lose most of the time. But with the mix of GSC with a Kronos gunline I probably win most of my games (at the very least I win more than I do with my Marines). I am trying out the Mawloc for Linebreaker points, and hormaguants for some fast board presence now instead of running broodbrothers with a Patriarch for more more troops on points but the list above is pretty close to what most of what I bring most games.

The basic idea is to have lots of OpSec troops to sit on objectives (termaguants or broodbrothers), make sure they are fearless with Synapse and/or a Patriarch; have some guns in the back shooting (Hive Guard, Exocrine and I just recently got 3 ridgerunners I am trying out in place of my usual Neurothropes so I will know how good they are after a few games with them), and the acolytes pop up out of deep strike to score points (scramblers, linebreaker/engage on all fronts). I play around with the units I bring but I always like to bring around 100 bodies to sit on objectives (fearless with synapse or Patriarch), have some deep strike threats to spread the board out and score points, and have some damage dealers (hive guard, exocrine, neurothropes/ridgerunners) that slow down the enemy by taking out (or at least slowing down major threats).

Most games I end up scoring more points than the enemy as they kill my exocrine and most of my troops. But as long as I play the objective I ususally have either a win or at least a close game. It's important to screen the Hive Guard really well because they do serious work over the course of the game if they can shoot every turn without getting tagged.

I'm learning that tyranids/GSC are like a Guard army. The Exocrine is better than a Leman Russ by far and termeguants are cheaper troops than guardsman. And Guard don't have anything with as much utility as the deep-striking Acolytes. Personally I don't like it. I'd rather charge in and kill everything but when I play Tyranids/GSC like Imperial Guard I have good results.

[kazetanade]

I dont wanna be cramping your style - but you shouldnt be losing most of your games as Salamanders. I borrowed a friend's Sallies for a few runs and it was performing so stupidly well that our local community was begining to make noise about borrowing other people's armies to play instead of using your own (accusations of WAAC and such, which is maybe 40-50% true).

Not calling you out as a bad player, but there's some fundamental things that make SM strong, so you should at least have a close to 50% win rate with them - likely you are having terrain issues or matchup issues, as Sallies struggle against empty midboards vs shooty armies that can chunk them down before they get into engagement range.

Guards actually do have everything GSC have. Just not what Tyranids have.

BC Leman Russes are on parr with Exocrenes prior to the point bump, so they actually do way more damage than the Exocrenes do on 30" Demolisher Cannons but pay more because the Exo got some really good points drop, Functionally they are the same but work with less investment and have really solid Custom Chapters to buoy their natural weaknesses.

Guardsmen are better than Termagants in everything other than number of bodies - and Conscripts are just better Termagants period, once you include the correct Inquisitional support to turn them into 3+ 4++ -1 to hit midfield tanks. Cheaper than Bullgryn, lasts longer, and have more utility, just brawls like a wet paper bag. Oh, and the best part? Also Fearless.

Deepstriking Acolytes - Scions have this in scores. They even shoot good guns when they come down on the drop, instead of flailing around uselessly or spraying S3 ap-0 guns for high premium. They even have cheap as Acolyte Plasma Drops that can shred backlines that arent prepared to deal with that kind of threat saturation, without relying on a 24% (that could be boosted to a 45% with a specific chapter at the detriment to everyone else, and 60+% with cp use on a cp hungry army) success rate roll. You could even pick the specific Scions Regiment that lets them DS closer than 9" to steal objectives. Like, what does GSC have that Guard doesnt right now? Pretty much just Ridgerunners, because Guard dont have good FA options.

Gaunt Carpet though, that's a list that's uniquely Tyranids since no one else (other than Orks. and MAAAAAYBE Necrons) can recreate. For the record though, you can only squeeze 3 troops into a Patrol, so you're 30 models over. Easily fixable by swapping the Aco batt and the Nids Patrol with each other. I dont think the GSC gives you that much useful things though because other than the Saws charge (which is losing impact with DG coming in now and probably going to do really hot) nothing there gives you any real value. You'd be better served with working within Nids itself to find something similar (which is easier said than done for us who are on a budget or dont want to buy new models of course, but definitely not ideal).

Honestly in your list? I would probably make these changes:

1: Bring 2 lictors to work with the Mawloc for EoAF, much better points to vp ratio and easier to squeeze into the tight spots.
2: Bring another 3 Ridgerunners so that I have 6 running around the big blob of Gaunts gunking up the board. It's the best protection they can have, and 6 + Exo + HG is actually a serious shooting army with nearly threat overload.
3: Bring a 20 man Neophyte with shotguns instead of so many Acolytes. If I'm going to Lying in Wait, I want it to hurt. Shotguns and Seismic Cannons hurt.

I personally hate Gaunt Carpet because I just dont want to play that kind of list, but I think reasonable damage on demand actually helps that list so much it isnt even funny.