1000pts tournament - List building help in a violent meta

[Zorkubag]

Hello fellow biomass, I am in need of your lights.
I haven’t played a real game since the V3 I think, and I find myself in a 1000 points tournament against friendly-minded but very competitive players.
I also rediscovered the rules and army about 2 weeks ago, and the tournament starts next week.
I will be playing against Drukhari, Harlequins, the Sisters, Death Guard and Necrons.
I did a few test games against some of those players ; a discovery list, a 2 dimachaeron list, a full swarm list, and got badly destroyed by extremely violent armies.
The little experience I gathered anyway is that big monsters are not very welcome in my local AP-4 damage D6+2 meta. Also, a profusion of 3++/4++ make the « few attacks with heavy damage » very unreliable.
Thus the solution might lie in shooting saturation, and the little statistics I did say so too.
I will not take any Genestealer Cult this time, as I need to give the final roster this sunday, and will not have time to read another codex, stratagems and so on, so maybe next time.

Here is my take at a potential roster that I hope might not just suffer throughout the entire tournament :

The big damage dealer are the hive guards that I will have to protect at all cost.
From the test games, the exocrine is merely a distraction, but one that the opponent cannot ignore. I will be happy if he lasts more than 1 turn.
The termaguants with devorers will be there as screening units, and if ignored they can saturate well against invulnerable saves, or as a devilgaunt bomb with the lictor (not very reliable in the small incursion tables).
The hormagaunts as screening/scoring units.I tested that gaunts can still destroy or cripple an elite unit that charges T1, with overwatch and/or caustic blood stratagem.
The rippers and lictor are for scoring points/annoying opponent.
Neurothrope hidding as my warlord, smite + symbiostorm.
The Tyrant for some defensive psychic power, synapse, distraction and maybe damage output (I never tried him yet).

The nice thing is that I have especially 175 - 200 points of tyrant/ripper swarm/lictor that I can easily swap for something else. I was thinking about a big warrior blob, a dakkafexe, 4 zohantropes, a harpy/crone, another neurothrope with more troops, maybe a broodlord.
My original idea was another unit of devilgaunt that could screen while the other would come in the bomb, which was my original saturation idea, but suffered from lack of map control and synapse units. And also that I forgot that armies must be battleforged.

So I would really appreciate some input from more experienced players, especially that I know that the local meta is merciless. The idea is just to not feel powerless during this tournament, and hopefully manage to get some tight games.

Thanks in advance !

Here is the list:

++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (Tyranids) [57 PL, 5CP, 1,000pts] ++

Hive Fleet: Kronos

+ Stratagems [-1CP] +

Progeny of the Hive [-1CP]

+ HQ [14 PL, 265pts] +

Hive Tyrant [9 PL, 170pts]: Monstrous Rending Claws, Power: Catalyst, Power: Smite, Power: The Horror, Stranglethorn Cannon [15pts]

Neurothrope [5 PL, 95pts]: Power: Smite, Power: Symbiostorm, Resonance Barb, Warlord

+ Troops [20 PL, 303pts] +

Hormagaunts [9 PL, 126pts]
. 21x Hormagaunt [126pts]: 21x Scything Talons

Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 36pts]
. 3x Ripper Swarm [36pts]: 3x Claws and Teeth

Termagants [9 PL, 141pts]
. 18x Termagant (Devourer) [126pts]: 18x Devourer [36pts]
. 3x Termagant (Fleshborer) [15pts]: 3x Fleshborer

+ Elites [14 PL, 262pts] +

Hive Guard [12 PL, 225pts]
. Adaptive Physiology: Enhanced Resistance
. 5x Hive Guard (Impaler) [225pts]: 5x Impaler Cannon [50pts]

Lictor [2 PL, 37pts]

+ Heavy Support [9 PL, 170pts] +

Exocrine [9 PL, 170pts]
. Adaptive Physiology: Dermic Symbiosis

Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

[zimko]

Do you have another Exocrine? You could drop the Hive Tyrant for another Exocrine and make this a Patrol detachment instead of a Battalion. Keep the none-dermic symbiosis Exocrine behind Obscuring Terrain if possible. Then move and use his stratagem for counting as not moving to shoot at full effectiveness.

[zimko]

Oh, one other thing to keep in mind since you are playing on a small board. Anything arriving from Strategic Reserves within 6" of your own board edge is allowed to arrive as close to enemy models as they want (including engagement range). So you can put the Exocrine or Devgants into strategic reserves and you'll be able to arrive on the board no matter what because your opponent can't block your entire board edge.

[Zorkubag]

Oh I didn't know about that rule for strategic reserves, that is very nice to know! I also really like the idea of a second exocrine, in reserve for a surprise or right on the table. I'll try it out this week-end!

Having a second one is no issue as we have no choice than to play on TTS as we are in lockdown where I live, I guess there is a silver lining to the situation.

[haazelthorn]

Hi!



I'm a huge Fan of a "Toolkit" Hive Tyrant. Walkrant with Stranglethorn Cannon and Barb. It can cast 3 powers (Symbio, Catalyst and Smite) with a +1 from the Barb. Can Shoot something with its S7 AP 1 D2 weapon, thanks to MRC he can put up a fight in Close combat and with 12 wounds and a 4++ he can survive a litte bit and hide:) That way You can Drop the Neuro, as the Tyrant will stay back and buff Your Exo and HG.

I know that these kind of Tyrants are not popular, but I've figured that a monster that is a little more expensive than a Broodlord, that fights almost the same, but has a much bigger impact in the Psychic phase AND can Shoot is the winner for me. I tend to start every list with him. I initially used Venomthon parasite for him, so he can have max shots. But Other armies have better shooters for the same points so I figured to use him as a pure support unit, hence the Barb went on him

[hivefleetkerrigan]

The issue with the tyrant is that it is targetable by the enemy, whereas the neurothrope or broodlord are not due to look out sir. My play would be to target and kill the hive tyrant removing symbiostorm.

[Zorkubag]

In the final list I droped the Tyrant for a Tyrannofex, and the lictor for 3 rippers. We'll see how it goes. The Tyrannofex faired extremly well in test games (with fairly lucky number of hit rolls with acid spray), doing its job as shooting saturation and tanking for the exocrine. I tend to expose it a bit to bait T1 charges and heavy shooters, and hopefully meanwhile, table the opponent with a rain of bio-projectiles.
It is a bit hard to play, positioning is very important, especially on small incursion tables, and scoring point will depend on whether or not you manage to deplete key enemy targets fast.
I thought about the broodlord too, but its melee is too unreliable against armies that all have strong invulnerable saves. Also it is less of a distraction than the tyrannofex. We'll see!