2k Army list - Looking for criticism

[azarea18]

Greetings to the swarm.  I am playing in a local 2000 pts tournament in a week and looking for some advice/criticism on my army.  Looking at using some big bugs and having some fun while also trying not to die in 2 rounds.  I know that the other armies are Tau, Sisters, Space Marines, Space Wolves, Dark Eldar for sure.  Please let me know your thoughts.

Battalion Detachment [101 PL, 12 CP, 1,966 pts]

    Hive Fleet - Leviathan

    HQ

        -Hive Tyrant - (Warlord) Wings, M. Rending Claws, P. Pincer Tail, R. Barb, Devourers w/Brainleech Worms, Smite/Catalyst/Psychic Scream

        -Neurothrope - Smite/Paroxysm

        -Swarmlord - Smite/Onslaught

    Troops

        -Hormaguants (10 model)

  

        -Hormagaunts (10 model)

        -Termagants (10 model) - Fleshborer

        -Termagants (10 model) - Fleshborer

        -Warriors (3 model) - Adrenal Glands, Lashwhip/Bonesword (each)

        -Warriors (3 model) - Bonesword, Deathspitter (each)

    Elites

        -Hive Guard (3 model) - Impaler Cannons

        -Hive Guard (3 model) - Impaler Cannons

    Fast Attack

        -Dimachaeron

    Heavy Support

        -Carnifex - Adrenal Gland, Bone Mace, Chitin Thorns, M. Scything Talons, Spore Cysts, Devourers w/Brainleech Worms

        -Exocrine

        -Scythed Heirodule

[windwalkerranger]

I can't comment much on such a list as I've not played anything like it yet, but what I can say is, Dark Lances hurt a lot. That carnifex for instance is going down in 2 shots. Exocrine, maybe 3. Against Dark Eldar, if you lose the first turn, you are going to lose a significant amount, you can bet on that. And then recovery is really difficult as you both have to destroy the raiders and THEN clean up the mess afterwards. Tyrants and Swarmlord can survie a little bit with invul save and perhaps some rerolls. A barbed hierodule with jormungandr cover strategem gets a 1+ save, which grants it a 5+ against dark lance. But the scythed doesn't enjoy it as much with base 3+. Well, at least they have the toughness for it.
I'm thinking maybe cutting stuff here and there to get a malanthrope or 3 venomthrophs, or maybe a Maleceptor evet for the -1 str on ranged attacks strategem is sorely needed in monster lists. Though... as I said I've no experience.

[azarea18]

I appreciate the feedback, even with no exp. I could swap in some Venomthropes or a Malanthrope, but I don't have a Maleceptor.

I have thought of taking two separate detachments to reap different fleet benefits, but not sure.

[beetlejuice]

Are you adamant on leviathan? 6+++ translates to 20% more wounds on your monsters (not great). Leviathan is great for gaunt carpet or warrior/zoan spam where it messes with multidmg weapons.

To me, biggest upgrade is making a kronos patrol with hive guards in 1 6-man unit for shoot twice strat, neurothrope with symbiostorm for buffing exocrine and hive guard.

Then with swarmlord, dimachaeron and scythed dule you can’t go wrong with kraken for double advance and especially fall back and charge. I’d probably put dermic symbiosis as adaptive physiology on the hierodule (and maybe ignore AP-1/-2 on hive guard if you expect non-los shooting to hit you). Probably drop the carnifex for more scoring units like 1-2 lictors, ripper swarms, maybe pyrovore or raveners depending on what models you have available. A tyrannofex with acid spray would be sweet since you don’t have a 30 man devilgaunt blob for hordes (and with dimas/scythed dule acting as distractions) but not sure how to fit that without ruining all your chances of reliably scoring primaries and secondaries (you need to have a plan for secondaries, cannot stress this enough).
Edit: you get 1 more power on swarmy. I find it easier to keep SL alive than my flyrant (easier to hide behind obscuring) so I’d go onslaught, scream on tyrant and catalyst, paroxysm on SL. I hate relying on onslaught for charges (but great for advancing and shooting devilgaunts) so I usually take horror instead to mess with opponents’ calculations when shooting without reroll auras. Catalyst and paroxysm scales way better into rounds 3-5 so you want to make sure you still have those to cast. Doubling up on important powers is also an option.

[azarea18]

I am not set on Leviathan; to be honest I haven't used any of the others. Just got back into the games after a 3 year hiatus due to living overseas with no one to game with.

Kronos idea for Neuro and Guard doesn't sound too bad at all, may do that actually. Seen other lists with mixed fleets.

I like the sound of Kraken for the advance, but not being able to charge after makes me feel like its more a Turn 1 use. Fall back and charge though is nice.

I have had luck in my Guard surviving due to cover and no one I have played against has brought non-LOS shooters yet.

I love the Carnifex, so it hurts to drop him but you have a point on objective scoring. I have plenty of Rippers and a handful of Lictors so I could bring them in lieu of.

Thought of Tyrannofex, but the short range and low movement made me decide against it. Is it suggested to have a 30-model guant squad?

Thanks for info on Psychic.

[azarea18]

Would it seem to make sense at all to combine my units of gaunts and gants from 10-model to 20-model units?

[purestrain]

Jul 22, 2021 2:07:39 GMT azarea18 said:

Would it seem to make sense at all to combine my units of gaunts and gants from 10-model to 20-model units?

MSU is nice, but things like your hive guard work better as larger units (because Single Minded Annihilation only targets a single unit) , if you can manage to hide 6 then put them in a single unit, if its dangerous or they have blast ignore LOS weapons, drop them to a 5 man and use the extra points to give a vencom cannon to each warrior squad (if it fits, this is horrible head math on costs) 

I also suggest seeing how the warlord only really grants you the CP back from your FOC as most use it for the Adaptive physiology, making it your Neuro will make your flyrant less of a focus to your enemies because character protection and a 3++ on the neuro to keep them from going for slay (if they play that way)


Could also use the spare points from going to 5 instead of 6 or 2 3's of hive guard you can turn a unit of gaunts into a devilgaunt squad granting you greater trade and shooting with a little more investment into the unit. 

[azarea18]

Gotcha, I think I will do the Warlord change as it does make a lot of sense.

[piersonsmuppet]

If you plan on doing the Kronos Patrol, you'd probably want to swap the WL back to the Tyrant or SL to save 1 CP. Kronos Patrol is money, easily worth the 2 CP for the re-rolls alone. Symbio and the fleet strat are icing on top. I would combine the Warriors into a 5-man, as 3-man units are more worthwhile if you have a severe lack of other units for actions. Give 'em all LS&BS + DS and they will do some decent work in Leviathan, especially with the big bugs taking the multi-damage heat.

Carnifex are very easy to kill for the points, and prefer to be specialized as Kraken melee or Jorm shooty. Leviathan doesn't offer enough defensive boosts to them to do much. Points are probably better spend on a GS unit to sling onto an objective held by infantry T2+. Lictors would certainly help the list, as they are some of the best units for the secondaries Nids rely on to hang with 9e codices. Engage/Linebreaker and Retrieve O. Data make for an easy 20+ VP's for Nids, and 2 Lictors can guarantee a minimum 7-8 VP for just 74pts. I would be willing to say that any serious tournament list (which is pure Nids) starts with 1-2 Lictors and builds from there. My core for Nids has become 2x Lictor & 1x Pyrovore, which lets my Warriors move/shoot freely and gants move up to screen w/o worry of positioning for VP's.

[azarea18]

So with everyone's input I have the below now. Almost had to take the Scythed 'Dule out cause he came in the mail late...thankfully arrived today so all good. I hope this will be a good list and appreciate everyone's comments on it. If you see anything else, please let me know.

103 PL, 9 CP, 2000 pts

Battalion Detachment

    Hive Fleet - Kraken

    HQ

        -Hive Tyrant - 205 pts - (Warlord), Resonance Barb, Wings, M. Rending Claws, Devours w/BW, Smite, Catalyst, Psychic Scream

        -The Swarmlord - 240 pts - Smite, Paroxysm, The Horror

    Troops

        -Hormagaunts - 60 pts - 10 models

        -Hormaguants - 60 pts - 10 models

        -Termagants - 50 pts - 10 models - Fleshborers

        -Termagants - 58 pts - 10 models - 4x Devourers, 6x Fleshborers

        -Warriors - 78 pts - 3 models - Boneswords, Deathspitters

        -Warriors - 78 pts - 3 models - Boneswords, Deathspitters

    Elites

        -Lictor - 37 pts

        -Lictor - 37 pts

    Fast Attack

        -Dimachaeron - 255 pts

        -Scythed Hierodule - 235 pts - Adaptive Physiology (Dermic Symbiosis)

Patrol Detachment

    Hive Fleet - Kronos

    HQ

        -Neurothrope - 95 pts - Smite, Symbiostorm

    Troops

        -Ripper Swarms - 36 pts - 3 models

        -Ripper Swarms - 36 pts - 3 models

    Elites

        -Hive Guard - 270 pts - 6 models - Adaptive Physiology (Enhanced Resistance), Impaler Cannons

    Heavy Support

        -Exocrine - 170 pts

[azarea18]

Hey everyone, thanks again for the comments and advice. Had the local tournament today. Ended up 3rd overall after 3 games. (Only 6 players)

First match was against Adeptus Custodes. Went very well and I enjoyed playing the dima and 'dule. Ended with a win, partially due to my opponent not being super new to the game.

Second match was against space wolves. Went second and got my bags up in Ragnars face for an easy kill since he charged me turn one. Tabled him by T3.

Third match was against blood angels. Dante and his squad were rough. Opponent had experience with current nid meta and focused my hive guard and exocrine first turn taking them out which hurt extra cause he went first. Got my dule in Dantes face and was able to take him out but he ended up beating me in objective points.

Overall it was good and I enjoyed the list.

[beetlejuice]

Well played! Hive guard excel when hidden outside of line of sight. Blood angels usually don’t bring non-los shooting to deal with them so your next move should be to screen them properly with gaunts to prevent charges, drop pods and deep strikers. How did he kill them?

[azarea18]

Ya, I didn't have my Hive Guard properly hidden. I messed up and had them placed within ruins along with the Exocrine. Had two units of guants in front of them for a charge.

He went first and brought his two Sanguinary Guard squads within range and shot away my guants. Then from across the table shot into the ruins and killed off the Exocrine and 5 hive guard with 2 Redemptor Dreadnoughts and a Relic Comtemptor Dreadnought. My rolls on saving throws were hot trash.