2k Back to the Hierophant

[zimko]

I gave the Harridan a try. I played 6 games with it and lost 5 of them. Meanwhile my record with the Hierophant is 3 and 2. Maybe I don't have the finesse to take full advantage of the Harridan's speed but from my experience, that speed doesn't matter if you can't hold objectives with it and your melee attacks are too few to reliably kill anything with an invul save. The Hard to Hit rule barely matters for resiliency in a game of stacking +1 to hits (Orks), rerolls to hit (almost everything) and modifer ignoring models (trueborn). So I'm back to working on the Hierophant list.

Kraken Battalion
- Broodlord: Warlord, Res Barb, Psychic Scream 125
- Swarmlord: Catalyst, Onslaught 240
- 10 Hormagaunts: 60
- 12 Genestealers: 156
- 26 Termagants: Devourers 182
- Lictor: 37
- Lictor: 37
- Pyrovore: 28
- Pyrovore: 28
- Dimachaeron: Accelerated Digestion 255
Kraken Super Heavy Aux
- Hierophant: Dermic Symbiosis 850

Starting CP 10, Points 1998

This time around I'm stacking more MSU units to hold objectives and score RoD and Engage. The Genestealers, Broodlord and both Pyrovores can all start inside the Hierophant, giving them excellent positioning without worrying about getting shot up on turn 1. Optionally, I can put both Pyrovores into Strategic Reserves for 1 CP or just keep them in my backfield on a safe objective.

The Genestealers or Broodlord can hop out of the Hierophant, eat a unit in melee, and use Overrun to hop back into the Hierophant.

The Broodlord can also cast Warp Ritual for my 3rd secondary while the Hierophant, Genestealers, Dima and Devgants cover for him (This is why I put Onslaught on the Swarmlord). If I don't take Warp Ritual and I need a reliable Onslaught and Catalyst then I can spend 1 CP to have the Broodlord cast both of those powers by borrowing them from the Swarmlord.

[zimko]

An added bonus will come when Octarius lands and I can use the Broodlord to give the Hierophant a 1+ save in both melee and ranged.

[piersonsmuppet]

I think I like the look of 2x20 DevGants and 2x10 Horms instead of 30/10/10 that you have. Gives a little better board presence without much loss in output. 30 vs 20 DevGants hasn’t made much difference in my experience vs good targets, 30 usually ends up being overkill. You don’t seem to be planning to take Grind, so the spreading of units doesn’t hurt your secondary choices. I’m just not a fan of GS with 9” charge and no adrenal glands. Would be different if the big bug had synapse, at least the flamer would make for easy 3d6 drop lowest charges. Also not a fan of 10 GS, makes overwatch on anything with a gun worthwhile vs the unit, just need to kill one to drastically change the odds the unit gets wiped.

[No One]

GS aren't 9" charging, they're doing normal GS things, except with 3" disembark.

[zimko]

Sept 30, 2021 0:50:33 GMT piersonsmuppet said:

I think I like the look of 2x20 DevGants and 2x10 Horms instead of 30/10/10 that you have. Gives a little better board presence without much loss in output. 30 vs 20 DevGants hasn’t made much difference in my experience vs good targets, 30 usually ends up being overkill. You don’t seem to be planning to take Grind, so the spreading of units doesn’t hurt your secondary choices. I’m just not a fan of GS with 9” charge and no adrenal glands. Would be different if the big bug had synapse, at least the flamer would make for easy 3d6 drop lowest charges. Also not a fan of 10 GS, makes overwatch on anything with a gun worthwhile vs the unit, just need to kill one to drastically change the odds the unit gets wiped.

I normally would run 30 devgants and 20 devgants, but I thought maybe trying 10 genestealers instead of 20 of the devgants because there are some targets that genestealers would be better suited for (like incubi or space marines).

I'm not following you on the 9" charge thing. The plan is to deploy the Genestealers and Broodlord inside the Hierophant. He's a transport that can carry 20 models and will usually always be near the deployment line. So they have a much larger reach on turn 1 if I want them to. Alternatively I can wait a turn to deploy them and they'll be pretty safe inside the Hierophant. It's just like a normal transport so I don't know where you're getting 9" charges from.

[piersonsmuppet]

Trygon and transport rules got crossed in the brain.

[patata]

How exactly are you planning on deploying/moving that thing?he is far too big for most deplomeyents,you can't carry genestealers and broodlord without going over the half your points limit,and he can't go over terrain cause gw forgot to give him an appropriate ruling and gets stuck on most terrain

[No One]

patata said:

you can't carry genestealers and broodlord without going over the half your points limit

It's a transport, I'm not sure why that's relevant?

[patata]

[/quote]It's a transport, I'm not sure why that's relevant?[/quote]
u're right,used to the tyrannocyte,but still if you can't Place it you can't translort anything,and he can't move on mooost tables due to terrain

[Hive Bahamut]

Hierophant has Fly. Not sure where it can't get around is coming from. If you glued it to a 10" pie plate that is on you. Defilers are the most common non based bigs but there are more.

I have never seen most big models ever actually use the base as they would have exactly deployment and bust. It was clearly important that these could be used as Fly on the only model that has it without actually flying.

For once GW did Nids FW a solid.

[kazetanade]

Out of curiosity how do you guys keep the legs from breaking without a base? It looks fragile as hell.

[zimko]

Oct 4, 2021 11:48:50 GMT kazetanade said:

Out of curiosity how do you guys keep the legs from breaking without a base? It looks fragile as hell.

It's not as fragile as it looks. Mine manages to stand on it's own weight, as long as you glue the 4 legs in such a way that the weight is evenly distributed between them. I also glue them in a position so that the legs are perpendicular to the ground, that way they don't bend over time. And when I store the model, I store it on it's back to give the legs a break, because they'd bend over time.

On deployment, mine fits within the 10" dawn of war deployment zone with an inch or more to spare. And as mentioned, it has the FLY keyword, so wherever it can sit, it fits. You can straddle the corners of ruins, stand over craters, move over forests etc and it's all legal with the FLY keyword.

But what I like most about this thing over the Harridan is that flamer and the fact that it can hold objectives. Despite having the FLY keyword, models can not move thru it, so it can block your opponents from taking an objective without needing objective secure. And the flamer is scary enough that charging the Hierophant is a risky venture for small units.

[patata]

Oct 4, 2021 5:37:05 GMT Hive Bahamut said:

Hierophant has Fly. Not sure where it can't get around is coming from. If you glued it to a 10" pie plate that is on you. Defilers are the most common non based bigs but there are more.

I have never seen most big models ever actually use the base as they would have exactly deployment and bust. It was clearly important that these could be used as Fly on the only model that has it without actually flying.

For once GW did Nids FW a solid.

OMG HE HAS FLY,I DIDN'T SEE

[zimko]

I adjusted the list slightly to increase the Genestealer count to 12 from 10. At 10 models, losing 1 genestealer would cost the unit 13 attacks (40 attacks to 27). Overwatch with any unit with pistols has a good chance of killing a Genestealer, then I run the risk of not killing whatever unit I charged. So I decided to cut 4 devgants in order to make the unit a 12 man unit, providing a 2 wound buffer before the unit's damage is reduced to the point where they can't kill something. It also adds an acid maw.

The 4 devgants I trade out still leaves me with a 26 man unit of devgants, which is sufficient to deal good damage.

[zimko]

Here are some pictures showing that the Hierophant can fit on the table and inside any standard deployment zone. These are mine, including some action shots at a tournament.

imgur.com/a/EsQuWHp