Gorgon horde 2k (update: vs chaos knights)

[bigpig]

Spitballing a list idea I’ve been wanting to make work. Our horde units are overpriced by a point, unfortunately, but maybe by leveraging as much synergy as possible this might be able to get something out of them.

Gorg swarm
Hive Tendril - Strikeforce - Grand Tournament ( 10CP - 1999PT - 1PT )
Hive Tendril Battalion Detachment ( 3CP - 1999PT )
SUB-FACTION: Gorgon
HQ
Broodlord
PSYCHIC POWERS: Paroxysm
WARLORD: Neurothrope
TRAITS: Synaptic Tendrils
PSYCHIC POWERS: Poisonous Influence , Psychic Scream
Tervigon 2x Massive crushing claws
TRAITS: Direct Guidance
PSYCHIC POWERS: Catalyst
RELICS: Pathogenesis
STRATAGEMS: Hive Predator

TROOPS
Gargoyles
10x Gargoyle
Hormagaunts
24x Hormagaunt
Hormagaunts
24x Hormagaunt
Termagants
30x Termagant
Termagants
30x Termagant
Termagants
25x Termagant

ELITES
Maleceptor
PSYCHIC POWERS: Neuroparasite, Onslaught
Venomthropes
3x Venomthrope
Zoanthropes
3x Zoanthrope
PSYCHIC POWERS: Psychic Scream

FAST ATTACK
Parasite of Mortex
RELICS: Gestation Sac
STRATAGEMS: Rarefied Enhancements
STRATAGEMS
Hive Predator (1CP)
Rarefied Enhancements (1CP)
Total Command Points: 5/15
Reinforcement Points: 1
Total Points: 1999/2000

Defensively this gets sequential SIs of 5++, FNP, and light cover. To help survivability plus venomthrope bubble. Offensively, It’s goal wasn’t really to kill stuff but there is some ability to do that with mortal wounds from psychics as well as the 4+ wound on everything except vehicles. Brood lord is there as a linebacker and to buff the ap on one of the units. It’ll bleed kill points of course but can hopefully score well. Reswapns each turn 2d6 gaunts, endless swarm, and rippers from parasite.

Probably more fun than having competitive shot but what’s your take on how it would fare in your local matter. Do people bring enough guns to deal with this

[piersonsmuppet]

I’d suggest Horms max at 15, keeping bounding leap to 1 CP is good. Also AG would be good on them to help max the psychic power, +1A on a 15-man just barely avgs over 6 MWs with Guidance. I’d also go with 2x Gant blocks and 3x Horm, since the horms are going to do a lot of heavy lifting.

Will probably free up some pts, though not sure where they could go. Alternatively, 10- man horms with AG strat and SL rr’s almost avg 6 MWs. Could be a decent route if you want to also toss in a Carnifex or Ravener unit.

[bigpig]

Interesting point on the horn blocks. I’m thinking maybe down to 18-20 to allow for casualties and still keep enough weight. They will be the ones soaking the first two rounds of bullets. Initially I thought three rounds of terms since they are the bodyguard for the mother bug but in retrospect I don’t think they’ll be attracting a lot of shots until late or mid game. I do agree with utility of adding swarmlord and orettt Carnifex bed doing that starts to get away from the whole swarm idea and I feel like you lose the quantity needed.

I could gain points by swapping the BL for a prime. You lose the light cover synapse ability and ap buff but gain rerolls on wounds which might have more synergy. Can also give it a VC for shard lure

[piersonsmuppet]

I actually though that the horms would be the counter punch element. 17” move means you can dictate engagement into the midboard, terms and terv would be the advance element.

Aprime would synergize very well with Horms and Gorgon psychic power. Hard to say if it would be better than cover from the BL, classic defense vs offense question. I think 9E favors offense though.

One thing i notice, why pathogenesis on the Tervigon? Maw Claws and MST are soo effective on a Terv, double all those extra attcks with the sweep profile and AG gives even more. Can be at 12-16A before gaining attacks from killing units (can max out at 22A). Relic almost seems tailor made for the tervigon. Since Gorgon cab give monster obsec, it becomes a very good primary scoring body.

[bigpig]

Good suggestion on the terv relic. I wasn’t sure which to go with. Maw claws weren’t on my mind.

[piersonsmuppet]

One more thing I thought of; with AoC introduction, spinefists or devourers are vastly superior to fleshborers in Gorgon imo. Devourers could be worth the etra pts if you’re looking to draw fire with Horms first. otherwise, spinefists are probably better for sacrificial terms.

[bigpig]

I considered devours but the points cost is just a turn off. On paper I agree that spine fist look better just for volume of shots. I’m concerned about the practicality of being able to get enough shots in because of the 1/3 reduction in range. I may try practice game or two with them and see how much of a difference it actually makes

[piersonsmuppet]

Devilgant pts cost is actually fairly good in Gorgon, providing a 50% increase in output vs AoC MEQ for a 15% pt increase over fleshborers. FB vs SF is a tougher decision though, 6” range is good but so is being able to shoot while in combat after regenerating ~12 bodies. Based on how you want to run Horms out first to soak shots, higher output in the terms should work in your favor. If you are losing the gants to shooting by T2, then the range of the FB and lowest cost would likely make FB the optimal choice.

If I ever try Gorgon, I think I’ll be running a Tervigon with 1-2 25-man devilgant blocks. 25 so that a 4-man Zoan unit can be a TTL pick instead of a gant block.

I think splurging on another relic/wlt would be a good use of CP as well. Alien cunning works well on Parasite, and Barb is fantastic on the Neuro for guaranteeing Catalyst and another power (or three for 1 CP). If you end up including SL, I’d definitely change Guidance to Adaptive on the Tervigon. A 17W/T8/2+/5+++ model w/ obsec and counts as 5 models can be very difficult for a opponent to stop it scoring primary, even more so when it takes 1-2 turns to even target it in shooting. That also frees up catalyst for gant/gaunt use the entire game. Heightend Senses is also pretty goid with Maw-claws, full hit and wound rr’s makes 7+/14+ attacks pretty good.

Also noticed this, what is your other power on the neuro? Youve got Scream and Gorgon’s fleet, as all Grogon psykers know the power you get to select a second power for the Neuro. Neuro should always be the catalyst/paroxysm body imo, so probably one of those. Putting Parox on the Neuro would free up the BL to take a weaker power like horror, letting it be free to perform psychic actions. I’d also suggest Neuroparasite on the Zoans, it is not a power that will get used often. However, it is well worth the 1 CP to have Zoans cast it and smite with the +3 to-cast to ensure T3 units get zapped (will avg 11 mws vs a 10-man T3 unit).

[bigpig]

Got a game in today against a local. Nid on nid game. My list ended up as follows;


++ Battalion Detachment -3CP (Tyranids) ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Gametype: Matched

Hive Fleet: Gorgon

+ Stratagems +

Hive Predator: Extra Warlord Trait

Hive Predator: Extra Warlord Trait

Rarefied Enhancements: Extra Bio-artefact

+ HQ +

Neurothrope

Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Massive Scything Talons, Relic: The Maw-claws of Thyrax, Warlord Trait: Direct Guidance

Tyranid Prime: Dual Boneswords, Venom Cannon

+ Troops +

Gargoyles
. 10x Gargoyle: 10x Fleshborer

Hormagaunts
. 30x Hormagaunt: 30x Hormagaunt Talons

Hormagaunts
. 18x Hormagaunt: 18x Hormagaunt Talons

Termagants: Fleshborer, 30x Termagant

Termagants: 30x Termagant, Termagant Spinefists

Termagants: 25x Termagant, Termagant Devourer

+ Elites +

Maleceptor

Venomthropes
. 3x Venomthrope: 3x Toxic Lashes

Zoanthropes: 3x Zoanthrope

+ Fast Attack +

Parasite of Mortrex: Relic: Gestation Sac, Warlord Trait: Alien Cunning

++ Total: [106 PL, 6CP, 1,999pts] ++

Opponent ran (roughly)

Neurothrope
Flyrant, VC, Shardgullet

6xWarriors, Double boneswords and devourers
10 Gaunts
10 Gaunts
10 Gargoyles
10 Gargs riding on the harpy

6 Zoanthropes
Parasite'
Harpy, VC

Harridan

Mission was the Scouring. I gave him the choice of first or second turn. He chose first. Not gonna lie; This is not the best "test of concept" as his list is skewed a bit more towards "anti-big stuff" but it is a list hes running at a regional GT and he wanted to run it for practice.

his secondaries: Engage, prisoners, psychic interrogation
Mine: Stranglehold, RND, Warp Ritual

Set up;
He deployed aggressive. I blanketed the Tervigon for protection and tried to hide the Mals, venoms, and Zoans.

Turn 1
I gave him the option of going first or second. He chose to go first. I chose Surging Vitality for the extra move from the Terv and he chose Zoan Invuls which really didn't matter at this point. He surged forward and set units up to pop the Maleceptor and moved his smaller bugs onto objectives. Between the -1 to hit, popping the transhuman monster strat, and average rolls for saves the mal was let with 5 wounds. Honestly this was a bad choice on his part. If I was at the helm I would have set the Harpy to try and eliminate the venoms to up the chance of the harridan/shard tyrant downing the mal but doing it from distance. He had to get closer to it due to angles

In response I split my MW contingent towards the harpy and set up other units for charges. Tervigon pooped out a new unit which went to work getting RND. Smaller Term unit scanned an objective in my table quarter. Ticked off about 6MW on the harpy between Synaptic overload and smite from the Mal, then a few more from the zoans and Neuro. Catalyst was denied but Poisonous influence went off on large unit of horms which advanced under the bounding strat. Terv handed out +1 to hit to one Horm and and one Terv unit. Gorgon shooting from two 30 term units finished off the harpy and 30 strong horm unit downed the Tyrant in 4+ to wound plus 4MW from Poisonous and a few shots from misc units. On the other front, my gargs charged his gargs and the Parasite charged his 10man Term unit which had been whittled down by neuroparasite bounced through Synapse. Gargs whiffed and lost more in return but the Parasite killed the remains of the unit down to 2 and infected them with parasites. My second Horm unit charged the Parasite which he overcommited and killed then consolidated into the zoans and one or two terms on that flank and lost several to tiny claws, losing about 3 more to morale as they were out of synapse.

Turn 2
I offered for him to bring either the harpy or a tyrant back from reserves for balance and he declined.
He moved to respond and obliterated the horms which downed his tyant with the warriors. The infected terms were finished off by parasites spawning a unit of two. The second unit of horms was reduced to 4 models (after morale rolls) by Zoan smite and the termagaunts on the objective they were contesting. Harridan finished off the Mal and reduced the zoans to 1 man.

In response I fired two units of terms into the warriors reducing them to 2. They were then eliminated by the parasite and a Term unit charging into them. The Garg unit dropped by the harridan was eliminated by byl the Tervigon and Tyranid Prime while I upped the damaged unit of horms using endless swarm and got rid of his Termagaunts before the Zoans dropped them by a few. Also popped the sac and a few other shenanigans, but the end result was he conceded at this point as he had the harridan, a big block of Zoans, a Neuro, and nothing else.

To be fair this wasnt a fair test of the viability of concept as he lacked a lot of anti horde. It was kind a skew list vs skew list. Also, he over committed first turn and put two important ranged units close enough to be responded to.

I will say that the Gorgon 4+ to wound is legit. Spinefists came into play on one of the shots but about a third of the unit was out of range so... not sure. Devourers work with Gorgon but still not sold on the extra cost. Poisonous influence on Horms is a definite plus.

Not going to change anything but will try for a game Friday vs local guard player

[bigpig]

Further:
Direct Guidance and Brood Progentor work well to allow tervigon to buff two units
As expected Alien Cunning helped out, especially combined with removing obsec from units

[mirdhynn]

What do you use to move so many gaunts on the board ?:-)

[bigpig]

May 6, 2022 9:56:58 GMT mirdhynn said:

What do you use to move so many gaunts on the board ?:-)

I have some laser cut movement trays for some of them, but mostly I just move by hand. I've played nid swarm quite often over the years and can move them pretty quickly. I use a clock on practice games to ensure I don't time out. To help the process I have quart paint buckets set up to speed up deploying and gathering casualties for each unit

[mirdhynn]

Thanks !
For Theorycrafting, Not sure devourers on gaunts are worth the +1 pt. For no cost, you have pistol 2, you loose 6" range, but your have better impact on close as you can fire in melee.

[bigpig]

May 6, 2022 17:23:04 GMT mirdhynn said:

Thanks !
For Theorycrafting, Not sure devourers on gaunts are worth the +1 pt. For no cost, you have pistol 2, you loose 6" range, but your have better impact on close as you can fire in melee.

I'm inclined to agree. I don't see the extra range as worth it

[mirdhynn]

Anyway, I feel your list is short to manage vehicules. Perhaps replacing mortrex and some gaunts by venom carnifex