2000 pts competitive list

[shaggy1]

Hi guys,

I've got a GT coming up in about three weeks and was after some input in the following list that I'm going to start practicing with. I think it has good scoring potential and should have enough to brawl over the midfield but I'm definitely open to any suggestions that might optimise it further. I was also wondering if Synaptic Nexus would be the best detachment for this list.

Detachment: Synaptic Nexus

Neurotyrant

3x10 Gargoyles

Biovore

2 Neurolictors

2x1 Pyrovore

6 Zoanthropes

3 Zoanthropes

2x1 Ripper Swarms

3 Exocrines

2 Maleceptors

Norn Emissary

[dkng]

Why no Hive Tyrant? Spamming Irresistible Will is the way to go and 9 Zoans without Assault aura are easy enough to dance around.

[No One]

Irresistible will requires you to pick an enemy unit, so isn't usable with tyrant, and the others are quite underwhelming most of the time (reduce AP with norn in cover is potentially quite spicy though, but not really worth bringing a walkrant for). No assault aura is true, but I don't think it's really worth bringing just for zoans when strat reserves is probably the better delivery anyway.

That said, personally I think invasion fleet is just better than nexus, at which point walkrant for double 5+++ is way more appealing. Minor tweak otherwise though, probably worth dropping a ripper for one of the enhancements.

[piersonsmuppet]

Hive Tyrants not being able to double up on Irresistible Will is a WTC-ism. Will of the Hive Mind doesn’t have the rider of “only” your unit, so they house-ruled it to have a restriction it doesn’t. Most circuits allow strats that also target an opposing unit to be reduced in cost; lots of Vanguard lists are including a Tyrant for Surprise Assault spam.

That aside, Lennons list had a Tyrant to also give Gargoyles added movement since they can advance and action/shoot with the Tyrant. In general a Nexus gun-line list is going to be pretty slow without a Tyrant.

Nexus works for gunline better than Invasion imo because of fallback & shoot, Zoans love it and it’s decent for Exos/Mals. Though going Nexus without Power if the Hive Mind on the Neurotyrant… bold move (extremely good enhancement for 10 pts and a Neurotyrant w/ PotHM is the foundation of a Nexus list).

[dkng]

Why the hell they did that? Was it because one of the incoming SM detachments supposedly has 5 Battle Tactic Strats?

[piersonsmuppet]

Probably for “balance” since free strats are strong. I think it’s a pretty arbitrary ruling since the requirement of targeting your unit for the ability is fulfilled. Seems odd to punish strats that designate an opposing target since that target designation was put in by GW to limit the strat’s overall impact.

[No One]

piersonsmuppet said:

Hive Tyrants not being able to double up on Irresistible Will is a WTC-ism. Will of the Hive Mind doesn’t have the rider of “only” your unit, so they house-ruled it to have a restriction it doesn’t. Most circuits allow strats that also target an opposing unit to be reduced in cost; lots of Vanguard lists are including a Tyrant for Surprise Assault spam.

It's not a WTC thing, it's just the RAW, which is, unsurprisingly, played at more than WTC e.g.

UKTC said:

Q: Can you use the hive tyrants will of the hive mind ability to use a stratagem that also targets an enemy unit?
A: No, these such abilities require all targets to have an ability to reduce the CP cost of the stratagem to use them.

And the dataslate rule in question:

MODIFYING A STRATAGEM’S CP COST
Rules that modify the CP cost of a Stratagem when
you target a particular unit can only do so for a
Stratagem that targets multiple units if every unit
you target has the same ability to modify the CP of
that Stratagem.

It was arguably the RAW before that, and AFAIK was mostly how it was played basically everywhere (i.e. no you can't double dip on selecting two units just because your strat let you and one of those units can double dip for 0). And if you can't select two friendly units why can you select a friendly and an enemy? I guess some TOs are nice for this, but not ones I've ever seen an FAQ for.

That aside, Lennons list had a Tyrant to also give Gargoyles added movement since they can advance and action/shoot with the Tyrant.

Gargs are already assault, walkrant does nothing.

Nexus works for gunline better than Invasion imo because of fallback & shoot, Zoans love it and it’s decent for Exos/Mals. Though going Nexus without Power if the Hive Mind on the Neurotyrant… bold move (extremely good enhancement for 10 pts and a Neurotyrant w/ PotHM is the foundation of a Nexus list).

Yeah, the fb&s is basically the only draw: not something I think is worth it, but I also don't run zoans so both need the lethal for AT more and care about the strat less.

[piersonsmuppet]

Hmmm, that wording is messy AF but I suppose that is what WTC/UKTC are addressing. I'd have to disagree with the "that's how it was prior" as Tyrants were being used in Vanguard to double up on Suprise Assault in many regions. I'm pretty sure the dataslate was only addressing using a free CP ability to target two of your own units (e.g., targeting one SM unit with a captain and one without a captain) but looks like GW mucked that up (as usual).

Darn, I played my gargs wrong then... no wonder they are so heavily used.

Yea, Nexus is pretty lackluster without Zoans; they are the big beneficiaries of hit/wound rr1's and fallback/shoot (they really put in work when super consistent and can't be tied up).