Pariah Synaptic Nexus

[piersonsmuppet]

Haven’t played around with lists since swapping to VO last year and the DS/MFM accompanying Pariah Nexus missions has gotten the juices flowing. Wanting to try some of the new toys (since I don’t think VO lists change much), so I’m going to be swapping back to Synapic Nexus:

Deathleaper
OOE
Hive Tyrant w/ Synaptic Control
Neurotyrant w/ Power if the Hive Mind
PoM w/ Psychostatic Disruption
2x Carnifex w/ CC and HVC
Lictor
Lictor
Mawloc
Mawloc (not sold on second one yet)
11x Neurogaunts
11x Neurogaunts
11x Neurogaunts
Neurolictor
3x Tyranid Warriors w/ Melee
3x Tyranid Warriors w/ Melee
3x Tyranid Warriors w/ Melee
6x Zoananthropes

OOE joins the carnifex brick, looking to see how Venom Cannons pair with lethal hits. Wanting to try CC to make use of the +1S to crack the many T12 vehicles in my local area (also they pair well with Nexus’s +1 to-hit in melee).

Neurotyrant joins the Zoans to make my second hammer; +1 to-hit and poss +1 to -wound with the Nexus rr strat seems great.

PoM finally has synapse, which means we now have a Lone Op with 12” deepstrike denial… the home objective has never been safer.

Neurogants and Lictors are for screening and actions.

Warriors provide some cheap brawlers for objectives. The Mawlocs also fill this role if they hit the charge (8” usually with Nexus) or live a turn if they miss.

Currently flopping back and forth between a second Mawloc or an Exocrine to round out the list. I think I could use the MW generation from the Mawloc, but at the same time it can be inconsistent. The bonus of the Exo, I can drop a Neurogaunt unit for a Biovore… could still be good for Tactical missions when Engage or BEL are drawn.

[piersonsmuppet]

Tweaked the list to try out the CP strangle game… worked very well:

Deathleaper
Swarmlord
Hive Tyrant w/ Synaptic Control
Neurotyrant w/ PotHM
PoM w/ Psychostatic
10x Hormagaunts
Biovore
Lictor
Lictor
Neurolictor
3x Warrior (Melee)
3x Warrior (Melee)
3x Tyrant Guard
6x Zoanthropes
Exocrine
Malceptor
Mawloc

Tyrant and SL combo was… oppressive. I threw eight strats in the second battle round. Having the CP to use Smothering Shadow and still have other strats available felt good in comparison to how using felt after the battle tactics only change. The extra CP was also nice to activate Irresistible Will in both the Shooting and Fight phases. I didn't have anything great to IW in the fight phase, but it helped SL in a phase by turning 6 1's into hits.

TG worked well with SL, the option to go with a functional 1+ save or a 5++ made them a tough target for my opponent to want to prioritize. They also worked well to hit charges through buildings that SL normally would have a longer charge around, with the pile-in bringing SL into the fight.

Tyrant's Assault aura now giving lethal hits... yum. I felt like Invasion Fleet+, no need to choose it to be on and easier access to rr1's to hit.

PoM was great, the area denial was impactful. Made Marked for Death and a few other secondaries near impossible for my opponent to score.

Zoan / Neurotyrant combo was deadly as advertised, and they were easy to keep safe until they shot using Pariah terrain. Definitely worth 300 pts.

MSU melee warriors worked pretty well, S6 bump was nice. I really liked free HI with Tyrant on them; not deadly enough to change targets from initial charge but they always killed a few models and usually stopped a flipped objective with their OC2.

Only questionable units were the Horms and Biovore. I will chalk up the weak Biovore performance to playing into Infiltrators and one game was Purge the Foe… no mines were spawned that game. Horms just sat around, no opportunities to try and long bomb them with the +1Adv/Charge and S4.

Edit: After perusing the Tyranid FAQ, I notice that Infiltrators only affect Reserve units entering the battlefield and as such do not affect Spore Mines when they are set up. Still unsure if the Biovore would have done much, especially on Purge the Foe, but it looks slightly better.

[piersonsmuppet]

Dropped the smaller characters for a bit more redundancy and utility. This has been my favorite so far. The only change I might try out in the future is dropping the TG and a gaunt unit for a second Exo, but I’m not sure I need the extra gun.

SL
Hive Tyrant w/ -1D
Neurotyrant w/ PotHM
Biovore
11x Neurogaunts
11x Neurogaunts
Lictor
Lictor
Neurolictor
Neurolictor
3x Melee Warrior
3x Melee Warrior
3x Melee Warrior
3x Tyrant Guard (Talons)
6x Zoanthropes
Exocrine
Malceptor
Mawloc