I told him he's crazy, but is he?

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

Today I told my friend that he's crazy taking Nids to the GT. However, rigth now, I'm thinking (Yip, that's the burning smell)

Well, since he's using a horde army, which is very effective when he plays well, he may not be so 'crazy' after all. I mean, tournament armies these day are kitted out to beat Marines and other small high AV armies. However, will these guys have enough weaponry to take on an endless tide of termagants. I have done it, after like, 10 tries, and I still only drew with him.

So, is he intelligent with his choice of army, or is he just plain stupid?

[Perturabo]

The swarm army is one of the most effective Nid tactics because as you say the enemy canonly shoot so many things in one turn and you can just sit there and watch youre broods soak it up!
Alot depends on deployment (not blocking lines of fire and movement)and the ability of his Node creatures to stay alive because if they get taken out the battleplan goes right out the window!

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

youll be surprised how many more hornmagaunts die than youd expect.
Id watch out for armies with whirlwinds and destructors (especially chaos ones with havoc launchers that can take out 10 a turn easily).

the last heat for the GT in my area was won by a shooty/combaty mix blood angels army with 12 heavy bolters and 3 twin linked assault cannons. You wont have much of a horde left after a turn of shooting from those weapons (look at it like this the 12 heavy bolters and 3 asscans kill an average of 13 MARINES a turn, let alone gaunts!)

though back on subject, id say a horde army is a good choice for a tourney, which is inevitably saturated with MEQ killer weapons, which give the horde troopers something of an advantage. Id be watchful for break/pinning tactics - take out the hive mind creatures and watch the gaunts scatter

[Inquisitor Ralei]

Swarm armies can usually be beaten with a well tried and tested strategy that was shown to be a long time ago and which I've slightly modified over the years. Of course, if your opponent knows it as well then you've got an interesting game on your hands.
Haven't we...H (stop lurking and join)!

[Levin]

I say take the army you're best with... Not much point in bringing one you "think" will win. Take one you regularly win with and hope for the best.

[experiment 626]

the most dangerous army you can face in any tournament is one that the player knows! tell your mate to simply take the army he's most comfortable with and knows best if he's most comfortable with a huge swarm, than hopefully he'll do well with it!
the main problem i see him having is claiming objectives as 'nids simply want to eat everything in sight!

honestly though, i've seen many players try out a list they number crunch and figure what will kill most efficently, only to be slaped silly by an opponent with an average list, but who knows that list like the back of their hand!!!

cheers!

[Brother_Ambrose]

I fear the tryanid swarm more than any of my other opponents except chaos. Chaos is nasty... But i fear Tyranids more that most armies...

[Dan296]

Originally Posted by DeAd_cOmMaNdO

youll be surprised how many more hornmagaunts die than youd expect.

Id watch out for armies with whirlwinds and destructors

take out the hive mind creatures and watch the gaunts scatter

the first two things i agree with. the idea about horde armies is that individually they are horrible, but together they overrun. large blasts are a problem with any army, but these are deadly against horde. imperial guardsmen with alot of morters are also a problem, because no matter where the barrage lands, its probrobly going to hit SOMETHING.

trying to kill all of the synapse is a problem. in a tournament list, one would probrobly have all warriors for hq and elites. big broods of warriors are extremely tough to bring down, as with a brood of 4 for example. 8 warriors with a devourer/ ST and 1-2 biomorphs would only be about, on average, 1/10th of your list. however, thats 16 wounds at t4, and you probrobly will have 2-3 more broods like this. trying to bring down all of the synapse is a very bad idea, and ive only seen it work when the nid player had 3 zoes and a hive tyrant with tons of small guys.

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

when push comes to shove, warriors arent that difficult to kill. and if a player concentrates all his high str/low ap heavy weapons on the tyrants and zoanthropes and lower ap heavy weapons (heavy bolters, autocannons etc) on warriors, its not too hard.

4 heavy bolters kill 3 warriors, so they really arent that hard to kill

[Perturabo]

But the hormagaunt brood is a real nasty one-you've got one turn normally (these guys can move a potential 24" in one turn!) before a huge wall of very nasty close combat death is upon you and once they're in combat thats it-synapse goes out the window!
Leaving whatever big guns the Tyranid player has to take on your armour (if you have any).
This is where anti-Tyranid deployment can be a lifesaver!

[MarkedByChaos]

the potential of any Nid army to move in quickly can be devistating to any army. not just the Hormagaunts move quickly remember. (they're just one of the fastest elements of the army).

that coupled with the ability to bring 32 models in a single unit makes it esential to deal with those units. bringing me to the greatest weakness an opponent has against Nids, target choice. most players are aware whatever a Nid player puts on the table is going to be something to fear. weither it is Hormagaunts, Warriors, or a couple of Carnifex, this forces the opponent to make immediate key discisions as to what he can and should do. it only takes one mistake at any point and a nid player can watch half your enemie's army disapear (or one perfect one to watch half your own army go away).

thoughts about GT at this moment: with the new Eldar Codex out and the patern of what I call "Codex Release Surge" being what it is, I would be very careful bringing Nids, eldar are one of the most effective Nid hunting armies out there. not only are they fast (as or even faster than nids) but they bring sooooo much fire power (not the strongest but some of the mostest) plus their assault oriented units normaly go before nids giving them a huge survivability factor.

[Dan296]

well also, a smart big swarm player will take 5 units of warriors (though with a GT list...) of 3-4, keeping them in cover. synapse works if ANY model in the unit is within 12'', so you just wanna hang some back. i love playing nids on tables with lots of terrain and hills. denies LOS, economy of force is lost, you can never see the lurking synapse.

[Perturabo]

Ive been known to deploy a large brood in a very large tear drop formation with lots of models at the front to engage the enemy and a few way back to keep the whole brood in synapse and with thirty two models per brood you can stretch a brood a long way whilst keeping unit coherency allowing the synapse creatures to remain way back and out of line of sight!

[GriplionGremlin]

pert, now that is just truely evil dude!
smart idea if you're the horde player but still eviiillll!

i'll be keeping that in mind as i've just started picking up some steelers, guants and a couple tyrants.

grip

[Vorafex]

It really depends on how he plays...every army has a chance, if played right...and the dice are kind...
but, ya never know...main thing is...just have fun and enjoy a good game.
BTW
I like to deep strike a couple of gargoyle broods on their long range weapon squads...keeps 'em busy, that and the scuttlin 'stealers. Fight 'em on 2 flanks if ya have enough troops...