Monster Mash!

[ElectricPaladin]

So, now several armies have giant monsters. The Chaos Space Marines have their forgefiend and maulerfiend. The Tau have the riptide. The Grey Knights have a dreadnight (and rumors suggest that ordinary Space Marines will be getting something similar). The Tyranids have always had a ton of monsters. Necrons have a giant walker.

So, here's the question: how do the monster match up?

I'm not looking for "my army is great" bravado here. Seriously, how do the monsters match up? Both as tools for their respective armies and in one-on-one duels.

Note: of the giant-monster-having armies, I only play Tau, so if you want me to understand your argument, you're going to have to explain yourself.

[White Tiger88]

You forgot Demons we have Greater Demons who can rip-apart any model in the game in 1 on 1 combat.......

[Learn2Eel]

Tyranids have the widest array, and probably the most competitive overall monster - the Tervigon - owing to 6th Edition rules. In an objective heavy game, being able to spawn free tarpit units that are darned effective in that role, and that become Fearless with upgrades like Poisoned (+4) melee attacks or Furious Charge if they stay close to their brood mother, that have a twelve inch move effectively when they are created, and can capture objectives, the Termagants spawned by the Tervigon are more than enough. That the Tervigon itself is ridiculously cheap for what it does in the context of the codex and can be an incredibly effective melee unit - more-so than a Carnifex for a similar cost - whilst providing psychic buffs to other units makes it highly versatile and effective; it is incredibly hard to kill with six wounds at Toughness six with a +3 armour, and the best part of all, it can be taken as a scoring Troops choice too. Trygons and Dakkafexes are all pretty effective at what they do, but Mawlocs, Tyrannofexes, Hive Tyrants, Harpies and the like tend either to be redundant or too expensive for what they do. The Swarmlord is one of the strongest special characters in the game though, and not just because he is the challenge king (if he takes Biomancy or Telepathy and doesn't roll badly, otherwise Skarbrand is) but because he buffs and supports your army very well.

For Chaos, the Forgefiend and Maulerfiend are both good in their roles and reasonably cheap for what they do; not bad at all, and they are pretty darned frightening owing either to their firepower or speed. The Daemon Prince, despite its considerable changes, is still a strong choice if you invest a lot of points in it; Chaos Space Marine Daemon Princes with daemon weapons are absolutely brutal, and Chaos Daemon Daemon Princes are highly versatile. Greater Daemons are pretty strong base and tend to excel mostly in combat, where they are almost unmatched as far as 'monsters' go overall; if you pour a lot of points into them though, they become easily the most powerful monsters in the game unless you roll badly for their random wargear rolls. Expensive as hell though.

The Riptide is a pretty good unit that is definitely either a ranged harassment unit or a long-range artillery unit; don't ever send it into combat unless it is a unit you know it really shouldn't lose to. The Riptide is arguably the hardest monstrous creature to kill when looking at a basic profile, though a Greater Daemon that rolls decently well on its Greater Gifts will probably end up being harder to kill - particularly the Great Unclean One and flying monstrous creatures. The Triarch Stalker is interesting because it is more of a support unit than anything else; on its own, it isn't that great, but when you actually make use of its "everything is twin-linked" ability, then it really becomes worthwhile. The Dreadknight is incredibly good, especially owing to the Greatsword FAQ that allows them to strike at Strength 10 without using Smash, and still re-roll to hit, to-wound and armour-penetration rolls and receive a bonus attack. With a jump pack, they are pretty cheap for what they do - though their ranged weapons are mostly mediocre aside from the Heavy Incinerator - and will scare the pants off of anything that can't reliably kill it before it strikes. A pair of them has actually become a competitive part of Grey Knight armies; before, taking one was common because they are such fantastic distraction units.

Well, that's my overall impression anyway. There's no real way to say which is the "best" as they are all from entirely different codices, and thus, are entirely different beasts generally. A Trygon may be a melee beatstick like a Dreadknight, but in terms of a Tyranid army as opposed to a Grey Knight army, it serves an entirely different function. About all you can really judge is what monsters are the most effective in their own codices when compared to other units that perform the same role in their slot and codex.

[Tyrendian]

well... in a duel, Forgefiends, Maulerfiends and the Necron Walker will loose, simply because they are not MCs but vehicles... easy prey for MCs...

just to add some more: Eldar have Wraithlords and the Avatar (at least the ForgeWorld one is large enough to fit into your lineup^^), for Necrons one might add C'Tan Shards, and to name the big bugs, we have the Swarmlord, regular Hive Tyrants, Tervigons, Trygons, Fexes (Carni and Tyranno), and the odd Harpy.

As to which one is most effective, don't forget they have their roles each...
Some are "simple" beatsticks (Carnifex, Avatar, Trygon, Dreadknight, some of the Greater Daemons)
Some are more shooty oriented (Riptide, Tyrannofex, some of the Greater Daemons)
Some are mainly support/utility pieces (C'Tan Shard, Tervigon)
Even the shooty/support ones do kick some serious butt in H2H - never forget that - but they can also do something else.
Some are more mobile than others (flying, teleporting [Dreadknight] or Deep Striking), which puts them where they want to be (read: in your opponent's face) quicker
Some are more survivable than others (Wraithlord is entirely immune to regular bolter fire or Marines in H2H, but only has 3 Wounds and no Invuln)
Some can even affect the whole battlefield (mainly C'Tan Shards, by turning all difficult Terrain dangerous - sadly I never got to try one paired with Orikan in 5th Ed when Dangerous Terrain ignored Armour... but using that as Defender in a Planetstrike game was fun enough^^)

so, lots and lots to consider... the best duelist among them would probably have to be decided between Greater Daemons and the Swarmlord (excluding external support from the rest of the army, which might just make the Avatar a contender just by having Eldrad standing at the sidelines and cheering/casting...)

[mercer]

The Necron Tomb Stalker in the new Imperial Armour is pretty beefy. I think it has furious charge, feel no pain and it will not die - that's a true monster.