Tyranids and the Swarmlord

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

Hi there all, new user, first post.

At the end of August, I shall be facing a Tyranid horde of over 4000 points with a combined Chaos Marine/Daemon army. I have been advised that my opponent is likely to bring the Swarmlord alongside Tervigons, no doubt with stealers, Gaunts, Gants, Lictors, Gargoyles and the like. I've researched into this and seen advice given to concentrate on wiping out the swarms first and foremost, so I've tried to include as much template weapons as possible, alongside as much firepower as my army list will allow. Below is my army list. I'm looking for tactics in taking out the Swarmlord, Tervigon and neautralising outflanking Stealers. All comments welcome!

The Unclean Pact of Typhus and Ku’Gath

Typhus
Plagueguard Terminators – 1xHeavy Flamer
2xTwin Bolter and Power Weapon
1xCombi Melta and Chainfist
1xReaper Autocannon and Powerfist

Plague Marine Squad One – Aspiring Champion with Power Weapon, 2 Bolter, 2 Plasma Gun, Icon

Plague Marine Squad Two - Aspiring Champion with Power Weapon, 2 Bolter, 2 Plasma Gun, Icon

Plague Marine Squad Three - Aspiring Champion with Power Fist, 2 Bolter, 2 Plasma Gun, Icon

Plague Marine Squad Four - Aspiring Champion with Plasma Pistol and Power Weapon, 2 Melta Guns, 2 Bolters, Icon

2 Chaos Rhino

Defiler – Havoc Launcher, Reaper Autocannon, Battlecannon

Vindicator with Daemonic Possession



Ku’Gath the Plaguefather

Unzuul the Lascivious – Keeper of Secrets; Soporific Musk, Pavane of Slaanesh, Daemonic Gaze, Unholy Might, Aura of Acquiescence

Skulltaker and 20 Bloodletters

Epidemius and 14 Plaguebearers

6 Flamers with Bolt of Tzeentch

6 Flamers with Bolt of Tzeentch
Daemon Prince of Nurgle O’Whenzhai – Mark of Nurgle, Noxious Touch, Iron Hide, Breath of Chaos, Unholy Might

Soul Grinder – Phlegm and Tongue Attacks

10 Pink Horrors with the Changeling

10 Pink Horrors

10 Seekers of Slaanesh

7 bases of Nurglings

[DrLove42]

Welcome to the forum

My advice is use the rhinos on your flanks, just to block anything coming in. Priorities in a Nid army should always be split. The big beasties (the synapse creatures) should be top priority as if they die then the little buggers are probably out of his control.

Benefit of demons is that huge amounts deep strikes in that can then fire some good weapons, especially if guided by a Icon. If memory serves me correctly the flamers weapon is a template whcih always wounds on a 4+ isn't it? Try bringing these dwon next to swarms and big beasties, nothing kills MC faster than poisoned weapons.

Swarmlord is hard, especially if he gets into combat. Simply put...don't let him. Shoot him hard and fast, and if needs be throw the nurglings at him to slow him in combat for a turn. The demon prince might be able to take him.

As for the Tervigons...kill em fast before they can squeeze out too many babies, although if they're a long way away then they're not as higher priority as upclose stuff.

All in all good luck! At 4000 points is this an apoc game or regular?

[randyh]

Be aware that he may choose to outflank the stealers. I know that's my preferred method of putting them on the board, and I usually have somewhere between 30 and 40 of them coming on. If the Swarmlord has any tyrant guard, you're going to be in for a fight, and at the point value I'd hope that the Tyranid player would be smart and bring 4 to max out his protection.

The flamers are going to be your life blood as the Tyranid should be maximizing cover. Be aware of the gargoyles as they can be in your face pretty quick and are an extremely cheap unit to upgrade. They wound you on rolls to hit of 6. I wouldn't hold your breath for any lictors save the named one Death Leaper, I would watch out for Doom since you have units outside transports you'll want to protect them if you can, plague marines or not, they would only get a cover save from Doom's aura so that makes FNP useless right there. I'd watch for 2 Zoe's to pop your heavy tanks/walkers.

Remeber, Swarmlord gives +1 to unit reserve rolls and re-roll the outflank choice. So if you're opponent plays the reserve game, he's coming on the board faster than you most likely. Unless you just roll insanely well and he rolls really bad.

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

Oh no, this'll be the full 6 hour slogfest 40K missions game. One tactic I thought would be useful would be to park the Rhino at right angles to each other with a two inch gap inbetween to allow firing but minimise the amount of Gaunts etc he can squeeze through them, engaging the hordes. Although I can definitely see the sense in keeping them on the flanks to deal with incoming mycetic spores and outflanking Stealers/Lictors. With everything on the board, I should have I think four template weapons at my disposal. The flamers are indeed a good shout for a deepstrike attack, anything that can apply the possibility of scoring 6 wounds per turn per unit is golden. They'd be a one use wonder against the Swarmlord though.

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

I'm hoping I've got enough ranged to take the Doom out should I need to, but am worried about the flanks. Was thinking the Seekers could help there? High Initiative, 50 attacks on a charge, 40 without and Rending hits, plus an average charge of say 20"? Supported by Horror and/or MArine fire?

[DrLove42]

Thing to remember about the Doom is that its only T4 and doesn't have Immune to Instant Death. Single lascannon or melta shot will kill it outright, although it does have a 3+ invulnerable.

Seekers are good and can catch people unawares due to their massive charge range. Also for infiltrating you can assume he'll bring things on as quick as he can. So hold something in reserve to ambush the infiltrators. If you set up terrain together try to maximise fire lanes, set up terrain on the flanks so he needs to difficult terrain rolls to move in, should slow him down

[randyh]

set up terrain on the flanks so he needs to difficult terrain rolls to move in, should slow him down

Only thing about this, is that most troop choices for Nids have the move through cover rule, so they're gonna get that extra dice for a chance at a full 6". It'll be harder to slow down Nids with cover as they're going to maximize it anyways since they won't have saves from the majority of your attacks. Cover is the only thing they do have going for them.

[MajorSoB]

Bad move!

The list you want to play is good as far as your Nurgle CSM but you want as many Nurgle based deamons as possible in the Daemon army. Epidemius gets his bonus from kills from followers of Nurgle so why would you have anything in your army that could not benefit from his enhancement. Use as many plaguebearers as you can get you hands on, also nurglings are insane when they are enhanced with 20+ kills from Epidemius. Nurglings can take down the Swarmlord alone when they are buffed!

Trust me on this one. I have a 3000+ CSM Death Guard army that I have played with my son's 3000+ Deamons of Nurgle army. We have played together in team tourneys and if you buff and protect Epidemius correctly you are damn near unstoppable. You are also over on your HQ choices in your Daemon army. KuGath counts as one full choice and so does Uzzuul. Only heralds count as one half an HQ choice.

My advice is to make it a themed battle. It makes more sence and in this case it also makes your army better.

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

Bad move!

The list you want to play is good as far as your Nurgle CSM but you want as many Nurgle based deamons as possible in the Daemon army. Epidemius gets his bonus from kills from followers of Nurgle so why would you have anything in your army that could not benefit from his enhancement. Use as many plaguebearers as you can get you hands on, also nurglings are insane when they are enhanced with 20+ kills from Epidemius. Nurglings can take down the Swarmlord alone when they are buffed!

Trust me on this one. I have a 3000+ CSM Death Guard army that I have played with my son's 3000+ Deamons of Nurgle army. We have played together in team tourneys and if you buff and protect Epidemius correctly you are damn near unstoppable. You are also over on your HQ choices in your Daemon army. KuGath counts as one full choice and so does Uzzuul. Only heralds count as one half an HQ choice.

My advice is to make it a themed battle. It makes more sence and in this case it also makes your army better.

Ok, first off dude that IS as many Nurgle models I can put my hands on! They'll have to do, but the best thing is that Plague marines benefit from Epidemius's Tally of Nurgle too, so they'll get buff also.
Also, I know I've gone over on the HQ for the daemons, but it's been agreed this is fine (as I've scaled back the marines and only taken one HQ for them).

I like the idea of a much more balanced army, with a tough core that can grind out a battle of attrition in the centre of the battlefield and get supported by other deepstriking units. If I had the models, I'd most likely cut back on Bloodletters and replace them with Plagueys, but money and time is an obstacle! But 35+ models with FNP is not a bad total.

[Sangre]

Get yeselfs to the list forum!

[Daemonette666]

Ok, first off dude that IS as many Nurgle models I can put my hands on! They'll have to do, but the best thing is that Plague marines benefit from Epidemius's Tally of Nurgle too, so they'll get buff also.
Also, I know I've gone over on the HQ for the daemons, but it's been agreed this is fine (as I've scaled back the marines and only taken one HQ for them).

I like the idea of a much more balanced army, with a tough core that can grind out a battle of attrition in the centre of the battlefield and get supported by other deepstriking units. If I had the models, I'd most likely cut back on Bloodletters and replace them with Plagueys, but money and time is an obstacle! But 35+ models with FNP is not a bad total.
It sounds like you are playing an Apocalypse Points value game, Even if you are not using any of the Strategems, so troop minimums and maximums do not count in Apocalypse. You can mix and match as you want. It sounds like you have themed your 2 armies enough, and as you say, you can only work with what you have got on hand.

I'd lend you my 40 or so plague marines, 20 plague bearers, and an assortment of other Nurgle daemons, including a Nurgle daemon prince, but I live in Sydney Australia.

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

It sounds like you are playing an Apocalypse Points value game, Even if you are not using any of the Strategems, so troop minimums and maximums do not count in Apocalypse. You can mix and match as you want. It sounds like you have themed your 2 armies enough, and as you say, you can only work with what you have got on hand.

I'd lend you my 40 or so plague marines, 20 plague bearers, and an assortment of other Nurgle daemons, including a Nurgle daemon prince, but I live in Sydney Australia.

Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch to pop over for those in all honesty. But here's my plan for the Swarmlord...

Hopefully (!) I'll be able to get an Icon'ed unit within 6" of it (perhaps by parking a Rhino next to it with an Icon bearer inside), hope it lasts the turn and then deepstrike in the 12 Flamers. With their template attacks which wound on 4+ and ignore armour and cover saves, I SHOULD be able to fry the lot of them in one fell swoop. Either that or get the Flamers in position to attack in waves - this would mean the first lot might get wiped out by ol' Swarmy though. I think it's the best chance I have with this army. The Horrors can sit on the flanks and dish out fire to incoming swarms and sneaky genestealers, the Greater Daemons can make for the Tervigons and hopefully I'll figure something out for the Tyranid Warriors anytime soon!!!!

What do we think?

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

Oh, better figure out who's taking on the 'Fexes too...