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All Creatures Great and Gribbly My old army list utilized the idea of multiple threats. I had 3 Lictors, which were capable of doing some damage, but mostly scaring people and drawing fire, which they could absorb with 3 Wounds and +2 to cover saves, meaning they got a 3+ in forest and a 2+ save in rubble! I also had a flying Hive Tyrant, which was a nasty that could get into combat on turn 2, leaving very little time to shoot it down. Finally, I had so many Genestealers that most players nearly wet their pants on sight. The basic concept was that no one would be able to kill enough of the army in the first 3 turns to keep it from shredding their lines in the rest of the game. While that sometimes failed, it generally worked pretty well. Well, now that we have our 4th edition codex, Genestealers have been mightily improved, and a number of people are experimenting with them. Extended Carapace, giving protection from AP5 weapons such as the ubiquitous Bolter, is an Overfiend-sent gift, as it gets more Genestealers to the enemy lines. Scuttlers, too, is an amazing upgrade, since it allows Genestealers to arrive at enemy lines at the same speed as Hormogaunts, meaning they suffer much less fire on the way. The two, together, however powerful, are also expensive, leading to a 23pt creature that still has but a single T4 wound and only a 4+ save. In my experiments, I have used this combination, with only limited results. Although a higher percentage of Genestealers reached the enemy lines than would have previously, there were fewer in total, which limited the damage. In my larger lists, however, there were so many that they got in the way of each other and thus got much less use out of the Scuttler movement. Consider it thusly:
Assuming that the enemy goes first (worst-case scenario) and counting the turn spent in Rapid-Fire range as 2 Firing phases, we see this comparative breakdown:
Regular Genestealer, 16pts. Should reach enemy lines about turn 3, sustaining 4 firing phases. Well, another member of Warpshadow had the idea of fielding some Scuttling, Extended Carapace Genestealers and some basic, unupgraded Genestealers. His concept was that the enemy might choose the more numerous farther target, since it had no armor save, letting the faster, armored ones close the distance. I don't see that necessarily panning out, but I can certainly relate to the idea of giving them a Hobson's choice: Do I shoot at the close ones that are harder to kill, or the further ones that are easier to kill. If they shoot at the near ones, enough of the far ones should get through to take care of business. If they shoot at the farther ones, well, they've got Genestealers in their lines from turn 2. It seems like a good compromise, since it yields more bodies on the field than the all-upgraded ones, but can give a lot of the benefits. Plus, like I said before, too many Scuttlers just get in the way of each other, so you don't get as much use out of them. This is the part where I miss Infiltrate. With Infiltrate, I could get those Genestealers out of my deployment zone, making room for other things. Now, even with Scuttlers, I still have to set them up there, so they stand in the way of each other. In the new codex, Lictors got changed, too. They added a special deepstrike ability in place of the old hidden deployment and they can assault on the turn they deepstrike, which is pretty neat. They've also got Pheromone trail, which allows you to reroll reserve rolls, except on the Lictors. These are pretty neat abilities, but it cost them their old deployment option and a Wound. In the way I used to use them, I'd use their deployment rules to pop them up in cover on turn 1, right when the rest of my Tyranids were charging. That made them an additional threat and 3 Wounds allowed them to absorb a lot of firepower. Now I no longer have the option of popping them up on the first turn, so they aren't as good a distraction. In addition to that, when they do show up, they have only 2 Wounds, so they aren't as good at absorbing firepower. Based on these observations, I was almost certain that I'd leave them on the shelf for 4th edition. On the other talon, their deployment and assault capability makes them much better at acting like Lictors really should and they can be a pretty good threat, particularly if you deepstrike them all into the same piece of terrain and assault the same target. 3 Lictors are MUCH more effective than one. They will also likely come in on turn 2-3, which is when the bulk of my army should be hitting the enemy, so they can really help it be a hard hit to recover from. I'm still not sure if they'll be getting the axe or not, but I do see that they've got potential. Raveners, too, got an upgrade in the new codex. In addition to getting Fleet of (coil? tail? they don't have feet) they also got harder to kill when in Synapse range. Now, when they are under the Synapse umbrella, they can't be instakilled by double toughness weapons such as Space Marine Powerfists or Missile Launchers. This is a major upgrade and was one of the reasons I didn't use Raveners in the old codex. Even though they provided decent movement and a scary amount of punch, they were just too easy to kill in one shot. The same could be said of Warriors, and, even with them having Synapse, look how often I used them. (About 6 times in, uh, however long we had the 3rd edition codex.) Now they are much more survivable and much faster, being the same speed as a Hormogaunt. I don't recall who suggested it first, but they seem to be especially useful in broods of 1. I know, I usually emphasize lots of numbers and redundancy, but hear me out. If you take 3 Raveners in one brood, an enemy squad can shoot at them and have all their shots count, probably killing 2 or even all three of them. On the other talon, if you take 3 Raveners but put them in 3 separate broods, the same squad's shooting can only kill one at a time, leaving the others to eat freely. In addition, it gives you more options for seizing objectives or table quarters, and you can still charge them all together at a target you need dead. Furthermore, it fills 3 Fast Attack slots, so you have more time to watch the enemy deploy their army at the beginning of the game, which gives you more information about how to place things. Since I don't typically use my Fast Attack slots much, this seems like a worthwhile addition to the army and it only runs me 120pts to add a decent turn 2 threat to go with the Flying Tyrant and the Scuttling Genestealers and the possible Lictors. (In fact, my plan is to have the Lictors and Raveners hit near each other for mutual support and to crumble one section of the line quickly. The Carnifexes and Tyrant are much the same from my old list. The Carnifexes aren't quite as nasty as they were between the release of the 4th edition rulebook and the 4th edition codex, but they are as effective as I need them to be. I may eventually give the Carnifexes Barbed Stranglers, so they'll be a little more effective against vehicles (the possibility of penetrating is nice) and so they'll be more useful against troops if they have nothing else to shoot at, but I'm happy with them for now. Since nobody really shoots at them unless they'd otherwise be wasting their shots, I have been leaving off the extended Carapace and they have done just fine with only a 3+ save. The Tyrant, being Winged, can no longer get Carapace, but I'm not sure it's worth taking Warp Field, with all the other turn 2 threats that I've got. With no further ado, the list: 1850pts Genestealer Based army The goal is to have two waves of nasty death for the enemy to worry about. The Flying Tyrant, Scuttling Genestealers and Raveners should all hit the lines on turn 2, and the Lictors have a decent shot at this as well. One turn later, all the regular Genestealers get to add their weight and slashiness to the assault. I suppose the Carnifexes could hit on Turn 4, but I don't really worry about it too much and just have them try to nail vehicles when they can. For smaller games, I start shaving down a bit, but I keep the main gist of it. (2 Waves, mostly Genestealers, you get the idea.) 1500pts: Lose 1 Lictor and some Genestealers. Below 1500pts, I'd probably lose the Lictors and dump a Carnifex, then start diminishing my Genestealers. So, there you have it, my continuing experiments with a Genestealer army and explorations of how to be effective and have fun with the Tyranids! I hope you enjoyed it. 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