Ok guys, I’ve tried and tried to make them work in 6th
edition, but I’m honestly at a loss here, so not so much a “how to” or “Fritz
says” post, but rather let me know if you have a better idea...
6th edition changed many units in the game, most got
a bit better, but some are now well quite unusable, and unfortunately Tyranid
Genestealers are one of them.
They are a troop choice which is good, but as troops they can’t
shoot, are subject to overwatch in the assault, have no armor save, and can’t
assault on the outflank. Essentially useless as troops in the game.
First thought is to repackage the ‘stealers as Y ‘stealers which
are still quite handy thanks to the
morphs and assault on the turn to you arrive even if a full unit costs as much
as a land raider.
Second thought is to look at ‘stealer spam and try and make it
work either because as a Tyranid player you have tons of them, or you are looking
for something different in your list and see that ‘stealers are selling and
trading for pennies on the dollar on the internet now that they are officially useless.
Problem with that is if we fill out the 20 X 6 at 2000 points
that leaves us with 320 points left and what are we going to get with that?
Dual hive tyrants? Hive guard?
And killing 120 models that don’t have a shooting attack back,
no armor save, and have to assault so they are subject to overwatch?
Most 40K armies can kill 120 no save dudes easy, without even
brining templates to the party.
The best I can think of is to build an army to take advantage of
the fact you can infiltrate them and at least TRY and do a stealer shock rush.
Not that an all stealer army in 6th hasn’t been done…
I just can’t come up with how to play it effectively right now
and not get my ballz kicked in.
I actually don't agree with you fully (last word there is important!).
ReplyDeleteTo say they have no save is wrong. Now, granted, against many guns 5+ saves equates to no save. However, lasguns, shootas and tesla weapons would all allow that 5+ save. So, against Impy guard, Orks and some Necrons, you'd get some sort of save from the rank and file troops. You'd also get this save in close combat against rank and file troops too. It does make a difference, even if only small.
Next is that stealers have infiltrate. This means that you can actually still get a first turn assault if you are going second. Even if your opponent moves to avoid this, it still has its uses in area denial. You can also use other units to screen the stealers and to charge a unit first, thus removing overwatch fire from the stealers.
Stealers have fleet, which helps them to have a more reliable and dare I say it, longer charge range than other units.
Stealers definately took a hit overall though. No denying it. I play Blood angels and believe me, I really feel the pain now with assault. The last game I played I charged an ork mob. My opponent rolled 3 sixes for his 3 rocket launchers and that was 3 marines toasted, followed swiftly by the remaining two by his shootas. The entire honour guard vaporised by lucky overwatch fire. Later he charged a full tactical squad and my overwatch fire killed nothing. I had 16 bolter shots and a flamer in there and zip damage done to ork boyz. Overwatch is very very random.
Assault really is a different beast in 6th edition.
Crispy takes a 5 man squad with Broodlord and treats it like a 116pt scoring sorcerer. Hold back with enfeebles and endurance or bum rush with iron arm and become a poor mans MC.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is an interesting idea, and one I have to say I haven't really thought about using...
DeleteThis is my plan for my stealers, the only downside is you get hurt pretty hard if you roll badly on your psychic powers. Presumably he's running 1 squad, but I'm planning to try out 2, paired with the seemingly obligatory 2x Tervigon/Min Termagants.
DeleteThen again, I'm weird and run the Doom of Malantai.
The Scoring Broodlord unit seems to be the way to go, the biggest problem being that most of the disciplines you can take, half of the powers will be useless to a BS 0 Broodlord. I'm in the same spot with Wyches in my DE army, they have basically become haywire freaks.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the ways to use the genestealers isn't as a full force, but as a support squad. If you have the tervigon, and you get a couple small or remnant termagant squads, have them declare the charge first and draw the overwatch. Then send in the genestealers.
You know what would solve this?? if they FAQed Enfeeble to give the target squad Slow and Purposeful instead of count as moving through difficult terrain. SnP units cannot snapfire so it would increase the synergy of the Tyranid book.
I've been thinking about this as well, and I think the multi-unit charge is going to be the best way to do it. Either throw gribblies like Gaunts at your target first to soak Overwatch fire and die off, or a harder unit like Warriors first to soak fire, make saves, and tie up fewer models so the Stealers can make base contact. The danger with units of gribblies is that if they change too well, you might end up encapsulating the victim unit, leaving the Stealers no gaps to get to base contact.
ReplyDeleteIt feels like their usefulness relies on soaking up turn-one firepower from at least one squad that would normally be directed at your Flying Hive Tyrants. A few small squads of 6-8, plus the fact that they can actually Go To Ground/cancel by gaining Fearless, should provide some sort of use on turns one and two. Other than that, Ymgarl all the way.
ReplyDeleteActualy, I play quite different with my Nids. Perhaps you should avoid to think as Servo-Can Armies do. Forget the fact you do not know how to play an specific unit. You play an entire hive, you have to think how to play it as a whole.
ReplyDeleteExample: A guy I know, very proud of his Space Wolfs, deployed his 20 man or so Servo-Cans in a wide line in the middle of the table. "Come to me", he said. Ok, I did. I offered him so many targets that he didn`t know what to do. ¿Kill the 10 Jean-Stealers? ¿Kill the 20 Gaunts? ¿Kill the 20 Hormagaunts? ¿Kill the 'Fex? ¿Kill the Hive Tyrant?
I lost my 10 Jean-Stealers even before they could strike a bow. Who cares? Servo-Cans fell.
When you build a Tyranid hive use this trick: pick TWO units for the SAME purpouse. Let the Enemy choose which one to kill. You do not care. : D
Example 2: Pick 10 Jean-Stealers + 20 Hormagaunts with poison -> Anti Infantery Role
Another trick: There are a lot of options nobody explore in Tyranid Codex because some guys who never plays Tyranids say it sucks.
Example 3: Drop a Pod + 20 DevilGaunts. -> 250 points aprox for 60x S4 HP 3 Shoots plus the Pod.
Expensive? Well... average says around 10 Wounds to a Marine Unit... 5 Glancing Hits to a AV10 vehicle (almost all ir rear armour)
Ok... Glad if I help.
See ya!