Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Tyranids: Why You Crying?


Tyranids are a few days away from being released but some rumors have leaked on the new codex and the crying has started.  Granted the changes to the nids don't seem revolutionary, but they are just rumors and until the whole codex is in hand its hard to be so sure on how the changes work.  But of course minds are made up and just go vist BoLS to see the dismay and outrage.  Its quite funny actually.  Here's the thing though, this is pretty much the same reaction every codex has had, then it comes out, things get figured out and everyone is happy.  The reason people get so upset is that they have their own assumptions and preconceived notions of how the codex should be.  So when those are not met, then the world ends.  Look we all have our ideas of how each army should be and how it should function, when that isn't vindicated, then people get upset.  Instead, anticipate changes and get ahead of the curve, figure out how to use the new rules instead of bemoaning the fact that GW didn't have their psychic hat on when you were thinking about what you wanted in the new codex.

The reason I am talking about this is that the IG codex is not far off as well, and when rumors and rules start dropping hot and heavy, this is going to happen again, like some bad 40k Internet version of groundhogs day.  So don't do it guard players, this is the call out.  Even if the codex isn't everything we want and may even be meh, so what it will still be good and will have some needed price drops.  Which I know many people are complaining about it being unoriginal, but guess what I don't want a brand new codex, I just want the stuff that was overpriced brought in line with were they should be.  Unit costs will go down, upgrades will go up, thats the trend of every codex so guess whats going to happen.

And quite frankly the changes to the nids sound rather good.  I know a points drop isn't that sexy, but often that is what is needed to make something effective.  In IG for example, Ogryns are pretty darn good from a stat line perspective, but you throw on their points cost and they become very hard to use, simply dropping their points goes a long way to making a unit like that effective.  An across the board pts drop is a great thing, now you don't have to pay for upgrades if you don't want to and can bring more models instead.  I really see some nice thing with biomorphs and having fleet and a few other things will go a long way to making things work. 

I see the little guys being just as effective if not more so, they are cheaper to bring and it looks like they may get access to "grenades", something that nid players have been asking for and complaining about and now are finally getting it.  So there is something good.  Then there is the fact that their pig bugs are cheaper.  They may be losing an attack, but with smash and hammer of wrath plus the ability to get that attack back with their cc weapons, is that really that much of a loss with the the ability to take 4 carnifexs at the old price of 3, yeah that really isn't that bad. 

Nids now have two dedicated flying MCs that look pretty darn interesting and I see both of them being taken more than a little bit.  Get ready to see them tackling vendettas and dragging them out of the air.  The other big MCs got included in the points drop, which is really huge as that little bit I see helping a lot.  Trygons and Tyrannofexs are not going anywhere.  All in all I am seeing the nidzilla list working again and don't be surprised if it comes back.

Everything from the big to the small looks to have been touched and that means there are going to be a lot more of them.  I for one am calling warriors in, I see them coming back, I know everyone wanted ET, but you don't need that to make them work.  Biovores look to be getting even better, which considering how good they were before is scary.  As an IG player these should worry you, unless you are tank heavy, and kill them as fast as possible. 

The whole psychic thing, I know everyone is upset over it, but really is it that far fetched that the shadow that blots out the warp can't use power from the warp for its powers :p.  And I think the powers are pretty decent and you should not underestimate the synapse boost at all.  Couple the psychic with he relics and the warlord and you can have a very useful warlord.  I don't see this as being a bad thing at all.  Yeah Iron Arm is gone, but you have a better regeneration, decent psychic powers and other upgrades.  The fact that you can't get Iron Arm should not be the reason you quite nids, because if that was your linchpin then you have other issues.  Adapt, like a true nid, and figure out victory, I see the HQs being more utilitarian than punchy death monsters.  Don't get me wrong, the swarm lord will still eat everything, but your Nid leaders will actually be more leaders than bigger versions of minions that punch stuff.

So when you look at what is coming out, calm down.  This is actually looking quite good and I am looking forward to dealing with the new nids.  Of course don't forget the vanguard data slate, which if that holds true will give the boost to Genestealers they have been needing.  All in all this is going to be a solid codex.  It may not be Tau over the top, but is that really what you want?   I for one don't, a more balanced and playable across the board codex is far more fun than a narrow list of uber power. 

As IG, this is going to be a tough one to crack.  You are going to need anti-air, anti-horde and anti-monster.  Sounds simple, but nids have proven in the past that target saturation is more then enough to overwhelm you and drag you down screaming.  Expect the nids to be starting closer to you, and moving faster and taking a lot more to bring down.  With synapse boosts it is going to be much harder to isolate th nid army, so taking down the key synapse is going to be even more important. 

In the end, this is looking like a very solid sounding codex, lots of price cuts are going to have a huge affect, look at the SM codex if you don't believe me.  Yeah this may not be the most kick ass codex update to date, but its looking far better then it is being accused of.  While it may not seem top tier right away, just wait, the nids have some surprises waiting and like deamons they will rise the the top after they get figured out.

GG

10 comments:

  1. I totally agree with and can't wait for the new IG codex....hope they make the Ogryns playable or should i say more cost effective...

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    1. To hell with Ogryns, I hope stormtroopers are worth it (and have access to scoring.)

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  2. Ha ha, I know, it's just like clockwork, the shrieks of dismay echoing from comment section to comment section. God, it must be so frustrating to actually work for GW and put up this every release.

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  3. I totally agree with you: Except the basic Infantry, Vets and the Vendetta, everything need a price down in our codex.
    I don't mind if they remove the non-core IG: Sanctioned Psykers, Priest, Enginseer, Ogryn, Ratlings and even some Special Character.
    But, yes, we need Price Down!

    20~30% on Leman Russ, Ordnance, Sentinel, Stormtrooper will make my day.
    And a 15pts Commissar and I will be the happiest man on earth.

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    1. Oh I disagree, not everything needs a price down. The Vendetta is dirt cheap and if anything needs to be another ten more pts to bring it in line with the costs of other flyers. Well nothing is really going to be leaving other than special characters, which speaking of are the biggest candidates of a price cut as most if not all are highly over costed. The regular infantry are about right at base pts, but their upgrades need tweaking.

      The Leman russ to be honest is about right, it really needs a rules update and the sponson upgrades need a little decrease. I am really hoping for the 15pt commisar again, we will see.

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    2. I would love cheap commisars. With inquisitors they seem obsolete...but hell, I will still take commisars because of fluffiness :)

      My main candidate for cheaper units - stormtroopers. They really need it. Ogryns would be nice, but I dont play them, so... Leman Russ IMO just need return at least part of Lumbering Behemoth rule. And for Vendetta, I completely agree, it should a little bit pricier.

      What I fear is loss of characters. Especially Marbo seems to me like someone to limit/ cancel...probably becuase I like him :)

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    3. I see marbo being in a catachan supplement, or as a catachan only character. To be fair the 5th codex has a lot of characters that were firt timers for table top, so if bastonne and others like him are replaced by different ones I won't mind.

      Well if commissars drop a little, then you could have a more combat focused character only. So it would be a question of what do you want, if you want stubborn and prescience then go for the inquisitor. Also it is a matter of do you really want your inquisitor with your guardsmen blob, throw an expendable commissar with expendable guardsmen and go at it.

      Just FYI Ogryns cost as much as terminators. Just let that sink in.

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    4. Ogryns...terminators...oh...ooooh....:)

      For the commisar/ inquisitior dilemma...well, yeah. Everything logical says to me that inquisitor with prescience and skulls (skulls!) is much better opinion... But I want the guy who yells at guys in blob to hold and shoots one when they dont. So it would be nice to have the worse choice for blob at least cheaper ;)

      With your new article it came to my mind that it would be nice to have Sentinel outside Fast Attack, too much competition there.

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    5. Yeah it would, if they brought back the old command platoon that would be a great way to do it, have a single sentinel squadron as an option.

      The main difference between the commissar and the inquisitor is that the commissar gives you TWO stubborn rolls, thats not a small difference. But they do need to be 10-15 pts cheaper

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  4. Well, in case of the Tyranids, a fellow player, who's been playing them for several editions on a high power level, was absolutely satisfied with the codex.
    Many people on the internet complain about it, but he (with the codex in hand, and not incomplete rumors) pointed out how much more powerful they became, the only problem being that the previous netlists wouldn't work exactly as before.

    As for the IG, I agree, Vendettas are underpriced.
    Better armour than most fliers, same price as all the AV10/11 fliers, more firepower, and transport capacity.
    It's clearly designed for skimmer rules of 5th edition, but that will be fixed with the new codex, I'm pretty sure about that.

    Stormtroopers would be the one unit I'd love a price reduction for.
    They are versatile, they are fun, but costing more than a tactical marine isn't worth it.
    Making them scoring isn't that high on my priority list, these guys are designed for infiltration missions, wrecking stuff left and right, and extract before being overrun.
    Fluff-wise, it would just be too awesome if they could buy grav-chutes (as described in Gaunt's Ghosts) and could exfiltrate with those, entering ongoing reserve like the winged Eldar chicken-guys (don't remember the name).
    That's wishlisting, but hey...they want to sell the new veteran boxes after all, right?

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