WestRider

@Busbina: That's probably the best option if you get to place. Even that's not foolprof, tho, since they've got Hit & Run and I4, so they can be hard to keep locked in.

@Pax: No, they don't explode except when they Charge and get into Close Combat. For a larger Cluster, especially, it can be nice, because it takes more than just a Storm Bolter from some Rhino with nothing better to do to completely neutralize them.

I think Biovores are definitely a solid option. Good against most Troops, and a miss can generate enough Spore Mines to be a non-ignorable threat to Vehicles.

I haven't tried Mawlocs yet myself, but I've seen a lot of speculation about actually aiming for something that's likely to cause a Mishap (along with a significant amount of damage, of course, don't just throw them at Land Raiders), because on a 4+ on the Mishap Table, you just go right back into Reserves instead of having to sit around for a Turn to Reburrow. And if you're trying to break up a Castled Opponent, they're unlikely to be able to find anywhere worse to put you on a 2-3 than where you landed anyhow, so only a 1 is really bad on the Mishap Table.

I've got nothing in my inbox, and it says it's still unread.

PM Sent

There don't even actually have to be Wounds in the Wound Pool from Weapons in the appropriate Range. You just need to have fired at least one, even if it misses and/or fails to Wound.

It's exactly the same wording as the previous version that was confirmed to work that way in the FAQ.

Well, rippers did get a much softer penalty for going out of synapse...Instead of just getting wiped because of low leadership. they now have a 50% chance to not take any damage and a 50% chance to each hit themselves a single time, armor allowed. With 3 or 4 wounds each, this is a major boon for rippers that go out of synapse.

 

The tactic with stealers I saw recently is to infiltrate them and then use the broodlord's power (horror?) to pin the enemy turn 1. They start in range, so it's pretty effective. Opponent had orks with lootas which failed their pinning. Not a huge loss for the lootas, being BS1 instead of 2, but helpful. Also meant the stealers weren't doing nothing turn 1 due to the limitiation on turn 1 assaults after infiltration. Player noted that this one works very well against TAU and was used to good effect in pinning the enemy riptide turn 1.

 

As for warriors, those lashwhips have actually a pretty neat new role. As per the GK halberds, the + to initiative is resolved after fixed numbers, so those warriors are initiative 4 after charging through terrain without assault grenades (reduced to 1, then +3). Also functions against necron whip coils, making the warriors swing before necron wraiths. The warriors are pretty easy to hide synapse, they score, and can be kitted to a number of roles/unit sizes. You can also put them in buildings, if your opponent is able to deny armor, cover and need for LOS.

-Pax

Rippers weren't even close to worth their points before. Making their drawback slightly less painful is not worth an extra Point per Base.

Stealer trick only works if you're going first. Otherwise, you have to spend a whole turn with your Broodlord in sight and within 24" of your Opponent, which is usually a very unhealthy place for a Unit that fragile to be. Not a good way to gamble with 130+ Point Units if you ask me. Also has nothing to do with what's supposedly the Genestealer's Role: They're supposed to be one of the most terrifying CC foes in the Galaxy. Instead, they're bolter bait and mediocre combatants.

Lash Whip thing doesn't work. 6th Ed is very clear on how you apply Modifiers and Set Value Modifiers (like Charging through Cover) always bat last. Pg.2. Warriors are, again, full of potential, but in practice, they're far too fragile. Don't think I haven't tried here. They're possibly my favorite Nid Unit in terms of Fluff and Models, and I wrote pages and pages on how best to use them under the 4th Ed Dex. When the 5th Ed Dex came out, I spent ages trying to get them to work, because I still have almost 30 of them (if you include Shrikes, and Raveners, which suffer from the same problems and fail for the same reasons). I have run every significant variation possible under the 5th Ed Dex (which means almost all the variations possible under the current one, because they hardly changed). They're just too fragile to be reliable as anything but a minimum-sized Backfield Objective Camper/Synapse Unit with maybe a Barbed Strangler to take potshots. Anything else is a gamble that I've seen fail far too many times to risk again.

It only says you can Join like an IC. It does not say that you can do anything else like an IC.

I didn't say people were lying. I said boundless optimism is not an honest look at the Dex. That point of view cannot be obtained without ignoring huge swathes of suck in the book. It's about error, not intent to decieve. That's an important distinction.

GW's pattern is not just nerfing what was seen as OP. That's half of it. The other half of the pattern is buffing the things that were seen to suck. That's the part we didn't really get.

Speaking of which, actually read our complaints before dismissing them. I haven't seen anyone here asking for Riptides or Wave Serpents. We want Warriors and Genestealers and Rippers that can actually do something other than look cool before they get shot away. We want the parts of the book that suck to be brought up to par. We want Rules that actually match our fluff. We want more options than just a new set of MCs to spam along with a flood of Gaunts. We want a Codex that had enough work put into that it's worth us putting the work into making it function.

And except against Smart Missiles or ThunderFire Cannon, it's usually possible to hide one for at least a Turn if you've got a Tärv or T-Fex. That one Turn of extra Cover has the potential to mean a lot.

The same people who took them over each time this has happened before? They crash like this every 5 years or so.

DHL is the other big international carrier that I'm aware of. I think they might be somewhat cheaper, but I'm not sure. I know that on UPS and USPS, it's better to have one big box, there's a pretty major basic fee and then a relatively small increase per pound.

My favorite thing about Super Heavy Tank Shocks is that it's called the ThunderBlitz table. Or, if you translate the other part into English, the ThunderLightning table. Either no one at GW speaks any German, or someone does and he's trolling ;)

A couple of things on the Dakka article: I would actually say that the Psychic Powers are potentially excellent, not just decent. The problem is that they're almost all specialized, and they're random. If you could actually plan around any of them beyond Dominion, it would open up a lot of options, but as it stands, it's a recipe for frustration.

That guy also has no understanding of why Regeneration is bad and how it fails. At 1500 or above, there's no Nid MC (except possibly a T-Fex) that a decent Shooting Army of basically any stripe can't drop in a single Turn. It doesn't matter what you're rolling to get that Wound back, because an Opponent who knows what they're doing will never let you roll for it, anything that has Regen will get focus fired down in a single Turn. If it were cheaper, it would be worth gambling on a bunch of MCs until they could make it into Assault, where the damage can't be controlled like that, but as it stands, if you take it on enough MCs to be worthwhile, you could just buy an extra MC or two with it and get more value that way.

More generally, my feelings on this Dex are mixed. I certainly don't believe it's worthless, but it's clearly very limited and clumsy, and many of the Rules directly contradict the fluff. Power Level-wise, I think it was a sidegrade. Some things got better, some things got worse, the Dex is still useable, but you have to really work at it. The number of Units and the number of options they have are lacking compared to other Armies of similar age, and more of those options feel like they aren't worthwhile.

I like that I can actually run my combat Fexen again without feeling like I'm completely hamstringing myself, and it's nice to have a few more Points to play around with, but that's about all I'm finding that I actually enjoy in the changes. Running the Army still feels like I'm playing against my own Codex as much as against my Opponent's Army, and I don't get to play 40K enough to waste time on frustrating Games like that when I've got 5 other Armies that play better that I can use instead.

The dex isn't useless, but the pollyanna-ish "The Dex is awesome, you're just not seeing/using it right" Posts that I'm seeing all over the place, usually from people with little or no experience with Nids and little or no actual detail, just overuse of terms like "synergy", "adaptation", and "specialized", are no more use than the doom and gloom posts. Neither is an honest and critical look at the actual reality.

Tyrant/Guard: Some people on The Tyranid Hive were tossing around the idea of the Tyrant still being limited to a 3+ Save, but the Guards having a 2+, to really reinforce their role as bodyguards.

I think a number of Weapon Skills should go up to 4. Haruspex (Should probably have at least one more Attack, too, and maybe some tinkering with its special Rules), Carnifex, maybe even Hormies. WS3 was cool when they were getting Re-rolls because it represented that they were focusing on offense over defense. They could hit easily, but got hit easily in return. Without that, the way they struggle to hit Guardsmen is kind of pathetic.

Move Through Cover for Gargoyles, and Toxin Sacs/Adrenal Glands for Raveners.

Also the consistency is a bit off. A piece of wargear should cost the same and act the same no matter what codex it is bought from. Otherwise you just confuse people and add to imbalances. I could see an exception for HQ, HQ should have to pay an extra 5-10 pt tax or so on certain items, but it would be cleaner to just factor things into their base cost. Maybe you could argue troops with a lower BS or worse assault stats should pay less (like Guardsmen) but it drives me crazy when Marines aren't standardized for the same equipment.

There needs to be variation for things that depend on the statline of the Model carrying it. There's no way a PowerFist is worth the same amount on a S3 A2 IG Vet Sergeant as it is on a S4 A4 SM Chapter Master.

For shooting stuff, tho, I reckon the benefits from IG Orders make up enough for the lower BS that the same pricing is reasonable.

Pretty sure the gone to ground thing is new for the IB. Maybe it just switched from pinning to gone to ground, which is a bit different in function, as you can voluntarily go to ground when shot at.

 

I'd note that the Lurk thing does say both closest and in TLOS, and that's after moving, so you could control this one a bit by moving towards a target, or moving out of LOS of a target.

 

Anyway, for synapse, you can find a synapse unit in every slot of the normal FOC. The synapse models themselves don't test for it, so you could eliminate IB entirely from the list if you really wanted by just fielding all synapse models. Perhaps not the ideal solution, but that would be an option for sure.

 

I do think that the issue isn't that this codex sucks over the last one, it's that this codex sucks over the FAQ and BRB changes to the list. If they had released this at the start of 6th, you wouldn't be complaining.

-Pax

I've got the old Dex right here. Checked it before I posted. Units that were Gone to Ground didn't have to test.

Lurk: Still doesn't help when what you need to do is shoot past Screening Units, which is a pretty common scenario.

All Synapse: Creates an Army that is A)Terrible, and B)Horribly unfluffy.

FAQ: Nid Players are still angry about the FAQ we got. That FAQ did as much as the release of the DE and GK Dexes to wreck the Nid Army for 5th Ed.

And I said way back that this would have seemed like a decent Dex if it were one of the first out of the gate. Then it would have declined to its current state of suckitude once CSM, Eldar, and Tau dropped.

All four of those conditions ignored IB in the previous Dex, too. Also, the negatives kick in on a 1-3, not just a 1. Then 4-5 is mildly bad, and a 6 is the mildly bad plus a little bonus.

Not to mention that all of those are unquestionably drawbacks.

- Lurk requires that you maintain a backfield Synapse Net. It's no longer possible to go all in on offense or leave Gaunts out of sight as Backfield Objective Campers. It means that Lictors operating ahead of the Swarm will randomly decide to just run away some times. Even the mild results can mean that you can't shoot, and they mean you can't Charge, which just wastes Lictors.

- Hunt can mean that your Biovores or Hive Guard just decide to hit the dirt for no apparent reason. Or it can mean your Exocrine decides to shoot the Scouts right in front of it instead of the Honour Guard behind them that you really needed to kill. Plenty of the Hunt Units are pretty good in Combat, too, and losing the option to Charge is going to hurt.

- Feed, half the time, causes your dudes to eat each other. Even if they don't do any damage (likely for, say, a Fex Brood), they still just stand around doing nothing for the rest of the Turn. Even on the mild result, they can't Run if they're too far away to Charge something, and can't pick their target, but have to Charge the nearest Unit.

Letting your opponent decide your target priority is bad. Not being able to control what your dudes do is bad. Especially because these are likely to come into play later on during the Game, when your Army's shot apart and scattered to hell and gone and you need everything doing its best if you're going to claw this one out.

Previous version, Lurk was kind of lame sometimes, especially for Hive Guard and Biovores, who sometimes wouldn't have LoS because they can normally fire indirectly. But it was never more than obnoxious. Feed, on the other hand, was a straight up benefit, no drawbacks. You just got what is currently the bonus for getting a 6, without the drawback of having to Charge the closest Unit or not being able to Run if you were too far away.

I like the IB rules, much kinder than the old IB rules.

This right here just lost you all credibility in this discussion. The new IB Rules are brutal, especially Feed, but Lurk and Hunt both have serious potential to be game losers. A 1/6 chance of getting a minor buff does not in any way outweigh the penalties you suffer the other 5/6 of the time.

You seem to be too caught up on what's possible to understand what's actually going to happen 5 times out of 6. That 30" Synapse Net? Happens 1 time in 6, IF you've dumped at least 200 Points (and more likely 400 including Guard) into a Tyrant who's going to be the number one target on the board and not going to be able to to act offensively because he's too vital to holding your Synapse Net together.

The Psychic Powers are decent, but unreliable. There's far too much chance of getting what you need, but on the wrong Models. The weak Primaris doesn't help.

Some things are pretty easy to see that they're broken. Why wait to fix them?

I think the big bugs mostly just need some minor tweaks, and better IB Rules would make the little stuff fine. It's the mid-size stuff that's screwed no matter how you look at it.

That said, adding in FNP would make Regen actually worth the 30 (not 20) Points for it.

Because I'm on Unemployment and can only afford to pick up more if I spot a really good deal :P

FNP is the only buff available to pass along to other Units. Assuming you manage to roll Catalyst for one of your Psykers, of course.

And T8 is roughly equivalent to AV12, while most things capable of Wounding it reliably have AP3 or better. It's basically a WraithKnight with a couple of extra Wounds. And any Army that can't deal with a WraithKnight+a WraithLord these days has no business trying Escalation Games.

That's still riding the edge of what's broken, I think, simply because it's still so hard to kill or tie up, and it's still putting out a lot of firepower, but taking away the full Volley Fire option and the ability to just erase MEq and MC Units certainly helps.

If a Tau Player really wants to waste his Markerlights Snap-firing at my FMC/FGC, I'm fine with that. Those are a valuable commodity in a Tau Army, and I'm getting value from wasting those shots. Lasguns in a Guard Army, on the other hand, are common as dirt.