Tyranid LOW

[AgentP]

I feel like my Tyranid army needs a centerpiece, and a Lord of War option.  Basically, that would mean either a bio-titan, or a harridan.  Never seen either model in person.  Never seen them played to be familiar with how they work.  Any recommendations?

[Romans832]

Back in the day the Bio-Titan was the best bang for the buck... No clue what the expansions and changes have done to it.

[WestRider]

The Gargantuan Creatures are all kind of underwhelming. The Harridan is probably the best, since 7th reduced the impact of Grounding Checks, and it has both Transport Capacity and decent Shooting. It's still pretty badly overcosted, tho.

[Brent Mooney]

Harridan. I think it is the best lord of war option in any fraction period.

[Gorgosaurusrex]

I would definitely go with the Harridan. It's really good game-wise and looks fantastic on the table. The model is huge!

[InfestedKerrigan]

But but....

 

[DisruptiveConduct]

Harridan. What everyone else said plus ease of assembly. You need master level hobby ranks to attempt to just clean flash off the heirophant.

 

And harridans base str 10 so its vector strike is better than any other nid flyer.

[winterman]

Hierophant can be upgraded to transport any 20 models that can go in a transport, not just gargoyles.  Think venopthropes and tyranid primes or maybe an assaulty unit of some sort.  About the only reason to take one over a harridan rules wise (looks wise I like the hierophant way more).

[AbusePuppy]

But but....

*snip*

 

Yeah, that would be really cool and fun and thematic if the Warhound didn't typically kill the Heirophant in 1-2 volleys while costing 30% less points.

 

All of the Tyranid GCs are somewhere between underwhelming and awful. It's a really hard thing to say, but it's true. However, they aren't all equal in this respect, so you have a few decisions.

 

The Barbed Heirodule is probably at the top of the pile; it gets nearly as many shots as its bigger cousins, but costs significantly less. It isn't amazing in combat, but Stomp means it realistically deals about as much damage to most things. And, at the end of the day S10 shots aren't that bad, even if its crappy BS value and inability to access any form of reroll or other accuracy boost are such huge limiters there.

 

The Scythed Heirodule probably takes second place; it's once again fairly cheap and an AP3 Hellstorm weapon is pretty scary to a number of things. The fact that it gets extra attacks is pretty utterly irrelevant due to crappy WS/I stats and lack of any sort of real close combat boosts (no Destroyer weapon, no invuln, no special protective rules, no grenades, etc), but I guess if you manage to charge a Baneblade or something you'll tear it to pieces.

 

The Harridan comes in their because it is reasonably resilient (due to being a FGC) and there are very few ways to get S10 Skyfire shots. The chances of the enemy dropping it over the course of a game are actually quite low unless they have very specialized firepower, but on the other hand the chances of it actually having a major effect on the battlefield are a bit middling also. It devastates other flyer armies, but against ground forces its output is pretty underwhelming for the most part.

 

The Heirodule is an incredibly cool model that is basically garbage on the tabletop. Despite costing in the neighborhood of a Reaver titan, it has pretty weak firepower output (BS3!), no Destroyer weapons (not even in close combat), a pathetic 6+ invulnerable save, and basically no strong points. The "unique" upgrades are cute, and even fairly decent in some cases, but they are expensive and they come on an already-expensive platform that is otherwise pretty awful at actually accomplishing anything.

 

So from a rules perspective, the "right" choice is to not take a LoW at all. If you really want to go for it, I would say take one of the Heirodules if you're running a more ground-based army or the Harridan if you've got more of an air force. The Harridan/Heirophant are incredibly cool and evocative models (and the Heirodules ain't bad, either), but their tabletop performance leaves a lot to be desired.

 

(Incidentally, a lot of people will rave about ZOMG S10 GUNS!!!! on the Tyranid GCs, but don't be fooled- they are not Primary weapons and with the low accuracy, their damage output is actually rather weak. For example, shooting at a Predator behind a wall? Better aim everything that the Heirphant- a unit that costs in excess of a thousand points, mind you- has at it, because just one of your guns is unlikely to do the trick. And god forbid you're shooting Terminators, because we wouldn't want bio-acid blobs the size of a Buick to be able to ignore armor saves or anything.)