Monday, June 9, 2014

List Building for SpikeyCon v.2 - Tyranids and Dark Eldar

As I mentioned in my previous list building post, I've been toying with various ideas for my first Tournament of 7th Edition at SpikeyCon on June 14-15. After talking to the guys from Forge the Narrative and listening to their most recent podcast, I decided to look into allying some Dark Eldar to drop a Crucible of Malediction into the mix for some serious anti-psyker potential.

Old Urien Rakarth with Crucible of Malediction
Dark Eldar were also my second army, and I'd actually been entertaining thoughts of getting rid of them rather than updating the collection, so it's nice to have a reason to try them out again.
The basis of the alliance is quite simply that a Haemonculus with the Crucible of Malediction will melt psykers that fall under Shadows in the Warp. Combined with Torment Grenade Launchers on a Raider, nearby psykers will have take a leadership test at -4 Ld or be removed from play. A little luck and good positioning could see this 20 point item melt major portions of a psyker heavy army like daemon summoning spam or seer council.

Dark Eldar's ready access to Lance weapons also helps boost my army's anti-vehicle potential, reducing the need for anti-tank Tyranids, which are generally less than ideal.

Tyranids: 

  • Hive Tyrant: Electroshock Grubs, Wings, 2 TL Devourers
  • Hive Tyrant: Electroshock Grubs, Wings, 2 TL Devourers
  • Zoanthrope
  • Zoanthrope
  • Venomthrope
  • 15 Hormagaunts
  • Tervigon
  • 30 Termagants: 20 Devourers
  • Hive Crone
  • Hive Crone
  • 2 Biovores
Dark Eldar:
  • Haemonculus: Crucible of Malediction, Venom Blade
  • 10 Kabalite Warriors: Splinter Cannon
  • Raider: Enhanced Aethersails, Retrofire Jets, Torment Grenade Launcher
  • 3 Wracks
  • Raider: Enhanced Aethersails, Flickerfield, Torment Grenade Launcher, Retrofire Jets

Fitting 2 Raiders with a 12" buffer in my deployment zone might be a little tough, but with their Enhanced Aethersails and flat out, they should still be able to get into position turn 1 for a jump on a juicy target turn 2. If deployment space becomes a concern, I could see dropping 5 Devourers to get the Hive Commander upgrade for a flyrant and outflank the Termagant blob. That said, I'll also be shooting for the Infiltrate Warlord Trait, which would also alleviate any deployment difficulties.

The game plan is simply to use turn 1 for positioning (and keep the Raiders hidden but close if possible). Turn 2 I should be in position to use the crucible while bringing a flyrant or zoanthrope into position to put Shadows over the targeted psykers. Meanwhile the rest of my army does what it normally does.

As far as fluff justification, Dark Eldar are fickle and self serving enough to make it a fairly simple reason:

Haemonculus Malethif couldn't believe his luck; his superiors would certainly be pleased when his raiding party returned with the often sought Tyranid specimens rather than the expected Mon'keigh. While the Mon'keigh were putting up stiff resistance to the Tyranids, and Malethif had a sneaking suspicion his assigned raid may have been intended as a trap, a little push to preserve the most prized Tyranid specimens would help ensure a fine haul. He even fancied he might be given the opportunity to advance himself, and if not, he could extract a fine price from the Wych cults for such monstrous pit fighters. 

I probably won't use this army all that often, but I think I'll be bringing it to SpikeyCon and have some fun with it. What are your thoughts?

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