Tyranid Tactica: Venomthropes

Old School here to present Venomthropes in the Tyranid Tactica series here. I have to admit, that I have given the Venomthropes a bad rap in the local scene here after the first game I played with them went WAY south. I have changed my mind since starting this tactica and running a walking list a couple of times.

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The obvious Pros of venomthropes include:

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The 5+ coversave bubble: Now I know I decry the 5+ "hail Mary" save, but when it takes serious focus fire to down your T6 MCs, a 5+ cover is more likely to come into play and give you a chance to get more creatures across the board.

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Defensive Grenades: This is an obvious boon to walking armies who are likely to get charged. It dampens the effects of power weapons can have, limits libbies even further and can also limit those armies with counter attack (a nice side bonus when playing against the wolves).

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Dangerous Terrain: Making opponents move as if in dangerous didn't seem like a big deal until I faced a Nightspinner for the first time. Making units take that test whittles at them and makes an opponent second guess whether or not to commit to a charge. Most of the time it will do nothing, but it can have some decisive effects (just think about how many times one more wound would have made a difference.

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Lash Whips: Don't let these bad boys make you think you are some sort of combat thrope, because they are not, these are there so that when the enemy hits your guant screen, you can roll forward with your big CC counter assault and make the enemy's critical units strike at I1 and turn the tide of the fight in your direction, garauntee CC victory and set the momentum forever in your favor. Poison attacks that wound on a 2+ are cute, but isn't really a big deal.

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Toxic Miasma: This is there to help soak up wounds on those horde armies like Guard and Orks and to really screw other armies like Tau for letting themselves get tied up with Nids.

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Now let's talk Cons for the Venom:

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First and Foremost! It takes up Elite Slots! This is an obvious con in the world of Hive Guard spam, Zoanboat bananzas and deathleaper/ Doom tagteam wrestling, but seriously, that is why we have tank suppression and heavy anti-tank built into our Fast and Heavy slots ... so given the proper list and synergy, the venoms still make sense.

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Weaksauce: The venom can be double-toughnessed off the board and has a not-so-mighty 5+ armor save - ouch. That sounds horrible, but it can be mitigated by taking multiple small units of them to spread their bubble and create targeting issues and they can be protected simply by the fact that most opponents are going to be looking at the big bugs crawling across the board and wanting to shoot them - so messing with target priority is the best way to protect them. If they do find themselves under really heavy fire, you can always go to ground as well.

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Now that we have established the pros and cons, let's take a look at how synergy works for them.

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Spam them or don't take them: Look, you can try to justufy running a single unit of them to sit in the back field providing cover for a T-fex, a Harpy or a unit of X, but why spend points there when those units are either fast, tough or the points could be spent pushing your army further in the direction the rest of your list is going anyway?

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Not so Fast: These guys have a 6" bubble of awsome and move slow, so they do not jive well with very fleet armies like Trygon/ Stealer Spam armies and cost a lot to pod, so they don't really fit in Hive Commander armies either. You can put them there if you want to, but they will seem useless and they will simply be a waste of points you need for anti-tank in these lists (this is a mistake I have made, so listen!)

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Slow and Hard (Oh My!): These guys benefit a list that is tough, has multiple wounds, screening units, anti-tank and slow enough for them to keep up with a hard CC core. This creates an army that has a strong center, target priority scrambling, tank popping and troop eating with advantages that bone other hard CC lists. What does it look like? Let's check it out.

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Hive Tyrant 170

Old Adversary 25

Heavy Venom Cannon 25

Bone Sword, Lash Whips

2 Tyrant Guard 120

Venomthrope - 55

Venomthrope - 55

Venomthrope - 55

11x Termagants 50

10x termagants 50

Tervigon w cluster spines, catalyst, poison sacs 185

Tervigon w Cluster Spines, Catalyst, Poison Sacs 185

Harpy w/ Twin-linked Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines 170

Harpy w/ Twin Linked Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines 170

Tyrannofex w/ rupture cannon, cluster spines, dissecator larvae 265
Tyrannofex w/ rupture cannon, cluster spines, dissecator larvae 265

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Now this is neither the most original list (see the 2000 point version on YTTH, KYE or Spit for the Dice Gods) or the most potent 1850 list the Nids can throw down, but it does illustrate the synergy of the venomthropes in a walking Nid army. This list can pop and shake tanks with 5 units as it moves across the board. At first glance the Tyrant and his guard seem like a liability, but then look at the tervigons (spitting screens), and walking tyrannofexes (their guns are assault) - now combine that with the Old adversary bubble and the cloud effect of the venomthropes. The special rules are flying everywhere, making the Tervi and Tyrannofex a threat in CC along with the potency of the tyrant and the support from surviving harpies on the skirts of the venomthrope bubbles and suddenly we have a very killy recipe that assaulty armies break themselves against and shooty armies have a hard time scraping off the board before it hits them. Just keep it in a bundle, keep it moving and keep it in supporting range. Use your powers, shoot and move and don't freak out if the enemy starts insta-popping venomthropes. Chances are they are going to kill some off, but it is going to help get the MCs across the board. If they dump shots on MCs, they will likley be dealing with cover saves, so again, the venoms help get you across the board.

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That is my two cents on Venomthropes. There are plenty of ways to run a list around them, like a ravener assault list, but I think the one above gives the maximum support needed for a take-all comers. That is my two cents on Venomthropes. Please contribute your experience, list options or comments - every little bit makes articles like these stronger and more helpful to budding Nid players.