Saturday, May 7, 2011

Random List Fun: Vanilla Marines MSU and then some... Nids?

Hey folks, how's it hangin?  I've been swamped with projects being due at school, and studying for finals, and all that awesome stuff, so my content has been somewhat lacking of late.  However, I've been playing around with Army Builder for breaks, since I only take short ones, and have created a few lists that, while I'll probably never make them, are worth discussing.

Well, maybe not worth discussing, at least the first one.  I essentially wanted to see if I could make a 'traditional' shooty marine list, since lately all I've seen are weird hybrids that include Vulkan or Khan + Land Raiders, Terminators, and MSU-type units such as Riflemen Dreads.  So, here's the (admittedly boring) list I came up with, that almost maxes the FOC.  You've probably seen it's like before, lol.

2000 points of Pure Copy + Paste

Librarian w/ whatever- he won't likely do a whole lot, but is a cheap HQ.

5x Marines w/ Las/Plas Razor
5x Marines w/ Las/Plas Razor
5x Marines w/ Las/Plas Razor
5x Marines w/ Las/Plas Razor
5x Marines w/ Las/Plas Razor

Rifleman Dread (Dreadnought w/ 2 Twin-Linked Auto-cannons)
Rifleman Dread
Rifleman Dread

Dakka Pred (Predator w/ Auto-cannon and Heavy Bolter Sponsons)
Dakka Pred
Dakka Pred

3x Attack Bikes
3x Attack Bikes
3x Attack Bikes

Lol, copy and paste for the win.  It has lots of good range firepower, I suppose we could do a (fun!) bullet-point chart of the coolness.
  • 18 S7 shots (12 of which are TL)
  • 5 S9 AP2
  • 10 TL S7 AP2 plasma shots (in close range)
  • 9 S8 Melta shots
  • A few random S5/S4 shots
  • 11 Vehicles- proving that Imperial Guard rule the Vehicle spam game
  • 20 Kill Points... is that it?
Haha, that list doesn't actually look very impressive, though I think if I got to shoot everything first turn, it would at least feel withering.  It's kind of all over the place with different kinds of shots available.  The list doesn't really take much imagination.  One tweak I was thinking of is taking out something and adding combi-weapons to sergeants.  Flamers, maybe?  Or combi-melta?  I dunno.  I don't really care, lol.

The question I pose to you though:  is it good?  Clearly it has some weakness at Kill Points, but that doesn't matter if the list itself can shut the enemy army up quickly.

K, so now that the boring one is over, here's the one you've been patiently waiting for: nids!

(as a disclaimer, I've never once in my life made a Nids list, so go easy on me.  It's the list I wouldn't want to play against though, I think)

2000 Points of Bugs I wouldn't want to play against

Tyrant w/ Lash Whip/Bone Sword, Hive Commander, Old Adversary, Leech Essence/Paroxysm
2x Tyrant Guards

20x Genestealers
20x Genestealers
Tervigon w/ Catalyst
Tervigon w/ Catalyst
20x Gants w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs
20x Gants w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs

3x Zoanthropes
3x Hive Guard
3x Hive Guard

Tervigons can give the 'Stealers FNP, which make no mistake- makes them a huge pain to deal with.  The 20-man Gant squads have S4 on the charge, and the poison makes them able to really put some hurt on anything really (and reroll 'to wound' rolls against T4 when they charge)

(One fun maths sidenote- if all the gants in a single squad charge and get their attacks in range of the Tyrant, they'll cause 22 wounds to T4.  That's enough to kill 7 marines, or nearly 4 terminators)

Hive Guard and Zoanthropes do what they do best, which is to say they pop a few tanks and are ignored because people invariably want to shoot the Tervigons or 'Stealers.  Well, I guess the Zoanthropes will die quick, but the Guard should be alright.  And if they're shooting my Zoanthropes, they aren't shooting the Tervigons, which is money.

And hulking in the back is the Tyrant, who provides everyone around him the glorious Preferred Enemy bubble, and lets me outflank more reliably with 'Stealers if I want to.  Overall, pretty straightforward list, without too many enormous targets I have to try and hide.  I figure against most balanced lists though, if I'm being realistic, the Tervigons will get a turn or two of FNP for the 'Stealers, then die.  Maybe they can give themselves some FNP if faced with missile launcher spam, and sometimes I'll be able to get cover saves for them.

Lol, I'm talking like I'm actually going to build/play the list.  Which I have absolutely no plans for (since I still need to finish my DE, start Grey Knights, and finish off my Blood Angels... not to consider the Cryx, and maybe starting Malifaux sometime in the future)

I dunno.  I wouldn't want to play against it, since FNP 'stealers are a personal nightmare, especially 40 of them.  The list has everything I fear about bugs, and very few 'chinks' in the armor, that I can see.

Thoughts?  It seems that all I've been doing lately is writing up lists, but I don't really have time for more 'in-depth' stuff at the moment.  So, take what you can get.  Hopefully summer school will give me more time to actually devote to the hobby. :-p

3 comments:

Jalil said...

For the bug list, i'd drop the gant upgrades, and maybe enough gants to give the stealers TS. The reroll vs T4 takes them from awesome to Oh Shit in no time. Then splash the AG/TS upgrades on the Tervs.

ServvsUmbrarum said...

I like the SM list. I've been wanting to mix up my list a bit and I think I could have some fun with some attack bikes or maybe a good dreadnought, who knows but this got me thinking.

"The Initiate" calmbeforewar.blogspot.com

Bagelknight said...

You need termagants for Tervis to be troops. If the two squads of gants are termas and not hormas, then it might make more sense to put those close combat upgrades onto the tervigons (cause then the spawned dooders get em too!)

If they are gants, consider making them 10 man squads with devourers instead. They put out a punch!