Nids: 2 test games later

He rocks so much!

Good Morning!
Kinda hurts that Managarm beat me to it, but hey at least i got some info right from the table top!
I managed to lure some of the guys who started to play with me in 2nd and 3rd Edition into the mancave, and get 2 games in with the new Nids codex. Yes i have a copy. No you cant have it. But as always, google is your friend. ;)

So we sat down, each of us made an army and then we faced a randomized opponent. I played Black Templars first and then Space Wolves in the "winners bracket". 

I had to face, Land Raiders, Ragnar, Canis and tons of 3+ armor saves and armor.

So heres what i used:
Tyrant

3 Zoantrophes in Capsule

Deathleaper

3 Hiveguard

2 Tervigons

2x20 Termagaunts

3 Warriors

Mawloc

Carnifex in Capsule

With this i had 5 scoring units and the ability to generate even more. Lucky me i had to play loot counters both times....guess its just me. ;) How does it work? Keep everything in reserve, come in on 3+ or 2+ depending if the Liktor has showed up, autoenter on turn 3. Lots of fun. The army lacks  focus and i guess i could make a tougher one. But it had most of the units i wanted to try out.

So how did the units do? Well let me first say one thing, Mawlocs rock! They are awesome, if your enemy has foot units on the field, they will cry. Light armor? Still gets hit from behind with st6. And if your opponent shoots at the Mawloc, he does not shoot at anything else. And if you survive you can always charge into something or burrow again. AWESOME! He was absolute devasting in my second game, killed 4 fenris wolves and the wolves ran of the board taking Canis with them! He also killed like 10 or so more Space wolves. He didnt killed a single marine in my first game though, deviated all over the place.

The Tyrant is ok. He costs A LOT but he is worth it, IF you play a army list which makes use of his abilities. If all you want is a cc unit, go with Alpha Warriors. I used him with Insight, which grants me +1 on my reserves. Other then that, lash and sword is nice, heavy venomcannon is ok.

The Zoantrophes, did their job in the first game. They killed the Black Templars Land raider. Died when they got charged and the capsule killed some more marines and then died when it got charged. They failed in the second game, where they just tore off a lascannon. And then got killed by Ragnar and friends. They are good, and i will use at least 1 unit in every army, st10 ap1 lance is just to good to miss. 

Deathleaper, he didnt do much. Killed a few marines and immobilized a rhino. Hes in the list for another +1 on reserves and for his funny special rules. W3 malus on a opponents character model is fun, even more if its a psyker. And i mean come on Deathleaper, awesome name! ;) Stelek from www.yesthetruthhurts.com put me onto this one.

The Hiveguards are good, st8 shooting which does not need los is always good. They didnt do much in both games, just walked around and shot stuff. Ill guess that´s what they do.

Termagaunts you need them. They are cheap, they shot, they score and they can kill marines in cc with roids and poison from the Tervigons. Well and for each unit you can take a Tervigon as scoring unit.

The warriors managed to avoid action most of the time. They did shoot a few times, they got shot with lascannons alot and died. Didnt saw cc action, but i reckon they rock if they get there. Energy weapons which can autokill? Yes please!

Tervigons are good, really good. The option on a t6, w6, 3+, fnp, MC which is scoring, is too good to pass. I like them, i will use them, but not more then 2. They are not cheap by any means, but the ability to spawn more Termagaunts, boosting their power and tossing around feel no pain is worth the points to me. One always managed to spend their Termagaunts in one go and the other always spawned tons.

The Fex is still good, although he does get really pricey, really quick. Put him in a capsule, shock him, shoot, hope to survive and then run him into cc. Worked quite good for me.

Ah one last word on the capsules, they are really nice. I always liked the fluff on these and i think that its high time nids get some decent shock options. They can kill stuff with shooting and cc, are autokillable, but cheap. I think over on www.chainfist.com there is a cheap option, how to get some "eggs".

So let me conclude that i like the new Nids, a lot. The codex plays totally different from the last one and i feel it has a lot of options for fiendly games. It might not be the best for tournament players, but i will totally crush foot lists. If your not mounted up, you will die, thats what i learned from my first two games. Hopefully ill get some more in, in the next days.


So with that i wish you all the best in 2010 and a nice new years party. Ill head over to the kitchen and prepare everything for my birthday party!

Cheers