Tyranid Elite Choices, what's good, what's bad, and what the Hell was GW Thinking? Hive Guard.

In the Tyranid codex the elite slot is the most contended for spot in any list. Here in this series we'll look at each of the codex entries and see what's good, what's bad, and what the hell GW was thinking when it comes to the tyranid elite choices.

Hive Guard - A welcome addition to the Tyranid codex, Hive guard bring something to the Tyranid codex that it was seriously lacking, anti-light vehicle.


The good 

• Ballistic Skill 4 - a rarity in the Tyranid codex, high BS makes this unit more reliable than most other options in the book.
• Toughness 6 and wounds 2 - Stats like these make them tough to kill and not useless in close combat if they're assaulted
• The Impaler Cannon - Coming in at STR 8 AP 4 assault 2 the Impaler cannon is a rhino busting, chimera cracking, raider stomping, piece of awesome. And to top it all off, it ignores line of sight and cover savers granted by anything less than area terrain or turbo boosting. While it only comes it at a 24" range, you get a lot of bang for your buck

The only kinda good

• Static - Were you deploy these guys is usually where they stay, to take advantage of their impaler cannons you want to hide these guys coupled with with short range, and lack of move through cover, the need to re-position  in combat can be your undoing 
• Initiative 2 - You go before power fists, but why are you in close combat anyway?
• LD 7 - This means you should stay in synapse for optimal effectiveness, but won't be in terrible trouble if you stray.
• 4+ save - The tyrant guard trades in some armor for a sweet gun, good deal in my opinion

Overall 

• Coming in at 50 points each the Hive Guard are well worth their points, the question you have to ask when you buy them is, do they fit into your list? They have no option to deep strike and are support units, thus would best compliment a slower foot list. Hive guard are great for defense, and in a balanced army are great for holding your home objective. 
• Are they worth the price of the model, both in points and cash? Yes.
• Are they still relevant? Yes.
• Will they fit into every list? No. Tyranid elite choices are prime real estate, in most games you'll fill all three slots. Experiment, see if they fit in your list, most definitely worth a try.

Tyranids, where are they now?

My first youtube video was a tactics and breakdown video of the hive tyrant. Now I seem to be playing my bugs less and less. The last few codexes have been hard on the Tyranids. What isn't strength 8 ap 2 in the dark eldar codex is poisoned, and with every grey knight carrying around a force weapon the nids feel it hard,  harder than any other book. In my area Tyranids have never been a super popular army, Myself being 1 of 3 Tyranid players within 30 miles. I also see that Tyranids are never in short supply on Ebay, with whole armies being put up on the block.

Where am I going with this? Good question internet readers.
Are nids Still viable as a tournament army?
Yes
Will this list I used six months ago be the one I use to win that tournament?
No

So Starts my re-visiting of Tyranid tactics.
Next article: Tyranid Elite choices

Blogging?

Mr. Nerd Watch here and today we're going to try blogging.

So for any of you that have seen my youtube channel know I've been inactive for a couple of months. I decided to take a hiatus from youtube videos until I can procure a better camera. This should be resolved within a month or two. Until then I'll be posting here, I'd also like to continue doing so after I start the youtube channel back up. So from now on I plan on making one blog post a week. After The youtube videos start rolling out i'll plan on releasing at least two of those a week. So look forward to my first real post coming soon!