Riding the comp horse

Not that long ago I posted an article on comp and it drew a lot of comments from the blogging public. It's quite apparent there are a good number of tournament players that abhor comp in any size or shape. More recently I posted on various 40k forums the scoring system for the Bolter Beach 40k GT. A storm then ensued. Like I said a lot of tournament players don't like comp. Here is how the overall scoring system works for Bolter Beach:

Battlepoints - 55%
Comp - 15%
Sportsmanship - 15%
Appearance - 15%

So a total of 45 percent for your soft scores. Scoring for comp is open and judged by your opponents. There are three categories - two categories are based on your army composition (20% each of the total comp score and 6% each of your total score) while the third category deals with your army build (60% of your total comp score and 9% of your total score). I like an open scoring system judged by your opponents versus a closed scoring system determined by the TOs. You know what to expect with an open system and can build your army list appropriately. I feel that a closed system judged by the TOs has an unfair bias towards people coming from out of town. If you are a local and know the TOs then obviously you have a much better idea of what they like to see in an army and what they don't like as well. Let's be honest, people coming from out of town are paying a lot of money to travel and for a place to stay, an event shouldn't have a bias against them.

So upon stewing over all the complaints about our scoring system my partner and I decided to award the pair of golden tickets to the Vegas GT as follows - one will be awarded to the player who wins best overall and the other to the player who wins best general. Here is how our awards breakdown:

Best Overall - battle + sports + comp + appearance
Best General - battle
Best Sportsmanship - sports
Best Appearance - appearance (judged by a panel)
Player's Choice - voted on by players

This solution seems to have made everyone happy (knock on wood). My partner and I both feel it's important that everyone feel like they have a shot at a top award so this seems to fairly address everyone.

G

Some tweaks to the blog...

I made a few cosmetic changes to the appearance of the blog... For instance the green background really pops out now. I also modified posting/comment privileges so no more OpenID... OpenID I have found lends itself to people who prefer to post anon and typically they'll come here to trash an article. I have no problem with criticism but people that do so and wish to remain anon... I find these types tend to be people who would never have the balls to say stuff like face to face. Unfortunately a good portion of the Internet is roamed by packs of these anons... They have a huge chip on their shoulders and love to rant away like it's nobodys business. Kind of sad they don't have the balls to man up. I'll be at Adepticon next month with Green Blow Fly on my name tag. If you'd like to talk about anything look me up, but please don't pester me while I'm playing. I'll probably wear my White Socks jersey on Sunday that has Green Blow Fly stitched on the back... Buy me a beer and maybe I'll share some secrets with ya too. Heh!

G

Anti Jack Ape Protection Has Been Enabled

Nodbody's Perfect II

Cool I am
When I am with you
Cool I'm not
When I am lonely

I feel so sad
What I did wasn't right
I feel so bad
And I must say to you

Sorry, but...
















Nobody's perfect
What did you expect
I'm doing my best

I feel so sad
But you know I'll be true
I feel so bad
And I must say to you

Sorry, but...















Nobody's perfect
Nobody's perfect
What did you expect
I'm doing my best

Nobody's perfect
Nobody's perfect
I was dishonest
I will do my best
Yeah

Cool I am
When I am with you
Cool I'm not
When I am lonely

Nobody's perfect
Nobody's perfect
What did you expect
I'm doing my best

Nobody's perfect
Nobody's perfect
I was dishonest
I will do my best
Yeah

Mmm, mmm, yeah
Mmm, mmm, yeah
Perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect

Nodbody's Perfect

Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody has those days
1, 2, 3, 4!

Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody has those days
Everybody knows what, what' I'm talkin' 'bout
Everybody gets that way

Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody has those days
Everybody knows what, what I'm talkin' 'bout
Everybody gets that way, yeah!

Sometimes I'm in a jam
I've gotta make a plan
It might be crazy
I do it anyway

No way to know for sure
I figure out a cure
I'm patchin' up the holes
But then it overflows

If I'm not doin' too well
Why be so hard on myself?

Nobody's perfect
I gotta work it
Again and again
'Til I get it right

Nobody's perfect
You live and you learn it
And if I mess it up sometimes
Nobody's perfect

Sometimes I work a scheme
But then it flips on me
Doesn't turn out how I planned
Gets stuck in quicksand

But no problem can't be solved
Once I get involved
I try to be delicate
Then crash right into it

But my intentions are good, yeah yeah yeah
Sometimes just misunderstood

Nobody's perfect
I gotta work it
Again and again
'Til I get it right

Nobody's perfect
You live and you learn it
And if I mess it up sometimes

Nobody's perfect
I gotta work it
I know in time I'll find a way
Nobody's perfect

Sometimes I fix things up
And they fall apart again
Nobody's perfect
I know I mix things up
But I always get it right in the end
You know I do

Next time you feel like
It's just one of those days
When you just can't seem to win
If things don't turn out the way you planned
Figure something else out
Don't stay down, try again, yeah!

Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody has those days
Everybody knows what, what' I'm talkin' 'bout
Everybody gets that way

Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody has those days
Everybody knows what, what I'm talkin' 'bout
Everybody gets that way

Nobody's perfect
I gotta work it
Again and again
'Til I get it right

Nobody's perfect
You live and you learn it
And if I mess it up sometimes

Nobody's perfect
I gotta work it
I know in time I'll find a way

Nobody's perfect
You live and you learn it
'Cause everybody makes mistakes
Nobody's perfect

(Nobody's perfect)
No no
Nobody's perfect!

Designing a Mission!

Well I have been away the past two weeks on travel for work so not as much time to blog unfortunately but now I'll be home for awhile then in March it's back on the road again with Adepticon right around the corner! Yesterday was lots of fun bantering back and forth with Eric... Hee!

Anyways I have to design some missions for Bolter Beach and thought I would start an article here for feedback. First when designing a mission I like to use the popular Adepticon template:

- Three objectives (primary, secondary & tertiary)
- Bonus points

Personally I like for the three objectives to tie in together and create the theme behind the mission. As an example here are the three objectives I used for the final mission at my NC GT last October entitled Ancient Adversaries:

Primary - Kill the opponent's highest point HQ (enemy commander)
Secondary - Your highest point HQ (your commander) destroyed the enemy commander
Tertiary - Your commander was not destroyed by the end of the game, was on the table and not broken

This was a tough mission as I wanted it to be for the final mission and it was designed to prevent draws between the top players. All three objectives were directly tied together and they dictated the style of play. Some might feel that these objectives were strongly biased toward assault armies but in fact only the secondary objective required your commander to destroy the enemy commander but this could be accomplished in the shooting phase as well as the assault phase.

I don't like objectives that both players can score. I think every mission should produce a clear cut winner and loser. The example I provided above both players coukd score the tertiary BUT in order to do so neither player could score either the primary and secondary objectives. Sure you could have played for a draw BUT then you would have taken yourself out of the running for best overall or warmaster (i.e., best general).

I have a little twist to the bonus points I borrowed from the old GW RTT missions, the first set of bonus points add to your score while the second set subtract from your score. Again I like for the bonuses to draw from the same theme. For example:

+1, You have more troop choice left at the end of the game than your opponent and they are on the table and not broken.
+1, Your commander is alive at the end of the game, is on the table and not broken.
+1, You have more scoring units in your opponent's deployment zone at the end of the game and they are not broken.
-1, All your troop choices are destroyed or broken.
-1, You have no scoring units in your opponent's deployment zone.

I do not like to add any of my own rules or change the basic concepts of the game. For example I would never introduce a rule that adds or subtracts to your reserve rolls. Typically I find that these types of rules will generally help one style of army list while hurting another. I am also against using victory points. A good mission in my opinion is created such that the game will not end in a draw and have to be decided by victory points. If a game should end in a draw then so be it but this should be a rare circumstance.

Finally and most ideally missions should be heavily play tested using a wide variety of armies. If you don't play test then there are bound to be some sticking points that could have been ironed out. If you are inviting people to come out and play/pay then they deserve to have all the kinks worked out of the missions ahead of time.

G

All about old GBF, Part II

So to quickly recap the first article in this series I started wargaming in the Pacific northwest where there was a lot of emphasis placed on both theme and composition. Those have always stuck with me throughout my career as a wargamer. It wasn't until I moved back east that I started getting involved in the national tournament scene and in my opinion the old GW GTs were simply the best... You paid to play plus the cost of staying in a nice hotel with lunch covered. It was really exciting back then and you saw some really amazing armies like Mike Butcher's and Troy Clifton's.

The gaming scene in the area where I played in NC tended to be rather cliquish and I am one of those guys that likes to play at different stores. One of the best ever gaming stores I have ever played at is All Fun & Games located in Cary, NC. AF&G is owned and run by Vivian Carlton and I remember back when she was just kid working at a gaming store close to my apartment. They were big into leagues with a tournament to end each season and that was always a lot of fun. I met one of my best friends while I lived in NC, Mike Walsh... I still remember the first time we played, I brutalized his eldar but within a matter of a few weeks Mike raised his game and looking back I think our overall record versus each other is dead even. Mike is a very competitive player and his old Word Bearers army ended up being copied by a lot of other gamers around the country. Mike forced me to also raise my game and constantly playing against each other we both were able to take our game to the next level.

I won my share of RTTs in the area and as a result everybody came to play me with their A game so I had to raise it up another notch to keep my spot intact. I would say that my World Eaters army was my first very competitive list and it eventually became very mechanical. Back then rhino rush was still in play and in my opinion World Eaters could considtently beat all other rhino rush armies such as Blood Angels, Black Templars and Space Wolves... Being able to field good daemonic units made the difference. While they werent as good as they are now they could quickly saturate your opponent's battleline, tying them up long enough so that your World Eaters could finish them off. It was with the release of the 4th edition CSM codex that I was able to break through to a higher level of play, first with the Undivided/heavy Khorne then next with Emperor's Children. Emperor's Children will always be one of my favorite armies ever and they were just amazing both shooting (noise weapons) and in close combat. I finally took the plunge and started fielding a siren prince. Later some other top gamers elsewhere in the country had a year of phenomonal success using the siren prince but I was like 'already been there & done that'. Hee! Emperor's Children was an army I could smash other local gamers with but it was not until my first trip to Adepticon (2007) that I had the opportunity to take them to the national level leading a team to the team tourney. I won two games, lost one and tied another. It wasn't the best team I have played on but it was the opportunity to learn what it takes to be successful in Chicago. The first game of the team tourney I was hoodwinked by another team that brought an army themed on zombies using the Lost & the Damned rules... They had a lot of mutants modeled as shuffling zombies but then after my initial movement phase they informed their mutants were in fact not zombies and as such were not bound by the Slow & Purposeful rule. I thought that was extremely misleading and if I had known I would have played it entirely different... I lost some of my best units the first turn as a result of the deception. Later Mike Walsh and I ended up playing against Pete Deflorio from the Warmongers in the last round... They were fielding eldar & CSM... it was a brutal match that went down the wire with the end result a draw. That was and will always be one of my favorite games ever!

By this time I had moved to Florida starting off in the Orlando area. I was heavy into Blood Angels at the time and ended up winning over six RTTs that year with Deathwing, Space Marines, Blood Angels, Thirteenth Company and Dark Angels... That year was a milestone in my 40k career and I eventually found myself joining the club 40k Wrecking Crew and meeting my other best friend Gareth Hunt. It seemed like wherever Gareth and I played we always ended up in the top two spots.

More laters!
G

Deep Striking Mawlocs on top of enemy units & Rules As I Want Them To Be (RAIWTTB)

The rules for deep striking states you must place the unit on the table... Placing them on an enemy unit is not the table. It's very simple and easy to understand. If GW meant for the Mawloc to be able to be placed on top of an enemy unit then they can correct this when they release the FAQ. Sometimes it amazes me the length that people will go to bend a rule.

G

All about old GBF!

Here are my origins as a wargamer. I started playing 40k with the release of 3rd edition. My first two armies were Dark Angels and Chaos Space Marines. I was playing out in the northwest and the gamers I hung out with were all about the fluff and building beautiful armies. This was prior to the WAAC gamer or RAW as we know it now. My friend who got me started was a horrid mentor... I was someone for him to win as many easy games as possible. I kept count of my wins and losses... I only managed two wins out of the first 60 games. It was really frustrating and at first i was simply just trying to learn all the rules. Mainly I would play my DA versus orks and i was completely overwhelmed by the horde... But slowly I started to develop some basic tactics and win games. The guys I played with out there were awesome! I formed a club and it's still going strong today I'm very proud to say.

Next I moved to the triangle area of North Carolina and got right back into the game running World Eaters. I had lots of daemons in my army and you used to be able to summons daemons off of other daemons. About 50 percent of my army was daemonic and it was very fast and hard hitting. I took them to the 2001 Dallas GT and ended up winning a best sportsmanship award along with 3 ties and 3 massacres. I crushed three BA armies the second day. I came home and eventually grew tired of the army winning just about every RTT I entered. Those World Eaters were unstoppable! So my next army was Space Wolves... This army had a very unique theme and won a lot of awards for appearance and best army. I took them to the 2002 Dallas GT and broke even in my games. I also brought them to a Baltimore Games Day RTT but didn't do as well... There were a lot of tools there and the comp scoring boned SW in particular. The 4th edition CSM codex was then released and I built an undivided army that was heavy on Khorne units... This was my first over the top army and i ended up in the top five at the Charlotte 2003 GT only losing one game, plus I won an award for best army. I won many RTTs with this list and there were several variations as well including an eight man Berzerker biker list! They were totally tooled up and I had a possessed biker champion hosting a Bloodthirster... S8 at I5 on the charge with a lighting claw to boot! Crazy crazy !!!

More to come soon:

g

Adepticon 2010... 39 days left til kickoff

I'm not going to write up a detailed syllabus... I'll just briefly describe what am I planning to do there:

•Thursday
Travel to Chicago late afternoon, check in to hotel and chill, meet friends and drink beer.

•Friday/Gladiator
I've got my super Forgeworld unit again. This will be my last Gladiator so I'd like to go out strong. Last year I did okay but I know I could have done better and that's why I'm playing again.

•Saturday/40k Team Tourney
The year before my team was playing on the top table in the final round and I'd like another shot at the gold ring. I have a solid team with solid armies plus all the frill; should be very interesting and I'm interested to see who we face off against. Last year my team played Dakka Detachment #1 and Cold Steel Mercs... It was my worst year in the team event but we are ready this year for sure!

•Sunday
Hang out and watch people play the new Tyranids in the championship RTT. Its a great way to learn about new armies watching the veterans and I learned a lot last year about daemons.

•Monday
Fly to Texas for a conference.

That's it. If you are planning to go let me know and maybe we can drink some together. Despite what some people have to say Adepticon is the best event in the country and has something for everyone. I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world.

G

HIWPI vs. RAW

HIWPI = How I would play it

RAW = Rules as written

Here is a mantra you will hear every rules lawyer and RAW advocate say:

"OH GAWD!!! OH NOES NOT AGAIN!!! GW FUBARED HTE RULES AGAIN!!!"

Rules lawyers and RAW advocates are deconstructionists. First they must destroy so that they can rebuild the rules to suit them. They tell you how horrible is GW but they themselves can never ever create their own game. It's easy to cry like a little baby that needs to be burped but it takes an adult to play the game as it was intended and be a great sport about it.

I find it amazing that the HIWPI crowd has a lot more terpitude than RAW advocates. RAW advocates bend the rules very hard by playing intense word games and to me they are huge mobile douche bags.

Let's discuss.

G

€ The Bio Titan (Hierophant) & the Gladiator €

Well well well! The Adepticon Gladiator is right around the corner and I have been reading a lot about the Tyranid Bio Titan, the Hierophant. This beast just doesn't seem to have any weaknesses and has gotten some major perks from the new Tyranid codex (lashwhip & warpfield). Now some people will tell you that warpfield only works for a Zoanthrope but that's a decision for the organizers at Adepticon. The Gladiator is all about crushing face so really no one should start crying about how broken is the Bio Titan. I have no problem with it. What I do hope though is people won't bring it, win the Gladiator, then declare that they brought this beast just to prove how broken it truly is. Everybody knows just how broken it is, we don't need anymore public demonstrations. If you win it all with a Hierophant then just be honest and say I beat your face with a mega hammer... That's what it's all about.

: )

It is extremely funny to me when I hear people complain about the cheese they go up against at Gladiator... No duh dude! They even have their own patented saying "No Whining, Grow a Pair". Pretty much the Gladiator is all about Forgeworld now and who can afford to bring the big toys. That's just the way it is and I am fine with that, I should be too since I plan to bring some of my own Forgeworld goodness. It's a lot of fun too. I will say that honestly I am hopeful that there will be one mission that seriously nerfs the big bad Bio Titan... It's just too good as it stands now...

• T9, 10W + regeneration
• lashwhip & warpfield
• Gargauntuan Creature (super buff versus psychic powers and other huge perks)
• Charge arc up to 24" and can leave combat
• lots of S10 shots that can all be targeted at separate enemy units
• plus even more nastiness...

It is going to be a lot of fun! And there are ways to effectively counter it too.

G

Wow!

I had just typed in a long article on the new Nidz then all of a sudden I receive a phone call on my iPhone and the post is wiped out. Oh well.

So I will instead discuss where I think the so called metagame will be headed by May. I know a lot of people were hoping the new Nidz would be the answer to mech IG but I hear a lot of my good friends that are currently playtesting the new Nidz say that they are having some serious problems with mech in general. One of these friends basically has the same concept as me how to run the new Nidz... Hold everything in reserve and swamp them on turn two using the Tyrant power Hive Commander for the +1 reserve. It's sound in theory to me and should work better than daemons because you can opt out of one round of enemy shooting... But still my friend says he is having some problems with mech. I won't go through all the options for shooting but I will say that if you want the surest thing to pop armor coming in from reserve then Zoanthropes in mycetic spores is the best bet. There one Achilles' Heel is that Zoies must take a psychic test to shoot, so you need two to three Zoies per spod. I have decided to drop the Zoies and Deathleaper from my list so I can bulk up on other units that are more versatile, such as what you saw in my third variation of my genestealer shock list.

Now on to my thoughts on what will become the first real counter to mech IG and other mechanized lists such as CSM, SM & SoB with inducted IG... from the latest batch of rumors it sounds like the new Blood Angels will have the ability to absolutely destroy mech IG. It's interesting to me that Blood Angels will be released so soon following Tyranids and to me I think there could be a reason why GW decided in their infinite wisdom to release the two new armies back to back in terms of overall game balance. If the new Blood Angels are mech killers then I think it will make the game much easier for Tyranids in general. I plan to play both Tyranids (as you are well aware) and Blood Angels so this is a very exciting year for me.

G

The reality of playing in tournaments without any soft scores

These days I read a lot about people complaining about soft scores. Okay so for non tournament players you might be interested to know just what exactly are soft score...

• Sportsmanship
You score your opponent on whether or not they were fun to play, it's that simple. Obviously the more arguments and heated debates you have regarding the rules the lower you will score. Now there are also some players that will try to manhandle you and get away with murder... You'll figure this out real fast most of the time but I have encountered some players who will play the game close and then go for the cheat late to win. These kinds of players you need to deal with immediately as soon as you see them pull the first major rules infraction. It's probably best not to sweat little stuff but then again on the other hand if you let them bend a certain rule early on it might come back to haunt you later on at a critical moment. My philosophy is if I am playing a very competitive gamer who plays fast and loose with the rules then I am going to call them on everything. Sure they will ding your soft scores but at least you can deny them the battlepoints and tank their soft scores in return... Heck they deserve it. Now if I am playing someone that wants to have a fun game and is competitive then I'll try to ignore minor issues but if something big comes up we will have to talk about. Ask them to show the rules, the burden of proof is their responsibility!

• Theme/Composition
This one is often hotly debated on the Internet. Basically you grade your opponent on how well their army reflects the background of their race. It's pretty easy to figure out in my opinion. Win At All Costs (WAAC) gamers hate comp because they love broken combinations and as much spam as they can fit into their army. WAAC gamers will just take as much of the best units as possible. A great example to me is daemon armies that take only four five man Plague Bearer squads for their troop choices... It's the least points possible for a highly resilient unit that is great at holding an objective; they have so much other nasty stuff in their armies breathing down your neck you'll probably never ever be able to attack their Plague Bearers.

I love the comp score because it rewards the gamers who build really cool themed armies. You can build a themed army that is also competitive but let's face the facts, WAAC players don't want to be bothered with theme, they just want point & click EZ button armies that crush your face.

• Appearance
These days it's okay to pay someone else to paint your army and receive credit for this soft score at a tournament. That's just the way it is. I had my daemons professionally painted by GMM Studios and I typically have all my vehicles painted by a professional. This score could come from your opponent, the judges or both. I think again gamers that field a beautiful army should be rewarded even if they didn't paint it themselves. Wouldn't it suck if all you saw were quickly dry brushed and sand flocked spam hammer armies? To me that is what the soft scores are all about... Keeping the game a hobby!

I can tell you right now if you ever happen to play in a tournament with no soft scores (e.g., Gladiator, Ard Boyz) you will probably play against some cheaters. This because they know you can't really hurt their overall score and that is why they don't like the soft scores. It's important to be aware of that going into a highly competitive cutthroat style event.

G

What is up with some players and Dark Angels?

Dark Angels were one of my first armies and I still love them dearly. There is just something very cool about Marines in long flowing robes. I even once had a Fallen Angels army that took 8th place in the Charlotte GW GT back in 2003. My how time flies and things change. I was horrified when I read the new Dark Angels codex. I still play Deathwing occassionally and even brought mine to the Adepticon Gladiator match last year... They fared pretty darn well too, beating one of those Super Titan lists.

I have been following a thread over on Dakka's YMDC forum regarding a poll about Dark Angels using the new wargear from the Space Marine codex. We all know that the new Space Wolves have access to 3+ stormshields and 2 shot cyclone missile launchers so what's the big deal if your opponent plays Dark Angels and wants to use the new wargear? I am willing to bet the new Blood Angels will also have access to 3+ stormshields and 2 shot cyclone missile launchers. If somebody asked me I'd say sure but you must use the new smoke launchers and PotMS as well. It seems some people have gotten their shorts all twisted up in a big knot saying fearless troops of terminators with the new wargear would be broken. I say that's just a bunch of bunk. I play Deathwing and I'm pretty darn good with them so I know their limitations. Any five man unit in the game that is single wound & T4 will die to torrents of small arms fire. The all around 3+ save would help but to play a competitive Deathwing army it's not just about putting as many terminators with 3+ stormshields on the table. The 2 shot missile launcher is actually much more of an advantage in my opinion. It's all about popping rhinos and chimeras now and that extra shot makes a huge difference since it basically doubles your odds. People complaining about the stormshields simply can't see the trees from the forest.

While you can win a lot of games with Deathwing it's always hard to crank out the massacres and that in and of itself limits the performance of the army at a tournament versus other veteran gamers. Sure everyone will thinks it's cool to bring this fluffy army but they will also be glad you did since the perception is DW is an easy army to beat, not an easy army to win games.

Of all the special characters in the game to me no one is more deserving of a 3+ stormshield as Belial... 3 attacks base and he can't even carry the fabled Sword of Secrets? What the hell was Jervis thinking? To me people that won't allow Dark Angel players to use the new wargear simply want every advantage they can muster to win. That's how I see it.

G

Kalifornication

Well this past Sunday just as I was getting ready to buy my ticket and watch the new Mel Gibson movie I checked my cell phone and saw I had a voicemail from the president of my company. Turns out a customer wanted me to fly out the next day and help them put some equipment they had purchased from us in-service. I had to go straight home and book my flight for the trip. Well it's Friday now and I'm still here in California. I was hoping to be able to schedule a game with a socal gamer during an evening but that fell through. I did have the opportunity to visit a really neat comicbook shop (Nuclear Comics) not too far from San Clemente one evening. Everybody was talking about the Lost two hour episode but I missed it... I haven't followed Lost to be honest. I'll be on call tomorrow then returning to my beloved Florida this Sunday. I'm really looking forward to coming back home but I have to say the San Clemente area is a very nice place to visit. I might be back towards the end of the month and if so hopefully I'll have a little bit more advance notice, which would help for scheduling an away game. I would love to see how the socal gamers roll over here on the left coast!

G

Genestealer Shock III

Okay so I had some free time on my hands and decided to revisit the stealer shock concept. The funny thing is that I forgot to include the Deathleaper and spodding Zoies. I was basically trying my hand at a revised Tyranid list then upon creation it dawned upon me upon later review that I had basically come up with a more viable genestealer shock army so here it is...

-HQ-
Hive Tyrant/2x twin linked brain leech devourer, wings, Hive Commander, adrenal glands
Alpha Warrior/2x bone sword, death spitter, adrenal glands

-Troops-
15x Genestealer w. Broodlord
15x Genestealer w. Broodlord
15x Genestealer
5x Warrior/each w. pair of bone swords, 4x death spitter, venom cannon - mycetic spore

-Heavy Support-
Trygon Prime/adrenal glands
Trygon Prime/adrenal glands

This list weighs in around 2000 points and the Tyrant costs ~295 points. I don't really have any shooting that can take out landraiders but to be honest I think people spend too much time worrying about landraiders and how to counter them and if I run across one I'll just have to either ignore it or try to take it out in close combat. The three monstrous creatures are S7 when charging due to furious charge plus 2d6 for armor penetration... that's not shabby at all, if I hit I need to roll an 8+ to penetrate which is roughly 50 percent. Dropping the Deathleaper and spodding Zoies freed up a fair number of points I was able to use to purchase another Trygon and upgrade them both to Primes. This army definitely has some serious firepower that can crack rhinos/chimeras, which to me is a lot more important that trying to over-compensate the list to take put landraiders with shooting. The Deathleaper and spodding Zoies really don't fit into the theme of this army and I feel comfortable leaving them back on the Hive Ships. This list will excel in close combat, of course and that is my favorite aspect of the game. It would really suck to have a landraider redeemer roaming around in my backfield scorching my genestealers but to be honest that is a problem for most any foot slogging army. I'd rather design a fun army rather than come up with another pre meta spam list. This list certainly has some spam but I think from what I have seen elsewhere on the Internet it's fairly unique and is a much improved attempt at genestealer shock. I have thought about it a lot and my conclusion is the points you pay for gaunts and Tervigons are much better invested in genestealers... that's how I see it anyways.

G