I recently posted a tactical article on how to play BA DoA style lists versus mechanized armies such as Space Wolves. Basically you have to play aggressively to win. The longer you sit back the more turns they can shoot you with their Long Fangs missile spam. So does this style of play work well versus hordes (Nidz & orks)? No not really... I don't see much of an advantage deep striking your army versus hordes. First hordes typically don't have much low AP shooting so you don't have to worry about either army dropping big pieplates on your head that ignore your basic army saves. If the orks have SAG then you can take out the Big Mekk with your Vanguard veterans. Second you don't want your units coming in from reserve and then having to wait a turn before they can assault. Fast units such as trukk boyz can jump on you, denying you the charge. So how do you fight hordes with a DoA style army?
First let's deal with Nidz...
What you will commonly find is a good number of monstrous creatures bubblewrapped with lots and lots of gaunts and possibly some genestealers. If you charge the gaunts then you'll be counter charged by the Tyranid monstrous creatures. The gaunts are very easy to beat in close combat but smart players will make sure you cannot multi-charge both their gaunts and monstrous creatures. You don't have much in the way of long ranged shooting since you are fielding primarily an army composed of jump infantry units. Also your Librarian with the Sanguine Sword is going to have issues with Shadows in the Warp (SitW)... If you take an Epistolary you can cast the Sanguine Sword and use the force weapon in the same phase, but if SitW is close by then that's two psychic tests you have to pass on 3d6 plus there might also be the Deathleaper who can lower the basic leadership of your Librarian. I don't see the Deathleaper often but SitW is a very real threat.
One step I have taken to better deal with hordes is to kit my assault squads with a meltagun and a flamer. The flamer has made a big difference. The basic flamer is a great tool versus gaunts - you are wounding them on 3+ plus they have no save (except possibly for FNP). The flamers are also great versus genestealers.
I now run my Honor Guard heavy with stormshields so that I have a unit that can stand up to monstrous creatures in close combat. I also run Sanguinor who is awesome versus monstrous creatures - especially the one he chooses to reroll both hits and wounds against in assault.
I have a Furioso dreadnaught with Blood Talons and a heavy flamer. He will quickly chew through both gaunts and genestealers.
The Vanguard veterans don't have to deep strike versus Tyranids unless your opponent gives you an opening to strike at a unit like Zoanthropes or Hive Guard. Don't count on that though versus a top player. You can deploy them on the table with the rest of your army. Mine now has a power fist and four power swords so they can take down units like Trygons if they get the charge. Trygons with adrenal glands are a very big threat to Space Marines in general and that's one reason why I like to have at least one thunderhammer in my army. If you stun them the first round of combat but don't finish it off you should be able to destroy them the next round.
Finally I have the Stormraven. You'll want to keep it placed out of range from the Hive Guard. Its hard to keep them out of range from a Tyrannofex though. This is your best option for shooting down one monstrous creature from a safe range.
So basically versus Nidz your goal is to first focus on pounding their monstrous creatures then eliminate other major threats like genestealers. You can win in combat against any Tyranid unit if you charge and have Furious Charge. Try to force your opponent to spread out his army so you can leap over gaunts with your jump packs and charge the big nasties. Once you have taken down all the monstrous creatures the Nidz will probably no longer have synapse and the rest of the army will crumble. Flamers will help you quickly torch through the gaunt screens and possibly multi charge. It's all about identifying the major threats and eliminating them first!
Next I'll discuss how to deal with the green horde.
G
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