40K Online
The Armies of 40k => Tyranids => Topic started by: Travellar on October 4, 2012, 11:57:14 AM
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a friend who's just getting started on Tyranids couldn't stop raving about how Harpies look ruleswise, so the two of us split the cost and conspired over the last couple of months to raise a force of half a dozen of them. I did the modeling, and made some mold for scratchbuilds, and we both ordered such things as wings, talons, bases, and guns from GW. (I lie, I had all but the wings and bases in my bits bin, though I did do custom bases)
After about a month and a half of prep, and two weeks of trying to pick a 2v2 fight, we unleashed 6 Harpies and 4 Flying Hive Tyrants into a 2500 point game. Our opponets were amused, and proceeded to die in a most sporting fashion, taking several of the Harpies with them. While the Tyrants did their best work on the ground, it's really the Harpies I wanted to talk about.
Pointswise, Harpies are a pretty even buy. They are neither ridiculously expensive, nor cheap. the threat they pose to the battlefield is significant enough that they aren't meaningless, yet even an army that wasn't expecting them can bring the things down.
Upsides:
completely terrifies opponents.
lots of blasts, all over the place.
highly mobile and able to be in the right location.
Downsides:
Not particularly tough.
limited to 2 shooting attacks per turn, with 4 attacks to choose from.
Able to skyfire, but carries only 1, mid-strength, non-blast weapon.
No GW model.
I like them, and will get some pics up as soon as I remember to take them.
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They are the cheapest heavy venom cannon going, I think, which makes them worth a look just for that.
Not sure where the comment about skyfire came from, though.
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FMCs got FAQed to have the option to Skyfire even though it doesn't appear anywhere in their rules.
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HVC's are, I think, an extremely good weapon for plinking vehicles at range. Long range.
Particularly due to the new Blast rules, we're basically looking at a lascannon that hits somewhere around the equivalent of BS5 (on a standard Rhino chassis). Twin-linked? Yeah, you should be hitting.
Unlike a Lascannon, we're less likely to do "significant" damage (lack of AP, and of course the built-in negative modifier). Which means you need a lot of them in order to have an effective way to strip hull points quickly. Obviously bringing 6 to the table is fairly likely to do this.
However, the question of "would you rather have Brainleech worms?" comes to mind. Very high mobility mixed with (our version of) Long Range = excess, to a degree.
They can also take the role of a rather potent anti-infantry platform (for, as you say, a moderate points cost). Same theory as the Tyrannofex in this role - enough blasts/templates is going to put the hurt on about anything above 3 models.
Short version - I really should try this guy out. In theory, I like him. Moderately costed, can fill multiple roles, depending on load-out, 'low' toughness is less of an issue (though not moot) thanks to FMC rules... would love to hear more about how these guys continue to perform.
Khira'lyth
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FMCs got FAQed to have the option to Skyfire even though it doesn't appear anywhere in their rules.
I did not know this. John Woo Tyrants just became one of the best superiority aircraft out there!