# wheres the love for rippers?



## flankman (Jan 26, 2009)

i noticed no one ever takes or talk about rippers.
imo they are extremely good for there points

(not listing them) but with burrow you got a cheaper wound/point unit then naked terma gaunts and they can deepstrike and for a finger full of points they get spine fists wich is 4 twinlinked shots each

but the most UNDER noticed thing about them is that they are now SCORING!!
and since durability wise they are technicly tougher then other nids (since they did not lose any thing from the synapse nerf) only problem is instinctive behavior feed. i would not like it if they ran at the enemy instead of securing objectives (especially if that enemy is a dreadnaught) and well the whole losing models on failed behavior checks isnt bad since you need to roll 8+ to start losing models


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## XxDreMisterxX (Dec 23, 2009)

one blast template or flame template will do them in.  i like the little critters but there just bad against everything and arent even as good as Necron scarabs.


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## flankman (Jan 26, 2009)

i'm only afraid of flamers but usually anything near my rippers deepstrike location (unless i scatter real hard) are either gona die to shooting alone from gaunts + rippers (or zoanthropes)/in CC or dead ( i only tried this twice but so far so good) 

landspeeders are the exception to this


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Sure they are cheaper per point than Termagants, but Termagants can shoot and turn into monsters while a Tervigon is near. No comparison IMO. Also, termagants aren't affected by Instant Death or Vunerable to Templates.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Rippers have been kinda crap since as far back as the Tyranid list that was contained in the 3rd edition rulebook. They've never been cheap enough in points to be worth taking over the other Troop choices and I feel that this hasn't changed despite the Nids getting a new Codex recently. The only thing I really like about the new Rippers is that they get one more Attack than any other Swarm.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

I think they're GREAT now, 4 attacks, can Deep Strike to be a total bitch, and one other thing.
You know that thing called a Venomthrope? You know, it's in the codex?
Yeah, that thing makes rippers AWESOME, because they all get a 4+ cover save from him >.<


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Gotta say that I loved rippers last dex and still do in this... but its that age old nid problem of only having 6 troops choices. If I could take 8 troops then rippers and hormogaunts might (just) make my army lists but since termagants, tervigons and stealers are all fantastic Im struggling to even get some warriors into my army.

I've found that rippers are actually the best nid unit to have in apoc games- throw half the unit in cover and spread the others out in front of your lines for a 3+ save on the rippers and 4+ on most things behind. Then if they get too much attention just go to ground for a 2+ cover save... Ive had an entire leman russ company open up at 1 unit of 10 rippers before now and after 2 turns (no idea why he kept shooting them) of solid fire I still had half my unit (just have to remember to leave gaps large enough so that the rest of your army can pass by them... otherwise its a huge road block.

If they could score then I would throw an alpha in the unit and just leave them on an objective, but as it is they just arent as useful or flexible as I would want.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Tim/Steve said:


> If they could score then I would throw an alpha in the unit and just leave them on an objective, but as it is they just arent as useful or flexible as I would want.


I'm confused by this.
Rippers CAN score.
And weren't you just praising them?
What would throwing an Alpha into the unit accomplish?


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Rippers need synapse or they will start to die very quickly.. so the alpha would be there to keep them alive.. also 90pts or so for a model with WS6 S5 T6 and power weapons that can cause instant death is pretty damn nasty- no one would want to get close to assault range of the rippers.

Unless they have a special rule that I havent seen then rippers cannot score- while they are troops they are also swarms, and swarms never count as scoring (like troop vehicles).


Yes, I am praising them in general, but when competing for limitted slots the other troop choices win out in flexibility and effectiveness... in an apoc game the rippers come into their own because they dont need to worry about FOC and can be made to do what they do best (covering other units and tarpitting nasty low attack enemy units).


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

well I wanna take a swarm of 9 bases of them, cus I like them, there *fun*, and its not as if that costs anything really, especially since the rest of the troops are so damn cheap


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Winterous said:


> I think they're GREAT now, 4 attacks, can Deep Strike to be a total bitch, and one other thing.
> You know that thing called a Venomthrope? You know, it's in the codex?
> Yeah, that thing makes rippers AWESOME, because they all get a 4+ cover save from him >.<


Now _that_ might make them interesting enough to be see use on the table once in a while, for players who plan to use venomthropes anyway at least. Still doesn't help them against burny flamer death though, or losing synapse, but it makes them slightly more appealing.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Tim/Steve said:


> Unless they have a special rule that I havent seen then rippers cannot score- while they are troops they are also swarms, and swarms never count as scoring (like troop vehicles).


Very very true...
Fuck, forgot about that entirely, oh well, they still make a great survivor unit with a Venomthrope nearby.

But hell, with a few Tervigons around, you'll have no shortage of scoring units to fill the gap in your Troops selection made by taking Rippers.


Also, is it just me, or does the cost of Deathspitters on Tyrants and Carnifexes seem it ought to be a typo?
I mean, for exactly the same cost you get a better gun with TWICE THE SHOTS.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

maddermax said:


> Now _that_ might make them interesting enough to be see use on the table once in a while, for players who plan to use venomthropes anyway at least. Still doesn't help them against burny flamer death though, or losing synapse, but it makes them slightly more appealing.


I think a Parasite-based army would be very accepting of Venomthropes


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Yeah, deathspitters are too expensive on tyrant/fex. The extra Ap means nothing since the added shots more then makes up for that... the only bonus a deathspitter has over brainleech devourer is once you have penetrated a vehicle... but since the brainleech will penetrate AV10 twice as much (well, 4 times as much with the extra shots) then the deathspitter it means pretty much nothing.


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## flankman (Jan 26, 2009)

all swarms are scoring. in the 4th ed dex it specified that they could not, they got rid of that rule in the new dex

and yes an alpha warrior with them is extremely scary but i cant deepstrike him + id rather use my t5 warrior to protect my droppod zoans


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

flankman said:


> all swarms are scoring. in the 4th ed dex it specified that they could not, they got rid of that rule in the new dex


L2P dude.

Page 90 of the rulebook disagrees with you.


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## flankman (Jan 26, 2009)

oh...god damn rule book lol

all i did was look up swarms in the USR pages...well sorry about that = (


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## Herald of Huanchi (Feb 1, 2009)

Want Rippers?

Want them for free?

Well right now for a limited offer of forever you can get as many as you want with the new:

Parasite of Mortrex!

(Terms and conditions apply subject to availability)

Well, Ill be using 1 anyway because of the Conversion opportunity.


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

The problem with the Parasite is that he just isn't all that killy, so he won't make all that many Rippers. Besides, single bases of Rippers just die. It would interesting to see how he preformed in game though.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Wolf_Lord_Skoll said:


> The problem with the Parasite is that he just isn't all that killy, so he won't make all that many Rippers. Besides, single bases of Rippers just die. It would interesting to see how he preformed in game though.


But it'll be uncommon that you ever make a single base.
For every failed Toughness test, you make D6 bases, DEE-SICKS!


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Woops, by Single Base I meant small units thinking 1-3, which really aren't that hard to kill. No idea why I said single.


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Wolf_Lord_Skoll said:


> Woops, by Single Base I meant small units thinking 1-3, which really aren't that hard to kill. No idea why I said single.


Pretty much, though they could be good at annoying an enemy and getting in their way. The parasite just can't usually do enough damage usually to get more than a single D6 a turn, especially against power armoured foes. 

If you took him against a unit of grots, the outcome could be fun, lock him in combat for a turn or 3, producing 2d6 ripper bases a turn. But against MEQs, he does very few wounds (and has to be extremely lucky to get a ripper swarm out of it) and he just dies to a power fist straight off (or even just normal attacks). He just doesn't have the damage output to make up for his vulnerability.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

I think the Parasite would be more useful if the Rippers he created joined the combat as soon as they came into existence. It'd certainly help with his relatively weak offensive capabilities. Right now I don't think he's really worth his points... hm, sounds like we need a Parasite of Mortrex thread.


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## Azkaellon (Jun 23, 2009)

Katie Drake said:


> I think the Parasite would be more useful if the Rippers he created joined the combat as soon as they came into existence. It'd certainly help with his relatively weak offensive capabilities. Right now I don't think he's really worth his points... hm, sounds like we need a Parasite of Mortrex thread.


Eh i have to agree, The parasite is not worth its points at all right now! The rippers will just get flamed to death before they do any good......


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Witch King of Angmar said:


> Eh i have to agree, The parasite is not worth its points at all right now! The rippers will just get flamed to death before they do any good......


That happens to be the good they do!
They're wounds you get for free by killing things, combine that with a sturdy melee sledgehammer to bludgeon the tied-up enemies with, and you've got a pretty good combo.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Winterous said:


> That happens to be the good they do!
> They're wounds you get for free by killing things, combine that with a sturdy melee sledgehammer to bludgeon the tied-up enemies with, and you've got a pretty good combo.


Until you play Annihilation, anyway.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Katie Drake said:


> Until you play Annihilation, anyway.


Yep, because his ripper-spawning powers aren't optional :|
Basically, you have 100-and-something points of "Oh fuck I don't want to use this guy."


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