# My Tyranid Swarmlord



## SoL Berzerker (May 5, 2009)

EDIT: I thought I was placing this is the Tyranid Tactica forum, rather than post this in both places I'll just keep it here, sorry for the misplace. 



I made a Swarmlord, but I also put my own conversion into it. As you can see below. Recently, I've been thinking about asking my opponents if I could use the Swarmlord, only with a couple of homemade rules. The only things I would change, is I would give the Swarmlord one more attack to compensate for the 3rd set of swords, then I was thinking of making him a Beast/Monstrous Creature. With these rules he would not be able to take Tyrant Guard, although I was thinking of using Raveners? 

What I want to know is do you guys think that anyone would allow me to alter a character like this? It would not be acceptable in a competitive environment of course, but for something fun, I don't see an issue. 

The Next thing I would like your opinions on, is how many points should my upgrades make him? If he would become a Beast/Monstrous Creature I was thinking 340. Making this a 60 point upgrade.


Any and all ideas are welcome.


----------



## DivineEdge (May 31, 2012)

The one problem with the swrmlord is his slowness. Making him move type beasts is ridiculously fast. Having said that, he'd have no tyrant guard. Raveners would be more of a hindrance than a help and die quite quickly. Jump might be better - but not an FMC. 

You'd have to playtest though.


----------



## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

I disagree. The Swarmlord's main weakness is he's T6, 5 wounds, and has no invulnerable. The Swarmlord dies like a bitch to most ranged weapons - massed fire takes him down, as do Krak Missiles, Starcannons, Plasma Guns, whatever. He needs cover until he can get into combat. Making him Beasts helps the problem marginally, although he's only gaining a 5+ save - better than nothing, but still dangerously vulnerable.

The snake tail should give him Deep Strike, Bio-Electricity, and make Raveners troops whilst giving Trygons/Mawlocs the Scuttling Swarm rule but for Raveners. For shits and giggles.

Midnight


----------



## DivineEdge (May 31, 2012)

He has a 3+. With the new psychic powers he has a decent chance of getting endurance, invisibility, and iron arm and if he gets the first and third off he is almost invulnerable. 

Plus he is so fast he get into combat turn two probably. 

He should probably get deep strike and maybe his blade parry save out of cc. That would be nice.


----------



## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

DivineEdge said:


> He has a 3+. With the new psychic powers he has a decent chance of getting endurance, invisibility, and iron arm and if he gets the first and third off he is almost invulnerable.
> 
> Plus he is so fast he get into combat turn two probably.
> 
> He should probably get deep strike and maybe his blade parry save out of cc. That would be nice.


Blade Parry doesn't make much sense outside combat. He's good with a sword, but not THAT good. He needs to start splitting his powers if he wants Inivisibility, Endurance and Iron Arm, so he's actually pretty unlikely to get all three. Yeah, he has a good chance of Endurance and Iron Arm, but any unit with effectiveness based on a random D6 roll is probably risky (read Possessed, although admittedly they had a whole lot of other problems back in 5th).

Midnight


----------



## DivineEdge (May 31, 2012)

Possesed in the old book were pure crap. The swarmlord is good - with the powers even better. You only need one - very good chance of that. 

Plus, he is almost guaranteed to get off something beneficial every turn, whereas possesed had a 1/3 chance, and were still bad with it.


----------



## SoL Berzerker (May 5, 2009)

I'll make him 350 points, giving him beast, deep strike, making Raveners troops, and no Raveners within 24" have to test for being in synapse range. Does that sound resonable? 

Invisibility sounds amazing now that I actually look at it, he'd be like the Deathleaper on steroids. 


All of this being said, no one has commented on the model itself, I think he looks much cooler this way. What do you guys think of him?


----------



## DivineEdge (May 31, 2012)

The model is nice. I'd say pretty good. I'm also going to steal that idea for my next MC.


----------



## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

DivineEdge said:


> Possesed in the old book were pure crap. The swarmlord is good - with the powers even better. You only need one - very good chance of that.
> 
> Plus, he is almost guaranteed to get off something beneficial every turn, whereas possesed had a 1/3 chance, and were still bad with it.


Meh, I'm not so sure. He really does need Iron Arm, and then he needs to pass the psychic test, get through psychic defences (not nearly as common, but still lurking around for SW and Eldar), and roll at least +2 for any meaningful difference. That's actually quite a chance of failure. 

The Swarmlord's just far too slow as he stands (I've never seen him last longer than turn 2 in 6th), and removing this massive limitation makes him a lot better. As in a _lot_ better. However, in this incarnation, you can still hide from him by getting into a ruin as he can't climb levels, but I guess that's the price you pay for 12" movement.

Midnight


----------

