The answer is a resounding no.
Regardless of its actual Ballistic Skill, a model without ranged weapons has an effective Ballistic Skill of 0. A hormagaunt with BS 10 will cost no more or less than a normal hormagaunt. Add any ranged weapon to its outfit and then the cost of the model will skyrocket.
Why Ballistic skill and not anything else? Because no other stat can be ignored with the exception of specific rules. Your WS/S/T/I/W/Ld/Sv are all going to be referenced at some point. Whether or not those stats are effective is a different matter entirely.
I agree with your point that if you added a gun and a BS of 4+ to a hormagaunt, then their base points cost would have to increase.
ReplyDeleteHowever I disagree entirely with the idea that hormagaunts aren't overcosted b/c they are.
Yes, even at 6pts a model, the hormagaunt is still overpriced. Why?
Here's why:
Reason #1. It has no range wpns therefore MUST run and get into assault as fast as possible.
Yet, if the enemy is in a tank - they are useless. How many tanks do you and your friends play with? Most marine players I face have EVERY squad in a rhino or APC of some kind.
Therefore what's the point of taking hormies?
Reason #2. When they assault into cover they lose every advantage they were bred to have. As a CC specialist, they actually suck hard in CC vs anything except Guard, tau, Eldar guardians and a few other things.
Reason #3. At 6pts, you can get an Ork. If you aren't aware of how good the basic ork is, then you need to play a game against them b/c they wreck face.
For a force that supposedly takes Darwin's theories of evolution to the max, they (GW) have done a craptacular job of making the Nids a force to be reckoned with.
Sorry GW, but for a supposedly assault heavy army, where are my assault grenades?
For an army that supposedly can breed new variations of creatures at rapid rates to counter what their enemies have, where are my BS4+ long-range anti-tank creatures that don't cost a gazzilion points?
A Tfex is base 250pts and you still have to buy it's long range gun (that isn't even AP3!). Compare that to a leman russ and you'll quickly agree that the Tfex (and all other Nid MC are way overcosted as well).
New Nid 'dex = failure on so many levels it maddens me and makes me want to bash the authors head in.
Rant over.
I agree with your points, but my point was not that Hormagaunts weren't overpriced (they clearly are, due to all the points you've brought up), just not because they have a BS of 3. If the base Hormagaunt was 4 points a model, it'd become highly playable due to the ability to field them (more) en masse.
ReplyDeleteHah, yeah, same thing with the Venomthrope. No guns, but a ballistic skill of 4 if I remember correctly.
ReplyDelete@thHman
ReplyDeleteI have to wholeheartedly disagree that the new book is failure.
Got tank troubles? Have you seen what 6-9 hive guard do on the field? The only problem with the elites section is that you're giving over 2-3 slots to Hive Guard, but accurate S8 fire will handily kill any light armor in the game.
Fact is, NONE of the tyranid troop choices excel at killing tanks. Does that make them all irrelevant? Or is the ability to threaten pretty much anything with a toughness value in assault not enough?
Sure, you're ten points for furious charge and poison, but take a good look at what even ten getting into assault with marines will do to them. (IE: 30 attacks, 15 hits, 16-17 on the re-roll, 12 wounds, so ~4 marines dead. And that's a hard targeT).
Seriously, 6-9 hive guard and 40-60 hormagaunts is the start of a bad day for the other guy.
The latest book is a reboot, not an update.
Past that, I'd love to see hormies cost less, but then I would have to build more...
...and I have no freaking clue WHY the Venomthrope has BS4 either.
I love tyranids and when I think about getting a second army there isn't one I like better, but I am very dissapointed in the new tyranid codex. I didn't expect a table destroying force like grey knights or blood angles but now we can hardly compete with dark eldar some creepy goth torture space elves who control one planet.
ReplyDelete1. Why is it that my carnifex (a monster the size of a tank) can't have 5 wounds but, mephiston a space marine can.
2. Why is it we have no T7 mcs but the dark eldar who have several vehicles also get a mc with T7 (talos). Also shouldn't an army who gives up the option for vehicles in exchange for monstrous creatures get better monstrous creatures.
3. Why is it that the good monstrous creature we get (the tervigon) has no model.
I mean I guess we are better off than those poor people trying to play chaos daemons, sisters of battle, and dark angels, but are we supposed to just give up when someone starts lining up spehss marines on the other side of the table.
Robin Cruddace did give us some good planet destroying lore, but did he not understand what broken table dominating armies matt ward was gonna dream up (ultramarines and Grey knights) and that we were gonna have to compete with. At least we have zoanthropes.