Here are the two lists that model / prep / desire-to-play altogether would align for in re: BFS decision-making ...
They're about as optimal as they get for what they're attempting to do (welcome to try and problem solve why!) ...
Eldar 2000 Single FOC; (A) Allied
(P) Spiritseer - 70 (because the Autarch power isn't all that necessary for the list, and the Spiritseer is actually better in CC / offensively, even w/ the following HQ present in the list)
(A) Rune Priest - 100; Jaws of the World Wolf, Living Lightning
(A) 8 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun - 120
5 Dire Avengers - 65
Wave Serpent w/ Ghostwalk Matrix, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser - 140
5 Dire Avengers - 65
Wave Serpent w/ Ghostwalk Matrix, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser - 140
5 Dire Avengers - 65
Wave Serpent w/ Ghostwalk Matrix, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser - 140
5 Dire Avengers - 65
Wave Serpent w/ Ghostwalk Matrix, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser - 140
5 Dire Avengers - 65
Wave Serpent w/ Ghostwalk Matrix, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser - 140
6 Swooping Hawks - 96
6 Swooping Hawks - 96
6 Swooping Hawks - 96
(A) Land Raider Redeemer - 250; Multi-Melta
War Walker w/ Scatter Laser, Bright Lance - 70
War Walker w/ Scatter Laser, Bright Lance - 70
Pros:
Faster to play; acceptable anti-2+ psyker in the Rune Priest; less painful to play, for me and opponent; functionally competitive
Cons:
Will probably face a match or two it will lose against, is not nearly as competitively difficult to deal with as the Tyranid are. Will be frustrating when facing matches that are simply difficult due to the current meta.
I'd have to assemble and paint the Land Raider, Grey Hunters, Rune Priest, War Walkers, Jetbikes in the next few days. This is actually pretty doable, but still painful to execute to a degree.
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Tyranid Single FOC
Parasite of Mortrex - 160
Tyranid Prime - 80
2 Zoanthropes - 120
2 Zoanthropes - 120
2 Zoanthropes - 120
29 Termagants w/ Poison - 174
10 Termagants - 50
10 Termagants - 50
Tervigon w/ Furious, Poison, Claws, Tri Power - 235
Tervigon w/ Furious, Poison, Claws, Tri Power - 235
Tervigon w/ Furious, Poison, Claws, Tri Power - 235
30 Gargoyles w/ Furious - 210
30 Gargoyles w/ Furious - 210
Pros:
The current meta / diversity of codices do not have any answers for this list if it is played correctly; it is almost auto-win against any Daemon list; it completely shuts down screamerstar and jetstar; the ability to spam telepathy actually makes it quite functional against Serpent spam (read: puppet master, with added likelihood of rolling it due to re-rolling results 5/6 for all psykers in above list).
This will be the last opportunity for me to play the 5th Edition Tyranid book.
I have to assemble and paint only a Tyranid Prime / equivalent to bring this to BFS.
Cons:
Extraordinarily difficult to play quickly, and without finishing the weekend in extreme pain (Despite being in good physical health/shape)
More prone to forgetful / sloppy play due to model count, timeframe considerations, and # of psychic powers (21)
What Would the Lists Be?
by Mike Brandt; mvbrandt@gmail | Oct 2, 2013