Hey folks, Chaplain Sam here.
So I think about competitive Tyranid lists and/or write lists pretty frequently. The one unit I keep revisiting is Mawlocs. These are the three main points I juggle around in my head:
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1) - Terror from the Deep - AP2 Ignores Cover
So I think about competitive Tyranid lists and/or write lists pretty frequently. The one unit I keep revisiting is Mawlocs. These are the three main points I juggle around in my head:
1) - Terror from the Deep - AP2 Ignores Cover
AP2 attacks that ignore cover aren't very common in 40k, at least not without help from psychic powers or war gear. I think everyone knows the feeling when you fire off a Lascannon at a marine sitting in ruins hoping to vaporize the bastard only to have your opponent hit that 4+ cover save. Similarly, most template weapons don't have a low enough AP value to get through a target's armor even if they ignoring the cover. The point I'm trying to make is that weapons are much more useful when they ignore armor and cover (duh, I know). What's the point in bypassing one save when the target just gets another, even if it's not as good. That's why I've often felt that it's better to just blast things with high strength AP- weapons, especially since you usually save points by avoiding the AP 2/3 premium. That strategy starts to break down though when you face units with re-rollable saves (Ork BikeStar, Ravenwing, etc.) and/or stacking "saves" like Feel No Pain or Reanimation Protocols. You can't just blast everything off the board with Flyrants, stacking and re-rollable saves are too hard to get through. But if I'm going to try to get through the armor I want to ignore cover as well. Enter the Mawloc.
Terror from the Deep (TftD) is a strength 6 AP2, ignores cover, large blast. Basically the Mawloc uses the deep strike rule to burst from the ground underneath units and eat them. If anything is still left in the way of placing the Mawloc, pop down another pie plate for another round of S6 AP2 ignore cover hits. Next turn you can burrow into ongoing reserves and then use TftD the following turn. All pro's so far, but because the attack uses the deep strike rule the attack it scatters the full distance rather than reducing the distance by the unit's ballistic skill. That makes it rather unreliable (33% chance for a direct hit) and you'll only ever get 3 uses of the attack assuming the Mawloc enters the game turn 2 or 3 and the game continues to turn 6 or 7 (oh, and it doesn't die). Basically half as often as you get to shoot a normal ranged weapon.
So that boils down to an average of one direct hit per game, but if you target larger units it can be significantly more effective than that and that doesn't account for scatters of 2 or 3 inches which generally still kill something. Another consideration is that this is one of the few abilities the largely ignores invisibility which can be a pain to deal with.
So that boils down to an average of one direct hit per game, but if you target larger units it can be significantly more effective than that and that doesn't account for scatters of 2 or 3 inches which generally still kill something. Another consideration is that this is one of the few abilities the largely ignores invisibility which can be a pain to deal with.
2) - Durability
140 points for a T6 W6 3+ monstrous creature is pretty darn cheap. Yes, it will fold like wet paper to grav weapons and D weapons, but most things will. In an army that is so heavily depends on Flyrants, it's really helpful and important to have durable units on the ground to contest and secure objectives. Point-for-point, the Mawloc is very, very durable.
140 points for a T6 W6 3+ monstrous creature is pretty darn cheap. Yes, it will fold like wet paper to grav weapons and D weapons, but most things will. In an army that is so heavily depends on Flyrants, it's really helpful and important to have durable units on the ground to contest and secure objectives. Point-for-point, the Mawloc is very, very durable.
3) - Mobility
Mobility and flexibility is absolutely game winning. Mawlocs have the ability to enter the game anywhere on the board, then return into ongoing reserves and redeploy in an entirely different spot. With Hit-and-run it's likely that Mawlocs will be able to do this freely all game until they are killed. They can jump onto new objectives, deepstrike into your opponent's back field for line breaker, or chase around a gating DraigoStar and pound it with TftD all game. Being able to start off the board and still be effective is also useful if the rest of your army is built to avoid a nasty alpha strike, which I think is becoming more and more important with the growing popularity of drop pod super-friends armies. They aren't Jet Bikes flying around all game, but they are pretty mobile and flexible.
So where does that leave the Mawloc?
Mobility and flexibility is absolutely game winning. Mawlocs have the ability to enter the game anywhere on the board, then return into ongoing reserves and redeploy in an entirely different spot. With Hit-and-run it's likely that Mawlocs will be able to do this freely all game until they are killed. They can jump onto new objectives, deepstrike into your opponent's back field for line breaker, or chase around a gating DraigoStar and pound it with TftD all game. Being able to start off the board and still be effective is also useful if the rest of your army is built to avoid a nasty alpha strike, which I think is becoming more and more important with the growing popularity of drop pod super-friends armies. They aren't Jet Bikes flying around all game, but they are pretty mobile and flexible.
So where does that leave the Mawloc?
- Somewhat offensively limited, but more effective against units that other key Tyranid unit struggle with (2+ armor, great cover, re rolling saves, invisible units)
- Efficient durability against traditional attacks, but concentrated points in a single model leaves the Mawloc vulnerable to grav and D weapons (as opposed to 140 points of Termagants)
- Mobile, flexible, and can be a part of an effective null deploy list
I'm going to start including Mawlocs in my lists again. I think the a core of Flyrants and Mawlocs is among the best Tyranids have to offer right now. They are unreliable and will fail horribly some games, but whadda-ya-gonna-do. Also - I didn't talk about using Lictors to boost the effectiveness of Mawlocs because I'm not a huge believer in that synergy. I could see it working with 4+ Lictors, but it seems like with any less you could easily pop the Lictors before the Mawlocs came in, that's pure Theory Hammer though.
Thoughts? What do you guys think? Here is a fun thought: would you rather have four Mawlocs or one Barbed Hierodule? There is only a five point difference.
Chaplain Sam signing off.