Every time I play the DOWII campaign that's what I do. Kill a warrior and stun them. Kill a Zoanthrope and surrounding gaunts will either die instantly or turn on other Tyranids. Without their synapse connection they're easy to kill.
A 40k game about a Tyranid invasion, all stages included, would be amazing. Uncovering a planet-wide conspiracy (and attempting to actually persuade people it's true, only to find out much of them are already "in the know"), in a horror setting, which then later develops into fully fledged survival as the hive swarms and consumes your planet.
I thought the God Emperor already solved this problem. You know, use bug spray mixed with Promethium and some bioagents in space. And possibly fly swatters. That's what he told Kitten to do anyway.
A space size spray can with a constant stream of promethium, oxygen, and this hell fire compound, and spray the fxck out of the tyranids while still in space.
Dont forget abominations known as SJW.. still undeveloped prototypes of humans that try to destroy our education systems and dumb down people with religious cults like Islam and Christianity, that also do their parts on causing terror... i mean what couple thousand years is for tyranids time scale to create the religions? Now question is how far is hive fleet from us and where is the emperors fleet at the moment!?
Actually, they do see the Chaos as ennemy "it (the Hive Mind) viewed the rampant Daemons not as prey, but as rival predators endangering the food source"
Behemoth: ok lictor bob and Tom find this human and F him up Tom: owo *Gets shot by devour* Behemoth: hmm maybe it’s not a good idea to show you the internet
My lord! Today I was at the Imperial Palace today, and while I was inspecting the place I caught all the Custodes wanking in the bathrooms! What shall I do with them?
Now, if I end up living for many milennia and one day find myself in command of a planet soon to be under siege by Tyranids, I will remember to boot up this video as my instruction manual. Thank you, Arch.
Actually, after being around for several thousand years, yes, the Imperial Navy will have the strategy and doctrines to get a fleet on its way within a day of receiving the warning. And it should not be too hard to figure out where the hive fleet went after clearing off a planet. So, yeah, the Navy may not arrive in time to save a planet, but the hive fleet will find someone on their tails in a relatively short time. Interstellar combat is the 'Nids weak point, especially when you allow the Imperial Navy to have some ancient technology we call "nuclear missiles".
"the imperial navy" yeah, that's not really a thing there's the dudes over there, the dudes way over there, the dudes way way way over there, and so on plus the warp, but I'm sure you thought of that
if there be one of few times ensuring all systems even the loneliest of new colonies has a secure bunker with a M.A.D capable of both doubling up as a system wide 'self mercy kill' and a decent astrophotographic ''ohfk nocking out a fresh lone single settlement colony might not be that hard ,but something did it without uss even hearing a hint of it happening and importantly enough in such a way the slaves over there rather destroyed the whole system rather then suffer what ever defeat agenst this unknown foe mean ..hmm.. i think its best to staff all the mothball assets for recon in force and put all industries at ready state to convert for total war production swiftly'' ...it be something like one of the scout swarms of the tyranids and yes i say scout because the first art i saw of them hade the sweet visual answer to their apparently random appearance by a far lees flimsy reason then old space elf gods.. because it showed the swarm proper as a big mist approaching ...not a lone system.. but the milkyway as a whole ,thus the reason for its apparent 'random' insertions and ancient appearances be simple , it be the first ..running ahead vanguards.. and then in the 40k era.. the initial tentative 'tenderils' of the swarm proper likely probing if the milky way was worth to focus the whole swarm at or , just a portion of it while the majority just stream through it onwards to the next galaxy in sight not pulsing with 'swarm already nesting here' signals
Chandler long slightly less fucked then you would be normally?,but still so fucked you could shove a cricket bat up their asses and not touch the sides?
And hopefully, someone remembered to shield and protect that damned drain... And also hope the imperial fleet comes around and attack them in a pincer (a la the movies.)
Hey Arch just wanted to to take a minute and just say thanks for all the great lore. You work hard at this and I really look forward too listening to your lore. Hope your doing well and cheers
lmao dam right now they teach to remember math answers instead of how to work it out and man some of those feminists look close to genestealers ! that explains everything feminists are genestealers noooooooooo we are so dead lmao
Dont be afraid my child, just pray for the God emperor to protect us and empires fleet will come to assist us and we will cleanse these heretics from the planet! GLORY FOR THE EMPEROR!!
The Administratum, Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy would like to commandeer this video for educational purpose. Your cooperation highly appreciated and under any circumstances which you cannot comply, the Inquisition would be more than happy to liberate you from the burden of owner ship of this video. We look forward for your respond The Emperor protect
Navigators are and are not psykers, all at the same time. It's not that they are psychic, it's that they have a mutant third eye that allows them to see into the warp. It's a very strange situation they are in.
There isn't enough navigators for Kroot to probably get that ability. And Navigators are one of the most well protected non-space marines in existence. Not to mention that Third Eye does a wonder on....non warp creatures. Blasting them to paste, melting flesh, inducing horrifying visions....etc.
arch can you do something similar for the eldar, tau and da orcks? I'd love to see how they would act in that senario also can genestealer be used as a way of communicating with the hive mind ? maybe something along the lines of -there is this great all you can eat buffet in this place called eye of terror you should go there for lunch
SPACE BUGS VERSUS DEMON BUGS! CLAWS AND FANGS DOWN ALL OUT BRAWL! THIS MILLENIUM IN THE CENTER OF THE OUR SHINIEST GALAXY! GET YOUR LOCAL PSYKER AND PLUG A HOLO SCREEN CABLE UP HIS ASS! GRAB YER POPCORN, YER ALE AND PRAISE THE EMPRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
What most likely will happen if the Eldar fight the tyranids... well.. they are to little biomass for the nids to care and the eldar would be cowards and run. Against the orcs... well.... at best the tyranids would just happily eat away. And at worst they will adapt the spore spreading capabilities of the orcs and get even harder to deal with. The Tau would pretty much instantly loose the space battle but be able to hold them off on the planet for longer then anyone else. However without outside help they have no navy to break the lock on the planet and thus would loose eventually as well. If the tyranids got into the warp they propably would hardly foght chaos. The shadow in the warp would surround them like a bubble or shield. If there is a fight happening, theres two options. One, the tyranids dont get a foothold. That means the fleet in the warp will be atritioned out of all of its resources and die. Two, they do get a foothold. Then the nids become more scary then ever as they feed and devour on the literaly infinite amount of biomass in the warp (deamoms are made of flesh afterall) and thus the tyranids would become a literaly infinitely sized organism. Their scout fleets (which is assumed theyve sent in so far to prod the galaxy) are hard enough to deal with. Imagine a tyranid fleet fueled by the amount of flesh found in the warp and chaos....
Tyranids attack katachan... Norm queen wanders why the drop zone went silent, on the ground a hive tyrant lands near a barking toad and was never seen again.
The Tyranid's preparation for an invasion was faaar more sophisitaced than I could've guessed O.o I mean, they're able to act like humans? Understand their way of politics and warfare? Fuck, hardly mindless!
MadOrse Not really, the whole sophistication comes as a by product of normal biology. A community if a composition of individuals yet it has properties the individuals do not. Most infiltration Tyranids are mindless but have one order to follow. Survive. Over centuries, they have developed an instinct for hidding. They do not reason why dark places are good for going unnoticed, they just naturally like them. They do not reason that killing such person would sow chaos, those people just look really, really delicious. Cults don't know what Tyranids are, they just have the feeling of some presence out there calling them. The Genestealer Cult trailer does a good job at describing how Genestealer cults see Tyranids. We hear them in our dreams, we feel them in our blood. They have no idea what they are doing, but they feel they must do it.
Just wow, can I just complement you on your sheer knowledge and ability in researching the subject, the content and in my eyes quality of these video's based upon the involvement of the commentary is just astoundingly good, amazing job Arch, as always.
I agree the Sisters of Battle would be more effective than Arch really gave them credit for, nor do I think they'd just suicide charge the Tyranids. They're quite a highly disciplined force to the point where Celestians are considered basically the equal of any human warrior out there (Which is honestly quite the claim when you consider stuff like some of the Cadians or Catachans). They're really help stiffen up the Imperial Guard lines... and I just realized what that might have sounded like. Good combination of mass killy power (Exorcists and Immolators, flamers and heavy bolters) along with some heavy target firepower (Meltas, aaaaaall the meltas). Plus Acts of Faith which are... kinda OP in Lore if not on the tabletop. They're not Psychic Powers as anyone knows it (Can effect Blanks/Pariahs for example) so I doubt the Shadow in the Warp would do jack to it. Manifesting a wide array of abilities from the ability to Nope Psychic Attacks (Handy) to healing (Also handy) to Shenanigans Aim Botting, to creating areas of calm focus (very handy, the Imperial Guard is at its best when they can keep their heads and lay down precise fire), to powering up a Sister of Battle to hit harder with a Chainsword than a Space Marine would, to even some area of effect DOOM abilities.
Fellow Man Nid's don't adapt to fire unless being exposed to it constantly. If they ever adapt they end up dissadapting anyways since the need for traveling space makes them choose cold resistance over fire resistance.
love your videos man, the more i learn about 40k Lore the more i fall in love with it, honestly i just love how...smart these creepers are, you'd expect something more savage and steriotypical like how the Xenomorphs act mainly on instinct, but no the Tyranids feel like an actual military threat and when you think of it, they are...which also makes someone controlling Tyranids in a game more enjoyable, lore itself they're up to snuff with the other races, making them more "playable" game-wise XD
What if a tyranid fleet meets a waaaagh? Im guessing it will be wiped. Still a orc force must be the most difficult to overcome, putting genestealers in orc 'society'... Yeah thats iffy.
Hive fleet leviathan is currently fighting the largest Orc empire (can't remember the name) which is good as it stopped them entering imperial space but it means that if the tyranids win they will have enough biomass to wipe out basically everything, and if the irks win the continuous fighting will have made them extremely strong.
i think you forgot to mention the spores they throw at the planet to accelerate the growth of biomass on the planet, and thus improving the harvest of said biomass altogether
Now here's a question that builds a bridge between 2 universes: If the Halo universe's Flood fought the Tyranids, who'd win, granted each side has enough food/mass to do anything? Conditions: Each side invades a max of 2 planets with large amounts of biomass beforehand. Bonus question: who would fell a planet faster? [Flood] -Don't give a flying fuck about your fancy fleet during their feral stage as they bum rush to the planet. -Their reproduction method goes on an exponential scale during the first round instead of the 'nids needing to establish a foothold to initiate their second stage and grow exponentially (IE for one human 5-7 infection forms are produced, but this is based on target biomass). This alone can allow them to spread at lightning speeds if not dealt with immediately. -Will probably try and see how a Tyranid tastes (spoiler alert, it sucks) cause they just want to infect every damn thing possible. -When they reach their critical mass and form a functional Gravemind (coordinated stage), they each the same scale as the 'nids here combat intelligence wise. -They like to steal shit and and use their enemies tech against them in their advanced stage much like the hybrid Genestealer Types. -Their Gravemind won't shut the fuck up and will probably annoy enough people to death with his Shakespearean word salad. -A Gravemind can manipulate targets to join them if his lousy Shakespearean speech doesn't kill them first. I'm aware that the flood are practically biomass all you can eat for the Tyranids, but this is based on combat capacity and infection/reproduction rate rather than a full on all you can quaff fest.
The problem here is that the flood wont be able to field enough warrior forms to fight off a tyranid invasion and the gravemind...is very likely not going to be able to stand up to the hive mind. Basically the flood are good against races who dont know to stop them fast enough while the tyranids would just rain down on the flood and eat everything. The flood dont use the kind of weapons they would have to to be able to hurt the tyranids and its highly unlikely they would be able to break the synapse bond. More likely they would just get absorbed.
CommandantAlpha I really don't think that the flood would be able to infect and control a tyranid due to the hive mind, and even if it does, tyranids I think will still follow what they were born to do: eat anything none tyranid.
@Virgo v Figured as much, especially seeing how the Flood are usually characterized as raging brainless mushrooms with a hunger for calcium in their first stage. This problem is also what allowed the Ancient humans to defeat the flood well before a gravemind was formed, albeit by infecting themselves with a virus and feeding a third of their galactic population to the Flood WH40k DOW2 style. Hell, now that I think on it, the Tyranids already have a leg up against the flood as they already have and advanced, rapid thinking, bio computer-like organism controlling the hive fleets and appears to make even the Eldar look like idiots when it comes to CIC on a larger scale (yes I follow the theory that the hive mind is a massive, singular intelligent organism).
Of course, realistically speaking, if you've got ships, let alone the industrial capacity of any of the imperium's worlds, you can just build artificial habitats in space.
Actually Arch we do have a material that is theoretically possible to build a space elevator with, it's called Graphene. It's a material made from bonding carbon atoms super densely in a sheet one atom thick. You could then stack multiple layers of graphene sheets to make rods and support beams that might just be strong enough to construct q shaft that's able to leave the atmosphere.
arch, all of your videos are hilarious, informative and super easy/fun listening. I'm glad you don't just read off of the wikis... cough onemindsyndicate cough.. awesome job
an order xenos tried that. he used genestealer to leave a trail of tasty planets into an orc waggggh. It stopped the nids for a few year but then they won and had so much bio mass that they almost became unstopable. Inquistitor cryptmen was then hanged by his fellow inquistitors for making the problem worse. The best you can do is to send them into the eye of terror or trick them into playing with the Necrons
There is an - entirely unofficial, but to my mind quite believable - fan analysis on what might happen at a certain spot in the pestilential swamp known as 4chan: 1d4chan.org/wiki/Story:The_Shape_Of_The_Nightmare_To_Come_50k_section10 [I found that long thread by random chance, enjoyed reading it; felt like repaying a good thing by randomly inserting it in the path of yet more people. May many, many, MANY more unsuspecting viewers be swayed by the 50K virii...]
But cant you use the orks to hold the nids then use hit and run tactics on the Nids "protecting the orks" to either allow them to win or exhaust nids. Basically, just hangout in the area and harasses whatever side is winning until both sides can be mopped up.
Tracker947 Already happening, the Octarius wars. Hive fleet leviathan is directly attacking the Orc empire of Octarius. The orcs were losing until ghazzskull (forgot the spelling of it's name) came and managed to stale mate the battle. Also, a swarm lord is rumored to be in the war. But whoever wins, the winner will be stronger than ever.
Jared Cantos True, if Ghazghull wins the war he will truly the regarded as the Prophet of the Waagh and more Orks will flock to his banner than ever before but the Tyranids will evolve into a force more terrifying than we can imagine which GW have already hinted at.
Awesome video, Arch! I'll be sure to link this and the Tyranid lore video to my friends, and hope to Emperor that they'll pull their heads out of their asses and start 40k. :P
probably, depends when that particular tyranid has been made from xD if it is dear or animal meats your fine but sand and bone might be an issue for your digestive tract.
Not only do Tyranids taste like chicken, they taste like KFC chicken. This is due in part to them having absorbed the genetic information of the 11 herbs and spices over countless millennia of consuming bio mass.
Considering how awful ration bars are (mmm, tasty corpse starch), eating tyranids would be an improvement. Cue the more feral IG regiments (e.g. Death Worlders and Ogryn) going on hunting expeditions thinly disguised as "Raids". I bet the Commissariat has to go out of their way to warn the troopers not to do this very thing.
No way, within 6 months, like Arch JUST SAID, the ENTIRE planets biomass would be tyrrannid dinner. MAYBE, some guardsmen could hide in a DEEP underground bunker IF it wasn't discovered/infiltrated by genestealers. If they were discovered, the tyrranids wold burrow in and eat everyone, if they hide, well you better be airtight and self sustaining because by the years end the atmosphere and the oceans will have been eaten as well.
From all the lore I've read, the standard Imperial procedure of beating Tyranids goes as such: 1) Station 5 space marines on the planet (preferably Ultramarines). 2) Capture a prime creature. 3) Make a poison designed specifically for this occasion, because nids adapt. 4) Organise your 5 Astartes on a diplomatic mission to deliver said poison to the Tyranid Queen. 5) ??? 6) Planet is saved, all marines alive, didn't even need the Navy.
"Strategy is the realm of korn and tzeench, what are you, some kind of heretic? [BLAM]" Sister Unimetra Visualita to unnamed and purged imperial guard commander.
I don't know how many times I've watched this video, but I come back to it very often. I enjoy it. Especially the whole, "point in the Tyranids general direction and shout HERETIC!!"
NeoCavo They are seperate branches of govt so the sisters of battle don't have to follow orders but its easier to coordinate with the larger space marine force
@49:50 IF SPACE MARINES show up the first thing you do is say " what are you order sir" then you kiss their feet because if anyone one can get you out of this fuckery of a situation if them.
GlamEye I think what he means is what if the Tyrannid Hivemind is a devolved form of an Old one, who was the one controlling the Bugs in the war in the heavens. However, over time, and with the death of the Hiveminds people, the Hivemind would resort to a more animalistic way of surviving
Death Korps of Krieg for the Defence of the Hive cities and Armageddon Steel Legion for the Armoured Fist Brigades as they both are very heavy weapon focused and both serve their roles really well.
Why not just build a big magnifying glas and burn them like ants? No, seriously imagine a lens the size of a Imperial battleship in orbit around a planet!
If you're talking purely Chaos Space Marines, Warp Spawn and Daemons in the material realm - the Tyranids would probably outnumber anything the Eye of Terror could throw out. Chaos itself though, Chaos always wins in the end my friend. I imagine Khorne for example would derive enormous power from the misery and destruction wrought by a Tyranid invasion.
Steven Hilburn I believe there was this one battle where both forces fought. The tyranids won the battle due to the shadow in the warp, Nurgle's diseases not working on them, and that no blood was being spilled for Khorne.
Chaos cannot even fight nids unless near a fucking rift or in the middle of the a bloody warpstorm (or within the eye of terror in which, yay you just showed the nids a all you can eat table that never runs out) due to the shadow of the warp/hive chatter literally ripping demons out of existence back into the warp (in lore at least).
I would say In an actual battle they are evenly matched, Chaos forces are absolutely bad ass and Tyranid forces are slightly less bad ass but a more and can reinforce far more often. However the way things are going in the overall galaxy is not good for chaos. If the nids eat all of the people worshiping them the chaos gods will become weaker and eventually die off, which might be a guaranteed occurrence if the current nids in the galaxy are only a scout force of a much much much larger invasion.
That would mostly depend on how much the Tyranids brought. You are talking about 'Holy Tera' which has the adept mechanics close by on mars and the Imperial fist space marines. You also want to keep in mind the corpse of the Emperor is on Tera and if he dies a large warp rift or whatever is opened up and a flood of demons would burn up all the biomass you got in crimson this happened before on a planet where the grey knights defended in hopes to not open a daemon portal. That will take a while before that happens though and we have to assume the Tyranids have not been stopped. That would make a really epic book or story.
Same way they fight anything else really. Tyranids and Orks basically have a very similar mechanic going for them. They're just a "natural" warrior race with little need for an industrialized base (I mean Ork weaponry is literally just sticks and boxes, etc). With every time an Ork dies it spawns spores that will eventually grow into more Orks. And every time something dies around the Tyranids they eventually break it down into Biomass inside their ships that spawn more Tyranids. Both of them basically are nigh impossible to "Attrition down" in a slog of a ground war. At least not permanently. And both of them are generally too numerous to achieve a lightning victory.
The world through A child’s eyes. Intro. Great Mother Gorgon was once beautiful. A humble priestess of an even humbler church, on the outskirts of known space. The great mother, though she went by another name at that time, would shepherd her flock to understanding and unity , healing the sick and feeding the beggar.She was at peace. Then the Emperor came, to the mother’s world, brining fire and wrath! And woe did fall upon the Mothers flock. The invader burned and purged the worlds enhabitants, and soon found himself at the mother’s church, with wrath in his heart. Confronted by this emperor, this deceiver. The mother did all she could to placate him, but it was for naught, and the Emperor of deciet siezed her, ravaging her body on the chapel floor. The mother did not die, she was left amongst her slaughtered flock, her beauty marred, cursed by a jealous Emperor for refusing his commands, all was lost she thought. She was wrong. They came from the stars, supreme beings of beauty and of justice, they descended on the ruined world and found the mother, her beauty lost forever. With a kiss the saviours saved the mother, elevating her into the brood, her flesh turning green, as is ours, as is theirs. Thus the Great mother Gorgon was Born. -oracle Kalenius, tender of the hive, high Spore Magus of the Gorgonites. Genesis of Great mother Gorgon, first parable of the unification. Chapter 1. Nephele, sat on the cold metal floor with her tiny legs crossed, as she watched the grown ups as they conducted afternoon prayers, singing songs of praises to the star spawned gods, and listening to the retellings of the great Mother Gorgon, the Gorgonites patron saint and founder. She would be considered pretty to anyone, inside of the hive congregation , but to the outsiders she would be have an alarming effect on them, as would all members of the Gorgonites, for their flesh was a drab forest green colour, and their eyes were dark, verging on a soulless predatory black. She liked the songs and stories the grown ups would sing and discuss, especially the ones about the star spawned gods who brought the bad people to justice, for wanting to hurt them, how could outsiders be so mean,was it because her skin was different from theirs? She shrugged, she was safe and so was the hive congregation , so it did not matter. She watched, quietly singing along to the hymns, a slow song about the Great Mother Gorgon saving her people from, the bad emperor-man and his mean men, why exactly they were so mean wasn’t entirely clear to her but that didn’t matter much, the grown ups had told her and the other children that the outsiders were mean,and The grown ups wouldn’t lie to them, they loved and protected them. The other children were watching the grown ups as well, assembled in disorganised rows on the floor, some sat quietly while others were busy playing with the Guardians, climbing up their glossy white carpace and hanging from their three arms and necks, enticing gurgling laughs and groans of protest from the giant hunched creatures, their imbecilic faces,a blend of drab green flesh an glossy bone whit chitin shells,The guardians black eyes Following the small green children, tracking their movement like predators would track a prey. slack mouths swinging side to side, lopsidedly trying to form words in place of the usual groans and moans,and constant ropes of blackened saliva that hung from their chins and dripped to the floor. Nephele loved the Guardians, she would always wave to them and hug their massive legs when she could, they mostly ignored her, except for Hephaestus, he would always follow her around, playing hide or seek with her. Although Hephaestus would always be the one hiding from her in the dark places and watching over her, she didn’t mind that,she felt safe with him. The prayer meeting was ending now, the grown ups were breaking off in small groups to Commence evening routines or night shifts in the hydroponic gardens, Growing the Algae the Gorgonites lived on, refined into a simple but mineral rich paste, the algae delivered everything their bodies needed to survive and grow strong, in their isolated compound, deep in the rainforests of No mans land, the imperial designation for the edge of civilised society. Nephele held back, as the children made to leave with the adults , holding hands and walked together from the chapel, the guardians walking behind them. She looked behind her, into the dark alcove, an old side room not used in a long time, and smiled happily to herself when she saw something move in the dark, a quick flash of glossy bone and green wet flesh. “Hephy,”She waved her slender little arms wildly side to side, in excitement.” Come play with me.” Hephaestus watched from the darkness, growling low, and hungry, as it watched the tiny child call to it, clenching it’s tridactle claws and flexing the muscle in its three bulging arms, in anticipation for the chase. +No,+ the single word command, echoed inside its head in an instinctive way, + She is not for eating.protect her.+ said the voice of Father Gorgon, the Gorgonites Demi god, and herald that will lead them to the stars, to becoming whole. with a low growl Hephaestus shuffled from the shadows after the little girl, it’s predatory eyes never leaving her as she ran ahead, giggling, looking back every now and again to make sure he was following behind her. The hunger never left, it was just suppressed deep inside of it. “The Compound as you can see, is well established ,” said the administration clerk, a malnourished and unhealthily pale skinned teenager, in a baggy grey uniform much to big for her. “ mostly hydroponic algae farms, and places of worship.” The assembled soldiers of the Typhonian Commando Elite,well drilled and discplined commandos, specialised in covert jungle warfare, terror tactics and population oppression.
It depends highly on the kind of death core. After all, there are multiple kinds of krieg regiments. Tranch infantry, defending or trying to break a planet through grinding and thousand of small engagements. Nope. Tyranids will just focus everything on one point and break. Or just use the time to adapt to any defences. If the deathcore has enough preparation time and is on the defence on a very well protected world they may be able to built such a ridicoulous number of fortifications, that they just hold the line ad infinitum, bleeding the fleed dry. While it was not stated in the video, it would just make sense for the tyranids to eat stuff, because they need it, or in other words: Fuckhuge number of space locust: Gigantic need for energy/biomass to sustain them. However, due to the Death Korps philosophy of dying by the thousands, they will provide extra biomass. So if its the hundreds of small shifts in the front that the death Korps is used to, the Tyranids will simply get stronger by eating the Death KorpsThey will not be grinded down. However the Death Korp would be perfect, if they change their approach to digging in. They would need to be prepared for THIS and not the more general appraoch of beeing prepared for all. First of all: Every fucking tranch gets a chimera and flamethrowers. And Steel. Lots and lots of steel. If you dont make a really, really, really good defensive line, dont make one at all. Not hundreds of small tranches, make them big, tough... Every tranch counts, so dont make them uncountable. And you need the chimeras. Because once the locust focuses on one point, everyone needs to be there in second. FirstB: For this of course, really good communication network. Secondly: Scorched earth. And I dont just mean supplies, I mean: Bomb wests. Best with phosphor or other shit that burns biomass. Then, turn that planet into a shit infested hellhole, where the tyranids will not gain one bit of grass in a trench. Think Vraks, but this time on purpose. Thirdly: NO charges. If you decide to dig in and the enemy grinds you to death, just swallow it and dont try to take ground back. Even if you win, you will loose. Because every dead soldier is one new gaunt. Fourthly: Get priests and comissars. With their heavier armour/shields they will be able to spank of small arms fire and have melee potential, therefore limiting the gaunts effectiveness. And they will be able to convince the men to retreat and accept the changes instead of dying and therefore feasting further. Most importantly. Combined arms. Sure, when it comes to sieges and artillery, the Korps rocks. And they are the biggest most important part outnumbering everyone else by around 10000:1. But they cant do other shit. As explained in the video, some drop troops. In general, elite forces, your Korps provide the chaff. So even if the nids nom them, those fuckers will take a hell of a lot with them. You will NEED scouts. And the best you can get too, because the nids cannot be fooled like normal xenos/humans. Hive mind, highly advanced senses, psychic detection... So take the best you can get. My bet: Catachans, especially if you have jungles. Get Gaunts ghosts. Sure, they never fought nids, but they are tough bastards, used to tranch warfare and still are among the best scouts in the galaxy. One tanith normal trooper is scounting elite in any other regiment. Their best screwed a chaos held planet over nearly alone and alone trolls the inquisition because its fun. In short, when I say scout, I mean scout. Scouting. Planning... The scouts are not there to inflict casualties. They warn your tranches so you can adapt and the tyranids cant just break through. And beeing just humans, you cant just counter them like with a radar or fliers as scouts. Also, and here we come to the other kind of troop the death korps needs, outside scouts, hunter-killer troops. The Death Korps isnt a precision tool, its a wall. You dont shoot the big guys. The Tanith, at least for scouts, excell at this: The snipers are their other speciality next to scouts and finding and killing leaders that protect themselve not with walls, but smaller gribblies is their speciality. Also, they counter the greatest plus of the tyranids, flexibility, by beeing extremly inventive. So you also will have a force capable of ridicoulous trickshots, both with snipers and with rocket launchers. And they like flamers, so thats a plus. The total opposite would be catachans. They are not that good at focusing single targets, but can bleed the enemy dry with ambushes and traps. Otherwise: Tallarns. Best Hunter-Killers. Go in, kill synapse creature, then run. All those three have another advantage: Beeing often considered savages, but pretty much the same at heart (due to their planet beeing deadly/dead), they would be the king of all scouting forces. Tallarn moves in, strikes from afar, catachan start ambush, Tyranids dont even realize the gosths outflanked them and now they are caught between two tough bastards, one spraying down so much firepower there is no dodge, and the other headshooting ALWAYS. However. They are your special forces. There to warn you against large enemy attacks. The main fighting will be carried out by the death Korps. So they must stand. You cannot sacrifce as usual. You need to sacrifice millions, but you need to do it planned. Still with me? Well, lets say you are not just some commander of the hardiest bunch of space germans/french ever existed, but an Inquisitor that just found out that gasmasks look awesome. Firstly: Deathwatch. Thats what it was made for. Kill the big guys. Nothing surprises them, nothing scares them and they have the REAL good shit. We are talking liquids that make you invisible to tyranids. But that always good, not just with the death Korps. Then, take some Sororitas. Seraphim would be great. Sure, Assault Space Marines are good and all, but they are not really there to defend an entire continent spanning wall. Some Seraphim and a crapton of battle sisters in Rhinos... Well, they would take the best of both worlds: More numbers then the space marines, but just as heavily armoured and mobile. Also, again: Flamethrowers. And the Seraphim are the perfect counter to tyranid groups: Boltpistols against small creatures, say gaunts and lightly armored shock troops. Gargoyles etc. Flamerpistols against gaunts en masse. And Infernopistols against warriors. Also, if they retreat, even the Death Korps will not defy orders to stand and fight. Psykers? No, you want to force those fuckers into stalemates, no wildcards. Officio Assasinorum? Maybe, but Deathwatch does it better. Then take a shitload of investigators, if the hive mind accepts and you have your stalemate, geanstealers and lictors are your worst nightmare. And do that while preparing the defense. The Inquisition has genestealer specialists. So, Fazit: The Death Korps would need to prepare for this special occasion. They would need to change their approach and fluently work with other forces. But at the core, they will remain the "dig in, shoot, die, repeat"-guys we know and love. They just need to be so fucking good at building defenses, that its just one fucking huge walll. Tell those gribblies: Germa... I mean Krieg engeneering, best engeneering. And then take the hardiest guys in the galaxy for the kind of people that need to step outside said wall and look for the nids.
Dam Tanks nice to know some one else was as willing to think about this as muth as me. OK shopping/ To-do list for anti-nids, Promethium, Lots of the dam stuff, Flamers of all kinds and any Hell hound and the like i can find. Make the trenches dam good, plenty of point defenses and Deep battle lines with second possessions able to cover the front and the third covering the second and so on. Have direct lines to allow there APC's to move at top speed as well as ways for raped reinforcement and to allow the reinforcements shaw up the crumbling line Ensure the Korp Artillery Parks have the data and ability to fire one concentrated possessions if need be, and have the ability to rapidly reload, cos you know, big booms and fancy ammo that can burn stuff or melt it. Some descent scouts like you said, Talleth, Catachans or The Ghosts but if forced to turn to the Death Riders, they are the Korps Scouts not the best but should hopefully keep there eyes on the look out to alert. Ask *couch* Screambegdowhatever *cough* For any Elites of the Imperium. Deathwatch for the best, but anything will do. Bolter Bitches and Make sure the Commissar and Priests are well enough spread around to keep the orders being followed and MOST IMPORTEDT: To Keep the mad Fuckers on the Short Leash! Thanks for this, me and a friend are planning a....large battle(s) Death Korp combined army v nids....looooooooooooooooots a Gribely, tenticle waiving, irritating Nids....once I get the number of Korps i need for the Army....but you know....Expensive.... Missed anything?
Nightcorerulz Yeah, that is actually a pretty great plan. Hellhounds are perfect. Still, the death riders will face severe problems. While their horses are specially bread and all, the Tyranids usually, sometimes using psykers, can scare of any kind of non-intelligent creature just if they are close. However, they are the perfect backup. Fast and mostly they dont cost your precious promethium to fuel. Now, we still want the Death Korps to be the actual defender, not part of a combined arms group. Therefore, we look at what the Death Korps provide and how to counter it, because that is what the Hive Mind will try: They are excellent at defence. They dont break. They will sacrifice without question and they can built defenses quickly. Now, the last dont really work here, because you dont want sacrifice and you dont want quick defenses. You want good ones. However, they can provide numbers. The tyranids usually excell at tranch warfare, because they will just not stop pouring through, once they have a hole. They will just use the little ones, so you cant surround them. So you need the numbers to do the same. And there, the Death Korps excells. And they also are used to work in toxic enviroments, so no poison here. However: Artillery. The enemy can outgun you. Hiding some artillery and just slowly shooting you will win. Because even if you take out the artillery of the enemy, they will just absorb it again. So you need to destroy it, again using specialised demolition scouts. Or fill your Deathstrike Missile Launchers with Phosphor. Also, those cowards shouldnt hide. Glass everything that isnt yours in advance. This has another advantage: Some tyranids are plants, so you will not only destroy forrests but some enemies as well. Naval battle: Your tranches are useless, if the enemy comes from above and theTyranids will just pour onwards faster then you can shoot them. A fuckhuge forcefield would be perfect. Also helps against artillery. Best case scenario: The really big ships are exactly above you and have such a range, even the tyranids cant get close enough. Stationary orbital defense plattforms are perfect for this. Finally, the Death Korps lacks in the really big stuff. Titans and shit. You mainly have artillery and you cant field enough titans to defend everything. Shadowswords are perfect, beeing essentially really heavy sniper tanks. Then again coming back to the Bolter Bitches: Not only do they field immolators, which will be better then your hellhounds, they, outside of flamers, also bring a shitton of melters. And they like power swords. Exactly the tools to stop the enemy from breaking your defenses with fast attack heavy infantry, especially if those fuckers simply dig beneath your tranches. If they pop up there, your Korps is fucked, but one angry nun+one master crafted powersword+one inferno pistol=A bunch of dead nids. Also, the sisters are known to improve moral far better then a Space Marine by beeing near. And while the death Korps does not break, the psychic nagging of the hive mind may hinder them. However, some sisters are of such faith, that the warp simply calms aroud them, allowing the Kriegans to be limited to the regular pain and suffering they are used to. Finally the sisters have another advantages beeing accompanied by the priests you need and with both investigators against infiltration in the form of the Ordo Famulus as well as the Ordo Hospitaller, providing medications if the usual Death Korps medicine of just enough so he can fight again just isnt enough. In short: Except for Imperial Fists (defensive specialists), the Deathwatch (the literally Alien Hunters) and the Salamanders (fire) Sororitas are really the best to have. And the exorcist: This beautifull piece of fanatism is just perfect. Everything Death Korps artillery lacks, they have: Precision, power and mobility. The Death Korps follows the nobel idea of: Glass everything. WIth the emperors "own" words regarding the guard "With balls of steel I shall clad them." So if the tyranids sents those immun to this in small numbers, you are fucked. Even with your entire artillery park, they may dodge. You are just not precise enough. The exorcist on the other hand... Oh yes, this organ can shoot a Hive Tyrant out of the air from miles. And due to that range, the limited numbers of it are not that problematic. And they can glass titans with melta missiles. So, to summarize: The Death Korps will be the bulk of your forces. They will built a goddamn wall and they will hold it. Best case scenario: This wall has an energy shield, encircles promethium sorces and is constant. You back that up with all the APCs and death riders you can get. Then mount flamers on everything. And let your artillery use as much fire as possible. Each and every Kriegan has been informed that sacrifice without permission means failure. Everything that isnt your defense is just barren wasteland. Try to destroy the biomass. But leave non-organic hiding spots for your scouts. Then place small groups of elite forces behind your lines as quick reserves. And have "scapel" units guarding your wall. Which brings us to your friends: The munitorum, of course, but that is Kriegan standard. The church because Space Marines come in to limited numbers to be effective. And because holding the line is already your job, so if they can provide things like medication and investigators, perfect. The Ordo Xenos, because Deathwatch. Also, draw every investigator you get. The last thing you need is your promethium beeing sabotaged. And the comissariat. Not only do you need comissars, their ability to execute EVERYONE means, your campaign will not fail due to some politicians beeing assholes. The navy, because space ships are the weakness of the nids. Scouts and Hunter-Killer regiments, because they do, what you cant (precision) and you do what they cant (dying by the billions without a single fuck given). Strategy: Those groups will destroy the stranger and faster (especially tough faster) units, the enemy has. Now the Death Korps can do what they do best and hold the line ad infinitum. Just ensure to not give the enemy biomass. The enemy will attack 24/7 so you just defend 24/7. If the enemy slows down, that means you won.
Don't neglect your Adeptus Mechanicus attachments either. As much mechanized firepower as you're asking to bring you'll definitely want the best of the best to make sure your Machine Spirits are properly appeased and running smoothly. Improperly serviced machine spirits would be one of your greater weaknesses as you're counting on artillery and mechanized firepower in general to respond quickly to threats. And while generally under appreciated and overlooked, the Imperial Navy does have some air assets you should consider taking advantage of. The Lightning Fighter might seem wimpy but it'll outrun pretty much anything the Tyranids put in the air I believe, and with Autocannons, Lascannon, and Hunter-Killer Missiles can also help in that "Lets snipe some Synapse Creatures" missions. The danger of course being that you'd have to use them sparingly as while they can outrun most danger, well, the Ork style "Lets just fill the air with dakka" problem still exists. But it's definitely something I'd want in there as I'm sure that I'd get use out of. Barring that (Understandable, the Imperial Navy doesn't carry too many Lightning Fighters because they're selfish punks and rather have Space Fighters only), Hydra Flak Tanks can help you keep some air security (especially in tandem with Exorcists) as well as being decent as mulching Gaunt Hordes in a pinch.
This was awesome. I love it. This video reminded me of one National Geographic Show called "Generals at war" .Where they take a look at a specific battle or campaign of WW2 and they show it from the perspective of the Commanders. It would be awesome it there was a 40K version.
No. You'd really want to preserve your most powerful and expensive assets for strategic strikes and leave most of the fighting to the masses of infantry and armoured corps that are available. You can't win a ground battle against Tyranids, he is right. At that point it's all about delaying the inevitable. Your best bet is to either develope and utilize something that will destroy them completly, like a virus bomb or leave that work to the fleet. The first option is practicaly impossible to even achieve.
plus as he pointed out correctly, depolying Titans will only provoke them to deploy their equvivalents and most likely outnumber everything you field at least 10/1.
