Warhammer 40K: Metawatch: Tyranid Crusher Stampede Get 10 Top 4 Finishes

Let’s take a look at 40k’s rising stars, the Tyranid Crusher Stampede, that is flattening the competition.

Hello Everyone, my name is Nathan, and this is your friendly new neighborhood weekly tournament results and coverage article. Just to get introductions out of the way, I’m a relatively new player who started right at the tail-end of 8^th edition right before the pandemic changed a lot of how, where, and when we played 40K for a bit. I like to think of myself as a competitive player instead of a narrative or casual player (though I do enjoy a good crusade campaign now and again).  I play basically everything under the Aeldari umbrella including Asuryani, Drukhari, and Harlequins. This article series will contain the following information:

• A look at data from that week’s Grand Tournament (GT) and higher results, including a look at some of the trends and booming factions
• Top List Analysis

Lists, data, and all stats are based on information pulled from either Best Coast Pairings or Down Under Pairings.

This week in 40K we had 9 GT or larger events take place according to BCP and DUP (qualifying events had  at least 30 participants):

• Reaper Cup
• Glasshammer GT
• Glass City GT
• Imps Gaming January GT

Meta Overall

Tyranids Surging

Looking briefly at the data what we can see is that we’ve got a surge in Tyranids placing in the top 10 and top 4 at tournaments. Both Tyranids and Drukhari are finishing with sizeable leads over other high-performing factions (Custodes, Death Guard, Grey Knights). Tyranids are quite solidly at the top with 14 top 10 and 10 top 4 finishes this week. Drukhari trailed them with 11 and 5, respectively. Followed by Death Guard, Sisters of Battle, Custodes, and Grey Knights wrapping up the highest performers this week. It’s good to note though, that despite not having many top 10 finishes Thousand Sons as a faction tied with Tyranids and Drukhari with 2 overall wins at GT sized events this week.

A Deeper Look

Looking a little deeper at list construction for Tyranids lists that placed within the Top 10 of events this week they are basically exclusively leveraging the new Army of Renown the Crusher Stampede. In fact, all of the top 4 lists featured the Army of Renown. Also, I’m not going to be analyzing RTT level events, a cursory examination of that data reveals that Crusher Stampede appears to have swept almost all RTT events from this week alongside their strong performance at the GT level.

The core of these Tyranid crusher stampede lists appears to be similar across multiple events. Most lists consist of a Leviathan battalion made up of – one Hive Tyrant, 3 squads of 3 Tyranid wWarriors, lictors, and one squad of Hive Guard. After that core we see these lists vary in their HQ units – Swarm Lord and Malanthropes being common, but not universal – and we also see variety in the large monsters taken. Most lists take Dimachaerons or Heirodules (both the scythed and barbed variants), but with a few lists also takie flyers including the harpy and the Harridan.

It’s worth noting that some of the stampede lists will likely change with what we know about the new GT pack. Especially with changes to ROD (now RND) Lictors and single monsters will have a hard time succeeding at these actions. It’ll be interesting to see how these lists adapt to those changes. Personally, I suspect some of those 3-man Warrior blobs might get a little larger or alternatively we will see units of raveners come into play more moving forwards.

Sample List: First Place – Reaper CupJosh Engelke

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Tyranids) [107 PL, 9CP, 1,998pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Army of Renown – Crusher Stampede

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Hive Fleet: Leviathan

+ Stratagems +

Bounty of the Hive Fleet [-1CP]: 1 Extra Bio-artefact

Progeny of the Hive [-1CP]

+ HQ +

Hive Tyrant [11 PL, -1CP, 210pts]: Adrenal Glands, Monstrous Boneswords, Monstrous Rending Claws, Power: Catalyst, Power: Paroxysm, Relic: Synaptic Hive Blades, Stratagem: Alpha Leader-Beast, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Rampaging Beast, Warlord Trait: Strategic Adaptation, Wings

Neurothrope [5 PL, 95pts]: Power: Onslaught, Relic: Adaptive Neural Lobe

The Swarmlord [14 PL, 240pts]: Power: Aggressive Surge, Power: Synaptic Barrier

+ Troops +

Tyranid Warriors [5 PL, 69pts]: Adrenal Glands, Synaptic Link: Bioweapon Bond . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons

Tyranid Warriors [4 PL, 51pts] . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons

Tyranid Warriors [5 PL, 69pts]: Adrenal Glands, Synaptic Link: Bioweapon Bond . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons . Tyranid Warrior: 2x Scything Talons

+ Elites +

Lictor [2 PL, 37pts]

Lictor [2 PL, 37pts]

Maleceptor [9 PL, 170pts]: Power: Catalyst

+ Fast Attack +

Dimachaeron [12 PL, 255pts]

Dimachaeron [12 PL, 255pts]

+ Heavy Support +

Barbed Hierodule [14 PL, 275pts]

Scythed Hierodule [12 PL, 235pts]

++ Total: [107 PL, 9CP, 1,998pts] ++

Army Key Features

• Big monsters are -1 damage and count as their remaining wounds worth of models for holding objectives; all of your models (including monsters) have a 5++.
• Hive Tyrant that can go character hunting with flat 3 damage, 5+D3 extra attacks that ignore invulnerable saves. Also a clutch redeploy to let you deploy on the line and then redeploy more conservatively if you don’t get first turn
• Two units of warriors with warrior bond to pass out +1 to hit to your monsters, which is really nice with most monsters being at WS 3+
• Maleceptor can provide clutch defense via ENCEPHALIC DIFFUSION which subtracts 1 strength from ranged attacks against units within 6” of the Maleceptor
• Lictors provide an easy source of ROD and Engage
• Dimachaeron or heirodules boosted by Thunderous Impact and Breaking through provide reliable damage capable of pulling down even Drukhari pain engines. Then Death Surge means that even in death your monsters will cause your opponent significant amounts of suffering.
• Adaptive neural lobe provides much needed CP regeneration support (get a CP back on a 5+) so that you can continue to afford more expensive stratagems like encephalic diffusion.

TLDR

• Big durable monsters with support units that increase durability and efficiency into the stratosphere.

TLDR? Bugs, bugs, bugs, and more bugs. Mostly monstrous. Also, apparently, all of your monster’s getting an invulnerable save, -1 damage, and solid stratagem support is good? Who knew?

Author: Reece Robbins

Reece Robbins, is one of the most respected names in tabletop gaming. He founded Frontline Gaming and the largest Warhammer 40K tournament in the world, the Las Vegas Open. Reece has been playing competitively and covering Warhammer since the 1980s. He has won major events including Adepticon.