The Tyrannofex

[c1940n]

I'm sure no one will argue that a Tyrannofex is all kinds of stupid awesome, but I'm wondering more if those who have used one (or more) would say that they can pull their own weight, or rather, "worth their points", at least in the cases of taking the Rupture Cannon (I have no concern for a T-fex without it), or the pants-crappingly-attractive Fleshborer Hive (who wouldn't want A20 shot?). I could easily see the Fleshborer Hive no being worth it, since letting enemy units in 12" of the t-fex would likely be a mistake, but I want a second (and third and fourth) opinion on that, as well as for the Rupture Cannon altogether.

tl;dr?
a) Is t-fex with the points?
b) Rupture cannon?
c) Fleshborer Hive?

[Novasry]

I run one with a Rupture Cannon. the important thing to remember is this thing is still a hugely strong Monstrous Creature, Charge that thing up the board and hope theres a tank alive when it gets to the other side.

[Mr Sanguine]

since letting enemy units in 12" of the t-fex would likely be a mistake

It's still a monstrous creature

a) Is t-fex with the points?

For sure

b) Rupture cannon?

Best Tyranid ranged weapon in my opinion. And it can move and fire it...yay

c) Fleshborer Hive?

A must and very amusing.

[Sybrite]

i'm not a fan of the tyrannofex.
-costs more than a landraider but can be killed by lasguns
-luckily not much out there is going to one-hit kill it like can happen to a landraider (but then again, there are weapons that can one-hit kill it)

for me it is really underpowered for its cost.

-fleshborer hive is IMO the worst option, 12 inch gun that only works on infantry and worst of all is powered by BS3. 20shots looks nice but avg its only 10 hits and another avg is 5 wounds vs T4 (and most of those are going to laugh at its AP5 with their 3+ armor save; but even orks would chuckle at those projected loses). biggest of all is that you have to pay points to 'upgrade' to this gun. for it to have been a viable option it would need atleast a 24 inch range and possibly twin-linking

- the rupture cannon is so-so, again sucks you have to pay for it and again it's powered by BS3; luckily it has 2 shots so one should hit each time you fire. range and Str are the only things going for this weapon. but the poor BS and marginal AP value really don't appeal to me. (sure it's not intended as an anti-infantry weapon but other anti-tank weapons will at least have a space marine looking for cover when the barrel is pointed their way)

- Acid spray is the only primary weapon for a tyrannofex that I like (but my thoughts are that this gun really should have been given to the pyrovore to make that model viable...)
also I'm not exstatic about hellhound clones. but the acid spray IMO is the best bet for this creature. A tyrannofex can drop two flame templates and a large blast into an infantry formation, spelling disaster to any horde army. only problem is accomplishing this feat consistantly to justify the 250 price tag. now optimal range is just past 14 inches, enough to get the acid sprays template in land decent hits with body of the template and still placing the cluster spines, but this does leave out the thorax swarm weapon so 'optimal' isn't firing all three of its weapons really. if a unit does get within 12 is usually going to charge or just torrent fire this monster down (probably both)

- As a dedicated infantry murder, I think the T-fex has the best chance to recoup its cost. if it took the rupture cannon then it'd be like painting a giant bullseye on it giving you maybe 2 turns to down enough vehicles, but unless you're bagging landraiders on the first try I doubt it. with the acid spray, the t-fex is still a big target but your opponent will likely pause targetting it for faster units that do threaten their heavy guns.

[c1940n]

-fleshborer hive is IMO the worst option, 12 inch gun that only works on infantry and worst of all is powered by BS3. 20shots looks nice but avg its only 10 hits and another avg is 5 wounds vs T4 (and most of those are going to laugh at its AP5 with their 3+ armor save; but even orks would chuckle at those projected loses). biggest of all is that you have to pay points to 'upgrade' to this gun. for it to have been a viable option it would need atleast a 24 inch range and possibly twin-linking

What do you mean 'only works on infantry'? it's a 4S gun, so if (by some miracle) you shot at the back of all but the strongest of tanks, you're very likely going to cause some amount of damage.
Against orks, using big models at all is a bad idea, right? But then for space marines, this is looking at doing 1-2 wounds per shot, which is enough to force a tactical team to make a morale check. In all, however, I can agree with you that this gun is probably the weakest of the choices.

- the rupture cannon is so-so, again sucks you have to pay for it and again it's powered by BS3; luckily it has 2 shots so one should hit each time you fire. range and Str are the only things going for this weapon. but the poor BS and marginal AP value really don't appeal to me. (sure it's not intended as an anti-infantry weapon but other anti-tank weapons will at least have a space marine looking for cover when the barrel is pointed their way)

With its range and strength, anti infantry is likely a waste of its talent, unless you're targetting characters or unprotected psykers. I've started counting the rupture cannon as part of its base cost,and reduce it when I get the acid spray

- Acid spray is good

agreed, but I think in the end, I'm going to use this as an anti tank beast, and use my swarms of infantry as anti-infantry. I've noticed that killing off small models isn't as hard for nids as killing off fast and/or heavily armored vehicles.

So what thorax swarm to people use? I suppose it is really dependent on which enemy you're fighting.

[Sybrite]

aside from an ork trukk, I don't see the fleshborer hive ever firing at the AV10 side of a vehicle, its big and slow with just standard infantry movement so it's not gonna sneak up behind for a rear shot

anti-infantry is a waste of the rupture cannon, but there are times you need to shoot infantry with it; like when an assault squad is about to charge the T-fex (because if your opponent doesn't have enough lascannons and krak missiles to murder at range, the next best thing is to lock it up in combat so it stops shooting)

as for thorax preference:
electroshock seems the standard, decent strength to even hurt light vehicles or other monstrous creatures
- shreddershard if you're a gambler, again it can hurt vehicles, but the change to rend means it can really put the hurt on anything

-desiccator to me seems the weakest. sure it wounds on 2's but it has no AP value, so it almost worthless as a template weapon (at least the shreddershard can have an AP if it renders) - orks are gonna look at you funny the first couple of times cause they'll need to use their armor save

[tyraniduser287]

yes it is costly but it is well worth the 250pts for it. add ons you would be most happy with the rupture cannon and regen other than that its a living ball of destruction. also fair warning its close combat skills are terrible but the range of the rupture cannon can make up for that just sit back and just shoot with it