Unit of the Week: Malanthrope

[Xenith]

++Malanthrope++

 

 

We have a new unit of the week! Having already discussed all units in the standard codex, we're moving on to Forge World datasheets. This week it's the big floaty poison gas-bag, the malanthrope. In early 8th ed, this beast was a must-take, giving -1 to hit on everything within 6 inches, being Synapse, a cheap HQ with CHARACTER protection and giving army wide rerolls, all for under 100pts, however brought essentially zero killing power to the table, being exclusively a support unit. Since then, he's been almost doubled in points, and will now cost you about the same as an unequipped Hive Tyrant, and as such has altogether disappeared from tables.

 

What are you thoughts, and how best would you use it?

• To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will the beta rules affect your list(s)?
• What size unit? Will you be running multiple units?
• What Hive Fleet Traits, Adaptative Physiologies and Stratagems do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices?
• Are you buffing this unit? If so, how?
• Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play

Over to you.

 

Tyranids Unit of the Week Index

Edited June 28, 2021 by Xenith

[Xenith]

I dont have one of these, however I was almost tempted before the price hike. It was one of the first models to shroud monsters, however that ability was then given to normal Venomthropes in the Codex, so he wasn't so unique anymore. At ~100pts, he'd be a hard choice between him or a Neuro, but at the moment the Neuro gets a lot of the same bonuses and MW ability/buffing ability for roughly 2/3 the cost. 

 

That said, -1 to hit and untargetable makes him a lot better than a comparable amount of venomthropes - is anyone having any luck? I've been thinking of converting one from a Carnifex body and Flying Hive Tyrant tail. 

[Arson Fire]

-1 to hit isn't what it used to be.

The old interaction where you determined whether a hit roll required a re-roll before modifiers were applied meant that a hit penalty could eliminate a lot more dice. But by now GW has updated the wording on just about all re-roll abilities to allow you to apply them to all hit rolls, rather than just failed ones.

 

This is not entirely a bad thing, as it's certainly less confusing to new players. But I don't find myself including malanthropes in lists much these days as a result.