[bebe]

Talking Zilla

There are some standard choices in most Zilla lists.
The Flyrant appears often as the HQ ...
2x TL Devourers, ES, Flesh Hooks, TS, Wings, Warp Field
This is pure nastiness and does the job nicely. It's a
fairly large investment in points but it works well.
It's 12 strength 5 AP 5 shots. give him the strength upgrade.


Sniperfexes are also pretty much set ...
It's targeted by rocket launchers, battle cannons, starcannons,
bright lances, plasma rifles, autocannons, heavy bolters,
bolters, lasrifles, missile pods, shuriken catapults, pulse
rifles, meltas and every other weapon that has it's odds
against you altered by toughness 7 2+ save and the regenerate
to get the lost wounds back....
so sniperfexes are ...
BS, VC, Bonded Exoskeleton, Regenerate, Reinforced Chitin,
ES, EC, Flesh Hook
I don't think thre is too much argument over this
configuration.

But what if you want to include one screamer killer?
Which is better ...
2x ST, AG(I), TS, Flesh Hooks
or
2x ST, AG(WS),TMiasma, Flesh Hooks
You need to fit this fex in your Elite squad to go along with
a couple of dakkafexes ...
2x TL Devourers, ES, Flesh Hooks

+1 I is important.Without +1 it strikes at the same time as
powerfists which means its going to get pasted in CC! TS and
AG(I) are essential on a Screamer Killer. Sure AG(WS) and
TMiasma hit Marines on 3+ but the hidden powerfists
will be your demise. If you are set on the WS upgrade though
you could avoid squads with powerfists. You have 5-6 fexes and
not all will be charged by powerfists. You might even survive
a round against them. Your carnies will be hit on 3s wounded
on 2s. On the upside, how often do you take a wound and if you
use Toxic Miasma you more or less have a WS of 5, which let's
you hit marines on 3+, and if you can a snipe a PowerFist
by having it's wielder in the kill zone. Hitting more is
obviously a good thing. Taking onw wound is worth it as you
"just" have to kill 3 marines to get your points back so
even if they slay your Fex you can kill more of them hitting
on 3s.

Now on to your other choice ... Do we take a Broodlord. Don't
dismiss this option too lightly. He cam seve a good purpose.
The broodlord can be included for a reason... going on a flank
and herding the enemy against the fexes with help from flyrant.
Yes he will be a big target and he is not a cheap inclusion but
Broodlord/w AG +I, EC, Flesh Hooks, Implant Attack, TS
11x Genestealers/w ST, EC, Flesh Hooks
on a flank is very scary. No one wants this within charge range.
This also provides some quick assualt/disruption for your senter.

of course you can use
3 Raveners (talons/claws only ) instead of broodlord

1 Flyrant
2 Dakkafex
1 Screamerfex
3 Raveners (talons/claws only )
2 VC/BS fexes
2 Synapse/Warp Blast 'thropes
fill in troops ....

This would be the zoanthrope configuration
2x Zoanthrope
2x Synapse, Warp blast, Catalyst

Now your another choice would be to add
A tactically placed lictor or 2 purely for the reserve rolls
and to hold up the enemy one more turn so the hordes of
leaping Rippers with Fleet alongside Hormagaunts - another
choice taken to overcome the inherent drawbacks of carnifexes
- can close. Even swarms of scuttling gaunts work well.

We need to be clear on a few issues ...
You need guns because the big guys are slow and escalation
hurts. You also need guns because they're very effective of course.
You need to saturate your opponent. This means getting LoS and range
on all your targets. Raveners, Flyrant and Broodlord can help.
We do not want our Monstrous creatures Isolated and picked off.

I can envision using a second cc Flyrant as well ... you
want a a rock solid center for your army with some
quick assualt/disruption.

I know at low point games they are competitive. In 1500
point games, Zilla nids have consistenly scored in top 3.
In escalation multiwound scoring unit monstrosities rocking
up anywhere along deployment untouched by turn 4 is good. I
hate hearing complaints about how the possibility of arriving
piecemeal works heavily against us.

The main reason people complain that shooty Nidzilla lists
MCs are essentially better tanks. Vehicles are very easy to
kill but while MCs have many of the advantages of vehicles
they don't have as many of the disadvantages. TMCs can
fire multiple weapons, their weapons often have very high
strenth and either a high rate of fire or a blast radius,
just like tanks. However, they can't be stunned, shaken,
have multiple wounds, are very dangerous in CC (although
this isn't always an advantage since they can get locked in
cc), can fire at any visible strength of the weapon.
That's a whole host of advantages that vehicles don't get,
all for about the same cost as a SM tank and you can take as
many as ten. A balanced army just doesn't have enough anti-tank
to combat them. This is their strength - there are a few lists
that can take them comfortably but 'all-comers' lists fare poorly
against them.