[scar face]

Tyranid Lictor Tactics


I find the Lictors very difficult to use and at 80 points it is expensive. You need to have a strategy in mind to use it rather than pay the points and then try to devise a strategy.

It is sneaky and has a good chance of striking first. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

Lictor Tactics


Assassin

Lictors are good assassins. In a one to one fight, Lictors will wound or kill most of your opponent's characters. Avatars and Greater Demons are eatable with a bit of support. Beware of the character's bodyguard retinue. If you are out numbered your chances of survival are slim.

If no valuable characters are available Lictors can tie up squads in combat. This allows your other troops top close in. Remember that your enemy can not shoot through close combat. Choose a squad that is small enough so you are not killed in one turn. Choose one in a position that blocks as many shots at your troops as possible.

Confuse and Distract

Even when your Lictor is not on the table it can distract your opponent. Decide at the beginning of the battle if you want your opponent to know that you have a Lictor. If he does not know about it you can surprise him when it appears. If he does know about it then he will be guessing where it is placed until it's on the board. Sometimes you do not get the chance to keep your army list secret. In this case use the second tactic.

Crossfire

Your Lictor is an excellent model to a fleeing enemy in cross fire. Keep a keen eye for opportunities.

Causes Terror

Lictors do not have 'The Horror' Hive-Mind power, but they do look awesome and your opponent on his toes.

Lictor Special Rules


The Lictor have an array of special rules.

Secret Deployment

How can anything this big be so sneaky? With Secret Deployment, the Lictor has the best chance to worm its way behind enemy lines to cause havoc. Be warned though, on its own Lictors are very vulnerable targets and its toughness 4 is no that great. Beware of those scanners and flamers when you are setting up.

Independent

The Lictors are independent soles. Even if you have three in a elite choice, you can use then on different parts of the battle field. Again beware, the WH40000 game is biased so that having a large squad of foot soldiers is better than having one or two 'super troops'.

Fearless

The fearless characteristic gives the Lictor some sticking power. The ability to pass all leadership tests means that Lictors will not run at the first sight of danger.

There is no danger of your Lictors doing random action due to the 'instinctive Behaviour' rules.

Stealth

The Lictor always receives a 5+ cover save. The +2 cover save is not huge but it does give you a chance of saving against a Las cannons etc. If the opponent knows his stuff, he will target you with his heavy Bolters. Your best option then is to use as much cover as possible as buildings give a 3+ (4+1) cover save.

Hit and Run

This allows your Lictor to leave an assault on your turn and hide / assault again / assault elsewhere.

Hope you enjoyed my tactica..comments, critisms and help is
welcome...

SORRY, BUTS IT'S MORE LICTOR RULES THAN TACTICS.

MORE TACTICAS COMING UP... WATCH THIS SPACE!!! ;D

Please review this striogi!

[fattyboy5]

Very good work, i have never really known how to use lictors.

Have you considered putting some of these tacticas on the website? There isn't a current one for lictors, and this is very useful in my opinion

[sionnach19]

Honestly, Lictors can't really stand up against any enemy commanders... a Tau Shas'o could probably beat one up pretty badly in a fight. They are best used as a disruption role. You run them in, attack an isolated/weak unit (artillery, tank rear armor, scouts) and then use hit and run to get them into cover again, where their improved cover save makes them a pain to effectively shoot down.

Rinse, wash, and repeat.

Otherwise, the general summary of special rules and their uses is good.

[scar face]

how do you put them on the website. ???

[Gareth]

Lictors get butchered in fights against characters and troops. They're too fragile.

Lictors main purpose is to rend rear tank armour. You've missed that.

Its second purpose is to give the preferred enemy special rule to units needing it. You missed that as well.

Nice try, but you missed the point by a light year.

[Sargaule]

In your section on Secret Deployment you seem to be referencing the last codex, not the most recent one. Scanners and/or flamers have no impact in the current rules. You should be talking about the improved Deep Strike they get, that sort of thing.

[striogi]

Sorry for taking so long to get to this. (I finally got a chance to review this)
Please go read my "getting started with tyranids". I briefly touch on how to use lictors and what to avoid. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions here are poor options.

in fact, I would suggest you take the time to read all the existent articles before spending too much time writing more. This will give you an idea as to what might be lacking (in your opinion) what others think, and new perspectives.

Others have already touched on the suggestions, so the only thing I can really add is to go into further depth, and pull out the gems.

Originally Posted by scar face

Tyranid Lictor Tactics

I find the Lictors very difficult to use and at 80 points it is expensive. You need to have a strategy in mind to use it rather than pay the points and then try to devise a strategy.

I fundamentally disagree: It's good to have an idea of how/when to use it, but the lictor is such an opportunistic unit that you can't effectively plan ahead. Each table, opponent, situation is different and you must be able to identify openings and be ready to exploit them. Neither is easy. As such I consider the Lictor an "advanced tactics" unit.

It is sneaky and has a good chance of striking first. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

Lictor Tactics

Assassin
Lictors are good assassins. In a one to one fight, Lictors will wound or kill most of your opponent's characters. Avatars and Greater Demons are eatable with a bit of support. Beware of the character's bodyguard retinue. If you are out numbered your chances of survival are slim.

Lictors are terrible Independent character assassins. With only four attacks, your chances of causing a single rending hit are low, and most ICs tend to have an invulnerable save that gives them a chance to resist anyway. Sure, the high STR stat (6) gives them a much better chance to wound, but you should only consider this as a valid tactic ONLY if your target character is T3 (GEq), as you would only need to place one wound to get an Instant Kill effect.

Any Monstrous creatures would slaughter a lone lictor, and any support squad strong enough to help the lictor kill a MC, should be able to kill the MC without the lictor's help. Since the Lictor cannot join another unit, and can be singled out in multiple-unit assaults, sending the lictor after MC's is a very bad idea. You also can't claim the feeder tendril bonus to provide supporting troops, since the lictor's feeder tendrils won't work against Monstrous Creatures and Independent Characters.

If no valuable characters are available Lictors can tie up squads in combat. This allows your other troops top close in. Remember that your enemy can not shoot through close combat. Choose a squad that is small enough so you are not killed in one turn. Choose one in a position that blocks as many shots at your troops as possible.

This is dangerous tactic and should be taken as rarely as possible. It is a valid tactic, however. With careful deepstriking and assaulting, you can limit the return attacks, forcing your opponent to lose an entire squad's shooting for a single round. of course, this means that the lictor would have to withstand 2-3 assault phases, which is fairly unlikely, depending on the unit assaulted.

Confuse and Distract
Even when your Lictor is not on the table it can distract your opponent. Decide at the beginning of the battle if you want your opponent to know that you have a Lictor. If he does not know about it you can surprise him when it appears. If he does know about it then he will be guessing where it is placed until it's on the board. Sometimes you do not get the chance to keep your army list secret. In this case use the second tactic.

The open army list issue aside, this is actually a very GOOD point, and one of the unquantifiable values that I speak of. How afraid of the lictor is he? does he try to occupy as much terrain as possible or does he fear it? Don't forget: the lictor has a +2 bonus to any cover they hide in, so it's perfectly feasible for a lictor to hide in a rather standard building or rocks (4+ cover) and suddenly have a 2+ cover save. I've seen entire armies spend a whole round of shooting trying to kill a lictor hiding in cover, saving the rest of my army from heavy incoming fire.

Crossfire
Your Lictor is an excellent model to a fleeing enemy in cross fire. Keep a keen eye for opportunities.

There's not enough here. You need to expand on this concept. Are you referring to a crossfire rule?

Causes Terror
Lictors do not have 'The Horror' Hive-Mind power, but they do look awesome and your opponent on his toes.

...and keeps your opponent... ? I would refrain from commenting on the appearance of the model and how it might affect opponents. very few models actually affect how you react to them on the table, based on appearance alone. they tend to be big MC's, tanks, vehicles and suchlike.

Lictor Special Rules
The Lictor have an array of special rules.

Secret Deployment

How can anything this big be so sneaky? With Secret Deployment, the Lictor has the best chance to worm its way behind enemy lines to cause havoc. Be warned though, on its own Lictors are very vulnerable targets and its toughness 4 is no that great. Beware of those scanners and flamers when you are setting up.

Lictor is only a size 2 creature, same class size as a human, space marine and a gaunt. as for the rest, someone else commented on it.

Independent
The Lictors are independent soles. Even if you have three in a elite choice, you can use then on different parts of the battle field. Again beware, the WH40000 game is biased so that having a large squad of foot soldiers is better than having one or two 'super troops'.

True, and this might be an area to talk further on... however also remember that lictors all deploy at the same time, and you can choose where they deploy when their roll comes up.

Fearless
The fearless characteristic gives the Lictor some sticking power. The ability to pass all leadership tests means that Lictors will not run at the first sight of danger.

Yes, but this is both a blessing and a curse. you might want to look into expanding and exploring these ideas.

There is no danger of your Lictors doing random action due to the 'instinctive Behaviour' rules.

Wrong. This is a common misconception. Fearless creatures always pass morale tests, which uses the LD stat. IB is a Leadership test. Please read the Tyranid FAQ on the GW website, it expands on this idea.

Stealth
The Lictor always receives a 5+ cover save. The +2 cover save is not huge but it does give you a chance of saving against a Las cannons etc. If the opponent knows his stuff, he will target you with his heavy Bolters. Your best option then is to use as much cover as possible as buildings give a 3+ (4+1) cover save.

Incorrect numbers, see above. Try using the rule you're quoting to make a suggestion or make a point about a possible tactic.

Hit and Run
This allows your Lictor to leave an assault on your turn and hide / assault again / assault elsewhere.

True, and obvious, but why would someone want to do that? What situations are present that would make this an advantageous tactic? Quoting or stating a rule does not a tactica make.

[chicop76]

I for one have my 2 cents and want to give it. First off I have two lictors and rarely use them. It all depends on what you fighting ageist.

Marine type armies is waste of time in my opinion to use a lictor. In this case I'll use them to hit the rear's of tanks. At least it's strong enough to kill light vehicles without relying on it' rending ability.

OK I do find it usefull assassinating ic. Grant it it can't kill any IC out there. First off you have to consider the ws and str of the troops it's about to attack. Ws 2 characters needs a 5 to hit. Also str 3 and lower characters needs 5 to wound.

I had my lictor kill couple of farseers before. Also he's great taking out a ethereal as well. Not to metion an Ig player HQ squad with no power fist. Independant commissars. Broadsides, darkreapers, stealth suits, pesky rangers. All these guys are fare game.

To 80 points is a lot of points. But I hadthis 80 point model easily kill over 200 points before so it can eaily make up it point cost.

[fencerdave]

I play a most unconventaional 'nids list, having 3 lictors, a broodlord and two units of 8 'stealers (who all outflank), 9 spore mines who rain from above, 16 fleshgaunts who outflank, 4 units of 10 hormagaunts, 3 warriors and a combatfex all of which think they are hormagaunts. (and that's in my 1K list.) the opponent squeels in glee when he sees that i'm outnumbered by marines, untill he starts to se things appearing from nowhere.

Anyway...

The lictor is my favorite peice in the whole nid range. that 240 pts of death ends up responsible for the consumption of anywhere from 20 marines to 3 heavy tanks.

One seriously overlooked factor in this thread is that of the re-rolled reserve rolls. they almost ensure that 75% of my army outflanks on turn 2, including a hail of spore mines which makes the most hardened marines player do a double-take. Pop those babies into a combat with marines and gaunts... happy death fun! That's before the lictors even think about joining a combat, as 1 or 2 will show up 1st turn as well.

[Mage001]

Actually Striogi, a Lictor IS immune to Instinct Behavior.

From the FAQ:
Page 28 – Instinctive Behaviour, second paragraph.
The first sentence should be changed as follows:
If all models in a Tyranid brood begin their
Movement phase more than 12” away from a
Synapse Creature, and that unit is not Fearless,
falling back or already in combat, it will revert to
Instinctive Behaviour.

This means all our Fearless creatures are immune IB.