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Without Number, WHY :| ?

1K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  Bringer_of_Acid-Death 
#1 ·
I was just wondering, is there anyone here who uses Without Number? If so, for what reason do you use it? Because I can't really see why you would want to use this special rule :S

Any thought about this?
 
#2 ·
Well, I don't play nids, but am familiar with their codex.

Without number is mainly fluff IMO. But besides that I see gaunts a bit like IG troopers. Loads of troops to be shot and the best of all, they're pretty much coming back every turn. Sure that tasty fex looks like a nice target but if gaunts keep swarming in masses I'd probably be falling back by myself.

Remember that pretty much every army has limited shots each turn. In best case scenario, at long range it would take 3 full kitted out marine squads to down an entire swarm of 32 gaunts. Now, if the next turn the next 32 come from your side, i'd think it's quite frustrating because it's denying me from firing on other stuff. It would only take a few turns for the gaunts to be in combat (and/or even shooting range with their assault weaponry). Sure they don't do much w/ a base S3 but 32 (64 on the charge) S3 attacks will surely kill something.

If I'd every start nids, I'd probably use this rule extensively.
 
#6 ·
For the cost of 32 WON Termagaunts I can take 2x 24 regular Termagaunts, giving me extra fodder for the opponent to deal with immediately. Combined with the fact that it is relatively easy to counter WON (as has been said, just leave a couple remaining and they're no longer a threat) and it does take the Gaunts about a turn if not two (relatively late in the game to boot) to reach enemy lines again and it should be quite clear why I personally find WON pretty useless.

Wish it'd be more like the Seeding Swarm version, but that'd probably be overpowered... For those who've never seen the SS WON, they deployed via Deep Strike when they were recycled, and IIRC they could be recycled even if there were a couple of the original brood left (you removed the stragglers, enemy netted the points and you got WON). Especially useful with shooty Gaunts, as you could land them near stuff and then just shoot. =) Now, it did have its drawbacks, mainly only being allowed in SS which had different limits on what broods the Tyranid could take, restrictions on when the SS specialties were fully in play, and the fact that WON broods became HvySupp instead of Troops.
 
#7 ·
Well, I see it being useful in several very specific situation, most notably non VC games on small boards, but other than that, it is largely a waste of points. You are much better buying normal gaunts in almost all situations. The problem with it in my eyes is mainly the VCs and the fact that they come back on your table edge. It just means that the opponent has an opportunity to get easy VCs since they are meat shields and that the squad has to waste atleast 1 turn to get into synapse, and yes, they fall back towards the nearest synapse Kichang.
 
#9 ·
yeah, i read that part too! Would be great for hormies, the Without Number, because those things are fast.
But for gaunts, they are probably too slow for the rule to work properly. And when playing with victory points, they could become potentially a VP farm for my opponent.

Though I thought about using it in Cities of Death, along with the Sewers Strategem, and taking really small gaunt units. When they die, then can pop up again from the Sewers :?
 
#10 ·
The ammo rule is overrated. How often will one squad roll 5 6s? In a normal game situation without number just gives your opponent more VPs, so it really isn't that useful. In game where VPs are not what wins the game, like when you have mission objectives without number can actually be helpful. Without number can make for some interesting and fun scenario missions, like a game where you hang out with your friends and see how many gaunts is takes to overwhelm some space marines or something.
 
#13 ·
I like the idea for Infinite Hornies very much :)

In a big battle in our GW, I was allows to let the hormies coming and going. It was really funny. Just when he thought he had a breather to shoot something else, the hormies where already almost in his face again 8Y
 
#14 ·
Without Number works pretty well in small games, once you hit more than a thousand points though its nearly useless.

I suppose you could design a pure gaunt swarm + synapse and use without number. If your whole army is recycling it might help, but not in a balanced list.

Biggest problem I can see with without number is the short range on gaunts, if you're coming in from the edge of the board you won't get into range for the rest of the game.
 
#15 ·
In theory your gaunts will flee 2d6 toward synapse forward in the fight, and you can still fleet with falling back units, so they're going to basically move 3d6" / turn until back in range of synapse.

That being said, yeah just leave one alive and bingo you're fine. It's even more the case because your remaining gaunt isn't going to run away, so they basically just need to not kill it. You'd have to charge it into a squad and not charge anything else in (b/c then they'd just direct attacks elsewhere). It's not overly useful.

The endless swarm sheet for apocalypse ain't great either, for similar reasons, in a pure gaming sense, but it is very fluffy / funny, which has value in apocalypse, since it is not meant to be a competitive version of 40k.
 
#16 ·
I have played several Apoc games and the WON rule for me has been amazing not to mention fun. I really do think that people are taking Apoc way too competitively on this forum. I don't even know who won the last games that i played it was just 4 hours of non stop "holly crap that just happened!!!". And the bodies over bullets rule is amazingly fun. Its happened a couple of times to me at important times during a game and allowed me to rip apart a couple of units. Just remember its not just troops that it can be used on.
 
#17 ·
as sated before WN works best in games of less than 1000pts.
other than that its useless.
 
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