Tyranid Tactics: Counter-Charger Castle

So, we now know how to stick together and how to 'pin' enemy units for further devouring and now we will look at how to make a counter-charge castle. This is almost the complete opposite of pinning as it involves slow units charging first followed by fast units. However, the counter-charging castle is a vital tactic of my armys; it is very effective and leaves your opponent with no good options. So lets look deeper.....

The Castlers

I split my counter-charging units into two groups; Walls and Arrows. Not all units are suitable for these roles so you need to put some planning into this maneuverer. Supporting units are also excellent and help exponentially but are not vital so I won't talk about them here.

= Walls - These units are vital and need durability and staying power; they need to be immovable and be a rock from enemy firepower, no matter what. The role of these units is to be charged and protect the Arrows. Yes BE CHARGED! 

This is why they need durability as they are likely to be shot and lose models quickly, in fact it is better that these guys get shot than your Arrows as the Wall should be more survivable. They are vital as they provide cover to the rest of the army behind, a vital tactic for all Tyranid armies. They should also be fearless (easy for Tyranids) as they will likely lose plenty of models to shooting and you don't want them running and you don't want them running if they lose combat as they need to tie up the enemy charger for at least a turn. They also need to provide a large enough threat via shooting and/or assault to be worth the enemy shooting and combating them as otherwise they will just target the Arrows and your Wall will have to charge instead. It's win-win either way. 

This unit should be spread apart very wide to give the maximum threat and cover range and also that when charged they don't fully cover the charging enemy. That is a 12" react move by the way so be careful, if they cover the entire unit then this maneuver is ruined as your Arrows cannot get into combat then. Remove models from combat so this doesn't happen.

My Wall unit of choice is Gaunts as they are cheap, plentiful, threatening in assault and have Counter-Attack via the Tervigon. Also if the enemy don't charge me then I just charge them with poison and Furious Charge. Win-win.

Go on, charge.....

= Arrows - These units are the key, the whole point behind the operation. These are the combat damage dealers but always need protecting from shooting; this is just part of the Tyranid codex, the damage-dealers are always fragile. As you should know the best protection is to be in the assault.

These units MUST remain behind the Wall as they will often need a cover save to survive and they need to survive to kill the enemy. Do not make the mistake of moving your Arrows into the open, I have lost plenty of games by doing that. But if they get do shot then your Wall can just charge, full strength as they will have to pour a lot of firepower into the Arrows to kill them as they should be hidden and in cover.

The plan though is that once the enemy has assaulted the wall and are tied up with them then the Arrows can get to work and counter-charge the enemy unit. This lets you position your charge and only hit models you want to hit. This is the entire reason behind this maneuver as it lets you target Independent Characters, stay away from Powerfist Sergeants, only attack weak units or whatever you want.

It doesn't matter if the Arrow unit is weak to return combat as picking your targets like this gives you infinite possibilities and lets you CONTROL everything. If you just charged with your Arrow unit the enemy could Defenders React and hence hit you full force with all the specialist weapons.

My choice of Arrow is the Shrikes as they have wings so can jump over the assault and get into position well, they are deadly in assault and with Lash Whips are great supporters. They can also butcher entire squads but are very fragile so need this constant protection. 

The set-up should look like this, it will change depending upon the rest of the army but this is the basics:

This tactic takes a lot of practice and an awful lot of patience. It is best used against combat armies as they will want to charge but against shooty armies just charge with the Wall as quickly as you can.

Hope this helps.