How to deal with the snipers as Tyranids and a "little" question out of that topic.

[LooniestRumble]

Hello everybody.

Lately I have seen quite a resurgence of snipers, or maybe they were there all the time but I never saw them, anyway, double rangers and triple sniper scouts; I mostly play RA and a range build for Tyranids, double Termagants and Barbed Stragler Warriors as my T1 units besides the Hormagants, etc... but as you may imagine, this build can suffer a lot from snipers.

I have been thinking on using a melee build to counter this, because that way the Warriors close in the enemy ranks and force the detection making easier to tie up those units, can anyone give some advices or thoughts on this approach or maybe tell me some other way to deal with the sniper build?

Thanks a lot.

P.D: On a side note, I had a 3v3 some time ago, it ended for me with a sound bug and eventually a crash, but before I left the other team was calling spam and cheesy tactics on us, I'm not sure of my partners in that match but I was playing PC with no upgrades and my army was:
One heretic squad with grenade lauchers, two fully upgraded CSM with mark of Tzeentch, one Plague Marines squad, one Choosen Plague Marine Squad and a Land Raider Phobos, and I lost a Bloodcrusher at some point in the game.

My other question is, was something in that build that can be called cheese or spam? I have been thinking about the PM and CPM because they are certainly powerful units and the first ones have been know for overperforming, so I just want to know about it. Again thanks a lot and I await for your answers.

[Wise Windu]

can anyone give some advices or thoughts on this approach or maybe tell me some other way to deal with the sniper build?

Raveners. Great ranged damage when upgraded, or great disruption/melee when your opponent is going for largely ranged units. Use them to jump in, disrupt and follow up with the rest of your army to deal with everything else. Jump one squad of snipers and then force melee on the still set up group if they're split up. If they aren't split up, you pretty much just win the fight since your opponent has put so many resources into them while you've countered them with basically half the resources invested.

You can get a Warrior Brood after if you want, for detection or Synapse. Maybe get a melee upgrade on your Ravener - Acid Splatter is great against SM and Eldar because it does Power Melee damage single target (good against SM Tacs) and piercing splash damage (great against squishy Eldar and SM Scouts).

My other question is, was something in that build that can be called cheese or spam?

Nah, people will call just about anything cheese or spam when they don't know how to deal with it, or were losing to begin with and couldn't deal with (or recognize) the tech disadvantage. Hard to say without a replay, but I wouldn't worry about it.

[Thunderhost]

I'd say get another hormagaunt squad. The raveners are prone to bleeding and expensive as (expensive) fuck. Keep your BS in the back and lure the snipers forward. Use your hormas in a flank or pinching maneuver.
This is not as easy vs rangers qva kinetic shot - I'd probably go with the raveners as well, as they can close the distance quickly to said rangers.
Another way would be to continually applying sporemine pressure, as both snipers and rangers require setup and teardown.

Regarding the cheese/spam - Just ignore it, as Windu said, it's usually people who can't adapt or feel overwhelmed by a certain unit composition.

Good luck!

[Wise Windu]

The raveners are prone to bleeding and expensive as (expensive) fuck.

Not if you lead with your Gaunts. Lead with them, force initial shots from the snipers, and jump in with the Raveners. They won't bleed much early on since the SM player will have probably invested their initial 50 power on the snipers. And BS Warriors aren't really ever likely to get shots on the snipers from so far away. And although it might be easy to just rush them with your gaunts at first, it becomes more difficult after the early game, especially in team games.

In team games, a Hormagaunt flank is just as likely to run into another person's army as it is to actually flank the snipers, especially later in the game. Unless you're winning the fights already or the doubling is going on on the other side of the map. Not consistent enough, in my opinion; although I guess that can come down to play style. And in a lot of single lanes, there isn't really much room to flank in the first place. So I guess it's sort of map dependent in that respect. And aside from that, Raveners provide more versatility. They can become ranged units, deal with set up teams, become a stealth ambush/stun unit, etc.

If they started with another purchase first: If ASM, warriors might be the better choice to counter-initiate, but I'd still at least get Raveners at some point. And if they spend 100 power in T1 on ASM and Sniper Scouts, getting both squads will be fine.

If they started with a set up team, Raveners are still a good first choice.

[LooniestRumble]

I'll try the Raveners approach and the double hormagant, but as far as I can tell it all comes down to reducing the distance as quick as possible and dealing with the snipers first and then take care of the other units.

Again thanks for the ideas and advices.