Alien Hives Firefight Tactics

Alien Hives

Setting:	Grimdark Future
Games:	Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future: Firefight
Species:	Alien
Version:	v2.50

Note: as v2.50 is in constant development the following might not be accurate.

Why Play Alien Hives

The alien hives are capable of switching between hordes of chittering gnats and hulking monstrosities. To maximize your army involves finding a sweet spot between these two areas, as both have very visible weaknesses - the mobs can get blasted to oblivion and the big guys become very attractive to anyone with Deadly.

Pros:

A hybrid between hordes and tougher monsters
Plenty of ways to block spells

Cons:

You've got a lot of units to keep track of
Your army has issues with quality with the best only being at 3+
Your hordes are incredibly fragile

Army Special Rules

Explode(X): If this model is ever 1" away from an enemy unit, it is immediately killed, and the enemy takes X*Blast(3) hits. This model automatically passes all morale tests.
No Retreat: Whenever this unit fails a morale test, you must kill one of its models, and the morale test counts as passed instead.
Psy-Barrier: This model may block spells as if it had the Psychic(2) special rule. If it is a Psychic then it gets +2 to spell block rolls.
Psychic Synapse: Models with this rule count as having Psychic(1), however only one of them in the unit may cast or block spells each round. When casting or blocking spells, roll as many dice as models with this rule in the unit, and pick the highest result.

Psychic Spells

Psychic Blast (4+): One enemy unit within 6" takes one hit with AP(2) and Deadly(3). Bad news for any solo units.
Fear (4+): Two enemy units within 12" suffers -2 on their next morale roll.
Infuse Life (5+): One friendly unit within 12" gets Regeneration when they suffer their next hit. An absolute godsend for your softer units.
Animate Flora (6+): Two friendly units within 6" gain Flying for their next move, which is excellent for moving through terrain.
Shriek (5+): Two enemy units within 12" suffer four AP(1) hits each. Pretty much built to give you breathing room without being Psychic Blast tiers of deadly.
Overwhelm (6+): One enemy model within 12" takes three AP(4) hits. Use if you want Psychic Blast but need a particular model in a squad dead.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Prime Warrior: A Hero Hive Warrior for all intents and purposes. Its upgrade list is more in line with that of a warrior with a boost of Tough(6). They won't have all the guns, but you remain just as versatile as the basic warrior, as well as having the options for Bio-Recovery for Regeneration, wings for flight, and Hive Guardian so you can block spells without needing casting.
- Melee: By default, the Prime Warrior has two sets of Razor Claws for plenty of AP(1) attacks. Either one of these can be swapped out for any of the weapons you want. Cheapest among these are the Serrated Claws, which provide crowd control, but the lack of AP results in it actually refunding you points for taking it. The Piercing Claws provide Rending if you can risk it, while the Razor Whip gives Rending and replaces the AP with Deadly(3) if you want to try taking out Tough units. Sword Claws are better suited for the job though, as it has both Deadly(3) and a guaranteed AP(2). Smashing Claws exist solely to rip apart any high defenses you see.
- Shooting: If you just want shooting at no cost, you can just any set of claws for Twin Spine Guns for a pistol as strong as the claws. The Spitter Gun may be cheaper (refunding 5 points) and be better suited for long-range bombardment, but it also lacks any AP. The Shredder Gun gives you mid-range Rending while the Heavy Ravager Gun guarantees AP(2). The Barb Cannon gives you another form of long-range artillery, this time with an even better reach and AP(1) to handle more infantry. The Acid Cannon lets you take down heroes with AP(3) Deadly(3) as well as Lock-On to negate any cover between the warrior and the unlucky target, which is only fair considering the massive pricetag.

Infantry

Spore: This is not a unit. This is a floating mine. The cost for this is so minimal that it can be worth considering just to blow up on an unsuspecting enemy.
Winged Grunt: A Shooter Grunt with the same upgrade options, but now with Flying and Ambush for 15pts. Due to their increased price it's not much of a chaff unit. One is to be a late-game objective grabber, where they are protected from a turn or two of shooting. In this case giving them a rifle can be a good choice. The other is to harass backlines, which will only be useful if your opponent has fragile long-range units. In that case, running them with a Bio-Flamer or Bio-Ravager can result in a lot of dice being rolled. In either case however, this is a specialty unit which should only be used in situations where that Ambush is useful and something like Hive Swarms or winged Warriors aren’t the right tool.
Hive Swarm: Fairly tough for the price and can be given Ambush and a 12” A6 Poison gun fairly cheaply. Again, there are two main roles here: objective holder or cheap suicide unit. For 35pts you can get a unit which can appear on any objective and can force an enemy to drop what they're doing to fight it. That can draw fire away from your Grunts and make your controlled objectives harder to shift.
Assault Grunts: Angry stabby Grunts. This guy gets an extra attack in melee and are Fast for a decent bit more. They can grab some upgrades for their claws, with Serrated Claws to handle crowds, Piercing Claws for light armor, Sword Claws to kill Tough units and Smashing Claws for heavy armor. They can also take Furious and Poison, both incredible boosts for melee, on top of No Escape to keep them standing.
Shooter Grunts: Very basic horde unit with an A2 pistol and only one bite in melee. They are cheap though and can serve as good chaff or to add some activations if you’re taking lots of big boys. They have a surprising number of upgrade options, including a couple melee upgrades (not worth it, though No Escape might avoid a bad morale check).
- Shooting: Any of the grunts can swap out their Bio-Borer pistol for either a free Bio-Spiner for AP(1) at point-blank or a Bio-Ravager for mid-range shooting. They can buy one special weapon. The Bio-Fuser provides a point-blank shot that destroys anything it hits, while the Bio-Flamer gives rapid-fire. The Bio-Shredder gives better range and Rending, but it's still right within charge range. Bio-Plasma provides you a means to pop armor. The Bio-Spiker, while the costliest weapon of the lot, also gives you a sniper rifle on a group of chaff.
Soul-Snatcher: Your elite melee unit. While far more costly than the Assault Grunt, you've got something far deadlier with 3+ quality claws with Rending and you have Scout so you can make an alpha strike. This also makes them great for nabbing early objectives. If you buy the upgrade, you can also make them Psychic, which is welcome since the Prime Warrior can't be one.
Massive Spore: A bigger Spore with Tough(3) and thus Explode(3). This can more easily take care of a squad and won't die as easily when hit.
Hive Warrior: The elite. Each of them is modestly tanky with a 4+ save and Tough(3), so they can hold their own in any situation. It also helps that they also have both choppy and shooty options. You can also grab wings, which gives them a boost to mobility that's bolstered by their toughness.
- Shooting: While its melee is about the same as the Prime Warrior's, the Hive Warrior's shooting is far more restricted by the fact that it can only take one gun. To start with, you can pick between the Twin Spine Guns for rapid-fire AP(1) pistols, the Ravager for mid-range shooting, or the Spitter Gun for long-range bombardment. Taking the Ravager opens up a few more options to buy, with the Shredder Gun adding Rending, the Heavy Ravager Gun giving a fixed AP(2), the Barb Cannon making it an AP(1) Blast, and the very costly Acid Cannon giving it all you need to delete one unit off the board.
Hive Guardian: The toughest of the goons. A 3+ save and Tough(3) means that it won't be going any time soon. You can strap it with the same melee weapons as the Hive Warrior, allowing you to act as the big bruiser and bodyguard. You could also grab either the Heavy Ravager for its AP(2) firepower or the Bio-Harpoon if you just want to snipe out models.
Ravenous Beast: Pure elite assault type. This guy lacks any shooting and only two sets of claws (each of which can use the Hive Warrior's melee weapons), so you'll be needing to make use of Fast and Strider to avoid fire. You have only two options for non-weapons upgrades: Tunnel Attack so you can grab Ambush and then rush in on an enemy, or Scout so you can start fighting immediately. The choice between the two ultimately boils down to when you want these guys to begin slicing into the competition.
Synapse Floater: Synapse Floaters are actually pretty durable for artillery. They still have a 4+ save and Tough(3) with Stealth, but they also get to use Regeneration to tank even more. But their real role is being a backup Psychic, a role they can serve alongside their ranged blast.

Alien Hives Firefight Tactics

Contents

Why Play Alien Hives

Army Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

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Alien Hives Firefight Tactics

Why Play Alien Hives

Army Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

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