Warhammer 40k’s Best Unit: The Hormagaunt

Behold, in all of its magnificence, the beautiful hormagaunt. The hormagaunt has a crazy base of 10 inches of movement. Do not forget that they may advance and charge as well. They will be able to threaten T1 charges on a huge number of boards. They are shockingly resilient to battleshock because of Synapse. They fall apart like paper, but this is kind of their purpose in your army. They are designed to sprint up the board and die for the good of the Swarm.

The combat stats of the humble hormagaunt are 3 attacks, S3, AP-1, 1D. It means a single squad of 10 hormagaunts throws 30 attacks. Those attacks force Space Marines to be saving on 4s, and you are hitting and wounding on 4s as well. If your swarm successfully kills 3.25 space marines, they have paid for themselves. The hormagaunt is a master of trading up. It’s a simple datasheet, but a great one.

Cost Efficiency

They will massacre any other unit of equivalent point cost. 30 attacks hitting on 4s and wounding on 3s(with Synapse) will turn any equivalent unit into delicious, delicious biomass. Hormagaunts will generally outperform most units that are relatively close in cost. They will even outperform units that cost more than they do. I like to construct my Tyranid lists with a large number of units that are capable of threatening something. Hormagaunts are great because they aren’t threatening to many things, but they are quite annoying to everything.

The hormagaunt is the most impressive unit you will ever add to your swarm because of its incredible versatility. With an absurd threat range, the hormagaunt sprints into the enemy, grabbing objectives, stealing them, and tying up units that cost significantly more than themselves. I once had a single unit of hormagaunts hold back an Adeptus Custodes Shield-Captain for 3 turns. A 140pt unit was held in place for 3 turns by the mighty hormagaunt.

The hormagaunt is the ultimate unit for inconvenience and board control. Their speed allows them to be exactly where you need them on the board. If a swarm of 10 hormagaunts doesn’t do anything but stop a dreadnought from walking up the board for a single turn, they did their job. Additionally, a Brutalis Dreadnought only has 6 attacks, and 2 of those will probably miss. That’s only 4 dead hormagaunts. That’s 3 turns on average to kill 10 Hormagaunts, and a Brutalis Dreadnought costs more than 2 hormagaunt squads. It’s a devastating blow to your opponent.

Synergies

My personal favorite Tyranid detachment is Invasion Fleet. I like the versatility it adds to all of my units, but especially hormagaunts. You’ve never seen pain like the pain you’ll see in your opponent’s eyes when you tie up their Death Star with a bunch of hormagaunts that were born half an hour ago. What I like best about Invasion Fleet is that it grants your hormagaunts either Lethal Hits against tanks or Sustained Hits 1 against infantry. You can also swap this for 1CP. This makes them far more dangerous.

 Invasion Fleet also gives you the best stratagem for hormagaunts, Endless Swarm. 1 command point to return D3+3 models to up to 2 units of hormagaunts if they are in synapse(they should always be in synapse). That is up to 12 models returned(on average, it will be more like 8) for 1 command point. That is nearly reanimating a full unit of hormagaunts with no condition every turn of the game. It allows you to get so much value out of your gaunts and makes them the most effective tar pit in the Tyranid roster. 

The Hormagaunt’s Greatness

In conclusion, the hormagaunt is the best unit in Warhammer 40k’s tabletop. It is a very aggressive unit that can seem rather underwhelming with its datasheet, but the work they will put out is impressive every time. I have never been disappointed with my gaunts. Remember, intentionally sacrificing your 15-minute-old hormagaunts is a legitimate and highly effective strategy. This is why the Tyranids are the perfect organism. They understand how to get things done.