So I've hit a quandry, which I thinks actually a pretty close call and I'd like to throw it out there to everyone...
You should be pretty familiar with my list by now ... generally revolving around the Parasite and Prime and dropping 2 Trygons and a Tervigon on the enemy. I got pummelled in the recent game and lost astoudingly badly to mech guard (13-2), so what 250pts should I spend to 'upgrade' my antimech option?
Option 1: Hive Tyrant with Venom Cannon.
First downer ... this significantly changes the format of my army and would force me to drop the Prime or the Parasite. On the upside the Hive Tyrant can come with lots of fringe benefits, including psychic powers and 2+ armour save. The problem I forsee is that a Tyrant with 2+ saving throw, a heavy venom cannon and regen comes in at 255pts ... which is Tyrannofex territory. The advantage for the Hive Tyrant is that he gets Tyrant Guard AND is awesome in close combat. But you're talking about 315pts for a 6 wound unit ... which makes the next option seem cheap...
Option 2: Tyrannofex
Nice conversion opportunities here as the Tyrannofex with a Rupture cannon totals 295 points (he needs regen after all). He's got short and long range shooting goodness and comes with a 2+. He's an obvious target for deepstriking termies ... so you'll need termagaunts/genestealers in the rearguard. But otherwise he's a shoe-in. Means finding 45pts out of my current list ... but thats no great shakes. He'd also take 12 Lascannon shots or 12 railgun shots ... and that's assuming no cover. Overall I'm tempted.
Option 3: Harpy
Great conversion opportunity and a good solid suggestion. The twin linked heavy venom cannon is actually the most accurate, but flying MC's are cannon fodder as they are very hard to hide 50%. That said, I'm also alarmed by only having a 4+ save on this guy and T5 ... as a guard player this screams 'bring it down' autocannons to me! He is the discount option though, at only 185pts. But also the most vulnerable, with only (only?) 4 wounds and instantdeath to S10.
Option 4: HiveGuard
Oh, hiveguard ... what to do? With a harpy, I could afford a single hiveguard to offer machine gun support to the Tervigon and shoot up the enemy. Careful placement could also make units of these guys real area denial placers for anti-mech. I'm very tempted to play one (I have an old Zoanthrope I can convert and see how he does...? At 50pts each ... that's 5-6 on the pricing we're talking ... that's 12 T6 wounds out of LoS and pumping shots into side armour. That's really really really good.
BUT: I'm hearing on the web they are a pain to build AND they are at least £10 each... which gives me pause ... would I be better off with more Zoan's?
So please help me out ladies and gents .. which would you choose and why?