A quick (Seven) heads up!

Hydras are coming!

This is Big News

The following article assumes its true...

It may not seem like it at first, but I'll be honest with you.  The Hydra is incredibly strong for how little it costs... (75 points).   This means that essentially every guard player would ideally take a squadron of two as one Heavy Support Slot.  They have something they can obliterate in almost every army...
- Land Speeders and Bikes in Marines
- Anything in Eldar, Dark Eldar and Tau
- Valkyries in Guard
- Bikes and Deffkoptas in Orks
-  Destroyers in Necrons

Suppose that leaves Tyranids with their high Toughness monsters.  Guess the Strength 7 twin linked nature of the Hydra will be pretty useful there as well.

Long story short I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.  The Hydra is good, but i put to you that it's balancing factor in the past was something unique to nerd hobbies.   By that I mean of course lack of access.  Like certain early Magic cards which are considered hugely broken the main reason Hydras were balanced is because they were forgeworld only and quite expensive.  A Genuine Games Workshop kit will eradicate this.  I worry for all non-guard. 

I expect to see a lot more guard at the next tournament i attend and I expect all of them to have at least 1 Hydra.  One isn't so bad, it's a 12, 10, 10 vehicle with a huge KILL ME sign on the front of it.  This is your highest priority "take it down!"  Even if you lack speeders or bikes it's got 72 range, is twin linked and fires four shots... That's a dead transport every turn if you take a squad of 2.

Against a Rhino
(3/4*1/2*1/3)*8 = 1

  This article tells you why it isn't a guarantee , but still.  That's a sexy use of 150 points (for two) at such long range.

The trick here is moderation.  A player who took three squads of 2 hydras would struggle.  The guns are amazing, but once the transports are popped their is nothing to wipe the troops out with, remember the cardinal rule: Lasguns do not kill MEQ.  The beauty of the Hydra is that they will survive because two Leman Russes are taking all the Lascannon shots, which as I explained last time is the mistake most people use when fighting MEQ.

Also as a final point.  When you finish this article go and have a re-read of the squadron rules.  You don't encounter them much in the modern meta game, but you need to know them.  Wounds are assigned like any squad and most importantly an immobilised result is an automatic vehicle destroyed.