Argument for Regeneration
Most of the large creatures in the Tyranid codex have the option for Regeneration. This means that if it has lost a wound, you roll a d6 for each lost wound at the beginning of your turn. Any result of a “6” regains a wound.
The cost for this power is critical. It is in the 15-30 point range. It costs between 9% and 20% of the cost of the creature. The reason for this percentage is critical is that one in six odds of regenerating even a single wound will (ie 16% chance) will at least get your points back, even if on average you get only one shot per game.
Obviously, it is a more valuable power, the lower the percent cost. So, if you add a lot of biomorphs and upgrades then Regeneration becomes an attractive option; a little bit of insurance for your investment.
Renn and I have a bit of a dispute here. I think Regeneration is awesome. Here’s why.
For Regeneration to be useful, you have to have taken a wound. So, the only scenario where it isn’t useful is if you get entirely killed in one single turn. It isn’t useful when you are at full Wounds, but then again, you’re doing good if you take no wounds.
So, the question is: how many wounds on average will you regain from this power. If Regeneration nets you even one wound back, then it will have paid for itself. This is because a creature’s hitting power is not reduced with a reduction in Wounds.
This also has a side-effect of forcing your opponent to concentrate firepower on a single creature. If all your monsters have Regeneration and he spreads out his firepower, then it’s going to become a nightmare of Regeneration rolls at the beginning of each of your turns.
Insta-kill plays in as well. If a monstrous creature has T5 (only two of this type can have Regeneration: the Tyranid Prime and the Harpy) it can be insta-killed by S10 weapons, so you have to watch out for that. It’s a limited list so you might not want to take Regeneration for T5 creatures when playing against lists that are likely to have those types of weapons.
What weapons will likely be assailing your monstrous regenerators?
Meltaguns (now within 12″, chomp!)
Lascannons
Missile Launchers (krak)
Plasma Guns (only wound on a 3+)
Railguns (ouch! But not likely to be massed enough to take out all six wounds)
Let’s examine, then. I predict that a monstrous regenerator is going to roll 5-10 times during the average game. This will net an average of one or two wounds back. I’m going to track this during my first games.
The other interesting thing is that it becomes more powerful the worse off the Regenerator is. A Regenerator with one lousy wound left gets to roll five dice!
The depressing thing is that for those large creatures, the Regeneration roll will net back a wound caused by a heavy weapon. That lascannon shot? Just got it back!
I predict that this will be one of the premium powers from the new codex. Wait and see.