Before we begin to talk about gaunts we first need to do is talk about some terminology. There are many names people refer to gaunts by. If we use the same terms now it will make it easier for us down the line.

Gaunts have three weapons options, so it makes sense for us to break them up into three categories. A gaunt armed with a spinefist will be called a Spinegaunt. A gaunt armed with a fleshborer will be called a Termagant. And a gaunt armed with a devourer will be called a Devilgaunt. One more term I would like to throw out there; any gaunt with toxin sacs will be called a Super Gaunt. I feel this extra term is necessary because toxin sacs drastically change how a gaunt performs. So a Termagant with toxin sacs becomes a Super Termagant.

One of the things that people do when they talk about gaunts is they become irrational. People will focus on one aspect of a gaunt and claim that it is the best gaunt, ignoring all other factors. It is imperative that you do not do this. There is no such thing as a “best gaunt”. Thinking like this will only limit you when you have to choose the right gaunt.

Let’s look at the 3 kind of gaunts.

The Spinegaunt is armed with a spinefist and costs 5 points. On a gaunt the spinefist is a strength 3, twin-linked weapon with a 12” range. At 5 points, the Spinegaunt has the honor of being the cheapest gaunt.

The Termagant is armed with a fleshborer and costs 6 points. On a gaunt the fleshborer is a strength 4 weapon with a 12” range and the living ammo rule. With a strength 4 weapon the termagant is the strongest gaunt.

The Devilgaunt is armed with a devourer and costs 7 points. On a gaunt the devourer is a strength 2 weapon with an 18” range, 2 shots, and the living ammo rule. With an 18” range and 2 shots the Devilgaunt is the shootiest gaunt (if that’s a real word).

Some things that all gaunts have in common. Gaunts have a Ballistic Skill of 3, which means they will hit on a 4+ when shooting. Gaunts also have the fleet special rule as described on page 74 of the main rulebook. This lets them trade shooting for an extra d6” movement.

All gaunts perform the same in close combat. That is, they will loose to any unit stronger than an Imperial Guardsman if not supported. This is always something to consider when assaulting with gaunts.

Finally, all gaunts follow the Instinctive Behavior rules on page 28 of the Tyranid codex. There are benefits to the Instinctive Behavior rules as well as draw backs. You would do well to remember these.

So why is this important? Like any other Tyranid, gaunts need to be given a role. You need to choose the gaunt that fills that role best. If you do not choose a gaunt that fills that role you will find your gaunts outclassed by many other units.

Let’s look at an example. We’ll have a Spinegaunt and a termagant shoot at a space marine.

The Spinegaunt will hit 3/4 of the time and wound 1/3 of the time. 3/4 * 1/3 = 1/4, so one out of every four shots will wound with a Spinegaunt.

The termagant will hit 1/2 the time and wound 3/4 of the time. 1/2 * 3/4 = 3/8, so three out of every eight shots will wound with a termagant.

The termagant will wound a space marine about twice as often as a Spinegaunt. But to be fair we need to look at how many wounds per point each gaunt does.

For the Spinegaunt we divide the result by 5 1/4 * 1/5 = 1/20 wounds per shot point.

For the termagant we divide the result by 6 3/8 * 1/6 = 3/48 or 1/16 wounds per shot point.

We can see that point for point the termagant will do more damage to a space marine than a Spinegaunt. This is the kind of thing you need to think about when choosing a role for your gaunts.

You may ask what kinds of roles are there for a gaunt. I’m sorry to say that there are too many to be listed here. I can tell you that there are two kinds of generic roles; shooting and assault.

When looking at an assault gaunt you’re looking for low cost and close combat ability. Since all gaunts are the same in close combat you’re really looking for a low cost gaunt, otherwise you would be running Hormagaunts. Remember, in order for these gaunts to do well you need to give them support.

When looking at a shooting role you need to consider things like weapon range, weapon strength, and your target. Some of the usual choices for a shooty gaunt are the termagant and the super Devilgaunt (usually shortened to just Devilgaunt). The termagant has that strength 4 weapon that is good against tough targets and can affect vehicles. The super Devilgaunt can shoot twice as many shots as other gaunts and still stay out of rapid fire range of the enemy.

I think we’ve talked enough about gaunts for now. Why don’t we move on to biomorphs and see how they can help. There are six biomorphs that you can take. Four of those biomorphs are for close combat (Adrenal Glands, initiative and weapon skill, extended carapace, and flesh hooks) and two of them are generic (Scuttlers and toxin sacs).

Normally you won’t be taking any of the close combat biomorphs because you’re trying to keep those gaunts cheap. Toxin sacs will make your gaunts better, there is no doubt about that, but it increases the cost of your gaunts by about 50%. You have to ask your self do you want more gaunts or better gaunts when thinking about toxin sacs.

The last biomorph is scttulers. This one is a bit of a wild card. With this biomorph all your gaunts get a 6” move before the game begins. So what could you do with a 6” move? How could you use that to help your gaunts accomplish their mission? If you can come up with something good then take this and give it a try, otherwise you’re usually better off with more gaunts.

One thing that must be addressed is Without Number. As we all know this upgrade lets us recycle gaunt units that have been destroyed. Never take this. Ask yourself, if my gaunts died the first time what is stopping them from dying again? If your gaunts are recycled in a victory point game then they will have to be extra productive to make up for dying, and if your gaunts were extra productive the first time they probably wouldn’t be dead. There are some missions where recycling gaunts could be effective, but the odds of playing one is so small it’s not worth considering.

Now that we have our gaunts, we know what their role is, and we know what to equip them with; the question becomes how do we use them? There are two ways to use gaunts, small squads and large squads. I can’t give you a number for how large a large squad is because it doesn’t exist. The more models you add the more the unit begins to act like a large squad. It’s something you have to recognize on your own.

I’m not going to go into detail about small squads. They’re best played like any other squad. Keep them in or behind cover until you are ready to use them. If you’re out of range or can’t see a target then use your fleet rolls to get into a better position. It’s pretty much common sense. Just remember that they have a role and that gaunts are better with support.

Large squads pose several problems. First off you can’t get a large squad behind cover; most terrain just isn’t big enough to cover a large squad. Also, the squad is going to be slower than your other squads because they can’t maneuver around terrain, they must go through it. You’ll also have trouble bringing the whole unit to bear. You just can’t get 25 gaunts all within 12” to shoot or 6” to assault, there’s not enough space. Likewise, since you’re limited on space you’re limited on support.

So why would you want to take a large squad? Well, it’s easy to keep the unit in synapse. Just one gaunt in that huge space has to be under the synapse footprint of a synapse creature. A large unit has a lot of firepower to it. Statically 8 gaunts will kill a marine in one round of shooting. A maxed out unit of termagants should kill 4 marines in one turn, most armies can’t ignore that kind of firepower for a long time. Finally a large unit takes a lot to kill. Yeah, a large unit can’t use cover that well, but it doesn’t have to because it will take half your opponent’s army to put a dent in the unit.

The real advantage is that because of all the things listed above; your opponent is forced to react to the large unit, and that is the key. When your opponent has to react to something it gives you a chance to exploit that decision. If you can keep your opponent reacting then you control the battle. When you control the battle you’re on your way to winning the game.