Editing Grimdark Future/Tactics/Alien Hives (section)

===Monsters===
* '''Carnivo-Rex:''' The cheapest of your monsters. Tough(12) and 13 attacks out of the gate with several options to improve their effectiveness. The large number of attacks is a necessity because of the Rex' 4+ Quality, making it difficult for them to get a lot of mileage out of the various fewer attacks but deadlier effects options that it has access to. For this reason the various expensive gun upgrades are better used elsewhere. Give it Impact(3), one of the cheaper weapons and aim it at your enemies. Regeneration is nice if you can afford it, but feel free to cut cost here.

* '''Toxico-Rex:''' A pricier version of the Carnivo-Rex, it comes with A9 Poison attacks and an Acid Spurt to provide some extra damage. Thanks to its Stealth and Shrouding Mist abilities it is able to resist enemy fire much better and can protect your units as well. Aside from access to Impact(3) and Regeneration it has no upgrades, so its cost won't go up. Unlike its brother the Toxico-Rex deals better with mobs of low-Defense infantry because of its poor AP, so use it wisely.

* '''Psycho-Rex:''' A Psychic(2) platform that can be upgraded to get +2 to spell blocks, makig it a premier anti-psychic unit. It has access to the same upgrades as the Carnivo-Rex minus the guns, but because it's significantly pricier and lacks the Vicious Jaws of its brother it should not be used as a fire and forget unit in the same fashion. Its Heavy Psy-Blast provides some support but it won't shred the enemy. Fortunately it has Stealth to keep it alive longer, but don't put it in melee with elite enemy infantry. It can also be given the Pheromones upgrade to give an extra move to one of your units per activation, but if you really want these pick up a Prime Warrior at a much lower cost.

* '''Devourer Beast:''' The first of the beefy Tough(18) boys, and the cheapest. With three sets of claws and a Stomp attack it puts out 15 attacks per turn, and cam be further improved by taking the Impact(6) upgrade. With access to cheap methods to shred either blobs of infantry or peel apart high-Defense units it can look forward to wiping out an entire enemy unit in one go especially combined with its Fear ability, but this will leave it at the mercy of enemy return fire. The Devourer Beast has access to the Impact and Regeneration of the Rexes, but at an increased cost due to its improved Tough rating and higher number of Impact attacks.

* '''Tyrant Beast:''' One of your ranged monsters. It can be given the same weapons as the Rexes at th same cost, making them better due to the Beast's 3+ Quality. Its Stomp also helps it melee capabilities, but it shines due to its gun. The staggering A18 AP(1) on its Toxic Spray can deal significant damage due to its sheer rate of fire, with two more options. The Bio-Pods have a longer range and even more firepower at A24, but lack the AP. Which one you want depends on what you are going to shoot: the Toxic Spray deals more damage against units whose Defense is better than 4+, the Bio-Pods are better against those below that. At precisely 4+ they are equal. At a much pricier point investment you get the Fracture Cannon, a huge 30" A3 AP(3) Deadly(6) weapon used to turn monsters and tanks inside out. Keep an eye on this critter's cost: merely getting Regeneration and the Fracture Cannon puts it at 760 points, which is a massive point sink for a single unit.

* '''Artillery Beast:''' Indirect fire at 36" means you'll want to park this beastie in cover somewhere and never take it out. A3 Blast(3) Rending on its Shredder Bio-Artillery is a bad time for most targets, but its gun can be exchanged for three alternatives. The Spitter Bio-Artillery gets an additional attack and AP(1) at the cost of Rending, Acid Bio-Artillery has AP(3) and Deadly(3) instead of Blast to be able to deal with tough targets, and Plasma Bio-Artillery has a simple AP(4) to deal with tough blobs of infantry. Do note that the upgrades are far form cheap, with the latter upgrades sending the Artillery Beast towards or past 700 points. It can upgrade its weapons and get Impact(6), but why would you on an infantry unit? This one's pricy enough as is, so don't make it costlier than you need it to be. It can defend itself in melee with 12 attacks, but just keep firing and you should be fine.

* '''Spawning Beast:''' 18" A12 Rending is effective against basic infantry, and its 12 attacks let it defend itself just fine. Its real ability and the reason it's the second-most expensive unit on your list is its Spawn Brood ability: upon every activation it spawns 5 Assault Grunts, 5 Shooter Grunts or 3 Hive Swarms (all unupgraded) fully within 6" of the Spawning Beast, for free and without any hooks. That's an obscene amount of points it can produce per battle, with every spawning producing almost 20% of the Beast's cost for free. This makes it an obvious target and should be protected at all costs, and makes it easier to justify spending some more to get Regeneration and a pair of cheap weapons to give whatever charges it a good scare.

* '''Burrower:''' An underground blender. Surprise Attack lets it pop up out of anywhere and charge, and its terrifying 18 attacks means it'll do some damage. Give it Smashing Claws for 12 AP(4) attacks, Battering Tusks for Impact (6) and it's got favorable odds to one-shot anything Tough(12) or below, and might even finish off tougher units that have already been damaged. 600 points for such an outfit is nothing to casually throw away, but it'll do damage for sure.

* '''Flamer Beast:''' A cheap A6 AP(1) platform with Tough(6). With only one weapon available it should not be put into melee, but when put against an injured target of opportunity it just might edge out. But then again, you might as well Spit Flames and take out the unit that way.

* '''Mortar Beast:''' Blast(9) would be a justifier on its own, but it gets better. When this weapon misses (and with Quality 4+ it will) it instead creates a unit of either 3 Spores or 1 Massive Spore 12" away from said unit, placed by your opponent. Said Spores cannot be activated in the same round and it might mess with your battle plans a bit, but still, free Spores. Obviously Blast(9) with not extra abilities means that you'll want to shoot at large blobs of basic infantry. You'll want this one even less in melee than the Flamer Beast, and its Indirect fire makes it a primary candidate for spending the entire game in cover.

* '''Rapacious Beast:''' Your lone aircraft is rather modest with Tough(6) and 12 shots, half of which are Rending. It's non-Rending shots can be exchanged for either a Twin Barb Cannon with Blast(3) and AP(1), or a Twin Acid Cannon with Deadly(3), AP(3) and Lock-On. Both deal good damage against different targets, but they're pretty pricy on a cheap platform like the Rapacious Beast. It can also be upgraded with either Missile Bucks for some long-range A2 AP(3) Lock-On, or an odd weapon in the form of Spore Bombs: only 6" but A2, Blast(9) and Spores to make it a mobile and actually cheaper Mortar Beast. But because it's much more exposed it requires better timing and the use of the Beast's superior maneuverability to deal damage.

* '''Invasion Carrier:''' Your only transport is also capable of Ambush, which is a pleasant way to drop its cargo (11 models of any sort). This means that you can throw in a pack of Grunts or Hive Warriors backed up by a Hero at the worst possible flank to snag a point. However, on its own it's essentially chaff. It's A6 AP(1) melee option is nothing to write home about, and while it can be given several ranged weapons their cost and low rate of fire means it's probably better to use the Carrier as-is and drop units onto the battlefield where needed. Keep it around as a bullet sponge or a way to inflict Fatigue on your enemy's best units and it should do fine.

* '''Invasion Artillery:''' A Mortar Beast with Ambush at only 5 points more. Sure it's Slow, but the Mortar Beast wasn't going to move anyway. A6 AP(1) keeps basic infantry away, and it can be upgraded with the same guns as the Carrier. Useful for plopping down on an objective when necessary, but it's not very good at keeping it without support.