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I've been trying to put together a smaller Tyranid force (which I'll increase later, hopefully). I will mostly field the force againts Tau, SM, CSM, Orks and Grey Knights.
What I've come up with so far is the following:

HQ
1x Hive Tyrant (2x Scything Talons, Wings) = 131 points

Troops
16x Termagaunts (Devourer) = 112 points
16x Hormagaunts (+1S) = 192 points

Heavy Support
1x Zoanthrope (Synapse, Warp Blast) = 65 points

The general idea is the have the Gaunts stay in the back with the Zoanthrope while the Hormagaunts accompanied by the Tyrant wreck havoc among the enemy lines.
However I'm not sure if the Devourers are such a good idea, would it be smarter to equip them with Spinefists and take more models, any suggestions? General advice about the list or Tyranids in the whole is also welcome.

chimu

Being a nid player also my recommendation is to drop the devourers from the gaunts and use spine fists or flesh borer. reason is with the str loss on the devourer your wounding on 5s (i think) where is you have the other you wound on 4s. Im a fan of the spinefist cause i like the reroll to hit, but the reroll wounds work nicely also.

Truthfully if you running a small number of points i would run a warrior squad instead of the HT, so you can field as much as possible. for one point more you can run a 4 man warrior squad with 2x ST, toxin sacs, and leaping. Now your looking at 32 attacks/36 on charge instead of 5/6. Of course you do lose the monsterous creature ability, but nids is all about making you take tons of armor saves.

For a 500 pt list i would recommend maybe this

HQ- warriors x 4 leaping, one set of talons and spinefists

Troops
spinegaunts x19 spinefists

hormagaunts x16 +1 ws +1S (hit on 3s wound on 4s, mean SOB's)

Hvy
Zoanthrope with synapse and warpblast

this is 500 on the dot. but this is only a recommendation. i say play what you want and find what you like.

At 500 points, Carnifexen and Tyrants are very tough and can lay waste to a lot of enemies. Hormagaunts will eat up a ton of points and won't really give much return, in my opinion. The Zoanthrope is kinda odd. I'd drop it and the Hormagaunts. Here's what I'd keep from your list.

HQ-Hive Tyrant- Wings, Devourers (2)-135
Troops- Gaunts (13)- Fleshborers- 78

The Tyrant is tough, puts out a ton of Dakka, and can hold its own in CC against most things in the 500 limit. Next I'd add:
Troops- Gaunts (13)- Fleshborers- 78

Okay, 173 points to play with. You'll want some synapse to babysit your gaunts. I'd take:
Warriors (3)- Deathspitters, Scything Talons, Toxin Sacs-93

Now, for some firepower:
Heavy Support- Carnifex- Scything Talons, Barbed Strangler- 113

That adds some of the best fire support in the 'nid codex and a second high toughness critter.

So, a recap of the list:
HQ-Hive Tyrant- Wings, Devourers (2)-135
HQ-Warriors (3)- Deathspitters, Scything Talons, Toxin Sacs-93
Troops- Gaunts (13)- Fleshborers- 78
Troops- Gaunts (13)- Fleshborers- 78
Heavy Support- Carnifex- Scything Talons, Barbed Strangler- 113
Totals- 497 Points, 26 Scoring Models, 2 TMC's, Two Synapse Broods

This list has plenty of room for variation, too. You can swap the Gaunts for Spine gaunts, freeing up twenty-four more points, which you could then use to buy five more spinegaunts. Or, you could swap for a choppy tyant. There are two other major 'fex builds for that point total (the Dakka and the Ninja) that could be used. I went for Boom for help against hordes and light vehicles.

RustyKnight wrote:The Zoanthrope is kinda odd. I'd drop it.

I'm not criticising this statement (I'm not experienced enough to do so) but I am curious; what is it that you don't like about Zoanthropes? You could turn it into a synapse creature for a reasonable amount of points (10, I think), it's got a marine-killing AP3 blast weapon and it's very robust with multiple wounds and a 2+ save. A friend and I are drafting a 500pt Tyranid list and we were discussing having two of them, maybe even three!

As I said, I'm not criticising, but I'd be really interested in your answer - perhaps there's something hideous that my friend and I overlooked!

Zoanthropes are great if you want them babysitting gaunts (with synpase and warp blast). However that's pretty much all you can rely on them for. If you look to them doing anything other than that then prepare to be disappointed.

I would definately advocate taking a winged tyrant at this points level...there is so little ap1/2 around he just gets to trample anything (providing you got him warp field). I would personally go for a shooty fex, some gaunts, zoanthrope and the flyrant. Flyrant goes for the enemy, the other guys hug your objective. At worst you should still be looking at a draw since your opponent will be focussing on taking out your tyrant and keeping out of it's way.

Good luck

Tantras wrote:
I'm not criticising this statement (I'm not experienced enough to do so) but I am curious; what is it that you don't like about Zoanthropes? You could turn it into a synapse creature for a reasonable amount of points (10, I think), it's got a marine-killing AP3 blast weapon and it's very robust with multiple wounds and a 2+ save. A friend and I are drafting a 500pt Tyranid list and we were discussing having two of them, maybe even three!

As I said, I'm not criticising, but I'd be really interested in your answer - perhaps there's something hideous that my friend and I overlooked!

Well, I prefer the Warriors for a couple of reasons. They are more resilient to AT weapons (more a thing at higher levels), they don't use up a 'fex slot (more a thing for higher levels), the AP3 of the Blast gets hit hard by cover, and the warriors can fight back in CC. Plus, the Zoanthrope model is a royal pain in the rear to put together . I myself haven't played Tyranids in a while, so Zoanthropes may indeed be a good choice. I'd imagine that in the new codex they may be getting better in order to combat Jaws of the LOLIJUSTWTFPAWNEDYO'FEXES.

Don't forget genestealers... at 500 points I think you could just try a whole bunch of idea's out and swap things in and out depending on how you like to play.

Zoanthropes can be mighty, but remember they have to take a psychic test and then roll to hit and then roll to
wound.
A Carnifex will be able to lob big Str 8 templates every turn, and usually hits something. Also, warriors with deathspitters and toxin sacs lob out Str 6 templates. Since you only have AP 5 you just shoot anything and don't worry about cover, and force tons of armor saves. (Wounding most things on 2's will ensure you force those armor saves)

You could also bump the cost of the Warriors up 2 points and give them rending, which means they could do serious harm to anything < a land raider.

Warriors with Death Spitters, Rending Claws, Toxin Sacs: 33 points each

Zoanthrope with Synapse and Warp Blast: 65 points

Now I want to go play some quick 500pt games...

Thanks for all the quick replies!
With all the great tips I've come up with the following list:

HQ
1x Hive Tyrant (Wings, 2x Devourers) - 131pts
4x Warriors (Deathspitter, Scything Talons, Toxin Sacs) - 124pts

Troops
13x Spinegaunts - 65pt
13x Spinegaunts - 65pt

Heavy Support
1x Carnifex (Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons) - 113pts

Total: 498pts

Feels like a quite competent list that I can keep adding things to when it starts rising in points. Thanks a bunch!

Looks ok, although there are a few weaknesses.

1. Gaunts die far too easily. A turn or two of rapid firing bolters would ruin your day. Minimize one brood to 8 and get them WoN.

2. Try and get Warp field on your hive tyrant. Seriously! I'm positive you won't regret it. The 2+ sv at this level is what it's all about. Your opponents will go crazy trying to bring it down. Maybe lose a warrior for the points.

That's all I got right now. The list looks solid even if you don't make the changes. Have fun.

what i'd do is get fleshborer gaunts with toxin sacs so you have S5 gaunts for 9pts

then get rid of the hormagaunts and hive tyrant and get a broodlord with genestealers

then get rid of your zoanthrope an get a low point carnifex yes that will i think be more pts (dont have dex with me) but is about the same price money wise maybe less

then again you dont get synapse so instead of carnifex get low pt warriors

the reason i think out with the hormagaunt hive tyrant idea is that with such a small army you have to make it versitile not just close comat unless they are going to get to the line quickly wich yes the hormagaunts will but they will also be shot at and the genestealers and broodlord will just pop up on the side and do good damage and wont get shot.

I'm really glad you have 2 synapse creatures... Those gaunts need to be in synapse in order to hold objectives. I honestly think WON isn't worth it. Having bigger broods and sending them to ground is lovely and can keep them around for a long, long time.

I also second the warp field on the tyrant. He's The A#1 high target and will go down quickly if everyone focuses their firepower on him. Having a 3+ and T6 is great, but bolters still wound on 6's. Going from a 3 to a 2+ will really make a big difference.

I would also try and give the tyrant enhanced senses to get the most out of his devourers. Hitting on 4's is great, hitting on 3's is a lot better.

I think you're doing great on this so far!

I'm going to justify my line of thought now. Tyrant runs off leaving the warriors to protect your gaunts. Drop pod comes in and rapid fires the warriors. Gaunts will run off next turn. Game over (if its objectives, and not good if its KP's).

I would personally throw in a zoanthrope since he has a 2+ save, which is great against small arms fire. He's also half the points of the warriors...a nice saving with which to max out the second brood if the first has WoN (a great objective keeper at any points level).

Since your tyrant is the fire magnet and he needs to survive get him the Warp field. Without it his save can let him down at the most inopportune time. As Grunt for Christ mentioned the difference between a 2+ and 3+ is big.

So lets do the math

Hive tyrant, wings, warp field, toxin sacs, TL devourer, enhanced senses...198

8 gaunts

8 gaunts, WoN...72

Zoanthrope, warp field, synapse, warp blast...65

Carnifex, barbed strangler, scything talons...113

498 points.

It's tight but do-able. I would personally go full cc with the flyrant at this points level for a couple of reasons. 1, he's cheaper (allowing you to max out more gaunts) and 2, nothing can match him there. If he stays out of cc shooting that's pretty much the only place your opponent can hurt him.

You could also try something like this, sort of a Nidzilla light.

HQ
Hive Tyrant: Enhanced Senses, Toxin Sacs, 2x Devourers: 121pts.

Troops
Gaunts x8: Spinefist, Without Number: 64pts.
Gaunts x8: Spinefist, Without Number: 64pts.

Heavy Support
Dakkafex: Enhanced Senses, 2x TL Devourers, Spine Banks, Adrenal Glands (I): 124pts.
Dakkafex: Enhanced Senses, 2x TL Devourers, Spine Banks, Adrenal Glands (I): 124pts.

Yes, you are dependent on that Tyrant sticking around, but it is very hard to kill even with focused fire at this point level. One tactic might even be to hold the Tyrant in reserve and leave the Gaunts lurking on your objectives in an objective game and move up late. You could also drop a Carnifex in order to take a pair of Tyrant guard, one with flesh hooks for wound allocation, and get extended carapace and flesh hooks on your Tyrant.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This one might be a bit better if people want to really focus on your Synapse.

HQ
Hive Tyrant: Enhanced Senses, Toxin Sacs, 2x Devourers: 121pts.
Hive Tyrant: Enhanced Senses, Toxin Sacs, 2x Devourers: 121pts.

Troops
Gaunts x8: Spinefist, Without Number: 64pts.
Gaunts x8: Spinefist, Without Number: 64pts.

Heavy Support
Dakkafex: Enhanced Senses, 2x TL Devourers, Spine Banks, Adrenal Glands (I): 124pts.

I would actually choose this over my first list as it has so much Dakka it isn't even funny. Two strength spines fist shots, eight strength six devourer shots, twenty-four Strength five devourers, and a bunch of strength three spinefist shots for weakened squads. You also have as much assaulting anti-tank as you could want at this points level so if somebody brings a Predator or even Land Raider you could crumple it and really gimp their list.