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Hey guys I currently own nothing from the tyranid codex (nor the codex itself) but I want to play a large nid army (lots of big models) and I was wondering if there was one that is designed to steamroll other armies, I play chaos for fun so I'm not worried about the fun part of nids as this would be a competative list I use for tournaments and games against hard to beat armies. Because I don't own anything that's tyranid I can go in any direction but please keep the amount of money spent in mind (don't have that much disposable income) I would like to start with a 1000pts list and go up from there and maybe a 500pts list to play as I complete the army. Don't be afraid to use lots of different kinds of cheese

 Alienoid wrote:
Hey guys I currently own nothing from the tyranid codex (nor the codex itself) but I want to play a large nid army (lots of big models) and I was wondering if there was one that is designed to steamroll other armies, I play chaos for fun so I'm not worried about the fun part of nids as this would be a competative list I use for tournaments and games against hard to beat armies. Because I don't own anything that's tyranid I can go in any direction but please keep the amount of money spent in mind (don't have that much disposable income) I would like to start with a 1000pts list and go up from there and maybe a 500pts list to play as I complete the army. Don't be afraid to use lots of different kinds of cheese

Well the cheesiest build is to take as many Winged Tyrants as possible. Take a look at jy's 5 Tyrant build. Basicly you want to run Leviathan for 3 Tyrants then add more through a Formation, or a standard CAD.

Personally I like Leviathan, plus HyperToxic, or SkyTyrant (likely the stronger of the two) because I expect Leviathan to be ruled as a "CAD Equivelent" so that a CAD+ Formation will remain as the standard form.

Hmm so it sounds like flyyrants are the way to go. what about for the other slots? i think biovores are good with their large blast?

 Alienoid wrote:
Hmm so it sounds like fly'rants are the way to go. what about for the other slots? i think biovores are good with their large blast?

After the cheese topping, things start falling into "style" boxes...but Tyrants are so dang expensive that not that many points are still available. So most list use cheap Troops (Tunneling Rippers Mycocytes) and either a few Heavies, or moar FMCs ( a crone or two)

Not my style, so I have no experience with those builds, but they look, and are reported as very effective.

I like having Troops, so I lean towards still having a ground presence.

The third popular choice is adding a Gargantuan Monster, supported by two, or three Tyrants. I don't own one, but this also looks totally viable, and more than one Tourney army runs this.

If you want pure Flyrant spam at 1k you could do this:

CAD1
Flyrant: 2 Devourers, Electroshock 240
Flyrant: 2 Devourers 230

Mucolid Spore 15
Mucolid Spore 15

CAD2
Flyrant: 2 Devourers, Electroshock 240
Flyrant: 2 Devourers 230

Mucolid Spore 15
Mucolid Spore 15

That is a pretty dull list to build and play but will do well. Everything is tight at 1k. A list with a little more to it could look like this:

Flyrant: 2 Devourers, Electroshock 240
Flyrant: 2 Devourers, Electroshock 240

Mucolid Spore 15
Mucolid Spore 15

Malanthrope 85
Zoanthrope 50
Zoanthrope 50

Carnifex: 2 Devourers 150
Carnifex: 2 Devourers 150

Has just as many Devourers though 2 could take a turn or2 to get into range. But packs in 8 WC shrouding for alphastrike protection and more units for objective grabbing. Or you could go Objectives heavy with something like this:

Skyblight Swarm

Flyrant: 2 Devourers, Electroshock 240

13 Gargoyles 78
13 Gargoyles 78
13 Gargoyles78

Harpy: HVC 140
Harpy: HVC 140
Hive Crone 155

Spore Field
Mucolid 15
Mucolid 15
Mucolid 15
Spore Mines 15
Spore Mines 15
Spore Mines 15

This list gives 4 FMCs for pressure. Plus 3 ObSec respawning gargoyles for objective grabbing. Plus an infiltrating spore field to area deny the midfield to your opponent and apply even more pressure which should provide your Gargoyles with the target saturation required to keep them doing their job.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! This really helps, im looking forward to playing nids. would you say the swarm box is a good start? it gives you enough troops and saves you $90. Is there a better one?

Swarm box is a good start - but not for your the cheesy list you were thinking about.

yeah i was thinking that it would give me a good base for troops so that i would have then to hold stuff in the backfield or bubble wrap stuff

 Alienoid wrote:
Thanks! This really helps, im looking forward to playing nids. would you say the swarm box is a good start? it gives you enough troops and saves you $90. Is there a better one?

Both of the starters are very good. I like the Swarm, but you need to add Synapse, so you'd want say a Tyrant, and a box of Warriors, or a Zoey...I converted 10 of the Hormagaunts into "Devilgaunts" (Termagants with Devourers) and I have never regretted it.

You also get a Carnifex, and some Gargoyles, so you have lots of figures, and most of your purchases from there will be Big Bugs so painting is easier as well.

The other is Wrath of the Hive Mind, it comes with an HQ, but many fewer Gaunts (of all types) so you may end up buying and painting a lot of "rank and file". But many current lists use very few Troops, so that might not be an "issue" for you.

Hmm ok is a Zoey a zonethrope?


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What if you got both starter sets? Would that be a good combo?

 Alienoid wrote:
Hmm ok is a Zoey a zonethrope?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
What if you got both starter sets? Would that be a good combo?

Sorry, yeah, Zoey= Zoanthrope..

Grabbing both is not a bad plan, but it might not be the most efficient...

what would you reccomend? i just got the codex today so i havent had a chance to look everything over yet

 Alienoid wrote:
what would you reccomend? i just got the codex today so i havent had a chance to look everything over yet

It kinda depends on what sort of force you want to build, I have suggested Swarm Box, Tyrant, and a box of Warriors many times, and I still consider it a very good way to get started. But if you don't see your self running big Broods of Gaunts, then the Wrath is the better play.

ok thanks sorry for repeating, its late. how would would you expand from the swarm box if you wanted to have more monstrous creates to back up the troops? i play against turtles and long range fire

Against a defensive gunline, I would pick up the Wrath of the Hive Mind box and a few Tyrannocyte kits.

1x Flying Tyrant

2x Tyrannocytes to drop a Tyrannofex and 20x Termagants.

Tyranid Warriors to hold back/midfield objectives.

Expand from there...

i was thinking about getting the upgrade for the hive tyrant that allows units to outflank and outflanking a brood of two or three carnifexes. Just a thought

 Alienoid wrote:
ok thanks sorry for repeating, its late. how would would you expand from the swarm box if you wanted to have more monstrous creates to back up the troops? i play against turtles and long range fire

In a "Gunline" heavy meta, I would add a Mawloc. And then a second one. (I kinda like Mawlocs. ) The other good to fair tactic is putting "Hive Commander" on a Tyrant, so you can Outflank a Troops unit. My personal fav was a Tervigon, with a Thorax hive. It can "spawn" it's own bubble wrap when it arrives, and having a Template rawks in close range fire fights.

I think a more current answer is taking one ,or two Tyrannocytes so you can Deep Strike a unit of Devilgaunts, or a Dakkafex (or other Big Bug)

Gunlines thrive on shooting the heck out of you, while you slog across the table. So the best counter is not having to slog. Outflank, Flying, and Deep Strike are your friend a "Living Artillery" Formation is also a good counter, the more they clump up to mass their fire, the better blast Templates become.

So lets say you get the Swarm box, a Tyrant, and a box of Warriors. I converted 10 Hormagaunts into Devilgaunts...

HQ: Winged Dakka'rant, Thorax (Electro) 240

Troops: 20 Termagants 80
Troops: as above 80
Troops: Hormagaunts, x15 75
Troops: as above 75
Troops: Warrior Brood, x3, Strangle Cannon 100

Fast Attack: Gargoyles, x10 60

Heavy: Dakkafex (Carnafex, TL; Brain Leeches, x2) 150

That's like 800 pts?

Add 10 Devigaunts to one Termagant Brood, +80 Pts, Add Tervigon: Thorax Hive + 205 pts, add Hive Commander + 20 Pts...305 pts, drop one Brood of Termagants, -80= +225 Total force so far, 1025 Trim 5 Hormagaunts...1000 even?

Living Artillery Node: 390 ( or 290 if you recycle the Warriors)
Warrior Brood, x3 Venom Cannon 100 ( or use the one above to save 100)
Exocrene 170?
Biovor Brood, x3 120

Mawlocs run 140 per... add the Node, and a Mawloc, 1430, spend 70 points. (I would lose the Gargoyles trim 10 more, and add a second Mawloc. )

So you can get plenty of games in from 500 to 1000, add in Toxic Glands to increase the cost of the Hormies, or other tricks to play up to 1200-1300. Then once you have a feel for how you like to play, it is easy to add in a Formation, or several Big Bugs (or both) and play at 1500 to 1850, and avoid having units that sit on the shelf.

One of the most important units to add in are Venothropes, and Zoanthropes, they add a lot of force multiplier effects. Shrouding is very powerful (except vs Tau) so it will make you much more effective.

Zoeys are Lvl 2 Psychers, with a 3++ save and they are Synapse.

Good luck! And welcome to the Hive Mind!

OK, how about this
10 termagants
5 tyranid warriors
1 tyranid prime
1 trygon
2 carnifexes
1 broodlord
14 genestealers
10 gargoyles.

 Alienoid wrote:
i was thinking about getting the upgrade for the hive tyrant that allows units to outflank and outflanking a brood of two or three carnifexes. Just a thought

"Hive Commander" only lets you Outflank Troops, so you can only use it on,say, Tervigon (with a x30 Termagant unit "tax"(for a MC) or, a Brood of Warriors (a big Brood of Warriors can be pretty darn good) or a Brood of Devilgaunts ( say 15/15, or I use 20 Spinegaunts, 10 Devils) this last one is very strong, but it needs Synapse, so it raises issues..

If you roll on Strategy for Warlord, you can get "Master of Ambush" that lets you Infiltrate the Warlord, and up to 3 Units, so that allows you to sneak the Big Bugs closer. With Battleforged, you can re-roll on the Warlord chart, so you have two chances to get it.

The "best" counter to Gunlines...is Maelstrom missions. Sitting around doesn't work so well when you need to run around grabbing objectives. Nids often do very well at this, as we are very good at including plenty of inexpensive units.

what are devil gaunts

 Alienoid wrote:
what are devil gaunts

Termigants, with Devourers, they cost twice as much, but have three times the fire power. They work best mixed so you can take regular ones as losses.

I just got the swarm box so the next on my list is a tyrant and then maybe warriors? What would be good after that

I'd say get your Flyrant, and then if you want to get something different (since if you want to run competitive it seems you want 2-3 flying hive tyrants) get either your box of warriors or snag a box of zoans/venomthropes.

i have one carnifex from the swarm box and ill get another when i buy a friends nids, and i was thinking of getting a carnifex brood box so i could have 4 carnifexes (two groups of two). How does that sound

 Alienoid wrote:
i have one carnifex from the swarm box and ill get another when i buy a friends nids, and i was thinking of getting a carnifex brood box so i could have 4 carnifexes (two groups of two). How does that sound

That sounds like a wise course. It is hard not to find a use for Carnifexen.

I just got the hive tyrant and I was wondering what to put on the model when I build him, I know I'm gonna use the wings but I'm not sure about the talons or the large bioweapons? What is a good thing to give him upgrade wise



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Now I need a good way to have overlapping synapse, I after I get a friends bids I will have a zoey but that just leaves me with the zoey and the tyrant. I was thinking about two squads of three warriors on either side of the table to keep everyone in check, maybe some more zoeys? But then how would I keep them from herring blown away?

How many termagaunts should I build with devourers? I'm thinking 10 so that's 5 a squad of 20

 Alienoid wrote:
I just got the hive tyrant and I was wondering what to put on the model when I build him, I know I'm gonna use the wings but I'm not sure about the talons or the large bioweapons? What is a good thing to give him upgrade wise



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Now I need a good way to have overlapping synapse, I after I get a friends bids I will have a zoey but that just leaves me with the zoey and the tyrant. I was thinking about two squads of three warriors on either side of the table to keep everyone in check, maybe some more zoeys? But then how would I keep them from herring blown away?

Currently the best build for a Tyrant is twin Brain Leeches, and a Thorax hive (no need to model) But, if you can...magnets.

Synapse can be a "Thing" I like to have one Source for as many turns as I expect the game to last...most seem to find that excessive. I like to have a Zoey Brood, one Brood of Warriors, and the Tyrants as a minimum.If you run Leviathan, it is a little less hectic, because you can re-roll the IB. If it becomes nessisary, don't forget you can manifest Dominion, and increase your Synapse range.

Monsters, and Stealers are usually OK MCs are usually fearless, and Stealers don't need Synapse at all. I like to keep one source of Synapse in the backfield (often the Warriors) as an emergency reserve.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Alienoid wrote:
How many termagaunts should I build with devourers? I'm thinking 10 so that's 5 a squad of 20

I built 10, and that is plenty for me. But that is a "style" issue. I normally run Termagants in Broods of x20, and toss all 10 into one to take a Tervigon into a Troop, or Outflank a big Brood of Termagants.

I'm sure you've noticed...the wings on the hive tyrant model do take up an arm slot on the model. However, you can still run two twin linked devourers of brain leech worms as per the rules. The twin linked devourers do not come in the kit, so either you can kit bash your own, find something else you want to substitute (some people use flesh borer hive pieces, and tell people it's the twin linked devourers in game play), or buy the twin linked devourer models from Forgeworld.

I think I'll build the tyrant with scything talons so he looks more scary and then just say he has stuff if I give him other stuff and about the carnifexes, should I run them or use those drop pod things. Also where can I get the rules for the drop pod things, and what other stuff is not in the codex