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Hello all.

This seemed like an acceptable place to post this thread, apologies if it isn't.

I have decided to start a Tyranid army.

Thus far I have purchased 1 box of gaunts and will be purchasing the Battleforce today.

I was hoping to get some recommendations on which units worked well together, which ones didn't and, therefore, how I should start building my force.

I know for certain, that I don't want to play a Nidzilla list. I like the big bugs, I just don't want to field a list that is comprised of only them.

Anyway, your input is appreciated.


-Ruffgutz

Sorry about the double post, but here is the 750 pt list I have come up with for the models I have so far.

Any and all feed back is appreciated.

HQ

Warriors x3 (108)
-Toxin Sacs
-Enhanced Senses
-1 Warrior w/ Barbed Strangler & Scything Talons
-2 Warriors w/ 2x Devourers

Troops

Genestealers x8 (168)
-Feeder Tendrils
-Extended Carapace

Hormagaunts x12 (168)
-Adrenal Glands (I)
-Adrenal Glands (WS)
-Toxin Sacs

Gaunts x8 (64)
-Spinefist
-Without Number

Gaunts x8 (64)
-Spinefist
-Without Number

Heavy Support

Carnifex (178)
-Enhanced Senses
-Reinforced Chitin
-Venom Cannon x2

Total - 750

Broodlords are great with genestealers.
Be careful with "with out numbers" if it's for kill points, everytime they die they give a point. And they die easier, I put bigger groups together to make it harder to kill.
Unless you can buy 8 to 16 i'd avoid gargoyles.
Zoanthropes with warp blast i like because 2+ save.
I hope this helps.

Thank you for the reply.

I like the Broodlord a lot. I'll probably end up grabbing one and several more genestealers to go along with him.

Any particular reason to avoid the gargoyles? They die too easily and need more models to pad the unit?

Zoanthropes look awesome. I'll most likely end up buying 2 or 3 of them.


-Ruffgutz

I avoid Gargoyles, becaues you need a lot to be effective and it has 2 for 12 bucks. If they sold 10 for 30 bucks, I'd use.

Its a good start. It seems that some of those upgrades are kinda stretching to get to the 750 point mark, but with what you have at the moment it is understandable. I would say that the next few investments is to get more synapse creatures as 3 warriors can die fairly easily thus making your gaunts near useless. I would go for a Hive tyrant and the Broodlord as Coach suggested. Afterwards start buying up all the gaunts you can. I suggest going for those 8 dollar boxes of five gaunts as its cheap and doesn't include all the hormagaunts which are not that useful since 5th rolled around. Another alternative, however, is to actually use the spinefists on the hormagaunts to make 8 Fleshgaunts and 8 Spinegaunts per box. After you have your troop base start stocking up on carnifexes and before you know it you will have a 2000+ point army.

yeah as axyl said, what you really need is a carnifex to take out tanks, and a hive tyrant for the synapse (it damn hard to kill). you can upgrade your stuff without being stupid, i mean you have to give a hive tyrant extended carapace, and a carnifex has to have extended carapace (when i say "has to have" thats just my opinion), others may disagree, but you know.....

i would give the genestealers scuttlers and/or toxin sacs instead of carapace...
stealers work best when moving through cover and fleeting to the enemy

if you add another battle force, a broodlord, maybe a hive tyrant and a zoey or 2, you can get a pretty solid 1500 pt army

also, you need an anti tank carnifex...
either 2x scytals or scytals and crushing claws are the best weapons for that

Ok, thank you all for your input.

Concerning the Carnifex, once I give him the dual Scytals, what biomorph combos have you had success with?

For subsequent Carnifexes, should I load them out with CC biomorphs or would a ranged fex be a good idea?

As far as equipping my gaunts goes, are spinefists considered the way to go at the moment? And what about biomorphs etc?

@ Axyl - What are fleshgaunts?

And if it helps, my main opponents will be 2 Marines, 1 Eldar, 1 IG, and 1 Tau. Orks and DE will make rare appearances.


-Ruffgutz

Boss_Ruffgutz wrote:

@ Axyl - What are fleshgaunts?

Gaunts with fleshborers. Its just alot easier to type fleshgaunts than Gaunts with fleshborers.

As a standard if you are just looking for cannon fodder then large squads of spinegaunts are good. For that extra point per model though, you can equip them with the fleshborer for a str 4 re-roll to wound shooting attack (usually a bit better vs MEQ armies which I play against all the time).

i would give the Warriors Extended Carapace, so they get a save vs Marines.

i run 2 fexes for CC to take out tanks etc, sometimes one with 2X twin linked Devourers Enhanced senses.
my usual 1750 army list:

HQ

Broodlord (96)
Carapace
Tendrils
Flesh Hooks
Toxin Sacs
Retinue:
11 Genestealers
Carapace
flesh Hooks

Hive Tyrant (192)
Carapace
Talons
LW & Bonesword
Fleshhooks
Gland
Miasma
Winged

Elites

Lictor (80)

2X 3 Warriors (113) (113)
talons
toxin sacs
senses
2 deathspitter
Barbed Strangler

Troops

16 Hormagaunts (208)
Fleshhooks
Toxin sacs

8 Genestealers (160)
carapace

8Genestealers (168)
Carapace
Feeder Tendrils

10 Gaunts (60)
flesh borers

HEAVY

Carnifex (151)
2x Talons
Mace tail
Glands
Glands
Tusked
Carapace

Carnifex (168)
Talons
Crushing Claws
Mace Tail
Glands
Glands
Tusked
Carapace

I personally dont like hormagaunts too much. They are fast but they attract a lot of attention. Most people dont want their best shooty units engaged on turn 2. And they die fast. 1 good large blast can kill the entire unit (unless its a very large brood). I personally prefer large broods of gaunts with WoN. As long as the brood is large enough it should be able to sustain a lot of casualties and still cause grief to your opponent without giving too many kill points.

Your stealers are good, but may I suggest losing the carapace and giving them scuttlers instead. I find that they always find someone to engage on the turn they come on and can get right in the face of whoever strays too near the flanks, while also posing a threat to any objectives in the home turf of your enemy.

I also like the idea of a cc fex. I have mine kitted out for cc and he is capable of dealing with pretty much anything. I also run a dakkafex (2xtwin-linked devourers). His job is to take the pressure off the the other 2 MC's I have and he is still capable of dealing with tanks.

I like a flying tyrant with warp field and tooled for cc. I have played 4 games with him and he has yet to survive to turn 2. Not a comforting thought, BUT, in all of those games he ensured that EVERYTHING on turn 1 is focussed on him. He always seems to die to the last thing that shoots. Admittedly I play against orks and their firepower is somewhat inaccurate, but still he has a lot coming his way...and it saves my other units from getting shot up for a turn at least.

I prefer a mixed list and although I havent had much experience using it I like the way it works. There are other options though. Stealer shock can be fun but I think they find it hard to deal with tanks. I am also thinking of a warrior heavy list, but again, same problem.

I find zoanthropes can be useful for anything really...a squad of marines holding an objective, blast. A tank moving in on your position, Smack down. But they are slightly unreliable so be sure to field at least 2, or they might not even hit at all.

Anyway good luck with building your list and keep posting with updates...

Well, comming from a MEQ and Imperial Gurad player DONT buy a boodlord with a full band of 'stealers to back him up. Bad idea. I mean, who wants a unit that is sneaky AND rock solid in CC? Pffft I say. Buy more big bugs.....and minimal synapse critters..... I mean COME ON...IG players need any help we can get against 'nids.

Oh, P.S. in all seriousness ignore everything I just said...unless you play me...then ITS ALL TRUE!!!

The thing I have found out is a need to play some numbers with Tyranids under 5th Edition.

Devourer Gaunts: You just keep rolling dice. While they have no Strength to speak of, getting to re-roll all failed Wounds is completely worth it. And each Gaunt gets 2 shots. Even a medium size brood (10-20) can do serious damage. Full broods can lay expensive characters easily by sheer numbers.

Flesh Hooks: Because many times you will have to assault over cover. This lets you strike in Initiative order, which can REALLY help.

Implant Attack: Great for thinks like the Broodlord and Genestealers. Since the units are smaller, each wound counts for 2. This is especially important for combat resolution, since Fearless/Synapse can really hurt against units that are more difficult to kill due to armor or high Toughness.

Rending Claws: Never, EVER, rely on actually being able to roll a 6 to Wound. It will bite you for more than it will help.

Crushing Claws: Tanks run in fear of a 'Fex with them. So do most other things. It is expensive, but a Carnifex with enhanced Toughness, Wounds, and Save along with Crushing Claws can literally dominate the battle all by itself. If you really want to annoy the enemy, put Regenerate on it as well.

This all sounds very good. Thank you all for your responses.

I'm unsure how I want to kit out my gaunts. I'll have to ponder that one a bit.

I'm sure I will come up with more questions as time goes.

Everyone seems to be a fan of winged Tyrants, and admittedly, it does seem like an awesome notion.

My one question concerning that is where exactly do I get the wings for them?

-Ruffgutz

Forge World sells them, or you could always find some other type of wings that work.

i got mine from a high elf dragon...i got lucky since the guy who had put his together said it came with spares. U could try the same...but they will need some green stuff to fill in the gaps since they dont quite line up properly

i know on the Australian online store that you can order wings sperate from different kits eg. balrog or griffion.

you can also buy spare wings from GW now that they have bits again sort of

What are some thoughts on Biovores? In my ork army I swear by my Lobbas...seems like Biovores would be a logical choice. Wondering what some people's thoughts were on them.

-Ruffgutz

Biovores are more of a pain weapon than a deadly one.

For example, drop your Spore Mines onto objectives, and you somewhat dissuade your opponent from putting lighter troops on them. This can buy you time.

Boss_Ruffgutz wrote:What are some thoughts on Biovores? In my ork army I swear by my Lobbas...seems like Biovores would be a logical choice. Wondering what some people's thoughts were on them.

Good stuff. Even having just one can change a battle. I will generally buy bio-acid mines because I fight Marines a lot. It is nice having a SINGLE attack that can overcome their armor.

Well... it depends on whether you're talking about effectiveness or sheer awesomeness

Personally, I love the hormagaunt model and HATE the termagaunt / whatever other variant of gaunt you want to call it. I think it looks silly... and despite the rules changes, hormagaunts do strike fear into the hearts of an enemy more than a termagaunt or equivalent, imho... so I'm taking 96 of them

And as mentioned above, without number is going to give your enemy kill points... so if you are going with the other gaunts, you might want to put them in bigger squads.

Do what you like (you mentioned you liked the zoanthrope model) and it will work out great

I actually have a few spares of wings... I'm using one set for my winged tyrant but I have leftovers. They're the large set from this pack:
http://www.thewarstore.com/product23401.html

Shoot me a private message if you want a set... I'm always looking for small bits so maybe we could make a simple trade. I bought four packs of these, and am using the 12 smaller wings for warrior conversions, and one of the large sets for the tyrant (leaving 3 left over). Seems like a great source for them that I didn't see posted anywhere else... so if you end up wanting wings for warriors too, you might want to just get the whole blister. They're different shapes of course... but it's a biomorph, right?

Best of luck... and as always just my $0.02!

get the assault brood box.... at $180 that is a steal. might even be able to get if off e-bay for less.

for a winged hive tyrant, get the plastic dragon wings from GW

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat1300205&prodId=prod1290031&rootCatGameStyle=wh

all you need to do is round off the joint on the wings so that they will fit into the ball socket on the hive tyrant model. for mine, i also shaved off the scaly parts.

Ok. Ill soon be adding an assault brood to my collection as it is a really good deal! As such I'll be writing up a new list for everyone to chop up.

The question I have for my fellow Dakka-ites is how should I load out my gaunts? I think the amount of firepower that can be put out by 20 or so Devourers would be ridiculous.

Would it be a waste of points to stick toxin sacs onto devourer gaunts to give them str 3 weapon?

And I'm pretty sure I read something in this thread that suggested using scuttlers on these gaunts to pop into the enemy's back line and firing off a ton of devourer shots. Thoughts?

Boss_Ruffgutz wrote:Ok. Ill soon be adding an assault brood to my collection as it is a really good deal! As such I'll be writing up a new list for everyone to chop up.

The question I have for my fellow Dakka-ites is how should I load out my gaunts? I think the amount of firepower that can be put out by 20 or so Devourers would be ridiculous.

Would it be a waste of points to stick toxin sacs onto devourer gaunts to give them str 3 weapon?

And I'm pretty sure I read something in this thread that suggested using scuttlers on these gaunts to pop into the enemy's back line and firing off a ton of devourer shots. Thoughts?

Don't bother with Toxin sacs. Needing 5's instead of 6's might make a difference, but only to your army. That ends up being a lot of points. Since you re-roll failed Wounds, you can still get a decent number of them even with needing 6 to Wound. Especially with large broods.

Are you kidding? If you take Devourers on your Gaunts, the only way to do it is with Toxin Sacs. Needing 6's to wound anything T4-5 is pretty terrible. Re-rolling 5+'s isn't nearly as bad and works well in mass numbers. The problem here is that you're paying 10 points for Gaunts which is kind of silly since they still miss half of their shots and die like, well, Gaunts.

Kirbinator wrote:Are you kidding? If you take Devourers on your Gaunts, the only way to do it is with Toxin Sacs. Needing 6's to wound anything T4-5 is pretty terrible. Re-rolling 5+'s isn't nearly as bad and works well in mass numbers. The problem here is that you're paying 10 points for Gaunts which is kind of silly since they still miss half of their shots and die like, well, Gaunts.

Exactly. Still going to die, still going to be relatively ineffective, so why pay the extra point per model?

I guess my bigger point was to not bother with Devourer Gaunts.

Kirbinator wrote:I guess my bigger point was to not bother with Devourer Gaunts.

I see it the other way. I have never had any success with anything BUT devourer gaunts.