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This is a step up from my previous thread in tactics where I was looking for advice on attending a GT with Nids, but I didn't have a list to comment on. So here it is, the first attempt at a GT army list.

HQ
Tyrant - +1Str, +1BS, 2 x twin linked devourers, winged, implant attack, flesh hooks and warpfield - 212

Tyrant - +1BS, +1Sv, +1Str, venom cannon, lash whip & bone sword, implant attack, shadow in the warp and 2 Tyrant Guard - 289

Troops
30 Hormagaunts - 300
10 Genestealers - feeder tendrils and flesh hooks - 180
8 Gaunts - fleshborers and 'without number' - 72
8 Gaunts - fleshborers and 'without number' - 72

Fast Attack
5 Raveners - rending claws and scything talons - 200

Heavy Support
Carnifex - +1WS, +1BS, +1Sv, tusked, venom cannon, scything talons - 175

- 1500pts

It's not the typical Nidzilla or all genestealer list that you see at GTs, but that's for two reasons. 1) I don't actually have all the necessary models for either of these lists and 2) I'm not a massively competitive gamer and I try to make more balanced armies rather then the ultra-specialist ones.
My tactics with this army are to have a massive flanking force of the winged tyrant, genestealers, raveners and hormagaunts and hit one side of the enemy like a ton of bricks. The tyrant provides synapse for the hormagaunts (raveners and stealers don't really need to worry about it) while also providing anti-infantry fire power as they close. The tyrant can also tip the edge in combat by assaulting as she still has a good stat line even with devourers rather than talons (can also be used to try to take out vehicles in close combat). The raveners and genestealers are the hard hitting core of the flank assault with high I and WS, coupled with rending. The hormagaunts are there to provide the raveners/stealers with a mobile cover save and also to try to overwhelm the enemy, hopefully to make it easier for the harder elements of the flanking force to wipe out the enemy swiftly.
Meanwhile remainder of my army will stick together and move where needed (ie: capture objectives). The Tyrant is to provide me with synapse for the gaunts, but more importantly a three shot str 8 venom cannon hitting on 3+. The fex is also to provide more anti-armour firepower with her Str 10 cannon (however with my dice rolls she hardly ever hits, hence the Tyrant ). Also the pair of them together form quite a formidable close combat duo with a total of 9 monstrous creature attacks if both charge at the same time. Also by sticking close the Fex (and if need be the gaunts) can gain the benefit of catalyst from the bonesword. These big hitters are my answer to redress the lack of firepower in my army and also to counter deepstriking forces behind my lines while the flanking force is miles away.

So what does everyone think? I can't help feeling that the army is too small, but I tend to play 2000 - 3000 pt battles when I get the chance to game, so it has been a while since I last played 1500 pts. I just remember the last Gt I attended in 2006 and the first army I faced was an all infantry Space Marine army and I was outnumbered. Nids....outnumbered .

Yeah I would be worried about how few models you have without being nidzilla. I would really reccomend to do Warriors with different wargear to spread wounds, im not sold on the Raveners, I would also find a way to cut down the costs on your tyrants thats a LOT of points right there.

EzeKK wrote:Yeah I would be worried about how few models you have without being nidzilla. I would really reccomend to do Warriors with different wargear to spread wounds, im not sold on the Raveners, I would also find a way to cut down the costs on your tyrants thats a LOT of points right there.

I must admit I love my raveners and they have always served me well in battles, but I do hear from most Nid players I know that they are not keen on them.
I agree with you on the point's of my Tyrants, but at the last GT I attended I found that unless they were tooled up they got killed really quickly so I am kinda in two minds. I also want the dakka winged tyrant because she can fly and has a lot of anti-infantry firepower, but I then think I need the other Tyrant because of the cannon that can hit on 3+ (I took the same fex to the last GT and my dice rolls were are so poor that even though it's still 4+ to hit i hardly hit anything over the six games).
The problem as I see it is that although I have 8000 pts of Nids it is almost all small critter horde and close combat orientated. I'm afraid I'm one of those Starship Trooper and Aliens fans who feels a Nid isn't a Nid if it isn't all claws and teeth. I only have a relatively few shooty models, the only ranged anti-armour I have being the Tyrant and Fex listed. I was tempted to go for a horde close combat army (as this would play to the strengths of my models), but as I don't have many genestealers everyone I know has said that I'll just come up against elite GT armies which will wade through the gaunts in close combat and blast the big bugs from a distance before they get to assault. So it's a knotty dilema I have

If you like lots of chompy nids then a great idea would be to run a horde with a couple of cheap carnies being your mele anti tank along with a flyrant. Some cheap warrior and a ton of gaunts would be a scary list.

very balanced list. I unfortunately don't see it doing well in the GT because of lack of specialization (aka cheese).

Why do you have Venom Cannons mixed with assault symbiotes? What are you going to be 36" away from and assaulting at the same time?

thedarkside69 wrote:I unfortunately don't see it doing well in the GT because of lack of specialization (aka cheese).

Specialization is cheese? What? Cheese is finding one thing your army does well and spamming it to the point that most balanced armies cannot compete with it while still being able to compete with other general competitors. Taking units and symbiotes that go along well with each other (aka synergy) is not cheese, it is intelligent list-making.

Kirbinator wrote:Why do you have Venom Cannons mixed with assault symbiotes? What are you going to be 36" away from and assaulting at the same time?

The venom cannons were so that I could start to stun/destroy enemy armour as I close in and aren't on the fast flanking assault section of my army. They were on the models that would mostly hang back.

EzeKK wrote:If you like lots of chompy nids then a great idea would be to run a horde with a couple of cheap carnies being your mele anti tank along with a flyrant. Some cheap warrior and a ton of gaunts would be a scary list.

Thanks for the advice, you're saying the same thing that the little voice in my head is. I've also been re-thinking how 40K is played now too. The last GT I attended was 2006, so victory points were the name of the game, whereas now it is mostly about controlling objectives. A little gribbley horde army would have been mullered in 4th Ed, but now I can see the potential of flooding the enemy with so many models that at the least I am contesting objectives, even if I'm not claiming them. I also suppose now that as non-fleet models can run my Fex's can close with enemy vehicles a bit faster.
I'm going to write and post a revised list tonight, based around a larger horde army. Thinking I'll ditch the idea of long ranged anti tank and go for a sea of claws and just hope the big things can weather the storm of firepower before they can assault. Initially I'm thinking 2 x 10 Genestealers, the hormagaunts, loads of gaunts (variety of types), an elite fex with 2 sets of talons, a heavier fex with claws and talons and a tyrant (possibly two if I take the dakka tyrant without wings and a tyrant with 2 sets of talons which is a lot cheaper then the venom cannon one). I do have another plan forming, using the dakka tyrant (no wings) with psychic scream, a large brood of gaunts with devourers and +1 Str and two zoanthropes with psychic scream. The idea would be to cause enough casualties from a turn of shooting to make the enemy take a Ld test which would then be at -3 because of the psychic screams. The range is the same as the devourers so should work out.

Well I've been thinking about the advice given and I've also looked long and hard at my original list posted earlier in this thread. I still really like the idea of a fast, hard hitting flanking force so I've modified my list to make for a more numerous host and lower point Tyrants.

HQ
Tyrant - 2 x scything talons, +1 WS, flesh hooks, winged, warp field - 178

Tyrant - +1 Str, +1 BS, +1 Sv, 2 x twin linked devourers, shadow in the warp - 156

Troops
10 Genestealers - feeder tendrils, flesh hooks - 180

10 Genestealers - feeder tendrils, flesh hooks - 180

25 Hormagaunts - 250

18 Gaunts - fleshborers - 108

16 Gaunts - devourers, +1 Str - 160

Fast Attack
6 Tyranid Warriors - rending claws, scything talons, winged, flesh hooks - 240

Heavy Support
Zoanthrope - synapse - 45

- 1497

So a slight change to the original list. The dakka tyrant is now going to be on foot and will be close to the gaunts with devourers to combine their firepower, coupled with a large brood of termagaunts and a thrope (for extra synapse) they should be able to hold objectives. They are a good defensive line as although they do not poses devestating fire power, they can (combined) pump out a large quantity of shots with re-rolls to wound (really needed on the Str 3 devourers on the gaunts). This will be my new plan to hold objectives and deter all but the hard core of flanking enemies (although even with devourers the Tyrant is not to be sniffed at in combat). This line can then push forward if the need arises.
Meanwhile I've increased the number of genestealers in the flanking force, removed the raveners (that took ages before I decided to do it, I love them to bits ) and replaced them with 6 winged warriors for extra synapse and with rending/talons they will do the same job as the raveners. The cannon tyrant has been replaced with the taloned Tyrant with wings as I figured if she's gonna be flying and flanking with a close combat force I may as well make the tyrant combat orientated. I was musing with a fex instead, but I figured a tyrant was better as she has the same base toughness, wounds and save, plus higher initiative, base attacks and is a synapse creature.
With the new changes I feel the army still may not be perfect, but will work a lot better then the previous list.
I'll be playtesting this list this weekend against my mate's Chaos Demon GT list so I'll post after the game to say how well the list faired. I'm looking forward to the game as Demons are the top of the armies I think my Nids need to worry about at the GT, Orks and Eldar being the 2nd and 3rd respectively. Will be nice to see how my Nids fair.

thedarkside69 wrote:very balanced list. I unfortunately don't see it doing well in the GT because of lack of specialization (aka cheese).

Its true, how do you plan to kill Lysander Termie spam without cheese.

(Warning rant alert) You know since the release of the new marine dex I hav'nt played a single marine dex which does not include at least 1 SC, usually mr Lysander Himself. Last week I played one with Sander and Kantor and Telion, Its rediculous.(Rant over)

Sorry bout that. Back to your new list, I'd lose the Hormogaunts and buy yourself a pair of cheap Fexes (or 1 cheap fex and one gun fex) TBH, also you might want to consider using 2 units of 3 flying warriors to spread the synapse (I have not got my nid dex with me but Im sure I remember being able to do that). If you decide upon going with shooty warriors again, dont bother with combat morphs and vary your weapons around the unit so as to take advantage of Wound Allocation rules.

Sirius42 wrote:Sorry bout that. Back to your new list, I'd lose the Hormogaunts and buy yourself a pair of cheap Fexes (or 1 cheap fex and one gun fex) TBH, also you might want to consider using 2 units of 3 flying warriors to spread the synapse (I have not got my nid dex with me but Im sure I remember being able to do that). If you decide upon going with shooty warriors again, dont bother with combat morphs and vary your weapons around the unit so as to take advantage of Wound Allocation rules.

I'm going to stand firm on the hormagaunts. I need their bodies to soak up bullets and divert some fire from the genestealers, plus the hormagaunts are a scoring unit whereas the fex isn't and 5th ed is more about claiming objectives, rather then total annihilation.
I have been giving the warriors more thought though (curse my indecisiveness!). Thinking that you are right and that they would be better with ranged attacks, rather than combat gear (20 stealers, 25 hormagaunts and a scythed tyrant is probably all the choppy choppy I'll need). Will possibly change them to have death spitters and a venom cannon or a strangler (since this is what they had already and I was going to convert them to have rending). At the least they'll have wings, +1 BS, +1 Str and the guns, possibly give them scything talons (as they are currently modelled with them - see my gallery), but to save points I may not. I'll probably drop the brood down to 4 as the guns and bio-morphs make each warrior more expensive then a rending/scythed one, but by doing so I may have the points to squeeze in an elite Fex, my fav combo being 2x scything talons, +1 WS and toxic miasma - 113 pts. I would like to have a horde army with a few cheap fexs, but I like modelling my fexs heavily, so the twin taloned one is the only model that could pyhsically be an elite choice. I'm not a tourny gamer so I tend to build/equip my models with gear I like, rather than what might be competitive force. I do have a second elite fex, but it's a scratch built model and wouldn't be allowed in a tourny (see the Tyranid Stalker in my gallery).

Wannabe Writer wrote:I'm going to stand firm on the hormagaunts. I need their bodies to soak up bullets and divert some fire from the genestealers, plus the hormagaunts are a scoring unit whereas the fex isn't and 5th ed is more about claiming objectives, rather then total annihilation.

Thats what gaunts are for. Not hormagaunts. 14point per model homragauns or not at all. You want to be able to hit first, attack easier & wound decently (4's) (all vs MEQ). These guys are ment to be screened by gaunts.

Wannabe Writer wrote:
I have been giving the warriors more thought.. death spitters and a .. .. strangler.. .. At the least they'll have wings, +1 BS, +1 Str and the guns, possibly give them scything talons

Death spitters, good. Barbed strangler, good. Requires 1+str, good. Wings? Why? Youve said yourself that you dont need more choppy. They can fire from where they are, generally. Or by walking there. +1bs is not required on blast weapons. Not for tyranids anyways, its the differeance of 1" not 16.7% (1/6 on a d6) over a possible 12" so pure percentage its worth half = 8.4%. Just not worth it.
Why dont you want them to live?! +1 SAVE! Keep them alive from small-arms.
Also... Equip them all differently. Use the sything talons on the barded strangler & 1st death spitter guys, then use rending/lashwhip/spinefist on the next models.. in that order. Yes the spinefist is useless but your squad can absorb lotsa wounds before loosing firepower. It stays scarier longer which is also good for distracting firepower from your troops.

Devourer gaunts.. really? Have you got the points? Spinefist + WoN = you can always have atleast one scoring troop on the field. Min-squad. Fleshborer gaunts - good. Best comprimise.
Genestealers.. Whats wrong with keeping these guys alive too? If you want them to footslog (with a move+fleet+6 charge) then its a good idea to give them 4+ saves as they will be up front. If you cover them with gaunts, your risking the gaunts getting in the way preventing charges oor joining in & destroying your precious Combat resolution results.
With scutllers; they will either charge the turn they come on, move into LOS blocking terrain or get shot at loads but with the actual effort of outflanking your forcing players to premptively react (deploying away from egdes etc) which is more than worth it so on that note Id say its not essentail to get +1sv for outflanking stealers.

That dakka tyrants gonna be running for about 2-3 turns before it shoots at anything. I think. If thats the case.. its alota points for a well-protected synpase hub. Copy the above tyrant (much more scary & it adds to your completely minimal ranged-anti-tank/fast-skimmer ability).

Brood sizes: The hormagaunts should really be getting into combat quickly so id say broods of 10-16. More will be overkill when they hit somthing & you cant exspect them to survive after their first charge in any decent numbers. (after return fire, not return attack.. well with i4, they will actually die quickly from return attacks but @I5 your much better off). Stealers - fine. Gaunts - fine (although copy the fleshborer gaunts or get WoN spinefists @ 8 str. )

Razerous wrote:Thats what gaunts are for. Not hormagaunts. 14point per model homragauns or not at all. You want to be able to hit first, attack easier & wound decently (4's) (all vs MEQ). These guys are ment to be screened by gaunts.

To be honest at 10 pt basic with no biomorphs I feel they are still effective in combat and all gaunts in my book are expendable, hormagaunts included. I have been mulling over the idea of swapping them for spine gaunts to act as a cheaper bullet screen, but I want to use hormagaunts as they will hit harder in combat and gain the re-roll to hit for being in close proximity to the genestealers if in the same combat. Unless it's Apocalypse I don't believe in bio-morphing my hormagaunts up. To give a large brood +1 Str or +1 I would make them too expensive to consider as although they'd hit harder they'd still die just as easy.

Razerous wrote:Wings? Why? Youve said yourself that you dont need more choppy. They can fire from where they are, generally. Or by walking there............Also... Equip them all differently. Use the sything talons on the barded strangler & 1st death spitter guys, then use rending/lashwhip/spinefist on the next models.. in that order. Yes the spinefist is useless but your squad can absorb lotsa wounds before loosing firepower. It stays scarier longer which is also good for distracting firepower from your troops.

Wings so that they can back up the flanking force (remember this is the main contingent of my army, so it's getting all the weight thrown behind it I can muster with the models I have). Also wings mean they can rapidly redeploy better than on foot if the need arises.
I agree with you on the equiping differently, however I am limited by the models I have and all my winged warriors are armed with spitters or cannons (was gonna sacrifice some foot slogging ones to convert them to rending for the 2nd list and give one a strangler if I decided to do so). Sadly my bitz box got thrown out when I last moved house, so my wealth of spare Nid bits is no more .

Proxie the finer details of the warrior biomorphs to see how well it works & then figuire out if its worth your time to properly equip them differently or just keep them stock standard.

Gaunt + fleshborer = more death than a 10pt hormagaunt. Point for point (im thinking here anyways). I missed the feeder tendrils & that negates the need for +1ws (on one way.. in the other, upping your WS to one above the other guy (so ws5 vs ws4) means he has a hard time hitting you back. Works both ways). Without the +1str, it doesnt matter if you get a re-roll, you wont wound much & importantly you cant touch vehicles now. Just think how awesome it would be to pump out 30-odd attacks @ str 4 vs rear-armor 10 on those skimmers (crucially with a 19-24" threat range), thats with 10 hormagaunts. With 15-20, even if the skimmer travels fast, bye-bye-skimmer. Also, Toughness 8 creatures are immune to str 3 (theres a small chance im thinking hormagaunts are str3 base.. and im wrong. thats right, right?)

Sorry...Finally.. that +1I. Very important. Why? Combat resoloution. You want to cause the maximum possible damage? Win combat by lots. Destroying 70% of a squad then taking a beating from the remaining 30% (which is even better when you have WS5 as its harder to hit back) stacks the odds greatly in your favour for combat rez compared to killing 70% of the squad but taking hits from 100% of the squad. You yourself said they are very weak models. This is why you need +1I.

Your hormagaunts are poor poor bullet screens for the simple fact that they are beasts, 12" charge range.. They wont be around for long enough. They get into combat from 19-24" away. They'll leave whatever thier trying to screen behind, leaving it exposed, thats if you charge them properly.

Wings.. warriors? Youve got one (hopefully two) winged non-shooty tyrants for redeployement needs. What exactly do you need to redeploy to for? Weve established (im hoping) that the guns youve equipped dont require the extra 6" movement.

Razerous - "Devourer gaunts.. really? Have you got the points? Spinefist + WoN = you can always have atleast one scoring troop on the field. Min-squad. Fleshborer gaunts - good. Best comprimise.
Genestealers.. Whats wrong with keeping these guys alive too? If you want them to footslog (with a move+fleet+6 charge) then its a good idea to give them 4+ saves as they will be up front. If you cover them with gaunts, your risking the gaunts getting in the way preventing charges oor joining in & destroying your precious Combat resolution results.
With scutllers; they will either charge the turn they come on, move into LOS blocking terrain or get shot at loads but with the actual effort of outflanking your forcing players to premptively react (deploying away from egdes etc) which is more than worth it so on that note Id say its not essentail to get +1sv for outflanking stealers."

I never used to take devourer gaunts, but in my last few games they have done me proud. The sheer amount of shots, plus re-rolls to wound mean they usually kill a lot of models (and considering my main opponents are Space Marines that's saying something!). Because my defensive line is minimal (as the majority of my army will be flanking) I need to maximise effectiveness with sheer numbers. I like the fleshborer/devourer combo and I'm gonna see how it plays out before I think about revising it. It gives me a sizable number of gaunts and relatively effective firepower.

The Dakka tyrant may not be totally useless for the first few turns, remember some of the table set ups can mean she can be set up quite far forward (Dawn of War for example). Plus I need to anchor my central gaunts and with the rest of the army hitting hard from the side this tyrant is just the job. She also compliments the defensive firepower of the two gaunt broods.

Again as with the hormagaunts it is with the genestealers, to upgrade 20 of them to have +1 sv would be expensive and mean I have to save points elseware. Generally I feel the onlymodels worth bio-morphing are warriors, tyrants and fexs as the rest are meant to be cannon fodder (stealers included) so why make expensive bullet shields? Technically according to the Nid background every Nid organism, from gaunt to bio-titan is expendable so I like to think I'm playing the the army's theme (although admittidly I don't have a hive ship and billions of organisms to back me up). I feel screening them with gaunts is a better plan as gives me more models and scoring units (although I will be honest and admit I am coming round to the idea of a large brood of spinegaunts instead, but we'll have to see). Plus this is a tactic I have used in most of my games so I feel confident in most situations I can move them without comprimising each other's assault. It is tricky though.

Fair doo's.

I guess we just disagree on the definition of bullet screen. I would say genestealers & hormagaunts are actually ment to kill things whilst gaunts are more ment to absorb wounds rather than kill things. Seems like your using the shock troops as bullet screens & the bullet screens as shock troops

I don't disagree completely, it's just that the entire flanking force is shock troops, so have to pick one of them to be a bullet screen, rather the gaunts then stealers. However I am coming round to the idea of swapping the hormagaunts for spinegaunts. keep thinking of all the points I could save to put elseware....... Argh I can't decide!!! If I swap the hormagaunts I loose a lot of close combat-ness, but spinegaunts are cheaper. Damn I hate compramise.
I wonder if the GT ruling body would allow me to take a 1700 pt army to a 1500 pt tourny .

I do have 6 warriors on foot with spitters and a strangler, all also have rending claws. Do you think they could be useful? (in fact they are the only warriors on foot I have with ranged weapons, the others on foot are 4 with scything/rending).

Wannabe Writer wrote:
I do have 6 warriors on foot with spitters and a strangler, all also have rending claws. Do you think they could be useful? (in fact they are the only warriors on foot I have with ranged weapons, the others on foot are 4 with scything/rending).

Rending warriors can be useful sure. Being able to rend means anti-armor is more accomplishable in CC & likewise if you get a squad getting close that fairly tough or has a decent save.. shoot then charge!. Yeah, it could be good. Ofcourse, if you dont multi-mix your biomorphs, you sacrafice longevity.

How about this;

12 14pt hormagaunts. Screened by 20 spinefist gaunts led by your dakka tyrant = one front/flank = 424pts.

10 genestealers screened by 15 spinefists led by your warrior squad = another front/flank = 485pts. (Assuming a 5man shooty +1sv warrior squad, equipped differently = 230pts)

10 genestealers preceeded by a faster scarier flyrant = Your front mainline force? = 358pts.

12 hormagaunts, 35 gaunnts. 20 stealers & 2 tyrants. Youve got enough points for two elite-fexes with a couple points to spare (these guys could shield the frontline stealers.)

If you wan't to compete at the GT you will need to have a plan for:

Dual lash
Eldar Jetseers
Mech Eldar
Nob Bikers
Orc Hordes

Variations on the above tend to turn up en-mass.

For reference, hormagaunts are a pretty sub optimal choice all round. Lot's of points for not much effect. If you are having success with them, find better opponents.

Walking warriors have definate potential. I wouldn't bother with rending claws if you can help it- the st upgrade is all but mandatory for shooting, so the cheap extra attack and WS can give the unit a nice secondary role. Also consider multiple lash whips. Few things are as fun as charging a bloodthirster which only gets one attack.

Realistically, the Tyranid lists points effective killing comes from the monstrous creatures. In my lists the gaunts are there to funnel the enemy/give cover saves/score and the MCs (6 of em) do the killing. I'm aware that you seem to have model limitations, but if you are keen on qualifying you will need more MCs.

The single most important bit is to practice- especially against hard players with hard lists.

OddJob. wrote:Walking warriors have definate potential. I wouldn't bother with rending claws if you can help it- the st upgrade is all but mandatory for shooting, so the cheap extra attack and WS can give the unit a nice secondary role.

Just to back this statement up:

IIRC, rending claws are the same points cost as +1WS and scything talons on a warrior model, therefore against marines-
Scything talon, WS5 warrior on the charge (so 4 attacks) ~ 16/27 ~2/3 of a MEQ kill
Rending claw, WS4 (so three attacks) ~ 6/12 = 1/2 of a MEQ kill

The extra attack becomes proportionally better as the save of the opponent drops. It is also much better against the vast majority of tanks when a av roll of 6 causes a penetrating hit anyway (no rend required).

Rending claws being better is 4th ed thinking at it's finest.

OddJob. wrote:If you wan't to compete at the GT you will need to have a plan for:

Dual lash.

Okay, I know this has something to do with Slaanesh Chaos Marines, but what does this mean?

OddJob. wrote:Walking warriors have definate potential. I wouldn't bother with rending claws if you can help it.

Afraid the curse of model limitation strikes again .

OddJob. wrote:Rending claws being better is 4th ed thinking at it's finest.

Don't I know it. But in truth I'm not looking to qualify for the final as due to work and family commitments I wouldn't be able to attend. I'm going to the GT purely as a road trip with a load of mates for fun. But just because I'm going for fun doesn't mean I want to have my arse handed to me. I went in 2006 and came very near the bottom, so I'd like to at least be a quarter of the way up the ranking list.

Right, this is the final re-write of my list before my first playtest game this weekend. Big thanks to those of you that have posted, you've made me think about my army list and got me to re-evaluate what I think is good (ie: useful in a fun, leisurely game between mates) and what would function well in a GT. I'm now even happier with the list I've written, however I still have twenty or so weeks before the GT in which to playtest and iron out the kinks.

HQ
Tyrant - 2 scything talons, warp field, +1 WS, flesh hooks, winged - 178

Tyrant - 2 x twin linked devourers, +1 Str, +1 BS, +1 Sv, Shadow in the Warp - 156

Troops
10 Genestealers - feeder tendrils, flesh hooks - 180

10 Genestealers - feeder tendrils, flesh hooks - 180

20 Hormagaunts - +1 I, +1 WS - 240

16 Gaunts - fleshborers - 96

16 Gaunts - spine fists - 80

16 Gaunts - spine fists - 80

Elite
5 Tyranid Warriors - +1 Sv, +1 Str, rending claws, 4 x scything talons, barbed strangler - 161

Heavy Support
Carnifex (Bertha) - 2 x scything talons, +1 WS, toxic miasma, tusked, +1 Sv, flesh hooks - 149

- 1500

Just a quick update. Didn't get my game against the Demons (my mate had to bail in order to finish painting his army for the Scotland Conflict). Instead I played Imperial Guard and Ultramarines. The Imp guard were infantry heavy with two leman Russ tanks, by the end of turn 5 I had wiped them out completely. The Ultramarines were also infantry heavy with no vehicles other than a drop pod. The main line was bolstered by a full squad of Sternguard. By the end of turn 4 my opponenet conceded the game .
So far so good for this list.

Time for a brief update. I've altered the list slightly by giving the hormagaunts +1 Str and removing the +1 WS and I. Played a couple of games with them this way and it does seem to work better. They have a decent enough WS/I as it is and while going before Marines was always fun, having the extra hits didn't really make a vast difference when wounding on 5+.
The only thing that I'm musing over now is whether or not to change the winged Tyrant's power to Catalyst, rather than Warp Field, but I have doubts over her survivability if I did.

I briefly read through the post, but I wanted to point out that genestealers cannot have both feeder tendrils and flesh hooks at the same time.

Well I'll be... you're right enough. Haven't noticed that so far . Think I'll keep the tendrils. Looks like I've got more points to spend.

Another wee update.

After the above revelation that I had been accidently cheating (I honestly didn't spot the asterix in the Nid codex, I'm innocent I tells ya!) I have corrected my army list. The genestealers now only have feeder tendrils and with the extra points from ditching flesh hooks I have given the Carnifex bonded exoskeleton for +1 toughness. I don't normally give my fexes this upgrade, but I figure in a GT where plasma guns rule it'll be handy having T7.

Okay another update.

I got a game on Saturday against an IG army which will probably be similar to what will be at the GT (ie: masses and I mean masses of guardsmen!!!).

While the game ended in a draw (although it was cut short at the end of turn 4 as my opponent started to have a serious nosebleed - strangely this started exactly after my Tyrant killed his Comissar Lord, hmmm....) it did make me re-think my army when it comes to other horde armies that can out-horde the Nids. Therefore this is my new list (some wargear may not be exact ).

HQ
Tyrant - 2 x scything talons, +1 WS, toxic miasma, flesh hooks, winged, warp field

Tyrant - +1 Str, +1 BS, +1 Sv, 2 x twin linked devourers, shadow in the warp

Troops
10 Genestealers - feeder tendrils

10 Genestealers - feeder tendrils

20 Hormagaunts, +1 Str

19 Termagaunts

16 Spinegaunts

16 Spinegaunts

Heavy Support
Zoanthrope, synapse

Carnifex, Barbed strangler, twin linked deathspitters, +1 BS

Carnifex, twin linked Barbed strangler, +1BS

- 1500


Decided that while the warriors did a good job of keeping synapse for the gaunts that held back to keep objectives, it was a waste of close combat warriors, especially when the dakka Tyrant has always done the job. So they were cut as was the combat fex (too often it has just been on it's own in combat as the rest of the army is either too fast or hangs back) to make room for two template shooty fexes to try to deal with masses of troops and maybe a tank or two (Str 8 shots after all). A Zoanthrope with synapse adds a bit more synpase cover for the gaunts incase the dakka Tyrant has to march off somewhere or gets killed (a more likely scenario knowing my luck).

If you want my honest opinion your list will get stroked in a GT.

1. You have no WoN gaunts. Your gaunts will die easier than anything. And then when they do you will not have any scoring units. :( That would be a sad day for the nids. You need at least 2 squads of them. The Zoanthrope is good thou keep it in your zone out of LOS to give them synapse when they come back.
2. Your Tyrants will die turn one I can promise you that. You will melta weapons, melta weapons, and more melta weapons. They need 3 guards and they should both be walking dakka tyrants.
3. Hormagaunts are horrible in a competive environment. you should add genestealers with scuttlers and feeder tendrils instead.
4. Whats up with your carnifexes ES for template weapons? They should be gunfexes if you are going to give them ES. A twin-linked barbed strangler? Humm why not give him ST to save points and make him somewhat effective in CC so that if he does run into a tank or something he will do something.

Overall you list is confused between a Swarm (not cmpetitive at all) and nidzilla (you are short on the zilla part for it to have any effect at all). Also note that the guard armies you will be facing will be mech armies and will have 8+ tanks/vehicles probably closer to 10 or 12.

drummerholt1234 wrote:You will melta weapons, melta weapons, and more melta weapons.

Kinda why I'm not taking a Nidzilla list. Even juiced up to T 7 and +2 Sv melta and plasma weapons will kill them without too much fuss.

I do have a dream GT Nid list in my head, but as I've said earlier in this thread I'm stuck with model limitation. I don't have the funds to buy a lot more so trying to make do with what I've got.

I do really want to use a third tyrant I have with guard, however they're close to 300 pts, where as I can get the two other tyrants for that price! I'm still in a constant state of flux in my head about chopping and changing the list, but so far my test battles have been pretty positive with a mix of horde with big beasties. Will see how my next game goes before changing it again.