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So I have begun my 'Nid army. I am looking at doing an army that can deep strike effectively but can hold it's own while waiting for the reserves to DS in. Almost an army that when the DS happens the opponent knows that they are in deep crap

I was looking at the various options and I was figuring to run my intial army would be (HQ) a hive tyrant and at least one tyrant guard, (Do I put the tervigon in the troops or the second HQ?) tervigon with gaunts, (Elites) A full Ymgarls 'steeler squad (With dormant it can be almost as good as deep striking) and then the lictor. Troops would be more guants. My Heavy is a Biovore.

Now I have the option of using either Hormaguants, standard 'steelers, and a carnifex as my deep strike units. Since I am new to 'Nids and deep strike armies I have a couple of questions.

(1) With a concern for a lack of synapse what is best to put in the pods in this group? I'm thinking with deep strike and a lack synapse at the moment that assault units would be the best method/and ones with the hunger instinctive behavior, or like the 'steelers who don't bother with it.

(2)As a new player I have never messed with DS before and I have seen lots of different ideas and techniques done for the different armies but what is a good base number of units to DS in for this kind of force? I have two pods made up at the moment, they were cheap and easy to make so based upon feedback I can make more without too much effort or expense.

(3) How many lictors to run? Do i go a full 3 lic' unit or will one or two suffice? Do I keep them as a unit or break them up and spread them out?

Thanks.

For what I've seen/heard, I don't think Lictors are a good use of points. You should also consider Hive Gaurd, since a lot of armies are mech armies. You don't need synapse in your pods. By the time your DSing units come in, your synapse is either dead or in range. BTW, how many points is your list suposed to be?

Tyranids? Tyranids. wrote:For what I've seen/heard, I don't think Lictors are a good use of points. You should also consider Hive Gaurd, since a lot of armies are mech armies. You don't need synapse in your pods. By the time your DSing units come in, your synapse is either dead or in range. BTW, how many points is your list suposed to be?

I was thinking between 1500 and 2000.

I have some spore mines as well I noticed too. I have 10 of those so would that lend to this style of squad?

DS gene stealers in mysetic spore becasue they are tough and don't need synapse. Have a veichles killers like hive guard to hold down the defense till the Deep Striking has begun. for synapse I would suggest zonthropes becasue of their 4+ invuln save. putting them in mysetic spore would also help. a carnifex in a mysetic spore would cause destructive results but synapse is important and before deep striking advance your troops and deep strike when the synapse creatures are close to the enemy but don't wait to long or when you deep strike there will be nothing on your except the things you deep striked. Have your not in reserve army built upon synapse creatures with gaunts prevent an incoming attack. A tervigon as a troops choice would be helpful so you don't run out of gaunts to back you up. be careful with spore mines because they just might crash into terrain. BTW gargolyes are good at giving cover to monstrous creatures and can cover a large area in short time becasue they count as jump infintry just becarful of synapse.

to sum it up
protect your synapse
advance your troops
deep strike near your synapse(but not to close)
Most importantly stay in cover when ever you can.

protect your synapse
advance your troops
deep strike near your synapse(but not to close)
Most importantly stay in cover when ever you can.


And DS in 'Stealers because they don't need the synapse. Okay.

Spore mines can crash into terrain? Hum, I missed that somehow. I will relook at how they work. Of course the biovore's fire the things off so I may not need them in a "unit-type" capacity anyways and might end up with a few floating around from scatter and what not.

Okay... so here is as competitive as they get for DS nids 2k:

Deep striking list:
HQ - Tyrant - Parox. and Leech Ess. - 1x TL Dev. - Bonesword and Lashwhip - Adrenal Glands - Hive Commander - Wings. 280
EL - 2x Zoanthropes - Spod. 160
EL - 2x Zoanthropes - Spod. 160
EL - 2x Zoanthropes - Spod. 160
TR - 20x Termagants - 20x Devourers - Spod. 240
TR - 20x Termagants - 20x Devourers - Spod. 240
TR - 10x standard Stealers. 140
TR - 10x standard Stealers. 140
FA - 10x standard Gargoyles. 60
HV - Trygon - Adrenal Glands. 210
HV - Trygon - Adrenal Glands. 210

hope this is kinda whatyou werelooking for.

thanks, Dave_Nz

Dave_Nz wrote:Okay... so here is as competitive as they get for DS nids 2k:

Deep striking list:
HQ - Tyrant - Parox. and Leech Ess. - 1x TL Dev. - Bonesword and Lashwhip - Adrenal Glands - Hive Commander - Wings. 280
EL - 2x Zoanthropes - Spod. 160
EL - 2x Zoanthropes - Spod. 160
EL - 2x Zoanthropes - Spod. 160
TR - 20x Termagants - 20x Devourers - Spod. 240
TR - 20x Termagants - 20x Devourers - Spod. 240
TR - 10x standard Stealers. 140
TR - 10x standard Stealers. 140
FA - 10x standard Gargoyles. 60
HV - Trygon - Adrenal Glands. 210
HV - Trygon - Adrenal Glands. 210

hope this is kinda whatyou werelooking for.

thanks, Dave_Nz

Oh wow. Thanks. This is a lot different than what I was thinking about. However I see some great potential here. The Garg's run interference the 'stealers have infiltrate? Or they follow the trygon in after he's opened up a tunnel for everyone to come pouring out of.

From this list I can currently run all the guants (just need to proxy the devourers (mine are all equipped with flesh-borers because of the tervigon)) and 1 set of the 'stealers. My Huve tyrant is a ground pounder hence the tyrant guard.

But thank you. I see a lot of good ideas to work with.

The zoans have a 3+ invulnerable save actually. Spore mines are great for this type of army. You can"Control" where they place their units, and then outflank/deepstrike into their army. It causes major hvoc in their ranks.

Tyranids? Tyranids. wrote:The zoans have a 3+ invulnerable save actually. Spore mines are great for this type of army. You can"Control" where they place their units, and then outflank/deepstrike into their army. It causes major hvoc in their ranks.

So the Spores are worth the points? Okay. I thought they would be usefull.

I have to say after reading up on the lictors they are actually looking very nice. Run two of them at 130 points and they can really be useful in a couple of ways, lurk, stealth, hit and run oh...possiblities. The Zoan's appear to always be good units with the warp lance ability and that they are synapse creatures.

Deepstriking is all well and good, but with warp quake being out there I would personally not bother with an all deepstriking army, especially after spore pods got hit with the nerf bat in out FAQ.

MrDrumMachine wrote:Deepstriking is all well and good, but with warp quake being out there I would personally not bother with an all deepstriking army, especially after spore pods got hit with the nerf bat in out FAQ.

The goal isn't an all DS army. I'm simply trying to utilize it as a secondary tactic. And how did spods get nerfed? Are you referring to the IC not being able to come in a pod with a unit? Or are you referring to something else that I'm not aware of?

Ymgarls do what Lictors are supposed to do.

Ymarl +1
Ymgarl are nids best deep stiking unit. They appear and assault the turn that they arrive.

Branderic wrote:Ymgarls do what Lictors are supposed to do.

That's myopia. Ymgarls do what YOU think Lictors are supposed to do. Lictors do something entirely different.

I love running me DS nids, load up winged tyrants, spod zoeys, and trygons. Outflank a tervagon, with spod devo gaunts. Its not the most competitive army I own but its by far my favorite.

I played "box" tyranids.

using outflanking genestealers to push my enemy inwards, then advancing gargoyles/tyrant/tervigon/whatever to slow any sort of advancing. Then drop pods to tighten the noose.

I dont feel an "all drop" list as being a good idea at all for bugs, you really need some roadblocks in place to dictate the game, then you pod into gaps in the army to exploit weaknesses.
The above list isnt bad, I would drop a trygon for more gargoyles, but then again I love the little buggers.

I agree that an all drop list is out of the question.

So at the moment I have four complete spod ready for action. Two of them are very plain jane to the eye while the two others I've done up a bit. Figure it makes them all look unique.

Now as for the list, I was thinking of having drop troops of hormogaunts, a pod of Zonathropes a Carnifex and this list actually does not even use the 4th spod I have.

For the non-drop list I have not really altered much from my first post.

A walking tyrant and his guard, with hive commander. A unit of Lictors and Ymgarls in my other 2 Elite spots. I like the ability to bring in the pods where I want and 3 lictors have enough health that they should be survivable enough if I play them right and they come in second or 3rd turn and can be placed anywhere I want them on the board. And if the enemy really wants to kill them thats fine they'll happily tie up a unit for a turn or two. The Ymgarls in my limited experience can be very useful in dealing with command squads and other high wound units thanks to their dormant ability. Plus like the lictor I can set them up almost anywhere on the board I wish as long as the unit will fit in the terrain piece.

Troops are the Tervigon and guants, and then some regular steelers.

I have no fast attack or heavy support to start.

Hey Dalsiandon,

Like you I've recently started a Tyranid army. I come from playing Daemons and I've become addicted to the tactical flexibility that's offered in playing an all reserves/deep strike list. I'm going for Deep Strike Heavy as well. At least I want a list that is valid when starting completely of the board.

At the moment I'm using a list like this (I really love monsters, so it's kinda MC heavy and Dutch GT standard is 1700 points):

270 Hive Tyrant, Wings, Twin Brainleech Devourers, Lash Whip/Bonesword, Paroxysm, Leech Essence, Hive Commander

138 6 Ymgarl Genestealers
160 2 Zoanthropes, Mycetic Spore

112 8 Genestealers
50 10 Termagants
175 Tervigon, Catalyst, Cluster Spines

160 Harpy, Cluster Spines

170 Mawloc
200 Trygon
265 Tyranofex, Rupture Cannon, Cluster Spines

1700 points

With Hive Commander the Tervigon can outflank if usefull. The Genestealers can outflank, the Ymgarl do their trick. Only the Termagants and the Tyranofex need to walk on. The Tyranofex has the range, so that doens't matter and the Termagants are only used for Objectivesgrabbing.

I find above all else that this list is a lot of fun to play since it has a ton of diversity, combinations, synergy and tactical flexibility. Master a list like this and you can be competative enough...

Cilithan

I use a mainly DS nids army @ 1500 points.

HQ
Hive tyrant /w Wings, x2 Devourer, Hive command
Tyranid Prime /w Deathspitter


Elite
x2 Hive Guards
x2 Hive Guards
Doom /w Mycetic Spore

Troops
x26 Hormagaunts
x8 Genestealers
x8 Genestealers


Heavy
Trygon /w Adrenal glands
Trygon /w Adrenal glands

It works half decent, sometimes i find points to outflank with a tervigon instead of Hormagaunts. Doom always earns his points.

Ah i follow a similiar line to most of you, i play 2300 of nids nearly entire deep strike,

hive tyrant with wings and sything talons x 2
hive tyrant bonesword lashwhip talons and hive commander

20 devil gaunts in pod
20 termagaunts in pod
24 genestealers with brood lord
20 walking/outflank/trygon hole hormagaunts
4 warriors in pod
4 warriors in pod

10 burrowing rippers
3 ravenors
20 gargoyles

8 ymgarl genestealers

trygon prime/mawloc (converted to be both)
tyrannofex
2x Biovores..

it works through hive tyrant tyrannofex walking with either a hormagaunt support or outflank and the rest is DS death!

I am wondering to the deep strikers: How well do the list perform, and against what?

I have scratched build some spores, but I don't wanne build 3 more zoanthropes. :p

My Deepstrike list has done well against MEQ, letting me get some shots off on the Dev squads before they start taking out my MC's. For the DS to work you need to pair it up with some outflanking, that way the opponent centralizes his army, and you can surround it, and if he tries to move away to shoot, chances are he'll get eaten by stealers (or whatever)
but all in all the list DS has fared better for me than the footslogging lists.
I also did pretty well against Orks recently, but that was mostly thanks to Doom. And with trygons and Flyrants popping up all over dooms survival rate went way up.

I tryed to stray away from monstrous creatures to an extent(seeing as my last nid army was 10 monstrous creatures...) so my swarms of stealers and gaunts with guns seem to kill nearly all infantry pretty quick, however my anti tank ability is a little short, 2 hivetyrants a tyrannofex and a couple of venom cannons and a trygon, not alot really as most of those have to get into combat...

my army has recently changed:

1 flying tyrant
1 walking tyrant with guard

20 devourer gaunts in pods
30 termagaunts with 2 web guns(PINNING!) (pod or outflank)
2X 12 genestealers (1x Broodlord)
2X 4 Warriors in pods
30 Hormagaunts Pod
10 ripper swarms with spinefists(good fun!)

12 ymgarl
1 deathleaper (+1 reserve = 2's on turn 2)
1 lictor (with this lictor my reserves + tyrant with hive commander = turn 3 automatic reserves

5 ravenors start in play faster than DS
20 gargoyles with toxin sacs and adrenal glands = anti everything!
6 spore mines( denial of terrain)

Tyrannofex(walks up with hivetyrant and ravenors)
Biovores
Mawloc/trygon prime

If your gonna DS, I would suggest using Devourer Gants in pods, because if you can put them behind enemy lines, 2 squads of 20, thats 120 shots in one turn against any unit you like. Its amazing stuff, really. and Stealers and Zoeys are 2 other amazing Deeps Strike units. For DS MC's I would go with All Devourer-equipped Carnifexes. You really cant rely on Assault for DSing, so you have to think mostly shooty units

ah zoanthropes are the only ones i havent invested in yet, currently working on it.

Anyone use the Doom of Malan'tai? Hell, if you DS it close enough to an enemy infantry squad it could take a fair amount of them out, and then add their wound to his to boot!

I think it's pretty awesome

Doom and Deathleaper have permanent slots in my army list.

i now run a deathleaper, yay!

Doom gets insta-gibbed by anything S8 tho. Not saying that I don't use him, I pick him over zoeys anyday