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I recently started collecting Tyranids after I finished my SM army. Though I keep seeing tyranids bashed that they are a horrible army and such. so I have a few questions.

1) What AA do I have available to me?

2) I don't want a super competitive army. Therefore my slow huge swarms of Hormoguants should suffice for a fun army to play, right?

3) What do we think of a desert color theme nids?

4) Could it be that Tyranids are just so powerful and full of awesome that everyone just puts them down so that noone will play them and dominate the world?

The only Skyfire in the codex is on Flyrants and Harpies. Since Harpies only have blast weapons, its up to the Flyrant do kill stuff.


A Hormagaunt swarm might not be competitive, but I'm sure it'll be fun :-)

1) Flyrant w/ Devourers. That is all. :*(
2) If that's what you like, go for it. Make sure to weigh their bases!
3) Rock it!
4) If it gets ya hyped for the Hive Mind, sure!

1. Basically the same as everyone else. Buy an Aegis line with quad gun, use flyers (in your case FMC), or weight of fire (in order from most to least effective).

2. Swarming can work. I would suggest going with a couple tervigons to spawn and add FNP and other stuff. For the hormagaunts make sure they have toxin sacks and adrenal glands. It makes them much more efficient.

3. If you like it, do it.

4. um...what? The reason they aren't played competivitely is because they lack dependable long range anti-tank, have really overcrowded FOC slots, and many of their best units are hampered by unit size, cost or options.
For instance, their elite slot is very hard to pick from. It contains both of the good AT units they have, hive guard and Zoanthropes. Hive guard are great light AT, especially since they don't need line of sight. Unfortunately, they only have a 24" range. They are also hampered by the 3 unit max. Zoanthropes hold two of the best offensive psychic powers in the game. They are also one of the very few units in the codex that have an invuln save, which is a 3+ to boot. Unfortunately, aside from their invuln save, they are very fragile units. Also their max range is 24", with their str 10 lance being 18". And once again they are limited to 3 strong.

So already you have two must take units vying for the elite slot, and neither one can be taken in any number. There are other great things in the elite slot, including ymgral stealers, lictors, and venomthropes, all of which are potent weapons that can fit into any list on their own. But the need for ranged AT is so big that competitively you can't get away with not taking hive guard, Zoeys or both.

Looking at the other slots, the heavy slot seems to be a great place for AT fire. Unfortunately the best gun, the rupture cannon, is on the tyrannofex, who costs more than a land raider. With the addition of this actually having a model now, it will probably see more play time, but even so, its expensive for what you get. There are also the venom cannons for AT, but both are blast weapons, and get a -1 when shooting against vehicles, so they really can't be relied upon.


Overall, I don't think the tyranid codex is as bad as many say. It has a lot of really fun units, and can be played very effectively. Its troops choice is chock full of great units, and one could go head to head casually with most without anything other than troop choices. The codex just falls short when it comes to competition, due to its inability to bring things that are need in great enough numbers. But don't let me get you down, play your heart out, and do what you want. My brother plays nids and absolutely loves them.

GW FAQ'd Guad Guns away from Tyranids

Rupture Cannon is a massive log of fecal matter btw. Avoid.

Also, swing by The Tyranid Hive man. Lots of good knowledge there for ya to delve into

As anti-tank unit, you have Carnifex with Crushing claws deployed in a Mycetic spore : you drop it behind enemy lines and he can easily destroy tank or heavy armored units.

 PraetorDave wrote:
1. Basically the same as everyone else. Buy an Aegis line with quad gun, use flyers (in your case FMC), or weight of fire (in order from most to least effective).

GW said Nids, bah they can't shoot guns. Something of the sort in their FAQ IIRC

 meecham63 wrote:
As anti-tank unit, you have Carnifex with Crushing claws deployed in a Mycetic spore : you drop it behind enemy lines and he can easily destroy tank or heavy armored units.

Assuming he doesn't get shot up that is. Might be better to use Devourers in that particular case. 12 twin-linked S6 shots on rear armour isn't something to scoff at.

Carnifex has CC3, so he needs 4+ to touch. And with S6, you need a 6+ to have a glancing on Land Raider, and no chance to penetrate a monolith. In CC, you touch automatic and you can reach 16 on your penetrating rolls. I think this is a better option.

Very good information guys. Like I said I just want a huge Hormoguant army to swarm infantry players and watch them cry as I open up with 90 attacks in the charging party! I don't care how awesome your infantry is... 90+ attacks is nothing to scoff at.... Though I should probably get some more dice!

the flying Hive Tyrant with double Devourers is a very good AA asset, although it's expensive.. Hormagants are an okay unit, and you can probably make it work, although they need back up. maybe you could make a combination of a termagant/hormagant/gargoyles horde with tervigons for support. Gargoyles are very similar to Hormagants, fragile but hitting pretty hard.

And no, Tyranids haven't secretely got a very powerful codex :p

60mm wrote:Rupture Cannon is a massive log of fecal matter btw. Avoid.

Why is the rupture cannon awful? Aside from being on an overpriced platform, its pretty decent. Its str 10, 48" and gets two shots. The only real negative is not being ap 1 or 2, but I think its high strength makes up for it.

meecham63 wrote:As anti-tank unit, you have Carnifex with Crushing claws deployed in a Mycetic spore : you drop it behind enemy lines and he can easily destroy tank or heavy armored units.

Like others have said, its going to get shot up when it lands, plus it has to wait a turn to assault, so the tanks will just move away.

 feluca wrote:

And no, Tyranids haven't secretely got a very powerful codex :p

I agree that we aren't secretly Necrons or GK's, but a LOT of non-nid players seem to have us confused with 5th ed. nids still (just check the current "rate the codexes" thread), and we have gotten a LOT stronger in 6th.

If you want to run a hormagaunt heavy army, I would strongly consider running a bunch of gargoyles in front of them, and a tervigon or 2 behind them. Gargoyles will get in the enemies face quickly, hormagaunts can run in in full numbers and the tervigon can give them FnP while spawning termagants. If you want to get really mean throw in 2 pods full of devilgants (termagants with devourers), at 20 models in a pod, that's 60 shots. Not too competitive, and useless if you go against a mech heavy army, but could be fun. Kudos to you if you have the patience to actually paint them all too, lol.

Pics of the desert theme?

 meecham63 wrote:
Carnifex has CC3, so he needs 4+ to touch. And with S6, you need a 6+ to have a glancing on Land Raider, and no chance to penetrate a monolith. In CC, you touch automatic and you can reach 16 on your penetrating rolls. I think this is a better option.

Wait what on earth did I just read. Did you mean to say (bracketed parts are my comments) "Carnifex [with Brainleech Devourerers] has BS3, so he needs 4+ to hit [although he does have twin-linked, remember]. And with S6, you need to 6+ to glance a Land Raider [except that you can't...], and no chance to penetrate a monolith [which is the same AV as a Land Raider]. In CC, you hit automatically [although usually you'll still need a 3+, since if there's a Carnifex nearby those vehicles'll be moving] and you can reach 16 on your penetrating rolls [but only if the Carnifex has Adrenal Glands]. I think this is a better option."?

Aside from the...errors, it's decent advice. Against heavier armor, a Carnifex with Crushing Claws in a Mycetic Spore at least seems like a good option (never run one myself, just started nids ) However, Trygon's are also fairly popular I hear. The thing I don't like about having a Dakkafex is the short range, it seems like it would just get shot up just the same as a CC fex.

Dakkafexes have an 18" range which isn't too bad really.

Ad you do t need Adrenals to get to 16 - you can Smash for that extra STR.

 PraetorDave wrote:

60mm wrote:Rupture Cannon is a massive log of fecal matter btw. Avoid.

Why is the rupture cannon awful? Aside from being on an overpriced platform, its pretty decent. Its str 10, 48" and gets two shots. The only real negative is not being ap 1 or 2, but I think its high strength makes up for it.

meecham63 wrote:As anti-tank unit, you have Carnifex with Crushing claws deployed in a Mycetic spore : you drop it behind enemy lines and he can easily destroy tank or heavy armored units.

Like others have said, its going to get shot up when it lands, plus it has to wait a turn to assault, so the tanks will just move away.

With the change to the damage chart the RC got it's odds of pen-wrecking got cut in half. The vast majority of AT weapons in the game are Ap1/2, which gets bonus to it's damage roll to compensate for the damage chart shift. VC/HVC got wiped out by this change, they cannot pen-wreck anything unless it is open-topped. The rafe of fire is too low on both of them to reliably glance things to death too.


On the Carnifexen I agree, vanilla CC Fexen are extremely underwhelming, but Stonecrushers are the gak. Still over-priced but still worth it!

 DarkCorsair wrote:

 meecham63 wrote:
Carnifex has CC3, so he needs 4+ to touch. And with S6, you need a 6+ to have a glancing on Land Raider, and no chance to penetrate a monolith. In CC, you touch automatic and you can reach 16 on your penetrating rolls. I think this is a better option.

Wait what on earth did I just read. Did you mean to say (bracketed parts are my comments) "Carnifex [with Brainleech Devourerers] has BS3, so he needs 4+ to hit [although he does have twin-linked, remember]. And with S6, you need to 6+ to glance a Land Raider [except that you can't...], and no chance to penetrate a monolith [which is the same AV as a Land Raider]. In CC, you hit automatically [although usually you'll still need a 3+, since if there's a Carnifex nearby those vehicles'll be moving] and you can reach 16 on your penetrating rolls [but only if the Carnifex has Adrenal Glands]. I think this is a better option."?

Aside from the...errors, it's decent advice. Against heavier armor, a Carnifex with Crushing Claws in a Mycetic Spore at least seems like a good option (never run one myself, just started nids ) However, Trygon's are also fairly popular I hear. The thing I don't like about having a Dakkafex is the short range, it seems like it would just get shot up just the same as a CC fex.

God where to start with these comments. Lets start with meecham63, a carnifex is a MC which means it can smash any vehicle it wants, (not to mention a land raider is av14 same as a monolith) with a smash attack you would needs 4's to glance av 14 with all the rules that go along with the smash rule.

Darkcorsair: Not sure why the carnifex needs adrenal glands against a land raider, think i need you to explain that one to me .

As for the OP's questions:

1) Most posters have already said the good AA that nids have, they did miss hive guard though, sure you need 6's to hit, but most fliers have low av 11-12 at most, so at str 8 if you hit you should do some damage. Plus since hive guard ignore covers saves so there is no jink rule to worry about which most fliers use to make up for the lack of av.

2) Huge swarms of hormie's are still a lot of fun, and with the buff to the fearless rule you can swamp most units with huge groups of hormagaunts and then run some heavy hitters in to save them .

3) Most colour schemes work well on nids since they have very definitive sections on their bodies that make for great opportunities to blend and contrast.

4) I find most people bash on the nids till they play against them, sure their range isn't great, and their foc can be somewhat frustrating especially at higher point levels but 6th edition has definitely been a buff for nids.

Against true heavy armour (Liths and Raiders) having the claws helps as you'll want to smash for the extra strength and armourbane but against 99% of vehicles out there it's just unnecessary. The basic carnifex will tear through rear armour in melee, by adding in the Devourers you give yourself more anti horde, something to do when you arrive from the pod, some AA and light AV at range.

Crushing claws are a seriously niche upgrade for them for quite a hefty price tag. I'd personally save them for Tervigon's to give them a little more smash power as they gain that much more relative to their standard attacks.

Rythem: Doh, forgot about Smash. Thought you needed Adrenal Glands to be able to hit S10, my bad

Yes, my mistake with the armor of the vehicules, gonna flagellate myself...

I read the biginning of the topic, and I notice Andilus Greatsword said that with Devourers you have 12 twin-linked S6 shots. That mean that you can shot 12 times, and reroll the missing. Is it not only 6 twin-linked shots instead ?

 meecham63 wrote:
Yes, my mistake with the armor of the vehicules, gonna flagellate myself...

I read the biginning of the topic, and I notice Andilus Greatsword said that with Devourers you have 12 twin-linked S6 shots. That mean that you can shot 12 times, and reroll the missing. Is it not only 6 twin-linked shots instead ?

It's 6 per weapon, and normally people take 2 of them, so 12.

Dunklezahn wrote:
Against true heavy armour (Liths and Raiders) having the claws helps as you'll want to smash for the extra strength and armourbane but against 99% of vehicles out there it's just unnecessary. The basic carnifex will tear through rear armour in melee, by adding in the Devourers you give yourself more anti horde, something to do when you arrive from the pod, some AA and light AV at range.

Crushing claws are a seriously niche upgrade for them for quite a hefty price tag. I'd personally save them for Tervigon's to give them a little more smash power as they gain that much more relative to their standard attacks.

Smash doesn't give Armorbane, it lets you re-roll Pen rolls.

I agree on the CCs, they're only worth it on Tervigons.

 60mm wrote:

Dunklezahn wrote:
Against true heavy armour (Liths and Raiders) having the claws helps as you'll want to smash for the extra strength and armourbane but against 99% of vehicles out there it's just unnecessary. The basic carnifex will tear through rear armour in melee, by adding in the Devourers you give yourself more anti horde, something to do when you arrive from the pod, some AA and light AV at range.

Crushing claws are a seriously niche upgrade for them for quite a hefty price tag. I'd personally save them for Tervigon's to give them a little more smash power as they gain that much more relative to their standard attacks.

Smash doesn't give Armorbane, it lets you re-roll Pen rolls.

I agree on the CCs, they're only worth it on Tervigons.

you've just made my day, I hadn't realized the re-roll pen part on smash!

jdjamesdean@mail.com wrote:
you've just made my day, I hadn't realized the re-roll pen part on smash!

Remember it's only if you make a Smash attack. The only "Always on" part of the SR is the AP2.

 meecham63 wrote:
Carnifex has CC3, so he needs 4+ to touch. And with S6, you need a 6+ to have a glancing on Land Raider, and no chance to penetrate a monolith. In CC, you touch automatic and you can reach 16 on your penetrating rolls. I think this is a better option.

...yeah, but those are the only 2 models in the game with 14 rear armour that I know of, and neither sees a lot of use. Sure CC is better against them, but you have to survive a full turn of shooting to get any use from it. You also have to hope you don't get assaulted by TH/SS Termies (which would likely be inside that Land Raider) or tarpitted by another unit.

rigeld2 wrote:

 meecham63 wrote:
Yes, my mistake with the armor of the vehicules, gonna flagellate myself...

I read the biginning of the topic, and I notice Andilus Greatsword said that with Devourers you have 12 twin-linked S6 shots. That mean that you can shot 12 times, and reroll the missing. Is it not only 6 twin-linked shots instead ?

It's 6 per weapon, and normally people take 2 of them, so 12.

The torrent of firepower dual Devourer MC's throw out is quite impressive. One of my friends is surprised at it nearly every game. Last game against his Dark Eldar, every time I said 'and now for those Devourers' he just about went into hysterics. Against something like Eldar or Dark Eldar, they will evaporate even an elite squad in a turn, if not by bypassing armour, then by putting so many wounds on the squad they'll fail plenty of saves. He utterly despises my Flyrant, which will generally launch itself on turn 2 and completely destroy a high value squad.

That said, since Vector Strikes don't count as the shooting target, can I Vector Strike a transport to death, then fire the devourers back into the squad (sseing as FMC's have infantry LoS)?

Lots of good information. For those who have asked about the color scheme I am going with a Almond (Krylon Satin spray) basecoat with the chitin being a darker brown with the "Flesh" and non chitin washed in Ogryn flesh a few times and the chitin in a Ogryn Flesh/Badab Black mix wash to give it a mottled texture. I will have pics later I am still working on a scheme all my Termagaunts are randomly painted in various colors.

Sounds a bit like these.



Those however were basically all old GW washes over a white basecoat, then a bit of manual feathering.

Your scheme looks great Rysgame. As father of 2 youngs child, I use a quick and efficient technique (no much time to paint, technique must be very effective). If you are intersted, pm me

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/415943-.html?m=2

 -Loki- wrote:

That said, since Vector Strikes don't count as the shooting target, can I Vector Strike a transport to death, then fire the devourers back into the squad (sseing as FMC's have infantry LoS)?

Yes you can VS one unit and shot a different unit. Keep in mind that VS counts as having fired a weapon so you could only fire one TL Devourer afterwards. VS is better for 3+/4+ enemies but against lighter armor it's more effective to forego VS and use both TL Devourers.