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What is the best weapons against Nids that the Space Marines can field?


How does the the Thunderfire cannon work against Nids?



That are some common anti-Nid tactics and strategies against Nids?

It really depends on the army that gets fielded. Against swarms and warriors with no upgrades to armour saves the bolter (and the heavy bolter) works like a charm. Against multiple MCs lascannons, multimeltas, plasma and vindicators all have their places. Missile launchers are great against elite fexes since they won't have a buffed up save.

As a nid player I hate it when someone pushes forward a unit to be a tarpit while a couple more squads stand behind them ready to rapid fire into my large warrior broods.

If your nid opponent brings a tyrant with guard always shoot him off the table first. Leaving it too late can lose you the game. Not much can beat it in cc unless you bring a lot of cc termies.

Im sorry but I dont know much about the thunderfire cannon since I haven't faced one yet.

I think I have really only covered some of the basics but when you are spoilt for targets some of this advice should help.

I know from experience that the thunderfire cannon wreaks havoc on horde style armies. I've never had to put Ork boyz back into their transport case that fast before I ran into that bad boy.. for 100 pts you get 4 small blast templates with strength 6 ap 5, strength 5 ap 6 ignores cover or strength 4 ap - causes difficult terrain tests. Those strength 5s ignore my big mek's KFF and my boys' armor and wounds them 2/3 of the time.. That is in my opinion THE anti-light infantry weapon for marines.

And for the record it has been proven in the last hour. My tyrant w/ guard was ignored by the ork player (he has never faced it before) and it decimated his warboss, 3 maga armoured nobs, 2 mobs of boys (1 was a mob of ard boys) and a trukk. Next time he will definately be shooting that before it hits his lines.

It depends on which type of tyranids you are talking about. Tyranids played well are an assault force which means that they will shoot you for a few turns leading to a final assault. If they are playing all out assault (like a stealer shock list) then try to avoid them. If they are just going to shoot you (like the massed warriors list) then you should assault them. I'll direct my comments to facing Nidzilla, however, since I still think it is still the best list and the one you are most likely to face.

The best weapon that space marines can use against monstrous tyranids is the powerfist/thunderhammer, while against the little guys bolters of all varieties (boltgun, storm, heavy) are best. With 5th edition the long range high str. low ap weapons are not nearly as powerful against tyranids since the TMCs will get a 4+ cover save. Add to that fact that most high str. low ap weapons are in devestator squads which are barbed strangler bait, or on vehicles easily glanced by a venom cannon, and the SM player ends up paying a lot of points for weapons that are ineffective and have a lower rate of fire. At the last tournament I played at I played a SM SAFH with my Nidzilla list and I won in the shooting phase by pinning devestator squads and making 4+ cover saves. I didn't lose a single TMC.

So if SM can't shoot the tyranids to death, they'll have to beat them in assault. The new SM codex has a great assault unit in the TH/SS assault terminators. One 5 man unit of these will kill a Carnifex on the charge while averaging less than 1 casualty in return. Assault squads are also very good against gaunts since they can flame them and then assault. Use synpase to your advantage and make them take no retreat saves.

Which leads into my last comment: Kill the gaunts (but you knew this already). Without the gaunts the SM player is free to assault the meaty parts of the tyranid list. Shoot your bolters at the gaunts. Sure you have that free missile launcher and it could wound a carnifex. But the better option is to frag the gaunts. The only exception to this is if you can catch a hive tyrant without a cover save, but good luck getting that if there are gaunts alive.

To answer your question about the thunderfire cannon, I think it is crap against tyranids. The reason is that tyranids bring venom cannons which auto kill it. The thunderfire cannon will fire once, maybe, and then die. If you are bringing it in a "take all comers" list (since it is great against orks) than use it as a target to keep your vehicles shooting. But don't expect it to actually kill much.

Daydream

Land Raider Crusader with Assault Terminators and a couple Chapter Masters with Relic Blade and Storm Shield crush Nids of all flavors.

Don't forget about flamers! Ordinance, blast templates, and flamers! Those are great for dealing with swarms.