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Alight,
Let discuss Tyranids shooting. Nids are always going to pack a wallop in CC, however without a strong fire base your gaunts and hormigaunts are probably going to be slaughtered piecemeal.
SO what do Tyranids have to offer?

Small arms: Gaunt weapons are cheap and short ranged. The Fleshbores and Spine Fists off the best bang for the buck. While these aren't powerful enough to do too much damage, they function well at mopping up and applying pressure along with heavier guns.

Pie Plates: In this category we lump everything from Warriors str6 Deaths Spitters to Carnifexes str 8 Barbed Stranglers. Tyranid heavily benefited from 5th ed change to templates. Most of the units that have these weapons come stock with terrible ballistic skills. The question is are these weapons potent enough to provide the medium to heavy firepower necessary to to support you CC units?
At first glance I would argue yes. Two Gunfexes (Carnifexes with Barbed Stranglers and Venom Cannons) are under three hundred points. Elite fexes sporting Sything talons and a Barbed Stranglers or Warrior broods with Death Spitters and Barbed Stranglers provide the rest of your fire base. In my currant list this gives me.
3-str8 Large Blast
2-str5 Large Blasts
8-str6 Blasts
+Zoanthropes and Tyrants for flavor.
+ 90 gaunts for cover (+- 20)

Can this sort strategy work given proper army deployment?

I like the idea. Given that IG will likely be rising (new codex coming), seems even more reasonable. Lots of Str 6 blasts will actually be your best ally IMO. Str 6 is perfect for t4 armies, no matter the armor save.

My army used to be Tyranids (I still miss them often), and one of my favorite weapons was putting a mutant barbed strangler on a gaunt... abysmally weak strength but big template was always good for a laugh.

Cheers.

I guess the other question is would the tactic be watered down jut by people spreading out? Seems like even is they did spread out its just lessens the chance of templates missing there mark

I suggest 4 warrior sqauds, 1 hq & 3 elites, with 3 heavy boom fexes. Tough boom fexes, maybe one sniper fex in there. In addition a flyrant to basically hunt vehicles, which it can do very well.

+ gaunts

Ive always been curious since the advent of 5ed blast rules (Oh how I lamented the changes for my loverly prisms but ive come to like those too).

Also.. it really only costs a few more points, over the entirety of the squad, to equip it differently. Granted so of those gun-biomorphs will be redundant but it alows optimum wound-allocation (its not abuse, its just a rule) esp as the warriors can get either a 4+armor/4+cover easily & are immune to instant death. I shall have a think, aimed at 1500pts..

Edit: Oh avoidence tactics wont work so well as at the rate nids can pump out blast templates... in a game its quite likely you'll get a few templates hitting a seperate squad to its intended target entirely. This coould lead to devourer gaunts as troops to use the range to keep out of template scatter ranges!

Some players no longer love venom cannons and so save those points and max out on barbed stranglers instead. Heavy fexes with barbed stranglers _and_ death spitters are also worth considering

If you are worried about players spreading out too much try getting one or two small stealer-units with scuttlers and keep them in reserve. Your opponent will try to stay 18" away from the short tableedges, so they bunch up more in the middle.

The big templates are great against generic squads/mobs, but all too often I find there is a single model that needs some serious attention- deamon princes, ctan, the last couple of reminants in a squad, other characters. In these instances i'm always glad that i've brought devourers as well.

Both have their niche, but I wouldn't recommend for a second that you only go with one type of firapowa.

p.s. Gaunts should never be in the list for their shooting ability. They are all about getting in the way/scoring/holding up in assault. I can count on one hand the number of times my gaunts have done any worthwhile shooting.

I'd have to agree with OddJob. I tend to run my gaunts as throw-away units, and I'll generally just run a squad of 'stealers with scything talons and scuttlers, and a squad with just scuttlers. Add a pair of BS/VC 'fexes, and a tusked, toxin sacked, scything talon/crushing claw carnifex, warriors with deathspitters/barbed stranglers, and a flyrant, and it's all good.

I just give my gaunts spinefists and without number for 8 pts a pop. I run 2 squads of 8-10 for holding objectives and to give my tyrant guard + tyrant cover.

As far as templates, I think for heavies the Gunfex with Venom Cannon and Barb Strangler still has a place. The Str 10 Venom cannon can shake the vehicle or strip off weapons so it doesn't shoot. +1 wound or a 2+ save so ap3 doesn't ruin your day are good upgrades for heavy fexes.

I often ran 3 Zoanthropes in 4th edition as part of a Psychic Choir with psychic scream and warp blast but in 5th you can run some with synapse and warp blast to give you more synapse since you need your gaunts to score. warp blast is decent anti tank although bs3.

For elites Boomfexs with scything talons and barb strangler might be the way to go over dakkafexs. Yes a dakka fex is better against Marines but in other cases the boomfex is better against hordes with the large template and ap4 and can do better against Vehicles at str 8 if it doesn't scatter off.

I never really liked warriors they sort of expensive points wise for what they do.

Kirika wrote:I just give my gaunts spinefists and without number for 8 pts a pop. I run 2 squads of 8-10 for holding objectives and to give my tyrant guard + tyrant cover.

As far as templates, I think for heavies the Gunfex with Venom Cannon and Barb Strangler still has a place. The Str 10 Venom cannon can shake the vehicle or strip off weapons so it doesn't shoot. +1 wound or a 2+ save so ap3 doesn't ruin your day are good upgrades for heavy fexes.

I agree with these sentiments completely.

Kirika wrote:I often ran 3 Zoanthropes in 4th edition as part of a Psychic Choir with psychic scream and warp blast but in 5th you can run some with synapse and warp blast to give you more synapse since you need your gaunts to score. warp blast is decent anti tank although bs3.

For elites Boomfexs with scything talons and barb strangler might be the way to go over dakkafexs. Yes a dakka fex is better against Marines but in other cases the boomfex is better against hordes with the large template and ap4 and can do better against Vehicles at str 8 if it doesn't scatter off.

I never really liked warriors they sort of expensive points wise for what they do.

These, not so much.
I have run zoans in both configurations, and prefer a combination of blast and synapse, with everyone having scream.

I take one of each elite fex, for reasons given above.

I'm just trying warriors now- I reckon they have potential, but we'll see.

warriors are a bit pricey, but they do have a few notable advantages, such as being able to soak up a fair deal more abuse than other synapse options, as well as providing a nice little bit of spread to your synapse area, which can, in certain situations, get a bit hairy.

A determined player can knock the snot out of your larger synapse options and leave the little buggers in disarray... besides, you get what you pay for, bigger synapse area, and a lot more firepower than your average tyrant. I can't speak for everyone, but I'll take 5 moderate to high strength templates over 2 any day.

Without warriors thought your synapse net gets a little shaky.