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1850 Pts - Tyranids Roster

1 Hive Tyrant: Flesh Hooks; Implant Attack; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Scything Talons (x2); Synapse Creature; The Horror; Warp Blast
3 Tyrant Guard: Implant Attack; Rending Claws; Scything Talons

1 Hive Tyrant: Flesh Hooks; Implant Attack; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Scything Talons (x2); Synapse Creature; The Horror; Warp Blast
3 Tyrant Guard: Implant Attack; Rending Claws; Scything Talons

Elite Carnifex: Scything Talons (x1); Barbed Strangler

Elite Carnifex: Scything Talons (x1); Barbed Strangler

Elite Carnifex: Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Twin-linked Devourer (x2)

12 Genestealers: Feeder Tendrils; Scuttlers; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Rending Claws

12 Gaunts: Spinefists; Without Number

12 Gaunts: Spinefists; Without Number

Heavy Support: Carnifex: Adrenal Glands +1 WS; Bonded Exoskeleton; Reinforced Chitin; Scything Talons (x1); Barbed Strangler

Heavy Support: Carnifex: Adrenal Glands +1 WS; Bonded Exoskeleton; Reinforced Chitin; Scything Talons (x1); Barbed Strangler

Heavy Support: Carnifex: Adrenal Glands +1 WS; Bonded Exoskeleton; Reinforced Chitin; Scything Talons (x1); Barbed Strangler

I plan to use the Gaunts to screen the force as it runs forward on turn 1 and 2. When the Stealers show up - Ill shift to using the Barbed Stranglers and Warp Blasts on any unengaged bugs to target anything available. Do I need Shadows of the Warp? When the gaunts die - they will contest backfield OBJ's. Tyrants hunt Nobs. Carnies hunt everything.

I'd like to see a Flyrant if you're going to make them melee machines. Then with the extra points saved you could add a few Winged warriors to add extra synapse to your list. Other than that it isn't like any Tyranid list I've run so I can't really comment.

You have the general idea, but there are still some excess biomorphs that you don't need. Bonded Exoskeleton is 60 points across 3 carmifex, and you probably dont need implant attack on the tyrant guard since the hive tyrant is great at killing multi-wound models. Pull off the higher str. on the genestealers as well. Wounding more actually reduces the effectiveness of your rending due to the wound allocation rules. These points can be spent on a larger gaunt screen.

I dropped Warp Blast after finding that I'd rather run than shoot with that unit. I also think you'll struggle without venom cannons on the heavy carnifex to shake long range fire power.

While you have the right idea in terms of building Nidzilla in 5th edition (shooty, not assaulty), the army still falls flat against good lists, and anything mechanized. It's really just not a contender in terms of the metagame.

Flying hive tyrant (One only! I keep forgetting RoaR), Strong 2+ high T heavy support carnifexes with boom/sniper setups & another two boom elite fexes & one cc elite fex.

Devourers? Can you put out enough str6 shots to get atleast one roll on the damage table, per shooting attack? If you can, then thier worth it. If not, go with stronger weapons.
N.b:The same reasoning can be applied to boom nids; Str6 deathspitter templates from Tyranid warriors. A touch more than an elite dakka fex but makes best use of wound allocation & have more firepower vs all-but vehicles.

Flying hive tyrants - You need to catch/stop/distract the gunline. The strength of the mech lists is its structure, use your highly mobile tyrants to disrupt that structure.

Str4 vs rear armor? You need 36 attacks vs rear av10 to score one glance vs a crusing speed+ vehicle. You need 12 attacks to score a glance vs a combat-speed vehicle.
This equals 4-12 genestealers or 4-12 (properly equipped) hormagaunts. Both can get into combat very quickly, via outflank/scout or a 19-24" charge range.

Razerous: you can only have 1 flying hive Tyrant. Taking it and using it aggressively (and therefore unsupported) is a surefire way to get killed on Turn 1.

Ah yes, I always forget that. I checked back to an earlier list, Boom Nids, & wondered why I only included one flyrant.

How would you suggest to support a flyrant? I think it will work quite well, just used a bit more conservatively until the bulk of the force has moved up.

Danny Internets wrote:While you have the right idea in terms of building Nidzilla in 5th edition (shooty, not assaulty), the army still falls flat against good lists, and anything mechanized. It's really just not a contender in terms of the metagame.

With folks swapping over to meltaguns almost exclusively these days, Nidzilla is coming back into its own. Mechanized lists require the Tyranid player to play differently, but once you figure it out, mech lists aren't that hard to beat. Objective missions are incredibly easy against mech when they don't have the guns to kill you at range. Kill Point games can be tough, but trading down units is usually in the Tyranid player's favor since the don't rely on killing an entire unit at one (i.e. tyranid unis are happy to sit in HtH eating vehicles and guardsmen each turn...).

It seems to me like with people running massed meltaguns, it is rather easy to fry multiple MCs in a turn with them. 4-5 wound T6 creatures is no bother for a list packing 15-20 melta weapons (which most mech lists do these days), in addition to whatever high str high ROF weapons are on the tanks.

what good mech liss can't kill you at range? Guard, Vulkan, Mechdar, etc are all more than capable of putting down respectable firepower from at least 24" away. Looking at Vulkan Marines, and then looking at mechvet IG, I don't see how Nidzilla can beat either of them. The sher nature of both lists literally answer everything that the Tyrnaid player uses as threats. they move fast, they bring lots of high str/low AP weapons to the table, and provide lots of high ROF/flamer templates. In the case of Vulkan Marines, they may even have some TH/SS termies (who will rail whatever MC they get into combat with, and they will likely make it since Tyranids can't really handle Land Raiders with extra armor at all).

Agree with pretty much everything Caffran said. Vulkan lists completely dominate Nidzilla and they are probably the most common competitive SM list on the tournament scene (I play them too). Mobile meltaguns just make a mockery of Tyranid MCs. Assault Terminators mop up whatever is left.

And Imperial Guard...well, I can't even imagine a scenario where an optimized IG army could lose to Nidzilla.

So I guess my question then is....

Using the current Bug Codex - what tools do they have to compete against the prolific Mech Lists? Im not being defeatist - just would like to field a competitive list.

kaiservonhugal wrote:So I guess my question then is....

Using the current Bug Codex - what tools do they have to compete against the prolific Mech Lists? Im not being defeatist - just would like to field a competitive list.

Thats the issue. General consensus is there is no competitive bug list at this point. I know I tried myself and just couldnt get it to work. Most of the strong builds in the meta have to tools to make nids cry. Flamers, meltas, railguns, lash, power claws en masse, and plasma tanks of doom. Oh my.

My Advice is to just sit back and enjoy playing a mid to weak tier army for a change. When I started with Nids all I got was flack for choosing a cheesy codex. Now when I win I feel like I really won, not my list won for me.