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My friend has recently metioned getting Tyranids for christmas. I've been told how difficult Tyranids can be to beat and am wondering which units are recommended for dealing with them. I have considered building a Shooty army with shokk attack guns and lots of Lootas and stuff. Is this a good idea? Are there any other units which can efficiently deal with them?

Well they're issuing an entirely new Tyranid codex in January, so you're friend might just want to wait a month. I don't know anything about orcs, but thought I'd just add that. Maybe your orcs could outnumber the nids? just get some huge weaponry for the MCs he's no doubt going to field.

I'm in the same boat. I have trouble with Nids as well. My buddy runs a TON of MCs and genestealers. I was Fielding a green tide army and it didnt do anything against him. I started running a Kan wall with 9 Kans, 90 Boyz, 2 KFF Mechs, and 2 Deff Dreads and it worked A LOT better. I would suggest getting stuff with a lot of PW, or Burnas and then just going at him. Hope this helped man.

The ork answer to 'nids is the same as for everything; Power klaws. Power klaws kill any thing and everything up to and including Hive Tyrants. Field a couple units of nobz or MANZ in battlewagons, and you need fear no MCs. Having some Lootas helps, but they are somewhat unreliable.

On the other hand, if he tries to swarm you under, orks can out-swarm Tyranids handily. 4 S4 attacks each on the charge makes mince out of most Tyranids. A 20-strong squad of Stormboyz is good, as are plain old bog-standard Sluggas. And don't forget the mandatory PK Nob.

I've never used a SAG myself, so I can't comment on it. That said, an AP 2 large blast is never really a waste.

Full units of Lootas. kills geansteelers and MC's.

Grimgob wrote:Full units of Lootas. kills geansteelers and MC's.

+1
Also theres nothing like a Deffrolla to thin out infantry ... D6 Str10 Even a God fex will feel that ...

Battlewagons with deff rollas will make your nid problem tuck tail and run. Remember that when you tank shock you go the full distance until you hit terrain or another vehicle. So just line it up and run those bastards down.
Also burna boyz are a valid option as well. Stick them in a vehicle and just burn the crap out of things.
Armor is another great thing against nids. Most nids will have some trouble taking out armor (MCs not included lol) But even still you play lawn mower on the rest of the nid horde, then you can just deff rolla/pk the big ones to death.

The best advice I can give you, is look, actually LOOK at the problem your having and figure out how to overcome it. If your trying to go toe to toe with your Orks to nids, and having troubles, then back up and rethink it. Try the armor approach and keep it all open topped. Nothing better then shooting EVERONE inside the trukks/tanks at the nids and laugh when all they do is scratch the paint.

Though it's slightly counter-intuitive, Tankbustas are actually a great unit to field vs. Tyranids. Since no vehicles will be present, you don't have to worry about their special rules forcing them to shoot at stuff you don't want them to, but on the other hand, 15 S8 AP3 shots will do wonders against Carnifexes and Hive Tyrants. If you can get all the shots off, it's almost a guaranteed kill.

Its hard to say seeing as the nidds are being released soon, you could out number them which will work for a month but when the new dex comes out I believe they will be cheaper than your orks. maybe use vehicles and bikes? out maneuver them

Tri wrote:

Grimgob wrote:Full units of Lootas. kills geansteelers and MC's.

+1
Also theres nothing like a Deffrolla to thin out infantry ... D6 Str10 Even a God fex will feel that ...

Not really, with a 2+ save, maybe a single wound with a good D6 Deff roll but probably nothing Most of the little bug sqauds can withstand D6 dead models, and most stealers have a 50/50 save making the average death roll attack only killing about 2 models...

Tyranids aren't a great army but they are really set up for kicking Orks around because of the advantages aforded by High I stealers, killing the orks in droves before they get their attacks. Powerclaws are pretty great, but the units that can fight the fexes are not very good against the stealers. In my experiences, the Ork boys charging the fex couldn't bring it down, and then the counter charging stealers wiped the Ork unit in a single charge.

I've also noticed that tyranid shooting with double devourers and with any kind of blast is just awesome versus orks.

The only thing the Tyranids really have to fear from the Orks is probably dump and shoot truck tactics, because typically Tyranid anti vehicle shooting is poor and rare.

I would suggest multiple burna boy units in trucks, to thin out all the little creatures and stealers, and power claw Nob Boys mobs to deal with the big stuf in a kind of 1-2 punch.

Either way, it's going to end up a big pile of sausage on both sides.

Good luck.

3 Battle wagons, 3 Deffrolla's, 45 Loota's and a KFF mek. Laugh as he shoots you, tank shock/drive away when he tries to charge.

I found that outflanking Genestealers make quick work of Lootahs, Barbed stranglers do well also.

Deffrollas don't hurt Tyranids.

Shooting and vehicles are not Ork strengths. Lootahs are pretty good, but playing to the strengths of the Orks would be better, flamers, melee, and numbers.

Oh, and that list has no scoring units at all....?

Deffrolla is few points of extra damage while doing things that you would already be doing. Against nids with a 2+ save that may not cause masses of damage but every little helps. Its not like orks have masses of AP2 weapons.

If you've a better use of for those point go ahead. Though I don't recommend shoving lootas in a battle wagon, Save that for your Boys or Nobs

Augustus wrote:I found that outflanking Genestealers make quick work of Lootahs, Barbed stranglers do well also.

Deffrollas don't hurt Tyranids.

Shooting and vehicles are not Ork strengths. Lootahs are pretty good, but playing to the strengths of the Orks would be better, flamers, melee, and numbers.

Oh, and that list has no scoring units at all....?

The Loota's are in the battle wagons brainiac...

And as there is no points limit stated by the OP I didn't finish the list...

As Dash of Pepper says, Burnas seem to be the best answer to 'nids. Burny dance the little bugs, against a MC get out of the battlewagons and charge on power weapon mode.

Killer Kans with Grotzookas combined with a Mech with KFF really hurt my 'Nids.

Sure, once I get something into CC I can take out those Kans, but if you take 2 units of Kans, thats 12 ST6 blast templates unloaded upon my army. 12!. It's pretty rough for anything coming at it, except maybe the MC.

My opponent's who've used them focus on my small guys, and then mob anything that's left with boys and powerklaws. Sure, those boys will have a rough time doing much, but when there's 30 of them, they won't be going away anytime soon.

But yeah, things will also change with the new codex... who knows what craziness will be abound in January.

hmmm....all these open topped vehicles, and unless I've missed something (which is likely because I know almost nill about orks) the Tyranids Venom Cannon from a Carnifex would eat that to peices. Since its opened top, so the VC doesn't glance only anymore, and the damage roll gets +1 for it being opened top. Honestly, if they don't have a special rule I'm not aware of, bring the trukks and Kopptas I'll shoot them to the ground and blow the trukks up and you're still foot slogging. I don't get these tactics. (unless like I said, I've missed something.)

That would work if there is only a couple vehicles, but I don't know any Ork player who does that. Mech lists will put a ton of vehicles on the table, far too many for you to take out in one turn, and if they have a KFF mek, then they also get a 4+ cover save. So not as simple as it might seem.

Burna Boyz are the answer to tyranids.

I used to fear tyranids and no other army, until I discovered how useful burna boyz are. 15 templates will mince any genestealer squad (or two if you can get them under multiple templates), and against monstrous creatures, all those burnas count as power weapons. Carnifexes are I2 if I remember correctly, but even if you lose a burna or two, you've got enough remaining to squish them down.

Also, Ghazghkull is in pretty much all my lists, and he answers MCs just fine with his 7 STR10 attacks on the charge.