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I'm looking at tyranids (or rather, the light of my universe, the indomitable Mrs Stompa, is looking) and what I wanted to save time and potential mis-sales, is a run down of the things you consider from the codex to be Must-Haves, Reasonables and Cruds (avoid at all costs).

Do feel free to include 1,500 - 2k or 2.5k example army lists as well

I'm having the same problem right now. I'm going to start a Tyranid army myself. But some IMO good units which you won't regret buying would be Hive Tyrant and Trygons. Everything else can be used bad or good.
But as you already probably knew, stay away from Carnifex. Just too much points for 4 Wounds who needs Synapse. Of course, Carnifexes can be used good but it takes skill, given their whopping point cost compared to Trygons etc.

For me at least 1 unit of zoanthropes is a must. I also run a lot of genestealers (regular and elite) and I find them deceptively powerful.

Gaunts find their place into many lists as well and I think that buying some is a wise investment, regardless of how crap they are, unless partnered with a tervigon, in which case they become superb.

Trygons are also a good buy. Large model with good stats and due to its size it's easy to paint.

There is a lot of stuff that other players will swear by (mostly our elites slot with the exception of the pyrovore) and I think it's fair to say they all have a point. It mostly depends on what sort of list your wife wishes to build I suppose.

Here is squiggy's list of:

Must haves:
-Gaunts (termagants mostly) even this just one or two broods of 10, they are great

-Atleast 1 lictor, for both the reserve roll and the CC prowess (or deathleader if you can afford him in the list), nothing like surprising your enemy with a CC beast like a lictor out of terrain piece they were taking cover in.

-Zoanthropes, these guys are great at popping anything big, and they do it with such ease!

Reasonables:
-Warriors, now they are troops, not too bad and come with some good weapon choices and decent stats + synapse!

-The parasite, a good pychological character and the fact that you get a series of special abilities that can make ripper swarms pop out of your enemies troops and attack them!! This guy is a little fragile and hard to use correctly, but when you have it to a fine art, he is had of win!!

-Tervigon, MC that spits termagants! just add regen and adrenal glands/poison. Also a good HQ.

-Genestealers, not too bad, just get shot to bits if your not careful.

remember YMMV

Nobody put hive guard?

As somebody who plays mech armies against tyranids, 6 hive guard (in 2 units of 3 or 3 units of 2) is the one thing that will actually give me problems. A game against an army without hive guard is a cakewalk.

Zoans don't scare me--even if they pod in, they get their one shot (if they can get through the psychic hood) which usually misses then I drop a null zone and blow them away with bolters.

Hive tyrants and trygons don't scare me. They're slow enough that I can drive away and blast them with missiles before they get anywhere near HtH.

Well I mentioned our elites slot. And having 3 trygons coming in on a 3+ on turn 2 is scary by anyones standards.

Consider Broodlords to make that troops choice of stealers much more survivable. I currently am trying to run 4 broods of 10 and am having some success. They can deal with transports/tanks in a pinch and have the ability to slaughter most things in cc provided you aren't careless.

Flavius Infernus wrote:Nobody put hive guard?

As somebody who plays mech armies against tyranids, 6 hive guard (in 2 units of 3 or 3 units of 2) is the one thing that will actually give me problems. A game against an army without hive guard is a cakewalk.

Zoans don't scare me--even if they pod in, they get their one shot (if they can get through the psychic hood) which usually misses then I drop a null zone and blow them away with bolters.

Hive tyrants and trygons don't scare me. They're slow enough that I can drive away and blast them with missiles before they get anywhere near HtH.

Hive guard are over rated, they are S6, not the deadly S7 of the ionhead. Yes they don't require LoS but they aren't all that good. My Tyrannofex or carnifex deal with tanks and these little the tank can do to stop me. With a 72" range with the tyrannofex and the carnifex will run it, unless you kill him, you cant really avoid the 2 or 3 I deploy long the board running at you.

Hive Guard are S8.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You may be confusing the strength of the Hive Guard with the Trygon.

Squig_herder wrote:

Flavius Infernus wrote:Nobody put hive guard?

As somebody who plays mech armies against tyranids, 6 hive guard (in 2 units of 3 or 3 units of 2) is the one thing that will actually give me problems. A game against an army without hive guard is a cakewalk.

Zoans don't scare me--even if they pod in, they get their one shot (if they can get through the psychic hood) which usually misses then I drop a null zone and blow them away with bolters.

Hive tyrants and trygons don't scare me. They're slow enough that I can drive away and blast them with missiles before they get anywhere near HtH.

Hive guard are over rated, they are S6, not the deadly S7 of the ionhead. Yes they don't require LoS but they aren't all that good. My Tyrannofex or carnifex deal with tanks and these little the tank can do to stop me. With a 72" range with the tyrannofex and the carnifex will run it, unless you kill him, you cant really avoid the 2 or 3 I deploy long the board running at you.

Hive guard are str 8, dude. And they only need 3s to hit with their 2 shots, unlike monstrous creatures in HtH who need 6's.

Are you guys actually playing Tyranids before giving advice on them?

I believe this is where problems arise. Different players play differently and there is no way for you MGS, to know who is right or wrong.

I like zoanthropes for their fear factor as well as the fact they take pressure off my MC's for a turn at least. Flavius seems to like Hive guard for their 6 S8 BS4 shots. Squig_Herder likes Tyrannofexes which while powerful, are extremely points heavy.

Try and get your wife to take a look at the models she likes (unless she happens to be really into winning, in which case I would recommend checking out Shep's posts on competitive builds). I'm sure that one way or another she will find something she likes.

You can get a monster list for pretty cheap. Look for sneaky combos. I love tyranid prime because they have the toughness to keep units like zenomthropes and Warriors alive. They work good with carnifex broods with lashwhips and cheap regen. brood lords can have some crazy powers as well.

There will be a lot of debate here about things, but you'll find Gaunts, Hive Tyrant, Zoanthropes, Tervigons, and Hive Guard come up very consistently. They're the stars of the show.

Genestealers w/Broodlord, Trygons, Tyrannofex, Gargoyles, Warriors, Tyranid Primes, Parasite of Mortrex, Doom of Malan'ti, Deathleaper, are good, but debateable

everything else is "Ok", the only things that people look at as generally bad are the Harpy, Pyrovores, and Carnifex. The carnifex which used to be the star of the tyranid army is now very costly point wise, however, because the Tyrannofex and Tervigon do not have models yet Carnifex are great for conversions.

As a final side note, if there's spare space in your troops slots small ripper squads are amazing at stopping assaults. They won't do do much in combat, but buying 3-5 bases in a list and putting them around a valuable unit makes an amazing shield from that protected unit being assaulted. You may also use gaunts for this and they are also effective, but rippers are 3 wounds per base and take up much less space on the table then 15 gaunts do while providing an identical effect. Visually they also seem like less of a threat due to fewer number.

What about venomthropes?

Lukus83 wrote:I believe this is where problems arise. Different players play differently and there is no way for you MGS, to know who is right or wrong.

I like zoanthropes for their fear factor as well as the fact they take pressure off my MC's for a turn at least. Flavius seems to like Hive guard for their 6 S8 BS4 shots. Squig_Herder likes Tyrannofexes which while powerful, are extremely points heavy.

Try and get your wife to take a look at the models she likes (unless she happens to be really into winning, in which case I would recommend checking out Shep's posts on competitive builds). I'm sure that one way or another she will find something she likes.

Couldn't of put it better myself, and i did confuse my strengths when writing that post about the hive guard, as im too lazy to walk to my room and get the dex and look.

I use 1 tyrannofex with rapture cannon and 2 fexs, with a tervigon HQ and parasite, the rest is gaunts.

I use a fear tactic of a big MC wall and sneaky special abilities from the parasite.

Hiveguard, Zoanthrope, Trygon, Carnifex and Termagants are the models to buy, but then you need make the carnifex into tervigon.

Demogergs' advice on Must-Haves, Reasonables and Cruds from the Nid Codex

Ill go down the list of everything in the codex

HQ
Hive Tyrant- Reasonable, I personally dont like them, they are too expensive for what they do IMO. I have seen people put them to good use though.

Swarmlord- Reasonable, A CC monster, expensive but good at what he does. If you are running a CC/Nidzilla style list he would be a must-have

Tyrant Guard- Depending on how your FLGS rules it they are either a Must-Have for your swarmlord/hive tyrant, or a Cruddy pile of crud sauce that should be avoided at all costs.

Tervigon- Must have. Taken as either troops or HQ, depending on how you set up your list, T6 with W6 and a 3+ save, some super usefull psychic powers, the ability to create scoring units of gants at will, and beef up said gants to make them pretty decent overall. Cant go wrong with at least 1. They are not very offensive however, so spamming them doesnt work

Tyranid Prime- Resonable. If you are looking for a cheap HQ, this is it. Stuff him with your zoanthropes/venomthropes to give them a T5 target to soak up S8 and S9 shots and make them better in CC, run him with some biomorphs and hide him in a gant unit to hunt ICs who try to kill your Tervigon... good uses, decent unit.

Parasite of mortrex- I havn't tested this one, but I suppose it would be an ok choice in a list built around it.

Hive Guard- Must Have, without a doubt the best new unit in the codex. If your list doesnt have at least a unit of 3, you are doing it wrong. Even spamming a full set of 9 isn't a bad idea

Lictors- Resonable, Their bonus to reserve rolls is near useless now, because at BEST its giving you a +1 on turn 3 and later, whoop-de-friggen-do. But they are placed like marbo now, so they can be accurately put exactly where you need them. They work like locator beacons for any spore-pods, mawlocs/trygons/etc you have deep striking in, which is handy. And they are not terrible shooters/assaulters, just low volume. Used correctly they are a good asset, but they must work with the rest of your army well

Deathleaper- very resonableSame as lictors above, but with bonus special abilities. If you can stand to not have the extra wounds from running 2 or 3 lictors, seriously consider deathleaper. he is a good option

Venomthrope- resonable. 5+ cover saves on even your big MCs, defensive grenades for your nearby guys, and dangerous terrain checks for any enemies assaulting your nearby guys? paired with gants and a tervigon you can make some gants VERY potent as a counter-charging CC unit. The only problem is he is fighting for a slot taken up by lictors, zoanthropes, and the allmighty hive guard. its tough to justify, but they are good.

Zoanthrope- very resonable. Warp Lance is amazing, the biggest drawback to warp lance is the 18" range, but this can be mitigated by using Onslaught from a tervigon, this makes for up to a 30" threat range for any land raiders who think its a short-range power. Or you can stuff them in a mycetic spore and drop them right in, get a shot off and them get blown to bits by small arms fire.

Doom of Malan'tai- Varies, from very resonable to just resonable, depending on how your FLGS rules his abilities. Used in a mycetic spore, drop him right in the middle of a few enemy units, deal a chunk of wounds automatically them slap a high strength pit plate on something. Biggest drawback is that a single S8 wound will knock him out.

Pyrovore- Crud. I dont even want to explain how bad these are.

Ymgarl- Crud. Expensive genestealers that still dont have assault grenades. Yes, its not hard at all to hit something outside of cover with a move/fleet, but they are still just expensive stealers at that point, that fight for a slot against things like hive guard, I'd rather take the cheaper version that scores and doesnt waste valuable elite slots.

Tyranid Warrior- resonable, in a MC spam list these make a good troops choice for target saturation.

Genestealers- resonable, if you run them cheap and outflank them your enemy will have to stay away from the sides of the field, not having frag hurt these so much that now they kinda suck for the most part. but they are not useless.

Termagants- Must Have. Pair with tervigon and optional venomthropes for some stellar objective holding/area denial.

Hormagaunts- resonable, CC capable gaunts that move very vast, good.

Ripper Swarm- resonable, no other comment really, they dont look horrible, but they dont look great either.

Tyranid Shrike- resonable, very fun unit that can put some hurt on units your enemy wants to keep out of combat, I like them and would use them more if my list wasnt so focused on other things.

Ravener- resonable, I've heard arguements for and against, and Im sure Someone has found a good way to use them, but I cant.

Sky-Slasher Swarm- As ripper swarms above

Gargoyles- Very resonable, Cheap, Fantasy-style poison, manuverable, cheap, Excellent choice for hurting things, did I mention cheap? If they could score they would be the no-brainer choice of the codex.

Harpy- Crud. Everything about this unit wants to do good, but fails miserably, avoid at all costs.

Spore Mine Cluster-resonable. Use them to influence your opponents deployment, dont waste a lot of points on them because its likely they wont actually kill anything.

Carnifex- resonable. If they are run as "Screamless Killers" (2 sets of scytals, no plasma, with the only upgrades being Maybe frag spines or adrenal glands) then they are not bad. They still do good at stomping around in CC, but they are not invincible walking death like before. rerolling all misses in CC is veeery nice when hunting vehicles that moved more than 6"

Old One Eye- Crud, Expensive and only 4 wounds.

Biovore- resonable/crud. could be worse, not bad per-say, but it doesnt really do anything that you cant get done cheaper and easier with other units.

Trygon- resonable, strong new unit, lots of people talk up the merits of trygons, but they are really a one-dimensional unit IMO, not much synergy going on outside of the damn-near-useless hole they create.

Mawloc- resonable, I Always run at least 1. being able to push enemy units around is a game-winning ability. start him on the board in the backfield where he can get cover, when a good oprotunity arises, burrow, then pop up exactly where you need him. Example, bottom of Turn 4, you have one objective, they have one objective, burrow and on the bottom of turn 5 pop out right on top of his objective, pushing his units out of the way and either contesting it, or if you have scoring units nearby possibly taking it without killing his guys. very usefull, very fun unit, I always take at least 1.

Tyrannofex- resonable, Long range anti-heavy-tank is a hole in this codex filled by this unit. the cost is the only big drawback. Can also hurt infantry with the thorax swarm.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I'm looking at tyranids (or rather, the light of my universe, the indomitable Mrs Stompa, is looking) and what I wanted to save time and potential mis-sales, is a run down of the things you consider from the codex to be Must-Haves, Reasonables and Cruds (avoid at all costs).

Do feel free to include 1,500 - 2k or 2.5k example army lists as well

I will start with what I think is a balanced list for Tyranids.

Tyranids 1730 so a few spare for customising
Warriors or Hormagaunts can easily be replaced with Genestealers if you prefer them.
255 HQ: Hive Tyrant w/ Shell, Bonesword, Stranglethorn, Old Adversary
150 Elite: Hive Guard x3
150 Elite: Hive Guard x3
90 Troops: Termagants x18 Naked!
120 Troops: Hormagaunts x15 with Toxic Sacs
195 Troops: Tervigon with Toxic Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Caalyst & Spines
145 Troops: Warriors x4 with Deathspitters + 1 Barbed Strangler
160 Fast: Gargoyle Brood x20 Toxic Sacs & Adrenal Glands
265 Heavy: Tyrannofex w/ Rupture Cannon
200 Heavy: Trygon or 220 Carnifex w/ Bio-plasma in a Spore Pod

Must-Haves
Ranged anti-tank: Tyranids only have four units for opening tin cans at range otherwise they have to rely on melee from Monsters. These are Hive Guard, Zoantrhopes, Harpy & Tyrannofex. Harpy is fragile, T-fex expensive & Zoantrhopes get shut down by Psi hoods. This leaves two units of Hive Guard as the core and adding one of the other units depending on opponents and personal taste.
Mommy: Tervigon is listed as a HQ unit that can be taken as Troops with Termagants (so it scores). It is the cheapest and best Monster in the codex. It spawns more termagants and can give FNP to a unit. Always take as Troops choice if you can.
Face Eating Xenomorphs: Be it Hormagaunts, Genestealers or Gargoyles you need two or three broods of aliens to chow down on enemy infantry. Hormagaunts and Gargoyles are about as effective as each other. Gargoyles are faster and have a gun, Hormagaunts Score and have an extra attack. Genestealers have rending and infiltrate do not need Synapse but cost more. The best upgrade for Xenomorphs is Toxic Sacs so they gain Poisonous attacks.
Synapse: Your HQ and Mommy gives you two Synapse units, you usually want a third. Without synapse your army will only charge/shoot the closest enemy which can be a real pain when that is a dreadnought or tank they can not hurt.

Cruds
Pyrovore, Sky-slasher Brood, Old One Eye
Mawloc may join them depending on the FAQ for "Terror of the Deep". RAI vs RAW makes all the difference between useful and useless.

Reasonable
Everything else, although of course some units are more reasonable than others.
HQ: Hive Tyrants (and Swarmlord) have Paroxysm Psi Power. It reduced the enemy to WS & BS 1 so really helps the little guys win combat or reduce accuracy of incoming fire.
HQ: Tyranid Primes are also great. I take one as my second HQ whenever possible. Boneswords kill anything with a wound value and as an IC he can join any of the other units.
Troops: I am a fan of the films so like using Genestealers. They are twice as expensive as Hormagaunts though so you need to know how to use cover to keep them alive. Rippers do not score, but otherwise can be a nice tarpit unit. Do not spend too many points upgrading warriors.
Heavy: Be careful with Trygon they are too big to get cover saves and if they deep strike can get blown to bits in a single turn. Carnifex are somewhat over costed but Bio-plasma is fun for killing MEQ and the spore pod has its own gun and offers the fex cover.

My experience playing against nids matches up with Demogerg's list.

Especially the evaluation of trygons, which is one of the clearest statements of the unit's weakness IMO. It's really great for taking out a unit of tac marines standing around in the open--if it can survive the massed krak missiles that it caught while standing around in the open for a turn. But against vehicles (if it can catch them) or hordes (doesn't have enough attacks) it is inferior to other choices in the list. Too bad too, because the model is really cool.

@Flavius Infernus: I would like to see a typical list that you play with, if you would be so kind, as I wish to know your playing style, as my mileage varies greatly from yours

From experiance I'll have blast at some suggestions..

HQ
Hive Tyrant: A reasonable choice aslong as it's a fairly high points game, I would personally go with the HV cannon, Lash whips & Bonesword as it keeps his complusory weapon costs down, Take Hive commander (+1 to reserves & one Tps. unit can flank) Which would be invaluable if you have a Trygon and Hormagaunts.
Armoured shell is costly but could save his life, if not regeneration might be worth it's weight in rations particularly if he's up front.
Combined heavy weapons WILL make short work of your 200pt+ leader so be careful.

Warrior Prime: Meh, mine's equipped with Sytals and rending claws, and regeneration is worth the 10pts, IMO i wouldn't use it unless you plan on attaching it to a large warrior brood to boost their WS & BS. Its really a token in combat, nothing special.
Plasma/Power weapons and it's brown bread, so keep it attached to a unit, warriors preferably/obviously.

Elites
Zoanthropes: A must have if you're against a relatively mechanised/heavy armoured army (fried Spess marenz/ Tau anyone?) Considering it comes with warp lance, which can knock out a land raider, one krak missile can ruin your day however, so be careful where he deploys; oh and don't forget he also has synapse.

Lictors: I think they are a "take 'em if you got 'em" choice, combined with the Hive commander upgrade for the HT, with the ability to appear anywhere on the battlefield plus adding +1 to your reserve rolls ( that's +2 combined with Hive commander) absolutely invaluable if you have raveners/trygons awaiting under ground, and considering they don't scatter if deployed within 6" of the Lictor brood, well, who wouldn't say no?

Troops
Genestealers: Yes, absolute must! They are the penultimate CC troops in all of 40k I believe, decent points value, with the ability to infiltrate (turn 2 and you're ripping them to shreds..HUZZAR!) Rending, the ability to upgrade further (I personally keep 'em standard) and amazing WS and I for their cost.
Well worth it. Your opponent will be crying in his HQ in no time bad points are their 5+ sv. if they ain't in cover, expect them to die.

Termagants: Another must have, these things die in droves but you should have sufficient numbers to get to grips with the enemy and ANNIHILATE them!
Good to shield more important troops (Genestealers, Hormagaunts etc.) capture obj. considering only 1 termie needs to be within the obj. to score it.
Combined arms is essential with these, if they aren't supported with Synapse and their bigger, uglier brothers then they will most certainly be destroyed!

Hormagaunts: Good assault units, large numbers and very very fast. Good to flank enemy troopers with aslong as you don't break from cover for too long. Very good for distractions too, put it this way, you have 24 hormagaunts heading your way, with a Trygon to the left and Carnifex to the right..what do you do?

Fragile So don't rely on them completely, get them to outflank with the HT's Hive Commander upgrade if you can, works a treat.

Ripper swarms: Token troops choice, usually if you have 30-40 pts. to spare, good at nibbling enemy assault troops away untill bigger, more reliable beasties can chop 'em up.
Take note that if they are out of synapse range, every number they fail their leadership test by they will lsoe a wound, so don't go throwing them into far flung corners of the battlefield expecting them to take out some pesky sniper/devastator squad or whatever.

They can't take obj. nor can they sustain many kick's/shot's to the face.

Tyranid warriors: And absolute must have, they are the guys who keep the swarm in check as the HT can't be everywhere at once! I would personally equip them with ranged weapons as one or two powerfists will make a mockery of their 3 wounds. Keep these guys near the little ones for mutual fire support and if you have no other option, a decent defensive unit for holding an obj.
Yes they have 3 wounds each but a krak missile or said powerfist and BOOM! bye bye mister warrior.

I don't have any fast attack units so I can't advise you on that, sorry.

Heavy support
Carnifex: A little high on points but I would say yes if you can afford them (pts. wise not money) I have two (one is 3rd edition )
a DakkaDakkaFex which is merely a fex with sytals and a HV cannon; good support although last time I used him (last night) he Insta-killed one of my lictors cos he MISSED!
Fex No.2 has Sytals and crushing claws which are heavy on the points but make a mockery of tanks/Termanators/Necrons/Crisis teams etc etc.
Aslong as he gets into combat that is..

Note that carnifex's will 90% of the time have heavy weapons trained on them so make use of cover (yes i know its 20ft tall but you have to try!)
and keep it within synapse because your perfect plan on your dakkafex whittling down the enemy will soon turn to mush and instead you'll see him flying across the battlefield straight into enemy hands.

Trygon: He is a WIP at the minute, but I've run through several scenario's in my head and he works pretty damn well blasting out of the ground via deepstrike (combined with Hive Commander and the Lictor's pheromone trail) and will see him tearing through the enemy's best in no time! With an awesome 6 wounds and 7 attack on the charge! You can't say no..all for 200 or so pts.


Please note that I've only gave my verdict on units I actually own, so I apologise (yes after you've read it and got dissapointed) for that matter. Hope it helps whoever

Happy days!

Great advice so far, thanks folks.

I know she's a fan of the trygon, so it's likely to make an appearance. She chose tyranids due to her love of the Aliens H R Giger monster.

To that end I'd consider getting her the forgeworld Tyrant or trying to get the old 'Alien Queen' head for the modern tyrant.

Are Flyrants still an option? What about dakkafexes (apologies if either has been scrapped from the codex, I don't have one atm).

nyyman wrote:I'm having the same problem right now. I'm going to start a Tyranid army myself. But some IMO good units which you won't regret buying would be Hive Tyrant and Trygons. Everything else can be used bad or good.
But as you already probably knew, stay away from Carnifex. Just too much points for 4 Wounds who needs Synapse. Of course, Carnifexes can be used good but it takes skill, given their whopping point cost compared to Trygons etc.

Try a 2x twinlinked devourer carnifex. Theyre nasty.

As for the must haves, I really only think either a few zoanthropes or a few hive guard are necessary. I tried staying away from them but I think theyre necessary to deal with tanks.

Everything else is up to you.

You must have plenty of Tervigons, Hive Guards, Gaunts and Trygons, and you can use a Hive Tyrant in addition. Perhaps you could also play around with Zoanthropes or T-Fexes but these will make your list worse. Everything else is pretty much crud.

If your starting from scratch, the new battleforce isn't bad. It's not as good as the old one, but it's not bad.

Most people have covered everything pretty extensively, I'll just echo this.

Hive Guard are the big must, 2 units of 3, will serve you well, at taking down the much maligned transports of the foes.

I agree with most of Demogerg's list, except for the Ymgarls, which are a great unit, they just take up that Elite slot, is the only downside.

The honest truth is that certain units in the Tyranid codex are designed to be taken with each other, and taken in multiples. There are a lot of shiny toys, but the moment someone goes "Oooh, sparkly!" and takes a unit of Hive Guard, a unit of Zoanthroapes, and DOOM OF ALL YOUR TROOPS IN THEIR TRANSPORTS, you end up with a less effective army.

For example, Hive Guard are great shots at 24" and project a nice zone of death for any light vehicles that enter that radius. However, they only tickle the really heavy armor (like Land Raiders), and they compete with Zoanthroapes (which excel at vaping truly heavy vehicles) for the same slot. So you look at the Tyrannofex to work with the Hive Guard. Inversely however, those Tyrannofexes would become isolated in a Mycetic Spore army and Zoanthroapes already do anti-heavy armor, so you'd consider something else for dealing with light vehicles, be it a Trygon, or a Carnifex with dual Brainleech Devourers, in a Pod.

Tyranids, more so than *any* other army prior to them (yes, even Tau), operate with a strong amount of interdependence, with units being able to buff each other, debuff enemies, and cover each other's bases. So when you build your army, you have to look not only at "What does this unit do?" but "how does this unit work alongside the rest of my army?"

Night Lords wrote:Try a 2x twinlinked devourer carnifex. Theyre nasty.

I was actually making a list (out of the old Battleforce) with a Carnifex with 2x devourers. 12 twin-linked S6 hits is nothing to sniff off!

Hive tyrant - not a bad model, just make sure it gets into combat, otherwise it wont earn its points back. (avoid the heavy venom cannon, not much chance of tank hunting with it)

Swarmlord - Its a beast, able to walk through most units with ease, causing instant death to everything and refusing to die.

Tyrant guard - Not a 100% must have, but great none the less.
Take them with whips if going against high initiative armies (eldar for example) or bone swords if going against power armour.

Tervigon - Worth its weight in gold.
Just sit it on an objective and spawn FNP gants to do all the work.




Lictors - the extra accuracy of deep striking mixed with the ability to assassinate weak characters is enough in its own right. Go for 3 if you want to hunt small units.

Death leaper - as above, only 100X harder to kill and alot more deadly, he works well with other models using bone swords or forcing LD tests.

Zoanthropes - S10, AP1 Lance; need i say more?

Doom of malantai - Much better than a basic thrope for 50% more cost.
Able to drop in, bomb a unit with AP1 large blast then regain its wounds again and laugh.
Well worth taking it


Hive guard - Another unit that are a must have if you lack anti-tank.
The ability to sit back and drop 2-6 S8 shots on a target you cant see are priceless.




Warriors - not too bad with boneswords, but avoid them if you just like the models, there are better units available.

Stealers - As they allways have been.
Amazing shock unit, throw in a broodlord for that extra punch and your away, just hug cover since thier save - points cost isnt good

Termigants - dont bother with basic ones unless you want to use them to make a tervigon troop.
Allways go with devilgants (devourers) since 3 shots a piece are great, especially with 30 models in a unit.

Hormagaunts - nothing special, low points cost and nothing great about them other than speed.




Harpy - only FA choice ive used, and its died quickly both games, avoid it




Fex - still amazing tank hunters in CC (infact, S10 charge makes them the best) and even good at ranged support (stranglethornes)

Old one eye - just the same as a fex, but harder to kill and does more damage, also costs 100 more than a basic fex, so avoid it

Biovores - easy KP's, not enough from them, avoid.

Trygon - Not only fun to use, but using the tunel rules to bring in units has a ton of benefits.
Its able to rampage about with a nice amount of attacks and able to hunt armour and tanks with ease.
Just make sure you upgrade to an alpha for best results.

Mawloc - never used one to be honest, but see them used alot and they tend to do well when used right.

Tyranofex - i have one, used it once and never again.
The 2 S10 shots are nice, but lack AP.
The 20 shots are also nice, but again, lack AP and poor BS3 lets it down.

Costs more than a trygon prime and less effective, avoid it.




Hope some of that helps mate

Squig_herder wrote:@Flavius Infernus: I would like to see a typical list that you play with, if you would be so kind, as I wish to know your playing style, as my mileage varies greatly from yours

Happy to oblige

Here's a link to a battle report that has a typical mech list of mine vs. tyranids

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/280566.page#1354401

You'll notice my opponent didn't have any hive guard, so he managed to kill a total of one razorback I believe (and a dread). I didn't have any trouble shooting up his trygon or tyrants and avoiding HtH damage from his masses of genestealers.

If he'd had even a couple of hive guard, I would have been in trouble since as few as 2 hive guard will pretty much kill a rhino or razorback with nearly every volley.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ethancol wrote: put it this way, you have 24 hormagaunts heading your way, with a Trygon to the left and Carnifex to the right..what do you do?

Based on my experience as a marine player? I go after the hormagaunts, no question.

With just toxin sacs, an equal points value of hormagaunts will kill many many more marines than either a trygon or a carnifex. Even if I get the charge. Run the numbers.

Hormagaunts get top priority for flamer and bolter fire when I play against nids; they all need to die from shooting if possible. I can stand up in a fight for a few turns against a trygon or carnifex. But hormagaunts with toxin just make marine units evaporate.

۞ Jack ۞ wrote:Hive tyrant - not a bad model, just make sure it gets into combat, otherwise it wont earn its points back. (avoid the heavy venom cannon, not much chance of tank hunting with it)

Swarmlord - Its a beast, able to walk through most units with ease, causing instant death to everything and refusing to die.

Tyrant guard - Not a 100% must have, but great none the less.
Take them with whips if going against high initiative armies (eldar for example) or bone swords if going against power armour.

Tervigon - Worth its weight in gold.
Just sit it on an objective and spawn FNP gants to do all the work.




Lictors - the extra accuracy of deep striking mixed with the ability to assassinate weak characters is enough in its own right. Go for 3 if you want to hunt small units.

Death leaper - as above, only 100X harder to kill and alot more deadly, he works well with other models using bone swords or forcing LD tests.

Zoanthropes - S10, AP1 Lance; need i say more?

Doom of malantai - Much better than a basic thrope for 50% more cost.
Able to drop in, bomb a unit with AP1 large blast then regain its wounds again and laugh.
Well worth taking it


Hive guard - Another unit that are a must have if you lack anti-tank.
The ability to sit back and drop 2-6 S8 shots on a target you cant see are priceless.




Warriors - not too bad with boneswords, but avoid them if you just like the models, there are better units available.

Stealers - As they allways have been.
Amazing shock unit, throw in a broodlord for that extra punch and your away, just hug cover since thier save - points cost isnt good

Termigants - dont bother with basic ones unless you want to use them to make a tervigon troop.
Allways go with devilgants (devourers) since 3 shots a piece are great, especially with 30 models in a unit.

Hormagaunts - nothing special, low points cost and nothing great about them other than speed.




Harpy - only FA choice ive used, and its died quickly both games, avoid it




Fex - still amazing tank hunters in CC (infact, S10 charge makes them the best) and even good at ranged support (stranglethornes)

Old one eye - just the same as a fex, but harder to kill and does more damage, also costs 100 more than a basic fex, so avoid it

Biovores - easy KP's, not enough from them, avoid.

Trygon - Not only fun to use, but using the tunel rules to bring in units has a ton of benefits.
Its able to rampage about with a nice amount of attacks and able to hunt armour and tanks with ease.
Just make sure you upgrade to an alpha for best results.

Mawloc - never used one to be honest, but see them used alot and they tend to do well when used right.

Tyranofex - i have one, used it once and never again.
The 2 S10 shots are nice, but lack AP.
The 20 shots are also nice, but again, lack AP and poor BS3 lets it down.

Costs more than a trygon prime and less effective, avoid it.




Hope some of that helps mate

Calling the Tyrannofex and Harpy useless, and suggesting that Termagants should ALWAYS have Devourers (It really depends on the list for one), and suggesting Tyrants should not take Heavy Venom Cannons, considering that anti-tank units are at a premium in the Tyranid Codex?

I would advise you stop giving advice. I shall write up a more in-depth analysis as I go along.

So MeanGreenStompa, you said she wanted a Trygon. Any other "wants" for her?

My only suggestion is for your partner to play games using proxies while she works out how she wants to play...