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The removal of the Mycetic Spore has shaken the rules of the game to it's very core! It was the only Non HQ/HS 3 Wound MC in the game and thus it's removal now completely invalidates the Monster Hunter specialisation in Kill Team!

Actually, I'm pretty okay with the troops costs as a general rule. Termagants look spot-on, and while I'd rather Hormagaunts were a point cheaper, they're fine as long as you run them naked (toxic-gaunts I have zero use for.)

Warriors, again, would be *nice* if they were a tad cheaper, but they cost about the same as two Marines for three wounds and a similar statline. An option to improve that save would be nice, and cheaper frag grenades are obviously a thing, but, I'm okay with this.

Rippers ... okay, Rippers can die in a fire. Even I won't defend Rippers. Heck, they used to be a unit that didn't need Synapse so had *some* use, but now? Well, they make nice wound markers.

 AtoMaki wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
Not having Synapse does destroy your army, unless you deliberately build your army with units that don't have to worry about Instinctive Behaviour. For the most part you can do this until you run into the Troops section, where the only non-Synapse dependent units are really overpriced. Unfortunately, Troops win you games, so Tyranids can't just not take Troops.

Take Tervigons?

Taking Tervigons requires investing at least 120 points in Termagants per Tervigon and relying on spawned Termagants to score, this does not solve the problem of Instinctive Behaviour, it exacerbates it.

 PrinceRaven wrote:

 AtoMaki wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
Not having Synapse does destroy your army, unless you deliberately build your army with units that don't have to worry about Instinctive Behaviour. For the most part you can do this until you run into the Troops section, where the only non-Synapse dependent units are really overpriced. Unfortunately, Troops win you games, so Tyranids can't just not take Troops.

Take Tervigons?

Taking Tervigons requires investing at least 120 points in Termagants per Tervigon and relying on spawned Termagants to score, this does not solve the problem of Instinctive Behaviour, it exacerbates it.

Why? You don't have to spawn fivebazillion termagants. Just spawn a few in turn 4/5 right onto the objective(s) and you are good to go. And the Tervigon is also scoring.

I like the codex it has defiantly changed the army in multiple ways. First off you must now pay attention to synapse way more making you calculate you every move. I love armies that push my brain while I play and nids are shaping up to be an army that does that. Also the way you make a list changes. Now you cans till do your massive horde army of death, but the problem with this is every player knows to load out on Flamers and Heavy Bolter type weapons. Now with the new book you can make a better mix of hordes and mc making you opponent have to rethink how they fight nids.

 AtoMaki wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:

 AtoMaki wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
Not having Synapse does destroy your army, unless you deliberately build your army with units that don't have to worry about Instinctive Behaviour. For the most part you can do this until you run into the Troops section, where the only non-Synapse dependent units are really overpriced. Unfortunately, Troops win you games, so Tyranids can't just not take Troops.

Take Tervigons?

Taking Tervigons requires investing at least 120 points in Termagants per Tervigon and relying on spawned Termagants to score, this does not solve the problem of Instinctive Behaviour, it exacerbates it.

Why? You don't have to spawn fivebazillion termagants. Just spawn a few in turn 4/5 right onto the objective(s) and you are good to go. And the Tervigon is also scoring.

Because (a) the Termagants you took for the Tervigons need Synapse, (b) those units you spawn late game need also need Synapse, (c) If you use the Tervigon for Synapse it will kill enough Termagants in each unit in Synapse range to force a leadership test, so you probably have to get a babysitter for the Tervigon's babies.

 PrinceRaven wrote:

Because (a) the Termagants you took for the Tervigons need Synapse, (b) those units you spawn late game need also need Synapse, (c) If you use the Tervigon for Synapse it will kill enough Termagants in each unit in Synapse range to force a leadership test, so you probably have to get a babysitter for the Tervigon's babies.

a, The Tervigon can provide Synapse for the initial 30 strong swarm no problem. Though I must admit, those 30 termagants are pretty much deadweight in the Tyranid army.
b, If you spawn them in the 5th turn and the game finishes there then they won't. And even then, the Tervigon will be nearby.
c, Well, if the enemy can blast my Tervigons into pieces late game then something went terribly wrong anyways and I have better things to worry about (like avoiding Wipe Out) than random termagants and their stupid objectives.

In my experience, the best way to avoid Synapse problems is to avoid the small fry completely. They are like CSM cultists: you just don't want them on the table until the time is absolutely right. And the best way to do this is to take Tervigons.

Makumba wrote:
Non biomancy tervigons die very fast and they cost more and you have to take bigger guant units to take them as troops.

I've never biomancied a Tervigon since they became a unit...and I've had like three die ever...if yours are dying fast you're either extremely unlucky or your putting them where they shouldn't be.

Or maybe his opponents are more difficult competition than yours.

I really can't think of a single opponent that I play against on a regular basis that can not deal with a 6T 6W 3+ MC almost every single turn. There is at least one of every army represented at out club and none of them have issues with any of my MCs except for the Deathwing player because he doesn't have enough shots to deal with a MC a turn but once he gets into melee he has no problem at all.

Basically Tyranids biggest defense is your opponents ignorance, once someone knows what units to target first the game really does become an uphill battle for Tyranid players. You could say the same is true of other armies but let me put it this way, if I am playing Tau their Pathfinders become a priority, once I kill their Pathfinders their Riptide doesn't all of a sudden become ineffective, he just becomes less powerful. With Tyranids once I lose my Synapse or to a lesser extent my Venomthropes, my army starts to fall apart extremely quick. Our main troops, gants, become useless troops without Synapse, our alternative troops are expensive and squishy, this means an opponent that knows the Tyranid army can eliminate your ability to hold objectives fairly easily. I understand that this is highly subjective and player skill can limit these issues but I can tell you this, if I am playing any of my five other armies against Tyranids I have yet to lose, I have yet to even have a close game with a Tyranid opponent, I've been playing Tyranids for thirteen years and I know every unit intimately short of the Escalation/Apocalypse units and the new DLC, aka datasheets. Tyranids unlike any other army in 40k hinge on a select few units that really are the backbone of your army and that is part of their flavor, the problem is with the 6th edition codex those units are extremely squishy and hard to keep alive.

Wakshaani wrote:
Rippers ... okay, Rippers can die in a fire. Even I won't defend Rippers. Heck, they used to be a unit that didn't need Synapse so had *some* use, but now? Well, they make nice wound markers.

One week after the dex was released one of my friends asked me about them. I was a short conversation that went like this:

My friend: So I hear rippers are good now.
Me: You heard wrong.
My friend: Well how many would need to be in a unit for it to be effective?
Me: ...zero.

The most successful Tyranid armies I've seen with the new 'Dex spend the game hiding in cover keeping their synapse save whilst some Flyrants and Crones mix it up with the enemy. The army cowers in mortal fear of the enemy until the end of the game where it tries to grab objectives. Then the player hopes that the game ends so that he doesn't endure more synapse-destroying shooting.

As you can see, it sounds like a real blast to play.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
The most successful Tyranid armies I've seen with the new 'Dex spend the game hiding in cover keeping their synapse save whilst some Flyrants and Crones mix it up with the enemy. The army cowers in mortal fear of the enemy until the end of the game where it tries to grab objectives. Then the player hopes that the game ends so that he doesn't endure more synapse-destroying shooting.

As you can see, it sounds like a real blast to play.

To be honest the concept of trying to dodge around the board and hoping the game ends "early" isn't that new for me personally. I never went spore crazy and never had a super aggressive list so I always found everything I had could be shot to bits pretty easily.

With that in mind I think I'm right to say that every game I ever lost I would have dawn or won if it had ended turn 5... problem being I could not always make the distance, as it were!

As to how the new codex plays; first off I admit I don't like the many changes between the last codex and this one, and I feel a units which were viable before are no longer much use... which basically means I feel the new codex more limiting in play style than before.

I feel because 40k has gone "flyer mental" and so it is incredibly hard to not include some (hell even 4) flying MC which really ends up being the "flying circus"'; that works well against people who are not equipped to deal with flyers, either because they don't care for them or because their army doesn't have great flyer defence. It's also a shame GW didn't make shrikes or even gargoyles troops because then you could have a full flying list which would have looked amazing.

GW could have made Shikes/Gargoyles Flyers. Then they would be really good. Also, how about a Tyranid prime w/ Wings????

 FeindusMaximus wrote:
GW could have made Shikes/Gargoyles Flyers. Then they would be really good. Also, how about a Tyranid prime w/ Wings????

The prime not having wings is a very sad omission I agree.

However they have increased it's cost so much I find it hard to justify using it at all.. apart from it's cherished IC status so it can babysit a unit in relative safety.