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I got my girlfriend into 40k and she decided Tyranids were the way to go for her, so here's our first build. I play Guard and I'm a beginner myself so all this stuff is really new to me. Anyway here goes

1. Tyranid Prime
-Lash Whip & Bone Sword
-Deathspitter
-Regeneration
-Toxin Sacs

2. Tyranid Warrior Brood of 3
-2 Deathspitters
-Venom Cannon
-Toxin Sacs

3. Termagant Brood of 15
-Toxin Sacs
-Devourers

4. Hormagaunt Brood of 15
-Toxin Sacs

5. Genestealer Brood of 10
-Scything Talons
-Toxin Sacs
-Broodlord with Scything Talons

6. Hive Guard Brood of 2

7. Zoanthrope Brood of 3

8. Venomthrope

9. Ravener Brood of 3
-Rending Claws
-Spinefists

10. Tyranid Shrike Brood of 3
-Double Scything Talons
-Toxin Sacs

11. Tyranid Shrike Brood of 3
-Rending Claws
-Scything Talons
-Toxin Sacs

Basically the list is designed for early disruption with the flying warriors, buying time for the rest of the army to move up unmolested using natural cover and also under the Venomthrope's relative protection. That's all there is to it really. Again, this is the first build so I'm open to any suggestions.

Warriors with Deathspitters are very much anti-infantry. Tossing in the Venom Cannon as your heavy weapon doesn't really go with that as much as a Barbed Strangler would. Since you also have the Prime in there, I'd kick up your walking Warriors to a brood of four: 3x Deathspitters, 1x Strangler. I also wouldn't really bother with toxin sacs since I'd use them as a shooting base, but if the points are leftover at the end of the day it's not a bad upgrade.

Termagants like to be taken in mass and with a Tervigon nearby. Even with Toxin Sacs, without Furious Charge to let them re-roll those wounds and strike before I4, Termagants are pretty meh in combat against pretty much anything. With a single brood of 15 they die fairly quickly to and you don't have a Tervigon to keep spawning more.

With Hormagants I really prefer to either take full upgrade of both poison and furious charge or no upgrades at all to keep them cheap. That re-roll to wound is huge. Huge, huge.

Genestealers don't need Scything Talons. They are WS6, you'll be hitting two-thirds of the time anyway, just stick to Toxin Sacs to save points.

More to come later, back to work!

The Prime is a ok HQ choice but setup for combat isn't the best idea as it doesn't have fleet so cannot get into assault. Best give a deathspitter and then bonesword and lashwhip with adrenal glands and regen.

You should take units in multiples it helps with target priority. I would double the 'stealer or hormagaunt units.

Ditch spinefists on the raveners as they're beasts so they have fleet as standard and a 12" assault range. If you run you cannot shoot so wasted ranged weapons. Get rending claws instead and double the unit.

I would ditch the shrikes and get more termagants tbh.

Have a read of this though, it might help: http://www.imperiusdominatus.com/2010/07/tyranids-top-units.html

mercer wrote:The Prime is a ok HQ choice but setup for combat isn't the best idea as it doesn't have fleet so cannot get into assault. Best give a deathspitter and then bonesword and lashwhip with adrenal glands and regen.

In the first sentence you say the Prime is not good for combat due to no fleet, but suggest that he takes Adrenal Glands (Furious Charge)? I'd agree, walking Warriors typically do not enter combat on their turn. The Lashwhip and Bonesword combo is great since it's a power weapon that might ID something and Lash Whip is a fantastic defensive tool which Warriors definitely want in combat.

I disagree with regen on a three-wound, T5 creature. It's fairly expensive and often won't do much since the only time the Prime will be taking wounds is in combat (in which case it either wins or is dead shortly afterward) or if the meat shield of the other Warriors have been picked off.

Raveners... if you did take them, I agree with mercer that shooting is not their strong point. They should always be trying to get into combat and often aren't very good to deep strike (much like their big brother the Trygon).

I personally love Shrikes, but in a love-hate kind of way. I love the models, have made three of them so far (see gallery for not-great pics, better ones to come). Shrikes aren't very scary as you have them equipped, though. Dual Boneswords, Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands makes them a terrifying unit of S5, re-roll wounds, I5 (to go before MEq), denies FnP, etc... that's how they like to be.

Thank you for the helpful replies guys, I'm definitely going to find some space for a Tervigon in there and make smarter decisions when it comes to wargear to suit dedicated anti-infantry or anti-vehicle roles. Your advice has been invaluable!

Kirbinator wrote:

mercer wrote:The Prime is a ok HQ choice but setup for combat isn't the best idea as it doesn't have fleet so cannot get into assault. Best give a deathspitter and then bonesword and lashwhip with adrenal glands and regen.

In the first sentence you say the Prime is not good for combat due to no fleet, but suggest that he takes Adrenal Glands (Furious Charge)? I'd agree, walking Warriors typically do not enter combat on their turn. The Lashwhip and Bonesword combo is great since it's a power weapon that might ID something and Lash Whip is a fantastic defensive tool which Warriors definitely want in combat.

I disagree with regen on a three-wound, T5 creature. It's fairly expensive and often won't do much since the only time the Prime will be taking wounds is in combat (in which case it either wins or is dead shortly afterward) or if the meat shield of the other Warriors have been picked off.

Raveners... if you did take them, I agree with mercer that shooting is not their strong point. They should always be trying to get into combat and often aren't very good to deep strike (much like their big brother the Trygon).

I personally love Shrikes, but in a love-hate kind of way. I love the models, have made three of them so far (see gallery for not-great pics, better ones to come). Shrikes aren't very scary as you have them equipped, though. Dual Boneswords, Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands makes them a terrifying unit of S5, re-roll wounds, I5 (to go before MEq), denies FnP, etc... that's how they like to be.

Reason is the Prime is still good in combat; getting there is a problem without fleet. So with a gun you can shoot and if you do end up in combat you can do the business. Though it doesn't matter if you don't; you've got a gun. That's why I suggested adrenal glands as S6 power weap is is nasty.

Regen is 10 points on the Prime; that's not expensive. If it it affective? Not really but it's a way of getting wounds back for hardly any cost. If strapped for points it would be the first thing I'd ditch.