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Im going to be starting a Tyranid army, and just toke a quick glance at the Codex and each models entry. Now, this is going to be my first army, and i just wanted to know which unit would be considered good and which unit down right horrible. From looking into the 'dex, my opinion would be:
HQ:
Hive Tyrant- seems ok to me, got some nice upgrades, a beast in CC and in range with dual devourers
Prime- good for supporting warriors only i geuss
Tervigon- better to be taken as a troop choice, looks like a awesome support unit, although without the punch
Parasite- Dont like SC so i wont comment
Swarmlord- Same as above
Troops:
Genestealers- Awesome unit, great model, i see no drawback
Hormagaunts- Nice CC unit, but squishy, i dont see a good purpose for them...
Termagants- good ranged unit, but again squishy and no good purpose other then gettin a tervigon in the troops section
Ripper Swarms- Looks like a good unit to me, i see nothin wrong with them
Elites:
Pyrovores- Heavy Flamers that explode? meh, i can only see them used in Spods.
Zoanthropes- Great unit, strong psychic attacks and a 3+ inv save! i love 'em
Venomthropes- Good Supporting unit for everything! must have in my opinion
Hiveguard- Also a must have, i began to notice the lack of ranged anti-tank... these bring the much needed punch and dont require LoS! also love them!
Ymargl- Uber-Genestealers... but take a elite slot which can be used for hiveguard, zoans, and venoms, am i right?
Lictors- Looks like a good supporting/ Disruption unit.
Doom of Malan'tai see: Prime
Deathleaper: see: Prime

Heavy Support:
Carnifex- Perfect for taking out enemy tanks! i think they're good
Old one eye- no comment
Biovore- weak artillery, dont like the model, im nevar gunna use 'em
Trygon- These are awesome units! Great model, great stats! what not to like
Mawloc- Same as trygon, but with worse stats, but its got a nice str6 ap2 pie plate good at taking out artilerry, and doing some backfield carnage
Tyrannofex- To many points for what it does in my opinion
Fast Attack:
Ravenors- I love these guys, they're fast, strong, and can take a lot of damage.
Gargoyles- same as hormagaunts, but with wings
Spore Mine Cluster- I see them as point-fillers, hey, i might get lucky with them
Harpy- Dont like them, cause they dont have a model and their t5, means insta death from str10
Shrikes- same as warriors, but with wings
Sky-Slasher Swarm- same as rippers but with wings

Thats just my opinion, and i wanted to know if im right, or if these units can do better, or if they just suck, and what would be some good tactics for them?

My friend, in this edition you're going to have to get used to playing games with special characters--they're no longer considered separate from competitive play and are, broadly speaking, quite effective models.

A friend of mine who plays increadably beardy armies usually goes for something like this (bear in mind I don't actually play nids, so this is barebones).

Genestealer...HQ thing... Rending claws, sything talons + armour + adrenaline glands

3x Tyragons

Genestealers: Rending claws, Sything talons + armour + adrenaline glands- (as many of these buggers as the remaining points allow, think usually three good sized units).


Simple army, but with those deep striking Tyragons messing with the opponent's battle plans and gunline, everything usually falls apart when the nids reach their lines.=P

With nids don't go for loads of different units just because they appear to offer another new and exciting power. Keep your army limited to a few unit selections and just build upon them. People don't really know how to handle the above list as most of them usually face all comers marine lists etc. If you concentrate on going for one thing and doing it well when your opponent doesn't know what to expect and prepares for everything, you'll pretty much wipe them off the board if you learn how to play it right.=P

A very informative post Wyrmalla...exept you are sugesting upgrades that do not exist in the codex.

HQ:
Hive Tyrant- seems ok to me, got some nice upgrades, a beast in CC and in range with dual devourers
- Always a solid choice. Either Winged or accompanied by 1-2 guards (for 50% or more being non-MC, and hence getting cover saves vs. AP)

Prime- good for supporting warriors only i geuss
- One of the most awesome units in the army two of those together with 2 carni'es for cover saves, wound allocations, BS/LW's for deducing ini, and you're good.

Tervigon- better to be taken as a troop choice, looks like a awesome support unit, although without the punch
- Awesome support unit indeed, and yes, always as Troop. Either one or two will do fine, and always with AG + Toxic and Cata for FnP.

Parasite- Dont like SC so i wont comment
- ANOTHER Totally awesome SC you over-look. Why? Imagine this with 20 Garg's and a Winged HT with Old Adv. getting into assault in turn two <3

Swarmlord- Same as above
- One of my most beloved. 1-2 Guards to go, and foe is bound to focus fire for several turns to get him down. Serves to protect the rest of the army, and is near-impossible to kill in Assault (with 2 wounds left, he alone can survive a 10-man Honor Guard squad with Libby.)

Troops:
Genestealers- Awesome unit, great model, i see no drawback
- Perfect MEQ killers. They just eat anything.

Hormagaunts- Nice CC unit, but squishy, i dont see a good purpose for them...
- Agreed. They got their uses, but Garg's outshine them by FAR.

Termagants- good ranged unit, but again squishy and no good purpose other then gettin a tervigon in the troops section
- You'll get enough of these, hopefully, from Tervigon spawns. But in tall numbers, they tend to serve well against Termies etc.

Ripper Swarms- Looks like a good unit to me, i see nothin wrong with them
- Spawned by Parasite. Nothing more to say.

Elites:
Pyrovores- Heavy Flamers that explode? meh, i can only see them used in Spods.
- Meh-unit

Zoanthropes- Great unit, strong psychic attacks and a 3+ inv save! i love 'em
- Fails miserably against armies that can deny psychic powers or Inv. Safe. Potential when Spodded though. Meant as a suicide-unit mostly.

Venomthropes- Good Supporting unit for everything! must have in my opinion
- The fact they're an Elite-choice makes them, well... Less likely to be added.

Hiveguard- Also a must have, i began to notice the lack of ranged anti-tank... these bring the much needed punch and dont require LoS! also love them!
- 'Nidz main Elite choice. Always fill, at least 6 of these, either 2x3 or 3x2.

Ymargl- Uber-Genestealers... but take a elite slot which can be used for hiveguard, zoans, and venoms, am i right?
- These guys just works. They can even take down Land Raiders with good throws. And they just pwn everything else.

Lictors- Looks like a good supporting/ Disruption unit.
- lol-unit. Don't even...


Doom of Malan'tai see: Prime
- Can be instant death'ed. But if gotten into an assault, this guy starts eating away everything around him and may end up with 10 wounds in no time.

Deathleaper: see: Prime
- Mainly a Psychic defense unit. But hardly worth the Elite-slot.

Heavy Support:
Carnifex- Perfect for taking out enemy tanks! i think they're good
- They're awesome. Awesome! Either Devourers or naked with 2 primes for massive destruction once they land assaults.

Old one eye- no comment
- No comment indeed!

Biovore- weak artillery, dont like the model, im nevar gunna use 'em
- Meh.

Trygon- These are awesome units! Great model, great stats! what not to like
- Oh yeah, baby. Two of these! And with AG!

Mawloc- Same as trygon, but with worse stats, but its got a nice str6 ap2 pie plate good at taking out artilerry, and doing some backfield carnage
- Relying on their Blast marker, which almost always will fail. Nah.

Tyrannofex- To many points for what it does in my opinion
- Says most others too. Tervigons with Onslaught, a heavy amount of Hive Guards and about two of these guys, and anything-armored is bound to explode.


Fast Attack:
Ravenors- I love these guys, they're fast, strong, and can take a lot of damage.
- Can be Instant death'ed, so very vulnerable to st8+ or power fists. They're pretty nice, but the T4... T_T

Gargoyles- same as hormagaunts, but with wings
- Very capable unit. Moves 12", to-hit rolls of 6 auto-wounds. HT with OA nearby for rerolls, and with Toxic + AG, they just rock.

Spore Mine Cluster- I see them as point-fillers, hey, i might get lucky with them
- Meh.

Harpy- Dont like them, cause they dont have a model and their t5, means insta death from str10
- Instant death, anyone?

Shrikes- same as warriors, but with wings
- Holds some potential if used correctly. But T4 and 5+ save..?

Sky-Slasher Swarm- same as rippers but with wings
- Meh.


Badically, what you wanna do is consider your army on a larger base. Consider what a Swarmlord or/and a Hive Tyrant, a Tervigon and what not can make of your armies by adding small numbers, which eventually will change the odds drastically. In many cases, getting the 3+ instead of the 4+ on a throw can just turn everything around, and turn a decent unit into a killing machine.

So my tip to you:
Look carefully through the HQ's abilities and Psychic Powers, and start thinking about what they could do for a unit, and whether or not you can completely turn the tides around from this. Also consider Toughness vs. Instant Death!

Realistically, Tyranids are not a point-and-click army like many others (looking at you Space Marines). With this army more so than many, many others you can and will win or lose armies in two places. List building and deployment. Tyranid units are designed from the ground up to be playing off of each other, feeding bonuses to each other and covering weaknesses. For this army you really must be a big-picture viewer in order to compete. This type of thinking and acting can only ever be gained by playing the army. A lot.

Not to say there's no use for asking for advice, others will steer you in the right directions with things to look for (Tervigons) and things to avoid (Pyrovores) but in the end there are people who avoid the Tervigon and do just fine...nobody chooses the Pyrovore and succeeds though he's just terrible. Find a few friends who have no hangups about you proxying up a storm and play with everything in the codex. Try it all, see how it works for you, then abandon the Pyrovore. Seriously he's that bad.

SumYungGui wrote:Realistically, Tyranids are not a point-and-click army like many others (looking at you Space Marines). With this army more so than many, many others you can and will win or lose armies in two places. List building and deployment. Tyranid units are designed from the ground up to be playing off of each other, feeding bonuses to each other and covering weaknesses. For this army you really must be a big-picture viewer in order to compete. This type of thinking and acting can only ever be gained by playing the army. A lot.

Not to say there's no use for asking for advice, others will steer you in the right directions with things to look for (Tervigons) and things to avoid (Pyrovores) but in the end there are people who avoid the Tervigon and do just fine...nobody chooses the Pyrovore and succeeds though he's just terrible. Find a few friends who have no hangups about you proxying up a storm and play with everything in the codex. Try it all, see how it works for you, then abandon the Pyrovore. Seriously he's that bad.

That, my good sir, has hereby been Quoted For Truth. Well spoken!

I've had these kinds of games with a friend of mine, to get a "feel" of how every unit works within the 'nid ranks. And while some units shone through, others failed miserably. Most of these being Toughness 4, getting eaten from ID, others from toying around with Reserve-based lists, that i hardly feel the 'nids benefit from, due to the nature of Deep Striking ('nids being lacky in shooting power, and DS'ing leaving any unit open.).

Running a fair amount of T6 Creatures down the board gives for a great saturation in "shoot at me, not the one next to me." has often seemed to work for me in MC-heavy lists, while on the other hand, trying Fast Assault lists works fairly aswell.

The main thing to focus on, is exactly as SumTungGui explains it; Seeing the larger picture. Look through the codex, get an idea of what type of army you desire to play, have an idea of how the strategy is supposed to be and hence forth start fielding units that either fulfills these roles, or fills the gaps in where the weaknesses might seem to be.