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Took some feedback and played with an existing idea to come up with the following, C&C welcome!

HQ:
Hive Tyrant
+TL-Devourers w/ brainleech worms
+Old Adversery
+1x Tyrant Guard = 270

Tyranid Prime
+5pts worth of upgrades?? = 85

Troops:
Tervigon
+Toxin Sacs
+Adrenal Glands
+Catalyst = 195
Tervigon
+Adrenal Glands
+Toxin Sacs
+Catalyst = 195

2x 10X Termagants = 100

Elites:
1x Venomthrope = 55
2x Hive Guard = 100
2x Hive Guard = 100

Heavy Support:
Trygon = 200

Trygon = 200

= 1500pts on the nose

I used to field the tyrant solo without wings or any dev's, with the commander ability. The list really doesn't need an outflanking troop choice (would be useful but points were tight) and whilst the Tyrgons can deep-strike, with the T6 saturation, I feel I don't need to. I wanted genestealers, realised I could get a different kind of melee unit with the Tyrant. Could I be troop light, or will dual Tervigon's (with Tyrant/Hive Guard/Venomthrope support) suffice?

Edit: 38 T6 Wounds and answers to most problems. Not optimal but trying to be a TAC competitive list - for context!

Albeit not a Tyranid player, I think the list looks pretty solid. Whats the points cost? 1500?

I wonder if as many Carnifexs (Dakkafexs?) as you can get instead of the Trygons would be a better option? Overall, on paper I think it looks pretty good, but I wonder if it could suffer from target priority problems, with the Trygons the first target and therefore 1st to go down, then the Tyrant and Tervigons. Whether it would be possible for the enemy to neutralise your only immediate threat like this or whether you have enough wound saturation is debatable I guess.

At the least, hopefully this'll give you a 'bump' to get more advice however. Good luck!

I would make both tervigons AG,toxin and catalyst - drop the talons as they are only WS3 - let the gants do the work boosted by toxin and AG.

Dual tervigon lists are rarely troop light!

ruminator wrote:I would make both tervigons AG,toxin and catalyst - drop the talons as they are only WS3 - let the gants do the work boosted by toxin and AG.

Dual tervigon lists are rarely troop light!

I can do that, but I'd have to drop the twin-linked devourers, which I thought would be fun to play with. Both tervigon's have catalyst, one is missing sytals & adrenal glands in place of the TL-Devs for the Tyrant. Which is better?
Oh, as a point to note; both Tervigon's have the large blast cluster spines.

I like the list. Just a couple of suggestions. First, you only need one Hive Guard for you Tyrant. That wil grant you cover saves. With those points you can add what was sugested to the Tervigon, though I would think about adding another Venomthrope instead. Having one is just asking for a Krak missle or two, and then no more save. Another option would be to find the points for a Tyranid Prime so that it can attach to the Venomthrope and take the first set of Krak missles. It would take a couple of unlucky saves at that point before the Venomthrope would have to go away.

The Wraith

Your Tyrant has Old Adversary? Assuming you're going to keep him close to the big momma bugs, they've little use for scytal. Only benefit would be for running head-first at vehicles, but you've got Trygons for that.

With enough bubblewrap, lash whips might not be needed on your Tyrant Guards. I'm not a fan of single guard units, but I can see the argument to trade one in and try to manage a Lashprime from somewhere to protect the Venom for a turn or two and cripple IC's if they pose a threat.

How effective are two tyrant guards compared to one? Then how useful would it be to have adrenal glands on both Tervigon's, compared to just one. With the 70-85pts worth, if I remove a tyrant guard, lashwhips and the tervigon sytal - what could I get?

I heard mention of a lash-whip Warrior Prime? Would it form a squad with the venomthrope? What else could be bought?

Edit: & Thanks guys, all appreciated.

It strikes me that one TG is an OK way of putting an ablative cover save on a Tyrant, and three is an OK deathstar unit when equipped. Two seems to sit somewhere below the two; not enough to make for a deadly deathstar, and perhaps a bit expensive for a goal of increasing survivability.

Only having AG on one Tervigon is just asking for it to become target number one to completely nerf the Termagants' ability to lockdown light to medium vehicles and more than halve their effectiveness against MEQs. It's tempting to try making one into a throwaway spawner and the other into a dedicated buffer, but it's a gamble that can lead to much kicking of self.

It's difficult to suggest for certain a solid trade for eighty-odd points. A single Venomthrope is asking to get taken down by the las or krak thrown around by troops. Having a Prime join it means a salvo of the above will be necessary to put wounds on the thrope, or else the Prime will take the wounds.

I threw the Lash Whip in there for fear of a brutal IC jumping into the army and wreaking havoc, but it's by no means compulsory. Given that the Tyrant's got to get close to make Adversary count, perhaps tinker with trading the Devourers in for a running Swordtyrant to free up enough points for a nekkid Prime?

Problem is, I just can't afford that prime, as good as he would be. I agree 2 guard doesn't make a hive tyrant a deathstar but it does make it very difficult to kill & considering how well it will buff a large majority of the army, if I can't think of a good way to spend the points, I may leave them as it is.

I agree about the tervigons, if both buff equally, I've added in redundancy. If I could get a second venomthrope & a few more upgrades? Or another 10man gant squad & some upgrades... or keep the 2nd Tyrant Guard?

Hmm, difficult call. I can't say I've played enough with Venomthropes and small Guard units to confidently advise, here; both options have always struck me as Kill Points waiting to happen.

My gut feeling is that giving the Venomthrope unit majority T5, a 3+ save and immunity to ID from single Str8+ shots adds a lot more survivability to it than another pair of T4 wounds.

A lot of people claim that Hive Guard can obscure Tervigons and Tyrants enough to give them cover, but it's not something I'd like to bank on...

I've made the changes and I agree, tyranid prime is scarier & more useful/protective than an additional tyrant guard - especially when with my Venomthrope!

But I'm destined not to have Adrenal Glands on all of my big bugs. I've had to cut the Trygon adrenal glands to make the points up but I think its worthwhile.

Thoughts on the updated list? 5pts on deathspitter as I do not see an additional 5pts that I can shave off anywhere else!

Edit: Forgot to add Tervigon Adrenal's. S'all there now.

The new list is better. Now your cover should last much longer. It is too bad the points are not there for a lash whip and bone sword on the Prime, but still solid. Might as well add the deathspitter. Though Another option would be rending claws so that he is a little better in hth.

The Wraith

Thanks all - been a real help, hadn't considered the use of a Warrior prime until now.

I'll probably go for the deathspitter & if I really feel I need more upgrades (Trygon Adrenals, boneswords, lashwhips etc) then I may try out dropping one Hive Guard but for now, sorted.

Now to check out these new Finecast models...

Yea i have never been quite sure about the double trygon in 1500 points, they can be either quite fast, or quite slow, it is really quite a "coin flip" unit in my opinion.

and you arn't taking them with AG either :(

So instead of the 200 points, i would probably go with 14 genestealers and 10 gargoyls, i think this would be heaps better, and gargoyles are good screen aswell for your tervigons and what not.

@ Dave_Nz: How would Trygons be slow? Poor fleet rolls? As for Trygon adrenal glands, I5 would be helpful and str7 would make killing vehicles easier but I believe a 4th Hive Guard will accomplish this more effectively.

As for 14 Stealers and 10 Gargoyls; 200pts could afford 10 nacked stealers and 10 gargoyles, not 14. My tervigons don't really need screens, either Hiveguard/trygons or the venomthrope I have invested points into will aid me with coversaves.

@Dave_Nz: Here, what's going on with that Ork in your sig? Alls I see of him is a pair of eyes, ears and a forehead...