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I have been playing nids since i started playing in November of 2011, i love them, they're super fun to play and i love the models. i have won a few games, and only play casually, really (not much of a tactical genius at all, which is why i dont play tournaments yet)

i am currently running a swarmlord with just one tyrant guard, only because i have one tyrant guard(would like to get more), at first, i thought he was sweet but once i stated to actually play him, ive found hes not that awesome

i have used Hormagaunts with adrenal glands and Hormagaunts with toxin sacs, i prefer toxin sacs, but i prefer genestealers over all

i have used Ymgarl Genestealers and love them, every game i have played they have been MVP or a very close second

i have ran hive guard but realized they are only good in broods of 2+

i have used zoanthrope (only as a brood of 1) and i have used the doom of malantai, i love the doom of malantai, i use a mycetic spore to drop him in near a group of units and just let his SL do some work and it takes a while for my opponents to take him down

i enjoy using tyrannofexes for their W6, T6 2+ save and rupture cannon

i just got a Trygon prime and every time i deep strike him in, i shoot his gun and next turn he usually dies to lascannons and meltas

i also like warriors as long as they are with a tyranid prime, i use them with deathspitters and scything talons, cheap and a pretty decent gun

am i doing something wrong? should i use a different HQ? more Ymgarls? fewer Ymgarls? more warriors? more primes? any advice would be greatly appreciated

foreplay241 wrote:I have been playing nids since i started playing in November of 2011, i love them, they're super fun to play and i love the models. i have won a few games, and only play casually, really (not much of a tactical genius at all, which is why i dont play tournaments yet)

Heya and welcome to Tyranids!

i am currently running a swarmlord with just one tyrant guard, only because i have one tyrant guard(would like to get more), at first, i thought he was sweet but once i stated to actually play him, ive found hes not that awesome

What point level do you play at? Tyrants (including the Swarmlord) aren't really that good until you are playing at about 1750 points or more. The Swarmlord can be a great choice, but you need to build the list specifically around him to make it work well.

One or two Tyrant guard are usually plenty. Just make sure that the guard have cover so the Tyrant can benefit from it as well (if 50% of a unit is in cover, the whole unit claims the benefit). Shield the guard with other units (termagants, hormagants, or anything really) and the survivability of the Tyrant goes up a ton.

i have used Hormagaunts with adrenal glands and Hormagaunts with toxin sacs, i prefer toxin sacs, but i prefer genestealers over all

Both of them are good. Hormagaunts should always have toxin sacs....adrenal is only really useful if you want to hurt vehicles.....and even then if you're attacking vehicles with hormagaunts you are doing something very, very wrong.

You'll find that if you take a lot of Genestealers that the army will start sucking more and more. They are shock troops, not models you build an army around. One (usually two maximum) broods of 8-10 are decent.

i have used Ymgarl Genestealers and love them, every game i have played they have been MVP or a very close second

Not a fan of these guys at all. Expensive and slightly harder to kill than regular genestealers. Not that they're bad.....just that they take up elite slots that should be going towards Hive Guard or Zoanthropes.

i have ran hive guard but realized they are only good in broods of 2+

Definitely. Hive Guard are absolutely amazing. I never leave home without at least 6 of them. Most good Tyranid lists use 6 Hive Guard and 2-3 zoans in a Mycetic Sport or just use 9 Hive Guard.

i have used zoanthrope (only as a brood of 1) and i have used the doom of malantai, i love the doom of malantai, i use a mycetic spore to drop him in near a group of units and just let his SL do some work and it takes a while for my opponents to take him down

The Doom can be a lot of fun to use, but he still dies to massed small-arms fire. And if an S8 wound gets through his invulnerable save say goodbye. Doesn't matter if he has 10 wounds or anything. Instant-Death weapons are his bane.

i enjoy using tyrannofexes for their W6, T6 2+ save and rupture cannon

Good choice.

i just got a Trygon prime and every time i deep strike him in, i shoot his gun and next turn he usually dies to lascannons and meltas

You should almost NEVER DS a Trygon. Also as you found out they go down pretty quickly when not supported. IMO you always need at least 2 of them....even then you need a bunch of other units to support them (fast stuff that can keep up with them).

i also like warriors as long as they are with a tyranid prime, i use them with deathspitters and scything talons, cheap and a pretty decent gun

I really like the models, but sadly warriors kinda suck. They are just waaaay too easy to kill. One unit of 5 or so can work in a list....but make sure they have a cover save or S8+ weapons will wreck them badly.

am i doing something wrong? should i use a different HQ? more Ymgarls? fewer Ymgarls? more warriors? more primes? any advice would be greatly appreciated

Sounds like you're on a decent track. I'd probably invest in more Hive Guard.

Could you put up an exact list (and what point level you're playing at)? We can help you more that way.

Nungunz wrote:Both of them are good. Hormagaunts should always have toxin sacs....adrenal is only really useful if you want to hurt vehicles.....and even then if you're attacking vehicles with hormagaunts you are doing something very, very wrong.

Or you're fighting Dark Eldar. I regularly play Wych heavy Dark Eldar, and I've found my Hormagaunts get chopped to peices before they do anything against them. If they get the charge, they at least strike simultaneously and make sure the Wych squad is pretty much combat ineffective before they get cut down.

Here's my list, and I've had some good success with it at 1850.

1 HT: LW&BS, HVC, Hive Commander, LE&Parox (honestly, does anyone take anything else for psychic? He's here to get the deepstrikers out on the table fast and take pot shots with the HVC. He's no slouch, and I've had him kill a demon prince in a round of combat and walk out unscathed. Depending on what you fight, the Stranglethorn may be a better option)

1 Alpha: Twin BS, regen (He'll be soaking up shots for the warriors, and is your character and small squad killer. He does this very well.)

3x3 Hive Guard (anything a Zoapthrope kills these can at least potentially hurt. And they don't blow themselves up and are far more survivable)

x20 Termagants with Devourers in a pod. (These drop in and remove a problem; even if the target doesn't die it's got a good chance to be crippled for the rest of the game). I've had them outright kill Fateweaver before he could even look at his re-rolls, and they've taken Terminator squads down by quite the number as well. They sadly, in turn, become the worlds largest fire magnet if your opponent is smart.)

1 Terivgon. Change the gun to the 5" blast and give him catalyst. (He'll hold whatever objective you need and spawn more friends at any given point. Don't be afraid to be aggressive with him in late game, especially if he's untouched)

5 warriors, LW&BS. (Outflank with Prime. 2/3rd of the time they show up where you want them and it puts them into a good delivery spot.)

1 Trygon Prime (Shootier version of his little brother down here. Try to coordinate him with the termagants to take out deathstar units. It's a lot of shooting that will cripple or kill even hardy units. Dropping a T6W6 model in the middle of the enemy advance also makes for immediate changes of plans)

1 Trygon (like the prime, but less shooty)

With hive commander, you stand a good chance of most of your reserves coming in turn two, and it allows for the warriors to outflank which will act as a solid bullet shield. I've won games due to that warrior squad simply because of a careless mistake on the part of my opponent. By turn three, short of exceptionally bad luck you've got everything in place and unleashing a large salvo of shots every turn. With good use of cover and placement, the Hive guard and tervigon should be able to fire out with little to no return fire; the Hive guard with their guns and the Tervigon with the gaunts he spawns.

This is where you'll find that the extra 2 wounds that our MCs often have over other armies really keeps you in the fight. It will take direct, constant firepower from multiple sources to drop even a single one; even the Tyrant can withstand quite a bit of punishment. But they're not invincible... and frankly, don't get attached to them. Throw them into the thickest fighting that you can find and let them start playing hell with the formations.

I've had surprising success with these guys; the list may not be for everyone but I like how it plays and even when I lose my opponent does not do so without getting beaten badly.

At 2k, change out the Trygon Prime for another 2 Trygons... I think you have to drop regen on the Alpha too.

Not sure you can outflank the prime with the warriors using Hive Commander. Only allows for a troop unit, so prime would need to be deployed elsewhere, which makes the warriors pretty rubbish.

Yeah - you can't outflank with the Prime using Hive Commander.

It's stupid, I know.

try also Tyranid Prime attached to broods of 2-3 Carnifex. haha

People underate warriors. People don't like to shoot them when there are scary TMC's down thier throat.

if you want to stick to 35pt warriors I more often field Devourer + Rending Claws Warrior, only slightly weaker shooting for much better CC vs anything with a 4+ save or better.

I more commonly run Devourer + Toxin sacs + Rending Claws.

Also deepstriking lone Trygons is suicide, unless you have Genestealers and a Tervigon on the outflank to help it.

Well that changes my approach... Thought one of the FAQ just disallowed the prime in the spore, not the hc outflank.

And I've never lost a Trygon on the drop... But I work them in with whatever else comes in. If they come alone I'll hit the objective holders. And it still takes a concentrated volume of fire to bring it down.

I've only ever had a Trygon die on me once. And that was just a lucky hit from some random Grey Knight. I hate Gk...

We all do... That's the one army I honestly can't get an idea how a Tyranid player can pull a win against.

Marrak wrote:We all do... That's the one army I honestly can't get an idea how a Tyranid player can pull a win against.

Your only chance is to pick up one of the old tyranid metal mcs and chuck it at him while he's allocating to his paladins. If you give him a concussion, you win by default. (But you may end up in jail. Is it worth it? Only you can decide. )

I usually play around 1500 sometimes 1750...I don't have a computer as of right now or I would post a list, I'm on my phone for now ;_; Thank you all for the advice, I feel I have a better idea on how to play them, they are my first army and probably my only army


this is the last list i played

=HQ=
Swarmlord - 280pts
x1 Tyrant guard - 60pts

=Elites=
Doom of Malantai (with mycetic spore) - 130pts
x8 Ymgarl Genies - 184
x8 Ymgarl Genies - 184

=Troops=
x4 Warriors - 140pts
x4 Warriors - 140pts
X5 Warriors - 175pts
x6 Ripper Swarm - 60pts

=Heavy=
Trygon Prime - 240pts

Total Points:1593/1600

You haven't understood the zoan and hive guard comments.

Mech is awesome in 5th edition, your codex is 5th edition it shouldn't be that hard to deal with it.
However, it is really tricky for 'nids. You can not use WS to hit vehicles and even then getting in base contact is tricky given that deepstrikers need a turn to be able to assault, then the occupants of the rhino will rapid fire you next turn.

This leaves zoanthropes, hive guard and maybe the doom. It is the only way you'll want to open tanks.

Your list doesn't really adapt to the inclusion of Hive guard or zoanthropes so not sure what you want to do.

MFletch wrote:This leaves zoanthropes, hive guard and maybe the doom. It is the only way you'll want to open tanks.

Your list doesn't really adapt to the inclusion of Hive guard or zoanthropes so not sure what you want to do.

Also Tyrannofexes and Harpies with TL-Venom Cannon. Dakka-Fexes and Dakka-Tyrants can damage light armor as well with the sheer number of shots they have.


But yeah, I agree.....against any half-decent army the above list is going to get thrashed 90% of the time.

im sorry, i should have been more clear, that list was the last list i played before posting on here, this is my more recent list



=HQ=
Swarmlord - 280pts
x3 Tyrant guard - 180pts

=Elites=
Doom of Malantai (with mycetic spore) - 130pts
x3 Hive Guard - 150 pts
x2 Zoanthropes- 120pts

=Troops=
x7 Warriors (scything talons and deathspitters) - 245pts
x8 Genestealers - 112pts
x8 Genestealers - 112pts

=Heavy=
Tyrannofex (with rupture cannons) - 265


Total Points 1594/1600


i did much better this game, although, i still didnt win :/ oh well, maybe next time, i am doing so much better than i was when i first started, thank you all for your help

I think your biggest problem in this list is the 460pnt sink you have in your HQ.

After that - I think it's mainly just tweaking/personal preference.

I would try swapping the HQ sink for a Prime (2 boneswords, deathspitter, regen), sticking him in your warrior unit for the increased BS/WS goodness, and giving one of your warriors a barbed strangler.

You can screen your T-Fex with your Zoeys (they're nice and tall and have a 3++) so he can get a cover save and not die to dark lance spam or lascannons or similar.

The additional 360 points can go on a Tervy, more stealers, a large gant screen, or a combination - depending on your personal feel.

If you want more specific advice, let us know what types of units are really giving you headaches (and why), and we might be able to help out a bit more

Thank you all for your advice, ive been on these forums for a few months and i definitely enjoy it here, thank you all for the advice

what are your guys's opinion on raveners? i think i have a bit of a huge boner for them, but ive never used them, and i dont want to dump a bunch of money into a unit thats not gonna be balls awesome