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Well, let me explain first.

I loved the old nid book, thought it had more 'character' and customisability, but I have heard people say the new nids are wayy weaker than before and I'm not sure why.

As it stands, the only nid player I know is my little brother, who is only 14, and he kicks the ass of even veteran players. Its rather funny seeing some older, experienced player fight him with a smirk on his face the vanishes in the 2nd turn.

But anyway, my brother has a nails list. Lotsa genestealers, hive tyrants etc. But before people say they are an exception, he then went with the gaunt horde, and wipes the floor with sheer numbers and mawlocs. The doom of malan'ti is incredibly powerful, as are the S10 AP1 lance weapons! If anything, I thought they improved. Carnifexes are broods now, so you can fit in the nice, new HS, warriors gained an extra wound and the ability to take power weapons. The tyrant ability to make a troop outflank, from 30 hormagaunts to a tervigon is nasty as hell.

So I ask; why is it thought to be nerfed from the old? While some things became lacking, on the whole it seems easy to write a solid, even themed list and win with relative ease.

Von Chogg

P.S the new psychic powers are NASTY! 'Boom, your unit is now WS and BS 1'

I'm fairly certain that it's the FAQ they released to "balance" the codex that nerfed them...

I dunno. If your 14 year old brother can beat these 'veterans' by turn 2, then either he's a military genius and child prodigy, or your club's definition of 'veteran' may be off.

Also, you guys are applying the FAQ, correct?

Maybe the Veterans at your store just don't know how to tackle his lists because they've never seen something so unconventional before.

Von Chogg wrote:Carnifexes are broods now, so you can fit in the nice, new HS

How, exactly, are you meant to fit in a Carnifex brood and say, a Trygon or Tyrannofex, in a 1500 point army, when that Carnifex brood is pushing 500 points naked? Sure, you can throw in a couple of Trygons as well, and have no points left for anything to support them. And support they need, in this mech heavy metagame where people being enough anti tank to down that brood in one turn.

Don't get me wrong, I run Carnifexes, though out of nostalgia and lack of very competitive opponents. But it doesn't make them a competitive, or even very good, choice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Rabtorian wrote:I'm fairly certain that it's the FAQ they released to "balance" the codex that nerfed them...

Internal balance was terrible right off the line. The FAQ just kicked Tyranids while they were down.

Von Chogg wrote:As it stands, the only nid player I know is my little brother, who is only 14, and he kicks the ass of even veteran players. Its rather funny seeing some older, experienced player fight him with a smirk on his face the vanishes in the 2nd turn.

I'd love to see batreps. I don't see "veterans" losing to a Tyranid list in 2 turns.

But anyway, my brother has a nails list. Lotsa genestealers, hive tyrants etc. But before people say they are an exception, he then went with the gaunt horde, and wipes the floor with sheer numbers and mawlocs. The doom of malan'ti is incredibly powerful, as are the S10 AP1 lance weapons! If anything, I thought they improved. Carnifexes are broods now, so you can fit in the nice, new HS, warriors gained an extra wound and the ability to take power weapons. The tyrant ability to make a troop outflank, from 30 hormagaunts to a tervigon is nasty as hell.

Stealer lists are good. Horde lists can be good, but are tougher to run - but Mawloc's... rarely perform well. Doom is strong, but can be easy to kill (ID T4). Warp Lance is also good, but there's a *lot* of psychic defense out there.

Carnifexes... yeah, no. Making them broods but increasing the cost was not a good thing. Overall the only good thing to come out of that was the ability to join ICs to them. Warriors are a decent unit, but in the current mech heavy meta STR8 weapons abound... so that extra wound doesn't mean much. Hive Commander is nifty, I'll give you that.

At release, the 5th ed. Nid book had some tricks, but wasn't amazing. Since it was released books like the Grey Knights - where everyone and their brother will ID - well... everything.



Tyranids are a very glass cannon codex. When everything goes right, they will slaughter their opponents. It's really easy for something to go wrong, however, and it's typically tough to recover.

Just my opinion.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And yeah - the FAQ just constantly kicks Nids.

The Venomthrope? Really? Did it *need* to get nerfed?

I can see people unprepared for a specific list losing by turn two, especially if it's from an army that is rarely seen in the local area.

I don't think he meant his brother was defeating these veterans by turn 2. Rather the smirk from arrogance facing a younger player is gone as they realize "oh hell, he doesn't suck, this kid knows what he's doing"

Ignatius wrote:I don't think he meant his brother was defeating these veterans by turn 2. Rather the smirk from arrogance facing a younger player is gone as they realize "oh hell, he doesn't suck, this kid knows what he's doing"

This is what I meant, not that he tables people in turn 2...

He is a very solid player, and as of yet I seem to be the only one that can beat him with my eldar


Also, I realise 'fexs aren't great, but was merely stating it as a possibility for more monsters

But I have watched him make a unit of paladins WS1 and BS1 and then proceed to get eaten by a unit of 30 hormagaunts. No doubt, despite his age, he is an amazing player and rather tactically minded, but he seems to take faq in his stride and just beats past it...

But cheers for all the replies, raised a lot of things I hadn't thought of previously

Von Chogg

They are only "nerfed" In reference to taking monsterous creature spam is no longer the best list. What you are hearing is the previous players of the last edition rulebook complaining about how their carnifexes keep losing.

Nid work extremely well using hordes right now, with a few monsters sprinkled in.

Nids are quite decent. They have several units that you can use competitively in all slots.

In most tourneys I go to, I see nids finishing quite well. I've yet to see them win a tourney, but 2 in the top 10/1 in top 5 happens regularly.

Some match-ups can be really tough for nids though. Dark eldar venomspam, SW missile/Jaws spam and certain GK lists all make it an uphill battle. Unfortunately, those lists are fairly common too

Just for my two cents on this:

"Q: Can a Tervigon who has used the Onslaught psychic
power (a psychic shooting attack) on a friendly Tyranid
unit, fire a weapon at an enemy unit or launch an
assault in the same turn? (p52)
A: No."

I don't see how this can be legal in the rules, as I decided to read the F&Q before posting here... MC's get to fire two weapons in the shooting phase... so how does a psychic shooting attack not count as a weapon... tis rather gay :/

AnUnearthlyChilde wrote:Just for my two cents on this:

"Q: Can a Tervigon who has used the Onslaught psychic
power (a psychic shooting attack) on a friendly Tyranid
unit, fire a weapon at an enemy unit or launch an
assault in the same turn? (p52)
A: No."

I don't see how this can be legal in the rules, as I decided to read the F&Q before posting here... MC's get to fire two weapons in the shooting phase... so how does a psychic shooting attack not count as a weapon... tis rather gay :/

They're allowed to fire two weapons, but must fire them at same target (unless they had special rules that gave them exception to this).
So the reason they're not allowed to shoot is not because they used Onslaught, but because they would have shoot the friendly unit. Same for assaulting. (Obviously neither are allowed by the rules).

AnUnearthlyChilde wrote:Just for my two cents on this:

"Q: Can a Tervigon who has used the Onslaught psychic
power (a psychic shooting attack) on a friendly Tyranid
unit, fire a weapon at an enemy unit or launch an
assault in the same turn? (p52)
A: No."

I don't see how this can be legal in the rules, as I decided to read the F&Q before posting here... MC's get to fire two weapons in the shooting phase... so how does a psychic shooting attack not count as a weapon... tis rather gay :/

Because you can't fire at two separate units. You're firing your psy shooting attack at a friendly unit, therefore you cannot fire or assault an enemy unit.

Sasori wrote:Because you can't fire at two separate units. You're firing your psy shooting attack at a friendly unit, therefore you cannot fire or assault an enemy unit.

That may be, but, I've seen other dexes get away with far more than the nid one did before it got nerfed... which blows. :/