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Got a small tournie comming up so ive decided to get the nids going again.
Boards will be small 4"x4" so not a great deal of running around involved.
I know from the players theres a mixed and a pure nurgle daemon armies.
There is also a BA and pups army, but the rest im unsure on until the day, so, 1,200:

Hive tyrant: Wings, lash + sword - 230

3 Zoanthropes - 180
Doom of malantai - 90

Tervigon: Catalyst, cluster spines, talons - 180
10 Termagants - 50
10 Genestealers: Broodlord, adrenal glands - 216

Trygon: Prime, adrenal glands - 250

1,196 points.

So, looking for all C&C please

Quick note: Usually i run thropes instead of hive guard since i prefer the stronger shot.
In larger games i run 2x 3 thropes and 3 hives, but points dont allow too much play and i wanted to get in 2 heavy hitters atleast.

I'm not sure I agree with bringing a winged Hive Tyrant with no "special" bonuses. I love the Tyrant but without any special abilities, he's just an overcosted beatstick. At 230 pts, he's almost as much as a Trygon Prime...slightly faster...and about half the damage output.

The Tervigon is an amazing unit (and model), but Catalyst seems wasted on your units. You really only have one good target for it - the Genestealers. Your MC will be taken down by anti-tank, so FnP doesn't help there.

You would lose the scoring MC, but I would drop the Tyrant and make the Tervigon your HQ. I would also drop AG on the Trygon - you only need these for Land Raiders and Monoliths, of which you shouldn't see many at 1200 pts. Drop the Scything Talons on your Tervigon - he's horrible in combat anyway.

With the extra 245 points, you should definitely give both your Zoanthropes and the Doom a Spore Pod. This makes them infinitely better. With the other points, I would add a large unit of Genestealers with Toxin Sacs. They reroll to wound against marines and easily wound T6 Nurgle daemons.

Not sure if this would necessarily make the list better - it's just what I would do.

1-doom needs a pod.
2-Tyrant needs no wings at this point game.
3-smaller genestealer squad. no broodlord.
4-trygon can re roll wounds if he has toxin sacs.
5-bigger gaunt squad.f
6-no upgrades on the tervigon.
7-hive guard are great against all the Rhino you are bound to see at 1200. and convertable with warriors.

1: Doom i agree i do need to find the points for a pod.
Dont actually have any pods, so ill have to look about and see if i can find something like a plasma hatcher to use.

2: i guess dropping the wings gives the points for a pod, but it then renders the tyrant useless as he is far too slow and sluggish.
Wanted a quick moving threat.
I know im against daemons so i really dont want a greater daemon or prince hitting 1st against the tyrant, which is why i kept his whip.

3: There is a GK player that i know of and possibly another one or two, so the broodlords powers really do help for this.
In my larger army i usually run 3x 12 stealers with BL's and against GK they have saved me too many times to count.

4: Adrenals may seem pointless, but re-rolling to wound has no real use against armour.
In smaller games its easy enough to throw 2-3 LR's into a BA army, so want to make sure it dies quickly.

5: Need points to add in extra stuff, more gaunts is allways good though.

6: Cluster spines cost nothing and give a large blast, so they get to stay.
Catalyst is worth its weight in gold.
I know anti-tank weapons will be aimed at all MC's, but in 1.2k you havent got enough to kill them all, so they will target one with that and small arms to make sure it goes down.
FNP should help shrug off the small arms fire and if needs be (if close enough) the stealers will be getting FNP to keep a full unit for as long as possible.

7: Ive got 6 hive guard, so models arent an issue.
Its just a case of people seeming to ignore the small transports in favor of hammer's in these points.
Most people will have 2 troops, so instead of razorbacks they will more than likely go big on armour as its a much safer bet at low points.
A S10 AP1 lance will tear through anything.
Also, they give me shadow, which against GK and any marine army (most will take a libby) the help it provides is massive.
Same reasoning as taking the flyrant.

Also, hives cant kill termies or the likes.
Granted it averages 2 per shooting with thropes, but against paladins and multi-wound models, that will be 2 dead a turn.


Table wise we are looking at 4x4, so if i setup front line then distance isnt a real issue, which is why i didnt want to go mad on pods siphen.
Otherwise i have then dropped 2 units capable of hunting armour into the center of the enemies line.
I rather they fire rounds at my MC's and soak wounds as i move over the board, atleast then i know the thropes will have more than 1 turn of shooting before they get boltered to death (or missiled in the common case of space pups)

4x4? Outflanking gets much stronger. Drop the Hive Tyrant and the Trygon, buy a cheap Tyranid Prime as HQ and moar Genestealers for the rest of your points.
Possibly move the Tervigon to HQ, save the points for the Prime and add even more Genestealers.

I'd agree with the tyranid prime idea, plus if you give him rending claws and sything talons he is a cheap but effective combat assasin, a few warriors as bodyguard (making the group able to contest objectives and able to have Catalyst power used on them) should make sure he gets where you want him, plus he's not a psyker so GK opponent wont be at advantage... I think that genestealers are the bomb in small points games as they are good at killing most types of units for first turn charges and the broodlord will always help out at popping tanks and spec characters however I think that with 10 stealers plus a broodlord it will be hard to find a good spot to infiltrate such a large group, maybe swap for two 5 stealer groups each with their own broodlord or perhaps a few 8 stealer groups... plus doom should always have a pod because he will be wasted by insta kill weapons before he gets in range for his psychic powers...

Warriors are nice, but i find them far too squishy.
The odd stray missile ends them far too quickly and people are more than happy to spend a turn of anti-tank on them instead of a slow MC as the results are alot easier to get.

I never actually run warriors anymore because of this.
As soon as they lost EW they became pretty much useless.
Shrikes are the same, but easier to kill.

Only other warrior based critter i like is ravs, and thats because 6 with dev's and claws can put out a worrying amount of damage. (9 in a larger game)
However, they need babysitting so ive kept them out of this.




One idea i have had was a pretty big change.

Basic prime as a cheap and nasty HQ.
2 units of hive guard.
Max out on stealers and just go for stealer shock style of play.

Good point about warriors, however you could always use your termagents as a screen, even using the spawnlings to bolster lost numbers, a nice 4+ cover will make them a bit more durable.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
On a 4 by 4 table they wont need long to get into combat, or just have them in reserve and pop them up within 6" of the trygon...

Granted the 4+ really is nice, but thats all the help they will get.
For once i cant even FNP something to solve a problem lol.


Tis a shame too, since last edition i ran 2 full units of warriors (CC + shooty)
Now though, i just see them as 3 devilgants(4-5 if upgrading warriors), but with less shooting, same wounds but can be killed by a single krak missile.

The option is still open if i were to run shooty nids, but i just dont like the chance of survival that they have.



Another (random) option:

Tervigon: Cat - 175
Tervigon: Cat - 175

3 hive guard - 150

15 gants - 75
10 gants - 50
10 gants - 50
tervigon: cat - 175
tervigon: cat - 175
tervigon: cat - 175

1,200 dead on and at that points, pretty much an endless wave of gants.
Sure there should be something preventing this, but 15D6 gants being spawned per turn? just an endless tarpit while i sit on objectives.


Edit: Law of averages puts me at 49 gants being spawned per turn.
Im pretty sure that will be enough lol.

If you've got the 9,999 termagants that would be a fun list to do.

If you've the models I would go 4 tervigons, a few more hive guard and AG/TS on the tervigons. That would work - but no one will like you any more.

Looking back at the original list. Flyrant really needs a gargoyle screen - keep them cheap as they are only ablative wounds and you're only playing at 1,200.

Broodlord seems excessive at 1,200 points and I think TS would be better on those stealers over AG.