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Hello Dakka's,

I think those 6th edition psychic powers will be great for tyranids!

what about this:

HQ Swarmlord with 1 Tyrant gaurd
HQ Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs


TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs
TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs
TROOPS 10 gaunts
TROOPS 10 gaunts

ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler

Tactics: Pick the psychic powers you need!

Would this army work?

I think it could work. Problem is, if you don't have turn one your SL and tervigons are going to be taking lots of heat seeing how they are the only things on the board aside from 20 gaunts. With the zoanthropes Im always a fan of its warp lance, so why try to get something else? Then again, I really don't know psychics to well yet so I could be very mistaken. Bottom line, could work very well.

I think you might be better of diversifying your elites a bit as you will run into problems should you face an Eldar player (with runes of warding), although to be honest I am fuzzy on wether or not Zoanthropes had a non-psychic test fire mode as well in the latest codex (if they do, this will be less of a problem).

Still, you won't face them often, and if they are mostly infantry based this list will still be able to hold its own (combination skimmers + RoW will be tricky).


Also I am unsure how you are going to handle Flyers. But again I am not quite sure what options Tyranids have at the moment to deal with those (except for mass twin-linked str 6 devourers).


Excepting the above two I think this list will give a lot of armies a lot of trouble and is also quite original so most players will not expect it (or prepare for it).

DutchSage wrote:I think you might be better of diversifying your elites a bit as you will run into problems should you face an Eldar player (with runes of warding), although to be honest I am fuzzy on wether or not Zoanthropes had a non-psychic test fire mode as well in the latest codex (if they do, this will be less of a problem).

Still, you won't face them often, and if they are mostly infantry based this list will still be able to hold its own (combination skimmers + RoW will be tricky).


Also I am unsure how you are going to handle Flyers. But again I am not quite sure what options Tyranids have at the moment to deal with those (except for mass twin-linked str 6 devourers).


Excepting the above two I think this list will give a lot of armies a lot of trouble and is also quite original so most players will not expect it (or prepare for it).

I think that those zoanthropes are great because you can diversify them anyway you want with all these psychic powers. Runes of Warding could be a problem but My 6 wounds MC's can take a punch. When I got a few wounds I can cast "endurance" and got a 1/3 change of getting a wound back. Against Eldar (and other armies) I love the "objuration Mechanicum" power (telekinesis). Not because I'am able to get a "free" glancing hit but also let enemy units reroll 6's to hit and wound.

To handle flyers I only got Zoanthropes zo maybe I need to add sumthing.

New list: 1750 points

HQ Swarmlord with 1 tyrantgaurd
HQ Hive Tyrant with wings, 1x twin linked devourers and old adversary


TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst
TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst
TROOPS 10 gaunts
TROOPS 10 gaunts

ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore

Hive tyrant goes High in the sky and when those zoantropes drop he can be within 6 inch of them and give them preffered enemy (reroll's 1's). He can always use a psychic power, vector strike and shoot with his twin linked devourers to bring down flyers.

I'd be tempted to take a Doom in a pod as one of those elite options, and swap out Cataclysm for Psychic Shriek. Then if you do happen to draw against someone with good psy-defense (Farseer or Rune Priest) drop the pod next to them and start sapping...
It fits the theme and stops them from countering with their own powers as easily.

Don't forget that Spirit Leech isn't a power and can't be nullified, and if their psyker is in a squad you can force morale checks by killing enough grunts.

One farseer (which most armies can have) and you're screwed.

xttz wrote:I'd be tempted to take a Doom in a pod as one of those elite options, and swap out Cataclysm for Psychic Shriek. Then if you do happen to draw against someone with good psy-defense (Farseer or Rune Priest) drop the pod next to them and start sapping...
It fits the theme and stops them from countering with their own powers as easily.

Don't forget that Spirit Leech isn't a power and can't be nullified, and if their psyker is in a squad you can force morale checks by killing enough grunts.

thats also a nice addition that I considered once. Only problem I got with Doom is his toughness 4. I like the fact that I can use 3 powers every turn with 3 zoanthropes. I can get the same effect with 3x psychic schriek or 3x smite.

Squash wrote:One farseer (which most armies can have) and you're screwed.

Thats a big hars. When you got this much psychic monsters in a 1750 point list you can affort a few perils (except Zoanthropes), you just cannot rely to much on the psychic powers. All Tyranid psykers are Ld 10 and about 40%(or sumthing) of all psychic powers will still work. An Eldar Alliance will cost points (HQ and troops) that the cannot use for other goodies.

HQ Swarmlord with 1 Tyrant gaurd
HQ Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs


TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs
TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs
TROOPS 10 gaunts
TROOPS 10 gaunts

ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler

I love Nids and the boost to their psychic abilities just rocks in 6th.

Biomancy on the Tervigons and hope for Iron Arm, with a highroll this will make them very hard to kill.

Personally I would drop one unit of Zoanthropes. They can be one hit wonders. Even their invuln save doesn't stand up to everything as they can be easily doubled out if they fail against a melta or powerfist or whatever. Maybe consider 2 units of 2.

I'd take Doom for sure. He's just terrifying, feared before he even gets on the board.

I would also drop the guns on the spores. Low BS means you won't hit too often. Plus their tenticles alone can wreck anything mech you land within range of.

I would also consider flyers. Flyrants for instance got a massive boost with needing 6's to hit them. Ok they can get knocked down so consider a screen of Gargoyles for added protection.

Spores die to one missile shot so not sure I'd load points on a BS2 model. Points better spent on AG on the tervigons rather than BS on the spores.

I'd prefer a second guard on the swarmlord and would definitely look at lash whips as well. It's more cost, but you've so many points wrapped up in that unit you may as well make sure.

9 zoanthropes does seem a little excessive, especially as psychic defences are improved as well, but give it a go and see how it works for you ...

L0rdF1end wrote:HQ Swarmlord with 1 Tyrant gaurd
HQ Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs


TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs
TROOPS Tervigon With onslaught, Catalyst and toxin sacs
TROOPS 10 gaunts
TROOPS 10 gaunts

ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler
ELITE: 3 Zoantropes with Spore/Barbed Strangler

I love Nids and the boost to their psychic abilities just rocks in 6th.

Biomancy on the Tervigons and hope for Iron Arm, with a highroll this will make them very hard to kill.

Personally I would drop one unit of Zoanthropes. They can be one hit wonders. Even their invuln save doesn't stand up to everything as they can be easily doubled out if they fail against a melta or powerfist or whatever. Maybe consider 2 units of 2.

I'd take Doom for sure. He's just terrifying, feared before he even gets on the board.

I would also drop the guns on the spores. Low BS means you won't hit too often. Plus their tenticles alone can wreck anything mech you land within range of.

I would also consider flyers. Flyrants for instance got a massive boost with needing 6's to hit them. Ok they can get knocked down so consider a screen of Gargoyles for added protection.

I've also been thinking about the doom but still dont like his Toughness 4. I think I should go all in with those Zoanthropes because you need those psychic powers to work together to get the effect you need. I might drop those barbed strangle's though.

ruminator wrote:Spores die to one missile shot so not sure I'd load points on a BS2 model. Points better spent on AG on the tervigons rather than BS on the spores.

I'd prefer a second guard on the swarmlord and would definitely look at lash whips as well. It's more cost, but you've so many points wrapped up in that unit you may as well make sure.

9 zoanthropes does seem a little excessive, especially as psychic defences are improved as well, but give it a go and see how it works for you ...

I really want that extra Tyrant gaurd but then I need to drop sporepods.

Especially with these psychic defenses you need more zoanthropes to make sure you got a bigger change of using the right psychic powers.

For example:

When iam facing a Necron flyer army I need all the "objuration Mechanicum" (Telekinesis)power I can get!

this spell (24 inch) forces units to reroll 6's to hit and wound and also gives vehicles a haywire hit. When all my Tyranid psykers roll on the Telekinesis table I got about 8 of these powers (among other things) I might lose 1 of these powers to a failed psychic test and another one to a "denie the witch" and another one to a jinks save... But i got still 5 necron flyers with a glancing hit and reroll's of 6'ses.

I cannot do this with only half of the amount of psykers...

You can afford the extra guard if you drop 1 zoanthrope brood down to 2 models. You can also look to walk this one on with the swarmlord if you're swapping out the 18" warp lace for potential buffs/longer range psychic powers. Swarmlord has to live to see CC if you're going to win, so protect your best asset.

Nids are always going to struggle against 5+ flyers. Not just crons but try IG with 6 vendettas or even 3 stormravens can be a massive problem if there's a librarian inside! You just have to accept that to some extent. Build a list to try and counter that and it will be awful against a non-flyer list ...

I just don't think you'll be very successful with 9 Zoanthropes, they aren't that reliable, can be doubled out or held up in combat forever.

I take 4 in my list, I tried 3 in a unit, if they get caught in combat they are shafted until they can be saved. I dont think you have enough in your list to save them from a combat.

I tried solo Zoanthropes which wernt good either because they can be doubled out or their power fails.

2 per unit seems to work the best for me.

Even if you still went with 3 units and brought them down to 2 in each youve saved 180 points to spend elsewhere.

By all means test it, I just don't see you having much luck with this list.

shogun wrote:

xttz wrote:I'd be tempted to take a Doom in a pod as one of those elite options, and swap out Cataclysm for Psychic Shriek. Then if you do happen to draw against someone with good psy-defense (Farseer or Rune Priest) drop the pod next to them and start sapping...
It fits the theme and stops them from countering with their own powers as easily.

Don't forget that Spirit Leech isn't a power and can't be nullified, and if their psyker is in a squad you can force morale checks by killing enough grunts.

thats also a nice addition that I considered once. Only problem I got with Doom is his toughness 4. I like the fact that I can use 3 powers every turn with 3 zoanthropes. I can get the same effect with 3x psychic schriek or 3x smite.

Squash wrote:One farseer (which most armies can have) and you're screwed.

Thats a big hars. When you got this much psychic monsters in a 1750 point list you can affort a few perils (except Zoanthropes), you just cannot rely to much on the psychic powers. All Tyranid psykers are Ld 10 and about 40%(or sumthing) of all psychic powers will still work. An Eldar Alliance will cost points (HQ and troops) that the cannot use for other goodies.

You have exactly 50% chance of passing a ld 10 test on 3d6. You have a ~45% risk of causing a perils on 3d6 seeing how double 1s cause PotW aswell.

ruminator wrote:You can afford the extra guard if you drop 1 zoanthrope brood down to 2 models. You can also look to walk this one on with the swarmlord if you're swapping out the 18" warp lace for potential buffs/longer range psychic powers. Swarmlord has to live to see CC if you're going to win, so protect your best asset.

If Iam going to use the swarmlord as a close combat monster then iam going to give him the "biomancy" powers in which case he is most likely to get iron arms. the extra d3 toughness makes him very hard to kill first turn. I really like to drop those zoanthropes with sporepod because biomancy and telepathy got great short range shooting primaris powers. Walking Zoanthropes are very fragile... I hope that the swarmlord and tervigons can survive first turn (with a little cover) and after that my dropping zoanthropes and flying hive tyrant will be in their face.

ruminator wrote:Nids are always going to struggle against 5+ flyers. Not just crons but try IG with 6 vendettas or even 3 stormravens can be a massive problem if there's a librarian inside! You just have to accept that to some extent. Build a list to try and counter that and it will be awful against a non-flyer list ...

Yes, a lot of flyers can be a tough nut to crack. Still, having about 6 objuration mechanicum powers really takes the edge of. The bigger the vendetta squads the better.

I just dont like the fact that those vendetta's got veterans with plasmaguns and stuff. really tips the balance for my monsters...

Actually the biggest issue I see with the list, is you are never quite sure how you are going to have to play it, do to heavy reliance on random powers. Roll bad and you end up with a rough day, roll just right and you steam roll the opponent.

A Gate and 2 warp lance/Blast Zoanthrope Brood will make IG cry, though.

Could be a fun, but man are Perils going to get dicey.

barnowl wrote:Actually the biggest issue I see with the list, is you are never quite sure how you are going to have to play it, do to heavy reliance on random powers. Roll bad and you end up with a rough day, roll just right and you steam roll the opponent.

Its not that simple I think. When you know what kind of enemy army you're facing, you really need to set out a plan and with every dice roll on the psychic power chart you have to adjust that plan. For example:

I really like to give the swarmlord "hallucination" from the "telepathy" discipline. With 4 powers out of 6 I got a good change of getting that power. If I get this power with my first roll...what to do with the other 3 powers? should I get biomancy to make the swarmlord more durable or..... and what If he gets 4 telepathy powers?

I do got a few nice combinations of power:

plan 1: BIOMANCY all the way!! Give everything biomancy powers and make all the MC's tough! This works best if their not to much fast units/flyers present. zoanthrops with biomancy powers make sure the zoanthrope with iron arms (+d3 toughness) will be closest to the enemy and the other two drop enemy units toughness or gives feel no pain to the monsters.

plan 2: TELEPATHY all the way! makes sure that the enemy units will be useless, run of the board or shoot themselves.

plan 3: TELEKINESIS all the way! get as much Objuration mechanicum to bring dowm flyers. meanwhile you can use gate of infinity to drop within 12 inch and use shockwave to force multiple pinning tests.

nice combinations: bring down toughness with "enfeeble" with swarmlord, tervigons and flying hive and use warp blast or smite with your zoantropes to kill toughness 3,2 or even 1, units..