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So my mom and wife got me the Tyranid battleforce and I will be getting a Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord. Can someone please give me some info on how to build a good and proper swarm? I play SM and Chaos and have no idea how to play Tyranids other than the good ol' fashion Zerg rules. Please Help Thank you guys

Hi There,
I have been playing nids since 3rd edition and they are one of my favourite armies to run. A full on swarm army is best accomplished using Tervigons to spawn your troops. Have you picked up the codex yet? Personally I run two small units of termagaunts to make my 2 tervigons troops. They are amazing at holding objectives and have some really great powers.
nids lack anti flyer and the only way I can really tackle this is having a Flying Hive Tyrant (Flyrant) with 2 twinlinked devourers as guns. Fly around and shoot basically. Some will argue otherwise but I feel Hive Guard are a must in any list I run. They are nids best way to pop transports and light vehicles. They have some great shooting rules.
With the Battle force I would look at making your steals yrmgrl steals, make all the gaunts termagaunts as you will need a lot with tervigons and make you warriors hive guard. If you like cool models and close combat the trygon is a must have. I always run 2 of them with toxin sacs. they are gods in CC. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the help man. That gives me some ideas. So I can run Tervigons as a troops choice?

You can run Tervigons as troops only when you take a unit of 10 or more Termagants.

For 1 unit of 10 Termagants you can run 1 Tervigon as a troops choice and so on.

 Rysgame wrote:
Thanks for the help man. That gives me some ideas. So I can run Tervigons as a troops choice?

As long as you have a unit of termagaunts you can run tervigons as troop. I either do a minimum 10 unit or a 15 squad with devourers in a pod. This fact makes them the best objective holders. Also, if you give your Tervigons adrenal glands and toxin sacs all the termagunts around them get the buff as well. This is a massive boost to their value for very little points. Plus the tervigon can cast feel no pain and gain a 5+ FnP save using catalyst. It's good for shrugging off plasma or lascannon wounds.

So using that build I potetially have unlimited amounts of Termaguants?

Potentially yes, I can't remember exactly what the rules are but there's a combination of 3d6 which means that they stop spawning however.
Think it might be any doubles.

So can someone give me say... a 1500pt army list?

At the beginning of each of your turns, the Tervigon can spawn 3d6 termagaunts. But, if he rolls any doubles, that is his last spawn of the game and he can't spawn anymore.

Check out the Army lists section of Dakkadakka. Lots of people posts Tyranid lists and get good feedback.

I could give you a list but where is the fun in that. Why don't you try building one and we can help guide you afterwards.
You know the base of your army so add units you like for flavour. My troop section would look like this:

10 termagants 50pts
10 termagants 50pts
Tervigon, Catalyst, AG, TS 195 pts
Tervigon, Catalyst, AG, TS 195 pts


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I'll also give you an HQ outfit you could try

HQ
Flyrant, 2x twin linked devourers with brain leech worms 260pts

For the powers I would roll on the biomancy chart and hope for Iron arm and endurance, but all the options can help. Iron arm just makes him uber tough and strong.

Okay, so one idea would be to have my troop choices as Termaguants then maybe use my fast atack or elites choices for melee?


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Also, since I have enough spinefists and devourers and such for my termaguants just run one squad with fleshborers and the rest with remaining ranged weapons?



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Also how would I go about turning my warriors into hive guard?

skycapt44 knows his stuff and has a lot of good advice.

Swarmlord can be awesome aswell and you don't need to rely on Flyrants for Anti air.
Aslong as you can ensure a good ground based amount of shots, that can work too.

Swarmlord also has access to 4 rolls on your chosen Dicipline, Aiming for Iron Arm (majority toughness) and Endurance (FnP IWND) can make him extremely hard to kill.


Durability is key in 6th so try to accomodate a lot of T6 into your list.



This is something im trying currently -
HQ-
Swarmlord+One Guard. 340
Prime/Lash/Bone/Regen (He goes with the dakka Fexes for LoS). 105

Troops-
Tervigon+1power+CC 200
Tervigon+1power 175
x10 Termies 50
x10 Termies 50

Elites-
2x Hive Guard 100
2x Hive Guard 100

Heavy-
2x DakkaFex. 380 each has 2 sets of TL Devourers. Thats 24 shots, TL Str6.

So whats a Dakkafex please excuse my noobness with 'Nyds


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Also, the fleshborer only has a range of 12". That seems rather close to an enemy for a shooty unit.

"Dakka" generally means "shooty"
So a dakkafex is just a Carnifex the shoots a lot. And the best shooty weapon to give him is Twin Linked Devourers w/ Brainleech Worms.

And I wouldn't worry too much with the range of the fleshborer. The two squads of Termagaunts aren't for the hitting power so much as they are to get more Tervigons. Plus, they can be a screen too. Basically they're meat shields. Don't worry about their combat effectiveness. Sitting them on objectives works well.

Okay, so should I max out my basic squads of Termaguants? and then just have slews of them ready to be spawned? Should I attempt to field any hormoguants or what?

Here's the thing: What you have to do with Tyranids is have your army work in cohesion. If you're making a speedy army, use Hormagaunts, Raveners, Trygons, and Gargoyles. If you're going for shooty, go for Hive Guard, dakkafexes, and warriors.

The point is, try to make your army work together. I wouldn't generally advise mixing Termagaunts AND Hormagaunts. Both serve different mixes, and Hormagaunts will be much faster than Termagaunts.

Try to make your opponent deal with multiple threats SIMULTANEOUSLY.

So, when you're thinking about taking a certain unit, ask yourself, "Does this work well with the speed and theme of my army list?"

 Rysgame wrote:
Okay, so should I max out my basic squads of Termaguants? and then just have slews of them ready to be spawned? Should I attempt to field any hormoguants or what?

As far as the termagant squads go I would keep them at 10. There are too many other things to spend points on to waste any more than 50 points on them when you are going to be getting quite a few for free. I've spawned well over 40 gants with 2 tervigons in one game and I'm sure it's common to get more than that. Also in lower point games I've had a lot of success not running a tyrant and instead using tervigons to free up points elsewhere...I'd this would become a little less effective starting at around the 1k point range.

Can't say much on hormogaunts as I've not used them in 6th. Most lists I've seen posted with them seem to use them with both adrenal glands and toxin sacs and often times the are escorted up the field by a unit of gargoyles that usually act as a screen.

Another thing I might suggest is converting your genestealers to Ymargl stealers. They are an effective shock unit that is great for disrupting enemy lines and generally taking some of the heat off of everything else. I also fully support the Dakkafex suggestion though I usually run mine separately and supported by biovores. I find that it gives me more versatility and often times I put them in a pod and harass enemies back lines alongside the DoM or the yealers. Podded dakkafexes eat most any tank with very little trouble (They average 5 glances or pens /turn of shooting). If not with shooting then you can smash anything else.

Lastly, I would encourage you to read around older posts on here and the tyranidhive to see what other people do. Tyranids are extremely reliant on synergy and tactics and it is really hard to convey that in a response like this. I think we could all offer you more advice if you knew the general direction you wanted to take your fleet. For example, If you want a classic swarm then us telling you how to field flyers or spam T6 isn't going to help as much. That being said I do hope my post helped a little.

By simply using what you have from the battle box and the Tyran box I would NOT make the hormagaunts. Typically you need a lot to be effective and you need to give them upgrades which makes them very expensive. DO NOT use spine fist!
The only thing you want you termagaunts at this point is fleshborer. Don't get excited about these weapons. Termagaunts are not going to do you killing for the most part. They hold objectives and act as shields. I also like using them by circling my Tervigons so they can protect from assaults.

When I said use warriors as hive guard I meant simply to proxy them as they look rather similar and only 3 warriors is quite useless. The hive guard models are very expensive so I only suggest using warriors until you have enough to buy them.

For now just buy one tervigon and run a 1000 pt list. You will need a lot of termagaunts with fleshborers. I wouldn't worry about the hormagaunts. Simply find some more fleshborers on ebay as the hormagaunts are essentially the same looking. I would have at least 35 termagaunts extra for spawning.

well you will have 12 termaguants and hormagaunts, a few rippers and 3 warrirors .... a tyrant.

I recommend purchasing 3 hive guard for a start. (they are really effective vs armor 12 and less vehicles/.
I would run the termagaunts with devourers, yes an expensive upgrade however (more so early on a really overpowered upgrade) it allows 3x the shots at a better range and str and has a nice leadership reduction that it causes to help make enemy units flee.

A really effective low level list is the "bubble" list.
Tyrant has an upgrade called old adversary. It gives all units within 6" of him pref. enemy. This allows rerolls on to hit and to wound rolls of "1"
It does not seem like much but statistically if you keep a lot of stuff in the bubble it pays for itself really fast.

that upgrade also applies to melee combat.

My list i played with last night against necrons.
1k points

tyrant 260
-armored shell
-Heavy venom cannon
- Old adversary

Trygon prime 250
-toxin sacs

3 hive guard 150

17 termagaunts 170
-devourers

17 termagaunts 170
-devourers

It was a complete slaughter-fest I tabled my enemy right off the bat on turn 4.

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Some tips
there are many ways to run your lists, some say drown in bodies, I say drown in bullets... to each their own.
The tyranids BIGGEST weakness is range anti vehicle and anti air. we make up for that by being a decent swarm enemy with a lot of out units able to easily open land raiders in close combat.
we only have a few units with invulnerable saves... 3 to be exact. Zoanthropes, Doom of malant'ai and the swarmlord (4+ in close combat only) and NONE of our units have eternal warrior (aside those buffed from endurance biomancy)

also our creatures are VERY weak in terms of toughness and armor saves, but again we make up for it with cheap models. and ungodly strong monstrous creatures.

heres some good things that should never be over looked.

1. biomancy- omgwtf? ability to buff just about every characteristic better, wound regeneration on 2 powers, FNP buffs powers that nerf other units... wow.

2. a very cheap and amazing upgrade:
-toxin sacs.... (allows at worst a 4+ to wound regardless of enemy toughness... yes my hormagaunts at str 3 just wounded your t7 models on a 4+ ALSO if your str matches OR beats their toughness not only do you wound normally BUT you get to reroll failed wounds... LOL. so a trygon with str 6 wounds MEQs on a 2+ AND gets to re roll the failed wounds...) I would put this on ANY dedicated melee units

3. hive guard and zoanthropes (always spod the zoans) 2 of the best anti-tank units...
zoans eat landraiders and are overkill to anything else vehicle or MEQs
Hive guard are just plain cheating .. no line of sight needed... good ballistic skill, high str 2 shot weapon... lol.

Remember: Tervigons and Termagaunts are not the only ways to play Tyranids. They might do the best competitively, but keep in mind that the primary aspect is to have fun. I know a lot of people who don't have much fun the Tervigon/Termagaunt list. If you see models you like and want to use, by all means let us know and we'll help you to include them in some lists.
Don't be afraid to branch away from Tervigon/Termagaunt

That is exactly what I want, I want a fun army vice a competitive army. I have always preferred a good romp with friends than a campetition where people get all insane anal on rules and if my model moves 6in and 1mm then they spaz. My brother and I play together the most. We rarely use measuring tape for movement and such, why? Becuase we just love a good game of slaughterfest. This being the big thing with me I would prefer a good old fashion swarm army, I may have weak units but 30+ attacks don't play around Though I would like to have a small amount of units to switch out with competitively I mainly want a good ol' fashion zerg swarm. Though I am deffinately taking everything you all are saying into account. I just want to see my options before I begin collecting as these aren't as versatile as SM.

Hey, no problems there! Nothin' wrong with a good romp with some buddies. (I think it's awesome you and your bro don't even use a measuring tape, that's how chill you are )

Hey, my first ever Tyranid models were from a trade I made here on Dakka. I traded all my Blood Angels for 2 Hive Tyrants, 1 Carnifex, 1 Lictor, and 62 Hormagaunts Sure it's not a great list, but it's a lot of fun to play swarms of 'Nids.

One time a saw a guy who maxed out his troop choices and had 180 Hormagaunts on the board (all in an under 2,000 point list)!! Sure, it's not practical, sure it's a pain with all the models, but it was FUN.

We can't sit here and tell you what models are most fun. It changes with every person. I personally love using Raveners, Carnifexes, Lictors, and Genestealers for the fun of it. Some people here would disagree that those are most fun.

So, to see which models are most fun, and which ones you'd enjoy playing with most (not including competitive aspect) I'd guess I'd just advise you to play test with different models. See which models you think look awesome and buy them. Even if their rules aren't all that great.

However, there's always the competitive side Tyranids, like with every army. And for that, well, we already talked about Tervigons and Termagants.

And dude, if you want a swarm, just go for it. To heck with competitiveness, there's literally no better army in 40k for the gold ol' fashioned OMGZERGRUSH!!!111!!

One question, are you married to your mother?

No, I am married to my wife. Who is most deffinately not my mother