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Hello all, I was watching the alien films the other night and after watching it was looking over on the gw site, really love the look of the tyranid models, presuming based of the alien films or some form of inspiration used.

so i have a few questions, which if could get answered would be helpful.

1. Are Tyranids Competitive?

2. What are the most competitive list's out there for Tyranids?.

3. How should I begin to collect Tyranids?, what units are a must, what can be avoided, battle force good or bad?

4. And finally just a pros/cons of Tyranids and general army tactics.

Thank you.

1. If played correctly, Tyanids are very competitive. Probably not the best out there, but we can easily compete.

2. There isn't really a single list that will dominate your opponents. The most important part is that you'll want to include a couple of Tervigons (as troop choices). A Hive Tyrant with wings and 2 sets of devourers is also very powerful. Other than that, Hive Guard, Biovores, Gargoyles, Ymgarl Genestealers, The Doom of Malan'Tai in a Spore Pod, The Swarmlord, Trygons, and Zoanthropes have all seen some success. Personally, I also love Hormagaunts (but most people would disagree).

3. Again, Tervigons are the most important part of any Tyranid list. Those are really the only "must-includes". Although, pretty much everything else in the above list will make your army stronger. Avoid the battle force at all costs. The only three major units to avoid are Lictors, Spore Mine Clusters, and Pyrovores. Mawlocs, Tyrannofex, and most of the fast attack choices are all sub-par as well.

4. Unless you're taking some Termagants to unlock a troop Tervigon, don't take small swarms. A unit of 10 Hormagaunts won't do much good.
Give things upgrades. A basic Tervigon is still decent. A Tervigon with Catalyst and Toxin Sacs becomes crazy good.
Roll on the Biomancy table as often as possible. This obviously depends on the match-up, but a Strength/Toughness 9 Flying Hive Tyrant (with Eternal Warrior) is nearly impossible to stop.
For the most part, keep your army together. Nids rely on multiple units to work well. Have a small unit of (free) termagants eat a powerful overwatch, then charge the unit with something else. Bubble wrap (surround) your Tervigons with free gants, if needed, so it can't be charged. We have more scoring units than nearly any other army - take advantage of that.

All of this is assuming you want to play semi-competitively. If you're going for fun and casual games, just take anything you'd like. Up against casual lists, Tyranids don't have many bad choices.

Thank you siphen for the reply, anyone else have anything to add?

Basically what Siphen said. If you want to play competitively, then Tervigons and Flying Tyrants are the way to go.
If you just want to play casual, you can run pretty much anything and do decently. Lictors and pyrovores are very weak though, so you've been warned.
My casual lists usually had dakka-fexs dropping in with spores, lots of zoanthropes to blow up those pesky high AV tanks, and a mix of other random units depending on what I felt like.

Siphen pretty much nailed this already. The only thing i really disagree with him on is the battleforce. If you're only looking to make one 1850 list, and that's all you'll ever use, then yeah, just buy that list. But if you want to actually play tyranids and have options and play for fun in your basement with friends, then everything in the battleforce is useful, AND you can make a 500 point army out of it. One purchase and you're ready to play sounds good to me.

As for strong lists, I would say Nidzilla with biomancy is our best build at the moment. I run a winged tyrant, a swarmlord and 2 tervigons, and when they all get iron arm it's just awesome. Multi-Meltas trying to hit a swarmlord that need to roll a 5+ will put a smile on your face, guaranteed!

The others are spot on, the only thing I will say is that Tyrannofexes are far from sub par. They are almost invincible and are literally armed to the teeth. Take a pair of them with Acid Sprays and Dessicator Larvae, if you have the points, Regeneration as well. If possible get something with Biomancy to support them. Proceed to steamroll everything.

I always get wiped out by nids as a Necron player. I'm definitely doing it wrong.

Nids can be beaten by taking shots from a distance. Keep a storm talon at one end of the board and nail anything big and slow with las cannons and missiles to slowly wear them down.

Siphen wrote:
1. If played correctly, Tyanids are very competitive. Probably not the best out there, but we can easily compete.

Oh god, oh god, oh god !