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Hi guys,

We're doing a mini-campaign at my FLGS. As ever, I'll be playing against friends, but I still want to do well and preferably win. It's 1000pts, with the special rule that everyone can ally with anyone. The exception is Tyranids. And guess what I'm taking? That's right, Nids.

So, I'm looking for a fairly competitive Nid list that can deal with, most importantly, Necrons, Tau and Space Marines.

Also, with the new Codex coming out, I don't particularly want to buy anything new, and I probably won't have time to paint it up anyway (extra points for fully painted). Here's a list of what I have at my disposal:

1 Hive Tyrant (magnetised so as to be assembled as anything, including Swarmy)
2 Tyrant Guard
1 Tyranid Prime
1 Tervigon
1 Zoan/Doom
1 Venomthrope
4 Warriors
~50 Termagants (remember, my Tervigon will be spawning some)
24 Hormagaunts
10 Genestealers/Ymargls + Broodlord
A few ripper bases
10 Gargoyles
Trygon

----------------------------

I have a fairly good idea of the core of the list (Flyrant, Doom, Tervigon + 10 Termagants) but I really can't think of the best way to fill the extra 350 or so points. Here's what I've got so far:

---------------------------

HQ

Flyrant (285)
Hive Commander, 2 TL Devs.

Elites

Venomthrope (55)

Doom (130)
Pod

Troops

Termagants x11 (55)

Tervigon (195)
TS, AG, Catalyst

Hormagaunts x 25 (200)
Toxin Sacs

Fast Attack

Gargoyles x10 (80)
TS, AG

TOTAL: 1000

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So the general tactic is for the Hormagaunts + Tervigon (spawning Termagants all the way) to advance, covered by the Venomthrope who in turn will hopefully be using the Tervigon to stay out of sight. The Doom and the Gargoyles come in Turn 2 on a 2+ (yay, Hive Commander!) and cause a nuisance. The 11 Termagants sit on a home objective. As for the Flyrant, I'll make the call on whether he should stay in reserves or not depending on who and what I'm facing.

So yeah, that's it. Any thoughts, Dakka?

 The Shadow wrote:


---------------------------

HQ

Flyrant (285)

Going with biomancy right? here is where the TL devs should go

Hive Commander

Going with biomancy right? you should stick to Swarmy or just a CC Tyrant


Elites

Venomthrope (55)

Not really keen on him I think you could use the points elsewhere

Doom (130)
Pod

Troops

Termagants x11 (55)

go with minimum 10 no upgrades

Tervigon (195)
TS, AG, Catalyst

Could use more powers to up chance for iron arm in biomancy

Hormagaunts x 25 (200)
Toxin Sacs

Fast Attack

Gargoyles x10 (80)
TS, AG

I'm not huge on these guys but if you want them, go with no adrenal glands


TOTAL: 1000

-----------------------------

So the general tactic is for the Hormagaunts + Tervigon (spawning Termagants all the way) to advance, covered by the Venomthrope who in turn will hopefully be using the Tervigon to stay out of sight. The Doom and the Gargoyles come in Turn 2 on a 2+ (yay, Hive Commander!) and cause a nuisance. The 11 Termagants sit on a home objective. As for the Flyrant, I'll make the call on whether he should stay in reserves or not depending on who and what I'm facing.

So yeah, that's it. Any thoughts, Dakka?

Yeah, on the subject of powers I was thinking of the doing 1 Roll on Biomancy for both the Flyrant and Tervigon and, for the second power, just sticking with Paroxysm and Catalyst respectively, since those two are such awesome powers. And on the Doom I'm using Catalysm, because, again, it's awesome.

I could try and find the points for Onslaught on the Tervigon, but, if I'm right, I'm still only allowed to use one power a turn, which will normally be Catalyst anyway.

And yeah, I could drop the Venomthrope, though I thought the cover would be useful for the Tervigon, since it's fairly hard to get cover for. Any suggestions on what to replace it with?

I'd suggest these things:
-Drop Hive Commander on the Flyrant. You don't have enough reserves to warrant this in my book.
-Drop the Venomthrope. Too fragile and you can get cover by standing in area terrain pretty easily.
-Drop the upgrades on the gargoyles. With 10 of them, expect them to get you one round of cover and that's it. They're a meatshield at that point and treat them as such.
-Drop 2 hormagaunts if you want to keep them as doomgaunts. At this level there shouldn't be so many bullets coming your way so hormagaunts can be good.

-With those suggestions, I'd grab 2 hive guard. I fully expect there to be several light vehicles at this level. The bubble of denial with them is hard to argue with.
-Grab the third power on the Tervigon. You can't mix and match powers unfortunately, so you want to give yourself as many options as possible. Roll on Biomancy until you get Iron Arm if you're fighting things lacking in poison or high S weaponry. Keep the codex powers if you are fighting lots of poison.

The Tyrant/Swarmy and Tervigon both should maximize rolls on biomancy there are 2 powers in the list that trump any power in the current Nid codex. Iron Arm allows you to increase toughness by D3 and gives Eternal Warrior, the other forgive me but i forgot the name grants Feel No Pain and grants Regeneration or It Will Not Die (not sure which).

I agree with the other guy Hive commander isn't really worth it with few reserves, if you go with a regular Tyrant go with Old Adversary that way you buff 6" with Perfered Enemy

Ok, thanks for the tips and clarification on Psychic Powers, guys

I agree with most of those points except dropping Hive Commander. I may have few reserves, but I really want them to come in on Turn 2. And also I still find the Venomthrope useful, my opponent can focus fire on Gaunts out of cover after all. But I will drop it, since it's a popular suggestion.

As what to spend the points on, I'm limited to what I own, so Hive Guard isn't really an option. I'm hoping the Flyrant will be able to deal with light vehicles though - though Necron Quantum Shielding could prove to be an issue. Any other suggestions on what I could add in?

To clarify, did you mean Tyrant Guard in your first post?

Oh yeah, I did, sorry about that. I always get those two mixed up

So, Hive Guard are out of the equation, any more suggestions?

Okay, so the real choice comes down to whether you want big bugs or a swarm? At 1k points either tactic is going to put some hurt on your opponent. You don't really have an answer to AV 13+ outside of assault, so brace for a rough ride if facing an iron curtain.

Nidzilla:
-Drop all your hormagaunts and grab a trygon.
-Drop the venomthrope and upgrades on the gargoyles.
-Beef up your termagant count and get the third power on the tervigon.

Swarm:
-Drop the upgrades on your hormagaunts, gargoyles, and drop the venomthrope.
-Use this to get another 20+ termagants.

The last option if you want to try something a little different:
-Drop gargoyle upgrades, 1 hormagaunt, and the venomthrope.
-Use your 3 Warriors and give them Rending Claws + Scything Talons.
This definitely is not a super competitive option, but at 1k points the amount of Strength 8 weaponry that you can't outmaneuver is going to be pretty low. Especially with the shift to S:7 weaponry (which triples the survivability of warriors) you should see them last longer. You'll definitely have to play this right to do anything with it, but they'll wreck shop in close combat and most opponents won't expect them.

I'm tempted by the Nidzilla option, to be honest, but I have a few queries:

I'd only start with the Flyrant, Termgants and Tervigon on the board. That's 13 models. Is that a problem?

And is it a problem having so few units, many of which comprise of only one model?

Don't reserve at this point level. The Trygon and Gargoyles are fast enough that you should really have them on the board. Use the Gargoyles to give cover to your big guys, and the Trygon to herd the enemy into position for your other bugs to get there.

Ok, thanks for the tip!

Should I still Deep Strike the Doom?

The best and only way to use the doom is via a mycetic spore.

That's what I thought. So is it still worth putting Hive Commander on the Hive Tyrant for just the Doom?

Really wouldnt bother with reserves at that point level.

Gargoyles are amazing, you should get a bigger group though.

I wouldn't get hive commander. I would get 20 gargoyles though as others have suggested.

Like I said in the OP though, I'm restricted to what models I own, so more Gargoyles aren't an option.