Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey hey. So I've recently decided to change my stars, and switch out from my Dark Angels (who have given me 5+ years of moderate success) and pick up Tyranids. No small reason for my decision was due to the sounds of a million nerds suddenly crying out in terror when the new codex dropped. I love me a challenge.

I'm still firming up my thoughts on the list below, am willing to mix things up, and would love some constructive criticism and examples if possible. As a caveat though, I have a 2+ save vs. Netlist Wisdom, and tend to need concrete data before I accept anyones opinion. Thanks in advance!
HQ

Hive Tyrant: 235
- Lash Whip & Bonesword, the Miasma Cannon, Electroshock Grubs + Old Adversary

2 Tyrant Guard: 100

Elite

2 Venomthropes: 90
Zoanthrope: 50
Zoanthrope: 50

Troops

28 Hormagaunts: 140
5 Ripper Swarm Broods: 65
2 Tervigons: 195 each
2 units of 30 Termigants w/ 10 devourers per: 160 each

Fast Attack

Harpy: 135
Harpy: 135

Heavy Support

3 Biovores: 120
Exocrine: 170

Total = 2000

Thanks again!

motherbrain

Well I'm not really a tyranid player but this looks like a rely sold list. You have multiple models that are able to provide synapses which really is a great thing because if one goes down, your whole army doesn't fall apart. I also like the huge troops choose number because it could get really annoying to target them as a fellow tau player. I like your list and can't wait for you to provide a follow up post to see how they did in battle.

I'd make quite a few changes and I'll try and list reasons for everyone of them.

Miasma cannon, move it to your Tervigon it will be sitting Mid/Backfield and this will let it attack in the shooting phase.

Run 1 Tervigon not two. You have a 33% chance of blowing your ability to spawn troops and you need more killy-ness in your army list.

At 2K games I would run 2x Hive Tryrant +Wings + 2 sets of twin linked devourers. Run them together with Harpies and or Hive Crones. And you have a massive threat on the board that cannot be ignored. 12 devourer shots per Turn + the mobility of flight far, far, far exceeds a walking Tyrant. You will obliterate infantry and light vehicles up to AV 11/12.

Swap the harpies for 2 Crones if you still have your heart set on a Harpy add one in to your flying death star. Crones are both anti-air and fantastic at killing infantry and armour. You will be able yo unload 4 Tentaclids per round for two rounds into armour. The. Swap to an S8 vector strike for armour still alive and swap to drool cannon for blobls of infantry.

Rippers. No. Gargoyles/Hormagaunts or Termagants are far more effective tarpits. Also since Rippers are a swarm they cannot score despite being a troop choice.

Endless swarm is soon coming out in the new dataslate. You must have (numbers are rough as some sources contradict each other) 2 x broods of Horms, 3 broods of TGaunts and 1 warrior brood. This gives you endless swarm when a brood of Tgaunts or Hgaunts die (not warriors) if you roll a 4+ (50% chance) the go into on going reserves and can be placed back on the table. They also keep all upgrades after death. Meaning decourers, toxin sacs etc. Become much more viable.

I'd swap the 2nd Tervifon for A Tyrannofex. Give it Adrenal Glands, shreddershard beetles maybe regen. Leave the default acid spray template on it. This walking fortress will be hard to kill at T6 W6 save 2+ the acid spray and shred beetle templates make a close range death machine against blobs of infantry and you will make necrons/Orks/Nids cry.

Exocrene is good, keep him.
Keep the Zoans even see if you can squeeze in more.
Venoms will underwhelm you. Smart players kill them turn 1 leaving you to wonder why you brought it to begin with.
A better start is saturate the board with threats and make your opponent switch target priority so much it loses effect.

Use your T-fex as a shield wall, turn him sideways after you move to cover more troops and protect your Zoans.
Run Zoans behind it so they can get off their AP2 warp blast and lance and if you scored Psychic scream on your powers of the hive mind roll. The watch with hilarity as multiple blasts occur.

If you need more synapse don't forget warriors they can score as well.

Posted from my phone, apologies for poor formatting.

Hey hey. Really appreciate the feedback gents. A lot to mull over.

I had considered the miasma on a tervigon, and if so swapping old adversary for hive commander, but I feel like I would want to add more deep striking/ reservey-type units to take the pressure off of the lone mama. And I'm really leaning toward the slighlty swarmy implacable midfield of death type army. Everything running around the same speed so nothing stands out as an obvious target (so bye harpies - see below).

Also, fair points about the rippers, and I hadn't heard of the endless swarm dataslate until you mentioned it - so that is also interesting.

I'm not sold at all on flyrants, believe it or not. But that's personal preference.

Finally, I do admit my list looked thin on ooutright killy, and I had considered running a brood of carnifexes with bioplasma to replace the harpies, and really make my bugs crawl across the board.. is that pushing it?

I'm also posting from my phone, so I'm being lazy and not showing an edited list with suggestions - apologies.

motherbrain

If you drop the Harpy/Crones you end up almost helpless against Fliers. So you'd need to put something in to handle that...

If you find points to add a 3rd heavy, a Tyrgon Prime would allow you to deep strike Synapse, and its a big bad bug killing machine!

If you add Hive Commander (drop say old adv.) you can Outflnk a big blob of Termigants (say 30 of them) and deepstrike in the Synapse.

If you want you could Outflank a Terv. and get troops and Synapse in one package. If you put Wings on your Tyrant, it can be a "anti-flier" as well as a HQ...?

Oh....I think Crones run 155, you show 135...?

I agree with doomminion about the rippers. They can't score, can get ID with S6, and can't tarpit as well as the rest of the troops. They are definitely not worth the points.

Personally, I have found the venoms immensely helpful. The bonus to cover has saved dozens of gants and often opponents will waste a whole turn of shooting to get rid of them, which is perfect becasue the rest of your army gets a free turn to advance. I always have at least 2 to cover my swarms.

I think it will be interesting to see what you get out of a non-flying tyrant. I've had mixed results. Though the midfield synapse is really helpful, as you don't get it from flyrants.

I would throw in another horm squad for screening purposes and maybe a tyrannofex with the points you saved from other changes.

Also, just a warning. If you use biovores, you will need to leave synapse in the backfield to babysit them. It's one of the reasons I don't usually use them, but to each their own.