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Hello dakka dakka!

Sorry for the repost, but I think my previous post confused people as to what I was asking. How would you start a Tyranid army?

I presently have, from years ago when I started:
20 Homogaunts
20 termagunts
12 Gene Stealers
6 Warriors
1 Lictor
1 Ravenor
And 1 Zoanthrope

I was thinking of building a very mêlée orient list, so would the addition of: 2 more zoanthropes, 1 swarm lords, a tervigon, and a Tryon make for a fun mêlée army? (a Note I was thinking of throwing in a ravenor brood and another 3 wariors)

Shaso_Keo wrote:
Hello dakka dakka!

Sorry for the repost, but I think my previous post confused people as to what I was asking. How would you start a Tyranid army?

I presently have, from years ago when I started:
20 Homogaunts
20 termagunts
12 Gene Stealers
6 Warriors
1 Lictor
1 Ravenor
And 1 Zoanthrope

I was thinking of building a very mêlée orient list, so would the addition of: 2 more zoanthropes, 1 swarm lords, a tervigon, and a Tryon make for a fun mêlée army? (a Note I was thinking of throwing in a ravenor brood and another 3 wariors)

Well...CC is kinda sub-optimal right now...so "fun" may not be what you end up with... But if you magnitise you should be good. I suspect that you will need several (2-4?) Carnifexen to have a resonable rate of success with CC Nids. You should also think about adding in more Troops, though a Tervigon is a good solution as well.

pinecone77 wrote:

Shaso_Keo wrote:
Hello dakka dakka!

Sorry for the repost, but I think my previous post confused people as to what I was asking. How would you start a Tyranid army?

I presently have, from years ago when I started:
20 Homogaunts
20 termagunts
12 Gene Stealers
6 Warriors
1 Lictor
1 Ravenor
And 1 Zoanthrope

I was thinking of building a very mêlée orient list, so would the addition of: 2 more zoanthropes, 1 swarm lords, a tervigon, and a Tryon make for a fun mêlée army? (a Note I was thinking of throwing in a ravenor brood and another 3 wariors)

Well...CC is kinda sub-optimal right now...so "fun" may not be what you end up with... But if you magnitise you should be good. I suspect that you will need several (2-4?) Carnifexen to have a resonable rate of success with CC Nids. You should also think about adding in more Troops, though a Tervigon is a good solution as well.

I've played nids only since the new codex came out, but I've had a lot of success with them. CC is not where you want nids. Any good dedicated CC unit will tear them a new one, And Carnifexes, contrary to how they look on paper, are pretty terrible in CC. The only reason I used them is for Dakkafexes. 1-2 of them with 2 Twin Linked Devourers with Brainleech Worms, and maybe 1 with a devourer and a TL Heavy Venom Cannon. Plus, Bioplasma can come in handy in an army that lacks AP2 shooting. Also, Flying Hive Tyrants, while generic and everyone uses them, are the best option for versatility, speed, some good Dakka, and of course, psychic powers. The Tyranid Prime is also good, but only if you wanna use a lot of warriors (Which is still a viable tactic). Also, I personally like the Tyrannofex. 2+ save, 6 wounds, tough mother to kill. Plus, his guns are very unique compared to what everyone else gets.

There are a couple "generic" ways you can play tyranids.

1. Gaunt swarm. Not very good, imo. But drown them in cheap bodies.

2. Monstrous Creature spam. Pretty much as it sounds. You can have MCs in every slot

3. Flying Circus. FMCs got better with this edition, being harder to ground. Just have dudes flying all over the board.



I've had a lot of luck with using variable units. Remember, Tyranids are all about Synapse. An they have to unitize cover. March them up the board with shooty gaunts for 5+ cover wall, the march everyone together within Synapse, and use Venomthropes so everything behind the gaunts have a 3+ cover. And as soon as you get close to stuff, shoot. Tyranids can shoot Tau off the board, if done right.


Not trying to tell you how you NEED to play them, I'm just putting in my 2 cents. If you really wanna try melee, Lash Whips and Boneswords on Warriors and A Tyranid Prime, as well as a Trygon Prime armed with the Maw Claws of Thyrax. Those are probably your best bet.

My advice to you as a nid player. Been playing years and have a decent sized army..

Dont play Nids.

For years we have been B*slapped b y GW.
This army isnt as fun as it used to be.
pretty much new and only way to play nids? Flyrant... flyrant... flyrant... more flyrants... venomthropes... flyrant... flyrant... MAYBE some carnifex..... and 1 more flyrant just for good measure. a squad of termaguants 30 strong with an MC over priced nid factory called tervigon... hiding out of LOS behind a bastion with a venomthrope nearby Aside from that fill the rest of your points with flyrants.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
we have very unreliable anti vehicle. Our biggest gun in the game cant even explode transports anymore..

Our smash (which yes... was powerful I get it) was just nerfed down to pointless unless armor value 13 or better. ...

banned from psyker powers outside of our dex (cute)

shadow in the warp is now... 13 times useless..
PUNISH THE ENEMY PSYKERS leadership for tests.... when he .. no longer .. has to take psyker tests using... leadership.... I guess it makes it more difficult for them when they roll on the perils of the warp table but still... so pointless.

Shaso_Keo wrote:
Hello dakka dakka!

Sorry for the repost, but I think my previous post confused people as to what I was asking. How would you start a Tyranid army?

I presently have, from years ago when I started:
20 Homogaunts
20 termagunts
12 Gene Stealers
6 Warriors
1 Lictor
1 Ravenor
And 1 Zoanthrope

I was thinking of building a very mêlée orient list, so would the addition of: 2 more zoanthropes, 1 swarm lords, a tervigon, and a Tryon make for a fun mêlée army? (a Note I was thinking of throwing in a ravenor brood and another 3 wariors)

You seem to be lacking an HQ choice. The Flying Hive Tyrant (Flyrant) is the obvious choice - Swarmlord is cool but is costly in points and doesn't have the same versatility as a Flyrant. You may also want to check out the Tyranid Hive, which is a board that specializes in just Tyranids. Lots of good advice on Tyranid list building there.

Lictors are generally considered to be not good, although the real issue is they take up an Elite slot that is better filled by something else. Raveners suffer the same fate, but you only have one so it is not a playable unit at this point anyway. I think you have enough Warriors for what you are trying to do, so I would advise against getting any more. Get a Venomthrope instead - giving Shrouded to your army is very important if you want to run close combat Tyranids. Carnifexes are fun but maybe not the best choice if you are on a budget. They cost about the same $-wise as a Tyrannofex/Tervigon, which will give you more bang for your buck. The Harpy/Crone kit is also a good buy, but at $80 is pretty steep if you are just dipping your toe in. I would also advise against building a Trygon. If you are going to buy the kit, build a Mawloc as it is a better creature under the new Codex. Overall, though, it would be better to spend the money on a Flyrant and then play a few games with what you have, see what you like (or feel like you need), and then decide how you want to expand.

If your going to run nids look on ebay for good deals on lots, I recently bought a 3,000+ point army for around $500. The great thing about sub-par armies is that people will sell them off for cheap. Good luck