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I've been collecting tyranids for years, and although I've fallen off of 40k in the past few years, the release of kill team has sparked an interest in getting back into 40k. I'm used to an uphill battle with bugs, usually trying to overcome gunlines and scrape our way to the frontlines. I'm trying to mitigate this as much as possible and go for a truly competitive list.

Kraken

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids) [74 PL, 1204pts] ++

+ HQ +

Neurothrope [4 PL, 70pts]

The Swarmlord [15 PL, 300pts]

+ Troops +

Genestealers [16 PL, 240pts]: 5x Acid Maw
. 20x Genestealer: 20x Rending Claws

Genestealers [16 PL, 240pts]: 5x Acid Maw
. 20x Genestealer: 20x Rending Claws

Genestealers [16 PL, 240pts]: 5x Acid Maw
. 20x Genestealer: 20x Rending Claws

+ Elites +

Tyrant Guard [7 PL, 114pts]
. Tyrant Guard: Adrenal Glands, Rending Claws, Scything Talons
. Tyrant Guard: Adrenal Glands, Rending Claws, Scything Talons
. Tyrant Guard: Adrenal Glands, Rending Claws, Scything Talons

++ Total: [74 PL, 1204pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

Kronos


++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids) [41 PL, 795pts] ++

+ HQ +

Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 204pts]: Monstrous Rending Claws, Two Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Wings

Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 204pts]: Monstrous Rending Claws, Two Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Wings

+ Troops +

Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]: 3x Ripper Swarm

Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]: 3x Ripper Swarm

Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]: 3x Ripper Swarm

+ Elites +

Hive Guard [13 PL, 288pts]
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon

++ Total: [41 PL, 795pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

Read more: http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/thread/56086/2000-point-competitive#ixzz5SihB8Tre

I think you could reduce or replace one of those 20-man blobs of genestealers with something else. You’ll get 2 of the blobs into combat fast with Swarmlord and stratagems, but that third will be lagging behind and not doing much. One problem you have is that your big hammer, the hive guard, have no real screen to stop assaults. I’d say drop some genestealers and replace a Kronos ripper squad with a 20-man termagant unit to wrap them up. Give them devourers and it’ll give anyone pause on charging.

Gaunts with d guns are great! and they are your friends here.

From experience the rippers will be next to useless. They just die.

I would also drop the Swarmlord too. I've never had him do anything but die.

Thanks for the advice, guys! My thoughts on so many genestealer was hopefully target saturation. With all antiinfantry weapons pointed at the genestealers, having three blobs hopefully means at least one makes it into combat early at full strength. It's always felt bad to have that one unit of stealers inevitably shot off the table. The rippers are in truth there only to fill out the troop slots in order to give me more command points, and in game I suppose to sit back on objectives if needed. If you guys don't think the extra CP are all that useful, I'm not invested in the rippers, and that's 100 points that could be in models I like.

I've been hearing some negative things about the hive guards mobility and range, and was thinking about replacing them and the Neuro with another fht and a broodlord to buff all the stealers. Do you think he's worth the points?

Hopefully with a 3rd fht and the tyrant guard, the swarmlord will survive. I also feel he is necessary to get the stealers in there, I may be wrong.

ralphinator wrote:
Thanks for the advice, guys! My thoughts on so many genestealer was hopefully target saturation. With all antiinfantry weapons pointed at the genestealers, having three blobs hopefully means at least one makes it into combat early at full strength. It's always felt bad to have that one unit of stealers inevitably shot off the table. The rippers are in truth there only to fill out the troop slots in order to give me more command points, and in game I suppose to sit back on objectives if needed. If you guys don't think the extra CP are all that useful, I'm not invested in the rippers, and that's 100 points that could be in models I like.

I've been hearing some negative things about the hive guards mobility and range, and was thinking about replacing them and the Neuro with another fht and a broodlord to buff all the stealers. Do you think he's worth the points?

Hopefully with a 3rd fht and the tyrant guard, the swarmlord will survive. I also feel he is necessary to get the stealers in there, I may be wrong.

Well if your aim is to be competitive, you need to be able to hit your opponent hard, and fast, and be able to survive on an objective. A well placed squad of Intercessors, Fire Warriors, or even a blob of guard will just delete them on the objective, and then you're back to square one. Devil Gaunts will do far, far more for you, especially with Kronos tactics.

I honestly think that with Tyranids, cheaper and smaller is better. I prefer to bring Primes, Neurothropes, and Malenthropes over Tyrants and Swarmlords. The reason is that the former can take advantage of the Character Targeting rules, where as the latter cannot. With how easy it is to spam S8+ these days, you're biggest CC monsters will just never, ever get there.

As for the Genestealers, I don't really have any experience with them. I can share a basic outline of the list I run for HF Kronos though.


HQ:

3 Neurothrope
1 Tyranid Prime w/Barbed Strangler/2 Boneswords
1 Hive Tyrant w/Strangle Horn Cannon (Relic version) and a Heavy Venom Cannon

Troops

4 Squads of 30 Termagaunts w/Devourers
3 Squads of 5 Warriors w/Deathspitters and Boneswords

Elite:

3 Squads of 4 Hive Guard w/Impaler Cannons

Fast Attack:

2 Squads of 4 Ravaners w/Scything Talons and Deathspitters

Heavy Support:

3 Exocrine
2 Trygon Prime

With upgrades it comes in just shy of 1999 points and it does very, very well with the shooting. You can also pick and choose, swapping in Dakkafexes for more heavy shooting.

But, also, just to note that this list was WAY more fun when you could DS on turn 1 and drop all of warriors in your enemies backfield with the Tprimes.

if your running a bunch of genestealers, then swarmlord is def worth it.
you will need some big squads of hormagaunts or termagaunts for screens and getting objectives. 2 squads of 20 genestealers is probably enough.
get rid of the tyrant guard they are worthless. thats 22 hormagaunts right there.
hive guard are the best shooting unit we have. a great candidate for the shoot twice strat, and they draw a lot of aggro from opponents, which means they are not shooting at your really important stuff like genestealers.
ripper swarms are also good, keep them in reserve and bring them out turn 2 or 3 on objectives where you need them. and those command points will help, we have a lot of great stratagems.
keep the neuro, he makes a great warlord, very durable.

I really like the list as it is, looks to me like everything has its place. I don't think tyrant guard are a bad choice with a swarmlord, they keep it on the table and at full effectiveness for longer. Long enough to justify their price IMO

60 stealers seems solid too. I often wonder why max genestealers lists aren't a thing; they're fast, can deal with hordes and armour and given their speed and invulnerable save have acceptable durability.

Since broodlords were mentioned I'm surprised people don't seem to rate them. I think their nearest equivalent is a daemon prince. The DP is slightly harder to kill, offensively similar, similar movement, both psykers, both provide buffs, but the broodlord is an untargetable synapse creature, which is huge. They seem underrated to me.

Thanks guys! Since I'm limited to 3 FHTs I guess I'll have to stop at that many! I dropped the tyrant guard in favor of more hopefully effective units, mostly due to realizing they can only protect tyrants of the same hive fleet. If i find the swarmlord being obliterated turn one, back in they will go. As of now, these are the warlord traits/bio artifacts/psychic powers I'm going to try out.

Kraken

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids) [74 PL, 1133pts] ++

+ HQ +

Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 209pts]: Adrenal Glands, Chameleonic Mutation, Monstrous Rending Claws, Power: Catalyst, Power: Paroxysm, Two Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Wings

The Swarmlord [15 PL, 300pts]: Power: Catalyst, Power: Dominion

+ Troops +

Genestealers [16 PL, 240pts]: 5x Acid Maw
. 20x Genestealer: 20x Rending Claws

Genestealers [16 PL, 192pts]: 4x Acid Maw
. 16x Genestealer: 16x Rending Claws

Genestealers [16 PL, 192pts]: 4x Acid Maw
. 16x Genestealer: 16x Rending Claws

++ Total: [74 PL, 1133pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

Kronos

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids) [45 PL, 865pts] ++

+ HQ +

Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 204pts]: Monstrous Rending Claws, Power: Catalyst, Power: The Horror, Two Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Wings

Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 204pts]: Monstrous Rending Claws, Power: Catalyst, Power: Psychic Scream, Two Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Wings

Neurothrope [4 PL, 70pts]: Power: Onslaught, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Synaptic Lynchpin

+ Troops +

Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]: 3x Ripper Swarm

Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]: 3x Ripper Swarm

Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]: 3x Ripper Swarm

+ Elites +

Hive Guard [13 PL, 288pts]
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon
. Hive Guard: Impaler Cannon

++ Total: [45 PL, 865pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

Read more: http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/thread/56086/2000-point-competitive?page=1#ixzz5TEiClpT6