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This list is so much fun to play. Idea is pretty straightforward,

2000pt Tyranids. 13Cp

2000pt Stealer Horde, 13 command points

Kraken Battalion +5cp
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
Hive Tyrant, 2x Devouers w Brain Leech, Monstrous Rending Claws, Adrenal Glands Camleionic Mutation 162
Brood Lord 115

Kraken Battalion +5cp
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
10 Hormagaunts 50
Brood Lord 115
Brood Lord, WarLord, One Step Ahead 115

Total 1997

The Tyrant is mostly a decoy, he is 90pts cheaper than SwarmLord and with the Camelionic Relic he is significantly harder to kill, and he is a threat no enemy can ignore, takes about 24 las cannon shots at BS3 to take him down so is pretty cost effective as a bullet magnate for the team, in addition to being just a horror show for the enemy if he somehow lives.. Give him Catalyst and Onslaught.

The list is a blast to play.

I like the flyrant, but if your not taking swarmy with stealer spam you need some more UP FRONT damage.

Drop 2 brood lords for nuerothropes and drop the flyrant for a malanthrope.

Then ditch 2 stealers and take 8 meiotic spores.

You will get to dish out on average 13.5 mortal wounds with the spores on the first turn (either neutering some vehicle or killing a few characters).

You'll also have a huge psychic presence backing up the stealers who will live a lot longer with the -1 to hit aura backing them up.

I like the list. There’s no flyrant (not sure what the guy above is talking about) which is awesome as they get over used and I think the points are better used elsewhere especially as you have a particular focus for your army.

Stealers aren’t the most durable of units so I would say malanthropes/venomthropes would go well here but they are an expensive investment and would have a bit of trouble keeping up with the stealers. I would say that you probably have “all your eggs in one basket” so for instance, if the opponent has all bolters, you’re screwed especially with the new Bolter discipline. A ratio of 1 Broodlord to 2 units of stealers is good so I would say drop one Broodlord and 2 stealers for some more firepower and fill in the battalion with cheap rippers/hormagaunts (I think rippers would be better for the deep strike ability). Kronos hive guard would be a good addition especially if you can put them out of line of sight and continue your shooting although this would mean a whole new detachment for the Kronos rules.

For psychic powers, I would say catalyst and onslaught work well with the tyrant but on the broodlords I would say go for the horror and paroxysm to debuff any particularly hard hitting enemy units


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I would almost say i recommend something like this:
The neurothropes would just be plain boss for psychic and are generally the best HQ Tyranids have access to.
But I’m sure you could sub in the tyrant as the distraction instead of a neurothrope and 2 less hive guard.

Kraken Battalion +5cp
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
Rippers. 33
Brood Lord 115
Neurothrope. 90

Kraken Battalion +5cp
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
20 GeneStealers x20 Rending Claws, x20 Scything Talons, x5 Acid Maw 240
Rippers. 33
Brood Lord 115
Neurothrope. 90

KRONOS vanguard +1cp
Hive guard Impaler x6 288
Hive guard Impaler x3. 144
Pyrovore/lictor filler for detachment
Neurothrope. 90

Thanks for the advice.

My previous competition list was almost identical but with 19 models per squad because of previous ITC rules. My win ratio was around 75% and some of my stealers were from GSC and could infiltrate/charge first turn back then.

1st comment: you don’t have enough of Genestealers. Once a squad goes under 10 models, the damage output is significantly reduced. Those pesky lasgun will kill your stealers like crazy before you reach their line. You never have enough bodies to deliver rending claws attack. All my losses were due to the fact that not enough stealers had reach the opponent’s line. I remember the good time when the genestealers were 10 pts/model…

2nd Comment: Reduce the Nids HQ tax to a maximum. Run with one Broodlord and one malanthrope. Deploy your 6 squads as tentacles with your HQs as the head of the squid. You need only one model in a squad within the reach of the aura to give the bonuses to your squad. Your whole army will have synapse, +1 to hit and -1 to be hit. I typically had between 12-14 models attacking, 5-7 models making the link between the HQ and the stealers. Once a tentacle was damaged, the 4-6 models left were detached and ran aside to camp on objectives.

3rd comment: support your genestealers with genestealer cults. If I would adapt my old list to the actual context/points, I would add 24 Acolyte Hybrids, a primus and an Iconward to your 120 stealers. Your opponent’s anxiety will increase when those Hybrids infiltrate 9’’ from him on the second turn. With some stratagem, one of your squad will probably charge. That would give you 144 bodies to deliver rending attacks. Or even, reduce the amount of genestealers to increase the amount of Acolytes…

My only question. Do you have 120 genestealers?

Headlss Hell ya I do. I have been playing a variation of this list of the last 2 months. I go about 50/50 with it.


"2nd Comment: Reduce the Nids HQ tax to a maximum. Run with one Broodlord and one malanthrope." I have also run the list with 2 Misanthropes and only 2 brood lords, but it's really hard to keep the -1 bubble after turn 1. Keeping massive 3x20 herds of stealers within 3 inches of a malanthrope together is a pain. I can't imagine trying it with only 1 thrope.


But win or lose the game is a blast, because most enemies sh#t themselves when they face it.

Headlss, I have 147 stealers! Mostly old models.

Russell, only one model has to be within 3''. The mass of stealers are running far ahead of the Malanthrope/Broodlord.

It is a fun list to play! Elite army dont like playing against it as they get swarmed and raped.

Sofduc wrote:

Spoiler:

My previous competition list was almost identical but with 19 models per squad because of previous ITC rules. My win ratio was around 75% and some of my stealers were from GSC and could infiltrate/charge first turn back then.

1st comment: you don’t have enough of Genestealers. Once a squad goes under 10 models, the damage output is significantly reduced. Those pesky lasgun will kill your stealers like crazy before you reach their line. You never have enough bodies to deliver rending claws attack. All my losses were due to the fact that not enough stealers had reach the opponent’s line. I remember the good time when the genestealers were 10 pts/model…

2nd Comment: Reduce the Nids HQ tax to a maximum. Run with one Broodlord and one malanthrope. Deploy your 6 squads as tentacles with your HQs as the head of the squid. You need only one model in a squad within the reach of the aura to give the bonuses to your squad. Your whole army will have synapse, +1 to hit and -1 to be hit. I typically had between 12-14 models attacking, 5-7 models making the link between the HQ and the stealers. Once a tentacle was damaged, the 4-6 models left were detached and ran aside to camp on objectives.

3rd comment: support your genestealers with genestealer cults. If I would adapt my old list to the actual context/points, I would add 24 Acolyte Hybrids, a primus and an Iconward to your 120 stealers. Your opponent’s anxiety will increase when those Hybrids infiltrate 9’’ from him on the second turn. With some stratagem, one of your squad will probably charge. That would give you 144 bodies to deliver rending attacks. Or even, reduce the amount of genestealers to increase the amount of Acolytes…

Listen to sofduc...

Take a Neurothrope + malanthrope and 3+ big genestealer units

Fill the rest with GSC units, preferably acolytes that add more assault threat. Also summoning really helps with this list, so reserve some points for that.

I like the original list to be honest. I think broodlords are underrated

I'd only question the hive tyrant's inclusion. It is tough to take down but being the only target for ranged multi damage weapons it at least gives lascannons something to target, where another small HQ means they're shooting infantry

I like it with a few changes.

One, drop the hormies
Two: drop the hive tyrant
Three: make all the stealers 19x models. I know ITC changed the rules on killing for total models, rather than the number of models in the unit, but this helps you deny secondaires to an opponent.
With these changes that gives you 284 points.
Get to malanthropes for -1 goodness. YOu should be able have 1 cover 3 squads and a BL easy with daisy chaining.

That essentially gives you two strike forces of 57 stealers, a broodlord and a malanthrope, then put the extra broodlord where desired. Save CP for feeder tendrils.

ANother option: drop a whole unit of the GS, add a unit or 3x rippers for your battalion, to ds for line breaker or objective etc... And use the other points to take Swarmlord for hive commander. I think having 3 broodlords is a little redundant and the value swarmy has can guarentee T1 charges, likely with 2 units to get give time for the rest of your army to close in.

use metabolic overdrive on a malanthrope, kraken advance on 1 genesterler, and hive commander on the other.


Kraken Batt #1
Swarmlord
Malantrhope
Broodlord

GSx19
GSx19
GSx19

Kraken Bat #2
Broodlord
Malantrhoep
GS x19
GSx19
Rippers x3