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Hi all.
Been looking for a nice small project to tinker with and I noticed that KT is gaining a huge following in my area.
Initially I wanted to run with kroot as they seemed pretty straight forward.
Dahyak Grekh, krootox, 2 hounds and 6 carnivores are perfectly 100 and simple.
This seemed great until I looked further and saw they really aren’t great, to be exact, people see them as bottom tier and near useless.

This lead me to tyranids.
I’ve been trying to find a use for my 2nd edition tyranid army for almost forever now so this seems useful.
However, a few hours research lead me in circles with list ideas and essentially got me nowhere.

Can anyone suggest a fairly solid list for 100 points please?
Model wise I’m set, got a metric ton of old tyranids that I just want to make use of.
I’d like a more elite army if possible, but happy either way.
Of the 20+ articles I’ve read, the only thing they agree on is that lictors are god tier for the most part.

Open to all advice as I’ve literally just started thinking about KT today.
Thanks in advance.

First, stop thinking about a list. You build a roster of up to 20 models without composition limits and you pick your team from the roster after you know the mission and you've seen your opponent's roster - essentially tailoring for every game.

Some general advice -

Low model count teams (4-6) are worse in most missions. 8-10 is usually the sweet spot. Board control is essential and melee teams need numbers to keep enemies locked in combat.

Weapons that do more than 1 damage are vital. Always start by looking for those, they will be the staples in your roster that make it into your team routinely.

I would generally agree with above.

A warrior gunner with a Venom cannon is the VIP in the games I’ve played. A couple warriors with Boneswords and the multi-shot S 5 guns are also solid. I then fill my roster with Gaunts with the three-shot guns, and tend to use them in two clusters to score objectives, but also to swarm down “lone grunts” that are also trying to score objectives. Despite the high rate of fire, if someone is in cover you’re only apt to get 2 hits, if you shoot with two Gaunts, of which one will typically wound, and then they have a save. Three such Gaunts, minimum, have a decent chance to take out a GEQ, and a poor but reasonable chance to take out an MEQ.

Never tried a Lictor, as I don’t own one, but I’d be interested in getting one.

I don’t like Genestealer models, so can’t speak to their effectiveness.

In general, you need to charge with 4 Hormagaunts to have a decent chance to take anything out in CC. Their speed is often better used to hide out of LOS and claim objectives.

I might add I have seen genestealers in action, both against me, and in my own Kill Team...

Scything talons, rending claws, toxin sacs. Rip and terror.

Great minds think alike - just ordered some warriors for kill team...

For 100 points, at least a Lictor and Warrior gunner with Venom cannon seems logical for the lion share of the points. After that, at least two genestealers and a healthy mix of termies and hormagaunts. Thats for a mixed force but variations could be...

1) Lictors and Genestealers. Independents who haven't got to worry about synapse, but need to engage in melee.
2) Warriors, termies and gaunts. Overwhelm your opponent but still able to provide some decent firepower.
3) Lictors and Warriors. Expensive but powerful. Possibily the most dangerous team one could ask for.

...if you have a Broodlord for Commanders then...sigh...good luck to your opponent. They will need it.

Honestly, depending on the mission, massed gaunts can work. One warrior (leader) with a venom cannon and 19 haunts with fleshborers can be surprisingly effective, especially against a kill team loaded for plague marines with high strength, low rate of fire weapons. Just swarm the objectives and take longer than six rounds to die.

Keeping the warrior alive for synapse cover is of course critical.

That shouldn't happen though.

When he sees that your roster is one warrior and 19 gaunts then he knows that's the only thing you can take and will select appropriate weapons from his roster.

Your roster must contain variety so that he doesn't know if you're going warrior heavy or gaunt heavy. That means that the 19 gaunt list is never going to happen.

To be clear, the 20 model limit is different to standard 40k, where people typically build a TAC list that they play regardless of opponent. KT is different, in that you’re supposed to make a list “at the table” drawn from your 20 model roster. So, for example, you might build a 20 model roster coming up to 250 points, but you choose which 100 points of models to use from that at game time.

You can show up with a 100 point fixed list, but the rules do encourage “tailoring” to the mission and opponent from your 20 model roster.

“Horde” armies tend to have a bit of an advantage when using “fixed lists”, but that advantage is offset a bit when drawing from a 20 model roster. If you imagine a horde list using 10 to 14 models, they have few substitutions to tailor with. Whereas an elite, 5 model team has tremendous customization options to suit the mission / opponent with a wide variety of load outs to choose from.

A very good point.

You should have 2-3 Warriors (one as gunner), 1 Lictor, at least one Genestealer built for maximum survival (as an alternative leader), and max out the rest with Hormagaunts. The gaunts are MVPs because they are cheap units who can grab objectives, tarpit, and create the type of chaos that allows your bigger units to clean up.

Side Note: If you want to be aggressive with your big guys, take a page out of the Ork book, and make a Hormagaunt (the fast ones?) your leader. If something threatens, you have a gigantic move + Run, and the strat that lets you move a second time? You can basically move to the other side of the board in one turn to get away from a melee-hunter opponent.

Hormagaunts can take combat, scout and veteran.

The ork/heretic astartes trick of making a cultist or grot leader whilst champions and nobz take names and prod buttock isn't available.

A genestealer is an option but a stealer is a bit potent a unit to leave having a crafty smoke on the back line. Besides which, with a heavily stabby kill team, "lead by example" is nice to have available.

Hormies and Termies have an 8" move, same as the genestealers. A Lictor has 9" moves. And as your Leader can only be a Lictor, Genestealer or Warrior/Warrior Gunner, it's still best to go with the points and get a Lictor.

(PS: My bad, I thought the Gaunts could be leaders, for some reason.)