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I recently started playing 40k and i enjoy the game alot. Me and my dad bought AoBR and i bought myself a tyranid battleforce and a hive tyrant.
I played two games against my dad. We both won one of the games.

However, i don't know if i should build a Swarm Lord or a Hive Tyrant.
And what weapons i need if i choose for the Hive Tyrant?

I'll probably be playing against orcs, SM and eldar as enemies. :3

My army:

26 Hormagaunts (maybe with Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands, still have to make these guys)
16 Termagaunts
Tyranid Prime with Deathspitter
Tyranid Warrior with Venom Cannon
Tyranid Warrior with Devourer
Mawloc
8 Genestealer with Scyting Talons/Rending Claws/Toxin Sacs and Feeder Tendrils

I tried my own colour scheme on 10 Hormagaunts and the mawloc. It looks really nice but i ran out of the old Citadel Flesh Wash. So im planning to piant the rest as Hive Fleet Behemoth.

Id stick with building a flying hive tyrant. looks awesome and in the end unless you are playing a tourny that is wysiwyg you can use it as swarmlord for a game to see how it does, i see him as powerful close combat, but point heavy and slow, hense why I prefer the winged tyrant. My .02

Go for the flying hive tyrant. Hasn't failed to justify his points in any game so far.. He can be brutal with some nice rolls on the biomancy table.

About the flesh wash, if you like your own paintscheme so much I'd try getting some more of the wash instead of doing an entirely different scheme. Try some LFGS's as they might have some, or try online stores. You could also try the new flesh wash, might not be too different and you could always change the wash a little by adding a bit of paint to it

I might try a flying tyrant then, but what kind of weapon should i give him? A venom cannon or deathspitter?

I like both behemoth and my own scheme tbh :3
But i think ill switch to behemoth, since i dont care to much about those 10 hormagaunts and the mawloc. The mawloc failed already when i started coating him. I sprayed to close and ruined 75% of the details :3

And i already coated the rest of my army with black and started with mechrite red on my Tyranid Prime so there's no going back now

Dual deathspitter usually works nicely on a flyrant

The Hive Tyrant box only contains one deathspitter :/
I guess i'll have to search for another one in the near future.

There are a few different ways to run a tyrant. Primary for most in 6th is wing + 2x TL-Brain Leech Devourers which provied a fire support/anti-flier/general annoyance. Second seen usually consists of armoured shell, and either 2x scytal or LWBS / (weapon of choice) who runs around with 2-3 tyrant guard making melee happen.. but is unfortunately very slow. Once way to counter this (sometimes) is to manage to roll for gate on random psychic powers to blip them across the board turn 2 (turn 1 is a bad idea tbh... unless you're lucky and land out of LOS).

And for the record; NEVER take deathspitters on a tyrant... utter waste of points. Half the shots and less strength for AP5? no thanks.

The melee HT sounds fun to play with. And probably is much easier for me to assemble. I think i'll try this one and see if i can get some hive guards to protect him.

Oh, one last question. I saw some video's from mini war gaming where Matt used genestealers with feeder tendrils. However, i can't find the feeder tendrils in the Tyranids Codex.
I bought the codex about 3-4 weeks ago. Can somebody tell me what they exactly do and how many points they cost per genestealer?

 Robbietobbie wrote:
Dual deathspitter usually works nicely on a flyrant

Dual devourer is infinitely better. Twice the shots at higher strength kills more even if its aimed at things that the Deathspitters AP5 would negate.

Totally make a swarmlord because a big arse alien with 4 swords is just wicked boss.

The Genestealers that Matt was using are from an older edition Codex. 4th, I think it was?

 HiveFleetCollossus wrote:
The Genestealers that Matt was using are from an older edition Codex. 4th, I think it was?

Shouldn't this be Ymgarls?

 Shadox wrote:

 HiveFleetCollossus wrote:
The Genestealers that Matt was using are from an older edition Codex. 4th, I think it was?

Shouldn't this be Ymgarls?

Yep, Genestealers with feeder tendrils are now the Ymgarl special unit. Should be noted that feeder tendrils even in the 4th edition codex were listed as Ymgarl genestealers in the 'example build' section.

I would magnetize the Hive Tyrant that way you can switch him about whenever you want. I think the Flying Hive Tyrant is probably your best bet right now.

The problem with magnetising a flyrant is there's only one real way to run it - two pairs of devourers, at least in my experience. Lashwhip and Bonesword are wasted now that it can fly.

Magnetising a walking Tyrant? Yeah. Magnetise two sets of devourer arms, lashwhip and bonesword and a set of scything talons, and a set of Swarmlord arms. Those 3 sets will be what you'll run 99% of the time. A swarmlord, a dakka Tyrant or a naked Tyrant to save some points.

As others have pointed out, Devourers are the only way to go with the Tyrant. HVC was garbage in 5th and got nerfed in 6th to higher levels of garbage. STC is ok but is weak for the points you pay to get it. With wings you're looking at paying 250 points for a s6 ap5 large blast? . . . That's aweful.

I would just magnetize it. If you're still playing when the next Tyranid Codex comes out, the HVC may become king. Which is when you praise the Hive you magnetized your Tyrant.

 -Loki- wrote:

 Robbietobbie wrote:
Dual deathspitter usually works nicely on a flyrant

Dual devourer is infinitely better. Twice the shots at higher strength kills more even if its aimed at things that the Deathspitters AP5 would negate.

Im sorry, i did mean the devourer. I still have trouble sometimes with remembering what everything is called in the nid codex

I will try magnetizing my hive tyrant then ;-)
I'll look on the internet for a tutorial. And I hope I can find small magnets, because Iv'e no idea where to get them. I will check some local stores this weekend.

I wouldn't really worry about magnatizing. Unless money is really an issue, you can always buy another one.

I tried magnatizing my Tervigon, and dang it, I shouldn't have. I should have just glued it. Some times it's not worth the effort and iit's more fun buying and putting another one together later.

It's not evil to be buying 2 minis. Unless you change your mind alot and you have to have WYSIWYG, it's not a big deal if you do not magnatize.

hsojvvad wrote:
I wouldn't really worry about magnatizing. Unless money is really an issue, you can always buy another one.

I tried magnatizing my Tervigon, and dang it, I shouldn't have. I should have just glued it. Some times it's not worth the effort and iit's more fun buying and putting another one together later.

It's not evil to be buying 2 minis. Unless you change your mind alot and you have to have WYSIWYG, it's not a big deal if you do not magnatize.

Magnetising is one of those situations where you really need to weigh up if it's worth the effort. It's not an easy thing to do, especially with Tyranids getting the arms, especially connecting arms, to line up correctly.

With Tervigons, most people would have two. I'd just build one with Crushing Claws and one with Scything Talons, mostly to differentiate them, and when decide each game what they're equipped with. My opponents have no issues with my using both, say, as having Crushing Claws, when only one does. With Flyrants, I'm in a similar situation. I can't see myself running a Flyrant again with Lashwhip and Bonesword, because I rarely land it. It does its best work flying around decimating things with Devourers. I also don't like running a HVC or STC on it, because it's too unreliable for a one shot.

However, with Carnifexes and walking Tyrants, I totally see the value in magnetising. There's three builds I like for my Carnifexes - classic dual Scything Talons, dual Devourers, and STC. I'm not buying three separate broods of three to run all those options, plus more if they make, say, Crushing Claws good again in the next codex. So I magnetise my Carnifexes. With walking Hive Tyrants, I like dual devourers, scything talons, lashwhip and bonesword and Swarmlord options. Again, I don't want to buy 3-4 Hive Tyrants to do this. Maybe 2 so I can run 2, but not more than that. So I'll magnetise them too.