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hi dakka

recently ive been thinking if it would be cool starting a tyranid army so what are they like? i really like the look of them (things like massed hormaguants , flying monstrous creatures etc.) and i was wondering if they were a fun army to play with. Are they competitive? a unforgiving army? i am just looking for a bit of advice about them.
oh and can anyone post some cool paint schemes? i hate the usual ones like hive fleet behemoth and levithian....

They are all squishy as in None of them have eternal warrior. Very expensive point wise HQ's minus the tervigon. Expensive for the amount of hormagaunts and termagants you need. And genestealers. Can't really pull a nidzilla army as easy as before. Painting takes a while with so many troops choices to fill. Now that the bad(for me) is out of the way here are te good points(IMHO) they are a blast to play when you horde army them. Tervigons make free units every turn until they roll a double. We have access to many psykers. The synapse creatures have shadow of the warp. Which is horrible for an opponent doing a psyke test. Mycetic spores for deep strike are a blast when full of termagants with devourers. Doom of malentai is a beast when played right. It's an awesome feeling when you have 60+ units on the field against an army with a lot less. Genestealers were my favorite unit. Those guys with rending are amazing. Zoenthropes are great with a 3+invuln save. But again. Almost everyone minus the HQ's are squishy t3 or 4. But they have a lot more numbers to make up for it. This is all my own opinion. Hope it helps

redrooster148 wrote:
Are they competitive?

They're middile teir at the moment. They got a nice boost from 6th edition. While most armies got a nice boost, Tyranids got a more favorable boost in regards to Flyrants becoming FMCs (and thus absolutely deadly with dual devourers) and the sheer amount of psykers they can field. An average army, between Tyrant, Tervigons, Zoanthropes and Broodlords has ~5 psykers.

They suffer in the same places they did in 5th though - a lot of vulnerability to S8+/AP3- weapons, and monstrous creatures are still too expensive for what they can do outside of the Tervigon and Swarmlord.

redrooster148 wrote:
a unforgiving army?

Oh very much so. While they got a nice power boost, you still need to maneuvre forces to take advantage of Fearless, a few bad rolls on the Biomancy table leaves you without much needed support, and without proper cover, your synapse and monstrous creatures will evaporate.

redrooster148 wrote:
i am just looking for a bit of advice about them.

Fearless from Synapse is now a straight up buff, rather than the dubious ability it was in 5th. Multiassaults with supporting monstrous creatures can work now due to the monstrous creatures not fainting from seeing a few gaunts die. Large broods are now quite viable. As long as they're in synapse, if a brood of 30 Hormagaunts makes it into combat, you have to kill every single one of them, which isn't easy if the synapse creature is a Zoanthrope throwing Endurance on them.

There's units in the book you'll notice to avoid right away - Rippers, Sky Slashers, Pyrovores, etc. You'll know whem when you see them.

My main advice is experiment. While The Internet likes to tell you it's only worth taking Tervigons, Trygons, Termagants, Genestealers, Hive Guard, Tyranid Primes and Hive Tyrants, this is based on the 5th edition tournament meta. We're in a new edition, and your local group probably plays differently to the tournament crowd. Use those recommendations as a basis, but try 'middling' units from the book.

In particular - my group isn't big on ranged anti tank, because no one runs pure mechanised armies. So I get away with using Carnifexes and Tyranid Warriors, which don't instantly evaporate. I get huge use out of Zoanthropes, particularly now with Biomancy, while I keep getting told they're too unreliable. There's a lot of units in the book that jusst aren't good enough to make it in the tournament scene, but there's a good chance you'll have a use in your local group.

Except Pyrovores. You won't find a use for them. No one has.

I agree completely with everything -Loki- said about them. A few addendums are as follows:

1. Although they were largely underpowered in 5th, a brood of 3 carnifexes with dual scything talons + toxin sacs (and bio plasma if you have the points) has absolutely devistated many of my opponents. combined with a casting of endurance, having 3 t6 s9 MC's re-rolling hits and wounds against infantry, and pulping any vehicle your opponent was dumb enough to let them close to... well.. they have worked thus far.

2. the Swarmlord with 3 lashwhip guards. sub-out his powers for the BRB ones, and hope for iron arm, warp speed, and gate of infinity. objuration is a nice bonus, but with the first three, you have a teleporting deathmachine. Is there a chance you lose a tyrant guard? yeah...but they're only there to slow your opponent down so the Swarmlord can mulch them anyway.

3. Also, if you use genestealers, as long as you have cover to hide them in, opt to go 2nd and decline seizing the initiative so you can have them charge on your first turn.

4. Last but not least, as long as your group is fine with it, ignore all of the gakky decisions from the FAQ, i.e. allow broodlords to re-roll if they land a witchfire, let primes attach to warrior squads which are coming down in pods


If you can understand the fluidity of the army, and how the units synergize, they can be devastating. I haven't lost a game in 6th with them yet. Just be prepared to buy lots of gribblies. Lots and lots of gribblies... so many gribblies..... -sigh-

2nd on the "Listen to -Loki-" He's smart Here is some things I have learned.

I've had mixed experience with using the BRB powers on Zoanthropes. Their regular powers are pretty good as is but it depends on how you want to use them. I prefer to use them as anti-MEQ and anti-tank.

Gargoyles also got a nice boost in 6th. With HOW adding an additional attack on the charge, they can swarm an opponent quickly and wipe it out.

Another good Carnifex option is to go 1 talong + 1 HVC per fex. They are more expensive but gives them some good range power.

If you use Genestealers, use a lot of them. A small group of 8, even with a Broodlord, are just going to die the first turn as your opponent probably already knows they are bad business if they get close.

Venomthropes are nice if you have some spare points and an elite spot. 5+ cover a nice boost while your MC's are out in the open.

Make some Spore Pods and use Deep Strike as walking your army across the board is very slow and very vulnerable. You don't have a huge amount of long-range power so anything that can get into your opponents face quickly is a good thing. A simple option is to make some pods is too go to your local craft store or gift shop and buy some foam balls, you can use fake fruit, foam Christmas decoration, anything round-ish. Mount them on a base so they don't roll around, and paint them like a model.

As for paint schemes, look through the Gallery to get inspiration. Use Google images to look at bugs and lizards. Think of the environment they will be living in and how they would look in it. Below is a picture of one of my Nids that I'm very happy with.

On the psi Zoans front I always go Biomancy now. You can always trade down for Smite that will allow them to kill even TEQ's but it's worth it for the chances of rocking Enfeeble or Endurance as one of your two powers. If you get one of those first roll as well you can even pick from another discipline if you prefer their Primaris powers.

I know some people swear by Swarmy but I never field him. I'm not keen on Nid special characters anyway but he's crazy points, has no gun and no preferred enemy bubble. With no option for wings he's a pure swarm core Tyrant and losing that bubble and fire support options hurts him badly in my eyes. 2 psi powers is nice but not enough for me.

Thanks For the help guys i am considering these as a future army when i am done with eldar