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I have an army of Tyranids that I haven't fielded yet and I'm going to buy some more to round out the force and all. So my question is basically, what do you prefer to do? Focus on melee or ranged, or mix them up? The most cost-effective (as in dollars, not points) list that I can put together is a mix right now I'm just curious as to whether that's begging for disaster or not. I can post the army list too if necessary, but I was mostly just wondering about what others like to do.

Elites are your new best friend.

Hive guard are very nice at hunting armour, and since the FAQ gave them sky fire, they act as amazing anti-air too.
I usually run 2-3 units of 3.

Thropes arent too bad, but getting psychic powers to work now isnt as easy as it used to be.
Stronger than the hive guard, but nowhere near as reliable.

Thats the main thing now anyway.
Other than that, people tend to run 2 tervigons with catalyst to keep numbers up and a flyrant with 2x devourer.

Nids arent really amazing at the moment, but they can still hold their own.
Just a case of playing to your own style, but having to fit those essentials in 1st before fun toys.

Also, if your playing 2k games with twin force org, nids get a real boost as it frees up more elites.

 Vladimirilyich wrote:
I have an army of Tyranids that I haven't fielded yet and I'm going to buy some more to round out the force and all. So my question is basically, what do you prefer to do? Focus on melee or ranged, or mix them up? The most cost-effective (as in dollars, not points) list that I can put together is a mix right now I'm just curious as to whether that's begging for disaster or not. I can post the army list too if necessary, but I was mostly just wondering about what others like to do.

Tyranids are not a cheap army. If money is a concern, it may be a problem.

Your list would help though.

Yeah, I'm extremely disappointed with the current codex, but whatever. Yeah, I have a Zoanthrope and I'm thinking about getting another one for the 2,000-point stuff. I have no Hive Guards, I admit; I've got a Hive Tyrant with a heavy venom cannon and I figured that and the Zoanthropes would take care of armor, for the most part. But I feel fairly secure about hunting armor, I'm just worried that half of my force will charge and get gunned down because the other half is primarily ranged, you know? I'm not sure if that's how it usually goes down (since I imagine the Zoanthropes and other ranged units would probably also attract some fire) but the possibility concerns me.


Right now I have a couple of lists, here's a link to the other thread I started, which concerned a 1,500-point one.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/515898.page


Also, now that I'm posting all of this, I may as well post what I own as models. Unfortunately this army was started when the fourth edition Codex was still out, another thing that concerns me.

Hive Tyrant – 215 pts.; Heavy Venom Cannon, Lash Whip & Bonesword, Mental Scream, Leech Essence, Unspeakable Horror

8 Genestealers – 201 pts. total; 17 pts. each; Toxin Sacs
Broodlord – 65 pts.; Toxin Sacs, Scything Talons

3 Tyranid Warriors – 105 pts. total
30 pts.; Deathspitter, Scything Talons
45 pts.; Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons
40 pts.; Scything Talons, Venom Cannon

21 Termagants – 105 pts. total; 5 pts. each

2 Spinegaunts – 6 pts. each; Spinefists

12 Hormagaunts – 96 pts. total; 8 pts. each; Toxin Sacs

3 Ripper Swarms – 30 pts. total; 10 pts. each

Troop Slasher Carnifex – 170 pts; Adrenal Glands


And as far as the price is concerned, I plan on assembling most of the army over a very long period of time, so that's not a major issue; I'm just looking to not have to buy $1,000 worth of Tyranids by maximizing what I've already got, you know? And I've also got some arts and crafts in mind to lower the bill somewhat.

Thropes have to roll to use the lance.
By the time you have done that, rolled to hit, then any deny the witch rolls or anti-psychic gear is used, you will rarely get much use from them.
Not to mention the short range.

Hive guard can hide in cover and shoot over things.
2 shots each and some combat ability means they will outlast the thropes and do alot more damage.
The fact they act as anti-air enforces their place in a list even more.

Keep in mind that venom cannons suffer against armour due to penalties.


If your going half ranged, half combat then it can work fine.
Shoot units down to a size you can deal with, then charge in.
All the time they are shooting your combat units, your getting another turn of shooting with something else.

Ive tried pure shooting and pure combat lists, but i find that a mix is by far the best option.

Yeah, I know the venom cannons get the penalty, but I also figure they've got a pretty good chance to hit. But I'll look into the Hive Guard, sounds promising. I might try a game with the two venom cannons and see how I feel afterward, too. There's always room for improvement, of course, and I have time to do some trial and error. And thanks a lot, it's great to hear that the mixed force is the way to go, puts my mind at ease quite a bit.

 Jackal wrote:

Hive guard are very nice at hunting armour, and since the FAQ gave them sky fire, they act as amazing anti-air too.

Um... What? Did I miss an FAQ?

rigeld2 wrote:

 Jackal wrote:

Hive guard are very nice at hunting armour, and since the FAQ gave them sky fire, they act as amazing anti-air too.

Um... What? Did I miss an FAQ?

Yeah, I have no idea about this either....

 Vladimirilyich wrote:

3 Tyranid Warriors – 105 pts. total
30 pts.; Deathspitter, Scything Talons
45 pts.; Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons
40 pts.; Scything Talons, Venom Cannon

Illegal unit. Can't have two heavy weapons.

Yeah, it's not a unit, it's just what I've got. I bought them several years ago in junior high, don't ask me why I put two heavy guns on my only three Warriors. But I'll be getting another pack to convert one into a Prime and the other into another Warrior with a Deathspitter, so check the army list and you'll see the actual way I'll be setting them up.

 Sasori wrote:

rigeld2 wrote:

 Jackal wrote:

Hive guard are very nice at hunting armour, and since the FAQ gave them sky fire, they act as amazing anti-air too.

Um... What? Did I miss an FAQ?

Yeah, I have no idea about this either....

Wow yah, hate to thread jack, but where did the hive guard get sky fire? Just checked out the faq on the gw site and I don't see it anywhere. Can we see a reference to where this happened?

Tyranids can make an extremely effective medium-ranged shooting force. Staples would be Winged Hive Tyrants with two sets of twin-linked Devourers, and then broods of Hive Guard, Zoanthropes and Biovores to deal with light armour, heavy armour/MEQ (or alternatively a cheap, unassuming source of psychic power spam) and anti-horde.

You then fill out these elements with Tervigons for board control, psychic power spam and free units of Termagants to contest, screen and soak as necessary. An interesting twist here is to then take one or two units of Termagants with Devourers and put them in Mycetic Spores. This gets you your troops-slot Tervigons, overcomes the Termagants frailty by keeping them off the board for a few turns, and gets them into prime firing positions (20 Devourers is 60 S4 shots).

Lastly, you can season to taste with some of the other fun toys, like Carnifexes with two sets of twin-linked Devourers (great in a Spore, great outside of a Spore), Tyrannofexes and Harpies.


One thing I would keep in mind is that individual Tyranid units, almost without exception, are fragile and so can be easily removed from the board with a little focus. The way we overcome this is target saturation; making it as hard as possible to choose a target to focus on, because there are so many threats. For this reason, assault-only broods are perhaps best avoided if you're going down the ranged route as those units can be easily ignored for several turns, giving the opponent more time to focus on your immediate threats.

I would therefore steer clear of things like Hormagaunts, Genestealers and melee Carnifexes, unless you want to do an assault list.

 seapheonix wrote:

 Sasori wrote:

rigeld2 wrote:

 Jackal wrote:

Hive guard are very nice at hunting armour, and since the FAQ gave them sky fire, they act as amazing anti-air too.

Um... What? Did I miss an FAQ?

Yeah, I have no idea about this either....

Wow yah, hate to thread jack, but where did the hive guard get sky fire? Just checked out the faq on the gw site and I don't see it anywhere. Can we see a reference to where this happened?

This made me super excited for about 10 seconds... As far as I know, all that Hive Guard can do to Flyers is ignore jink.

I'd like to say that in any of my list for nids I always bring in hormagaunts with toxin sacs. I find them to be way better than genestealers due to cost and the role that they play. Also I find that warriors do better in smaller units, 3 in a squad, with venom cannon or barbed strangler and deathspitters.

just my 2 cent

Yeah, my Hormagaunts all have toxin sacs, seems like a great balance between quality and quantity.

Sorry, was looking at a FAQ and then realised it wasnt the actual GW one, but a bloody fan made one -_-

Knew they ignored jink, but wanted to check again.

My apologies.

Tyranids can be exspensive to make work moneyvice.

Good thing is there are more then one way to skinn that rabbit. It is possible to make a list withouth tervigons who have a horrible money to points ratio since you need around 20 gaunts.

I would perhaps use 2 primes as your synapse in 2 blobs of dakka gaunts.

Yeah, I'm not worrying too much about money yet because I plan on building this force up very slowly because of time constraints and all. My big point is just to avoid spending money on 'Nids that I never use, so I'm trying to get one or two really solid army lists and buy forces only for those.

Hive guard are very nice at hunting armour, and since the FAQ gave them sky fire, they act as amazing anti-air too.

Could you link where can i find this. Because i never read this before, but i will be the happiest if this is true
i usually run 2 brood of 2 of this guy and i never had any trouble whit armour before

I hate to say it but thinking in terms of buying models you will never use AND planing on buying over the long term are universally exclusive. Reason being, GW enjoyed changing things up with editions and codex. Something that I see most nids players taking is Tervi's as troops and pooping out the free scoring broods. (I said MOST, not saying everyone does it so please do not reply with "i dont take tervi's") This tactic could stay the same if/when nids get a new dex OR it could go away entirely (not unlikely) OR it could be changed to where they are not worth taking anymore something like instead of 3d6 you get 1d6 and on a 1 it breaks (also not unlikely) OR perhaps adding 1d6 to an existing unit rather than making a new unit along the lines of the necron spider (also also not unlikely)

My point is if you are looking at long term army building then just get what you want to play and fill in the gaps when you have the time and money to spend.
If you are looking at effective then get what works right now and hope that your models dont all take the nerf bat when you see the new codex.

I completely agree with Keltikhoa. Current key model's strengths and abilities in the current codex may or may not be drastically altered in the next new codex... But that is approximately over a year away (if we're lucky)! Just build a list with what you like and want to run.

However, the current, most competitive Tyranid lists tend to be heavy with psykers, shooters, and MC's. So if you want to use that as a guide for future purchases/conversions, go for it.

Also, I am opposed to all the nay-saying of Zoanthropes on this page! I run both Hive Guards AND Zoanthropes and I recognize their distinct advantages and disadvantages:

Hive Guard - Well everyone has pretty much nailed the advantages to taking them. With that said, I'd say they have three drawbacks:
1) they HAVE to stay in synapse to be effective
2) they can't deep strike with a mycetic spore
3) a good player will simply stay away 24" away from them

Zoanthropes, on the other hand, are unhindered by neither of the aforementioned drawbacks, and therefore, find their use in Spore-based armies.

In my experience, Psyker tests on Ld 10 are almost guaranteed to pass (unless you are playing against an Eldar Farseer in which case you're Psykers are in store for a hell of a game! :O) and RARELY does someone actually Deny The Witch against you, even with a 5+.

Bringing in 3 Zoanthropes on target with a spore with 3 S10 AP1 shots will tear up just about any vehicle out there. They're quite remarkable. Oh yeah.... Not to mention their 3+ Invulnerable soaks up SO much shots!!!