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This is to be a fun and reasonably competitive 1500 tyranid-only list for a meta without fliers. It is currently 925 pts and so I need to top it up by 575 pts; what, in your opinion, is the best way of doing this? I am open to changes in equipment. I am also open to changes in HQ but would probably favour a list that synergised with Deathleaper. Thanks for your ideas!

130 Deathleaper

160 30 Termigants, 10 with devourers
195 Tervigon

300 2 Carnifexes with 2 brainleech devourers
140 Mawloc

edit/ It will be fighting paladins, inquisitor henchmen, mech guard, horde orks, and white scars.

Sethorly wrote:
This is to be a fun and reasonably competitive 1500 tyranid-only list for a meta without fliers. It is currently 925 pts and so I need to top it up by 575 pts; what, in your opinion, is the best way of doing this? I am open to changes in equipment. I am also open to changes in HQ but would probably favour a list that synergised with Deathleaper. Thanks for your ideas!

130 Deathleaper

160 30 Termigants, 10 with devourers
195 Tervigon

300 2 Carnifexes with 2 brainleech devourers
140 Mawloc

edit/ It will be fighting paladins, inquisitor henchmen, mech guard, horde orks, and white scars.

I am a big fan of Tyranofex, with Adrenal Glands, and a Thorax Hive...200 points. It sounds like you'll get use vs you likely enemies.

The "other" place I'd look is at more Troops, and then at taking some "Thropes" . A Venothrope or two is almost always handy, and Zoeys are always useful. I'd suggest you toss in x20 more Termigants, and a Veno (~ 125) and a x2 Zoey Brood. The Zoeys give durable Synapse, and a roll on Powers of the Hive Mind! With the Tyranofex, thats 425. That leaves 150 if I figured right.

You might want to get an out flank from Hive Commander..... and if you toss in a "solo" Zoey, it can form a sort of "deathstar" with the Veno, the twin Dakkafexen, and Tyrano. If you feel the need, you can bubble wrap with Termigants.

Would your Tyranofex be okey if it replaced one of my devourer Carnifexes rather than my Mawloc, as I'm partial to Mawlocs? So Heavy would be Devourer Carnifex, Mawloc, Tyrano?

I like the idea of a Veno and Zoey, thanks.

Do I really need more troops? Wouldn't 30 gants + Tervi + spawned-gants be sufficient?

Also, do you think the Haruspex would be a good buy?

I'll look at replacing Death Leaper with a Tyrant to get Outflank, thanks.

Sethorly wrote:
Would your Tyranofex be okey if it replaced one of my devourer Carnifexes rather than my Mawloc, as I'm partial to Mawlocs? So Heavy would be Devourer Carnifex, Mawloc, Tyrano?

I like the idea of a Veno and Zoey, thanks.

Do I really need more troops? Wouldn't 30 gants + Tervi + spawned-gants be sufficient?

Also, do you think the Haruspex would be a good buy?

I'll look at replacing Death Leaper with a Tyrant to get Outflank, thanks.

I was not suggesting dropping anything...you are at ...925?, and you want to get to 1500? So you should be able to just add Big Bad Bug Tyrano, as well as the rest. Carnifexen come in Broods, so you can buy up to 3 in one Brood. It's often useful to split them out, but not nessisary at all.

One of the current advantages Tyranids have, over most anyone, is Lots of Troops. So I always want to maximize that advantage. Also one Terv., and a Big Brood, is just asking for a deepstriking Melta blob to ruin your whole day. Lots of folks run with Terv. + Big Brood, and do well. But I am the nervous type.

I've never used a Haruspex, the reports I've heard are mixed...so I say if you want one paint her up!

You have not even used half your points, so grab a Tyrant.

I want to like the Hausprex, but he just does not have the stat line/special rules to be good at what it does.

Add Gargoyles or Raveners so you have some DS options besides the Mawloc to key off DL. Beyond that DL, is just a nice solo unit to nerf down a troublesome psycher.

I agree with most of the suggestions that have already been give. A tyrant with some tyrant guard would be great for midfield synapse and some cc goodness. A tyrannofex would also be a great addition. Add some venomthropes and another squad of troops (ether terms or a horm squad to screen), and you are looking good.

Cool thanks guys, I feel we're getting somewhere!

130 Deathleaper
165 Hive Tyrant

160 30 Termigants, 10 with devourers
80 20 Termigants
195 Tervigon

50 Zoanthrope
45 Venomthrope

300 2 Carnifexes (brood) with 2 brainleech devourers
140 Mawloc
200 Tyrannofex, adrenal glands, thorax biomorph (any particular one?)

Total 1465, leaving 35 spare, not enough for a Hive Guard.

I guess the weak points in this list, judging from others' choices, are the Tervigon and Deathleaper, and I suppose I'd need to sacrifice one of them to get Hive Guard? Thoughts?

Sethorly wrote:
Cool thanks guys, I feel we're getting somewhere!

130 Deathleaper
165 Hive Tyrant

160 30 Termigants, 10 with devourers
80 20 Termigants
195 Tervigon

50 Zoanthrope
45 Venomthrope

300 2 Carnifexes (brood) with 2 brainleech devourers
140 Mawloc
200 Tyrannofex, adrenal glands, thorax biomorph (any particular one?)

Total 1465, leaving 35 spare, not enough for a Hive Guard.

I guess the weak points in this list, judging from others' choices, are the Tervigon and Deathleaper, and I suppose I'd need to sacrifice one of them to get Hive Guard? Thoughts?

Well...you could just buy a few upgrades and hope for the best, but it's most likely that you'll need Guards. If you have to drop an important unit, I'd say goodby to Deathleaper. It adds the least to the armies function. Tervigons are hardly the best unit, but one is dang useful.

For the Thorax Hive, Shredder Beatles is the best against a lot of targets , but I almost always take Electro-bugs, it's pretty good vs most Troops, and has Haywire.

I'd suggest you try a test game or three, and see how survivable a walking Tyrant is, in your local meta. Then you can make an informed choice.

If you do decide to lose Deathleaper , I suggest you buy two Tyrant Guard, and spend the leftovers on upgrades and the like. I'd put a Thorax Hive on the Tervigon as well, if I could. You could also kit your Walker'rant out a little, a Cannon is a good one, and I'm partial to Boneswords and Toxin Glands, but that is "just me" Good luck! And welcome to the Hive.

Late entry: I just noticed, 35 points is exactly enough to put Wings on the Tyrant I don't expect that is by chance, Wings gives much the same protection that Guards do, and has lots of mobility. That is why it is such a popular choice.

Sethorly wrote:
Cool thanks guys, I feel we're getting somewhere!

130 Deathleaper
165 Hive Tyrant

160 30 Termigants, 10 with devourers
80 20 Termigants
195 Tervigon

50 Zoanthrope
45 Venomthrope

300 2 Carnifexes (brood) with 2 brainleech devourers
140 Mawloc
200 Tyrannofex, adrenal glands, thorax biomorph (any particular one?)

Total 1465, leaving 35 spare, not enough for a Hive Guard.

I guess the weak points in this list, judging from others' choices, are the Tervigon and Deathleaper, and I suppose I'd need to sacrifice one of them to get Hive Guard? Thoughts?

I would do 3 changes.
1) Drop the deathleaper. It will give you exactly enough points for 2 tyrant guard and TS+LW/BS for the tyrant.
2) Drop the 10 devs on the terms in order to boost your other term squad up to 30.
3) With the remaining 35 points, maybe put a rupture cannon on the tyrannofex. Some people don't like it, but I really like having S10 shooting on a 2+ MC. It will provide some early game shooting to pop any tanks, allowing the rest of your units to kill the squishy troops inside.

Ok here we go then! This looks like a fun and versatile list.

215 Hive Tyrant, hive commander, lash whip/bone sword, maw claws of thyrax
100 2 Tyrant Guard

120 30 Termigants
120 30 Termigants
210 Tervigon, crushing claws

50 Zoanthrope
45 Venomthrope

300 2 Carnifexes (brood) with 2 brainleech devourers
140 Mawloc
200 Tyrannofex, adrenal glands, thorax biomorph

= 1500

- termigants bubble wrap and venomthrope increases cover save for walking MCs.
- tervigon uses hive commander to outflank. I like the idea of crushing claws on this thing, as unwieldy doesn't mean anything due to it being an MC, and the +1 S armourbane makes it a danger to all vehicles: am I right?
- hive tyrant: am I correct that adding a LW/BS and maw claws of thyrax still allows a tyrant 5 attacks? The Maw Claws, unless I am mistaken, give preferred enemy to the tyrant and tyrant guard after a melee kill (as well as being rending)? My understanding is that this would give the tyrant 5 rending melee attacks?

Two thoughts: 1) you don't really need crushing claws on the terv. It's already an MC and will destroy pretty much any tank it comes across. While its not a horrible upgrade, there are plenty of things you could use those points for instead.
2) You don't need rending on the tyrant. He is already AP3 with swiftstrike and life drain. Rending would only help against 2+ armor (on a 1/6 chance), and you could always smash instead.
I would drop both of those upgrades and use the points either to get another zoanthrope or another venom. Otherwise, it looks like a strong list.

Not much to add...I'd put a Thorax Hive on the Tervigon, Electro-bugs have Haywire, so that can damage Vehicles, and it saves a point or two. (Shredder Beattles are very good as well)

With Bone Sword/Lashwhip, the Maw Claws don't give you much, so I'd get Toxin Sacks instead, that give re-rolls vs most foes, and that synergises with the Instant Kill effect of the Bone sword. Both of these will save a few points, and should give you a better performance.

Late entry: I just noticed, you could put the saved points towards a Thorax hive for the Tyrant

Thanks fellas!

Getting rid of the Maw Claws and Crushing Claws saves me 25 points:

- So I could get toxin sacks for the Tyrant and a Thorax Biomorph for the Tervigon leaving 5 points spare.

- Or I could get a Miasma Cannon.

The first option is better I think even though it leaves 5 points, as electroshock grubs give more flexibility when the tervigon shoots after outflanking than the non-anti-vehicle miasma cannon?

Sethorly wrote:
Thanks fellas!

Getting rid of the Maw Claws and Crushing Claws saves me 25 points:

- So I could get toxin sacks for the Tyrant and a Thorax Biomorph for the Tervigon leaving 5 points spare.

- Or I could get a Miasma Cannon.

The first option is better I think even though it leaves 5 points, as electroshock grubs give more flexibility when the tervigon shoots after outflanking than the non-anti-vehicle miasma cannon?

I'd say option 1... I'd then drop two Termigants, and put a Hive on the Tyrant.