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Hi I have a 1500 point battle against some tyranids tomorrow and I have never played them and it's a competition and I really have to try to win it.. my list is a competitive mechdar list (lots of str 6) with some wraith units..

What do I know for sure? We are still playing 6th Edition. (this is a tourney thing, it started in 6th so stayed in 6th) Well my opponent definitely is taking psykers and he is a good player who has won every round so far. No doubt he has a very strong list (it has to be, he has done very well so far).. My preparation has been to look through the codex, and look at youtubes.. I also looked at the Las Vegas Open and Tyranids did well (one player, only lost to the eventual winner) , the Las Vegas successful lists took Tyranid Prime, Venomthrope, Tervigons, Hive Crones, Dakkafexes, Exocrines, Dakka Flyrants, Mawlocs all of which I know almost nothing about .. when I look at the tyranids codex there seems to be a lot of Monsters, with high saves high wounds high toughness across the board.. it seems a big ask to take this on with no real idea of how they actually play out.. I need help with what to realistically expect from this game so that i can play to my strengths and exploit any tyranid vulnerabilities.

in short: I struggle to know how to deliver a win. any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Be prepared for Flying Hive Tyrants with dual devourers. They're basically one of the best units that Tyranids have. You'll do your best against them with Wave Serpents or Crimson Hunters. Be vary wary of the Flying Tryrants basically flying up to you, and then next turn switching to glide mode and assaulting your troops. There's pretty much nothing Eldar can do against a Hive Tyrant in close combat in 6th edition unless it's an Avatar or Kharandis.

If your opponent is using Mawlocs, resist the urge to get out of your transports until they're on the field. One Mawloc can destroy a whole block of troops when it appears from Deep Strike. Once it's on the board, it's much less scary.

Venomthropes can be sniped turn 1 with a Wave Serpent using the "Ignores Cover" on the Serpent Shield. Dropping a blast from a Night Spinner on their head can also work well.

Be very careful of letting Crones get near your Dire Avengers or Guardians. Their template weapon can just erase your troops from the field.

War Walkers are great at destroying flying units of all kinds. Try to get Guide or Prescience on them if you can, and then they'll be even more devastating.

Go for Prescience, Forwarning, and Misfortune. Forewarning helps a lot against Tyranid close combat, giving your Dire Avengers a chance to do some wounds to a Hive Tyrant or Mawloc without just getting cut down. Misfortune on a Tyrant will bring it down really quickly.

thanks Murrdox, the flying tyrant has dual devourers , are they counted as twin linked str 4 assault 3 or two x assault 3? the reason I ask is I am AV12 mostly ( I do have troops in transports but they are there to be dumped and pumped rather to be of any importance) so I might be "immune" to him out of assault.

I hear what you say about murlocs, they are like most deep striking units.. they affect you more before they arrive than after

I am thinking I might ignore the big guys til last... I think I will plough the easiest kills first and roll up the list because I have a lot of shots - and they will have high return against the massed units - but they will probably be more wasteful vs fliers / full armour saves / toughness 6 / spare wounds.. so I will hopefully survive better if I iteratively reduce their "effective output " turn by turn starting at the bottom.. is there any glaring stupidity to that? I have AV12 and can just retreat from combat (if i survive it) so one way or another I *should* be getting shots at the melee guys

ConanMan wrote:
thanks Murrdox, the flying tyrant has dual devourers , are they counted as twin linked str 4 assault 3 or two x assault 3? the reason I ask is I am AV12 mostly ( I do have troops in transports but they are there to be dumped and pumped rather to be of any importance) so I might be "immune" to him out of assault.

I hear what you say about murlocs, they are like most deep striking units.. they affect you more before they arrive than after

I am thinking I might ignore the big guys til last... I think I will plough the easiest kills first and roll up the list because I have a lot of shots - and they will have high return against the massed units - but they will probably be more wasteful vs fliers / full armour saves / toughness 6 / spare wounds.. so I will hopefully survive better if I iteratively reduce their "effective output " turn by turn starting at the bottom.. is there any glaring stupidity to that? I have AV12 and can just retreat from combat (if i survive it) so one way or another I *should* be getting shots at the melee guys

The Twin linked Devourers have Brain Leeches, so its S6, 6 shots, x2. That is a Lot of Dakka! If you save them for the end, you might be in no shape to fight.

Ok good point I'd not noticed!! If i cause pinning to a" in synapse range" tyranid does it test on its own LD or the synapse creature within 12"? I know they are fearless does that affect it?? I have noticed how low their LD often is


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Wait "edit" i can see they are fearless. Which means passed pinning. Might use synapse / pinning tho

I suspect I know who this is. And I suspect you are also aware that it's fixed lists from the beginning of the competition, no swapping out between opponents.

And hi there.

Nom nom nom.

Remember he will need his troops to win - and they will all run off if he loses his synapse.

So strict target priority against the horde is the best tactic; shoot the Flyrants first ( alongside any venomthropes), then Zoanthropes/Tervigons and the other gribblies will either run off the board, or try and eat/shoot what's nearest to them.

 DarkStarSabre wrote:
I suspect I know who this is. And I suspect you are also aware that it's fixed lists from the beginning of the competition, no swapping out between opponents..

Why would the fact he's asking for advice on this forum have anything to do with swapping lists between opponents?

Well I might just start allieing with orks for the best AA in the game to help me vs those pesky nid fliers

Had the game . "Won" (by default). You were right with the winged tyrant. He also had a warlord tryrant (on foot) plus 2 hive crones and 2 Carnifexes... Zoanthropes And termagaunts and a termgaunt baby machine.. Got relic mission (6th ed tourney, started 3 months back slowly knocking out). Diagonal setup. I got first blood then line breaker and would maybe have slayed the warlord and denied relic and he would have maybe had line breaker but wasn't to be because he called it :-(. :-(. Oh well gg