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I'd love to build a semi competitive 40 Stealer army.
I usually face, Chaos Nurgle Marines, DA Bikes, mixed Img Guard and Tau.

Is there a way?
I was looking at something like:

Flyrant usual morphs
2 x 8 Stealers with BL (I have two BLs)
3 x 8 Stealers
Crone
3 x Biovores
Venomthrope
Mawloc
3 x Warriors, barbed S

I dont have any Malanthropes. Idea would be to babysit the biovores with the shooty warriors, run the stealers up the middle with the Venom and use the HT, Mawloc and Crone as distractions?

Zoanthropes seem the big missing element there from what I know of Nids.

If you want to make Stealers work, I think you need to put another Flyrant in there at the least. Genestealers are great at CC, their only flaw is being shot to death before they get there. The biggest way to help them is to 1. Make sure they always have cover saves with shrouded, which your venomthrope will help with, and to 2. Overload your opponent with other threats so that they don't shoot the Stealers! More FMCs and other fast unit (Raveners/Shrikes/Gargoyles/Tyrannocytes) should help ensure that the Genestealers are not your opponents top priority.

I would consider using the Spore Field formation in addition to the stealers if you are going this direction. If you are doing mass infiltration, you need even more threats in your opponents face, and Spore Field is really cheap and fits the bill. Plus, the spores come back after they die on a 4+ and can be deep struck in. The Mucolids should also be very strong against the types of armies you listed due to the AP3 large blast - very hard for power armored foes to ignore since they can trade very cost-effectively.

Second Flyrant also sounds like a good idea. I don't think this list needs Zoanthropes since they are very slow, and thus don't mesh well with the "Turn 2 Tsunami" idea behind the list. Plus, Genestealers don't need synapse (and neither do the spores), so there is really no justification for Zoans unless you just want the Warp Charge bonus and extra roll on the psychic power table.

I would probably skip the broodlords, though, as they are not as cost-effective as just getting more stealers.

Define the battlefield as area terrain granting a 4+ cover save. Boom. Genestealers viable.

My solution? More Genestealers! My Tyranid army is all Genestealers with one Deathleaper as the HQ tax.

Thanks guys, the spore field form is a nice idea. I dont own mucolids though. I could trim out the BLs and Mawloc for a second Flyrant though?

 Ratius wrote:
I'd love to build a semi competitive 40 Stealer army.
I usually face, Chaos Nurgle Marines, DA Bikes, mixed Img Guard and Tau.

Is there a way?
I was looking at something like:

Flyrant usual morphs
2 x 8 Stealers with BL (I have two BLs)
3 x 8 Stealers
Crone
3 x Biovores
Venomthrope
Mawloc
3 x Warriors, barbed S

A Living Artillery Node would be a very nice support unit for a Stealer wave. You have most of the pieces for it, you can always Proxy before you spend lucre... Do you have any Broodlords? one or two might be good force multipliers as well.

I dont have any Malanthropes. Idea would be to babysit the biovores with the shooty warriors, run the stealers up the middle with the Venom and use the HT, Mawloc and Crone as distractions?

Two ways to run genestealers effectively. With one big group as a distraction unit. Max squad no upgrades, no broodlord infiltrated to midefield with the 1st few models in ruins, and the rest congalined back to a Malanthrope.

The other way is to run lots of min squads. I mean lots of min squads. Here is an example list:


Most armies aren't going to be able to handle that. Its an unbalanced, list, but better than you might expect.

I really feel like the secret to a competitive stealer rush is minimizing casualties turn 1. The Horror is great for this, which is why the BL is amazing. ALso remember to go to ground for a better save, then flyrant into synapse range and they stand up.

I think at least 3 brood w Lord are needed.


I have been working on a stealer army myself. I think a pair of drop fexes work well with some reserve manipulation. Since they will likely come in turn 2, which is when your stealer assaults will happen, it works.

tag8833 wrote:
Two ways to run genestealers effectively. With one big group as a distraction unit. Max squad no upgrades, no broodlord infiltrated to midefield with the 1st few models in ruins, and the rest congalined back to a Malanthrope.

The other way is to run lots of min squads. I mean lots of min squads. Here is an example list:

Spoiler:

Tyranid CAD
Hive Tyrant (Wings, 2 TL-Devourers, E.Grubs)
Hive Tyrant (Wings, 2 TL-Devourers, E.Grubs)

Malanthrope
Lictor
Lictor

6 Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers

Dimacharon (Raveners and Shrikes work as well though not as well. These are the hammer, and genestealers are the anvil)
Dimacharon

Manufactorum Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers
5 Genestealers

Most armies aren't going to be able to handle that. Its an unbalanced, list, but better than you might expect.

My friend actually runs a list a lot like this (well, before he switched over to Sisters and began kicking my Tau butt...) except he used the standard formation genestealers as Brood Lord delivery mechanisms, and had the Death Leaper in there to lower the leadership of any unit that looks pretty resistant to "The Horror". So I guess similar idea but the list didn't look all that similar. It would either work amazingly if he reduced my Ethereal's leadership to 7 (which I have to use if I'm within 12"...), or else I'd shoot him off the table turn 2. Of course, my list is not your typical Tau list at all, and I take enough shots to deal with infantry swarms pretty easily, since that's what I fight most of the time.

Genestealers are not nearly as scary as they used to be, but I really think "The Horror" can be pretty good, especially combined with Death Leaper.

 Lord Commissar wrote:
I really feel like the secret to a competitive stealer rush is minimizing casualties turn 1. The Horror is great for this, which is why the BL is amazing. ALso remember to go to ground for a better save, then flyrant into synapse range and they stand up.

I think at least 3 brood w Lord are needed.

The Horror doesn't work on 75-90% of stuff you will see turn 1 in competitive lists, and on the stuff it does work against, it only works 1/2 of the time. Go ahead and develop that strategy if you want, but I can assure you that making genestealers more expensive is not the way to reduce casualties.