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hey, my Dark Eldar army is coming together (slowly) and have gotten a few games in and have enjoyed them very much, but that is beyond the point.

I might get some money soon, and started talking to a tyranid player at my FLGS, and after looking at his models and the codex, have fell in love with the big bugs.

Are tyranids FUN to play. I know that they are one of the weaker codexes in the game, and am alright with that because I LOVE the big guys, and the gaunts aren't that bad either.

I don't really care about the effectiveness, because Ill make it work, and with the local meta I play in, everything is allowed, with houserules to help modify the rules to an enjoyable extent.

So is it fun to play as them?

In addition, I would probably wait for the 7th edition codex to come out, and just collect the models, and with a decent understanding of the book, and with proxies being accepted at my FLGS, the weapon options are plausible.

Happy Wargaming!

-Mikey

I only play Tyranids, I think they are a fun army. While the Codex is pretty weak, the Formations, and additional items have made Tyranids a viable top tier army.

You'll want to invest in several Winged Tyrants, a minimum or two, most "tourney" lists will have 3 or 4.

Tyranids work off of synergy, so you'll want to make sure the parts work together. Venothropes, Malanthropes, and Zoanthropes are very common "force multipliers".

Good luck, and good hunting!

Tyranids are a lot of fun, but without the new Leviathan formations, can suffer a lot. Most successful Tyranid players I know run pretty typical lists, so be prepared. Nids don't have as much variety as a lot of other armies.

 jreilly89 wrote:
Tyranids are a lot of fun, but without the new Leviathan formations, can suffer a lot. Most successful Tyranid players I know run pretty typical lists, so be prepared. Nids don't have as much variety as a lot of other armies.

I disagree! We have lots of options, just not lots of effective options.
But if you aren't playing in heavily minmaxed groups, its a ok codex. At least we finally got our mycetic spores back.

I have over 7k points of nids, and I have to say that I love them. You have a very flexible army that can be run as huge swarms, monster mash, and everything in between. Almost everything is usable (looking at you pyrovores, though you can have limited success with them DSing in a spore)

Admittedly, I don't play many tourneys, and when I do there are a few limited lists that you need to run if you want to do well. But for non-super-competitive metas nids are awesome

I mean, sure, Tyranids are enjoyable but SO specialized and the game is at a very specific spot right now so certain specializations are required. Mentioning just the broad strokes: Mawlocs to ruin gunlines. Carnifexen to kill squads. Flyrants leading every single time. Venomthropes protecting. Zoanthropes providing anchors and heavy shooting. Tervigon and Termagants getting in the way of everyone. It means that the Carnifex won't disrupt a gunline, Zoanthropes can't handle squads well, Tervigon and Termagants can't do be an anchor point. The Flyrants can do anything, which means not taking some limit your versatility by a lot.

I still have a lot of fun with my Tyranids in a noncompetitive meta using the units I want to, but the real lack of 'wiggle room' has gotten me to set them aside. If I take a legitimate TAC list, I can't play around with the models I really love to field. Genestealers, walking Tyrants, Hormagaunts and melee Carnifex.

I have a decent list, and I have room to improve if I want, but there's no real need to keep 'evolving the Hive Fleet' like Tyranids do in fluff. It's so mutable in fluff but just so static on the table. It's very 'you take this because it does this well and if you don't then you can't handle that'.

I play Necrons, CSM, and Nids.

With the caveat that I only own 2 Flyrant models, Nids have proved the hardest for me to win with, but so long as I don't feel a need to win, I have plenty of fun playing them, and if I win, its a pleasant surprise. One of the main problem I have with the codex is that while you have plenty of Troop choices, none of them are really very good, at least not for the points. My meta doesn't play Unbound, and this is one of the armies where the troops are definitely a tax.

I really enjoy playing Nids against Space Marine armies, not for any reason other than it looks friggin cool on the board.

 jasper76 wrote:
One of the main problem I have with the codex is that while you have plenty of Troop choices, none of them are really very good, at least not for the points. My meta doesn't play Unbound, and this is one of the armies where the troops are definitely a tax.

I would have to disagree with you on that. Nid troops won't kill much, that's for sure. But for 240 points I can have 60 T3 bodies to flood objectives and just get in the way of my opponent's troops. As long as you know going in they won't kill much, swarm nids can be great. I typically run 100+ models in a 1850 game, with a mix between termagants, hormagaunts, and gargoyles.

The only troops that are tough for me to use currently are genestealers, just due to them being an expensive CC unit with a 5+ save in a game that makes CC so hard to reach.

 Freytag93 wrote:

The only troops that are tough for me to use currently are genestealers, just due to them being an expensive CC unit with a 5+ save in a game that makes CC so hard to reach.

Only time I ever played them, I Infiltrated them into cover, and they actually made their points back plus some. But yeah, 5+ is pretty squishy for a 14 point model, or whatever they cost, and with no shooting.

 jasper76 wrote:

 Freytag93 wrote:

The only troops that are tough for me to use currently are genestealers, just due to them being an expensive CC unit with a 5+ save in a game that makes CC so hard to reach.

Only time I ever played them, I Infiltrated them into cover, and they actually made their points back plus some. But yeah, 5+ is pretty squishy for a 14 point model, or whatever they cost, and with no shooting.

Literally boosting their save by one to a 4+ would make them worth it, at least in my eyes. They would get saves against most basic weapons like bolters and plasma rifles. Of course, I don't think the models or the fluff would rationalize that. I wish 40k would go to using a two dice system. It would allow for a much broader range of stats. There's too much significance in one point of toughness or armor save...
But that's another conversation

I'm a long time Tyranid player, 3rd edition and on, and while I love my bugs to death I feel like they have lost most of their appeal over the last two books. I find myself constantly feeling as though I should have more models on the table than I really ever do. Medium sized bugs and TMCs are over costed with a few notable exceptions. I find myself very often lamenting my psychic powers because the Tyranid discipline is bi-polar with an even mix of offensive and defensive powers. You want warp lance or psychic shriek on your Flyrant? How about Onslaught? Want Catalyst or Onslaught on your Tervigon? How about psychic shriek instead. Want a power that will never do anything? The Horror has you covered (I am being mostly sarcastic...mostly.) Our highest MR is 2, outside of a special character, and that just feels so low to me. The codex suffers the worst internal balance of any codex at the moment, while you have the Flyrant as an HQ you then also have the Tyranid Prime....who is a whole 40 points cheaper than a stock Tyrant for no benefit what so ever. Our best units are often mediocre when compared to other armies at large. Our MCs are some of the worst in the game which is just pathetic for an army that kind of originated the unit type. Every time I see someones army or one of my other armies and all of the cool options they have it makes me feel worse about my bugs. We have a laughably horrible artifact list, most of our units aren't good in any situation, everything still feels a bit pricey, our medium bugs suffer from ID far to easily, etc, etc. The list of grievances goes on and on.

Don't get me wrong, I love the army but every time I play them I just feel the same sense of disappointment. I just want to see some things buffed, or if not buffed then just reduce the points so I can spam waves and waves of awful TMCs and medium bugs. As it is right now I am paying a lot of points for very little return.

My favorite thing about the nids is kit bashing and conversions honestly. You can do so much with nid parts and a little green stuff. It's incredible.

I think it's their strongest suit to set them apart from everyone else. Conversions out the whazoo.

 Freytag93 wrote:


Literally boosting their save by one to a 4+ would make them worth it, at least in my eyes. They would get saves against most basic weapons like bolters and plasma rifles. Of course, I don't think the models or the fluff would rationalize that.

I agree with you, and on both points. 4+ is all they need, but they honestly look like they;re running around with a 6+, tbh.

 Freytag93 wrote:

I wish 40k would go to using a two dice system. It would allow for a much broader range of stats. There's too much significance in one point of toughness or armor save...
But that's another conversation

On this I do not agree. There's already enough dice in the game, and its already complicated enough and takes enough time to play as it stands.

My wife plays Tyranids and has no complaints. She's beaten Tau, AM, and space wolves handily, and had some hard-fought games against my orks. I'd say that unless you play in an ultra-competitive meta, 'nids are as good as anything. And the models are just amazing.

But yeah, they're a good army. One of the tougher armies to learn because the units tend to synergize in a very specific way, but they're good. They're just a bit tough if you buy all the sweet models, wind up with one of everything, and then try to make an army of it.