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I'm completely new to Tyranids, and I picked up the Wrath of the Hive Mind box today from my local GW shop. I'm very much looking forward to getting started painting them, but what is the best way to set them up? Fleshborers, Spinefists, Spike Rifle, or Devourer? Also, is the Strangleweb worth it for the ones that can take it?

Thanks

SG

Pretty sure fleshborers are still the way to run them. Cheap, and it's the type that the Tervigon spit out.

That said, you won't get many opinions, other than maybe the odd person suggesting Spine-fists against a few specific targets, as termigants don't see much play in tyranid lists anymore.

Ive been using Gants more and more in my lists (Large Nidzilla fan here) and I am finding mostly Fleshborers work for me, Cheap, Spawnable, Reliable. Mix in a few Devourers here and there and thats all I would really go for.

Spike Rifles and Stranglewebs dont really seem worth it honestly to me.

Spinefists are ok, but having the Str4 shooting on a Str3 model is nice, allows you to threaten AV10 if the opportunity arises, where Spinefists would be stuck with just Str3 all the time.

The best way would be to put them back in your case, as they will die.

I've found the best success with them is Devourers, mostly for the extra range. 12" is a really terrible range, and 18" is a vast improvement on it. That said, you really need an alternate method of delivery for them for the Devourers to be effective. Taking the Hive Commander upgrade on your Hive Tyrant to give them Outflank is pretty useful for this reason.

I second fleshborers with a few devourers sprinkled in. Tervigons spit out fleshborer gaunts so you can't go wrong there. Devourer gaunts give a surprisingly nice volume of fire at strength 4 if you feel like running gaunts with an upgrade.

1/3rd of the Termagants can be Devourers with the rest Fleshborers and that will give you the best cost/efficiency ratio. Got 20, use 7 Devouerers, 30 bodies, 10 Devs. More than that and you're losing too many when the squad gets focused on, which ends up being a lot of points very quickly. The rest should always be Fleshborers. Just easier that way.

Although it is pretty funny to outflank 30 Devilgants (Devourer Termagants) and just roll 90 dice at something.

I have 50/50 on fleshborers/devourers on mine. And by that I mean that I have ~50 of each kind. In low numbers you should probably do 2/3 fleshborers 1/3 devourers.

Then the next edition will kick in and spike rifle will gain rending or haywire and the rage shall consume us all.

topaxygouroun i wrote:
I have 50/50 on fleshborers/devourers on mine. And by that I mean that I have ~50 of each kind. In low numbers you should probably do 2/3 fleshborers 1/3 devourers.

Then the next edition will kick in and spike rifle will gain rending or haywire and the rage shall consume us all.

I expect this also, currently I have 50 Fleshborer, 30 Devourer, 30 Spine Fist.

I also fully expect TL Devs to be dropped in power so we all use a new gun haha

This may be helpful: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/624010.page

I asked the same question, and it seems that most people use fleshborers. But looking at the numbers, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between fleshborers and spinefists. So really its just up to personal preference. I run spine-fists because I just prefer the way they look (the integrated gun just looks so much better than the weird fleshborer IMO).

Huge fearless broods of 30 Termagants are surprisingly useful. With a Spore Cloud they take a lot of effort to put down, and you can use them to shield yourself from nasty attackers.

I've experimented with huge broods with a mix of Devourers sprinkled in and I've got to say that the one turn of overwatch has left me wishing I'd saved the points and just taken a full 30 Fleshborers. The "massive firepower" and "massive tarpit" setups work against each other a couple of turns in.

I think if you plan to run Devourers, don't max the unit out completely, maybe a mix of Fleshborers and Devourers at a 1/2 ratio? Use them more as hunter-killer units that can find cover, settle in and start unloading firepower. That benefits from a smaller footprint.

If I'm running Endless Swarm, I've taken to doing 2x30 Termagants with Fleshborers for the CAD, and then 3x10 Termagants with Devourers for the formation (they make a tempting target, but there's a 50% chance they'll be right back).

The other viable option is to deploy a brood of 20 with Devourers in a Tyrannocyte and erase a unit when they land (avoid Blast weapons on the Tyrannocyte; you don't want to start killing your own Termagants).

I run them with Devourers when dropping in via pod, or outflanking. If they start on the table I typically run a mix of the standard Fleshborers and Devourers. I use a 2:1 ratio in that case.

fleshbores, cheap as possible...same deal with hormagaunts..just cheap. The points you spend on gaunt upgrades can easily be translated into more bodys on the field.

Welcome to the Bug Carpet, sadly you're 3 editions late Joking aside if your gonna go Bug Carpet the goal here is bodies, so make them cheap and make them plentiful, oh and get a Tervigon or Three so you can spawn more, because Without Number isnt a thing anymore.

If you cant tell i miss my 4e dex

I agree with a lot of people here. Devourer Termagants are great. I run two units of 12. It's a whole lot of dice rolling and the weight of fire with some dakkafex's, flyrant, and Trygon or Trygon Prime is just hilarious to watch.

Might as well add some warriors with Deathspitters too

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm gonna build this box like a Swarmy style army. I hope to get Tyranid Swarm in the future, and that would help. Again, I'm a player who is looking to have fun not to win all the time. And, having 100 Termagants on the field for 400 points just sounds awesome! My other army is Dark Angels where ten Deathwing Terminators (with no upgrades) cost 400 points, and as I understand it, can die fairly easily as well without Storm Shields (which ups the point cost to 500).

SG

Agreed.

If taking tervigons you need many, many fleshborer termagants, and they're a good general-purpose unit. S4 gives them a chance against things a spinefist and spike rifle couldn't hurt.

Devourers are a lethal but expensive upgrade. They're good in two situations:

1 - As a 'submachinegun section' added into a large brood. Nothing stops you mixing weapons within a brood, and adding 5 devourers can be considered equivalent to throwing a heavy weapon into anyone else's infantry squads. If you've got a 30-strong brood starting on the board, consider it.

2 - If you have a way to garuantee that a unit will make it into weapons range before they can be shot at (Hive commander granting outflank, transport in a Hierophant, or deep striking via a tyrannocyte, for example), then consider arming the entire brood with devourers. 20 bugs gives you 60 bolter shots on the turn you pile out - enough to seriously scare an opponent, especially if you come at them at an angle where they don't get cover for aegis lines, etc.