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Podding nids list made with the help of jy2 and his Dakka Tyranid Tactica!

CAD 1:

Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs - 240

Malanthrope - 85

10 Termagants - 40
3x Rippers - Deepstrike - 45

Dakkafex - 150
Dakkafex - 150
Tyrannofex w/ Acid Spray, Egrubs - 185
Tyrannocyte - 75
Tyrannocyte - 75
Tyrannocyte - 75

Bastion - Comms Relay, 1x Void Shield - 120

CAD 2:

Dakka Flyrant - Egrubs - 240

3x Rippers - Deepstrike - 45
3x Rippers - Deepstrike - 45

Mawloc - 140
Mawloc - 140

To get up to 2000 I could add in 2 Biovores, a Lictor, and 2 Barricades to the Bastion (to give my Flyrants 2+ cover on the first turn). It's tempting to use those points for Hive Commander and up the gaunts unit to size 20 with 10 devourers to threaten from outflanking on the sides - could help herd enemies to the center where the pods could hit them easier, right?

A few other random questions - can 2 Biovores fit on top of a Bastion (are people basing theirs on 60mm bases now?) and would you rather have an Escape Hatch on the Bastion than the Void Shield, to launch the Malanthrope further upfield mid-game? There's not a lot of synapse otherwise... on that note, can the Dakkafexes function OK when podding outside of it? I do have 3 Zoanthropes that I may use in alternate lists that can provide more synapse (I'll likely get a 4th pod just in case I want to use them along with what's here).

Finally, if 2 CAD are not allowed in certain formats, but individual different detachments are, I'd use the Leviathan detachment and turn a unit of rippers into 3 Mucolids (moving the other unit of Rippers into the first CAD to keep objective secured). If only a single CAD is allowed I would do something like is in this thread: http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/thread/48278/tyrannocyte-tactica?page=1

Thoughts and tips really appreciated!

So just the Flyrants, Bastion, Termagants and Malanthrope start of the board? There's a bunch of alphastriking lists that will give you a huge problem if you go 2nd and don't have those Flyrants in the air. Eldar, Poding Skitarii, Angel's Fury and Podding grav marines, not to mention Sky hammer could all potentially table you turn 1 without too much difficulty.

If you weather that storm you've got a solid list. Mawlocs for invis and jinks, plenty of dakka, decent synapse about as much haywire as you're likely to ever get.

Though as with most nid lists the issues are all there (dealibg with AV13+ walkers in particular Imperial Knights). Again a bit more screening can help against such opponents as they enable you to control charges. Perhaps swap all tge rippers over to Termagants would solve both issues?

I can definitely swap another unit of rippers over to gaunts - that would allow both flyrants (or the Bastion) to be bubble wrapped, and I'm assuming in terrain in range of the mawloc shroud. Do you think a Barricade would be worth it to get them a 2+ cover save (instead of 3+ from area terrain with shrouded)?

Alternatively, I think they might fit on top of the Bastion, would they get a 2+ up there?

The feedback is very helpful, will definitely try to tweak it so I don't get tabled as I'd like to give my gribblies a chance to come in turn 2! But if I cut back on deep striking rippers, I might consider swapping the Tyrannofex to an HQ Tervigon instead to have a chance to spawn some more obsec troops upfield (I have the model I'm using magnetized to be either one).

I would say if you are going to do it. Go all out. If you are using guants I would put them in a pod too or just use rippers. Otherwise I like the list. I don't think the wall is really worth it, I would play a few games and see, but I don't think you will need it. I am guessing the guants are on the top with the relay? I would do whatever is cheapest. Good luck

I certainly wouldn't pod Gaunts as that defeats the entire point of having them. I would swap all the rippers over to min units of gaunts. You don't need ObSec up field being Nids you use board control for that. You're not trying to do anything with the gaunts beyond staying in the game and offering target saturation except against Imperial Knights where you're looking to charge block so the Fexes can double charge Knights to try to HoW them to death.

2 biovores should be able to fit on top of a bastion. I've seen people put 3 broadsides up there before. Heck, I've played against a guy who put 3 thunderfire cannons + techmarines (a larger footprint than the biovores) on top of a bunker (smaller footprint than the bastion) before.

I like the idea of the Escape Hatch over the barricades (I believe the costs are almost the same) but it isn't really necessary IMO. Instead of barricades, just put the bastion near ruins and then deploy your flyrants in the ruins for the 2+ cover.

Hive Commander is an ok upgrade. It works best in Hammer-&-Anvil deployment but personally, I don't normally run it. I find it a little too situational for my taste.

Dakkafexes are ok without Synapse as they will either shoot something, charge something or both. However, if they are in need of Synapse, then more your flyrants over to where they need it.

Keep in mind that the Leviathan detachment does not allow for fortifications. So if you're only running 1 CAD or main formation, then just go with regular CAD. Otherwise, you will have to drop the bastion if you are going Leviathan only.

 FlingitNow wrote:
So just the Flyrants, Bastion, Termagants and Malanthrope start of the board? There's a bunch of alphastriking lists that will give you a huge problem if you go 2nd and don't have those Flyrants in the air. Eldar, Poding Skitarii, Angel's Fury and Podding grav marines, not to mention Sky hammer could all potentially table you turn 1 without too much difficulty.

If you weather that storm you've got a solid list. Mawlocs for invis and jinks, plenty of dakka, decent synapse about as much haywire as you're likely to ever get.

Though as with most nid lists the issues are all there (dealibg with AV13+ walkers in particular Imperial Knights). Again a bit more screening can help against such opponents as they enable you to control charges. Perhaps swap all tge rippers over to Termagants would solve both issues?

Yes, knights will be a problem, especially if the opponent is running multiples of them. However, while the OP has not stated it here, he does not want to spam the flyrants. The more flyrants you run, the easier it is to do with a Knight army. Consequently, the fewer the flyrants, the harder it becomes to deal with such an army. That's just one of the inherent problem matchups with a flyrant-lite Tyranid army. However, it isn't impossible to deal with a Knight army. Between the 3 egrubs, 4 units of dakka-monsters, potentially Warp Blast, egrub wall of death Overwatch and then Smash attacks while in terrain, Tyranids do have the tools to deal with a knight army.

I agree but you need to control the board against multiple Knights and hence the advice of MSU gaunts to block Knight movement and set up Carnifex charges. A Spore Field is the other option if he can find the points. But he needs units to survive alpha strikes and needs bodies to control Knights.

Well, I will have no problem trying this list out with gaunts because I... er... painted 150 of them back when I was running the army (which has been a few years now)

So I will swap in and out gaunts/rippers based on the results, since they're basically equivalent in points! I will also have a 4th pod in case I want to make use of it, but don't really want to drop anything for it in this list (maybe at 2k).

Do any of you put a Tervigon in a Tyrannocyte? I've read good things about podding one in, and as an HQ choice it's basically a straight swap for the Tyrannofex, since as jy2 mentions I'm not planning on running more than 2 Flyrants.

I much prefer the Tfex. 2+ save and enough guns to put out serious hurt, Tervigon is just way too overcosted these days.

I personally wouldn't pod Carnifexes. They are tough but if you put them in range of the enemies entire army for a full turn, he is likely to get killed very easily. There goes 150 points just to have it shoot 1 turn. I like podding Tyrannofexes with the Acid Spray. Also podding Zoanthropes with a Neurothrope next to an enemy warlord works very well. Podding gaunts isn't a horrible idea because they are cheap, but there won't be a whole lot of them left on the following turn.

The main issue with your army is speed. Once your two fexes and the Tyrannofex come out of the pods, they will lay down some nice firepower. You're going to pump out a stupid amount of wounds on turn 2 if your reserves rolls do what they should.

Something I would recommend is employing a good amount of mucolid spore units. Just going single model units (say 4 to 6) will allow you to essentially null deploy, which makes Nids like a drop pod army. Sure you don't get to start the game until turn 2, but then EVERYTHING hits at once and you always get to hit first. You will virtually never get tabled (check out the Tyranid list that won the 11th company tournament, as well as the...BAO was it?) basically it was just a single Tyranid CAD that null deployed.

The reason why lictors are so nice is because of their ability to guide in Mawlocs and maul MSU if left unattended. And if they go to ground, they're rocking a 3+ cover save at worst (and often you are able to deep strike them into 4+ cover for 2+ gtg). I might consider a squad or two of single models to help the Mawlocs go where you want. Plus having hit and run is amazing for re-positioning and surprising even a seasoned opponent with where a Mawloc can suddenly strike with precision

Luke, you mean Sean Nayden's lictor list I believe, right? Link:
http://www.torrentoffire.com/6249/enter-the-lictor

I am a huge fan, although I think he's just an awesome player, too. I already have a model painted that I can use for a lictor, but what would you drop to fit it in??

Deathleaper - Right now I just have the single Tfex, but will keep that in mind! I think it could be hard to find room to place the Tfexes if I pod more than one, and the Dakkafexes are a good deal. I also have 3 Zoanthropes and will be painting a Neurothrope that are pod options.

The reason I mentioned the gaunts was for shooting loading the gaunts with devourers for a lot of dakka where they land not for ob sec.. I like NY2s of biovores on top of bastion as the malantrhope provides synapse and they can do some damage while they man the relay. Cheers

P.S. as one person gave me the advice of early in my 40k competitive career. Play what you want to play. You can find ways of making many things good. Sometimes you do not know until you experiment.

 RiTides wrote:
Luke, you mean Sean Nayden's lictor list I believe, right? Link:
http://www.torrentoffire.com/6249/enter-the-lictor

I am a huge fan, although I think he's just an awesome player, too. I already have a model painted that I can use for a lictor, but what would you drop to fit it in??

Deathleaper - Right now I just have the single Tfex, but will keep that in mind! I think it could be hard to find room to place the Tfexes if I pod more than one, and the Dakkafexes are a good deal. I also have 3 Zoanthropes and will be painting a Neurothrope that are pod options.

That is what I was referring to. His list for the (bao?) was better than the list that he used for the 11th company tournament. And yes, Nayden is undeniably an incredible player. Not many people can run his list; however he also undeniably has some tactical approaches that we could all learn from. He has some battle reports on his blog (vectdoes.blogspot.com). To further add to his ridiculous resume, he was the creator of Beast Star back when that was a thing. A friend of mine was actually the one to end an 11 game competiitve win streak that he had going at one point (that was before he made the list better in time for the second GT that he won with it)

As far as for your list, I would take out a podded dakkafex. One is nice but rarely will you need two. Most of the time they will get off a round of shooting and then die. There are a lot of better ways to spend 225 points honestly, especially since you don't benefit from drop pod assault or anything, so having two pods is the same as three. I would take those 225 points and throw in 4 squads of single lictors TBH. Might even drop the void shields for a biovore and upgrading the termagants to another ripper squad (they are just better in almost every way now that they are obsec). Biovore getting 2+ cover all the time = happy Biovore. Also you don't get hurt when you're on the battlements until the building actually dies IIRC (don't have rulebook in front of me and bastion rarely does haha). If you don't want to take 4 Lictor squads, take 2 or 3 and use the remaining points for single model mucolid squads. They can deep strike or deploy on the table as necessary and when they come down, your enemy will eventually NEED to deal with that impending str 8 ap 3 blast (unless they're Eldar). A unit shooting at a non-kill point non-victory point for a turn (and sometimes hilariously failing to kill it due to shrouded) = always a win for you

That is what I was referring to. His list for the (bao?) was better than the list that he used for the 11th company tournament. And yes, Nayden is undeniably an incredible player. Not many people can run his list; however he also undeniably has some tactical approaches that we could all learn from. He has some battle reports on his blog (vectdoes.blogspot.com). To further add to his ridiculous resume, he was the creator of Beast Star back when that was a thing. A friend of mine was actually the one to end an 11 game competiitve win streak that he had going at one point (that was before he made the list better in time for the second GT that he won with it)

By creator of Beast pack you mean "first player to copy Josh Roberts who took a codex everyone thought was useless on thecompetitive scene and dominated the UK tournament scene which was 6-12 months ahead of the US scene at the time" (when Seer Council was considered the top list in the US and considered a midtier list in the death star rich UK scene) right?

My mistake I did mean that. He was certainly one of, if not the first, to find success in the US. Can't say what his list-building influences may have or have not been since I never asked him, but that's a reasonable assumption to make.

I went ahead and ordered 4 pods - thank you very much for the great feedback in this thread guys!

Going to convert mine from these:



By drilling a hole in the bottom and mounting them on a clear post to get the elevation needed. The GW model just seems a bit over the top to me, and I've always liked this one. Will probably add a few bits (maybe more tentacles hanging down, and ideally the guns) as well.

Cheers all! And if anyone else is running pod nids, I'd love strategy tips . One thing I am considering, is in the single CAD version I may need to run a Tervigon (no FOC space for the Tyrannofex, and it's magnetized). I'm torn on whether it needs a pod, or whether it would be effective to just outflank it with Hive Commander. Leaning towards a pod and outflanking the unit of 30 gaunts that's required to unlock it, and giving them some devourers in the unit.