Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello there, good folk!

I've been playing nids in 4th ed, and I'm wondering how are they faring in 7 ed environment (casual games mostly). Is the good old tactic "Got a problem? Just throw more hormagaunts at it" still viable?

The new tactic seems to be got a problem put some wings on it (on your hyve tyrant).
But in all seriousness -> go and read Shield of Baal: Leviathan that is where all the new fancy rules are.
Just swamping the opponent in small foot slogging close combat critters isn't the best tactic any more.

 oldzoggy wrote:
The new tactic seems to be got a problem put some wings on it (on your hyve tyrant).
But in all seriousness -> go and read Shield of Baal: Leviathan that is where all the new fancy rules are.
Just swamping the opponent in small foot slogging close combat critters isn't the best tactic any more.

Leviathan is definitely where it's at right now.

Right now the flyrant is king, the mucolid is also the cheapest troop choice in the game, and rippers are pretty cheap as well (this has nothing to do with leviathan of course).

For all of their faults, I am loving the nids this edition, especially at low point games.

But who knows after the new codex.

If you do happen to have a huge collection of homagounts already. It could be worth adding a few venomtropes combined with some gone to ground synapse tricks. outside you can gtg, inside you are fearless and auto stand up. The downside of this is that a ignore cover weapons are now a more common then they used to be.

there is a really good thread in the tactics section about playing your tyranid army. Flyrants definately a solid choice as are venonthropes to give your ground units some cover. trawl ebay for your guants. Above all else, think about your color scheme and realize that you're going to have to repeat that 150-200 times.

For the absolute lulz, there is a formation in there that lets you field only mucolid spores and spore mines and nothing else.

I repeat: Nothing Else.

It's not competitive, but it's definitely worth doing at least once just to see the look on your opponent's face. The formation also lets any used spore mines and mucolids to come back on a roll of a 4+, so the hilarity can be infinite.

First thing's first; if someone tells you that "you have to take 5 Flying Hive Tyrants to have a chance at winning" flat out ignore them. Unless you play in high end tournaments, you can win your games without relying on that army build. Seeing as you look to be playing casual games in the future, you can make most army builds work to a lesser extent of what the newer codices are mostly capable of. Casual games tend not to be as punishing on Tyranids or the other "older/weaker" factions unless you go up against the odd duck well designed Eldar/Tau/Space Marine force.

Hormagaunts are most certainly not what they used to be. They are still fast given that their total move distance (Movement Phase plus Running in the Shooting Phase) can be a maximum of 15" which is great for an infantry unit, but Running prevents them from charging and their flat movement and charge ranges (yep, charging is random distance now) aren't superior to other infantry besides being able to re-roll some dice when making that charge roll. I wouldn't say they are bad but they aren't the terrifying and incredibly swift terrors they were in the old days.

Nowadays I would say that you need to bank purely on either Horde or Nidzilla, not a mixture due to the points limits and how oddly expensive a lot of Tyranid units are. If you haven't read up on the 7th Edition rule-set then that should be your first stop, then taking a look at the current codex and going from there. It will be a lot to take in as, well, Tyranids now function best by using things called "Formations" which are essentially substitutes for the old Force Organization Chart.

Also, you should check out the Forge World Tyranids and the newer plastic kits at your leisure. A lot of the stronger Tyranid models at the moment weren't around in 4th Edition. Another thing to keep in mind is that Tyranids are supposedly due a new codex this year (2016!) but none of the major rumor sources have confirmed this as yet. If you haven't bought the codex yet, it's probably a good idea as I can't see the new one coming out for at least four months.

First off, do you have the codex? If not, BECAREFUL. Tyranids should get a new codex some time in 2016. Some rumours were Q1 of 2016, new rumours say no to that, but a lot of us believe because of GW pace of releasing new codices, Nids will get on this year.

So be careful if you buy the 6th edition Tyranid codex.

Has anyone like Sad_Panda, Lady Atia, Hastings, Harry, etc said anything about Tyranids recently? The army keeps getting mentioned by BoLS which usually means they will come out within a year (the equivalent of throwing darts at a dartboard and striking the middle once per one hundred throws). A bit off-topic sorry.

On-topic however, one thing I did want to mention is that Genestealers are....well, let's just say they've had an incredible fall from grace. I'm not a mega-fan of Tyranids but what has happened to Genestealers is both perplexing and depressing. Here's hoping a new codex solves that particular problem!

The Cryptus set of stealers are actually good, but that's just me reminiscing about days where you could field pure GS armies.

Two "mid-tier" units you can run is either a Screamer-killer Fex (basically a twin-scything talon fex, bio-plasma optional) or a Dakkafex. The Dakkafex has two sets of TL devourers, which puts out about 12 shots a turn at S6, so it can take on most things you face (although it won't excel at destroying any of them). The Screamer Killer, on the other hand, is just cheap, since it's the baseline fex and S9 with a crapton of attacks on the charge, while not optimal, is still not something to be trifled with. It's mainly a good distraction and answer to heavy tanks like the Leman Russ or Land Raider. Or if you want it can insta-kill most special characters.

Zoanthropes are one of the bluechip units in the codex, and can be run in units of 6 I think (you'll need the updated profile, which is in Leviathan or comes with the box, can't remember) so you can have a bit of fun there.

You can no longer take full Warrior Squads as an HQ choice now. But you can take a "Warrior Prime", which is a single buffed warrior with a Space Marine Captain-like statline. Because of this the Hive Tyrant has become more prominent as a HQ choice, since for a few points more you gain access to the MC rules, more options and not get insta-killed by a S8 attack.

Finally, we now get some of the old biotitans from Epic. The Trygon and Exocrine are pretty good at what they do (again, other things do better, but they're still decent). and we have a mini-Harridan in the form of the Harpy.

Oh and cheap gargoyles. In both money and points.

Caederes wrote:
what has happened to Genestealers is both perplexing and depressing. Here's hoping a new codex solves that particular problem!

Very well said!

I couldn't have said it better myself.

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-CA/Start-Collecting-Tyranids

Perfect way to start Tyranids. There is your Hive Tyrant, Gargoyles, and FREE Warriors.

If you are prepared to ignore the "take only flyrants and Mucolids" school of thought then there is plenty you can do with Tyranids and have fun.

As someone mentioned above, it's best at the moment to pick a particular strategy and run with it; although Tyranids above all else should be a cohesive swarm of units all supporting each other, there is very little synergy at the moment between units outside of their broad roles. Target saturation is still a thing, and a great way to achieve this is to overload on one particular type of threat.

There are lots of options:

- monstrous creature swarm
- hundreds of tiny bugs (complete with an Endless Swarm formation to recycle dead units)
- flying swarm (doesn't have to be nothing by flyrants)
- fast assault swarm (loads of Raveners/Shrikes to crash into your enemy on turn 2)
- deep strike swarm using loads of Tyrannocyte drop spores

The new tactic is to buy a new army. Tyranids are severely lacking, even in casual games unless you're running multiple Flyrants and not spending points on troops.

They might not appear super competitive but they have some neat tricks. Shield of Baal books added some nice formations.

You can't go to a tournament and expect to win with them (penta flyrants maybe) but in my experience in casual settings you are probably fine. I love my nids, they are just fun to play, fun to paint, and look nasty! I run an extremely fluffy list with gaunts, warriors, venoms, zoans, usually only 1 flyrant or a CC flyrant out of the gargoyle formation in Baal.

 Grizzyzz wrote:

You can't go to a tournament and expect to win with them (penta flyrants maybe) but in my experience in casual settings you are probably fine.

I played a casual game this weekend. It was the first time I've brought out my Nids in a long time. It was a 4k 2v2 game. My teammate and I both went with 2k points of melee themed Nids, and our opponents were "casual" lists of Admech and Eldar, that of which included an Imperial Knight. Needless to say we were tabled before the end of turn 5. So, if by Casual you mean playing against Orks, CSM, or IG, sure, Tyranids can do just fine.

I love my nids, they are just fun to play, fun to paint, and look nasty!

I completely agree, which is why I'm hoping they get an update here soon to have a better codex. But as it stands, I will not be unboxing them until that happens.

 krodarklorr wrote:

 Grizzyzz wrote:

You can't go to a tournament and expect to win with them (penta flyrants maybe) but in my experience in casual settings you are probably fine.

I played a casual game this weekend. It was the first time I've brought out my Nids in a long time. It was a 4k 2v2 game. My teammate and I both went with 2k points of melee themed Nids, and our opponents were "casual" lists of Admech and Eldar, that of which included an Imperial Knight. Needless to say we were tabled before the end of turn 5. So, if by Casual you mean playing against Orks, CSM, or IG, sure, Tyranids can do just fine.

I play a mixture of opponents, GKs, marines, elder.. mostly maelstrom games, and I haven't ever got tabled. I haven't beaten elder but have given them some really good games none the less. I have tabled GKs before and have seen Tau get tabled by some clever list building with pod/guant swarms and the like. Not to mention a harridan wipes out a table of suits.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Not trying to argue they don't need some updates, they definitely do, as many units are useless or subpar for what they are intended to do. But I will give some credit.

Any advise? Get ready for a lot of painting!

 Snoopdeville3 wrote:
Any advise? Get ready for a lot of painting!

Seriously.. got Netflix or Hulu, etc... put on a movie you have seen a bunch of times, but enjoy, have everything primed and ready.. and just go through the grind.. that is honestly the easiest way.. atleast for the gaunts.. if you stop and try and come back later you will find yourself making excuses lol!