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Dusting off my Hive fleet and preparing them for 7th edition.

This is what I have at my disposal:
Winged Hive Tyrant with twin linked Devourers x3
Hive Tyrant x2
Tervigons x3
Carnifex x5
Zoanthrope x7
Ravener x3
Lictor x7
Mawloc x1
Warriors x20
Ripper Swarms x23
Hormagaunt x77
Termigant x130
Gargoyles x28
Genestealers x36
Broodlord x2
Tyrannocyte x3
Sporocyst x2
Biovore x3
Spore Mines x12
Mucloids x9

UPDATED 7/23 Added Flyrants, Tervigons, Mucloids, Mawloc, as well as additional Zoanthropes to my collection.

I see a ton of termagants but no tervigon that might be a good pick.

More tyrannocytes honestly.

Your collection is lacking Venomthropes and/or Malanthropes.
These are fairly important to the survival of a ground-based tyranid army.

Malanthropes are the better option, but are FW models so are a bit harder to get ahold of.

I believe there is one Ripper with a spinefist mouth on the Carnifex sprue, so you could just buy 30 Carnifexes and have plenty.

Otherwise, I'd say cut off the mouth, cut off the spine part of the fist, and then glue them together. Failing that, you might could model tiny spines on the top carapace similar to Spine Banks from a Carnifex.

As for where to go next if you want the more high level competitive units Mawlocs would be your best bet, and as others have said Venomthropes/Malanthropes. A Forgeworld Dimachaeron is a very beasty unit, and to cut down on costs can be built using the Tervigon/Tyrannofex kit with parts from either a Mawloc or Haruspex(usually parted from eBay).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and the Tyranid Tactics Thread has unit reviews for most Tyranid models in the first post. It's missing a few odd units like Meiotic Spores, but it still covers the most competitive Tyranid creatures.

I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to provide input

Amoras wrote:I see a ton of termagants but no tervigon that might be a good pick.

Tervigons simply didn't exist when I collected most of this. Definitely on my to do list though. I was eventually thinking of 3 Tervigons and an ocean of Termigants.

Aeri wrote:More tyrannocytes honestly.

They are a good transport, but what am I hauling in them to justify getting more of them ?

Arson Fire wrote:You collection is lacking Venomthropes and/or Malanthropes.
These are fairly important to the survival of a ground-based tyranid army.

Malanthropes are the better option, but are FW models so are a bit harder to get ahold of.

Backfield cover generator, or advancing wall of cover ?

Sinful Hero wrote: I believe there is one Ripper with a spinefist mouth on the Carnifex sprue, so you could just buy 30 Carnifexes and have plenty.
Otherwise, I'd say cut off the mouth, cut off the spine part of the fist, and then glue them together. Failing that, you might could model tiny spines on the top carapace similar to Spine Banks from a Carnifex.

The Spine Banks idea sounds like a winner. I'll try that.

Sinful Hero wrote:As for where to go next if you want the more high level competitive units Mawlocs would be your best bet, and as others have said Venomthropes/Malanthropes. A Forgeworld Dimachaeron is a very beasty unit, and to cut down on costs can be built using the Tervigon/Tyrannofex kit with parts from either a Mawloc or Haruspex(usually parted from eBay).

I'll have to look into the Dimachaeron, as I'm not too familiar with the Forge World units.

Mawlocs are used primarily for Terror of the Deep ?

Sinful Hero wrote:Oh, and the Tyranid Tactics Thread has unit reviews for most Tyranid models in the first post. It's missing a few odd units like Meiotic Spores, but it still covers the most competitive Tyranid creatures.

Thanks for the link. I've read it in the past, but it's since been updated. The page 1 summary was very helpful.

The rest of the 364+ pages wanders into TLDR territory and was kind of why I started this thread in the first place

Yes, Mawlocs are used primarily just for Terror from the Deep. They can Smash the odd vehicle and Deny/Control objectives on the last turn or so, but you usually want them to be coming up and down.

And yeah, the tactics thread is definitely getting long in the tooth. I think the general idea is to start a new one whenever a new codex drops.

You've got a great basis of troops. I think the next place you need to expand is MCs. As others have said, tervigons are always a solid choice (though not as solid as they were in 5th). Trygons and Mawlocks are nice. Tyrannofexes are IMO great and I usually use two in my lists. The haruspex, exocrene, toxicrene, and the malecepter are all pretty meh, but can be fun to use in some cases. Especially the high S blast on the exocrene.

One of the best ways to plan out expanding your nids is to look at the formations. We have a couple dozen formations spread out over different supplements. If you can find them, take a look at see what looks fun to you. I run endless swarm a lot (3 units of terms, 3 units of horms, and 1 unit of warriors) as your units can come back on a 4+ when destroyed. I also like the subterranean swarm for some backfield annoyance. Just skim around and see what looks cool to you.

 adamsouza wrote:

Arson Fire wrote:You collection is lacking Venomthropes and/or Malanthropes.
These are fairly important to the survival of a ground-based tyranid army.

Malanthropes are the better option, but are FW models so are a bit harder to get ahold of.

Backfield cover generator, or advancing wall of cover ?

Yes.




On another note, I agree with others recommendations of Mawlocs. You already have a pretty solid number of Lictors, and they get on well with them.

Tyranid talk. Do you want to win? I am getting back into playing 40K and now I see what a lot of Tyranid players are saying it's playing in futility when playing Nids.

I can't really give advice, since I don't know how to play. So when I asked for some help, I am basically told, Flyrants, Flyrants, Flyrants. You need at least one, if not two or three of them.

Nids, are very squishy. Don't expect to do a lot in this edition which is a VERY SHOOTY edition. Close Combat has been Nerfed big time for Nids.

I play for fun, but in my last game where there was no line of site blocking terrain, I got owned on turn 4 in a 400 point game. (we are just using the "get started sets" only.)

So first you have to make sure, why you are playing. Need to win, want to win/have fun/just have fun playing. Then you need to know if your opponents will allow a lot of line of site blocking terrain to give you a chance other wise you will just be removing minis off the board and not doing much damage.

Also know point balance is very unbalanced especially against Nids. So basically you are playing a handi cap against other 7th edition armies.

Mawlocs combined with lictors error free deep strike scent is a great combo. Another great combo with lictors is tyrannocytes dropping fexes, zoanthropes w/ Neurothrope, or the FW thingy that devourers units in melee (can't remember it's name). A swarm lord will also very likely guarantee these units all arrive on Turn 2