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I'd like to find out everything there i to know about those awesome looking bugs, I can't get a codex because there's no one near me that plays and are no store, plus I can't drive or get driven there. That's why I've come here to get more information, all info is greatly appreciated

For background: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Portal:Tyranids

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tyranid#.URmJuPKoT2l

They're bugs.

Bugs in Space.

Never mine... seems the two above me already got the link up.

Even awesomer

If you don't mind taking a more, light-hearted approach to it and realize nothing written is to be taken 100% seriously then I always find 1d4chan articles to be a kick. And this one is one of their less spammed ones

http://www.1d4chan.org/wiki/Tyranids

Ok thanks, anything I guy would like to share jwing?

I'd love to know your guys opinion on them pros and cons from playing them

Tyranids currently suffer from having a very unbalanced Codex. Many of the Tyranid's units are very poor contenders in the current 6th edition meta-game. That being said, currently Tyranid's can be quite a powerful army with the right list build. Tyranid's can have an incredibly powerful core to their army, in the form of troop Tervigon's. The ability to hold and capture objectives with monstrous creatures, alongside the ability to spawn blob of troops over and over are incredible with 5 out of 6 book missions being objective based.

But the biggest thing Tyranid's have going for them right now is psychic powers. Biomancy is incredible on our monstrous creatures - Iron Arm can turn a Hive Tyrant into an impossibly strong combatant, and powers like Endurance can be a huge force multiplier for hordes of Gants. Enfeeble is a great power as well, which can lead to excellent combos.

In all, Tyranid's are quite strong right now - but unfortunately, this is only the case if you are playing with a certain set of units.

Yeah they can just spit out gonts, but also arnt genestealers good? With all there upgrades and morphs?

Eh, Genestealers aren't all they used to be. Ymgarls are definitely good though.

Ok, but I wanted to go genestealers and trivagon


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Also with the trivagont spawning gonts do they count as points in your army list?

ThoughtsTangled wrote:
Ok, but I wanted to go genestealers and trivagon


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Also with the trivagont spawning gonts do they count as points in your army list?

You don't pay for them in points and they don't take up Force org slots. They do however count as troop choices so they can capture objectives, and your opponent gets a victory point for killing them in Purge the Alien.

Wait so if you want it to spit out like 2 squads of them 2 troop choices are taken up by them


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I already thought of a small army list, 1 trivagon for hq and 1 for heavy, then 6 units of hormogonts ? Good

No, you misunderstand, they count as troops, but don't take up any troop slots. Tervigons can't be taken as Heavy Support options, they can be taken as HQ choices or Troop choices (one per brood of termagants you actually purchase as troops in your list)

Oh ok that's awesome do you mean broodlord?


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Carnifexes good or bad? Cc or shooting is better option, but even if it sucks the forge world bone crusher looks bad ass

Carnifexes are a bit expensive for what you get, but they can work.

Shooting is their best option. The carnifexes low I and WS give them a bit of trouble in close combat.
If you want a CC monster then you are better off taking a trygon.


I haven't had any experience with the stone crusher carnifex, but I hear it's not too bad.

Currently, Tyranids are suffering from a condition known as "Cruddace". But let's not get into that.

At present, 'Nids play in three main ways:

(1) Nidzilla - Loads of monstrous creatures, and very little "horde". The most degenerate example of this is fielding nine carnifexes. This will give you three broods of 18 wounds each, which are all toughness 6 with 3+ saves. They then march down the field, applying all the tactical finesse of a brick smacking you in the face. This *will* win a few tournament rounds...much to the frustration of players who expect a strategy game.

(2) Sneaky 'Nids - Very impressive and entertaining play style, which may win one game out of 65,000. This is when you use deep strike everything, use Mawlocs and the Deathleaper to teleport around the table, and generally play mind games. Some players like to give the Swarmlord telepathy, so he can teleport himself 24" (always funny when the opponent assumes you're using Biomancy).

Also involves popping Ymgarl stealers while the Swarmlord's in range, and then charging them into someone with S6 attacks.

You'll probably lose, but there will be amusing highlights.

(3) "Actually intend to win" Nids - Tervigons,Hive Guard, Flying Hive Tyrant. What you see in tournaments. Boring, but pretty reliable.

Overall, I'd say 'Nids are the most interesting army next to Orks. They have so much bizarre stuff, and they always look impressive when laid out.

Theyre annoying bugs that mass either numbers or big creatures with crazy damage/special rules.

Their main weakness is lack of AA, outside that theyre pretty fethin nasty if used right. They have a solution for nearly every tactic, its just finding a way to use it and not screw yourself over if you end up against a list you cant hard-counter with yours lol.

Oh ok, is there a play style that's genestealers heavy/ trivagon spawning hormagonts ? Whats what I was thinking bring two trivagons and a lot of enesteallers , possibly a triagon or mawloc or carnifex, also a brood lord for a squad of out flanking genestealers,? I dunno I'm a noob lol

i dont know their points but i think thats too expensive to run both. Every time i see genestealers i dont see much else if theres more than 1 group of genestealers around.

The spawners are a gamble. On average its a very nice setup because theyre pretty tough on their own and spawn a lot of free troops. But ive seen nids roll doubles on the FIRST turn and that prevents further spawning. That hurts, a lot, and happens fairly easy with 3d6 and its any double not a certain number.

To run both spawn era and stealers? Hmm cuz I was going to have the genestealers so if they get pulled I'm not a sitting duck

Tervigons do not spawn Hormagaunts, they spawn Termagants. That's it, nothing else. So no, you can't have Tervigons spew out Hormagaunts.

As for Genesetealers...I hate to dissapoint you, but they're currently nigh unusable. Here are some things you need to understand about stealers, and why few bug players use them these days:

1) You use majority toughness when you're being shot at. The broodlord is effectively toughness 4, which is a bit annoying. But it gets worse.

2) Stealers do not have assault grenades. This is what happens when you let a rookie treadhead write the Tyranid codex. As a result, Stealers tend to strike last when assaulting important units. So if your opponent has heavy support marines deployed in a ruin? Get ready for the embarrassment of some stealers dying as soon as they charge (overwatch fire), and then more stealers dying when the Marines strike first. Then the few remaining stealers (expensive at 14 points a pop) throw a few punches.

3) Stealers do not "rip apart" heavy infantry. They inflict AP2 hits when they roll a 6 to wound (rending). If you happen to roll a lot of wounds but no 6's, the opponent's heavy infantry will tear the stealers a new orifice when they hit back. The days of stealers wiping out huge marine squads was back in 4th ed.

4) One word: Flamers. Let's say 10 stealers charge 6 Tzeentch flamers. The flamers overwatch fire (D3+1 hits each). Assuming each one has 3 hits (average), that's 18 hits. Half will wound. 9 Stealers die before even making the charge roll. The end.

5) Outflanking or deep striking stealers is a great way to kill the whole brood. Units can't run and assault anymore. Nor could they ever assault after deep striking. In other words, stealers that deep strike or outflank will appear, sit around, and then get shot to death before doing anything. If you want a vague hope in hell of getting stealers to work, they need a massive screen of gaunts in front of them. Also, the gaunts and stealers need to charge TOGETHER, otherwise all the stealers will die if they charge a unit in cover (see point 2).

The two have to charge the unit in cover, the unit in cover will massacre a bunch of bugs from striking first, and then casualties are removed from the gaunt screen before the stealers. It's annoying and complicated to pull off.


Simply put, stealers are too inconsistent, fragile, and expensive for what they do.

The current 'Nid lists survives on flying monstrous creatures, hive guard, and Tervigons. The only stealers still on the table are elite Ymgarl stealers (seldom more than six of them), or distraction stealers (broods of five to draw fire).

Sorry I get the mixed up my bad, hmm so maybe hive tyrant with wings reavers and gargoyals? Would a mawloc or trigon work? Since the mawloc can deep strike on people, but is it just a one time thing? Because if so then nvm

Vineheart01 wrote:i dont know their points but i think thats too expensive to run both. Every time i see genestealers i dont see much else if theres more than 1 group of genestealers around.

The spawners are a gamble. On average its a very nice setup because theyre pretty tough on their own and spawn a lot of free troops. But ive seen nids roll doubles on the FIRST turn and that prevents further spawning. That hurts, a lot, and happens fairly easy with 3d6 and its any double not a certain number.

If someone is spawning first turn it's because of one of three things:
a) They need to use the gants as a bubble wrap to protect from deepstriking units
b) They expect the Tervigon to die on the first turn
c) They don't know how to use Tervigons.
Generally you wait until the spawned gants can actually do something useful to spawn them, rather than giving your opponent. And even if you roll doubles the first time you got a T6 W6 psyker, synaptic MC and a unit of troops for 160 points.

Learntoeel just put up a really good article over on BoLS as well http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?29841-Tyranid-Tactica-6th-Edition

That has a lot of good game play analysis for them