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Hey im looking to make a tyranid list and don't know a lot about tyranids or tactics, i definetly want to use the swarmlord as my HQ, if not for his stats for the fluff behind him. Im looking for around a 2000 point list, Im trying to involve lots of hormigaunts to kinda represent the swarm aspect of the tyranids but then involve several big hitters that would work well with them. Someone help me out, tell me about the tyranids, what works what doesnt.

Always happy to help! Here are my thoughts on a decent Tyranid army.

First, I'd ditch the Hormogaunts, and just grab Termagaunts. Can swarm just as well, and does much better in 6th edition than H-Guants. And each can fire 3 shots with the Devourer! It can get ugly.

Secondly, the added benefits of Termagaunts, is the Tervigons! The massive creatures spawn huge amounts of them on the battlefield and are as tough as nails.

Hive Guard or Zoanthrope work well for tank killers, though it will be more difficult to get Zoanthrope's within killing range, they will have a better chance at doing so. But if it's light armor you're going up against (AV 12 and below) Hive Guard are better though Zoanthrope's can be excellent buffers for your army.

Biovores can also be an excellent way to improve the army. Long range, and can do quite a bit of damage. I've always liked them.

Ymgarl Genestealers, always a great addition to the army.

Dakafexes (Carnifex armed with Devourer's) Are always scary, and look cool amongst the tiny hordes of Termagaunts that surround them. Trygon's aren't bad either.

Doom of Malantai. You won't make many friends with him, but you'll be swimming in their tears for sure.

I don't think I missed anything...everything else (Besides the Flyrant, but with the Swarmlord, you won't need em) is kinda meh, but all of that is just my thoughts.

The tactics of Nids are simple. Swarm them with tiny bodies, making them choose between the oncoming hordes, or the monsters among them. Target saturation is key here. Make everything deadly so they have to choose what to (try) to kill. Remember to keep everything in Synapse for that lovely fearless special rule, and I think you'll be in tiptop shape! Everything is like upgrades tends to vary depending on the actual army.

Hey thanks for replying! Alright thats some good info, thank you! I kinda wanted the army to have idk 3-5 Big hitters and sort of an escort horde to go with each one, is that any sort of plausible concept?

If so what kind of big hitters should i have, the swarmlord being the obvious main one and what should their horde be to help them push towards the enemy. So basically a couple really expensive units and then piles and piles of cheap ones. and i like the idea of a CC tyranid army, though obviously il throw some ranged in if it makes my army that ineffective to be focused so much on CC.

i just read the fluff and i like the idea of charging towards my enemy to tear em up even if it means takin some casualities.
I dont know much about them other then they are big, but how effective would trygon's or carnifex's be as the big hitters in this hypothetical list? thanks ahead of time im probably being difficult haha

I love Trygons and Mawlocs, they can really mess with your opponent's head. Carnifexen are less than ideal this edition but we will see what happens in the next months with a possible release.

I have had luck running lots of Carnifexen with dual twin linked devourers - go big or go home style - and it can work. S6 is decent and there will be lots of shots going downrange. not long range, mind you, but still.

I usually choose a tyrannofex and a mawloc for my heavies, but I run some weird lists. That said, they draw fire and are a huge distraction while the termagants hold objectives and my grunts get in the way of everything. By the time the big bugs are twitching pieces of meat, the game is won on objectives and my opponent is surprised.

A few tervigons will help with the horde aspect, as well - take 2 or 3 and spawn a few dozen extra bodies. Good luck!

Psh, it's not a problem!

This is what I would personally suggest. Grab your Swarmlord, a Flyrant armed with Twin-Linked Devourers, 1-2 Tervigons, and Trygons for the rest of the MC's that you want. They tend to be more cost effective than Carnifex's do (Though the Carnifex's do look better in my opinion...)

And CC is fine! But it makes target saturation even more important! Deep Strike the Doom of Malantai, or a squad of 20 Termagaunts with Devourers, as the Trygons, and maybe a few Raveners in support pop out of the ground. All while your Flyrant zooms around the map, and a horde of cheap little Hormagaunts, rush forward lead by your Swarmlord as your Tervigons pop more and more Termagaunts out to shoot at the enemy. Kinda sounds like the army you want to me anyways.

Alright how would something like this work:

Sawrmlord w/ warriors

Tervigon with termagaunts

Tervigon with hormagaunts

Trygon with termagaunts

Trygon with hormagaunts

Tyrannofex with termagaunts

If so what kind of numbers are we looking at with the hormagaunts and termagaunts, definitely looking to pile them on, want the army to be like a charging wave of tyranids kinda simple, just trying to send enough at them to survive their shooting and get up close to tear em up

You can take out the tyrannofex which is kind of pointless.

Take the Swarmlord for HQ, 2-3 10men termagaunts units as troops with the same numbers of tervigons.
With the remaining points take some of the following :
- Flying tyrant
- Trygons
- Doom of malakai in pod
- Hive Guards/Zoanthropes
- Gargoyles if you want

Try reading the codex.

If you're running the Swarm Lord, add one or two tyrant guard. Put a warrior in there, call him a Tyranid Prime, and you have a Deathstar.

Don't understand your post about running the Tervigon with hormogaunts, it doesn't make sense. Use tervigons with termgants - they can buff them, give them poison which can be really handy.

All other stuff is a matter of taste - I agree that if you have a slow-moving HQ like the Swarmlord, you need other fast stuff popping up in their backfield, especially the Doom of Malantai in a Pod, we favour Ymgarls, but there's a good chance they will be nerf'd in the rumoured upcoming codex.

At the moment the tryannofex is useless; but you could always get the Tervigon kit and magnetise it, it's not too hard, as maybe it will be better with the new codex. Given this uncertainty, I would certainly magnetise the weapons on your bigger models, including the Swarmlord.

In all honesty if you have another army I'd wait untill the new codex comes out, However i think you'll be safe with this stuff.

Swarmlord
Flyrant W BrainleechesX2
Tervigon
Tervigon
Tervigon
3-10Termagaunts

and whatever else you'd like to have Zoanathropes are my choice

Alright anyone care to explain why the tyrannofex is useless? And alright gotcha, doom in a pod,tervagons with termagaunts,when is the new codex coming out? Do new models usually come out with a new codex?

And are hormagaunts really that useless? Even if I run them in like a squad of 20 with a trygon or carnifex

Tyrannofex has lousy ballistic skill and is too expensive. But it might improve with new codex - which is rumoured to arrive November.

As said, get your swamlord, a bunch termagants, and one tervigon (or magnetised tevie/tyrannofex) for the time being and get painting.

Sadly, hormogaunts are pretty terrible now the game is more about shooting than assaulting. Could alwyas be they'll get a points reduction in the new codex, I certainly hope so.

Alright so i should run piles of termagaunts with a Tervigon, what's the most effective way to run my swarmlord so that he can use his amazing CC abilities without getting too shot up to get their ?

Tyrannofex is useful. Sure, expensive, but run him naked with the large blast template, and advance him up the field.

You have a S6 torrent that ignores cover and doesn't scatter, a large blast template, and a flamer that can be rending. All on a 6w 2+ 'oh no make it go away' chassis. When I run Nidzilla, I take one, and though expensive, it serves its purpose.

Make target priority difficult for your opponent, basically.

Swarmy is so slow. Try for Gate of Infinity but aside from that, he's slowly plodding along...

My new personal favorite is the "Swarmstar" I've been playing with.

Swarmy, a Tyrant Guard with LW, and a Tyranid Prime w/ LW/BS, ST, TS, AG, and regen.

Utterly ruthless with wound allocation, especially if you roll on the biomancy powers for the Swarmlord and get Iron Arm. That unit absorbed over 20 wounds between FNP (from endurance), the LoS rolls, and regen on the Prime. Hilarious, and much cheaper than most death stars.

Im really trying to have an assualt element to this list so could i instead run a couple large groups of genestealers as apposed to hormagaunts?

Your Mc's is what does the cc for your army. Hormoguants are not bad but tervgons and gaunts are better. With two tervgons you average 20 gaunts turn one then ten on the next. That's five ten man scoring units with the two squads you start with.

Genestealers don't assault anymore when they outflank so your points are better spent elsewhere. I would wait till next month to see what the new dex looks.

SBG wrote:
Tyrannofex is useful. Sure, expensive, but run him naked with the large blast template, and advance him up the field.

You have a S6 torrent that ignores cover and doesn't scatter, a large blast template, and a flamer that can be rending. All on a 6w 2+ 'oh no make it go away' chassis. When I run Nidzilla, I take one, and though expensive, it serves its purpose.

.

Yes, but the ballistic skill is too low.

We just played a nid army based around a tyrannofex. Destroyed it by turn 3.