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HQ [ 2 ]

Hive Tyrant Scything Talons; Stranglethorn cannon; The Norn Crown; Regeneration; Wings;

Deathleaper Rending claws; Scything talons; Flesh hooks;

Elites [ 2 ]

3x - Zoanthrope Brood
> 3x - Zoanthrope

3x - Venomethrope Brood
> 3x - Venomethrope Lash whips; Toxic miasma;

Troops [ 4 ]

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;

Fast attack [ 3 ]

Hive Crone Drool cannon; Four tentaclids; Scything talons; Cluster spines;

Harpy Scything talons; Spore mine cysts; Twin-linked heavy venom cannon; Cluster spines; Regeneration;

3x - Ravener Brood
> 3x - Ravener; Scything talons; Rending claws; Deathspitter;

Heavy support [ 2 ]

Exocrine Bio-plasmic cannon; Scything talons;

Trygon Prime Bio-electric pulse; Scything Talons; The Miasma Cannon; The Ymgarl Factor; Adrenal glands; Prehensile pincer;

Hmmm...I feel we need more input to be able to help you better. For example, what tactics are you going to use with the above listed units? I can fathom a guess due to choices, but it will be nicer if you give us a general game-plan.

Also, what is the current meta that you face? Will you be battling in tournaments, or just fluff-play? Is this suppose to be a list to fight against all others, or are you aiming for a particular opponent? The more data you give us, the more we will be able to help constructively and side-step the usual unit-by-unit comparisons.

My one thought is, do you really need that norn-crown? If an extra 6in synapse is your aim, just take the prime-power - its free and LD 10 won't fail you often. of course your goal could be to combo it, and gain 12in when needed; but for that cost, you could just take an extra Zoey.

I've been playing Grey Knights lately, and the terminators have been tearing me up. Thinking of using the termagaunts as a screen, deep strike the Ravaners and Trygon behind the lines, and take out his smaller units, I think i'm probably going to lose the zoanthopes to mindspike missiles, but i'm hoping 1 or 2 survive to take out his assault transport.

Other thing I've been up against is Tau, but that's a more fun fight, and not quite so instant death.

I could drop the norn crown though, not sure what I'd use the extra points for.

Not sure what to do about his flying transport, with it's all round 14 armor.

Sorris wrote:
HQ [ 2 ]
Hive Tyrant Scything Talons; Stranglethorn cannon; The Norn Crown; Regeneration; Wings;
Deathleaper Rending claws; Scything talons; Flesh hooks;

Elites [ 2 ]
3x - Zoanthrope Brood
> 3x - Zoanthrope
3x - Venomethrope Brood
> 3x - Venomethrope Lash whips; Toxic miasma;

Troops [ 4 ]
10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;
10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;
10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;
10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant; Devourer;

Fast attack [ 3 ]
Hive Crone Drool cannon; Four tentaclids; Scything talons; Cluster spines;
Harpy Scything talons; Spore mine cysts; Twin-linked heavy venom cannon; Cluster spines; Regeneration;
3x - Ravener Brood
> 3x - Ravener; Scything talons; Rending claws; Deathspitter;

Heavy support [ 2 ]
Exocrine Bio-plasmic cannon; Scything talons;
Trygon Prime Bio-electric pulse; Scything Talons; The Miasma Cannon; The Ymgarl Factor; Adrenal glands; Prehensile pincer;

I have some suggestions that I think will help you put your points to far better use.
1) Drop the regen from everything. It's not worth the points. For 30 points, you MIGHT get a wound or 2 back, but good players will focus down the MCs and kill it in a turn. And specifically against grey knights, it won't do anything against force weapons. Those points could instead go towards 7 terms or 6 horms, which are guaranteed to absorb shots and can hold objectives. In general, regen is rarely worth the points.
2) Your flying tyrant has an interesting build. While the best set up in general is 2 TL devs, it's not necessary. But because your flyrant's main job is to fly around and shoot, you need to give it 2 shooting weapons. You also probably don't need the norn crown, as it will be flying forward and be out synapse range even with that extra 6".
3) At 2k points, you have 2 FOCs. So use them. Split the zoanthropes and venoms into individual broods. This will allow you to space out synapse and shrouded much better, and it will make it harder for your opponent to get rid of them as they have 6 units to target instead of 2.
4) Nids win through bodies. You need more troops if you want to win, plain and simple. It is your biggest strength, especially against low count armies like grey knights. Drop the devs on all your terms and boost them to squads of 20. They will survive longer, be able to hold objectives late game, and can tarpit efficiently.
5)I think you have too many upgrades on your prime. The miasma cannon is great, as it allows you to get a template or blast along with your 12 S5 shots the turn it comes in. However, that plus the ymgarl factor plus AG plus a pincer is way too many points on one model.
6) With all of these changes, you will have close to 150 more points. Use it to either get more raveners, or another squad of terms, or boost your zoanthrope broods to 2 per squad, or perhaps another heavy.

Doing this will (at least) double the number of troops you have, spread out your elites to provide better synapse and cover, and provide a lot of points to play around with.

HQ [ 2 ]

Hive Tyrant Twin-linked devourer with brainleech worms (x2); Wings;

Deathleaper Rending claws; Scything talons; Flesh hooks;

Elites [ 6 ]

Zoanthrope Brood
> 1x - Zoanthrope ;

Venomethrope Brood
> 1x - Venomethrope ; Lash whips; Toxic miasma;

Zoanthrope Brood
> 1x - Zoanthrope ;

Venomethrope Brood
> 1x - Venomethrope ; Lash whips; Toxic miasma;

Zoanthrope Brood
> 1x - Zoanthrope ;

Venomethrope Brood
> 1x - Venomethrope ; Lash whips; Toxic miasma;

@Troops [ 4 ]

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant ; Devourer;

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant ; Devourer;

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant ; Devourer;

10x - Termagant Brood
> 10x - Termagant ; Devourer;

Fast attack [ 3 ]

Hive Crone Drool cannon; Four tentaclids; Scything talons; Cluster spines;

Harpy Scything talons; Spore mine cysts; Twin-linked heavy venom cannon; Cluster spines;

6x - Ravener Brood
> 6x - Ravener ; Scything talons; Rending claws; Deathspitter;

@Heavy support [ 2 ]

Exocrine Bio-plasmic cannon; Scything talons;

Trygon Prime Bio-electric pulse; Scything Talons; The Miasma Cannon; Adrenal glands;

I haven't built the Hive crone, Venomthropes, Exocrine, or Harpy yet, I have another box for a hive tyrant, but I was kinda hoping to turn it into a Swarmlord, although I guess a Swarmlord is fairly useless with how shooting everything is. My current Flying Hive Tyrant is setup with the stranglethorn, may need to buy more Termagaunts...

May need to wait and see what the potential new rulebook does.

I agree with everything Freytag93 has stated, but first off, 14 armor flyer? Does not exists in any non-forgeworld codex/book, I hope that is an error or your opponent does not know his/her rules.

Secondly, troops are key for any Tyranid victory, and, well, ‘Nids are a horde armor at best, 40 ‘gaunts in a 2000pt match won’t cut it. I know money does not grow on trees, so ask your opponents to use count-as models until you are sure what style of army you want. When you are happy with your build; then go get them. You may not like ‘gaunts but rather go with warriors or genestealers; Nids have a good spread of different choices of troops to fit your style of play. And yeah, the rules are changing, so it is probably best to wait three weeks to see how things turn out.

But, the Swarmlord is an excellent option, he comes built in with 18in synapse, adds +1 to reserve rolls for you ravaners/tygons/ or any outflanking troops. In addition, he hands out monster hunter, furious charge, and (if I remember correctly) preferred enemy. Yes he doesn’t have guns, but all of which I stated plus his three psychic powers will more than make up for it. Do not underestimate Swarmy’s force multipliers.

And remember, when fighting grey knights, don’t forget shadow-of-the-warp

Cosmic_Seth wrote:
I agree with everything Freytag93 has stated, but first off, 14 armor flyer? Does not exists in any non-forgeworld codex/book, I hope that is an error or your opponent does not know his/her rules.

Secondly, troops are key for any Tyranid victory, and, well, ‘Nids are a horde armor at best, 40 ‘gaunts in a 2000pt match won’t cut it. I know money does not grow on trees, so ask your opponents to use count-as models until you are sure what style of army you want. When you are happy with your build; then go get them. You may not like ‘gaunts but rather go with warriors or genestealers; Nids have a good spread of different choices of troops to fit your style of play. And yeah, the rules are changing, so it is probably best to wait three weeks to see how things turn out.

But, the Swarmlord is an excellent option, he comes built in with 18in synapse, adds +1 to reserve rolls for you ravaners/tygons/ or any outflanking troops. In addition, he hands out monster hunter, furious charge, and (if I remember correctly) preferred enemy. Yes he doesn’t have guns, but all of which I stated plus his three psychic powers will more than make up for it. Do not underestimate Swarmy’s force multipliers.

And remember, when fighting grey knights, don’t forget shadow-of-the-warp

Shadow of the warp hasn't really helped me with Greyknights, mainly because the main effective unit he uses is Nemesis Force Weapon Terminators with a Bannerman, which means his ID auto-activates (and also gives him +1 atk). Right now I have 30+ Termagant, 30 Hormagaunt, 9 Warriors, and a full squad of Genestealers (and a broodlord I need to assemble), but it just seems stupid to bring anything with melee when he 1 shots whatever it is to me and the vehicle is using the valkerie model, but is called a "Storm" something I think, pretty sure he said it had 14 armor, but I could be wrong, haven't really been able to focus on it with the turn 2 termi assualt.

See my comments here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/592100.page

Remember, the Shadow-of-the-warp effects their Ld in all cases, not just psychic tests. It’s a flat -3 to their ld, and being grey knights, that effects almost every unit they have including vehicles!

Roxor08 posts is valid. Grey Knights are often small-number elite-units; you need to do the opposite, swarm him! 30 Termagants is only 120 pts! Even 60 ‘gants in a 2000 point match is not enough, you need 90-120 gaunts which is only 480pts. One full squad of 10 termies is, at least, 400 points! They are only single-wound models; bring more bodies to bring more guns, to cause more dead termies.

If your opponent allows it (since they are using a valk as a storm raven---and yes it is only AV 12), you can just use empty bases to represent the other gaunts. Hordes are the way to go against Grey Knights, but you may prefer a Monster list over a horde list, even though a Monster list will be a tough fight due to all the force weapons. Also again, if your opponent allows it, you can also use dataslates, but I know in some circles that’s a touchy subject.

Warriors are a good back-seat troop choice, they can hold objectives, give out synapse and can carry some of the bigger guns, but unless you have a Prime with them, I found they are best with a small squad of three. But most people who have a 30-squad ‘gant, will make a tervagon a troop choice to be their back-seat holder.

Genestealers are a tough unit to get their points back. They are hindered that you have to get the broodloord’s power off to pin the enemy and fearless is cheap these days. However, the Space Marine’s rule of ‘they-shall-know-no-fear’ does not stop pinning checks. So if you are doing everything right, they should have a -5 to their ld when attempting the broodlord’s power. Also remember, Genestealers can outflank naturally.

Another tactics, tyranids can use fortifications, good placement of an ADL can stop or slow down a turn-2 charge.

Cosmic_Seth wrote:
Remember, the Shadow-of-the-warp effects their Ld in all cases, not just psychic tests. It’s a flat -3 to their ld, and being grey knights, that effects almost every unit they have including vehicles!

Roxor08 posts is valid. Grey Knights are often small-number elite-units; you need to do the opposite, swarm him! 30 Termagants is only 120 pts! Even 60 ‘gants in a 2000 point match is not enough, you need 90-120 gaunts which is only 480pts. One full squad of 10 termies is, at least, 400 points! They are only single-wound models; bring more bodies to bring more guns, to cause more dead termies.

If your opponent allows it (since they are using a valk as a storm raven---and yes it is only AV 12), you can just use empty bases to represent the other gaunts. Hordes are the way to go against Grey Knights, but you may prefer a Monster list over a horde list, even though a Monster list will be a tough fight due to all the force weapons. Also again, if your opponent allows it, you can also use dataslates, but I know in some circles that’s a touchy subject.

Warriors are a good back-seat troop choice, they can hold objectives, give out synapse and can carry some of the bigger guns, but unless you have a Prime with them, I found they are best with a small squad of three. But most people who have a 30-squad ‘gant, will make a tervagon a troop choice to be their back-seat holder.

Genestealers are a tough unit to get their points back. They are hindered that you have to get the broodloord’s power off to pin the enemy and fearless is cheap these days. However, the Space Marine’s rule of ‘they-shall-know-no-fear’ does not stop pinning checks. So if you are doing everything right, they should have a -5 to their ld when attempting the broodlord’s power. Also remember, Genestealers can outflank naturally.

Another tactics, tyranids can use fortifications, good placement of an ADL can stop or slow down a turn-2 charge.

Sorry, It's not terminators, it's paladins as a troop choice with drago (or some name like that), they wear terminator armor, which is what gets me confused. I guess having loads of single wound creatures would work, but it seems impractical for tourney's, and he has ALOT of blast and template stuff.

Not sure how the -ld will affect him with the bannerman activating the force weapons, unless your referring to him using psychic abilities later, he only has one other unit that uses psychic abilities and he normally uses it to give him rerolls.

Ahhh…You’re going up against a Drago-wing army. Tough nut to crack, it was king of 40k during the previous edition, but that is not the case no longer. Horde is the key way to go, Paladins are even more expensive than regular terminators, and they no longer have the ‘look-out-sir’ to play games with. A full squad of 10 paladins plus Draigo is well over 800 points! For 11 models!

I don’t care if they are all armed with flamers, throw 120 ‘gaunts at them. It shouldn’t have much else on the board to deal with. As others posters have stated, it’s all about the volume of fire. Heck, for fun use the never-ending swarm dataslate and bring back some of the ‘gaunts on a 4+, good times.

The –ld will affect them in most cases, the Draigo wing is immune because of fearless, but still keep it in mind when any-other squad or Grey Knight vehicle is attempting psychic powers/pinning/or any other moral/leadership check.

However, you are correct; horde armies are very impractical for tournaments due to time constraints. You would need to be on you’re A-game during the movement phase and learn to be as efficient as possible to match the speed of opponents with much smaller armies.

Also, as I stated earlier, you don’t have to go full-horde, you can fight with a monster list, or a ‘nidzilla, as it is called, but it’ll be a much harder fight and you have to be a point efficient as possible. For example, I would go full sky-swarm, bring three flying hive tyrants, three crones/harpies, gargoyles, a mess of carnifixes, and/or mawlocks. It can be done