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So I just scored a 1500ish Tyranid army for $250. I plan on running the endless swarm formation along with a psyker heavy list.
So far I've got

1 Hive Tyrant (no wings...yet)
9 Warriors
2 Carnifexes
1 Tervigon
16 Hormagaunts
49 Termigaunts
20 Genestealers

To buy:
1 Flyrant
1 Hive Crone
2 Tyrant guard
1 Exorcine
Swarmlord
4 Zoanthropes
2 Venomthropes
2 Neurothropes
2 MAYBE 3 Spore Pods

So like I said, I plan on running a close in shooting/psyker heavy bug list with grubbins doing the heavy lifting using Endless Swarm. Any units on the to-buy list that are best avoided? Any notable Dos and donts you gents feel like pointing out? Is my army strategy/build viable in a pseudo-competitive meta? Any other formations that I should look into?

Thx in advance.
- Baals

Zoanthropes are dope and hard to kill, my recommendation is to check out Matt from miniwargaming he uses nids in most of his batreps and does pretty well.

Just one note, if you want to run the endless swarm formation it needs 30 Hormagaunts and 30 Termigants at a minimum (3 broods of each).

I would recommend using it at 15 strong squads at least with some upgrades, as you are using it to get the respawn.

Also Trygons work very well with the endless swarm formation so you can "respawn" your bugs in the trygon holes.

Totally didn't know they could respond in the tunnels. Definitely going to be scooping one after the Flyrant that case. And yea I had planned on running proxies in the horm units until I can find some more secondhand ones. Many thanks guys.

FLYRANTS. In a word. Mucolid Spores and Tyrants.

Get wings on the Tyrant and buy cheap ones for your warriors -> Shrikes - same was warriors but faster/manouverable.
Get some tyrannocytes for podding in your Carnies and maybe a Mawloc (good in 7th ).
Exo and Swarmy are slow and fire magnets - be careful.
6 x zoan/neuor is overkill imo - Nid psy powers suck really :(

Just played my first game 1500 orks. Absolutely crushed em, but considering Orks that's not saying too much (even though my opponent is a pretty good commander). The gaunts are a lot squishier than I expected (even ork templates put a nasty dent in the 80ish gaunts I brought ) I'm probably only going to run endlees swarm in maelstrom games.

My next purchases are going to be 2 Zoanthropes a mawloc and the get started box. I only plan on 4 Zoanthropes in 1850 or less and i meant venomthropes, not neuro. Ive definitely considered nidzilla, but in my meta it would get eaten alive by high strength shots and grav. I know I'll probably wind up buying a couple cytes, but if I can figure out how to run the list without em I will because of the gargantuan footprint, the cost of the models and the PITA of assembling them (did 2 for a buddy).

Guys got any ideas on how to make it work without tyrannocytes? I'm liking the mawloc/Trygon tunnel idea. Can anyone elaborate on what to successfully bring in behind them? Or are tyrannocytes a make or break unit for nids?

Also, after having read the dex more thoroughly I'm starting to have second thoughts about the Exorcine but I'm definitely going to run swarmy in fun games. Not without at least 3 Tyrant guard though.

Remember with the Trygon tunnel (the Mawloc doesnt also make a tunnel) it can only be used by 1 unit per turn coming in from reserve or ongoing reserves on a turn the tunnel was already there. I.E. the Trygon must have deep stuck at least the turn before the unit you want to use the tunnel. So if he comes in T2 makes a tunnel T3+ 1 unit per turn can use it..

To use it with anything but endless swarm will involve some luck as reserves are all based on dice rolls. At least with the endless swarm you will probably have units coming back each turn if you manage to respawn them.

For the first, there are lotions and creams for that.

 flukezor wrote:
Remember with the Trygon tunnel (the Mawloc doesnt also make a tunnel) it can only be used by 1 unit per turn coming in from reserve or ongoing reserves on a turn the tunnel was already there. I.E. the Trygon must have deep stuck at least the turn before the unit you want to use the tunnel. So if he comes in T2 makes a tunnel T3+ 1 unit per turn can use it..

To use it with anything but endless swarm will involve some luck as reserves are all based on dice rolls. At least with the endless swarm you will probably have units coming back each turn if you manage to respawn them.

As I am getting more familiar with my dex I'm starting to realize the opportunities and limitations. I didn't know that about the next turn reserves and the 1 unit/turn constrictions on the Trygon though. I or the other seems like a reasonable constraint, but both is... well unfortunate. Thanks for the clarification (sort of lol). I can see myself running a prime in larger games, but 1500 and less I'm gonna stick with mawloc and their 6/2 double pie plates.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 chromedog wrote:
For the first, there are lotions and creams for that.

I know mate. Not my first rodeo lol

Dantes_Baals wrote:
Just played my first game 1500 orks. Absolutely crushed em, but considering Orks that's not saying too much (even though my opponent is a pretty good commander). The gaunts are a lot squishier than I expected (even ork templates put a nasty dent in the 80ish gaunts I brought ) I'm probably only going to run endlees swarm in maelstrom games.

My next purchases are going to be 2 Zoanthropes a mawloc and the get started box. I only plan on 4 Zoanthropes in 1850 or less and i meant venomthropes, not neuro. Ive definitely considered nidzilla, but in my meta it would get eaten alive by high strength shots and grav. I know I'll probably wind up buying a couple cytes, but if I can figure out how to run the list without em I will because of the gargantuan footprint, the cost of the models and the PITA of assembling them (did 2 for a buddy).

Guys got any ideas on how to make it work without tyrannocytes? I'm liking the mawloc/Trygon tunnel idea. Can anyone elaborate on what to successfully bring in behind them? Or are tyrannocytes a make or break unit for nids?

Also, after having read the dex more thoroughly I'm starting to have second thoughts about the Exorcine but I'm definitely going to run swarmy in fun games. Not without at least 3 Tyrant guard though.

As a die hard horde runner, let me say that the endless swarm formation is great, but only in a go big or go home mode. Max out your 'Gants, and get your 'Gaunts at 20s. Take lictors if you want guaranteed deepstrikes, or take Deathleaper as HQ. Take 2 mucolids for troops, and put in 2 trygons and a mawloc.
Bring a comm array with the mucolid to man for manipulating reserve rolls and then proceed to have the 'Gants run up with some zoanthrope support, while trygons pop up in the back field. Spawn the 'Gaunts in the tunnels the next turn and your opponent is gonna have some issues.

Just remember, playing horde means that you will remove models by the score. The only thing that matters in the end is that as the the embodiment of the hive mind, you get as much biomass as possible, regardless of the casualties. After all, there is always the next wave.

So pretty much run them like my KDK... only without worry about target priority lol. I appreciate the advice. Exactly what I'm looking for. The Tervigon in mucilid is an awesome idea, but it seems also pretty chancy depending on where the mucolid lands and what's nearby. The community relay is an excellent idea especially for the tunnels. Never been much of a lictor/stealer guy, but I'll try them out with proxies for a couple of games to see if I can make it work