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Hi all,

I've been inspired to get into BFG. Always keen to add new things to my Tyranids, and Hive Fleets are so central to their fluff that actually having a Hive Fleet of my own really appeals.

I've cooked up what I think is a reasonable list based on some googling, but would welcome any direct comments from people with experience (with or against Tyranids in BFG).

I've also got some pictures (below) of the fleet as it is now. Missing are my six Escort Drones. I did model some up using Devourers, but I wasn't really happy with the look or size so I'm going to be looking at alternatives there (saw something cool using Genestealer bodies a while back, so maybe that is the answer...).

Tyranid Hive Fleet 1000 pts

Tyranid Hive Ship (440)
Leadership 9, 2x Pyro-acid battery, 6x Launch bay, 4 Reinforced carapace, 2x Extra Spore Cysts, Mucous Membrane
(Huge, tough carrier ship with surprisingly strong batteries, membrane sounds good because I gather enemy ordnance is one of the Tyranids main weaknesses?)

Tyranid Cruiser (135)
2x Massive claws, 3x Reinforced carapace, Solar vanes
(Raaaargh! Big, quite fast with a 30cm move, very in-your-face, and such a cool concept)

Tyranid Cruiser (110)
Pyro-acid battery, Torpedoes
(Simple Cruiser to provide a bit of extra firepower and throw down torpedoes)

4x Kraken (160)
Pyro-acid battery
(Ridiculous firepower on something so small and tough... I think keeping then in a squadron is sensible for easy control?)

3x Escort Drone (60)
Pyro-acid battery
(Little extra firepower to ping away at enemy escorts)

3x Escort Drone (45)
Bio-plasma discharge
(The nasty surprise, these should hide around the Hive Ship and lend a hand when big ships get close?)

Vanguard Drone (25)
Feeder tentacles

Vanguard Drone (25)
Feeder tentacles
(I've got a lot of Pyro-acid, so these seemed sensible... and they destroy enemy escorts really nicely when they close in)


Hive Ship, Cruisers, Kraken and Vanguard Drones



Cruiser with Claws, Vanguard Drones with Tentacles



Cruiser with Pyro-acid and Torpedoes, Kraken with Pyro-acid, Hive Ship in the background



Frontal view of the Hive Ship (omnomnomnom)

unfortunately the medium ships are just not worth it

but look kewl to make

You'll need to specify which rule-set you plan on using. There are several out there for BFG at the moment. The top 3 most common are:

Standard (Classic BFG + Armada Rulebook + FAQ/Compendium 2010)
French (BFG:FR, which includes FAQ 2007 IIRC)
Revised (BFG:R)

[Also, shameless plug here, there is Expanded Revised (BFG:XR) ]

Also it is worth mentioning if there are any specific house-rules you plan on using (like MMS Eldar, if you're not using a ruleset with that already included).

This way it will be much easier to give proper advice to your fleet, since we'll know what options and opponents you are going to be working with.

well in Standard BFG I found that spamming escort drones with Bio-plasma to be amazing.. having squads of 10 poses a large number of targets for cheap.. then then if they make range.. that plasma hurts, plus 4+ invuns

and then Carrier Hive Ships... because even though they got FAQ'd to be less OP they still pump out the damage

I'm going to use the core BFG rules and 2010 FAQ.

Everywhere I read I see good things about plasma-drones; I could dump the pyro-acid on the 3 other drones and have plasma on all 6... that would leave me with 15 points spare, which could actually upgrade a Vanguard into another Pyro-Kraken... but then I'd only have a single Vanguard for highlighting... is that an issue?

I do see a lot of bad reviews of Cruisers... I could drop the pyro-Cruiser I suppose, but I really want to use the claw Cruiser for fun related reasons. The problem I found is that at 1000 points I've run out of escort slots and have to fill the points up with Cruisers (or upgrades?).

Yeah cant remember the build numbers off the top of my head..

But yeah I only took cruisers if I had too.. in the end Claw Karaken are a lot more useful than a cruiser due to their speed

That looks neat!

The one with the two pincers looks especially intimidating, reminds me of the Leviathan from Atlantis.

Might I suggest the bfg leviathan app game. It's a very good transplant from table to tablet and will help you learn how to use a tyranid fleet and you can then make informed decisions on what to build next.

Radu Lykan wrote:
Might I suggest the bfg leviathan app game. It's a very good transplant from table to tablet and will help you learn how to use a tyranid fleet and you can then make informed decisions on what to build next.

While it is true to the game.. the AI is very bad at the game

Thanks very much for the comments all. I will look into BFG: Leviathan if it's a useful tool for learning the rules.

I've added to the fleet and can now sit at 1500 comfortably with a second Hive Ship (more pictures below), but for starters I've amended the 1000 point list slightly to get a 5th Kraken. I'll try and get some games in with it and see how we do!

Tyranid Hive Fleet 1000 pts

Tyranid Hive Ship (440)
Leadership 9, 2x Pyro-acid battery, 6x Launch bay, 4 Reinforced carapace, 2x Extra Spore Cysts, Mucous Membrane

Tyranid Cruiser (135)
2x Massive claws, 3x Reinforced carapace, Solar vanes

Tyranid Cruiser (110)
Pyro-acid battery, Torpedoes

5x Kraken (200)
Pyro-acid battery

6x Escort Drone (90)
Bio-plasma discharge

Vanguard Drone (25)
Feeder tentacles


Full fleet (2 Hive Ships, 2 Pyro-acid Cruisers, 1 Massive Claws Cruiser, 5 Pyro-acid Kraken, 4 Vanguard Drones with Tentacles, 6 Bio-plasma Escort Drones)




Bio-plasma Escort Drones


I'm quite happy with the way the Escort Drones turned out. They are still just flying guns, but they look a little more feasible than my first few attempts with Devourers and Tyranid Warrior crests. I think I will try something different when I get around to doing some Pyro-acid ones though.

Did anyone ever try Feeder Tentacle Escort Drones? It seems like a terrible idea because they are so slow... but then again they are so cheap, and could follow in with a Hive Ship and pull all the guns off of a capital ship, removing it from a brawl... Probably easier to just go with guns though.

very cool! I never got a chance to play against tyranids but I hope they work well for you. they look cool and i love a good scratch build