Lorgar's_Blessed wrote:It kind of dissapoints me that I have to buy as much of a useless unit as a needed unit, just to use half the box. Why can't gaunts be seperate?

Anyways, this all has helped a lot, especially RustyKnight and your long list of beauty. From what I have understood, for a 1000 point, I'd set it up like...

6-9 Warriors

A squad (maybe two) of stealers

Gaunts, Gaunts, and more gaunts

A few rippers purely for cover saves.

A fex (a second if possible).

Some zopes to help add synapse and AT.

Is this a good backbone, probably only use six warriors, but nonetheless.

Oldgrue wrote: http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Oldgrue_on_Tyranids
Here's a recent overview article you could look into. My observations, YMMV.

Biovores are a waste *specifically* for the kill points they deliver, the utterly uncontrollable deployment of their spore mines, and their ridiculous cost. 165 points of Carnifex or Zoanthrope consistently perform more roles effectively than a unit of Biovores. Given their low BS and relatively long range, a battery of biovores can be expected to surrender 6+ KP in a game without reliably impacting a MEQ squad. Their unreliable return on investment makes them a liability, rather than a hope to eliminate MEQ squads.

Warriors in units of 3 are probably too small. If you must use Warriors consider 5 to force a significant investment of fire into them and look into using several weapons to maximize your ability to allocate wounds.

As for the Venom cannon... forget it. The Carnifex already achieves maximum strength and Enhanced Senses is far too expensive to provide a return on investment. I'm not convinced of its utility even on Tyranid Warriors.

Carnifex almost need Bio Plasma. There's little reason not to have it.
If you *must* have the Dakkafex, at least get spine banks and have three weapons to pound on a unit. Its not like you've got range to be concerned with.

On The gaunt box: Buy several boxes. With a unit of Leaping warriors, you can deliver them effectively even when surrounded by the hormagaunts and possibly even eke out some cover saves. While the Hormagaunts are expensive points wise they are fast as all get out.

On Lictors: Never. Save a few points and use a Carnifex.

I like the three large broods of Termagaunts and have to warn you that larger units can be a bit unwieldy for the first few games. You might want to consider two broods of both Genestealers and Termagaunts as well.
I might suggest a Hive Tyrant and a Carnifex so you can deliver your force in a more distributed manner or Zoanthropes to help ensure you have synapse.



edit: cleaned up an ugly URL and formatting.