New to Tyranids. First list!

[istealdreams]

Hey everyone! This is my first post here, but i have been lurking for a while.

I have never played against, nor played as Tyranids, so I am looking for some advice and comments on my current list. I pretty much only play friends and family, so points are high. We are sitting right now at 2,500 point games. I mostly play against CSM / Chaos Daemons, Blood Angels, Necrons, Space Marines, and sometimes against my own Dark Eldar.

Ok, so after that little bit of info, here is the list:


HQ:
Hive Tyrant - 260
-Twin Linked Devourer with brainleech worms
-Twin Linked Devourer with brainleech worms
-Wings

Swarm Lord - 280

Tervigon - 185
-Catalyst
-Toxin Sac

3 Tyrant Guard Brood - 195
-Lash Whip

Elites:
3 Zoanthrope - 180

Doom of Malan 'tai - 130
--With Spore

Hive Guard Brood - 150
Troop:
9 Genestealers - 153
-Toxin Sac
---1 Broodlord - 48
----Scything Talons

30 Termagaunts - 300
-Devourers

Tervigon - 185
-Catalyst
Toxin Sac

30 Gargoyles -210
-Toxin Sac

Heavy Support:
Trygon - 200

Total: 2,476

Looking for any suggestions and critiques!

Thanks!!!

[nidtastic]

Hey istealdreams, welcome to the hive! So here Is what I would change in your list. With new 6th edition rules having reserve rolls be on a 3+ turn 2 you dont really need Hive commander, plus your Swarm-lord already grants that. Also your Doom of Malan'tai is pointless with out a mycetic spore so find the points to get a mycetic spore. I would say the same with the Zoanthropes they would be more effective with pods. Also take off the 5 tyranid warriors as without upgrades their not great and I dont see where they work in to your list. Also Scything talons on Genestealers isn't very good for the points id recommend TS instead. If you can find the points after removing some things I said try to get another Tervigon. Oh also the Trygon doesn't really need to be a Prime as you dont seem to need synapse and with new Feed/rage rules it might be better if he does Feed. Take what you wish from what i said but thats my overall advice. Also be weary of Mechanized list as you dont have much Anti Tank that can make it besides the Zoanthropes and winged Tyrant. But I typically dont run a lot of Anti tank too so you should be okay. Thanks, good luck!

[nidtastic]

Oh dang, one last thing if you can find points for TS on your Tervigons as it will grant them to your Termagaunts. Also I didn't do the math for how many points you will have if you remove certain things so you'll have to figure that out yourself if you take my advice. Good Luck!

[marmotzero]

Nidtastic gave really good advice. Warriors/shirkes aren't that good IMO, in any setup... just too fragile/expensive. I'd drop them.

I think that psychic shooting attacks still use up one of a monstrous creature's two gun attacks... so if you're using paroxysm, vector strike, or any other witchfire attack, remember you won't be able to shoot both your TL Devs with BL. Lash whips got way better in this edition, so maybe save some points and stick with those? Depends how you want to use your tyrant.

Haven't played around with flyers much yet, but I can imagine it will be tough to consistently keep your Tyrant within range of Old Adversary as it's swooping around the board. 6" isn't much.

Add 3 Hive Guard! You have an elite slot open! Elites are the best in the Tyranid codex... it's rare to see open elite spots.

I have some other things I would suggest due to personal taste, but I think those points above and what Nidtastic said are the main things you'll want to change that mose people would agree on. Not a bad list!

[istealdreams]

Thanks for the advice, both of you! All that you said makes great sense, and I think that getting rid of the warriors and doing some of those adjustments you suggested should be able to cover the distance in getting what you recommended into my army.

[The DeathJester]

Not much Anti-Tank, More Hive Guards will fix that, perhaps a Tyrannofex.

[Doc Ruby]

Taking a Doom of Malan'tai without a Mycetic spore is always a bad idea. He will never get a chance to engage without it.

Warriors and shrikes have their place, but its limited and only functions well when they're equiped with boneswords. They're great 2+ armor hunters but since our monstrous creatures accomplish the same thing with more wounds, more strength, and more toughness warriors are generally avoided.

Your 2nd 20 man termagaunt squad really seems out of place. You already have a Tervigon and a Squad of 30, are you really wanting to field upwards of 75 gaunts at once? I wouldn't imagine most new Tyranid players even have that many Gaunts. Remember your Tervigon will likely spawn an extra 8-14, possibly several times.

Also on the same topic, your not going to give your Tervigon Poison or Adrenal glands? Tervigon shares that biomorph with all Termagaunt units within 6 inches of him.

Genestealer Scything talons are not very good, especially since you already have 2 forms of preferred enemy (from swarmlord and tyrant). I would trade it for Toxin sacs (the best biomorph, hands down)

The addition of Hive Guard is never a bad decision, as mentioned above.

[istealdreams]

Updated with suggestions applied. I don't have enough points for another Spore for the Zoanthropes at the moment, unless there is something else you see that is extraneous.

HQ:
Hive Tyrant - 260
-Twin Linked Devourer with brainleech worms
-Twin Linked Devourer with brainleech worms
-Wings

Swarm Lord - 280

Tervigon - 185
-Catalyst
-Toxin Sac

3 Tyrant Guard Brood - 195
-Lash Whip

Elites:
3 Zoanthrope - 180

Doom of Malan 'tai - 130
--With Spore

Hive Guard Brood - 150
Troop:
9 Genestealers - 153
-Toxin Sac
---1 Broodlord - 48
----Scything Talons

30 Termagaunts - 300
-Devourers

Tervigon - 185
-Catalyst
Toxin Sac

30 Gargoyles -210
-Toxin Sac

Heavy Support:
Trygon - 200

Total: 2,476

[marmotzero]

You can get points for a pod by unpriming your Trygon. 265 for a prime also doesn't sound right unless you're including some upgrades that aren't listed in your post. The new rage rules make lack of synapse less important, and in my experience you usually only get to fire the upgraded gun about once per game anyway... trygons are much safer in close combat.

Most people will argue TS is better on genestealers than ST since re-rolling your wounds gives you more chance to hit 6s for rends. If you mathhammer it out I think you'll also find that with the new poison rules TS is better even without those extra rends.

You'll really want AG on your tervigon, if for no reason other than it will allow your termagants to kill rear armor 10 vehicles in close combat. Without furious charge your termagants won't be able to hurt them at all.

Since they represent such an imminent threat, your gargoyles are almost always going to be the first things to get shot. I personally don't like spending extra points on T3 6+ models... but many people do, so that's just a matter of preference.

[Deathnid]

YEAH! go broodlord!

[istealdreams]

Yeah, when I was posting that reply it got lost, so it looks like I didn't replace the scything talons on the genestealers with Toxin Sacs, and left the Trygon as a Prime lol. Ill edit it to be correct.