New to Tyranids

[Jasta]

I am new to Tyranids, and actually 40k forums in general, but am by no means new to 40k. I play Eldar, Guard, Space Marines, Necrons, Chaos Daemons, and now Tyranids. I only play at my local gaming shop and mostly against my same group of friends or other random people who stop by. Together we have a large group of armies, so there is always variety. Actually, now that I think about it, combined we have every army. As you can imagine, these are mostly just friendly games and I like to run lists that are more fun/themed than super competitive (my space marine army is all scouts for example). I want this army to be mostly fun, but who doesn't love beating their buddies?

I want to run a swarm list, potentially with as few MCs' as possible. So far I love the idea of gargoyles and a flyrant acting like a cloud of flies just being annoying and buying time for the rest of the army to get there.

So far I have a flyrant, 30 gargoyles, 20 hormagaunts, 8 genestealers, 10 termagaunts, 8 spore mines, and a venomthrope.

I'm thinking about giving the flyrant a stranglethorn cannon because I like it and it's a large blast. I am also thinking about decking him out with BS+LW with OA so that he and the gargoyles have PE if they needed to get into combat. The genestealers could infiltrate if they need to, considering the army I am facing and the situation. The rest of my army just follows them and cleans up rest and hopefully remains untouched, with a cover save from the venomthrope, and the opponent trying to deal with all the winged guys.

The only problem is synapse for the other half of the army. Although they all have feed so they don't just sit and do nothing. I love love love warrior models, but from what I've read/heard they aren't very good. ID cleans them up pretty quickly.

Are swarm lists competitive at all in 6th? For expanding the army, I was thinking about more gargoyles (just picturing 90 is awesome), maybe raveners (I like them a lot as they resemble warriors and also hydralisks from Star Craft, but they are a FA slot). Maybe a Mawloc (maybe). Another venomthrope or two? What do you guys think about hormagaunts vs termagaunts? I know shooting got a buff in 6th but I would prefer hormagaunts simply because I like them more. Warriors have always had a place in my heart though (right next to my eldar <3) and I would love to run them if they would be worth their points (and money... they aren't cheap!). Also, I'm hurting in the anti-tank department... What do you guys think? Any advice for a new member of the Hive?

[danielhayman]

Mawlocs don't seem to be too popular - I wouldn't take one - the main reason being Trygons >>>> Mawloc (generally ) . However I like your idea as tyrants and gargoyles are great. My advice mainly is don't buy too many at once- suffering fro a serious case of model overwhelming

Im not exactly a seasoned veteran btw . Friendly games with friends
I win them though


Trygon attacks ALL the mehreens!!

[Jasta]

I've heard that Trygons are better, and experienced their pure awesomeness before as one went to town on me before... I just really love the idea of the Mawloc popping up a bunch. If I got one, I'd probably try to magnetize it so that I could use it for both!

[danielhayman]

Magnetizing is the best thing you can do , I don't do it though for some reason , prefer to have it all in place xD
Problem with Mawlocs is its a gimmick that usually fails , and you only get once or twice , a Trygons zooms around eating face xD however - when a mawloc lands over a heavily armed terminator squad with ap2 , it's a good day

And if all else fails . Genestealers . Nuff said.

[gloomfang]

Learn the psyker rules back an forth. We have so many of them that it is hard to take a list that does not have at least 3-4 of them.

The only problem I see with your list is your scoring units. You have a tiny unit of 10 termiguants and while the hormaguants and genestealers are a decent size units they are not good at sitting on objectives.

It looks like it is a 1Kpt list? A Flyrant is a little points heavy for that size game. Might want to think Prime or tervigon.

Also swarm lists are really good for 6th. Lack of No Retreat is a big boost.

[Jasta]

Yeah, it's about 1000 points. The Mawloc is kind of a personal preference. I do understand it is unreliable but can pay off. I probably won't be getting one or a trygon though. What are your opinions on warriors and/or raveners? Also, do you think termagaunts or hormagaunts are better suited for my list? Or maybe a mix of both? Thanks for the feed back!

Also, quick question about the mawloc, I am kind of confused. Can it burrow the turn that it pops up?

[fragile]

Warrior/Raveners are both good, and both suffer from ID problems. However, if you have MCs crossing the board, the warriors/ravs usually get ignored. Tyranids require being adaptable with both units and tactics. We suffer from horrible armor, so get used to picking your models off the table as fast as you put them down in deployment. Other than that, they are great fun.


Mawloc. No, it cannot burrow same turn it pops up.

[Jasta]

Then yeah, I'd probably prefer the Trygon over the Mawloc if I had to take one.

I played a game yesterday against some Chaos Space Marines with Nurgle Icons (6 terminators, a tzeentch sorcerer, and as many marines as he could take) so they were all T5 (except the sorcerer). I won, only completely losing my hormagaunts. The flyrant did really well but only had one wound left. I need something to take the pressure off the flyrant or at least something that will make opponents regret focusing it first. As beasts, Raveners seem amazing. Also, I need more synapse creatures. What are the most common/effective ways of running warriors? What wargear and how many of them? I'm assuming I should definitely include a prime to boost their BS and WS.

During the game, the venomthrope was surprisingly good. He just followed the massive screen of gargoyles and the Flyrant granting all the gargoyles, and most of my other untis, a cover save. I haven't seen much about these guys online and was just wondering what the overall opinion on them is. He managed to save quiet a bit of my Gargoyles and even mad it into combat and took out a small squad of CSM.

Thanks for all the feedback so far!

[maeloke]

You've got two real holes in your list right now: scoring units and synapse. Your only synapse is your flyrant, which means the tarpit swarm tactic will be hard to sustain across the board.

You also don't have much in the way of units to sit on objectives; you want your 'stealers and hormagaunts rushing toward your opponents, which only leaves your 10 termagants to hold things.

You're already asking about warriors, and I'd recommend that as a solution to both problems. 4 warriors with Deathspitters and a CC-equipped Prime make for a very solid unit. The Prime is imperative, not just for bonuses to WS and BS, but also to absorb S8 and S9 hits. This is particularly important in your list since you don't have other MCs to draw that sort of fire.

[Jasta]

You are right, maeloke. And thank you for the comments.

In the one game I've played so far, I placed objectives mostly in the middle of the board in cover/spots that I knew my opponent would have a hard time getting to and staying there. I only have the 10 termaguants to hold objectives. But the genestealers, hormagaunts, and potentially future warriors could help either hold my objectives or take the opponents. I can't imagine how funny it would be if I got the mission where FA can take and hold objectives. That would be amazing!!

Would you suggest trying to keep warriors as cheap as possible? I feel like these guys can get expensive real quick. Are the CC wargear options overkill? And with the nerf to vehicles, do you think barbed stranglers or venom cannons are any good?

I was thinking about running a squad of 5 warriors with deathspitters (rending claws?? The Flyrant can give them PE allowing them to reroll 1's making ST useless) and maybe a barbed strangler. I would include a prime in this squad with a pair of bone swords and maybe rending claws as well? This would give me more synapse and another troop choice that can also pack a punch in combat. What do you guys think?

[maeloke]

Cheap warriors are good warriors. Deathspitters are the best bang for your points, and that's the only upgrade most of mine get. Barbed stranglers are also a favorite weapon; pinning is awesome when you're a melee-focused army.

Rending claws are iffy. Warriors don't spam attacks quite like other RC critters, and they're unlikely to meet vehicles in CC, so at best you'd be looking at maybe 1 or 2 wounds per round that ignore armor.

If you want to beef up your melee game on the cheap, go for toxin sacs. You'll be rerolling failed wounds on nearly everything, which gives better numbers in nearly every combat.

I give my Primes double boneswords and a deathspitter, at the minimum. Unlike warriors, though, pretty much every upgrade is worth the investment for them. Regen is another good pick these days, Look Out Sir wound allocation shenanigans being what they are.

[Jasta]

I also really like the carnifex model but I've heard nothing but bad things about them. Why are they so bad? Just overpriced or what? If I wanted to take one (or some) what would be the best way to do so?

[Akrim]

The "Dakkafex" (=a Carnifex with 2x twin linked Devourers w/ Leeches) is probably the most popular build, usually run in a pair (aka deathstar/fexstar).

The other Carnifex option is to drop it in a Mycetic Pod, against vehicles this can be quite spicy since they're strength 9 and can have devourers plus the S6 ripper tentacles on the pod.

Points considered though, the Trygon is a more efficient killer - 6x wounds & attacks vs the Carnis 4x. With toxin sacs, the Trygon rerolls all failed to hit and most fail to wounds.

[sporeman0]

CC wargear can/cannot be overkill dependant on What you choose. 1 pair of scything tallons for 'stealers, give them adrenal glands as well and toxin sacs if facing a particularly tough enemy. Implant attack and acid blood are priceless for broodlords, if you have one. Also, the new 6th edition rules allow you to protect him with the "Look out, sir" rule and replace his so-so phsychic powers with awesome ones! Don't bother giving gaunts any CC bonuses. Hormagaunts don't need them, but if you realy want to give toxin sacs to them. I am yet to meet a T 2 or 1 creature.Termagaunts are shooting 90% of the time so I don't see a point in giving TS or AG.

[ravengoescaw]

I run warriors in units of 4-6 depending on the point. All my warriors are kitted the same: RC, DS, TS. They are not great anti-tank, but can if they have to, I take the RC for the flexabilty/back up effect. they are mosty there for synaspe and shooty. but if my genestealers and MCs get munched, they can cover down. I also always run a prime with them, for the ID problem and anything that makes my warriors better is worth t. I love warriors. My Prime is kitted with LW&BS, DS, TS and Regen. For the record everything in my army that can get TS does. (Which is every thing I run, don't have any elites yet......money