Are Swarms still viable?

[The Doctor]

Good Day All

i have recently come back into Tyranids to get a feel for them in 6ed

my question is this

Is it still viable to use a swarm list? (1000pt)

if so, what do you use as the back bone of your swarm (Horma or Termy)?

Kind Regards

[Ragged Warrior]

Tervogons seem to be the go-to unit for 6ed. With this strategy, for a thousand points you could field a couple of T-gons. If you want to do a swarm list I would recommend at least two Tervigons, two broods of Termis, and a Flyrant (preferably with 2 TL BL Devs); after that, fill it in with what you like seeing on the board.

What do you want to put in your army?

[The Doctor]

Well i really like The Swarmlord, i want to try and make him work in my swarm list

besides that i have no real preference - i just want to make a swarm army that works

[lordbob]

Well swarms are even more viable now in 6th with the removal of fearless wounds, now on small guys can actually be used to tarpit as they were meant. With hull points even the lowly gant can take transports or anything with AV10.

But you still need something to be able to take down those big tanks, you might even be able to ignore one or two fliers if you have 100 or so small guys wandering around.

Though it does feel a bit like being a broken record when it comes to the tyranid codex, because no matter what your problem is....use a tervigon! It makes nidzilla lists and even helps out with swarm lists by producing and buffing them. With genestealers taking a huge kick to the teeth it limits what you can do with them.

[Ragged Warrior]

Here's a Swarmlord, swarmy list that I want to try out.


Swarmlord 280
Tervigon 160
Tervigon 160
Zoanthrope 060
Zoanthrope 060
+Mycetic Spore 040
(20) Devilgaunts 200
+ Mycetic Spore 040

[vecuu]

I think it's important to remember that Tyranids aren't designed to be ran pure swarm.

Think about the other armies that can field a large number of models. Two spring to mind for me: Orks and Guard.

Both of those armies have the ability to include High Strength Weapons into their swarms. Tyranids can't do that. The best Nid lists will always have a mixture of Swarm and MCs. The very existence of Synapse implies this.

That being said, focusing your Hive to be more 'swarmy' has definitely improved in 6e, in my opinion. I always run a blob of Termagants between 20 and 30 Gants strong. I did it throughout most of 5th, and I plan on continuing to do it until it stops being effective for me, which doesn't look like it will change in the near future since No Retreat! wounds have been removed. A blob simply lasts longer than before, even against dedicated assault units.

Kind of a roundabout answer. Take it as you will.

[Squire]

I suppose keeping your big gaunt units within synapse would be the trick here, without spending so much on synapse creatures that your swarm isn't really a swarm. Three tervigons would maintain synapse throughout a 1000pt game, and they would come to less than 500pts if you don't upgrade them too much. Then the other 500 could go on terms, horms and gargoyles. That would be a lot of small guys. Alternatively, a footrant with two tyrant guard and a tervigon would also be less than 500. Give the tervigon regen (although I know some suggest not doing that) and neither MC would present a very appealing target.

I wouldn't use devilgants. If all of your infantry are worth 5/6 points and then you have some 10 point guys they will just get shot up before they do anything.

Keep whatever MC's you have behind gargoyles for the cover save

[vecuu]

As an aside: a simple and effective way to keep swarm lists in Synapse is to hide to Tyranid Primes within the back of the swarms themselves.

For instance, let's say you wanted to run four full man Termagant blobs, you can set it up something like:

T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
            P                                    P

T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T

That's under 200points for very hard to kill Synapse.

[The Doctor]

Nov 13, 2012 23:07:38 GMT Ragged Warrior said:

Here's a Swarmlord, swarmy list that I want to try out.


Swarmlord 280
Tervigon 160
Tervigon 160
Zoanthrope 060
Zoanthrope 060
+Mycetic Spore 040
(20) Devilgaunts 200
+ Mycetic Spore 040

May i ask what strategy the spores undertake?

[Ragged Warrior]

Nov 13, 2012 23:42:53 GMT The Doctor said:

Nov 13, 2012 23:07:38 GMT Ragged Warrior said:

Here's a Swarmlord, swarmy list that I want to try out.


Swarmlord 280
Tervigon 160
Tervigon 160
Zoanthrope 060
Zoanthrope 060
+Mycetic Spore 040
(20) Devilgaunts 200
+ Mycetic Spore 040

May i ask what strategy the spores undertake?

I freely admit that I speak with little experience, but Guants are fragile little guys, so I would move the MCs up and then drop in the Gaunts and Zoans. The Tervis would spawn Termi's on the way in anyway, so I see little point in starting them off on the field. Zoans do well in pods anyway, and the tervigons and the Swarmlord are all synapse, so you don't need them right away anyway.

Thoughts?

[t⊗theark]

Nov 13, 2012 23:30:30 GMT vecuu said:

As an aside: a simple and effective way to keep swarm lists in Synapse is to hide to Tyranid Primes within the back of the swarms themselves.

For instance, let's say you wanted to run four full man Termagant blobs, you can set it up something like:

T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
            P                                    P

T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T

That's under 200points for very hard to kill Synapse.

That looks like a very good idea for smaller synapse creatures. I might try it out, perhaps a tervigon in amongst in between those 4 brood for the benefits.

[engangsgrill]

Nov 13, 2012 23:24:49 GMT Squire said:

I wouldn't use devilgants. If all of your infantry are worth 5/6 points and then you have some 10 point guys they will just get shot up before they do anything.

Which is why you pod them in, so they are guaranteed to do their thing before getting shot at. (and consequently reducing the number of enemies that get to shoot at them.)

[vecuu]

Nov 14, 2012 10:00:21 GMT t⊗theark said:

Nov 13, 2012 23:30:30 GMT vecuu said:

As an aside: a simple and effective way to keep swarm lists in Synapse is to hide to Tyranid Primes within the back of the swarms themselves.

For instance, let's say you wanted to run four full man Termagant blobs, you can set it up something like:

T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
            P                                    P

T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T
T T T T T T T T T T           T T T T T T T T T T

That's under 200points for very hard to kill Synapse.

That looks like a very good idea for smaller synapse creatures. I might try it out, perhaps a tervigon in amongst in between those 4 brood for the benefits.

The benefit really comes from Tyranid Primes being Independant Characters, so they can't be declared as the target of a volley of shots.

I would hesitate to do the same thing with Tervigons, as they can't hide, and if one Tervigon dies, all of the nearby broods will take backlash damage.

[fleetofclaw]

I like zoanthropes starting on the board so they can be casting biomancy powers turn 1. The devourer gants are great to to start in a pod especially with the swarmlord bonus to reserve rolls. Pretty reliable turn two drop on the enemy and unleash hell. Throw preferred enemy on them from swarmy, enfeeble their target and watch the enemy unit explode in a blood mist.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using proboards

[wisdomseyes1]

If I was going to go hoards I would probably go with

Hormagaunts (with adrenal glands, period, maybe TS)

HQ's (Tervigons) Biomancy

Zoeys (biomancy)

gargoyles

No heavy supports



Endurance and hoards or hormagaunts are always nice. Tervigons spawning additional scoring is nice. Tervigons themselves are mean. Gargoyles are cover. Zoeys are support units that can easily draw fire