To Flyrant, or not to Flyrant?

[undertow92182]

Hello everyone, and thanks in advanced for your thoughts and opinions.

I've recently been struggling with a rather important question concerning my tyranids. I mainly face DE and know their poison attacks chew through MC pretty hard. Well we will be moving from a 500 point army list to 750+ very soon and I know thats when the Hive Tyrant steps in.

So, here is the question. Should I go with a Flyrant to help mitigate some of the incoming shots? Is it worth the investment to further hide him behind a small unit of gargoyles to help screen him?

I'm guessing the basic tactic would be to use hive guard to crack open transports then have either termagants swarm or the flyrant and his flying brood clean-up the tasty treats that spill out of the transport.

Or is it smarter to stick with a grounded tryant with tyrant guard and have him hang back a bit behind the main lines? Use tyranid warriors and tervigons for synapse and wait for units to get locked up before sending in the tyrant?

Any and all opinions are welcomed.

[ranmafan]

The problem with 750 is that the Tyrant is your only HQ right? In the worst case scenarios, here's what'll happen:
1) Turn 1 - your opponent goes first. He shoots down the Tyrant because it's considered Gliding and is thus can be hit with full BS.
2) You start your Tyrant in reserve so it can come in via Deep Strike (Swooping, by default) and shoot whatever the unfortunate target is. Except you might end up failing both rolls and the tyrant comes in turn 4... assuming the rest of the army lives that long.
3) You roll night fighting when you go first. Then your Hive Guards need to hunker down out of sight or risk dying.
I would suggest either using the Gargoyle screen (iffy, depending on how many shots your opponent has) or using an Armored Shell tyrant with guards and cover saves.

I don't honestly recommend a Tyrant in games under 1000 points. Maybe a Tervigon, since the ability to spawn more gants increases your unit count all out of proportion to the points cost.

What's the size of the table? 4x4 feet? 4x6? How much cover do you have?

One of the Dark Elf strengths is a wargear on the transports that reduces the weapon range of your guns by 6" or so and grants them cover save or something. However, Barrage weapons (a.k.a Biovores...) are unaffected by this wargear, and being able to keep them out of LOS is actually the best defence against DE.

I might recommend the following:

HQ: Tyranid Prime w/ Regen
Elites: 2 hive Guards
Troops: 2x10 Termagants, 2x Tervigons w/ Toxin Sacs and Catalyst
Heavy Support: 2 Biovores

Attach the Prime to the Biovores and hide them out of sight. If your Hive Guards get in range, shoot the transports (ESPECIALLY if they have Venom Splinter Racks) or Ravagers. Otherwise use the Biovores to bomb them. If he's packed them close together, you might get several of them at the same time.

Use the following formation - Termagants screen Termagants, which then screen Tervigons; Tervigons screen Hive Guards. With luck they'll block Line of Sight to the Hive Guards completely. Catalyst is your best friend for the Gants or the Tervigons themselves - depending on how your opponent prioritizes targets, you can buff either group. (I suggest buffing the front line gant brood, and then one of the Tervigons).

Play aggressively - move, run your Termagants up at the DEs asap; they have the inherent advantage shooting at you anyway, treat the gants as throwaway models. The only goal is to provide cover for the Tervigons/Hive guards as they move up.

Once you've gotten close enough (and if your tervigons are still pumping out gants and haven't rolled doubles), tarpit the DE group of choice (preferably their fast movers or even the HQ with enough gants). At this point your Biovores should probably move to start drawing LOS and whittling down groups of enemies.

Note: The DE have a number of lethal close combat models. Where possible, this is not a game of fairness; shoot them with the Hive Guards or even Biovores where possible. Put Catalyst on your Gants if you intend to tarpit them - and you NEED at least 15 (2 groups, likely) to tarpit even 1 Lilith or 5 Wyches/Incubi.

Your Tervigons should always engage the weakest enemies first - Kabalite warriors mostly. Again - be unfair; use two Tervigons to mop the floor with one group at a time.

And one last strategy: You can always choose not to to tarpit - another viable strategy for preventing your Tervigons from being charged while engaging another group is to just form a wall of gants two layers thick between them and the closest viable threat.