Beginner tyranid player

[hilljg]

Hi just wondering if I could get some advice on building up my army more, I want my army to basically be swarm in quickly and rip enemies to shreds, with some covering fire and deep striking, at the moment I have 23 horms with talons, a flyrant with talons and pincer tail, Broodlord, 8 genestealers,
Any help would be great with fill out the army and bolstering would be great thanks

[irondreddknight]

An exocrine in a tyrannocite is a popular tactic these days because of symbiotic devostation. That would help cover your covering fire and deep strike needs.

Hormagaunts and termagants are overwhelming in large numbers, this is referred to as the gaunt carpet. Problem being you need 100+ bugs. Preferably nearer 180-200. Difficult to paint, difficult to move around the board. But it's more difficult to destroy. And what a sight it is on the table top!

Gaunt carpet will win you the mission, but it won't t kill much. So fill the rest of the list with the likes of flyrants, genestealers, exocrines, hive guard, what ever takes your fancy.

As a final piece of advice, tyranids aren't in the top tier in the competitive scene. But if your playing friendly then your going to have a blast!

[kazetanade]

Hi there, and welcome to the Hive.

Now I always think the first things that are important in the list building department of this game comes down to: What is the type of game/strategy you want to play, and identifying your win conditions. Once you can do these two things, the rest of the list building is easy and is basically an analysis work (what you can get looking at 4dchan even).

Now in your case you already have the sort of game and strategy in mind - you want to swarm the enemy quickly and rip them to shreds, while at the same time feel like you have the ability to be anywhere on the board you want to be at once. This is a really easy list to build, because one of Tyranid's most cookie cutter builds plays like this.

The second question will be your Win Condition. You'll only know this once you know the type of game you're playing - are we talking about a standard competitive tourney setup? (you will need the missions to plan around them) are we talking about BRB/Chapter Approved missions? Eternal War (which really sides with disposable units capable of stealing objectives) or Maelstrom (which benefits durable and/or mobile units that can bring power to bear when you want it to)?

Third question would be: do you play to win, do you play for cool narratives? It's never one or the other, but you have to lean somewhere.

Now for your list considerations, a few things which people do use that runs right up your alley:

1. Genestealer Sling. This involves using a Swarmlord to catapult a Genestealer unit from your deployment zone into theirs, to either strike an important target or to create mass murder pressure. There is a bit of finesse in how to use these, as you can do multiple things with them and apply different pressures at different situations. It's one of our most well known tools in the book, usually run with Kraken because of the fleet synergies with this tactic (but it can also work for Behemoth or Leviathan).

2. A Deepstriking Super Flyrant. The SuperFlyrant is a Flyrant armed with either ScyTals/HVC or double ScyTals, with an Adaptation called Murderous Size to make it hit super hard. As Behemoth, You could deepstrike it down with Adrenal Glands and an Arachnyte Gland relic to do a 3d6 rerollable 9" charge, or with an Adrenal Gland and Scythes of Tyran for a 2d6 rerollable 8" charge and a massive weapon. You may also run it with the Swarmlord to get Sling treatment as well, but this is more finicky to work with than the normal Genestealer Sling (it does give you options).

3. Cover Fire from Hive Guard and Exocrines are becoming a mainstay of our army. Hive Guard have always been good and they work like artillery, shooting from behind cover and denying the enemy cover too. A key consideration is making the enemy play in YOUR range of effectiveness rather than trying to play into his though. An Exocrine has received enough buffs to work walking up and raining death, but it can also be deepstrike via Drop Pod in order to make sure it gets to shoot and likely kill something.

4. Other considerations for deepstrikers to fill the board are: Gargoyles, who are good space fillers but a little expensive. Rippers, cheap and mandatory troop slots. Trygons with Devilgants for some anti-tank and anti-infantry in one bundle. Raveners bringing up other indfantry shooters as purely taxi.

EDIT:
For ease of reference, here's a ubiquitous Genestealer Sling list that you could probably find anywhere (but note that this is not the only version; many variations exist. This is merely a start point):




++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids) [75 PL, 8CP, 1,233pts] ++



+ Configuration +



Battle-forged CP [3CP]



Detachment CP [5CP]



Hive Fleet: Kraken



+ HQ +



Broodlord [8 PL, 115pts]



Hive Tyrant [11 PL, 228pts]: Adrenal Glands, Arachnacyte Gland, Heavy Venom Cannon, Monstrous Scything Talons, Wings

. Adaptive Physiology: Murderous Size



The Swarmlord [15 PL, 250pts]



+ Troops +



Genestealers [16 PL, 250pts]: 5x Acid Maw, 5x Flesh Hooks

. 20x Genestealer: 20x Rending Claws



Genestealers [16 PL, 250pts]: 5x Acid Maw, 5x Flesh Hooks

. 20x Genestealer: 20x Rending Claws



Hormagaunts [9 PL, 140pts]

. 28x Hormagaunt: 28x Scything Talons



++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids) [46 PL, 5CP, 767pts] ++



+ Configuration +



Detachment CP [5CP]



Hive Fleet: Kronos



+ HQ +



Neurothrope [4 PL, 90pts]: Power: Psychic Scream



Neurothrope [4 PL, 90pts]: Power: Symbiostorm, Warlord



+ Troops +



Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]

. 3x Ripper Swarm: 3x Claws and Teeth



Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]

. 3x Ripper Swarm: 3x Claws and Teeth



Ripper Swarms [2 PL, 33pts]

. 3x Ripper Swarm: 3x Claws and Teeth



+ Elites +



Hive Guard [13 PL, 258pts]

. 6x Hive Guard (Impaler): 6x Impaler Cannon



+ Heavy Support +



Exocrine [11 PL, 155pts]



+ Dedicated Transport +



Tyrannocyte [8 PL, 75pts]: 5x Deathspitter



++ Total: [121 PL, 13CP, 2,000pts] ++



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[niiai]

If it is not to late then for the love of everybody you know and your own sanity pick a colour scheme that takes little time to paint!