New to Nids - advice greatly received!

[wadams3329]

Hi there,

First time poster. I’m coming back to the hobby after about 16 years away. Played a lot of Warhammer Fantasy back in the day, and I’m dismayed to see what they’ve done to it since…but I digress…

So I’ve decided to start a Tyranid Army. So far I’ve got myself two sets of the Nids from Leviathan and a bunch of speed paints. I’ve given the rule book a read and will need several more, but I’m getting there.

So I’m after advice or pointers about how to go about starting a Nid Army - obviously the new codex will help.

First question I have: the two faction abilities available: Synaps and Shadow in the Warp. Do you have to pick one per battle, or are you allowed to use both?

Second question: how should I rate the stuff in the Leviathan box? Seems good value for money model-wise, but is it also the backbone of a reasonably competitive list? Any stand-outs or hard-passes?

Third question: back when I used to play GW games - I remember genestealers had a reputation as being very strong - is this still the case?

Sorry for all the questions - probably first of many…thanks in advance for any replies 😊

[N.I.B.]

WFB is coming back apparently as 'Oldhammer' or something of the sort. Anyway, Synaps and SitW are inherent to the different units, it's not something you have to choose between. If you have creatures with synapse, it helps close by units to pass battleshock tests. SitW is something you can force on your opponent if you have synapse units alive in your army when you trigger it.
Leviathan box, currently Neurotyrant, Neurogaunts and Barbgaunts are reasonable competitive. The rest, not really. But who knows what the codex brings.
Genestealers aren't really strong atm, they lack advance + charge and can't really take it on the chin, also you probably want to have them with a Broodlord and suddenly you have invested a lot of points.
They are decent though, especially with lots of terrain on the board, as a full unit + Broodlord can blender most units they catch in close combat, and their Scout ability help you get onto objectives early which is important.

[hivefleetkerrigan]

Are you looking to play narratively, casually, or at tournaments?
Narrative, play whatever you want
Casually, play what you want but try to make it effective
Competitively, just the top options

1. Nids get both synapse and shadow in the warp as our army rules. You do need to choose one of the three detachment bonuses at the start of the game.

2. For leviathan, not everything is too competitive. The indexes are currently not balanced well, internally or externally. There's obvious better choices for units and I honestly feel pushed into specific lists for Tyranids.

For leviathan here's my thoughts, but the hive might disagree. I'm going in with a competitive mindset per your question but your milage may vary

Tyranid prime: not good. It's over costed for what it brings for both itself and when leading warriors (I ran a 1k warrior heavy list and went 0-4 in a league )

Neurotyrant: ok. It's really helps shadow in the warp and can be used for allowing your units to spread out and maintain synapse. It leading neurogaunts is a trap and you shouldn't put it in with tyrant guard as they should lead tyrants

Von Ryan's leapers: ok. Good for early game pressure and scoring but will die very quickly when targeted

Neurogaunts: not good. I'm honestly not sure what they were going for but they're too expensive and don't bring much to the table. For starting out, try proxying them for hormogaunts

Termagants: ok right now, but always a solid investment. As a nid player, more is always better with these

Psychophage: ok. Its aura of feel no pain is good and it can shred psychers but will struggle into other targets. It can keep your gaunts and such alive longer which is good

Screamer killer: it can do damage but needs to reach and is over priced at the moment. You can use as is or proxy as a regular carnifex if desired (it's bigger but people don't care in friendly especially for someone starting out)


3. I don't think there as strong this edition but can output some serious mortal wounds with a broodlord leading them. I think they're good at an early board threat but will probably be cleared when they get shot.


For all of the reviews of the models, there are some major caveats:
1. Points will be changing in a few weeks
2. Our codex will release in the fall. Not sure when but at that time, I think everything is going to change.

I'd say 2 boxes is a solid start, but you'll need to get more. I know biovores are competitive right now and there are a lot of guides on converting them. I'd personally advocate for getting a box of zoanthropes and using greenstuff to make them + venomthropes or biovores/pyrovores. A tfex would be good for anti tank and an exocrine is solid right now. You can also get a tervigon which will synergize well with your gaunts.

As a warning, I'm not the most competitive player and haven't dug deep into getting our index to work. Hope this helps!

[gauntlet]

these videos are a great help to beginners
www.youtube.com/@planet40ktyranids/videos

[wadams3329]

Thanks for the replies. I used to play WFB very competitively, but on my return to the hobby really just looking for something fun.

I’m glad as I thought the same about the Neurogaunts. My only thought is that they are there to surround the Neurotyrant, but they just seem very weak.

Regarding enhancements for HQ choices, Alien cunning seems potentially very good to create over-loads and mismatches? I’d also thought adaptive biology on the Winged Prime? With Synaptic Lynchpin on the Neurotyrant?

Another question, why does SitW require synapse units to work?

[wadams3329]

Aug 20, 2023 20:25:37 GMT gauntlet said:

these videos are a great help to beginners
www.youtube.com/@planet40ktyranids/videos

Ah great, thank you!

[hivefleetkerrigan]

The problem with neurogaunts leading the neurotyrant is how mixed toughness units work. The toughness of the unit is determined at the time of another unit targeting the neurotyrant+neurogaunts. Neurogaunts have a toughness of 3, so you can only have one neurogaunt remaining and the neurotyrant will have to use a toughness of 3 for all those attacks. This decreases the survivability of the tyrant significantly.

[N.I.B.]

Neurogaunts are good as they are the cheapest bodies we have in the faction at about 4ppm. There's always a need to just have wound counters somewhere to perform a task, standing on objectives or just be in the way of the enemy. Don't use them as bodyguards, for reasons above.