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Tyranids!

1K views 25 replies 9 participants last post by  Warrior47 
#1 ·
Hey all!

Im thinking of starting a new army, and in all of my 40k life i have never considered Tyranids!

Most of you will think this blasphemy, but they have never really appealed to me until now due to a few reasons.

What are they all about? Fluff wise?

Are they a versatile army? Or is there only one way to play them?

Are they a popular army? Do alot of people play them?

Is there anything in their force that you adore, you always take and never leave home without?

How do they beat races like Dark Eldar? Some of their units are unstoppable in CC, Tyranids cant really shoot them down? Right?

Alot of questions there! I just want to know the odd thing about them before i go and pick the Codex up!

Thanks alot!
 
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#2 ·
What are they all about? Fluff wise?
"The Great Devourer".

Tyranids are out to consume (plain and simple) any and all life that they find in the universe. They are evolution taken to an extreme!

Are they a versatile army? Or is there only one way to play them?
Some people who aren't that familiar with nids may suggest that tyranids are a close combat army to the exclusion of all else. It's true that nids are first and foremost close-combat, but you don't have to play them that way. You have quite a few options for bringing guns to the battle. It is worth noting that we don't have as huge an armoury as some armies have, but we have shooting to fill most battlefield roles.

For versatility, the codex offers you a very wide range of options to customise the creatures in your army. A relatively small range of these options are regarded as competitive ones, but it still leaves you with at least as much choice as is available to most other factions in 40K.

There are a few staple "types" of armies, you can find out more about them by reading the tacticas on the site. But there is plenty of scope for making a personalised, balanced army as well.

Are they a popular army? Do alot of people play them?
They're probably about as popular as most other armies. Some players might prefer other armies because they like to use named characters or vehicles, but the "biological" nature of Tyranid warfare, and the fact that we don't need tanks, interests others.

How do they beat races like Dark Eldar? Some of their units are unstoppable in CC, Tyranids cant really shoot them down? Right?
Way wrong! As I said above Tyranids can't compete with the shootiest armies for firepower, but that doesn't mean they can't bring some shooting to the table. We can just about compete with e.g. Dark Eldar wyches in CC, but certainly we can shoot them and make it hurt.
 
#3 ·
When you say that they dont have a big armoury? Do they have alot of different selections? Or do you find yourself using the same army over and over? I dont want an army like the Daemonhunters, where you dont have alot to choose from.

What are the units like? Any powerhouses? HQ's?
 
#4 ·
When you say that they dont have a big armoury? Do they have alot of different selections? Or do you find yourself using the same army over and over? I dont want an army like the Daemonhunters, where you dont have alot to choose from.

What are the units like? Any powerhouses? HQ's?
We have a lot of biomorphs to choose from, but they just enhance our strengths and saves. Weapons wise we are limited, we don't have many guns and we only have two things capable of dealing real damage in assault if you use them.

The same army over and over depends on how you choose to build it, if you go heavy of the Tyranid MC's then you'll be playing a similar army everytime, but if you get multiple models a variety of everything then you'll have your choice of what type of army you want to play.

DH doesn't have a lot to choose from if you just take a base army of DH but if you induct, or ally then the army really isn't all that small to choose from.

Genestealers are the power house of assault, Carnifexes & Zoanthropes (though I don't use the thropes) are great anti-troop/tank killers. And HQ's, depends how you want to go with your HQ, a TMC, a Broodlord with his Retinue or a bunch of Warriors.
 
#5 ·
Hey all!

Im thinking of starting a new army, and in all of my 40k life i have never considered Tyranids!
Blasphemy! Stabbity death!

Most of you will think this blasphemy, but they have never really appealed to me until now due to a few reasons.
Oops...here's your spleen.

What are they all about? Fluff wise?
Evolution, food. They're nothing like anything else in the Warhammer 40k universe. Even Necrons (some) and Orks are intelligence. Tyranids have developed something that's like intelligence, but they aren't. Plus they're one of the "big" threats to the universe. Of course, they ALWAYS lose, but we get satisfaction from the massive amount of casualties we tend to inflict.

Are they a versatile army? Or is there only one way to play them?
Fairly versatile. Technically, we have more troop choices than any other army. We have very few gimmicks that are actually useful (like drop pod assault or first-turn assault) so we play sorta standardy.

Are they a popular army? Do alot of people play them?
Fairly popular. I don't really see a lot of other people playing them (and even fewer who are actually playing them right). It depends on your area. Of course, they're not as popular as Space Marines, but then again, what (other) army is?

Is there anything in their force that you adore, you always take and never leave home without?
Zoanthropes...and hive tyrants...and spinegaunts...I lourve all my babies.

How do they beat races like Dark Eldar? Some of their units are unstoppable in CC, Tyranids cant really shoot them down? Right?
Generally, genestealers can pretty much woop down anything else in close combat. For tyranids, you'll rarely face another close combat army twice (from the same person).

As for other close combat specialists, wyches are shot to pieces in horrible manners (and tend to also die horribly if their flying coffin is shot down). Genestealers are in the top five close combat units in the game, and they only really have to fear wyches (which can be shot to death). Harlequins offer a somewhat difficult position, though, as shooting isn't guaranteed to...succeed and they can take genestealers (and anything else, really) in close combat.

Alot of questions there! I just want to know the odd thing about them before i go and pick the Codex up!

Thanks alot!

You are welcome, Daniel-san.
 
#6 ·
Hey all!

Im thinking of starting a new army, and in all of my 40k life i have never considered Tyranids!

What are they all about? Fluff wise?

Are they a versatile army? Or is there only one way to play them?

How do they beat races like Dark Eldar? Some of their units are unstoppable in CC, Tyranids cant really shoot them down? Right?

Thanks alot!
Tyranids, fluffwise. Tyranids are like hive insects in the was they work. They come from another galaxy and they are all bonded together by a psychis network called the Hive mind. Tyranids don't talk to or in anyway communicate with other races, they just eat them. Tyranids move about in swarms called Hive fleets which will attack a planet and eat everything down to the last germ and they will strip away all the atmosphere, oceans etc. Everything the Tyranids use is a Tyranid. Spacecraft, weapons and so on, all are Tyranids evloved to do whatever job is needed. There is no definitive Tyranid, a Tyranid only exists if it is useful to the hive.

Tyranids can be a fairly versitile bunch. There are of course easier and harder ways to use them. Most of the Tyranids can be adapted to an extent to suit you. These adaptations are called biomorphs. Some biomorphs are easy to use such as extended carapace which improves a Tyranids save. Others are more unusual such as implant attack which is only useful against models with multiple wounds. Basically the more you biomrph a Tyranid the nastier it gets. It will become more specialised though and cost more points. Tyranids also have odd weapons. A Tyranid weapons STR and number of shots is based on the creature that uses it.

Because Tyranids are often very specialised and they focus on assault, trying to kill assault nasties like Wyches seems hard. Wyches however are pathetically easy to kill if you shoot at them. They are also pricey and easily swamped and annihilated by cheap Tyranids in assault. Cheap units such as Ripper swarms can be effective in grinding them down.
 
#8 ·
Are they a satisfying army to use? Do they get boring or do you experience something different every time?

I tend to get bored of armies within days...im serious, no exaggeration!
It depends whether or not you play the same opponent every time you play and whether or not you mix up your list. Normally though I usually play the same guy, Necrons, every time its a different game, some times he's on the ropes, sometimes I'm on the ropes, all depends on the roll of the dice.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I can just see so many flaws with Tyranids, but i suppose thats what makes them a challenge to play with! Are they as difficult to use as i seem to see them being? I need a difficult army to keep my interests high!

If i was to start an army, what would you advise best to start with, for 500pts?
 
#10 ·
I can just see so many flaws with Tyranids, but i suppose thats what makes them a challenge to play with! Are they as difficult to use as i seem to see them being? I need a difficult army to keep my interests high!

If i was to start an army, what would you advise best to start with, for 500pts?
Tyranids have many apparent flaws but they have many advantages too. Tyranids work really well in groups. Many other armies recieve little to no benefit from units working together aside from the obvious of two Terminator squads blasting away kills more heretics and aliens than one.

the synapse control makes Tyranids very nasty when it is used properly. Other units such as Zoanthropes adding up the cumilative effect of psychic scream can be great in breaking hordes of enemies and when this power is used near a Hive tyrant it is very hard to assault as the Hive tyrant has a psychic power that requires a morale test to assault it.

Also Tyranids don't have a standar stat line. All armies have a standard troop type. Tyranids don't. Tyranids can also alter thier chaictaristics. This means that it is hard for an enemy to predict what they will face. Also when we kill Marines they all have the same toughness and save, this doesn't apply to Tyranids. This can make them hard for an enemy to get to grips with. Tyranids have thier benefits and weaknesses, like everybody else.
 
#12 ·
I thought Fex's were CC powerhouses? Why do you think they are a waste of points?

I have looked on the reference sheet, and the stats for Tyranids are pretty poor, these "upgrades" cant increase them a great deal? Right? If so, then damn, they must cost alot of points! And im guessing a naked Fex is already a heap loadsa points anyways.
 
#15 ·
If you do take a close combat fex make sure he is cheap, because he'll either be shot to pieces or it'll take him the better half of the game to make it to combat.

As for the stats, yes the basic troop is weak. But they are cheap. I've found the biggest difference in mentality between other armies (like marines) and nids is the way to think about upgrades. With gaunts for example you can give them just the requisite weapon and it's X points. Now up the strength and it's not just +Y pts, it's +Y times the number of model points. So it's a toss up between taking 4 more models in a unit or being able to wound on a 4+. In the end I find nid mentality toward units is vastly different than any other army.

Another thing people may have a hard time adjusting to is the fact that you can't be attached to your units. Gaunts in particular are meant to die, and die in droves. But if you move your units right they're fearless and they can tie up another unit till the heavy hitters arrive.
One of your favorite units may very well be spinegaunts, as was said here, don't become attached to them because there save is basically non-existent, and upgrading there save isn't going to do you any good.

However Gaunts can do more then just tie up units, between there cheapness factor and multiple models, a decent sized brood of them can take on units made for assault, or those with the real good armour, ie. Terminators. They won't cut these guys down very fast, but shear number of attacks will cut them down a bit over time.

Though as always you do need some genestealers or rending warriors if you want to kill anything.

Buy the battleforce box set. It's the best deal in all of 40k. You will use every model in there. Also, either pick up or proxy a Hive Tyrant with these models. Warriors die to easy to be used as synapse.
I have to disagree with this statement just a bit, the battleforce is what you should pick up first, but Warriors do work quite well as the HQ, 1 brood of them isn't enough for complete synapse control, but once you get like 2-3 broods of Warriors they work rather well especially if you decide to go gaunt horde.
 
#16 ·
Tyranids are very versitile and actually have very little weaknesses when you consider the different types of armies.

You can have nidzilla which is basicly our answer to armoured companies.

You can have a huge swarm of gaunts, feasibly fielding over 140 bodies in a decent sized game.

You can have a warrior based army, a genestealer army or even a balanced army, imagine that.

While we have a set number or biomorphs and guns, unlike other armies, the biomorphs can change the gun's effectiveness and on different creatures, the guns work differently. Therefore, it is almost like we have more guns that any other army. You can customize almost any type of army you want.

The only major weaknesses of any nid army is that anything less than a MC or a couple specialty units ussually can't get better than a 4+ save which means that we are highly susceptable to bolters and their heavy cousins. We also don't have many ranged attacks that have a good AP. Most good ones are ap 5 or lower. We have one ap 4 weapon and only thorpes or biovores can dish out anything past that.
 
#18 ·
Nidzilla is the maximum number of monstrous creatures (that's 8 - 6 Carnifexes and 2 Hive Tyrants, at 1500 points although thinking about it you could actually do it at 1000 points too) along with usually the bare minimum troops choices.
 
#19 ·
Nidzilla doesn't happen at 1k, at 1k you take 3-4 TMC's and lots of Genestealers, genestealers are the best troop choice if you play nidzilla. They are the only troop capable of taking down those hard to kill units that the TMC's wouldn't normally be able to make it to or be capable of taking down.
 
#20 ·
I have something to say about close combat Carnifexi that you guys kind of passed over: They're great at holding objectives. If your objective is in cover and you can park the Carni right on top of it, it's going to either force your opponent to stay back and shoot or mangle them if they try to assualt. Shooting is inefficient because your Carni has cover, and melee could be a tricky proposotion if you focused on taking out their prime melee units (such as the Powerfist Termies and Harlequins).

However, other than that situation... Close combat Carnifexi suck.
 
#26 ·
The only thing in the codex that people think is untouchable is biovores, and they really aren't. They are a decent unit that can bust tanks and troops at the same time. They also have the longest range weapon that we have. People don't use them for the most part because out of our other heavy support options are so good. Thorpes are amazing, being able to pop tanks, provide synapse, or destroy enemy morale. They also have a 2+ save and still aren't bad in cc. Carnis are amazing, I'll leave it at that.

Yes, like Hunter Killer said, there are a couple biomorphs no one takes, but for the most part, most things can be used.
 
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