Friday 14 February 2014

A few more Tyranid thoughts...


I have had two games with the new tyranid codex, neither of which have gone very well, but both were extremely fun. Unfortunately my friend has taken back his tyranids from me so i won't be having any any more games with them, but i think i can still share my limited experience and see where i can go next with the nids.

In my first game i faced a gun line of space marines and imperial guard. My list was a a hybrid list with a little bit of everything, it had shooting fex's, hordes of gaunts and two units of fast ravaners. The list was ok, after the game it was obvious it could do with a lot of tweaking, but i think it was mainly let down by bad assault rolls and inexperience using the list. What did it show?

  • Tyranid primes + Guants = safe synapse: By having an extra 20 wounds the tyranid primes just didn't die any time soon and where a good anchor for the list, i had very little issue with instinctive behaviour.
  • Carnifex's don't deserve venom cannons: As they are only BS 3 and can only have a single heavy venom cannon they probably shouldn't use them. I'm not saying they shouldn't have guns, they just shouldn't have the HVC. Two sets of twin-linked devoureres, im sure would do wounders, but i think the fex deserves to be in combat now. 
The second game i tried a very different list, instead of ravaners i had the harpy, and i swapped the tyranid primes for hive tyrants. This game was against the Ravenwing and thanks to a first turn steal, the tyranids lost synapse by turn 2, and the rest of the game was just mopping up. Still lessons have to be learn't.
  • Hide the flyers: Even if you have first turn, hide your flying monstrous creatures as they are vulnerable while on the floor, even with a 3+ save krack missiles like to really piss you off. 
  • Tyrants < Primes: even with tyrant guard, the hive tyrant has a lot less wounds than a prime with 20 gaunts and die faster. I still can't comment on flyrants.
  • Outflanking tervigons: Don't know if it works in practice yet, but in theory its an awesome move.
From these games i think if you mixed the lists up you would have a rather scary list. If you take the second list for example, drop the hive tyrant + guard, drop the hormagaunts and add in 2 cheap fex's you have 6 monsters and a synpase creature which is hard to shift. Will it win tournaments? i seriously doubt it, but its a game, you are meant to have fun, and the nids were some of the best games i have had in a while. 

So lets try to make this list properly:
Tyranids 1498

Tyranid Prime - 125 (Warlord) w/ 30 termagants

Hive Tyrant - 250
wings, hive commander, 2x twin-linked devourer

30 Termagants - 120

Tervigon - 210(out flank with hive commander)
crushing claws

12 Termagants - 48

Venomthrope - 45

Harpy - 140
heavy venom cannon

Harpy - 140
Heavy venom cannon

Carnifex - 135
adrenal gland

Carnifex - 135
adrenal gland

Biovore - 40

Its not very numerous, and my troops are very low, VERY LOW. It could be an issue but i think if i out flank the tervigon it gives me 2 troops behind the enemy lines. Hopefully with all my monstrous creatures running towards them (or flying) they will have better things to shoot at.

Both of my games were facing a variant of space marine, so everything i just should might be rubbish against say, Tau or Orks (probably defiantly orks) but i will leave that up to you guys to find out as i don't have the ability right now.


As a side note, i rummaged around my attic and found me Old tyranids, its not many points, and it sucks, but it could be fun to use for a small game. as you can see from the pictures they are all in different states of complete, and they all have different colour schemes (i started when i was 10? i didn't know what i was doing) and need stripping and repainting. 

The first model i was proud of, sucks now, but still feels special
I would love to increase the tyranid force but it wouldn't feel right adding the newer models to this rather ancient force. So i might have to look over the internet for people looking to get rid of old 2nd edition tyranids. Its cheeky, but if any of you guys have any tyranids from the 2nd edition and are willing to part with them, i would love it if you got into contact with me (find my email at the right hand side of the blog) --->

What do you all think?

6 comments:

  1. Dan14 February 2014 at 09:22

    This
    "Tyranid primes + Guants = safe synapse: By having an extra 20 wounds the tyranid primes just didn't die any time soon and where a good anchor for the list, i had very little issue with instinctive behaviour."
    I've watched the battle reps from frountline gaming and no one so far as realised this. the points increase has really put people off and twin dakka flyrants are still too ingrained into the playerbase. without Iron arm they just can't solo it like they used to.

    As for old and new I like to mix it up and looks fine in a consistent paint scheme, I have 4 old screamer killers I used for elites two dexes back. Still run them as basic fexes with just bioplasma and now will include adrenal glands. Anything with more upgrades I'll use the new models for.

    I have so much kicking round I'm bound to have some spare including a tonne of metal warriors missing their lower claws as I used them on new warriors for rending claws. Will have a dig around this WE and see what I can find.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Malduran14 February 2014 at 19:11

      I'm glad you agree with the primes, i was starting to think i was the only one and was mad. And keep me informed dude :)

      Delete
  2. Leigh19 February 2014 at 11:23

    The only problem with the primes is that they have has a massive points increase for no increase in power, thats why so many people put them on the shelf, synapse isn't that much of an issue with a nice list (tervigons staying the board, as nice as outflanking would be).

    Also walking tyrants can be good but are a massive point sink, the only redeeming feature is that tyrant guard auto pass look out sir, so you can freely put the tyrant at the front for charge range purposes. However again, the flying tyrant is, and probably always will be, better. Its not that primes are unviable its just the points are much better spent elsewhere.

    If you drop a fex and a prime you could get a 2nd flyrant, id also say get rid of the other fex for points to boost your existing squads (biovores and 2nd gant squad namely)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Malduran19 February 2014 at 14:55

      While a second flyrant would be nice it means that I am sending my warlord into the enamy and flyrants will die in the game.

      It also means you have less synapse
      in the back field. It would leave you with a single tervigon if that dies all the termagants would take damage and then probably run off the table.

      Delete
    2. Dan19 February 2014 at 16:41

      I think you bang on Malduran. Without Iron arm Flyrants are not the be all and end all they used to be. 6th is about synergy and losing your warlords by flying forward into death (no matter how much killing you do) is a big risk. In both the frontline gaming and the miniwargame reps the same always happens.

      PS. PM incomming with some details of models I've dug out.

      Delete
    3. Malduran19 February 2014 at 17:43

      how are you going to PM me? you can always just email me if thats any easier?

      Delete