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New Tyranid Army Lists I will be making a series of short articles
discussing some of the variety of options that the Tyranids now have
available to them with the release of the new codex. My goal is to
create competitive army lists in the 1850pt range using a variety of
different units and combinations of biomorph options.I will post and
discuss 2-3 armies each week, giving information on how to build the
armylist, what it does and how to work it. First up, the "traditional"
Tyranid army... Traditional
Tyranids This list represents one of the most common
versions of the Tyranid army. It features a variety of creatures that
are designed to complement each other and uses wave theory in it's
attacks. This army style was seen back in second edition and survived
through third edition, with a few variations. Tyrant w/ Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands (WS) 2x
Scything Talons, Warp Blast Basically, wave theory is planning what parts of
your army will hit at different times, and what you want to accomplish
with each wave. In this list, the Hormagaunts will be the first wave.
(Gargoyles could join them, but I have a different plan for them) They
will rush in to tie up the lead elements of the enemy army for a turn
or two, most likely hitting combat on turn 2. The second wave will be
the Termagants and the Genestealers. The Termagants are to support the
Hormagaunts, plugging in any gaps and then expanding the combat front
to further limit enemy shooting and movement. The Genestealers are
there to start killing off squads. Wave Three will be the Warriors and
the Monstrous Creatures. Since they are walking, they probably won't
see combat until turn 4. The idea is to have the gaunts of either
stripe last just long enough to get the killers into combat. While they move forward, the Carnifex and the
Zoanthropes will fire on enemy vehicles. Their goal is to help suppress
enemy shooting, then to remove transport vehicles to prevent
reinforcements from arriving intact. The Gargoyles (I bet you thought
I'd forgotten about them) can be used to support attacks, but the small
brood is better at using it's mobility to claim objectives or table
quarters, while the rest of the army concentrates on consuming as much
enemy as possible. This army works best as either a pincer or
weighted/refused flank formation. The pincer will put the Genestealers
out toward one board edge, and the MCs and Warriors on the other. Thus,
the Genestealers, hitting on turn 3, will be driving the enemy army
toward the slower Tyranid creatures. The weighted or refused flank
formations put all the combat power to one side. It will likely add a
turn to the walk for the slower creatures before they hit combat, but
it blocks enemy shooting more effectively, and makes it almost
impossible to organize a counter-assault, since all your power is
concentrated in one area. I've left off the 2+ Save on the Monstrous
Creatures, because I believe that they aren't really big targets. The
Zoanthropes and Genestealers will be doing much more damage to the
enemy in the initial turns, while the ponderous MCs move up the field.
With the Warriors providing Synapse, the enemy can't simply cut off the
head of this swarm by killing the Tyrant. If they do kill both the
Tyrant and the Carnifex, well, it's almost a guarantee that your
Genestealers and Warriors will make it to the lines nearly unscathed,
and that's a surprising amount of hurt for the enemy. In addition, the
Warriors (by definition) and the Zoanthropes (as long as you keep them
near each other or some of the Warriors or the Tyrant) will be
protected by Synapse, meaning they cannot be instakilled, which should
further confuse the enemy's targeting priorities.
At the time I had little money and I really wasn't
interested in painting that many models. After I looked at it a bit, I
decided to stand the army on it's head. Normally, you'd put the little
ones in front, the medium ones in the middle and the big ones in back.
I figured that Carnifexes were better at absorbing most fire than any
gaunt species would be. With Carnifexes in front and Tyrants next to
them (protected from enemy shooting until very close range due to
Independent Character rules) I could block a lot of line of sight to
the Genestealers I put behind them. Usually the enemy would cut down
1-2 Carnifexes by the time I got to their lines, but that would leave
me with a Tyrant or two and a bunch of Genestealers running amok in
their lines. The 3rd Edition Codex put this tactic to rest with
Shoot the Big Ones, however, since it ironically would let enemies
shoot past my big ones at my Genestealers. With the advent of the new
codex, however, Shoot the Big Ones is no more, we simply follow target
priority tests like other armies. One piece of information makes it
better, however. In 4th edition, one of the things that blocks line of
sight is a Monstrous Creature. When I first saw this, I knew that The
Wall was back! With Elite Carnifexes, it can even be more effective, as
it spreads the line further, letting you pile more Genestealers back
there without them getting shot. Hive Tyrant with Bonesword/Lashwhip and Venom
Cannon. Form a wall with the Monstrous Creatures, then
hide the Genestealers behind them. Remember that the Tyrant Guard do
not block line of sight like the MCs do, so only hide Genestealers
behind actual MCs. Everything ambles forward in a big, armored wedge.
If a Monstrous Creature is killed significantly before you get to the
enemy lines, simply move the other MCs closer to make up for it and
keep the wall intact. When you get close to the enemy lines, spread the
Monstrous Creatures out so the Genestealers can move through and use
Fleet to get to the enemy lines and start softening them up for the MCs
to hit next turn. The Tyrant will need Guards, since he'd otherwise
be the obvious target to shoot. The next obvious targets are the Heavy
Support Carnifexes. If they are just as tough and armored as the Elite
Carnifexes, but they have guns and are worth more points, the enemy
will target them first. Extended Carapace should make them slightly
harder targets without going so far as adding Toughness, Wounds or
Regeneration. You may decide you want more protection for your
Monstrous Creatures, but remember that they are already pretty tough,
and the more points you spend on them, the less points you have for
Genestealers. (More missile, less payload.) Note that this army will
have a difficult time with Escalation. You may need to hide the
Genestealers until the Monstrous Creatures show up, or you may decide
to do a straight charge at the enemy, depending on your analysis of
their shooting capabilities.
Shock and Awe I'll finish out this installment with a fun
variant army. While I got the initial concept from a totally different
army, I've added bits that are very Tyranid(-esque? -ish? ...uh,
Niddy.) The
concept is to use high mobility and some special rules to suddenly
gather most of your power in one location and collapse the enemy from
that flank.The original army was actually a Chaos force that used
Summoned Daemons to provide the shock power. Flying Hive Tyrant Venom Cannon, Twin-linked
Devourer, Toxin Sacs, Enhanced Senses The gaunts are there to totally tie up the enemy
army. They hit and spread their attacks, attempting to gum up as much
of the enemy army as possible. It takes a fair amount of hacking to get
through 100 Spinegaunts, and that's what you are counting on. While
they are doing that, the Tyrant and Zoanthropes are gunning down
vehicles, particularly transports. The less mobility the enemy has, the
better off this list will be. Use the Tyrant's wings to keep him out of
line of sight of everything but his target, then vaporize that. The Tyrant and Zoanthropes will want to move up
just enough to make sure that the Gaunts stay where you put them. The
Lictors may need to use their Pheremone Trail ability to keep the
Raveners from appearing too soon. If the Raveners appear before the
enemy is totally tied up, they will probably die quickly. When they do
come in, deepstrike all of them AND all three Lictors on the same
flank. You want to provide overwhelming force at one point, making the
combats decisive. Remember that the Lictors can charge on the turn
they arrive, which should further tie up the enemy to keep the Raveners
safe. After that, simply consolidate or sweep from one combat to the
next, wiping out the enemy in droves. If you split them up, you make
them more vulnerable to enemy counterattacks or shooting from a
suddenly freed-up enemy unit. You should end up with 4 combat units
(the three Lictors work together, each of the Ravener broods is another
combat unit) that go around from one enemy unit to the next, where the
gaps in Gaunts let them charge in. The opponent will have a difficult
time preparing for this, as they won't know where you plan on attacking
until it is too late. In addition, it plays a bit differently and looks
very different from most Tyranid Army Lists. If you cannot Deepstrike, the army won't be as
effective, but you can still use that Ravener speed to improve your
mobility. Hide them in cover for a turn or so while your Gaunts scamper
forward to go play with the enemy line units. On the turn the Gaunts
will be charging, move the Raveners up out of cover and prepare to
charge. So, there you have the first installment of New
Tyranid Army Lists. Hopefully this will help all the overfiends out
there to realize the creativity and options we now have available to us
and some of the interesting combinations of units and biomorphs and
tactics we can use. You can find the next in the series here. If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |