Sic Semper Tyrannis
With clicking talons and hissing noises, a sea of chitinous horrors scuttles across the landscape, overwhelming and overrunning all that oppose it. We give this terror a name to silence our fears, but if it is aware of us at all, it only knows us as prey.
The Tyranid army is the most alien army in the 40k universe. The other races are still humanoid, with 2 arms and 2 legs (usually) so they don't seem so far over the top. Tyranids are not merely hatched or born, they are created, the genetic strands from hundreds of prey races twisted and recombined to form the most robust and voracious bio-constructs. To paraphrase William Gibson, the Tyranids are the biological equivalent of a sub-machinegun.
Tyranids exist to consume. They don't just kill people, they eat them. They don't stop with the people, they eat the terrain too. They don't stop there, either, they leach the minerals out of the soil, siphon up the atmosphere and oceans and leave the planet a cracked, barren ball of rock, devoid of the tiniest morsel of life.
The Tyranid army has a few major differences from other armies in 40k. The first big rule change is Shoot the Big Ones. Opponents have had enough experience fighting Tyranids that they know which broods are the most dangerous, then they use fire discipline to shoot the dangerous ones. This means that Tyranids do not block line of sight to each other, so you can't screen one unit with another. Even Tyranid Monstrous Creatures that have joined a brood can be picked out of the brood, unless that brood is a Tyrant Guard Brood.
Tyranids also have a Hive Mind. This overriding consciousness imposes it's iron will on all Tyranid creatures within reach. The Hive Mind is a psychic link that can be extended through a network of Synapse creatures (such as Warriors and Tyrants that seem to be able to think for themselves and enforce their will on other constructs) and Hive Nodes (these seem to be more like repeater stations, just allowing more range to the Hive Mind, rather than thinking independently.) This psychic link means that they are rigidly controlled and completely fearless when they are close to their Synapse Creatures and Hive Nodes, but become more wild and instinctive when outside of that influence.
In general, Tyranid armies tend to be large swarms, with most of their rank and file troops being small, inexpensive creatures. There are larger Tyranid bio-constructs, but it is fairly rare that people will field large numbers of them. (Partially due to peer pressure and the fear of being called as cheesy a git as the guy who brought the 3 Wraithlords.) There are many ways to hatch a brood, however, and the Tyranids have quite a few choices available. In general, each army that is designed to take on any opponent will have to keep several threats in mind.
The first threat is Death from afar. All the lesser bio-constructs are very vulnerable to enemy firepower, and so each army must have a way of dealing with this. One way is just having enough bodies to suck it up and keep coming (the Shoot all you want, we'll hatch more approach.) Another way is to have broods that can quickly engage the enemy front line, thus tying up most of the shooting. This can be accomplished through fast creatures such as leaping gaunts or Gargoyles, or by infiltrating broods such as Lictors, which can appear very close to the enemy without warning.
The second threat is that of small, soft prey. While it is easy to kill an Ork or two or other lightly armored models on foot, their numbers may rival the Tyranids, and it can be hard to choke enough down to win the game, unless you've got extra mouths to feed. Generally, the best way to deal with small, soft prey is to have lots of basic claws and teeth and just go at it. A Carnifex will be almost useless against such prey, since it's powerful claws are simply overkill, but Rippers or gaunts, with their low cost allowing large numbers, thrive in such environments.
The third threat is that of small, crunchy prey. (Space Marines, crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy in the center!) This prey is difficult to damage for the basic broods, but specialist units such as Genestealers and larger assault constructs will make a meal of them more quickly.
The final threat is large, crunchy prey. Vehicles can be very difficult for Tyranids, unless the army is well planned. Some armies focus on tearing enemy vehicles up in close combat, but they will have a hard time getting their broods to hit a fast moving or hovering vehicle. Others use ranged weapons such as the Venom Cannon. Even though it can only cause Glancing hits, that can be enough to slow the prey down so a Carnifex can pounce on it.
Tyranid broods can be genetically engineered to fit various circumstances, so it should come as no surprise that there are several major styles of Tyranid army, all of which are fairly successful.
The standard Tyranid Swarm features a Hive Tyrant, possibly with some Tyrant Guards, several large groups of leaping Gaunts to close with the enemy quickly, plus a Carnifex and some Genestealers to add to the Tyrant and provide the main assault punch.
More recently, a number of Norn Queens have begun using a larger swarm approach. Either reducing or eliminating entirely the large groups of leaping Gaunts, they replace them, and sometimes the Genestealers as well, with much larger groups of basic Gaunts. At 5 or 6 points each, you can get a lot of basic Gaunts in a 1500pt game. These basic gaunts can still fleet of foot, and you get so many that you can afford to pull them off the table in double handfuls every time the opponent shoots.
Once they reach the enemy lines, it's like Army Ants. They tie up absolutely everything and get everywhere, biting and scratching. A large brood will drag down 2 or more Space Marines per assault phase with sheer weight of numbers. Sure, the Space Marines will kill a bunch back, but there's more where they came from.
Scythegaunts (basic Gaunt, with Scything Talons for an extra attack) get 3 attacks on the charge for each one in base contact. The ones outside of base contact still get helping attacks as per the standard rules. For each Gaunt in base contact, there will probably be about 2 supporting Gaunts to add their attacks, meaning that 10 gaunts in base contact will net about 50 attacks at a single enemy unit. Even hitting on 4+ and wounding on 5+ and only bypassing the armor save on a 1 or 2, that's 2.7 Dead Marines on the charge. The Marines cut down a handful of Gaunts in turn, and you just chuckle and remove them. The next turn yields similar numbers (more in base contact making up for it not being a fresh charge) and 2 more Marines go down. Keep going and a squad of 10 should be wiped out in 2-3 turns, losing half or less of the brood. In the meantime, the heavier assault types, such as Genestealers, Warriors, Hive Tyrants and Carnifexes can pick their assaults, since the entire enemy army is now engulfed in Gaunts.
These are the two main variations on Tyranid armies. There are, of course many variations on these themes, but I'll cover them as I talk about the main species found in Tyranid army lists.
Hive Tyrant: The original Big Nasty. Many use wings to go from lurking behind cover to devouring enemy squads in 5 seconds flat. Others use a Tyrant on foot with a Venom Cannon to take out enemy vehicles, while being covered by a brood of Tyrant Guard. My Tyrant has Wings, all the biomorphs, 2 sets of Scything Talons, Warp Blast (concentrated psychic energy, good for blowing up tanks or killing enemy characters) and Implant Attacks. This brings him to a grand total of 197pts, which is a lot, but I feel that it is worth it. He gets lots of attacks that ignore armor, an antitank weapon, fast movement and causes two wounds for every wound that makes it past the armor or invulnerable save. That alone is amazingly handy against all those enemy characters that want the reputation for having taken down a Tyrant in close combat.
Warriors: Warriors can be very nasty in hand to hand, but not as nasty as the Hive Tyrant. If you think of them as oversized Genestealers, you won't go far wrong. These can be upgraded to have wings or leaping legs and they also provide Synapse coverage, like the Tyrant. There are a small number of Tyranid Hive Fleets that almost exclusively use Warriors instead of Hive Tyrants to lead their forces. These fleets replace the Hive Tyrant and Tyrant Guard Broods and Genestealers with many Warriors, often a mix of close combat types and types with ranged weapons to take down vehicles.
Lictors: Very few Hive Fleets use the Lictor in combat. While their stealth and infiltration is unparalleled, they are fragile and can die pointlessly if care is not taken in their usage, leading most to assume that they simply cost too much or are ineffective. A few Hive Fleets use them to replace the faster constructs, letting the Lictors tie up the enemy front lines instead of hordes of Hormogaunts. I have used this to good effect in one of my now-standard army lists, which I will list at the end of this article.
Gaunts: As the Gaunt genus is mutable, there are many variations on Gaunts. I'll comment on the most popular kinds:
Deathgaunt: Leaping, S4, I5, Scything Talons. These cost 12pts each, but they are as fast as Hormogaunts and have much more punch (I5 and S4 really helps, plus they get full attacks within 2" of an enemy, not just for those in base contact.)
Hormogaunt: Leaping, WS4, Scything Talons. 10pts. A little cheaper than the Deathgaunt, but it doesn't do quite as much damage. It's still quite fast and a bit cheaper as well.
Spinegaunt: Spinefist. 5pts. That's it. Really, just a basic Gaunt with the cheapest weapon. A brood of 32 with a Hive node only costs 170pts, so you can afford to lose them in droves. Some use these with Rending Claw mutants stuck in for extra punch.
Scythegaunt: Scything Talons. 6pts. It's slightly more expensive than the Spinegaunt, but it gets an extra attack in close combat, which makes it pretty worthwhile. Once again, very cheap and some are used with Rending Claw mutants as above.
Genestealers: These are fragile, but rock pretty hard if they can make it to close combat. Giving such a fragile creature expensive upgrades isn't a great idea, as most of them aren't a big increase in power, but mean that there are fewer to absorb any Bolter fire that comes their way.
Rippers. Ugh. T3 and extra vulnerability to template weapons means they die quickly. They also cannot fleet of foot, which means they are slow. The only time I've really heard of rippers doing well, it was due to Rending Claw mutants. There are some successful Hive fleets that limit their species list so that they can mutate every single Ripper Base into a Rending Claw mutant. These are pricey and can be very limited, but they can also be quite effective.
Gargoyles: These are one of the best 'off the shelf' buys for Tyranids. They are as fast as Hormogaunts, but they can also shoot and they get bioplasma, a sort of acidic spit attack. The primary downside to Gargoyles is the availability of models, since they are metal and somewhat expensive, though a number of enterprising Norn Queens have built their own using basic gaunt bodies and adding wings. (Note: do not customize Gaunts to get a better Gargoyle, it would cost about 15pts to make one from scratch, they are a bargain.
Carnifex: These big uglies can be very effective. Or they can do nothing the whole game. They are big and tough and eat tanks for breakfast. Unfortunately, they don't have enough attacks to threaten most other targets. Giving a weapon to a Carnifex can be very effective, as it gives them something to do while they walk ponderously up to the enemy lines.
Zoanthrope: These can be useful. On the other hand, with a BS of 3, they only hit half the time anyway and quickly become targets.
So, here are my standard 1500pt lists for Tyranids. I use them roughly as listed above, with a pretty good success rate.
Original Standard List:
2x Flying Hive Tyrant
2x 16 Deathgaunts, each brood with a Hive Node.
2x 12 Genestealers
2x Venomfex (Scything Talons, Venom Cannon, BS3)
Alternate Now-standard list:
Flying Hive Tyrant
3x Lictor
49x Genestealer (5 or 6 Broods)
2x Venomfex, as above.
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