Tyranids
"An open batlefield is nothing but a death trap - in war any visible
target is a casualty no matter how well protected it may be."
-IMPERIUM TACTICA
Advantages
HTH COMBAT: The Tyranid army is overall the best at hth combat in
the Warhammer 40K universe. The Hive Tyrant has WS of 9 which, next to an
avatar and some greater deamons, is the best you can get. The Genstealers
armed only with claws have WS of 7 and 4 attack dice strength of 6 and they
only cost 28pts each!!!! The lowest WS is 4 even a biovore has 4 (except
for Gargoyels, they have 3). With that all you have to do is get them in
close enough and for that they have lots of ....
SPEED: with a few exceptions all tyranids can run 12". The Hormagaunts
can move 18" with their special leap! By the second or third turn your
guys should be in slaughtering the enemy.
LEADERSHIP: With the hive mind you should have no trouble with break
tests. You only have to worry about termagents hormagaunts and gargoyels
all with leadership of 5 but as long as there is a tyranid warrior or a
hive tyrant close enough they do not have to take break tests and are immune
to psychology.
EVENT TABLE: Necessary!!!! it is the only way you can possibly survive!!!!!
PSYCHOLOGY: Even genestealers cause fear!!!! nuff said.
Disadvantages
ARMOUR PENETRATION: The most any Tyranid can get is 24 armour pen.
with boneswords or venom cannons. The best thing to do is fit your tyranid
warrors or hive tyrant with boneswords and get them into hth combat or give
your carnifex a voltage field and sharpened claws so that his claws have
S10 attacks and high armour pen.
ARMOUR: Only one Tyranid has good armour and that is the Carnifex
with 3+ on 2D6, to wich you can add a Voltage field, warp field or both.
other tyranids like genstealers and tyranid warriors all have 5+ modifiable
which makes the be easily killed a way to fix this is with the spell Catalyst.
STRATEGY CARDS: Unfortunately Tyranids get NONE!
Psionics
I have found that the only two Tyranid psychic powers worth taking are Catalyst
and Psychic Scream.
Unless you are fighting imperial guard or orks, especially orks.
CATALYST: Excelent when used on large brood of Genstealers say 20
or so.
PSYCHIC SCREAM: Excelent to disable enemy psychers from doing anything
psychic and gives them a WS of 1 for the turn.
THE HORROR: makes enemies close to the caster take a break test even
if they already took one that turn. (excelent on orks)
HYPNOTIC GAZE: paralyzes enemies who fail a Ld test within 6"
of a brood you cast this on. Enemies are automatically hit in HtH combat.
Good on Orks.
Creatures
Here are a few examples of how to arm some guys:
Hive Tyrant: Well, I would field as many of these bad mothers as
I could. I would deck out the first Hive Tyrant (HTH) with:
A Venom Cannon or a Barbed Strangler
2 Boneswords (for enemies with lots of armour)1 Bonesword and 1 Lash Whip
(for orks or imperial guard)
Voltage Field (A Must)
Toughened Exoskelton
Null Zone or Hardened Carapace or Sharpened Claws
Catalyst
Psychic Scream
Lictor: Well, take one or more of these. I usually give my lictor
Voltage Field. Keep him hidden untill you have him in range.
Zoanthrope: Well, these guys are cool and mean (if you can get one).
To get the most out of their warp blast, make sure that they command a good
view of the battle field. Also, Psychic Scream comes in handy here. Kill
the other guys Psykers and you don't have to worry about getting the 3 Warp
card Warp Blast nullified.
Tyranid Warrior: A Lot of stuff can be done with these guys, say
2 w/Devourers and one with either a Venom Cannon, another Devourer or 2Boneswords.
Then give them Adrenaline Sacs and let them charge. Make sure that you have
run just within Devourer range before revealing that you have the Sacs.
If you have the points to spare and are fight space marines, chaos, etc.
give them voltage fields.
Genestealer Brood: How can you go wrong with a bunch of these guys?
The only thing to watch out for is guns, Daemons, and other models with
a 6+ WS. Keep these guys in large groups of at least 10 (if a few get killed,
so what), good to get the full power of Catalyst, if you can get that power
off. If you ever get Catalyst off, get in HTH ASAP and be sneaky and try
to keep it from being nullified later on.
Termagant Brood: These little guys make a good shield. Use the strangle
web if you think you can get in close enough otherwise it's too expensive
and too short range.
Gargyole Brood: Well, flying creatures that can be anywhere on the
board in turn two. I always take at least one of them to get to those hard
to reach guys. Good to attack support weapons or more specifically their
crew or to break up squad coherency.
(If you don't mind being cheap, use them to push enemies off the board).
Hormagaunts: Well, since these guys can move 18 inches (yes 18),
can equal a marine in HTH and only cost 8 points, take a brood or two if
you can afford it. Hormagaunts only come in blister packs and aren't that
cheap you need at least 10 which can run up to quite a price.
Carnifex: Well, I will always take at least one Carnifex, probally
2 or more. I tend to give the Carnifi:
Voltage Field
Toughened Exoskelton or Sharpened Claws
With Toughened Exoskelton and Voltage Field you get a Carnifex with a toughness
of 9 and attack strength of 8.
With Sharpened Claws and Voltage you get one with a Strength of 10 (with
out the crush attack) and the ability to penetrate
daemonic fields!
Biovores and Spore Mines: Well, I will always buy the max of Biovores
that I can get and get (number of turns-1) spore mines for them. With their
100 inch range, they can get real anoying for the other guy but don't count
on them hitting the place you aim for. Works good against large squads.
Biomorphs: Well I would stay away from Acid Blood. Why? Three reasons:
1.Only good in HTH.
2.It's strength comes from your toughness. The tougher you are, the more
damage you do. But the tougher creatures
might never see this power go off.
3.It's only good in HTH.
Why is the HTH up there twice? Because the Tyranids are a HTH army. They
shouldn't be getting injured in HTH, they
should be handing out wounds left and right.