Here is the third part of my Tyranid Review/Tactica articles. This is as much to sort my own thoughts on the new book as to review, so if you have any further comments or differing opinions, feel free to add them in the comments.
Tyranid Warrior Brood
To the
dismay of Tyranid players everywhere, these did not get changed much. Weighing
in at 30pts base with some decent stats and options, the Tyranid Warrior seems
perfectly fine. They can withstand a decent amount of small arms fire. But its
4+ Save, 3 wounds, and Toughness of 4 make it extremely vulnerable to Instant
Death. They are the perfect target for Battlecannons, Demolisher Cannons, Manticores,
etc. If an opponent uses their Krak Missiles against the Warriors it’s a blessing
in disguise. Better he fires those at your Warriors than at your Monstrous
Creatures. A Tyranid Prime can be added to boost the skills of your Warriors
and provide a T5 body for tanking S8 and 9 hits, but I feel he is still too
expensive. Not a great unit, but they see some use as relatively cheap Synapse
providers.
Most common
way to run these would be as a small ranged unit that keeps your lesser
organisms in line. For this role, a Barbed Strangler is a good upgrade.
Devourers are fine, but if you have the points I would suggest upgrading to the
Deathspitter. The Scything Talons don’t add much to the unit in this role. If
you plan on doing any assault, then feel free to upgrade these to Rending Claws,
but I’d suggest against this to keep costs down. You should keep them on a back
field objective babysitting Biovores/Exocrines/Hive Guard, or have them advance
to the midfield objectives. The midfield unit is a potentially good target for Onslaught, though this should be reserved for Hive Guard, Exocrines, and Biovores.
I’d suggest
against taking these with combat in mind. They have access to Fleet and Assault
Grenades now but their powerful melee upgrades are expensive. You could easily
find yourself approaching 60pts per model. You can take a few naked Warriors to
act as ablative wounds for your more expensive guys, but 30pts per model is
expensive for this role. If you want melee Warriors I would suggest you take a
look at Shrikes/Raveners in the Fast Attack slots. Warriors have the advantage
of being a Troop choice and a better save over these guys, but are too slow to make
much impact. You could potentially take a large unit and Outflank it with Hive
Commander.
Example Builds
3 Tyranid Warriors 100pts
2x Scything Talons, Devourer. 1x
Scything Talons, Barbed Strangler.
Nice and
cheap, I’d use this unit to hold an objective in cover at the back of the
board. Relatively cheap Synapse and can throw out a pinning anti-infantry
pie-plate with a decent range. No need to upgrade the Devourers as they won’t
be in range for most of the game anyway and are serviceable. Same deal with the
Scything Talons, and the small size of the unit should discourage opponents
from targeting it.
5 Tyranid Warriors 195pts
3x Rending Claws, Deathspitter.
1x Rending Claws, Barbed Strangler. 1x Scything Talons, Devourer.
A larger,
more expensive squad that will attract more attention. I’d advance a squad like
this to any midfield objectives, trying to stick to cover and keeping the naked
Warrior at the front. As they’ll be closer to the enemy it would be worthwhile
upgrading the Devourers, and potentially the Scything Talons too (as I have
done). It will usually be worthwhile taking Toxin Sacs if you think that the
unit will see any combat. It’s a cheap upgrade and should really help the claws
do damage thanks to the rerolls against T4 and below.
Genestealer Brood
 |
| A Hive Fleet Leviathan Genestealer deals with a Blood Angel Terminator |
Good
offensive, but terrible defensive stats. Not a great combination for such an
expensive model. Like the Tyranid Warriors, their fragility makes them a pretty
rubbish unit. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll tear the face of pretty much any unit
they assault, their issue is getting there. Only reason to take these in my
opinion is if you want a lot of Infiltrating/Outflanking units in your Troop
choices.
They can
also take a Sergeant style upgrade in the Broodlord. He’s essentially a Tyranid
Warrior sized Genestealer with the stats you would expect from that. He also
gets access to the Horror psychic power, which can be a reason to take a minimum
sized unit. The Horror can be used as a form of Assault Grenades but is nowhere near good enough to be relied upon.
Termagant Brood
 |
| Termagants seem a lot cooler in the art than their model would suggest |
The best of
our actual Troop choices, expect to see at least one brood of thirty in every
Tyranid list. This of course allows you to take a Tervigon as a Troops choice
which, while expensive, is definitely the best Troop we have access to. As they
are so cheap, a unit of thirty only sets you back 120pts, but I would suggest
upgrading the unit slightly. While most of the upgrades are too expensive or
useless in most situations, the Devourer upgrade is pretty sweet. You can mix
and match weapons now, so a unit with both Fleshborers and Devourers can
position the Fleshborers at the front to absorb wounds while the more expensive
Devourers can unload in relative safety. The extra 6” range of the Devourer
helps particularly well here. The exact ratio will take some figuring out but I’m
planning to play it safe with 10 Devourers and 20 Fleshborers in my squads to
begin with. I can add more later and it helps keeps costs done to try out some
of the other options in the codex in the meantime.
Spinefists
are actually more effective against GEq than the Fleshborer, but unless that is
all you ever face the Devourer is the only option I think is worth considering.
Running a few barebones squads as cheap objective holders is usually a good
idea. An opponent is unlikely to bother wasting any shots on a small unit of
Termagants, which will keep them safe for most of the game. You could even
consider reserving them to further add protection. This can stretch your
Synapse Web to breaking point however so be careful with how you spread these
out.
Hormagaunt Brood
 |
| Hormagaunts of Hive Fleet Kraken overrun Sicarius' Company |
The horde Troop that focuses on combat. Like Termagants, these are
pretty good. For 5 points you get 2 attacks at I5, albeit only S and WS 3. They
are fast thanks to Fleet, and can Run an extra 3”. I’d advise against taking
units of less than 20, with 30 being optimal. This ensures they reach combat
with the numbers to hold up the enemy, and maybe even do some damage. Not much
to really say about these, except that they have two options; Adrenal Glands
and Toxin Sacs. Adrenal Glands gives them S4 on the charge which allows them to
touch a lot of vehicles. It also allows them to get rerolls when combined with
Toxin Sacs against most T4 infantry, but then they are getting very expensive
at 10pts per model.
As a Feed unit, Hormagaunts rely on Synapse more than Termagants. Termagants might run away or have to find some area terrain to do anything, but these guys will attack themselves or the nearest enemy unit which could be suicide for them.
Units of 20-30 with Toxin Sacs or else barebones would be my
suggestion. Toxin Sacs allows them to pile the wounds on any unit no matter its
Toughness. Depends on what you want them to do really. If you’d rather them
just hold up the enemy and clog up fire lanes then barebones is the way to go.
If you want them to do some damage, go with Toxin Sacs. Adrenal Glands might be
fine, but I wouldn’t combine the two upgrades. They’re just too expensive that
way.
Ripper Swarm Brood
 |
| Rippers swarm across the battlefield |
These seem absolutely terrible. They don’t score, have terrible stats,
cost a lot, and have a lot of innate weaknesses thanks to the Swarm rule. You
could attempt to use them as a tarpit unit but equal points in
Termagants/Hormagaunts will be more effective. The only reason to use these is if you happen to own some of the Forgeworld models...now that is a swarm.
Summary
There are a
fair amount of dead units in Troops. Expect to only see Tervigons, Termagants,
and Hormagaunts in the Troops section of most lists. Tyranid Warriors and
Genestealers might find their way into some lists, but they’re definitely
suboptimal units.
Another
discouraging section of the codex. There are some decent units here, but the
internal balance has been terrible in the two sections I have covered.
I’ll start
the Elites section tonight, but my internet will be down tomorrow so likely
will not finish it until Friday.
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