1500pt nid (spider) list

[RedWidow]

1500 point Tyranids

Tervigon w/scything talons, acid blood, implant attack, regen, Catalyst

5 x hormagaunt brood (13)

3 x Tyrannofex w/thorax swarm, adrenal glands. regen

Input always welcome

[BaxterRicketts]

Nice, you seem to have an old Nidzilla-esque list going. I just wonder about 2 things: Why acid blood on the tervigon, and what do you do in the case of facing an army with vehicles? I mean, it is hard chasing them down and none of your tyrannofexes have rupture cannons...

[Tynskel]

i would drop one tyrannofex and replace it with a brood of 2 barebone carnifexes. You'll have to drop a bug squad too. However, have those guys run across the board and can-open everything.

[blackarmchair]

4 Big bugs? That's it?

As much as I share your love of MCs I think you're going to need a bit more than that.

I realize you DO have 75 infantry models as well but at T3, S3, a 6+ save and no upgrades they won't get you very far. Whenever I look over a list I consider how it would fare against the most common opponents (MEQs (all variants), Orks, IG and Eldar) and let me be the first to say that any moderately competitive build from any of these armies would blow this out of the water.

Yes the Fexen have a high toughness, a great save and lots of wounds but when you consider that they will almost NEVER get a cover save of any kind and they are somewhat poor in close-combat (WS3 and only 3 attacks) every army will have some kind of answer for them. Think about what MSU wolves/BA or IG could do to your fexen in 1 turn.

Most importantly, I think this has been said already but what about tanks? Short of close-combat with a (very slow) tyranofex or MC you have to way to even glance a rhino...

Competative Tyranids simply do not work this way. Monobuilds and spam builds are not functional. You're best off taking a balanced approach with as much target confusion as possible. A friend of mine at my FLGS runs a Tyranid army that I've become a big fan of. He takes:

HQ: Tervigon (all psy powers, cluster spines, adrenal glands and toxin sacs)
Elites: 1x 3-man Hive Guard brood, 1x 2-man Zoanthrope brood
Troops: 30-man hormagaunt with toxin sacs, 1x 5-man Warrior brood (4x devourer, 1x Barbed Strangler), 1x 10-man termagant brood with nice guns (I forget which), 1x Tervigon
Fast: 5x Ravaners
Heavy: 2x Trygon Primes

Now, this is a 2k list, but it scales fairly well at 1500. What this list accomplishes well is it brings MANY units each of which has a dedicated goal and it creates a target priority issue for opponents. Generally 1 trygon is deployed along with the other 2 Tervigons (the other one deep strikes), there are multi-wound models running around (HG, Warriors, Zoeys and Ravaners) each of which can do real damage and can absorb LOTS of fire (especially with FnP from a Tervigon). The Hormagaunts can kick *** on light to medium infantry (due to model count and poison attacks).

Basically, this list counters the meta in a number of ways. MSU armies have enough squads to target multiple threats but any individual small squad is incapable of killing a MC or multi-wound infantry squad. It counters tanks decently well with (AMAZING) Hiveguard and (Pretty OK) Zoanthropes. All the while the Tervigons are pooping little gaunts and the 30-man slicey squad is baring down. Most players have no idea what to do and will lose focus, more experienced players will still have a hard time killing everything.

The build is far from unbeatable and not the MOST competitive army out there but it lets Tyranids play with the big boys and at least have a decent chance. Most Tyranid builds I see involve some form of disgusting hammer unit(s) being shoved down someone's throat (genestealer outflank lists, MC spam, Tyranofexen); this style doesn't work. Nidzilla is dead, long live Tervigons and balanced armies!



Whew! Sorry to rant but I have a lot to say about this issue. I really want Tyranids to work the way my Orks do. I REALLY want to just start a Tyranid army, buy every disgusting hammer unit I can and just go take people's lunch money but I just don't think it would work. If anyone has any hammer-centered Tyranid builds they've had luck with let me know.