Tyranid horde - strategy and list

[planet psyrum]

I wanted to start a new 40k army that is drastically different the my cron. So, I am going to build a horde tyranid list. I was wondering if more experienced players could give some insight on strategy, strenghts, weaknesses, and some builds I could use to be competitive.

[planet psyrum]

This is what im thinking right now.

I would bring a hive tyrant with tyrant guards. Then 10 jgmarrl stealers, 30 gants, 30 hormagaunts, 15 stealers with broodlord, 15 devagaunts, 3 zoanthropes, and 2 dakka-fexes.

That's pretty hordey, what are your ideas?

[Tepogue]

You have a theme, that is good, but without a points value it's kind of meaningless. Pick a size - 1000, 1500. 1850, 2000, etc and then design from there.

Also you only have 2 units with synapse. I go for at least 1 more Synapdse node, you only have 2 the Tyrant and the 3 Zoeys, It can be hard to control your horde with that little synapse. I'd look into a Tervigon at the very least.

[planet psyrum]

I want a 1750 - 1999 pt army.

What do you think about a unit or two of tyranid warriors?

[CrimsonTurkey]

Warriors are solid, especially when lead by a prime. You can use the Prime's higher toughness in conjunction with Look Out, Sir to do a little wound allocation shenanigans as well.

PS: Take the deathspitters. Three shots each at BS4 can put quite a bit of hurt on most things.

[KrewL RaiN]

When I give advice, I dont like posting lists. If I do, its an example of what I would like to do. It's not "omg minmax waacadoodleness you have to do this else you suck". Tyranids aren't very "cooky cutter list makers" to me. You have to get the feel for what you like with your Tyranids. If you want to be hard core competitive, I wouldn't recommend this army either.

WARNING, MAY BE TL;DR CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK

When it comes to hordes, you need to think of your support abilities. That is what makes Tyranid hordes scary. In this new addition, we have access to some crazy new support spells thanks to Biomancy.

Your Warlord should be a Hive Tyrant or Tervigon for hordenid play, and at least two troop Tervigons. You want quite a few MC psychers around to work with the little guys. Also, for unlocking Tervigons as troops, dont do the ten gaunt minimum thing. You want a main Termagant blob atleast 20-30 strong. The second Tervigon troop unlock you can take a crappy small brood, or you can take a blob of Devourer armed Termagants. Outflanking those with Hive Commander or podding them in can be quite scarey. They have a bucketload of shots!

You need more then two synapse. People will snipe your two synapse creatures off and then you loose control of your little guys. Pick synapse things that can take the new powers, like Zoanthropes, Tervigons and Tyrants. Psycic powers REALLY give us a boost in power. You want to get your claws on as many as you can fit in to your list. These support your little bugs!

Your other horde options are Hormagaunts and Gargoyles. I find Gargoyles are quite the fire magnet, so I dont upgrade them. Upgraded Gargoyles are quite scary though, and can hit like bricks on the charge. With Hormagaunts, again I am a bit cheep on the upgrades, but you HAVE to give them toxin sacs. These WILL hit like bricks. With no retreat wounds gone, you can bring the pain! I have had mine shred scary things like Thunderwolves, Terminators and Avatars to name a few. I like running Gargoyles ahead of my Hormagaunts. This give my Hormagaunts cover and the Gargoyles themselves are a charge/tie up screen (Gargoyles WILL give MC's their cover save too!). This guarantees your Hormagaunts get that nasty charge in. You may not even need adrenal glands if you get some support psychers with Enfeeble... that power is nasty lol. If you want your Gargoyles and Hormagaunts to be able to glance armour to death, then give them Adrenals. If you want more bodies, keep the upgrades to a minimum and allow your support powers to weaken your target. Leave the armour to the anti tank.

Tyranid Warriors and competitiveness I would not recommend. At those crazy competitive gaming levels, they will be blown to pieces from weapons that ID them. Ripper swarms also fall under this... I really wish Rippers were more viable. They are crap compared to the Scarab swarms your Necrons have.

I can't comment on Genestealers right now, I am still a bit sour with the changes to outflank/infiltrate. It's almost like you need to pod them in now. Ymgarls on the other hand, they are a MUST HAVE now.

I had to try and make a 1999 point horde list. Argh moving 127 models around... this list makes my head hurt, and I bet an opponent would soil their pants too lol. All Biomancy on the Tyrant and Tervigons. The thropes you want either shriek or whatever the default biomancy power is and you can pick whatever else for secondary. Can mix and match their roles to whoever your facing. Keep them default for anti tank. Weird how you can actually tailor your psychic powers to what your facing! Hive Commander makes sure you get your reserves on a +2. Outflank the Devourergants.

== HQ ==
Hive Tyrant Brood (345 pts.)
Hive Tyrant (1) - Twin-Linked Devourer - Brainleech Worms, Twin-Linked Devourer - Brainleech Worms, Paroxysm, Leech Essence, Hive Commander = 225 pts.
Tyrant Guard (2) - Scything Talons = 120 pts.

== Elites ==
Ymgarl Genestealer Brood (6) = 138 pts.
Zoanthrope Brood (160 pts.)
Zoanthrope (2) = 120 pts.
Mycetic Spore (1) = 40 pts.
Zoanthrope Brood (160 pts.)
Zoanthrope (2) = 120 pts.
Mycetic Spore (1) = 40 pts.

== Troops ==
Tervigon (1) - Cluster Spines, AG, Toxin Sacs, Cat = 195 pts.
Tervigon (1) - Cluster Spines, AG, Toxin Sacs, Cat = 195 pts.
Termagant Brood (20) - Devourer = 200 pts.
Termagant Brood (20) - Fleshborer = 100 pts.
Hormagaunt Brood (20) - Toxin Sacs = 160 pts.
Hormagaunt Brood (20) - Toxin Sacs = 160 pts.

== Fast Attack ==
Gargoyle Brood (16) = 96 pts.
Gargoyle Brood (15) = 90 pts.

== Total ==
1999 pts.

Edits galore, gotta divide the 30 Gargoyle blob into two groups. Each Hormagaunt squad will have a small Gargoyle squad in front of it. 6 points left... yay one more Gargoyle! 128 models! xD

[Gloomfang]

This is what im thinking right now.

I would bring a hive tyrant with tyrant guards. Then 10 jgmarrl stealers, 30 gants, 30 hormagaunts, 15 stealers with broodlord, 15 devagaunts, 3 zoanthropes, and 2 dakka-fexes.

That's pretty hordey, what are your ideas?

No that is not very hordy. Its very piecemealy.

The Tyrant with guard and the Zoans and Fexes are fine. But you are confusing bodys on the table with hordes. With the nerf to multi-assault and with Overwatch you need smaller broods, but more of them. With the list as it stands you run the risk of stalling out a charge, getting overwatched so you can't make it into BtB or if you get hit with a power that effects a whole unit (GKs ahave some nasty ones.)

So if you went to 2 units of 10-15 termigaunts, 2 units of 15 hormaguants and 2 units of 7 stealers with Blord you would be doubling the number of units in your army, giving yourself some flexability, and making sure a few bad rolls don't wreck your entire army.

And if you want hordes and hordes. 3 Tervigons. Bring at least 60 gaunts for them to spawn (not kidding, most people bring 20-30 termigaunts per Tervigon.)

[Tynskel]

hehehe... it is all about the Doom of Malantai and the 1 in 6 chance of getting Iron Arm.

Eternal Warrior on a 10 wound 3++ toughness 5-7 model = priceless!