Facing Tyranids

[Wolfshade]

Hello, my name is Wolfshade and I am a Blood Angel player and I have a problem. Whenever I am facing tyranids, I seem to loose.

I was wondering if you could give any advice that would help.

It is a 1000pt game and I am guessing his list will be

Flying Tyrant
3 Hive Guard
2x Zoanthropes
Hormagaunt Brood
Termagant Brood
2x 10 Genestealers one with Broodlord
Gargoyle Brood

I think generally the broods were 10 gribbly strong.

[Dominic]

What list will you be using/what models do you have to use?
- I can offer you better advice as soon as I know exactly what you're using (or help you choose what to use)

[Wolfshade]

The list I used last time was

Terminator Librarian
Terminator Squad (5 man)
10 Man Tactical Squad with Flamer and Missile Launcher
10 Man Assault Squad with Melta Bomb and jump packs
2x Vindicators

Let's just say that my collection is large enough that every option could be fielded, with the exception of only 1 Storm raven, whirlwind and 5 man Sanguinary guard.

[DWest]

Flamers. Get more flamers. Even the pathetic 3 AP 6 Hand Flamers will turn the gaunts and the gargoyles inside out. If you have the points and the model, put a Baal Pred in, I'd go Flamestorm/Heavy Bolters for maximum utility. Whirlwind's "Ignores Cover" missile would also be amazing.

If you're tailoring to beat Nids, drop the Librarian- Shadow in the Warp makes you cast powers on 3d6 if you're in the radius. I'd say swap for a Chaplain if you can.

Hive Guard is your #1 target priority, then the Zoies, then the Stealers who have the Broodlord. The Flyrant is scary, but it's only got 4 Wounds, it dies very quickly once it lands.

[rtmaitreya]

As a Tyranid player using a lot of gribblies, bog standard units of 10 tacticals with ML and flamer are pretty much my worst nightmare. They dump out S4 AP5 firepower by the buckets, and destroys everything in the enemy's list except the hive tyrant and hive guard. Replace your terminators and one of your vindicators with two more full tac squads in rhinos.

The assault squad you have, add two flamers, a power axe/fist, and you are done. Go hunting anything with them.

Agree on chaplain.

Not much you can do about the tyrant until he lands, sorry. Kill everything else in his list with bolt and flame. When he slams into you, kill off a few with stand and shoot, and then a few more in your defend-cover-first-strike. Rinse, repeat.

Dan.

[Tynskel]

The tyranid list has the issue of using relatively small brood sizes. What you should do is neuter them. If you knock them below 50% they are in many ways, worthless. There are a lot of them, so I would increase firepower.

You should use your Assault squad to finish off the small squads that have been neutered. I recommend Combat Squads, so you can hit multiple targets.

Genestealers: Flamers. Flamers. Flamers. You should really try to get flamers (whether hand flamers or the good oldie) in the assault squad. Again, neuter the squad, then finish them off with the flamers. Recommendation: Get 2 flamers and a hand flamer in the assault squad. Then, after the genestealers have been neutered, you might just outright kill them from overwatch fire.

I would drop a vindicator and get a baal. I prefer Assault Cannons and Hv Bolters. That way you can just keep moving to maintain cover (for other armies). Your priority target will be the elimination of the Hive Guard. Use the Baal to help neuter other squads.

Remember, shoot for effect. Neuter squads, assault them, and use the wipe out move to reposition the assault squad. Your Tactical Marines should get in close and dakka dakka dakka.


Lastly. You should have some sort of AA defense. Whether that's a stormraven (which has a good chance of annihilating a tyrant if you take twin-lascannons and typhoons) or paying for a ageis gun. If you get a stormraven, pay for the locator beacon, and put the Tactical Marines in there. You might want to shift things for a Frag Cannon Furioso. Use the Skies of Blood + Locator Beacon to drop off the marines and dread.


Recommended Furioso:
Frag Cannon, Meltagun, Magna Grapple. Makes him good at taking anything on.




Looks like 1000 point list:

HQ 100
100 Codicer
–Librarian

ELITES 140
140 Champion
–Furioso, Frag Cannon, Bloodfist with Meltagun, Magna Grapple

TROOPS 390
170 Tactical Squad
–10 Marines, Flamer, Missile Launcher
220 Assault Squad
–10 Marines, 2 Flamers, Power Maul and Melta Bombs

Hv SUPPORT 370
215 Stormraven Gunship
–Locator Beacon, Twin-Lascannons, Multi-Melta
155 Vindicator
–Siege Shield



The vindicator is there for other types of armies. Can't go wrong with Str10 AP2 Pie Plates of Dooooom! Instead of the furioso, you can drop the meltabombs and take a Baal.

[bugsculptor]

It is a 1000pt game and I am guessing his list will be

Flying Tyrant
3 Hive Guard
2x Zoanthropes
Hormagaunt Brood
Termagant Brood
2x 10 Genestealers one with Broodlord
Gargoyle Brood

I think generally the broods were 10 gribbly strong.

The good news is, this is actually a pretty terrible Tyranid list. As none of the broods are really big and no tyranids have frag grenades you should basically look to put your marines in cover as much as possible and shoot away at him. The three things that will do real damage to you are the tyrant, especially if it has devourers, the hive guard at range and the gargoyles if they're able to move into position and tie up something key in the first turns. Shoot the genestealers if they're coming at you turns 2-3, otherwise ignore them.

I would recommend taking an Aegis defence line with a quad gun. It means you can position cover to get the drop on most of the incoming troops and shut down a lot of his options for keeping his flyrant alive and moving it aggressively towards you. Also, the quad gun will take chunks out of the hive guard with their T6 and 4+ save if they're left in the open. If you have eldar allies, a farseer with Runes of Warding will shut down the nid psychic powers and neuter the zoanthropes, which give significant biomancy buffs.

Do not run towards the nids. This is the classic Blood Angels mistake, as they think they're "good in assault". They're not... against nids they're simply pizza that delivers itself.

[jifel]

An Aegis works wonders, as making them charge through terrain... well as a bug player, it sucks. Quadguns are pretty cool. And I don't people have said this enough, you need to be able to kill Tervigons. With this list it doesn't matter, but a StormRaven fills that role and is good here, as well.

[Wolfshade]

Well in the end I changed somethings out.
I ran:
Reculisarch,
5x Death Company
Death Company Dread w/ Heavy Flamer
10x Tactical Squad w/ flamer and missile laucnher
5x Terminators w/ Cyclone missile launcher
Whirlwind
Vindicator

My Opponet
Flying Tyrant
3x Hive Guard
5x Tyranid Warriors
10x Ygmarl Genestealers
2x Zonathropes
Huge termagant brood
Huge gargoyle brood

The first game was fairly evenly matched but my two objectives were worth 3pts to his 7pts. The game started with my heavy firing and missing everything then retreating and falling back until he took too many casualties and fell back to hold his knowing that I could only hold 2.

The second game at the end of turn 7 he had 3 termagants left.

My game plan was to keep camped together to make sure that I don't get strung out and mobbed. It worked well.

I did discover that cyclone missile launchers are brilliant :) as was the DC that went toe-to-toe with the two huge broods eventually loosing after the flyrant joined in. The DC dread was great with its Blood Talons just pulling things apart mercilessly.

[Ghost]

The Nid list is very(!) low on synapse. His flyrant will be... well flying, and only the gargoyles will be able to keep up and even they may struggle.
Shoot the zoans and the termagants and homogaunts will run of the board.

With that being said target priority should also depend on your army. If you go with vehicles you cannot afford to ignore the hive guards. If you go infantry my advice is better;)

[Wolfshade]

How much synapse would you expect to see in a 1000pt list?

[Learn2Eel]

Depends on the kind of list. Usually I would expect at least one synapse monster - a Hive Tyrant - and several smaller synapse provides, such as Zoanthropes or Warriors. Though a couple of Tervigons isn't out of the question either.

[Tynskel]

If it is a swarm army, it will typically have a lot of synapse, because the swarm falls apart really fast without the synapse.

[rpricew]

Lots of good advice already... sounds like you figured it out.

Storm Ravens are frightening for Tyranids. If you take it then go as it was suggested with the Lascannons and Cyclone.
Grounding tests on the Flyrant gives you a free hit with no save... all you need is a random Boltgun shot that makes a 6. Everytime the Quad Gun opens up on the Flyrant, he will have to take a test. Quad Gun will make quick work of Hive Guard. So will Lascannon/autocannon Predators.

Once those two are dead, everything else will crumble

[Tynskel]

well, sort of. I wouldn't waste boltguns on the Tyrant unless you had nothing else to shoot at. A stormraven in 1000 points is somewhat funny, but can be certainly worth while. If you are going to do that, I almost recommend going full out: Take the Hurricane Bolter Sponsons. That way you just fire a million shots strafing bugs after you have reduced AA threats (even with power of the machine spirit gives you some snap shots at the ground as you are dealing with air).

Personally, I prefer Tactical Marines in the Stormraven. You can fit a firepower Furioso for Frag Cannons are awesome (or a Librarian Furioso), 10 Tactical Marines, a priest, and a reclusiarch (or Tycho, he's fun) in there. It is quite nasty, and with the Locator Beacon on the Stormraven, you can drop them without worry. You can even combat squad, if you want to.

The Quad Gun is alright for the Hive Guard, but really, you should be using that on different bugs. The Hive Guard should either 1) be in hard cover, or 2) cannot be seen.

[Ghost]

Furiosos (and other dreads) are always good against tyranid swarms because lots of the small critters cannot hurt them and you can use that to direct their assualt to where you would rater recive it.