Building the Unbalanced Bugs: Part 1

Old School here and today I want to talk Tyranids. Lately if the internet has been talking nids at all it seems they are talking about how bad they are. I will admit that I have been less than kind around the FLGS when talking about my own budding Nids - saying that I thought they lack the ability to stand up in a competitive environment, but I think I am starting to change my mind.

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First, my latest obsession with my Chaos army has been to tool out the assault side of the list to the point of becoming unbalanced - this has been very fun and it seems everyone like to get stuck in when they play 40k (I had been relying on the shooting game heavily for way too long as a former Tau player). With that in mind, I took another look at my what I thought was my "Balanced Tyranids List" and tooled it to maximise assault and to give me the flexibility of heavy reserves if I need it.

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Here is the new 1850 list I plan to run for a series of games until I have enough evaluation to tweek it. I already have one game with it and have made a few adjustments to make it the way I think I want it to run in the next series of games:

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Hive Tyrant w/ wings, scything talons, Hive commander, Adrenal Glands, paroxysm, leech essence

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The idea behind the tyrant is to be a support and second wave assault unit for the spearhead of my force. He can basically handle his own on the assault, rock vehicles if needed and if he charges can handle some of the uber characters out there. Most important though is his role as support. He can make life a lot easier for the trygons of the spearhead with paroxysm and his ability to assault in a second wave or to support a trygon that gets singled out.

2x Hive Guard

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2x Hive Guard

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These guys are here to provide me with some anti-tank - even if it is just enough to soften the firepower of enemy vehicles. I am not relying on them to kill every tank, but I think they will be low key enough here to stay alive for a while and fulfill their job by walking along behind the spear.

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Doom of Malan'ti in Spore Pod with Cluster Spines

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Big gimmicky distraction is all this is right here! He does a pretty fair amount of damage to the Low LD armies and hordes, but no matter who you are, you want this guy dead and even if he never fires a single S10 AP1 large Blast, his distraction for the enemy's heavy weapons (or their forced movement) pays for itself.

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20 Termigants

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Tervigon w/ cluster spines and catalyst

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The termies are there for objective holding (if they live) and the tervigon is there to either assist in spawning on objective missions and to support the spear in KP games. She can also be a good outflanker to park on the enemy's objective in a take and hold mission as long as she isn't alone.

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8 Genestealers w/ toxin sacs

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8 Genestealers w/ toxin sacs

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These guys can either run in behind the spear or can outflank and wreak havoc on the enemy lines. Toxin sacs makes them deadly to MCs and also T4 or lower models.

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Trygon Prime with Adrenal Glands

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Trygon Prime with Adrenal Glands

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Trygon with adrenal glands

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Alright I didn't want to spam a whole lot with my army and when the tyrannofex is done, he will find some room in here, but for now, I think three big snakes coming down the board supported by the flyrant who can be where he needs to be, backed by a tervi and 16 stealers can be a daunting chunk of crazy for most players considering the amount of T6 and the fact that ADs and fleet means most of the time, I am going to pick the fights and go first. The extra synapse is not really needed from the primes, but the extra shooting and shadow in the warp protection are welcome.

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I know that starting on the board can be dangerous against really shooty armies which is where the hive commander ability comes in, but for the most common, melta happy armies, I will probably start on the board. Yes I know Guard have mystics, but they won't forever ;) and most other really shooty armies won't have the volume of shots to really put down my spearhead.

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As I playtest this we will see if my theoryhammer works the way I planned and we will see where the army turns up in terms of tweeks. I really just want to prove to myself that this army isn't just a collection of good-looking MCs and that they may not suck as bad as everyone believes - in anycase, we can find out together!

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That is all I have right now for the lovely world of man-eating bugs, feel free to leave your feedback!