Tyranid Tactica: The Tyranid Prime

(photo credit to Aventine) Old School here to talk about the Mini-Tyrant, the Super warrior, of course I mean the Tyranid Prime - the cheapest HQ choice in the book and GW's alternative to Warrior HQ choices from 4th edition.
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The Stud Warrior: Tyranid Prime has everything you wish your warriors had - WS 6, BS 4, S5, T5, I5, and those wannabes can even have the WS and BS if he joins their squad! The problem is that he can't ride in their pod (boo GW) and he can't take wings ... so if you want him to party with a group of warriors, they are going to have to do it from your deployment zone, hmm, we'll talk about that one later.
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What are you taking him for? Good question, some folks use the prime as a fighting unit (combat role) on the field, some just buy the cheapest variant and attach him to a squad for wound allocation and to fill the HQ slot(support role), others use him for a mix of those two purposes. The prime's role on the field will define his upgrades, so let's talk about those.
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Biomorphs: Top Set of Arms

Scything Talons: The cheapest possible option, the Talons can help you out with re-rolls, but there are better options for this unit unless you are just using him as a cheap HQ and a wound soaker.

Rending Claws: These are cheap and on this set of arms still leave him with ranged weapon options. They can help ignore armor, but I wouldn't count on it and they can help with vehicles, but once again, I really wouldn't count on it too much.

Dual-Boneswords: Ah, yes the New Exalibur of the Nid codex, the dual bonesword option! Want to rock non-eternal warrior IC's, monstrous creatures and multi-wound A-hole units like Nob Bikers in close combat? These are the weapons for you, then. A single Tyranid Prime armed with these will make most of those units think twice about trying to charge his squad. A LD on 3d6 makes anyone more than a little nervous! If you want a fighting Prime, this is the upgrade for you.

Bonesword+Lash whip: Less effective on it's own than the dual-bonesword, this option will allow the Prime to lower the initiative of the enemy. Here, he is not very scary, but if he is hanging out with a tyrant and his Tyrant guard and they are armed for war, then this can be a good option. The same can be said if he is hanging out with a gang of Dual-bone sword warriors. If he is just hanging out with some Hive guard or something like that, the Dual-bone swords will be the better choice, but by all means, try both out and decide which flavor you prefer.
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Biomorphs for the second set of arms:

Rending claws: This set means leaving a ranged weapon behind and if you are taking boneswords, it really just help you out against vehicles and once again I would count on the sixes. Leave the vehicle hunting to units with wings or fleet.

Scything talons: Not too bad for the Prime who runs around with the tyrant and his crew, as it will help him hit more often with his bone sword(s).
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Devourer: The BS4 helps out, but with the fearlessness on the board in a take all comers environment, there isn't much reason to take it when you could have the deathspitter, unless you are just taking the cheapest possible Prime.
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Deathspitter: On his own, the Prime with a deathspitter isn't scary and for this reason, I would leave it out when running up the board in a Hive Tyrant Deathstar unit, but if he is running with a group of warriors, a massed amount of BS 4 S5 weapons can have a real impact and can even help to shake those transports! Not expensive and not half bad.
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Boosting upgrades:
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Adrenal Glands: Not the greatest upgrade for a couple of reasons - The prime is already I5 and will excel at troophunting and lashwhips would only cost you an extra 5 points. Support role primes tend to sit in units that don't really charge, so I can't see it being much use there either. If you are dedicating him to seeking out and destroying ICs, however, then this may be the upgrade you choose.
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Poison sacs: S5 on this model makes poison weapons pretty awesome! I know it may not seem like it, but combining this upgrade with dual boneswords creates a combo where you can really wound those MCs and high toughness ICs, break plague marines and plaguebearers and decimate Marine squads of any other flavor. Guard will actually benefit from this and so will all other weaker units, but I think in this case, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
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Regeneration: I am not a fan of regen in general ... it is a gambler's upgrade, however his IC status means that he can spread the love and over the course of the game, actually get his wounds back, but I would rather drop these points into other units and options.
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Possible layouts for the Prime:

In the Deathstar: A walking Tyrant with a bone sword, lash whips and 3 tyrant guard with boneswords makes a nasty deathstar, add a Prime with either dual boneswords (the tyrant has the whip) and scything talons or toxic sacs and you have a REALLY nasty unit. If the Tyrant has Old Adversary, then ignore the recommendation for Scything talons and poison sacs.

This can be a little different in Swarmlord's formation as the lashwhip is usedul on the Prime and since the Swarmlord can give out abilities elsewhere, you may just want the talons or sacs.

In a Group of Warriors: Groups of warriors led by a prime should always be nasty - don't take half-measure making little squads, make the squad BIG and push it up the board behind units that give you cover or provide an even bigger distraction. Dual bone swords are perfect for the warriors (no need for that many whips), the prime can the take the whip and the whole formation can take toxic sacs, making them a serious threat to just about any unit in the game. Add Deathspitters for mass S5 fire at 18" and you have a pretty resilient, scary unit, just avoid double toughness weapons at all costs.
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The Wound soaker, HQ fill Prime: This guy is there to be cheap and let you take your points elsewhere. Take him bare and stick him in a squad of Hive Guard for wound allocation, add him tp some termaguants for a fearless objective holder, ect. Add weapons to make a threat if you feel, but in general, just keep this guy cheap and hide him. Don't add him to anything with fleet as he will slow them down.
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So there are my two cents on the Tyranid Prime, please feel free to add your feedback and experiences!