Forward

This guide is designed with these simple premises in mind:

1. Clear and easy to understand. Anyone who is starting a new army has enough to handle without having to decipher abbreviations or struggle to understand what a guide might be telling them. You will not find things like TLMP, PR, 2x TL Dev or other arcane abbreviations and acronyms. The only ones you will find are ones that new and veteran players should already be familiar with: the basic stats, WS, BS, S, etc...

2. This is about your army list. Yours. Not mine, not your friend Joe’s, not what somebody half way around the world thinks yours should be. We all have our favourite units, we all differ in opinions what units are useful and which are not. I’m trying to give an up-front unbiased opinion of units, configurations, and so forth. If you wish to go against the advice, PLEASE DO. There are too many factors for anyone to make a blanket statement about the individual value of a unit. By going against any advice I give, you expand the frontiers of your own experience and may even be able to make something work that I haven’t thought of or haven’t been able to make work.

3. Stop trying to make your points back. Get rid of this idea. Throw it away. It is useless. There are more than enough units out there that will rarely “make their points back”. More often than not, their impact on the game in other ways is undeniable.

4. Tournament-Level Play. Most of this advice is written with the current accepted Grand Tournament level of 1750 points. This is a popular points level for tournaments. Some tournaments will have different structure and organization, but I really think that this is a good place for an aspiring Tyranid player to start.

I hope this guide helps you through the wide range of options available to you, helps you build an army to your liking, and most importantly, helps you enjoy the Tyranid army that much more.

Designing your army

The hallmark of the Tyranid Army is versatility. Many of the units can shift their ability scores, choose a shooting or assault role, some even change where they fit under the Force Organization Chart (found on pg XX in the Tyranid Codex). The following section will go into the major army builds that most people are familiar with.

When designing your army, you need to keep an eye towards what drew you to Tyranids in the first place. Was it the idea of hordes of little monsters overrunning the entrenched defences of an Imperial Hive? Perhaps it’s the idea of gigantic monsters kicking over tanks, walls, squashing and scattering screaming guardsmen. Or maybe your friends and family think you watched Aliens twelve too many times… Whatever the reason, this is the kind of army you should think about building first. What’s the point in making an army that isn’t cool in the first place?

Finally, I think that new players should design their first list to be between 1750-2000 points. While not every game you play will be at this higher point level, and even affording that many models from the start may be difficult, a good, high point list will give you several advantages. It provides a list of units to purchase as you get extra cash. It is fairly easy to reverse-engineer lists at lower points than start with a 500 point purchase and build it from there. Reverse engineering a list like that will also tell you what order to purchase units. Ultimately this will save you money in the long run and help prevent you from collecting hundreds of points worth of models you don’t really like.

Basic Army Builds:

The Swarm

The swarm army is a giant mass of troops fielded with the idea that your opponent cannot kill enough to make a difference, before your hordes roll over his defences. Other armies are able to field swarms as well, some more or less effective at different roles. The other two most common examples are the Imperial Guard and the Ork. Both armies excel at fielding huge numbers of units for relatively cheap. The Tyranid army, however, has one of the cheapest units available for this purpose. At 5 points each, a Spinegaunt is roughly equivalent to a guardsman with a lasgun. Considering that a brood of gaunts comes in 8-32 models, you can fill out your Force Organization chart for a mere 960 points. That’s 192 little chompy monsters that want to eat your opponent’s face. To make this a functional army, you must still have some synapse, and some units that are better at taking out foes that are heavily armoured, extraordinarily tough and even tanks. Fortunately, you would still have 790 points to help you out there.

Generally speaking, this army is excellent against nearly all infantry based armies, unless someone tries to out-swarm you. How well it does against heavier foes depends greatly upon the rest of your army. It may be advisable to actually reduce your model count a little to pick up some of the other troop units (Hormagaunts or Genestealers), but that choice really depends on you. The roles they fill are fairly easily filled by other Tyranid units that would fill up your 790 points.

The greatest weakness of the Swarm is the Synapse. Once you start spending your extra points on additional units, you can find yourself very weak on synapse choices, and once your synapse fails, that’s 192 Spinegaunts that no longer have any direction.

Hybrid

The Hybrid list is one that mixes the different focused styles of armies and uses them to support each other in a tactically dynamic style. Most other armies tend to field hybrid lists of one sort or another, with a healthy mix of heavy support, troops, HQ, fast attack, etc. The Tyranid Battleforce boxed set offers the start of a good hybrid army. What a hybrid list means for Tyranids is usually 3-4 mixed troop selections, a couple heavy support, and some Elite, Fast Attack and HQ units to support them. When fielding this army, the idea is that the entire army works as a single organism, each unit or group of units working towards specific goals and with specific objectives. Units cover and support each other.

This army’s greatest strengths lay in several areas. It can be less obvious to your opponent which target is the most important. Another great strength is that if it is properly designed and utilized, taking out large portions of the army will do little good as other units can step into the role that your opponent just thought he eliminated.

The Hybrid army can be difficult to play and master. It is hard to predict here what its greatest weakness would be, mainly because there are so many different ways a hybrid army could be built. That variety is both a source of power and a weak link in the army.

Elite

The Elite list focuses on the middle range Tyranids. Nothing so inexpensive and easy to kill as a gaunt makes it into the elite list (unless it’s been upgraded a bit) and the Elite list equally avoids large monstrous creatures such as Tyrants and heavy Clarifies. You will find primarily Warriors, Raveners, Genestealers, Zoanthropes, Lictors and the like in an elite list. The versatility of the Tyranid Warrior and the power of the Genestealer make these both primary choices for the Elite list.

The best part of the Elite list is that it is quite customizable, and the powerful, individual nature of each of its components easily leads opponents into problems with appropriate target selection.

The Elite list can also be a difficult army to master. As a good portion of the list can be divided into slow and fast units, shooting and none, the list can be easily divided, making it easier for your opponent to take it on piecemeal. However, it also makes the list better at striking in waves, which is something that can be difficult for opponents to deal with. The hardest armies for this one to face tend to be highly mobile and skimmer armies such as Tau and Eldar.

Nidzilla

Nidzilla is a very popular Tyranid list based entirely around the idea of fielding up to eight extremely tough monstrous creatures and enough ancillary units to fill in against weak spots in the army. Nidzilla lists tend to focus heavily on shooting to get the much slower creatures into the fight as soon as possible. Support units come most often in the form of troops and Raveners, depending on the owner of the list. Being such a difficult army to put down, many opponents have decided the list is “cheesy”, and there is a fair amount of debate as to whether this is an accurate label. Some people refuse to play against Nidzilla, as they feel it is an unfair army to field.

The appeal of the Nidzilla list is mostly due to its incredible staying power. With 8 monstrous creatures, the opponents would have to cut through at least 24 wounds that are toughness 6 with the majority of those being a 2+ armour save. To be certain, arming these monsters with heavy weaponry and other exceptional upgrades is also a major contributing factor to their success, but a proper Nidzilla list will have a good amount of troops and fast attack to support and defend the monstrous creatures.

The weakness of the Nidzilla list come to the front against other armies that are often listed as “cheesy” huge hordes of Orks with Choppas, overwhelming amounts of assault or lascannon fire, Khornate chainaxes or power weapons, power fists, etc. can all have a devastating effect on a Nidzilla list. Another weakness in the Nidzilla list is the lower model count compared to other Tyranid armies. Like Armoured Company, should you lose a single monstrous creature, you can lose a significant portion of your army.

Oddball armies

Oddball armies are the ones that are usually built around a “theme”, or are focused on pulling off something interesting or unexpected with Tyranids. There are 4 primary oddball armies, each focusing on a special trait of the Tyranid list. Variations are abundant, and these lists meet with varying degrees of success, depending on build, terrain, opponent and mission.

Flying Circus focuses on fielding as many wings as possible. The hardest part about it is deciding how the fast attack slots should be utilized. With only three slots, your winged choices are Gargoyles, winged Warriors and winged Rippers. If one wants a strong winged contingent that balances numbers with power, I’d recommend 2 gargoyle units and 1 unit of warriors. This gives you the balance and versatility of both the Gargoyles and the power of the Warriors. A more elite force would be to field 27 flying warriors, and at average of 40 points apiece, that’s over 1000 points, leaving 200 or so for the Flyrant, and some few points to fill in troops and other slots.

The hardest part about the Flying Circus is the lack of armour saves and the general rules that you must stay out of (behind) cover. This can limit your movement options if you don’t have the ability to absorb wounds. Another, more practical, issue is the issue of converting your models. Where are you going to get wings for your units? Appropriate biomorphs and weapons? Are you going to convert them to have some sort of bio-jump pack? All of these should be considered before committing to a Flying Circus.

Unholy choir focuses on fielding as many models with Psychic Scream as possible, then utilizing the modifiers to pin units or force them to fall back. The most psychic screams a Tyranid player can field is 5: 2 on Tyrants and 3 on Zoanthropes. Since the Psychic Scream effects are cumulative, it becomes an extremely powerful combination to put them on the table, and combine it with things like Biovores, barbed stranglers and overwhelming numbers of troops. That said, there are several inherent problems with Unholy Choir. At 18”, Psychic Scream is fairly short ranged and can be difficult to layer the overlapping screams on a unit. The affected area tends to be rather slow, as the Zoanthropes and a walking Tyrant can only move 6” per turn. Losing a Zoanthrope can mean a significant hit on the overall coverage. Finally, more than a few armies are all but immune to the effects of an Unholy Choir. Most chaos units, Armoured Company, Vehicles, and other fearless units will laugh at the Unholy Choir, and by selecting these units for their psychic scream, you may end up limiting your anti-tank or anti-skimmer ability, or short-changing some other area of your army. This list is one that really does well at the higher points levels but struggles to have a noticeable effect at smaller points totals.

Shooty Bugs from Hell describes an army where you are fielding as many ranged weapons as possible, with the basic concept that no one can stand up to the amount of biobullets that you’re sending downrange. Similar to the Swarm army, this list tends to focus on the Gaunt, and most people consider the devourer to be the optimal weapon for this purpose. The devourer is chosen because it is a superior weapon to the spinefist, putting out as many shots per point at a greater range, as well as the fleshborer since you have more shots per point spent and again, greater range. Other choices for the Shooty Bugs from Hell list finds shooting Warriors, shooting monstrous creatures and Zoanthropes. Which guns the big guys carry depend on your preferences, as all the big guns are effective when carried by the monstrous creatures. It should be noted that the Shooty Bugs from hell is a slower moving list than most other lists (considering that fleet of claw is spent shooting at the enemy) and can be applied to almost any primary build. The main disadvantages to this list are your general dependence on cover and the time spent getting your units to the proper range. Savvy opponents can spend that time falling back as needed or moving out of range while heavier targets take out your units, and it should be remembered that in a straight up gunfight, the bolter will outperform the devourer almost every time, due to range and the gunner’s BS.

Genestealer Horde (also known as Vanguard Army) focuses on fielding as many Genestealers as possible, with the occasional Lictor, Broodlord, or deepstriking Spore Mine cluster to mix things up a bit. Another variant of the Swarm list, there is always some debate as to which is better: upgraded Genestealers or naked ones. Many people will advocate that +SV is the only way to go on this list, but others argue that the wounds you gain from no upgrades will outweigh the difference. My position relates more to your own personal feelings, your pocketbook, and your primary opponents. For example, if you regularly face a large number of weapons that are AP 4 or better, you might as well pass on upgrades like +SV. If your opponents rarely field such heavy weapons and rely more on regular infantry weapons, it might be a good idea to add on the +SV. Other upgrades like Scuttlers, Scythe Talons, Implant attack, and so forth are all a matter of debate as well. I personally try to avoid fielding broods where the troops cost more than 20 points each. The problem with the Genestealer Horde relates primarily to skimmers and fast-moving units. A Genestealer horde would generally have trouble with a Necron army that fields mostly Destroyers, or an Eldar army that fields mostly jetbikes. It’s difficult to catch them and the amount of fire they can put out is staggering.

Unit by unit review

HQ

Tyrant

In this review, I refer to the Tyrant as the basic ground-based walking Hive Tyrant. This configuration is generally a less-popular HQ choice, except among the newest of Tyranid collectors. Reasons most often cited are the comparatively slow movement speed and limited attack opportunities. These constraints result in players usually relegating the Tyrant to a shooting/synapse role for the slower units in the army. This is not a bad choice, as it provides a solid Synaptic core to a shooting-based army (such as Shooty Bugs from Hell). Many players recommend taking at least one or two Tyrant guard, as his slower speed makes him much more vulnerable to manoeuvrable enemy units. Going with this configuration allows up to 10 wounds at T 6 with a SV of 2+ or 3+. As your core Synapse unit, it doesn’t get much better than that. Furthermore, as a central Synapse node for Shooty Bugs from Hell, the Tyrant can afford to use the heavier weapons of the Venom Cannon and/or Barbed Strangler, as the smaller broods should have light arms areas well covered.

Flyrant

The Flyrant is any Tyrant with the Winged biomorph. While taking wings means that the Flyrant can’t take Tyrant Guard, the added mobility can be a huge boon. Most Tyranid players will eventually convert a Flyrant at some point, due to the power and utility of an extremely durable, highly mobile synapse node. There are two basic common builds for the Flyrant, the Scythe Flyrant for a primary assault role, and the Devil Flyrant for a close fire-support role. Most people scoff at the idea of arming a Flyrant with Venom Cannon and Barbed Strangler, as the greater mobility precludes the need for greater range. However this is not to be entirely discounted. The Tyrant in all forms has the best BS of all Tyranids, and dropping a large Str 5 blast template where it isn’t expected can be very effective.

Tyrant guard

Tyrant Guard are the toughest retinue unit in the game. While they don’t offer much in the way of strong assault power compared to things like Genestealers, you really can’t beat the sheer resilience they offer the walking tyrant. The guard come in 2 varieties: with lash whips or with scythe talons. With lash whips, you are expecting your guard to receive charges from dedicated assault troops and weather the incoming attacks, using the lash whips to reduce the effectiveness of the attack. With scythe talons, you expect to wade into the fight and use them as a solid heavy assault core, possibly to boost the attacks of lesser creatures such as gaunts.

Broodlord

The Broodlord is probably the nastiest single model in the Tyranid list that has a dedicated pure-assault role. He has several things that work for and against him. On the upside he has a stunning unit profile. He starts at 5 Str-5, WS-6, I-6, rending, power weapon attacks on the charge, before you add biomorphs. He gives infiltrate to his brood, and provides a forward synapse node for units like Hormagaunts and Raveners to aim for. Going against him is the fact that everyone knows he and his Genestealer unit are psychotically dangerous and the minor issue of him limiting the speed of his unit by not having fleet of foot. Opponents gun for the unit early on, and bad deployment or luck can see this unit brought low very early in the game. Still, an often forgotten rule about independent characters is that if he is killed before the rest of his retinue, they regain the use of their Fleet of Claw rule.

Elite

Warriors

Warriors are by far the most versatile unit in the Tyranid army. They can fill HQ, Elite and Fast Attack slots. They can be fielded as a minimum harassment level units of 3 models, or as a points-heavy 9 model (18 wound) monster unit. They can function in a variety of roles such as back field synapse, mid field fire support, primary assault, 2nd wave assault, flanking units, and much, much more. The superb versatility is both their greatest strength and most common weakness, mainly because the uninitiated player will often mix the Warrior’s role by adding a wide variety of biomorphs. By overloading them like that, they soak up too many available points in your army, reducing your overall model count, and making them a big, juicy target for your opponents. This is made all the more juicy by their relative fragility and the fact that they are a Synapse creature. The best advice available for Warriors is to focus their profile: If they’re intended as assault units, don’t give them shooting weapons or biomorphs, and vise versa. For more on this, see The 3 Roles of Warriors, Walking, Leaping and Flying.

Lictors

Lictors are much more than just a unit of expensive assault warriors that can jump out and surprise your opponent. They are often maligned for being too expensive for their very fragile T-4 SV-5+ statline. For the cost of a single Lictor you would be able to purchase 2 Raveners with a comparable statline and more than double its base attacks, or 4 Genestealers who get a better save and don’t have to deal with Instinctive Behaviour. All that aside, the Lictor adds a great deal of unquantifiable power to the army. Proper use of the Lictor’s ability to strike behind enemy lines, to take down even the heaviest tanks and weather a stunning amount of fire, and even the oft-forgotten feeder tendril bonus can turn the tide of a battle. The Lictor is practically essential to Nidzilla lists if you have to deal with an Escalation mission. It is necessary for a player to understand what a Lictor (or pair or even trio) can successfully take on, where they would be most useful and what encounters would waste them. This mostly comes with experience, but there are a few rules I can boil it down to:

1. Do not attack full strength squads alone. Make sure that you are supporting a larger assault or attack small, isolated units.

2. Do not attack anything with powerfists and avoid power weapons. Even if the Lictor is in synapse range, power weapons and rending weapons can make short work of a Lictor.

3. Do not attack HQ units with lone Lictors. Just don’t do it. The Lictor is not designed to be able to put 2-4 wounds on an opposing model in a single round.

4. Do not attack vehicles that sport close combat weapons. The statistical probability to successfully kill such a vehicle before it attacks is generally abysmal.

While it may sound like a very limiting list of directives, there are still ample opportunities for the Lictor to shine on the battlefield. Above all, be vigilant for openings that your opponent will inevitably leave you.

Troops

Hormagaunts

Hormagaunts are probably the second most common units for Tyranid players to field, as they offer quality assault power for relatively inexpensive costs. The Hormagaunt is one of those units that come in a huge variety of configurations, entirely based around which biomorphs are taken. Some insist that the best build is naked or non-upgraded Hormagaunts. Others swear by adding on as many biomorphs as they can justify. Ultimately the final decision is, of course, up to you. I would suggest looking at your overall army build before firmly deciding which configuration to use, but a general guide is this: if you’re fielding few Hormagaunts, then upgrades are likely a good investment. If you’re fielding huge numbers of them, multiple unit upgrades are less necessary.

Gaunts

Gaunts are by far the most common unit seen in Tyranid army lists. This is mainly because of the variety of places they are available from. Battle for Macragge offers 10 Gaunts, the battleforce box offers another 8, and because the battleforce box offers only 8 Hormagaunts, most people will buy another box of gaunts to make their Hormagaunt unit of decent size. This leaves the new Tyranid player with 26 gaunts, 16 Hormagaunts and 8 Genestealers. Gaunts come in 3 basic varieties, Spinegaunts, Termagants, and Devilgaunts. While each serves a different basic role in the Tyranid army, all of them offer ranged weapons and minor assault ability. The strength of all Gaunts is the cost in relation to the volume of fire they put out, but their greatest weaknesses involve Synapse coverage and Target Priority checks. Remember that just because your Gaunts are inside Synapse range, they still need to check for target priority, and with a LD stat of 5, that tends to be a problem.

Genestealer

Genestealers are arguably the most powerful troop unit in the game, and possibly the most dangerous infantry unit as well. I 6 WS 6 coupled with rending and the ability to field up to 71 Genestealers is hard to beat. Add in fleet and 2 base attacks and the Genestealer is well on its way to earning an excellent reputation as an extremely powerful unit. Still, with all this going for it, the Genestealer has several things that recommend against it, first and foremost is the high cost. 16 points base and additional biomorphs can add up quickly. Many players consider the +SV upgrade to be mandatory, while others will point out that the high manoeuvrability precludes the need for it. Whichever you choose to go with, base your decision on your play style, available terrain in your local venue, and your opponents. Keep in mind that Genestealer rending can take out any unit regardless of toughness or armour saves, and that even Land Raiders can be torn open by Genestealers.

Rippers

Rippers are an interesting unit that many people overlook or even disparage. While Rippers do have several drawbacks, there are some undeniable benefits to using them. Rippers are cheap, cheaper per wound then even Spinegaunts. At 3.3 points per wound, you can easily fit a lot of wounds into your army. Rippers can be a force of nature when fielded en masse. Fielding just 5 bases means 20 attacks going out when they charge. Add spinefists to them and the 5 Ripper bases suddenly are putting out a stunning 35 attacks on the round they charge for a mere 60 points. Of course, Rippers are extremely vulnerable to multiple high-strength attacks such as powerfists, or powerful template weapons. Ordnance will devastate Ripper formations. Still, Rippers are easily and naturally used in a variety of roles. Screening Fexi from assault, bogging down dedicated assault troops or gun lines, even inundating light infantry with a focused Ripper assault.

Fast Attack

Ravener

I see Raveners as a fairly successful cross between Genestealer and Hormagaunt. The superb manoeuvrability and fast charge of the Hormagaunt coupled with the available rending power of the Genestealer. Raveners tend to fall into to primary roles, assault or objective claiming. Raveners are unique in the Tyranid army in that for less than 50 points, you can field a brood of one and they still count as a scoring unit that can claim objectives on the table. Other players dislike wasting their combat potential as they are also the only rending unit that can actually keep up with Hormagaunts, to assault on the same round. Ravener deployment seems to be another major point of contention. Some players insist on deepstriking with them whenever possible, focusing on the ability to put them where they are needed to turn the tide of battle. Others swear that deepstriking is entirely a waste as it delays their assault, and risks putting them in a position vulnerable to incoming fire and other dangers. Wise Ravener usage requires you to study the table and the mission beforehand to determine how to best use them.

Gargoyle

Gargoyles are yet another little used unit, but I feel that this is mainly due to the poor quality and high cost of the models. Gargoyles offer excellent tactical opportunities to any army, combining the terrific speed of gaunts with wings with up to 4 attacks on the round they assault. Gargoyles are a mainstay of the Flying Circus army, but can also be used as a screen and escort unit for a Flyrant or squad of warriors. Gargoyles are well suited to take down light skimmers as bioplasma hits all targets on 4+ regardless of all other factors. The weakness is obviously their light armour and low toughness. Gargoyles are easily shot to bits by nearly any shooting unit.

Heavy Support

Carnifex

The Carnifex, like the Warrior, is extremely customizable. You are able to tool the Carnifex out with a myriad of options, ranging from a surprisingly low point value of around 100 points, all the way up to an extremely points-heavy Godfex. Carnifex design is an important cornerstone of your army, considering how many different roles it can fill. Some people prefer the deadly terror of the Devilfex. Others insist on the Sniperfex or the Screamer-Killer. Carnifex selection depends very much on the rest of your army and the points value you and your friends choose to play at. The best advice I can offer on choosing which build to use is for you to determine first your army style, then figure out what is most needed in your army list. If you’re lacking tank busting power in a swarm of Gaunts, a Sniperfex is likely a good choice. If you’re lacking troop killing capacity or a powerful 2nd wave assault, you could choose a Devilfex or Screamer-Killer respectively. If you’re halfway competent at modifying and converting your models, it’s strongly recommended that you insert magnets in all of your Carnifex options, allowing you to quickly and easily switch between loadouts without having to buy 12 different Carnifexes. A Godfex has some special uses and while most players disparage the unit, I’ve included a short article on how to get the most out of one.

Biovore

Biovores are often hotly debated as to their utility. In addition to causing a fair amount of confusion due to unusual spore mine rules, the mines themselves are often up for debate. Acid mines are by far the most popular, as they are AP 3 and have a fairly good chance of killing both medium and light vehicles as well as MEq units. Biovores are best utilized when you know what opponent you’re facing. If you know you’re facing a GEq army, you can choose the frag spore mine. Facing off against MEq? Acid is a good choice. Looking at open topped vehicles or high T values? Toxin sacs are an excellent choice. The biggest advantage of using Biovores is that if you miss, the shot isn’t wasted. The spore mines drift around the table and can force target priority tests on your opponents.

Zoanthrope

Zoanthropes are usually a great addition to any Tyranid army. Their 2+ SV makes them very durable, and the powers they can wield make then extremely useful. As always, the invulnerable save of their Warp Field should never be depended on to protect them from Lascannons and other high AP weapons. Still, they can offer 3 additional synaptic nodes for swarms, or additional MEq busting Warp Blast shots. Less popular, of course is Catalyst, but this can function extremely well in assault based armies, reducing your dependence on Flesh hooks.

Glossary:

Babyfex: one of the myriad terms used to describe an elite 114 point or less carnfex that is only allowed in games that are 1500 points or more.

Beardy: "Beardy" describes someone who is using odd combinations of rules or units to gain an advantage that is perfectly legal and within the rules but rarely used or arguably not what was originally intended when the rules were written. See Cheesy and Beardy vs. Cheesy: A discussion to open your eyes.

Cheesy: A "Cheesy" army or unit describes something that is considered "too powerful" for its points value. It may be extraordinarily tough, or deadly compared to other units or armies of equal value. See Beardy and Beardy vs. Cheesy: A discussion to open your eyes.

Dakka~: Dakka is used by some people to indicate devourer-armed units, instead of Devil~. In this primer, I use Devil, as it keeps the naming convention universal (I've never seen anyone call it a dakkagaunt), and we're not Ork players.

Devilfex: A Carnifex with two Twin-linked devourers. It puts out 8 shots per round that re-roll both to-hit and to-damage.

Devilgaunt: A Gaunt with a devourer. Typically +Str, and costing 10 points

Devil Tyrant: A Tyrant with two twin linked devourers. It puts out 12 shots per round that re-roll both to-hit and to-damage.

Flyrant: A Tyrant with wings.

GEq: Guard Equivalent. This term generally refers to models that are Str 3 T 3 SV 5+. This covers Imperial Guard, Eldar, Dark Eldar, and in some cases depending on the author, even Tau.

Godfex: A Carnifex that costs more than 250 points. Typically armed with melee weapons (AKA Assault Godfex)

Hypergaunt: A Hormagaunt with +I, +WS upgrades

MEq: Marine Equivalent. This term generally refers to models that are Str 4 T 4 SV 3+. This covers all Space Marine armies (chaos and loyalist) Daemonhunters and in some cases depending on the author, even Necron.

Sniperfex: A Carnifex armed with a Barbed Strangler and Venom Cannon.

Spinegaunt: A Gaunt armed with spinefists. Usually assumed to have no other upgrades and costing 5 points per model.

Termagant: A Gaunt with a fleshborer.

Venomgaunt: A Hormagaunt with +Str and +I upgrades.

+BS: Ballistic Skill upgrade (Enhanced Senses)

+WS: Weapon Skill upgrade (Adrenal Glands)

+Str: Strength upgrade (Toxin Sacs)

+T: Toughness upgrade (Bonded Exoskeleton)

+W: Wound upgrade (Reinforced Chitin)

+I: Initiative upgrade (Adrenal Glands)

+SV: Armour save upgrade (Extended Carapace)

The Articles section is where you will find more of my opinions, and while I am trying to impart wisdom, insight and knowledge, I can't help but let some of my bias slip through. Enjoy!

Beardy vs. Cheesy: A discussion to open your eyes

I’ve long recognized that Beardy and Cheesy are almost entirely subjective labels, but let’s define them to give the reader a point of reference:

Beardy is when someone uses the rules to provide them with an in-game advantage. Beardy is often a clever or little known combination of rules that is surprising to your opponent. Examples can be getting your Hormagaunts to move as much as 36” in a single turn, manipulating which models are removed in an assault to prevent your opponent from striking back, or even setting yourself up to lose your Broodlord in the first round of shooting.

Beardy isn’t “bad” in and of itself, and in fact can actually enhance your game. Some opponents however will often feel cheated or that your army list is “broken”, and often leaves them with the impression that you are out only for the win, with little care as to making the game fun. Since this is a game that we’re playing to have fun, then excessive “Beardy” behaviour will reflect badly on you and may even result in fewer and fewer friendly games.

Cheesy is a result of when someone decides that your legal army build or rule usage is something unfair. For example, I regularly spend 200 points on a single monstrous creature which can move 12", fire 12 shots at BS 4 Str 5 that reroll hit and wound, then assault 6" and do 4 more MC hits.

• The manoeuvrability allows me to generally avoid any unit that would destroy it.

• The high rate of fire ensures that any unit I pick out will wither under its guns.

• The MC attacks ensure that I any models left standing after the shooting is done, won't be left.

• The MC's high T, high SV and 4 wounds ensure that it's going to be on the table for a while, even if he can catch it in the first place.

In my mind, the unit is a valuable asset and worth every point I put into it.

In my opponent's mind, it's a nigh-unkillable monster that has everything going for it: freedom of movement, impossible to kill, death-dealing on a stick, etc.

If I run this monster into a couple of IG squads that have no power weapons, then I will slaughter them all day long and he'll probably call that monster cheesy, because he can't touch it.

On the other hand...

If this monster is ambushed by a raft of assault terminators (remember: 5 guys, 2 power weapon attacks each, a thunder hammer that makes me hit on I 1 next round, lightning claws that allow rerolls to wound, powerfists, what-have-you) my monster will fold like wet paper, and might kill 1 or 2. That opponent certainly won’t call the very same model "cheesy" because he has a response to it.

Ultimately, I believe that the term “Cheesy” is a cop-out. It is a term that says "that unit is too powerful and I have nothing that can, or ever could stop it. I give up. I won’t even try." Remember that if you don’t have the ability to touch your opponent’s forces, it’s not because he’s doing something wrong, and the fault is almost certainly in your own build.

A Word on Theme

Theme is a basic concept which your army is based around. In most other armies such as Space Marines, theme would mean what Chapter or portion of a Chapter your army represents. It’s there to give flavour and help provide back-story for the army you field. It draws from existing fluff and can limit army choices or even wargear or upgrade selections. Taken to the extreme, theme can give you a reason to do special conversions or use different rules such as using a Chaos Lost and the Damned list to represent an Adeptus Mechanicus army.

With Tyranids, theme is often interpreted as build and strategy, such as running Shooty Bugs From Hell or using assault-only units or making sure everything has rending claws. That’s all well and good, but in my opinion, I believe Tyranid themes should reflect something from the fluff and it should be obvious and visible when someone looks at your army. An example might be to style your army after the Genestealers of Ymgarl, where everything has feeder tendrils, and no Extended carapace. You could model feeder tendrils on to Hormagaunts and use that to represent a +WS biomorph. Another theme might be a Vanguard force, in which case you might limit your army selections to Genestealers, Gargoyles, Lictors and Sporemines.

Theme doesn’t have to be restricting either. Your theme could be to represent a city invasion force, and you could model all of your bases with ruined city works, statues, etc. Theme is only limited by your imagination, modelling skill, and storytelling ability.

The Heavy Assault Carnifex.

(aka Godfex)

Such a fine piece of bioengineering. Observe the sublime lines of it's ultimate killing form. Crushing Claws, Scythe talons, Tusks, extra stat bonuses. It's as if the Hive Mind heard our cry for more heavy assaulty killing power and decided to let Christmas come early.

BEHOLD him in all his GLORY!

For a mere 227 points you can equip him with all of these upgrades!

Adrenal gland +I

Adrenal gland +WS

Bioplasma: Str 10 shot at init 4 that hits on 4+

Bonded Exoskeleton +T

Extended Carapace +SV

Reinforced Chitin +W

Spine Banks

Tail Weapon: Scythe

Toxin sacs +Str

Tusked +1 Att on charge

Crushing Claws 1d6 attacks every round (replaces base attack)

Scythe Talons +1 Att

(for a mere 30 points more, you can take regen too)

So on the charge, you're looking at: 2 spinebank shots, 1 bioplasma, and 1d6+2 attacks.

Because of pile-in rules, the next assault phase you're looking at: 1 bioplasma, 1d6+1+1d3 attacks

Let’s just assume averages: you're going to get 5.5 attacks on the charge and 6.5 attacks on subsequent turns. To be certain, you can't really count on the bioplasma or spinebank attacks to really kill anything, but hey, additional attacks are always good. Still, your attacks are at WS 4 (not bad) and Str 10 (great!). So IF you hit, you'll pound it into the ground. Figure about 3 dead marines on the charge and about 4 dead marines on subsequent rounds.

Only 3-4 dead/assault?? ONLY?? Well, adding Toxic Miasma will let you hit marines on a 3+ and that makes it 3.6 dead marines (that’s 3 dead and about 66% chance to kill a 4th) on the charge and 4.3 on subsequent rounds.

Now the question remains, where does this creature that is so touted as like unto a god REALLY excel?

Let us first consider deployment and movement:

You must place your monster first. BE BOLD. Place him on your front line, near the centre of the table. Ensure that he has cover he can march through as much as possible. he is now 12" in. by turn 3, it is possible he can reach the opponent's main deployment line ~6"+6"+6"+assault 6". It's more reliable to assume he reaches assault by turn 4-5 unless he encounters something... but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Here I am, giving advice without really breaking it down.

~Deployment: It is more important to place him on the front line of your deployment zone than to allow him to be pushed back by a rule such as 'No unit be deployed closer than 24"'. You can always move at an angle towards the enemy. Being pushed off the front line is just that much farther he must travel.

~Plan Ahead: Before you put him down, KNOW where he's going to move. Keep him in or behind cover at all times, or as much as possible. Cover provides a cover save and can make your opponent waste valuable high strength shots at him, and if he gets assaulted, his initiative is rocketed up to 10!

~Difficult Terrain=slower?? Not for a Carnifex. As a Tyranid, he gets 3 dice for the difficult terrain roll, and as a monstrous creature, he gets to re-roll ALL THREE DICE if you get a poor roll. Considering that you have 3 dice, my doctrine is if all dice are 4 or less, it's a "poor roll" so USE THOSE REROLLS.

~Onward! To VICTORY: Always advance. Always move towards the objective or the enemy. Just MOVING the Carnifex applies pressure to the enemy. The closer he gets, the bigger the Carnifex looks (both literally and figuratively) As much as we look at the Carnifex with awe and reverence, the enemy views it with fear and trepidation (more on this later).

~Always Assault! With a few notable exceptions, you ALWAYS want to assault. This extra move gets you further across the table and will potentially do damage to the enemy. If something is in range, even a skimmer, assault it. There’s always a chance that you could kill it.

Following these movement rules should help you cross the table to your objective or to the enemy as quickly as possible.

Let us next consider the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Assault Godfex.

Being T 7, with a SV 2+ and W5, he would need to receive:

300 bolter shots to average out to 5.5 failed saves, killing him.

(as a side note, if he has a 3+ save, it only requires 150 bolter shots to kill him: removing the +Sv and the +W makes it much easier to put the not-so-godlyfex down)

MEQ Lascannons are dangerous: 9 shots will put down a Carnifex. but keeping him in cover will increase the required shots:

4+ cover means it doubles: 18 lascannon shots required.

5+ cover means 12 lascannon shots required.

You can figure the Godfex has about the same resilience against MEQ troops as against MEQ bolters. The weakness comes against power weapons, which works out roughly the same as Lascannons. This inescapably leads us to:

~Godfexes are TOUGH The Carnifex is much more able to take damage than it is able to dish it out. Strangely enough, many people seem to have missed this, not the least of which is our opponents. Admittedly, once the godfex gets into assault, he can do significant damage, and the opponent has fewer options to deal with the threat.

~Stay in Cover! the Carnifex is far more vulnerable in cover than out. you want to increase his survivability? keep him there.

~Assault is Good, not Great: we've seen that he can kill 3-4 marines per round, but we also know that 8 Genestealers on the charge will cost 240 points, and likely kill 7 marines per turn.. However, they don't have the resilience the Godfex does. Only 48 bolter shots to kill all 8, and significantly less to make it an ineffective unit.

~Avoid Super Assault Units! Massed or Buried Powerfists and Klaws, Khornate chainaxes, Eldar Harlequins, Nurgle Plagueswords, Space Marine Force Weapons, Bloodletters, all these present GRAVE danger to the Godfex. Avoid them, intercept them, and NEVER CHARGE them. Sacrifice a unit of gaunts to protect him, because it's nearly guaranteed that the assault unit will kill him with little or no return.

In the final estimation, if you want to use a Godfex, go ahead. As with ALL other Tyranid units,

KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING FIRST.

1. On Deployment: Even if your opponent deploys first, most likely, he's going to be deploying a unit that stands off and blasts away at range. if you can, delay putting the Godfex down as much as possible. You want to know your enemy's disposition as much as possible before putting him down OR put it down first and scare your opponent into other units.

2. On Regeneration: Take it if you want, those 30 points are only a ~possibly~ useful thing. Just remember: the more damage the Godfex takes, the more likely he is to regenerate a wound. if you take 1 wound, you're rolling 1 die to gain 1 regenerated wound. if you have taken 4 wounds, you roll 4 dice, and each one can potentially give you a single regenerated wound. I leave it to you to decide whether regen is worth the 30 points.

3. Tactical Pressure: As I mentioned earlier, the Godfex puts a LOT of pressure on the enemy. Just moving it forward implacably is enough to scare people. Heck, even a little dinky 114 point screamer-killer or devilfex is enough to make weaker units run for it. People are afraid of monstrous creatures. The Godfex, even more so. Opponents will go to STUPID lengths to take one out, and that will potentially save the rest of your more dangerous broods to do the damage. Remember, All Fexi are TOUGH, but not particularly great at dealing lots of damage.

Biovore or WB/Syn Zoanthrope: Pros and Cons

There are 3 primary differences between the Zoanthrope and the Biovore. Both units qualify as heavy support, but due to the differences between them, their battlefield roles tend to be vastly different.

These differences can be broken down into 3 basic categories.

1: range

2: direct/indirect fire

3: strength/weapon stats

Biovores are the longest range unit in the Tyranid army (if you're counting absolute range, not effective range) at 48", one can deploy the Biovores up close to the front lines and pepper the enemy with mines from round 1. Depending on your deployment and the table in question you might even be able to reach units such as enemy artillery.

Being an indirect fire barrage weapon (some would say guess) the Biovore can hit those troublesome Whirlwinds, Defilers, Basilisks, etc. possibly taking them out early in the game and allowing the rest of your army to advance with less hindrance. It also bears mentioning that the Biovore can also force target priority checks in your opponent's army, potentially pinning and slowing down your foe.

All of these tend to be useful, but not often game-turning abilities. The Biovore tends to have a more subtle effect on opposing armies, getting them to spread out a bit, which can have a surprising effect on assault, and also turn some shooting away from your main units.

The problems with the Biovore are really the crux of the issue around it.

1. You have to know what you're going up against beforehand. Otherwise, you either risk taking the wrong type of mine, or you spend more points than is reasonable for the Biovore. Because of this reason alone, Biovores rarely see tournament play.

2. Lower strength means that really the mines are best against troops, and can get chancy when trying them against most vehicles.

3. Scatter causes a lack of pin-point accuracy, of course and compared to other shooting weapons, this can have a rather detrimental effect when trying to kill high-priority targets. There are ways to mitigate this, and one is to actually shoot at things within LOS. In this case, you would only scatter 1d6". Because of this scatter, Biovores tend to be most useful in the beginning few turns of the game where models are often clumped together in large masses, but they become less useful as the game progresses, as attrition causes some models to be lost and opponents are afforded the opportunity to spread out across the table.

Zoanthropes (with warp blast) offer one of the few high-strength weapons the Tyranids can field and can also cause penetrating hits on vehicles. Of mediocre to poor range, you need to put them on the front line and advance as much as possible. Despite these two things, their better weapon stats give them an advantage over other Tyranid weapons by causing more devastating damage immediately. Finally, they are surprisingly tough: 2 wound synapse creatures with 2+/6+ save.

Zoanthropes provide a more immediate and directly observable result by resisting a surprising light weapons fire, causing more immediate damage, and providing that game-winning shot in mid- to late-game. Still there are some disadvantages:

1. Direct fire and poor range limits their target selection. In turns 2 and 3, you're almost invariably shooting troops, regardless of individual value. In turns 4 and 5, you may be able to switch to the heavier units, heavy weapon infantry, tanks and the like... assuming either the target or the Zoanthrope is still alive.

2. Psykers can be interfered with. Psychic Hoods, some Eldar or Chaos abilities, and anything that modifies a target's leadership stat can all interfere with the stronger warp blast, causing you to lose the shot this turn.

3. Living artillery means they cannot capture objectives, even though they're often the last unit sitting in a table quarter at the end of a game.

These issues aside, the Zoanthrope tends to be a more popular choice when entering a tournament setting, due to their more universal utility, as their reduced range tends to more closely match the rest of the Tyranid army’s weaponry, and the nearly ubiquitous synapse node means there are usually other units nearby to help support and protect the Zoanthrope.

Well that’s all you should need to “get started” with Tyranids, I hope this gives you an insight on not only how to start, but be a guide to take you all the way through your Tyranid collection.

Thanks for reading