I’ve begun to build a Tyranid force, Hive Fleet Jormungandr (yay, Norse theme). My general notion is to focus on outflanking and deep-striking. With the Swarmlord and the Hive Tyrant, everything should arrive on turn 2 with a 2+. This should prevent the piecemeal factor that so commonly hinders this type of army. I’m not sure how effective the army will be as it’s quite different from what I’ve been running. However, I tried to build a force that I would be worried about facing. Five MCs with a total of 27 wounds, 3 of whom have Regeneration, should be quite difficult to put down. I start with 4 troops, but the Tervigon should help with that. Hopefully, the Hive Guard can pop those pesky transports and let the genestealers eat the tasty insides.HQs:
Swarmlord: First of all he’s a beast in combat. He should murder just about everybody including whole units. His +1 to reserve rolls and re-rolls on outflanking should help the army’s effectiveness. I also like the idea of hitting a unit of genestealers with Preferred Enemy just before they hit. Re-rolling on what will most likely be 3s to hit and, against marines, re-rolling wounds due to toxin sacs will be quite nasty.
Swarmlord: First of all he’s a beast in combat. He should murder just about everybody including whole units. His +1 to reserve rolls and re-rolls on outflanking should help the army’s effectiveness. I also like the idea of hitting a unit of genestealers with Preferred Enemy just before they hit. Re-rolling on what will most likely be 3s to hit and, against marines, re-rolling wounds due to toxin sacs will be quite nasty.
Hive Tyrant with Hive Commander: I want the +1, and an outflanking Tervigon will be nice. I’m considering giving it dual Scything Talons and just foregoing shooting.
Tyrant Guard: I haven’t decided which one I’m going to run this with, but mostly it’s for the cover save if I hide the guard. The Swarmlord seems like the obvious choice, points-wise, but putting it with the other HT, who has one fewer wound, might make opponents waffle, and I love a waffling opponent.
Troops:
2X Genestealers with toxin sacs: With the Tyrants’ abilities these should arrive where I want when I want for the most part. Hopefully, I can use these as throw away units with the Tervigon producing termagants to fulfill the objective-taking role.
Termagants: With the Tervigon these can be annoying, but mostly they are there to hold objectives.
Tervigon with toxin sacs and regeneration: This provides me with another MC and one that makes even termagants formidable while producing more. I might drop 2 termies from the other unit to get the points for adrenal glands for the tervigon, but I’m not sure yet. On Capture and Control, I plan on sitting it on the opponent’s objective after outflanking, due to the HT's Hive Commander ability, where it can pop out termagants, which will hopefully just annoy the crap out of my opponent. I’m hoping it will become a choice of either shooting it to prevent this production or shooting the 2 Trygons that are popping up at the same time. Muddling target priority can be fun.
Elites:
2 Units of 2 Hive Guard: 8 Str 8 shots that don’t allow most cover, who could resist? I know people will want to kill these, but it seems like they won’t often be first priority with all of the giant stuff running around, so they should get their points back.
Heavies:
Trygon with regeneration: These suckers are just scary. They’re big, relatively fast, and dead killy. With regeneration, they can last forever. I had one I was trying to put down get back three wounds in two rounds. It was remarkably frustrating. In fact, I would argue that the psychological effect these guys can have is one of their most useful aspects.
Trygon Prime with regeneration: I like the Shadow in the Warp aspect for nullifying psykers (Rune Priests I’m looking at you). I also think the fact that it’s a synapse creature will help prevent the other Trygon from being distracted by a Rhino or some other such nonsense.
So, you Hive Minds out there, what do I have wrong? Will this work, or am I lacking some essential component? I know I’m going to have issues with heavy armor, but hopefully the MCs will solve this problem.
Well, that’s all I have for now.
Later,
Monkey
Oh yeah! These (and the picture at the top) are the models I have started so far. The genestealer is finished except for basing, but the Trygon is only at the halfway point. I'm planning on building the bases as if the 'Nids have invaded a feudal world. So, I'm going to have knights getting ripped to shreds and probably someone on a gryphon or some such getting diced by the Swarmlord.
Oh yeah! These (and the picture at the top) are the models I have started so far. The genestealer is finished except for basing, but the Trygon is only at the halfway point. I'm planning on building the bases as if the 'Nids have invaded a feudal world. So, I'm going to have knights getting ripped to shreds and probably someone on a gryphon or some such getting diced by the Swarmlord.
