Unorthodox Tyranids 1850pts.

[Dave Caruana]

Spent a long 3 hours staring at the book and rulebook pounding at my head to cme up with a totally different look at the book from the way most ppl look at it.Hence, ive come up with this. I sat down and looked at what nids lack, our weakspots, which is what ppl counter via taking allies, something I cannot do. I came to the conclusion, obvious as it may be, that we lack 4 things or overlook them:24"+ firepower, S10 and Low Ap, 2+ armor and INVULNERABLE SAVES, which is why helldrakes are sooo much worse for nids.

After writing those down I got out all the units with an invulnerable save and/or 2+ save in the book-Zoanthropes and Tyrannofexes. THEN, it dawned on me, skyshield landing pad confers 4+ invulnerable! Yet with all those points taken up on spamming 9 Zoanthropes firing 3 s10 ap2 Lance 18" per *unit or 24" s5 ap3 blasts and 3 Fexs with a 48" s10 ap4 assault 2 there was no way I could fit the flying circus of 3 crones and 2 flyrants, however, if I put 2 tyrants with wings on the ground on the skyshield theyd now have a 4+ invulnerable save, id leave them with devourers and have an 18+18+ width of skyshield type of AA!!The tactic is simple, tyrannofexs and flyrants on skyshield, getting 2+/4++ t6 w6 dinosaurs, and 2 flyrants with a 3+/4++ save, shooting at opponent from afar, while the zoanthropes with their 3+ invulnerable walk the table firing s5 ap3 blasts or s10 ap2 lance, thats a total of 9+6=15 s10 shots, 2 flyrants and 3 units of zoans that can buff via psychic powers and all at decent range and very surviveable.(N.B if u buff with zoans u use 1 warp charge and wnt be able to fire the warp blast, but its always good to knw and have as an option.)

Pls note that I only added the crone as I had that much extra points left over, I thought it could act as a decent distraction, it cud deep strike automatically on skyshield and fire 4 missiles and if something gets too close, VECTOR STRIKE, but I cud easily remove it and add mre troops. N.B dont forget that the 10 termagants would go way down in the opponents main target list, could also get the 4++ and would probably all fit on it until its time to grab objectives which would abviously be placed close to were the skyshield would be placed and are easily hidden behind a tyrannofex or under the skyshield itself, whilst with bigger units its harder to do that.

Oh, and even with the crone, I still have 15pts to spare, so by removing the crone id have 170pts to fill troops or fast attack with.
(Edit-Removed Crone entirely in my last edit.)

So, look at the list and tell me what you think!! ))

TyranidsTotal Points: 1850pts
HQ-2.0* E-3.0* Tr-4.0* FA-0.0* HS-3.0* Fo-1.0

HQ

Flyrant-230pts
Wings, Devourersx2

Flyrant-230pts
Wings, Devourersx2.

Elites

X3 Zoanthropes-150pts

X3 Zoanthropes-150pts

X3 Zoanthropes-150pts

Troops

X15 Termagants-60pts

X15 Termagants-60pts

X15 Termagants-60pts

X15 Termagants-60pts

Heavy Support

Tyrannofex-215pts
Rupture Cannon, Stinger Salvo, Shreddershard Beetles.

Tyrannofex-205pts
Rupture Cannon, Stinger Salvo

Tyrannofex-205pts
Rupture Cannon, Stinger Salvo

Fortification

Sky Shield Landing Pad-75pts.

Total 1850pts.

Sent from Samsung tablet

[Tynskel]

what's unorthodox about this list?
I see spam... just like most interwebz lists.

[Gleipnir]

Not positive what the goal is with this list is or how exactly its intended to deal specifically with an opposing army using a far cheaper option of cover. What happens when he simply chooses to eliminate all your troops or hunkers down on all the objectives while you try and turtle on a Skyshield, remember terrain including those LoS blocking ruins are placed after Fortifications so you may not have the everything is sunshine sightlines you are hoping for, unless you are using preplaced terrain from a tourney setting.

[Dave Caruana]

1st of all when u play vs spam listsmlike 3 heldrakes, 1 riptide, 1 broadisde unit, obliterators, with a commander giving riptide ignores cover too or 3 heldrakes, 3 nightscythes, obliterators, or 3 heldrakes and 2 vendettas, taudar, waveserpant spam, white scars, u getban idea where im going with this....u have to end up spamming yourself too!!! Id love to play my favourite units, but not when it means I place them on the table turn 1 and take them off it turn 2 like raveners and lictors.

We play on a preplaced terrain setting and if not we just set up a table like 1 hill on opposing sides, 1 ruin on each side, los blocking terrain in the middle etc etc so I shud always have 1 side of the table where I can see quite alot. If I cant see him, he cant see me so depending upon what ur up against its an extra boost of survivability.

About objectives, normally games either have 1 on each side, d3+1 or 1 each and the relic and in that case the only if we get a 3 or 4 on the d3+1 cud there be a possibility of him having mre objectives on his side than mine right? Big guns never tire, ill have 3 2+ save and 4++ till the last 2 turns tyrannofexs and then u need to use ur head when placing objectives which is to try and put them in a way that if wherever u put the skyshield which is very big and takes alot of space ur never too far from an objective.

The troops, yeah well that is a problem for nids, theyre very squishy. I dont like the tervigon, for its pts u now only have mastery level 1 u MUST have a 30 termagant unit and if u put the gants anywhere within 12" of it they selfdestruct. So whats the point of spawning, ur opponent will wait fr u to spawn, they cme out within 6" of it, then he kills it and u simply remove ur newly spawned gants... so an idea is to place an objectibe, then put the skyshield directly on top of it, the skyshield is 3" high so by having a gant on top of it ud still be scoring, on the otherhand u cna put the gants under the skyshield altogether, while the hormagaunts are mainly a distraction unit and if he dsnt fire at them then they go fr a riptide or wraithknight. Oh and zoans just walk up the table giving buffs till yhey getbwithin 18" or 24" depending what im up against.

You mean an aegis when u mention far cheaper cover? The aegis is 50 pts with quadgun I believe its 100pts, skyshield is 75pts and ur not gna get abused by ignores vover weaponry which tau and eldar love and the extremely annoying torrent templates s6 ap3 on a flier that can vector strike anything under its HULL not base (and its a big wide hull) arnd a 36" bubble and it gets worse when thwre are 3 of them. Then u realise hw valuable 4++ is compared to 4+ cover.
What do u think of the idea I have with this list? U have long range shooting, durability and I think a gd punch with all that s10 and 4++

[Angelofblades]

Kill HQ's, Kill troops, Engage Zoans in CC

Run under Skyshield pad with troops, laugh as Tyrannofex's can't charge under there as they can't physically fit. If the Tyrannofex's come out, kill them

Gain Slay the warlord and Linebreaker

win.

[Maelstorm]

Kill HQ's, Kill troops, Engage Zoans in CC

Run under Skyshield pad with troops, laugh as Tyrannofex's can't charge under there as they can't physically fit. If the Tyrannofex's come out, kill them

Gain Slay the warlord and Linebreaker

win.

In a perfect vacuum, perhaps.

For the original poster - Kudos for trying to think outside the Tervigon + 2x Flyrant + Mawloc box.

I've thought about 3x Exocrines on the Landing pad for similar abuse.

[dwez]

I'm not 100% certain but I think you may struggle to fit all 3 Tyrannofex and Hive Tyrants on one Skyshield. My nid version is hexagonal [but takes up the nearly the same surface area] and therefore different to the standard shape so I may be wrong but having two Tervigons on is feasible, three is possible but adding the winged tyrants is going to be tough with their wings getting in the way.

Even if you can manage it, from my experience the other weekend rest assured you put them up there it becomes difficult to get them down. You need a move through cover move of 5, minimum. To make the 3" move down off the Skyshield and 2" to try and ensure the model isn't stuck, because it can't fit under the Skyshield. Your tactic doesn't really require them to get off though but it is problematic. Even then you're only going to be able to get one off at a time

I also found that when I did want to move the two off you end up with a traffic jam, again this may be because of the shape but it funnels them to the edge so it's difficult to get them both right up to the edge when only one can fit



I'd also probably drop the Toxin sacs and Hormagaunts, just take more Termagants. I'd also question giving the Hive Tyrants wings if they're going to stay on the Skyshield, why not just give them Tyrant Guard? With wings does give you mobility and flexibility, but if you're keeping them static it doesn't make much sense.

[Dave Caruana]

AoB I think what u said is quite obvious, its like ur saying "av14? Yes jusg fire s10 weapons" duuuh but u have to manage it.
Maelstorm thnx man I try and see what our weaknesses are and try and counter them, havent playtested it yet so cant confirm but I shud try it out on thursday. As for exocrines, that was my original thought with the ap2 weaponry but sadly with 24" range vs opponents that sit back I thought it wasnt enough range.
Dwez ill have to see if I can fit them but I according to my friend whose gna lend me the skyshield they shud fit exactly, as for the wings on the flyrant, its the only way to gain skyfire as per rules every FMC gains it, if not hw else wudni getbthose pesky heldrakes :/ and in the off chance my opponent dsnt have fliers I can use the mobility and flexibility flyrants give me, well, atleast thats the idea
As for zoanthropes getting charged, well if I see Im goin vs a CC army I dnt think id be sendin them frward nw wud I. Also 9 s5 ap3 blasts and 24 TL s6 shots arent to be laughed at either, so a pretty gd defensive gunline in my opinion.
What do you guys think if I remove the hormagaunts as we said and just get more termagants and give them spikerifles for the extra 18" range??

[Gleipnir]

When i referred to much less expensive cover I was referring to any form of easy to provide free area terrain walls/barricades, ruins etc, one does not always have to buy an Aegis Line.

Also your ability to glide your FMC on the Skyshield does "not" provide Skyfire as the FAQ only addressed Swooping FMC gaining the ability to skyfire as Vehicle Flyers, meaning you have to be moving it the minimum swoop distance and off the skyshield to have that option.