Tyranid swarm army concept/list

[daboarder]

Hang on DB, you want him to drop Toxins on S3 models? When some 89% of armies he'll face are T4; they've always done right by me on my Termagants and Hormagaunts. Much better than S3, heck I usually whack them on anything I can; and it's not those that have ever let me down; it's just certain other armies against which nids have very little chance anyway (Eldar for a start). I agree on the Devourers for the Gants: I wish mine had some but it was an older army that is working much better with the new dex than it did in the last one.

And on top of that you want him to drop 1 model that he can get 2 of for 55 quid for something that will cost him upwards of a hundred? Jeez; you think we're all millionaires?

excuse me? the guy asked for advice on how to make a swarm army work.

Malanthropes with tough Synapse/Shrouded bubble are basiclally a key part of that concept. I know because its very similar to what I run. I dont actually get why you're all prissy about cost, I never said they we're cheap or anything of the sort, and their are plenty of conversions view able on the net that make good looking malanthropes without the FW cost and shipping.

as to toxin sacs....they aren't worth it at 3 pts per model, 8 pt T3 6+ save models are not good. You are better off taking those pts and either putting it into more bodies or using the pts to buy bugs that either will kill things (after the Horms have pinned a unit down) or allow you to boost the gaunts (using psychic powers and or the swarm lord) though that is harder these days with the lack of synergy in our codex.

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I looked into the malanthrope backstory as well, and I wouldn't take one purely because they aren't meant to take part in the stage of invasion im going for, and I'm a very fluff based player who focuses on forging a narrative more then anything else

Theres solid justification for malanthropes to be present during any post invasion list really. because the Nids don't exactly wait to start feeding, they just get right too it.

However if you are dedicated to not running Malanthropes I would recommend this set up instead.

2xZoans brood
Venomthrope brood

The venomthrope will provide the shrouded buff that allows your gribblies to work and the zoanthropes provide the much needed synapse along with the ability to try and crack armour so that your little guys can get into the guys inside. Furthermore each Zoansthrope broodwill get a roll on the nid psychic table, giving you a better chance at getting the Buff/De-buff powers that will allow your gaunts to hurt things / survive.

Finally, A third way to use the list is to run the Endless Swarm Formation, you have the bugs for it and what it means is that your units will return on a 4+ after they are killed. And 6 units of 20 are easier to maneuver than the units of 30

[Anthrax ion pusscabe]

I was thinking of taking the endless swarm formation actually, it seemed pretty decent for what I'm going for

[daboarder]

The big issue is losing obj sec

[Anthrax ion pusscabe]

From what I understood they didn't loose objective secured as they still count as part of a battle forged army, as formations count as a specialised detachment that functions in a similar way as a ally detachment but chosen from the same armybook, it would be like taking imperial guard ally's with space marines loosing objective secured, as long as you keep the parts of your army that aren't formations to the combined arms detachment you still count as a battle forged army, it was only if you took a formation in a unbound army you'd loos objective secured

[daboarder]

You're thinking of it wrong. Think of it morw as you choose multiple formtaions.
Each formtaoon gets a bonus.
Cad is a variable formation that gets obj sec

Not all formations have obj sec

[Path Walker]

You're thinking of it wrong. Think of it morw as you choose multiple formtaions.
Each formtaoon gets a bonus.
Cad is a variable formation that gets obj sec

Not all formations have obj sec

Not quite, you're mixing up Formations and Detachments, CAD is a Detachement, Formations are a special type of Detachment, a Battle Forged Army must be made up of Detachments, with nothing outside of a Detachment, Unbound Armies aren't restricted to Detachments, they can still include Formations and Detachments but they can have units outside of this structure.

[daboarder]

Thats exactly what I said.

I wad just framing it in term of formation.
The point being non CAD doesn't get obj sec

[Path Walker]

No, you said the exact opposite. A Formation is attype of Detachment, a Detachment isn't a type of Formation. There is no point in conflating the two important keywords.

[John Bower]

Sorry DB but you did indeed suggest that CAD is a formation; there's a lot of difference between CAD and formation, not least a formation MUST Take X,Y,Z units where a CAD only Must take certain types of unit.

And why am I getting pissy about cost? Simply because unlike you seem to be I am fully aware that we don't all have limitless funds to spend on 40k, and athough the OP did ask for opinions on how to build a good list you were 'only' giving him the FW option; how about a normal option as well.

there are good units that aren't megabucks in the tyranid lists, for one thing he wants to go swarm, well that is easy to do; just swamp the enemy in so many targets they can't all be dealt with. In that situation I'd be tempted to drop the MC's largely for Stealers, by the time they come on from outflank the enemy army should be tied up in knots with lots of little gribblies and the stealers then dive in and finish off. I say toxin sacks because of the amount of T4 opponents that otherwise you'll struggle to wound.

A mere 3 points a model may seem a lot but in my experience they've always got their points back once they get there. I do wish I had a couple of venomthropes but until GW do them in plastic I'll wait and go for the night roll on turn 1. Then of course immediately head for cover.

[Path Walker]

Unfortunetly, daboarder seems unable to deal with the idea that target priority is a valid tactic and bseemingly goes purely on the stat lines of single models.