Hey guys, after an experience I had last week, I have some thoughts to share.

To give a brief introduction, last weekend I was at Brighton Warlords tournament (Great Time, Highly Recommend!) with my tyranids. my first 4 games were not that great, the first 3 being draws and the 4th with my losing horribly. All against Gun Lines, as you can imagine, my gribblies did not fair amazingly well. In my 5th game, I was placed up against a young chap who was a great guy to play. However his list did not pose many challenges for me, with the main body of his force being 3 tactical squads and an assault squad.

After around half an hour of playing, the result was clear and we was the first pair to finish that round as I annihilated him. Don't get me wrong, I am not the most amazing player by any means. My list is not good at that many things, but beating standard tactical marines is one thing it really excels at, so from my point of view, it was a good match up. In our post game discussion, he asked me if I had found the list I used off the internet. I casually said no and carried on as usual but since then it has been bugging me. For reference, here is my list.

Hive Tyrant - Wings, 2x Twin Devourers - 260

Doom Of Malan'tai - Mycetic Spore - 130

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught - 210
10 Termagaunts - 50

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst, Onslaught - 210
10 Termagaunts - 50

Trygon - Toxin Sacs - 210

2 Carnifexes, 2x Twin Devourers - 380

I would call it mildly competitive, but nothing more than that. It may be my own personal bias, but I have always found that the term Net-List has always been used in a derogatory sense. In that, a good player would not need to go online to find out how to build his army, he would be able to work it out for himself. Only less able players would feel the need to go and copy another persons ideas.

So having just won my game, being asked if I had simply taken my list from somebody else I was slightly offended. The theory being that my gaming ability does not quite match up to my list. Now yes that is quite the cynical thought of me, he could of (and probably meant) that my list was good in general. But he did say that he had seen very similar lists online. I would call that a symptom of the Tyranid codex in itself; it isn't the best designed book. But I have had Tyranid armies for the past 7 years and would like to think I know how to play them quite well, and my own gaming group can confirm that I have spent the past few months finally crafting that list after many many play tests.

I learnt later, that a couple of the players at the tournament, did indeed get there lists straight off the internet. I suppose the question I am asking to the general gaming community is this:

Is copying army lists off the internet an honest way to play?
Am I as a gamer being unfair as to judge those who do?
Is my grumpiness over reacting to what otherwise may have been a fair comment?
What are your opinions on the topic in question?