Just Starting Tyranids - Am I Buying the Right Things? 2000 Point List C&C
Hey guys,
I went to a local tournament where a Kronos Gunline Tyranid army actually won. Unfortunately, I didn't get to play the guy, but his list looked super cool and it inspired me to choose Tyranids for my second army (not that I'm copying his list... there are a lot of differences between his and mine).
Part of what makes me want to play Tyranids is the volume of fire. Playing Drukhari I tend to get to throw 9-10 dice over and over, but I never get to throw A LOT. The other part is that fire having high strength. Having to invest 5 venoms and the units of warriors in them to killing 1 big unit of chaff feels pretty bad since they wound on 4s, so being able to wound T3 on 2s with Monstrous Creature Devourers is pretty cool.
I decided to go with Jormungandr for my Hive Fleet because I think it suits what I'm trying to do with it. It'll often be hard to get a lot of this army in cover since they're not infantry, so I figured basically just increasing the armor save of everything in the list wouldn't be a bad idea.
**++Jormungandr Battalion++**
[HQ] Hive Tyrant - Warlord, Insidious Threat, Catalyst, 4x Devourer with Brain Leech Worms 171
[HQ] Hive Tyrant - 4x Devourer with Brain Leech Worms 171
[Troop] Termagants x30 - Devourers 240
[Troop] Termagants x10 40
[Troop] Termagants x10 40
[Elites] Hive Guard x6 - Impaler Cannons 288
[Heavy Support] Carnifex x3 - Enhanced Senses, Spore Cyst, 4x Devourer with Brain Leech Worms 345
[Heavy Support] Carnifex x3 - Enhanced Senses, Spore Cyst, 4x Devourer with Brain Leech Worms 345
**++Jormungandr Battalion++**
[HQ] Malanthrope 140
[HQ] Neurothrope - Onslaught 70
[Troop] Termagants x10 40
[Troop] Termagants x10 40
[Troop] Termagants x10 40
So basically my plan is to run the 30 Termagants with devourers up the middle of the table along with the 6 Carnifexes, Tyrants, and Malanthrope.
I like the Tyrants without wings because it means the Jormungandr trait actually effects them and they sit at a 2+/4++ with the Warlord getting a 5+++ any time I get Catalyst off. The Tyrants and Malanthrope will be in a ball so both of them get the -1 to hit from the thrope and ignoring cover for their 48 S6 shots from the Warlord Trait. If there's a lot of rangers or anything in cover I'll be sure to stick as many carnifexes around them as possible to throw out ALL THE DICE and ignore cover on everything, but that won't always be necessary since the carnifexes have an inbuilt -1 to hit anyway.
The Neurothrope will sit at the back with Hiveguard, and cast Onslaught on them so they can get into LOS blocking terrain mid-table to be in threat range of everything without suffering on their first round of shooting.
I will use Single Minded Annihilation every turn, either on the Devourer gaunts to throw out 180 S4 AP0 shots, or on the Hive Guard to throw out 24 S8 AP-2 1d3 damage shots. If the Gants all die that's fine, I still have 24x8 S6 shots from all my carnifexes and tyrants, plus Hive Guard are probably the better choice for Single Minded Annihilation anyway.
What do you guys think of my list? With DE I tend to try to fit 2 battalions in so I can block as many stratagems as possible, but I'm not sure that's even necessary. Maybe I should drop one of my Tyrants and put the HQs from my second battalion in the first battalion and drop the extra 30 gaunts completely to save some points and fit in more Hive Guard or a Sporocyst or something? I'm not convinced I need 2 Tyrants, and as characters I feel like the non-warlord one will just get destroyed in ITC missions for Kingslayer, as it won't have Catalyst, and I'm not sure I want to give away those points that easily... Then again, I feel like I have enough shooting that if they focus down a 12 wound T7 model with a 2+/4++ at -1 to hit I'll probably have enough time to get everything halfway across the table and start mowing people down from 18" away.
If I drop a Tyrant and the Gants from the second Battalion I can add a second unit of Hive Guard, but I'd be losing 5 CP. Most of my games don't go past turn 4 though, so having 2CP/turn to use Single Minded Annihilation every turn should be plenty.
I kind of wish I could drop the Tyrant and Gants for Biovores, but I only have room to add 1 unit if I keep it to 1 battalion so that doesn't make sense. I could bring 2 Sporocysts though if I didn't want a second unit of Hiveguard.
What do you guys think?
Is a second Dakka Tyrant, 30 Termagants, and 5 CP better than 6 Hive Guard? Is 6 Hive Guard better than 2 Sporocysts helping me control the table?
I'm not necessarily trying to make the cheesiest list possible, but I do want it to work if I ever just don't feel like bringing my Drukhari to a local tournament because they're too much of a pain in the ass to transport, and I'd like to be able to play my 2 armies against each other and let my girlfriend play one without her feeling like one is way better than the other.