The Great Devourer

[our_baz]

For most of the bugs the guard have a good counter. Venomthropes/malenthropes, hellhounds are your friends. S6 -1AP 2D6 shots will make short work of them. Missile launchers will be very useful, will thin out the screening chaff and will wound all monsters on +3/+4. I like the idea of dropping earthshaker rounds on synapse creatures from a far.

 

My 2p worth, in general drown them in dice. Keep your distance, redundancy in layers, LRBT's the bugs don't have access to much S8/S9 ranged guns and have a counter punch if they do break your lines.

[zero88]

A Banehammer sounds great. Smack their big scary fast Monster with a half-move in the following turn, giving you time to adjust your screens and bring down the little ones pushing the front.

[Imperator Deus]

I'm kind of dreading this codex, lol! Two players in my gaming group play Tyranids, and one of them is probably the best player out of all of us. He hasn't lost a game yet with his Tyranids, in fact, he's been wrecking everybody's armies with the Index list. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will win a tournament with a Tyranid army and they'll get nerfed too!

[Cryptix]

I'm kind of dreading this codex, lol! Two players in my gaming group play Tyranids, and one of them is probably the best player out of all of us. He hasn't lost a game yet with his Tyranids, in fact, he's been wrecking everybody's armies with the Index list. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will win a tournament with a Tyranid army and they'll get nerfed too!

Its illogical I know but this is something I'm actually afraid of. For the past 4 editions Nids have been getting more and more unplayable and so their playerbase had to deal with constantly being on the back foot. Now that they have an actually competently written codex I'm scared the internet is going to mistake skill for power and nerf the wrong thing.

[Guardsman Bob]

 

I'm kind of dreading this codex, lol! Two players in my gaming group play Tyranids, and one of them is probably the best player out of all of us. He hasn't lost a game yet with his Tyranids, in fact, he's been wrecking everybody's armies with the Index list. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will win a tournament with a Tyranid army and they'll get nerfed too! :teehee:

 

Its illogical I know but this is something I'm actually afraid of. For the past 4 editions Nids have been getting more and more unplayable and so their playerbase had to deal with constantly being on the back foot. Now that they have an actually competently written codex I'm scared the internet is going to mistake skill for power and nerf the wrong thing.

Say whaaaaaaat? It is not as if that hasn’t happened before... within the last month.

 

Actually I’m curious if FAQ nerfing is going to be a normal thing like with the Guard. I hope it happens to ALL the other books with the same level of care and consideration. It sounds a little mean but a lack of consistency is what killed 6th Edition.

[OnboardG1]

Catachans could be quite mean against nids due to the reroll on random shot weapons and S4 + Straken. You can FRFSRF the bugs and then pre-emptively charge them. Disposable flamer sentinels could be pretty useful for tying up their advance as well (flame then charge to tie up their gaunts and stealers).

[NatBrannigan]

Pft, they're just bugs! Some kind of spray?

 

On a slightly more serious note I hope this codex, and the Ork one, are really strong. I think it's about time certain players get to have fun with their armies AND win as well.

[OnboardG1]

Pft, they're just bugs! Some kind of spray?

 

I'm planning on calling my Banewolf "Bug Zapper".

[Captain_Krash]

Most Nid armies are in CC on turn two so stating more firepower is mostly irrelevant. You really need to deploy/counter deploy perhaps depths of fire to sacrifice a few units to pigeon hole the army and shoot it piece meal once your lines break. Regardless Ork and Nids are the only armies that have been giving me issues this edition due to there Horde/CC punch, but it is very cinematic each and every battle and that is what makes it worth it!

 

Krash   

[Harrowmaster]

 

 

Pft, they're just bugs! Some kind of spray?

I'm planning on calling my Banewolf "Bug Zapper".

I'm going to call my Hydra "Fly Swatter"

[CoffeeGrunt]

I think you're right, Krosh. I can easily get into CC Turn Two with mine, and if I run Behemoth that'll be astonishingly easy with re-roll Charges! I think Guard are going to have to either work on that initial Alpha Strike and pray it works, or create layered defenses. Tyrannocyte drops, Tyrgons and the Swarmlord allow for very nasty turn one charge potential, so I'd argue playing the long game would be the best idea. Lure them into your front lines, make martyrs of your screening units, then let them have it point-blank. I also think some encirclement behind their lines to pull them apart will help a lot here.

[Finkmilkana]

I‘m getting the best results so far (against Codex nids) with countercharging. Crusader and Bullgryns are both really not to be underestimated if they get supported (priest, psyker) and are the one who charging. And they usually survive 1, sometimes even 2 turns in meele against superior foes.

Another thing that works surprisingly well is using moving flyers to block charge paths with clever positioning. Sure that will get you at most one round, but one less round in meele is huge this edition.

[micahwc]

So conscripts might actually be good against Tyranids as you can fill up a lot of board area to deny deep strike and blunt charges. I imagine a line of conscripts all the way across your deployment zone's width, right up on the boarder of the deployment zone. You put the rest of your stuff at least 3.5" behind them, so that nothing can kill them in close combat and consolidate into another unit.

 

All your good stuff sits behind them a bit, screened appropriately by infantry squads. The infantry squads also help deny deep strikes, and when something makes it through the conscripts they act as a second line to protect your good stuff. I'd suggest arming the infantry squads with a heavy bolter each. They won't be moving much and the extra 3 shots per squad at range will be very helpful. Alternatively, a missile launcher would also be nice to have but your number of shots is randomized.

 

Earthshaker batteries, Earthshaker carriages, Manticores, Basilisks, Heavy Quad Launchers, and mortar teams sit in the far back and shoot without LOS at the screaming hoards of bugs.

 

Punisher Russes, Vulture gunships, and Taurox Primes may only get 1 turn to shoot with impunity, but they will still be worth taking as the number of shots they put out will be very nice to have.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Don't forget, Nids can bring some decent anti-infantry shooting, so you'll want a robust screen that isn't simply shot away.

[TheShredder]

Don't forget, Nids can bring some decent anti-infantry shooting, so you'll want a robust screen that isn't simply shot away.

 

Do you have one in mind?

[FallenSoldiers]

I think Hellhounds would be pretty potent vs Nids. Especially Catachan ones, rerolling a D6 for #of hits. Then if they swarm you, cook some on overwatch and then try and blow up and take some down with you.

[CoffeeGrunt]

 

Don't forget, Nids can bring some decent anti-infantry shooting, so you'll want a robust screen that isn't simply shot away.

 

Do you have one in mind?

 

 

Mainly thinking you'll want a layered setup, rather than a wide, thin, brittle line. Conscripts are pretty skittish even with Commissars, so a line of them won't hold like they used to. You'll want a couple of layers of them.

[TheShredder]

 

 

Don't forget, Nids can bring some decent anti-infantry shooting, so you'll want a robust screen that isn't simply shot away.

 

Do you have one in mind?

 

 

Mainly thinking you'll want a layered setup, rather than a wide, thin, brittle line. Conscripts are pretty skittish even with Commissars, so a line of them won't hold like they used to. You'll want a couple of layers of them.

 

 

Well, I prefer infantry squads anyway.

 

Something to consider though is that hormagaunts can consolidate 6" - so our lines will have to be pretty far apart. I know we can technically use 'Get Back in the Fight', but I think we'll want to use our orders for FRFSRF if at all possible.

 

We might even have to start thinking about vox casters for our units, so that we don't have to put our commanders in harms way. 

[Finkmilkana]

Something to consider though is that hormagaunts can consolidate 6" - so our lines will have to be pretty far apart. I know we can technically use 'Get Back in the Fight', but I think we'll want to use our orders for FRFSRF if at all possible.

As long as there is a priest nearby, attacking in meele because they consolidated into you and then using back in the fight in your turn is slightly better than FRFSRF (19+22 Str 3 attacks vs 37 Str 3 attacks). This ratio gets even better for catachan or with special/ heavy weapons.

Even without priest you loose at most 6 str 3 attacks by having to use get back in the fight instead of FRFSRF.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Finkmilkana

[CoffeeGrunt]

Yeah and you'll want tight ranks, Mordians will do well here I think. Hormagaunts will likely be very capable of gumming-up an unprepared defense, you only need one to reach the real guns to suddenly have a battle line in complete disarray.

 

Also this will make Character spam somewhat risky:

[Finkmilkana]

Also this will make Character spam somewhat risky:

 

Against guard that stratagem is not as good as it looks. You spend 1 CP to get 2 on average, i.e. net gain 1. A guard commander that has the CP relic will get 1/3 CP when you use the stratagem and 1/3 CP when you spend the additional CP. On average, using it will only give you a CP advantage of 1/3 CP over such a guard player.

Then, if the guard warlord has the CP trait, he gains on average 2/9 CP back. Leaving the tyranid player with a meager 1/9 CP advantage. Even if he managed to kill a guard character in each fight phase, it will give him not even a full CP advantage over his enemy.

Sure, it still is nice for the tyranid player, especially since it’s effectively for free. But it is not the end of the world for guard character spam.

[TheShredder]

 

Something to consider though is that hormagaunts can consolidate 6" - so our lines will have to be pretty far apart. I know we can technically use 'Get Back in the Fight', but I think we'll want to use our orders for FRFSRF if at all possible.

As long as there is a priest nearby, attacking in meele because they consolidated into you and then using back in the fight in your turn is slightly better than FRFSRF (19+22 Str 3 attacks vs 37 Str 3 attacks). This ratio gets even better for catachan or with special/ heavy weapons.

Even without priest you loose at most 6 str 3 attacks by having to use get back in the fight instead of FRFSRF.

 

 

I don't think you can assume that a Priest will be nearby though.

 

 

Yeah and you'll want tight ranks, Mordians will do well here I think. Hormagaunts will likely be very capable of gumming-up an unprepared defense, you only need one to reach the real guns to suddenly have a battle line in complete disarray.

 

Also this will make Character spam somewhat risky:

 

Well, I'm certainly not worried about characters dying to Venomthropes. 

 

I think we can include enough men to ward off deep-striking Lictors.

 

However, Genestealers or Toxicrenes breaking through our lines is a real possibility. This may further increase the use of Vox Casters, so that our characters can be as far back as possible without sacrificing orders (and if the enemy break through all our layers of infantry, then the battle is likely lost anyway).

 

 

That said, I do wonder if this will make the Aquila even more appealing - since we can farm CPs off of our opponent farming CPs.   

[iceman2160]

You could always use the Valhallan order of "Fire on My Command" when a screening squad gets into CC.

[Mitchverr]

Im still all for the use of misdirection via outflanking stratagems/relics and death/rough riders myself, you cant charge all 4 sides of the board in 2 turns, decisions have to be made by the nid player on where they go or else they risk weakening their swarm.

[TheShredder]

Im still all for the use of misdirection via outflanking stratagems/relics and death/rough riders myself, you cant charge all 4 sides of the board in 2 turns, decisions have to be made by the nid player on where they go or else they risk weakening their swarm.

 

Yeah, I think we can stretch ourselves a lot thinner than they can, and this is definitely something to use against them.

 

Tallarn might well be a winner here.