How is the playstyle different from Orks?

[dbecer01]

I was thinking about it, looking over the lists. Keep in mind, I haven't played either Orks or Tyranids.  It seems to me that Orks while a little bit more expensive, are just a much stronger version of nids (mostly because the boys can do anything). The themes are definately different, and Tyranids have wonderful models.

 

But what I don't understand is how are Tyranids unique from Orks in terms of pure playstyle? Are they just a hordier swarm army? Do you just play both armies the same way?

[tychobi]

Similarities exist but at top tables they are quite different. Orks are a primarily shooting army now while genestealers slingshotted by swarmy splashed with cults are common for top tyranid lists. Both lists have suffered with the onslaught of Space marines / psychic awakening of late.

[IronDreddKnight]

They do play quite similar when playing a horde army. I think the main difference is orks use vehicles while Tyranids use monstrous creatures. Models and play styles remain similar, but the key words play differently.

[Spacecow]

I’ve never played orks. They are both swarm armies true. But you could go for a monster option.

 

They also have synapse to keep in mind. ( infantry needs to stay in a certain range of a synapse creature) or they fall into instinctive behaviour. (Moral is hardly an issue)

 

They have quite a range of units with psychic powers.

 

They got some burrow shenanigans, toxic bonuses etc .

 

No vehicles as has been mentioned.

 

Completely different models and narrative and they are like the best thing ever :p (had to state the obvious)

[Arson Fire]

There's a subtle difference in design philosophy between them.

 

In general, Orks use their infantry as the core of their army, with their other units playing a support role.  You can build your army in other ways of course, but in breaking away from that you may find your options are more limited and your army weaker.

 

Tyranids on the other hand treat their horde infantry as support units, and focus on their monsters and specialists as the core of their army.  Once again you can break away from this, but your options become limited and weaker.

 

Their respective morale mitigation mechanics are a good microcosm showing these approaches.
Tyranids ignore morale by having their infantry stand near a big central model.

Orks ignore morale by having their infantry stand near more infantry.

 

So orks are generally a better horde army, as it's more central to their design.  Tyranids have advantages in other ways.

[dbecer01]

But a Big Monster type list is not really as good as a swarm list, from what I understand (especially against Dark Eldar), right? Although, I did recently did see a list of Zoanthropes and Venomthropes (lots of Smitey psychic bugs) which did well in a thematic game versus New Marines.

[Arson Fire]

That's true to some extent, mainly due to the nature of 8th edition. Also due to many of the tyranid monsters simply being poorly designed.

I was talking more about the design of each army, agnostic of what types of units the current edition of the rules favours.

 

The successful tyranid gaunt swarm lists tend to not really kill much of the opponents army.  Killing things is not what gaunts are good at (barring some specialised units like a devilgaunt bomb).  They work by simply flooding the board with too many bodies to easily kill, bogging down the enemy forces, and holding objectives until the game ends.  It's a viable strategy to simply have more bodies than your opponent has bullets.

However I haven't heard of this approach being used much since the new marine codex came out.  They're a bit too good at killing hordes now.

 

It's a rather skewed build.

More standard lists use gaunts as screens, tarpits, and objective holders. While useful, they are there to protect and support the threats in the army, rather than being threats themselves.

[Spacecow]

It's a rather skewed build.

More standard lists use gaunts as screens, tarpits, and objective holders. While useful, they are there to protect and support the threats in the army, rather than being threats themselves.

Pretty much sums it up. But I do have to add that they’re not as useless as that. I run a big swarm of termagants with devourers and they often do quite a bit of shooting damage. Albeit most of the time I’m playing against older space marines (1W).