Collecting tyranids in 6th. Part 1 - Archetypes

As I’m a bit tired to translate and post somebody else's thoughts on tyranids, I decided to write something unique. So, I decided to write a series of articles on 6-edition competitive tyranid builds as I see them… for newbies! Why for newbies? Cause mature players have a lot of their own brain worms to play with, while new players have a lot of spare place in their heads, so I have a little chance to put there a bit of my own experience to help them grow faster and stronger as a hiveminds:)

I decided to start with the tyranid archetypes that IMHO are potent and competitive in current 6-th edition. Let’s look at them:

1.            Slow but tough

          a.  Shooty-shooty

          b.  Stompy

2.            Hoppy-Droppy

          a.  Gribbie-killy

          b.  Stardy-Killy

3.            Slow but Hoppy-Droppy

Let’s take a quick look at each of the archetypes I wrote:

1.            Slow but tough

As it comes from the name, It’s just a slow army that relies on high toughness to make it’s way to the victory.

1a. Shooty-shooty

At the start of 6-edition I tried to tailor a shooty foot tyranid list, which I call a shooty-shooty slow but touch nidz. It is based mostly on monstrous Twin-linked devourers and impaler cannons fire to get rid of enemies. Like this list:

1850 Pts  -   Shooty-shooty Tyranids Army

HQ

Hive Tyrant - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2); Leech Essence; Paroxism; Old Adversary

2 Tyrant Guard Brood - Lash Whips

Tyranid Prime - Devourer; Bonesword; Lash Whip; Toxin Sacs

Elites

2 Hive Guard Brood

2 Hive Guard Brood

Troops

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught

10 Termagant Brood - Devourers

Tervigon -  Stinger Salvo; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught

10 Termagant Brood - Devourers

Fast Attack

20 Gargoyle Brood -Fleshborers; Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs

Heavy support

2 Carnifex Brood -Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2)

All the lists here can be scaled from 1000 to 2000 pts with ease, so feel free to ask a list for the format you like.

1b. Stompy

I sure that stompy list is highly competitive. The “core” of the Stompy list is 3 Tervigons and a Swarmlord, who stomp through the board like a steamroller!

Like this:

1850 Pts  -  Stompy Tyranids Army

HQ

The Swarmlord

Tyrant Guard - Lash Whips

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught

Elites

3 Hive Guard Brood

The Doom of Malan'tai in Mycetic Spore

Troops

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst

10 Termagant Brood

10 Termagant Brood

Heavy Support

Trygon

Trygon

3 Biovore Brood

2.            Hoppy-Droppy

It’s definitely the 6-edition, the time when we can fully realize out drop-nidz ideas! Hoppy-Droppy is my favourite list, cause it’s fun to play! Of course, there can be different approaches to building a drop list, but here is my variants.

2a. Gribbie-killy

One of my favorite units in 6-ed is Dakagaunts! For a mere price of 170 points you receive a spore with 13 gribbies who shoot out 39 S4 + 6 S6 shots a round! It’s sometimes enough to wreck a transport and kill the filling stuff. Just an example of a list on this idea:

1850 Pts  -  Gribbie-killy Tyranids Army

HQ

Hive Tyrant - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2); Wings; Leech Essence; Paroxism;  Hive Commander; Old Adversary

 Hive Tyrant - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2); Wings; Leech Essence; Paroxism; Old Adversary

Elites

 The Doom of Malan'tai in Mycetic Spore

Troops

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst

15 Termagant Brood with Devourers in Mycetic Spore

15 Termagant Brood with Devourers in Mycetic Spore

15 Termagant Brood with Devourers in Mycetic Spore

15 Termagant Brood with Devourers in Mycetic Spore

Heavy support

Mawloc

Feel that? 180 shots with preferred enemy and nowhere to hide from them!

Nevertheless, we’ll consider the mechanics later. Now, just a glance at lists to get an idea.

2b. Stardy-Killy

The other variant is to drop Mosters on head of our opponents! How many melta/plasma shots do they have? Try to avoid the drop list like this!

1850 Pts  -   Stardy-Killy Tyranids Army

HQ

Hive Tyrant - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2); Wings; Leech Essence; Paroxism; Hive Commander

Hive Tyrant - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2); Wings; Leech Essence; Paroxism; Old Adversary

Elites

The Doom of Malan'tai in Mycetic Spore

10 Ymgarl Genestealer Brood

Troops

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught

10 Termagant Brood

10 Termagant Brood

Heavy support

Trygon

Trygon

3.            Slow but Hoppy-Droppy

 “Slow but hoppy-droppy” lists utilize both concepts – the slow “steamroller” with a hoppy-droppy part. Like this:

1850 Pts  -  Slow but Hoppy-Droppy Tyranids Army

HQ

The Swarmlord

Tyrant Guard  - Lash Whips

Hive Tyrant - Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms (x2); Wings; Leech Essence; Paroxism; Old Adversary

Elites

The Doom of Malan'tai in Mycetic Spore

Troops

 Tervigon- Stinger Salvo; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst; Onslaught

 Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst

Tervigon - Stinger Salvo; Adrenal Glands; Toxin Sacs; Catalyst

13 Termagant Brood with Devourers in Mycetic Spore

13 Termagant Brood with Devourers in Mycetic Spore

13 Termagant Brood with Devourers in Mycetic Spore

I intentionally made lists a bit one-sided, to show the “idea” first, not to tailor all-comers competitive lists.

What is my goal in this articles? To explain, why this concepts are competitive in 6-edition first and to tell the newbies, how to start collecting the archetype they like!

In the next article I’ll try to analyze the “Slow but touch Shooty-shooty” list composition and functions of each unit as well as a 1000-point start-up list for those who want to begin collecting nidz as well as a minimal set of boxes you need to collect that army.