Tits for Tournaments: Competitive Tyranid Results

As it was I had to dropout for the Sunday games, not because I wasn't having fun, but because their was this game called Football going at the same time.

As for my list here is what I ended up going with.

Hive Tyrant: Twin-Linked Devourer with Brainleech worms x2, Hive Commander, Wings

Hive Tyrant: Twin-Linked Devourer with Brainleech worms x2, Wings

Tervigon: The Norn Crown

Hormaguant Brood: x2 18-man

Termagant Brood: 30-man with x25 Devourers

Zoanthrope Brood: 1 x 2

Venomthrope Brood: 1 x 1

Mawloc: x 3

Aegis Line with Comm Relay

= 1750 pts

Before I go into my experience and what I learned, I want to mention, my friend Jeremy also posted about his experience on Frontline Gaming. He went 3-0 with new Nids on day one and dropped out for a X-Wing Tournament on Sunday. If you want to get his Tyranid perspective go check it out.

What about mine experience?

Firstly, Tyranids are far from bad. I feel they are around the Space Marine power level, and I think can deal with Tau pretty easily if you know what you are doing. Their bad match up is Eldar with ghetto rending and Wave Serpents. I came to this conclusion even at TSHFT, where LoS blocking terrain is usually hard to come by.

How did my list perform for me?

It did what I expected it to do and if I wasn't careless or play-tested it more, I could easily seeing me having a 3-0 record like Jeremy.  To put things in more perspective. Out of 21 psychic power rolls I got Catalyst twice and out of 15 Mawloc Deepstikes attempts I hit twice. Still, I felt like I was in every game.

Now for some observations!

Synapse ain't no thing: I never felt like I was ever in danger of not being in Synapse unless I knew I was going to. The Norn Crown with Dominion made things so easy. Even if it did matter, the units I took made it irrelevant. The Mawloc's have a hard time failing and even if they do they are immune to the worst effect. Honestly, if you tailor your list correctly Synapse shouldn't ever be an issue. I even felt like I had too much Synapse for my purposes.

Aegis & Comm points well spent: While I had bad rolls elsewhere, it didn't seem to stop me from getting all my reserves out on turn 2.  It was also extremely helpful to have the Aegis line at a tournament where you never knew how much terrain you will have. At only 70 points to have mobile terrain and the ability to get your flyers and tunnelers out all together is choice.

Mawloc Mind Games: I mentioned how I missed almost every time with my Mawlocs, that didn't stop my opponents from crying about what do against them. In my first game, the threat of the Mawlocs forced my opponent to keep 3/4 of his army along the board edge for almost the entire game. When they did come up the drew tremendous amount of fire. In game two, my opponent couldn't hide his cheap scoring units and was forced to keep them close to the rest of his forces.

Venomthrope a Must: I was so proud of this guy he did exactly what you expected and with Aegis Line. He was such a deterrent for other units he protected. My Tervigon lived through out every game mostly because 2+ cover was protecting him. You just have to be so careful hiding him, in the one game I placed him willy-nilly he got killed right away.

Underperformed Tyrants: I was disappointed with these guys for the most part. Rightfully, they drew a lot of fire, but at only four wounds it really hurt, especially when you fail a grounding test. Sure mobile synapse is good, but that I really didn't need. They are just too expensive for what you get and they won't survive most games.

Bounding for success: My Hormaguants also did what I wanted them to do. They hid back, waiting for the late game to run across the board and claim objectives. The extra +3 run almost stole a game for me-- if only the game ended on turn 5. The one big problem was not having  S4; not being able to pop most tanks, allowed my opponents to play really aggressive with any vehicle.

Buff Zoe: The Zoanthropes stayed back for buffing and really didn't get much opportunity to use their Warp Blasts, it was much better to just cast Onslaught and get other units into position along with shooting. Taking one Zoe is enough for backup synapse and buffing.

The main flaws with the my list was the lack of having a consistent long-range threat. Mawlocs only effect the board ever other turn for the most part, and taking either an Endocrine or Biovore for a third heavy might be order. Two of my opponents also played with ranges, always threatening me, while I couldn't threaten them. Nids gun range is an issue, that is why Onslaught or having some distance threats is critical.

I noticed in all my games, having waves of units every turn kept my troops out of harms way. Scoring was never a problem, between Tervigon pooping and the large squads. The new Nids are lots of fun, I can say enough about not relying on gimmicks, like Biomancy or Doom. Those crutches in the long run should help players make more dynamic lists. Even though the Tyrants didn't perform like I thought they would, I am glad they didn't, because now it opens up the other HQ units. You still need flying monstrous creatures, but taking Crones or Harpies save points and can accomplish the same thing.

Tyranids take a lot more skill than Tau or Eldar, but the rewards I feel are greater. Against armies like Tau and Eldar forcing them to deal with threat after threat means they cannot deal with the most important thing in your army: Troops. I look forward to playing Nids more and see what folks come up with this already unappreciated codex.