Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Tyranids (section)

===Troops===
Troops are where you are going to ''get your swarm on'', everything except warriors and rippers can be fielded in absolutely MASSIVE numbers (and even then they just sacrifice quantity for quality). The upgrades for your troops can really have an impact on how they fight but while the upgrade cost is small the bulk order of them can run you a lot of points, almost doubling the point costs of some choices. Everything works best when you keep them within a synapse from something like a Tyrant or Warriors, with Rippers it is absolutely mandatory. Tyranid troops are basically the reason other races have weapons with crap AP values, you will lose them in droves, and yet STILL have enough to bury your enemy in bodies.

Oh, and as for the update, this is where a large number of buffs came in: Gaunts are one point cheaper, and they run d6 + 3 in the shooting phase. Make the most of it.

*'''Genestealers:''' Genestealers are very solid units. They have a 5+ save, which is easily punctured by any Space Marine worth a damn, but their combat ability makes up for that. They can easily shred plenty of enemy units (up to and including Baneblades if you can get to their rear armour) in close combat thanks to rending, high initiative, great weapon skill, and an acceptable number of attacks (Thanks to two pairs of claws, they get another attack :D). However, despite all this, they aren't really the core player of the army. They come with infiltration built in, so their best use is often to keep the enemy bottled up. A squad or two of flanking Genestealers will cause most players to give pause to spreading out to the edges of the board. Additionally, you can also upgrade one genestealer to a broodlord, which is essentially a 3 wound, ws7, s/t5 nightmare with The Horror psyker power. Give the Broodlord adrenal glands and it can pop landraiders. All things considered you can't say many bad things about Genestealers. Thankfully, they can be fielded in pretty large numbers, not quite as massive as that of Gaunts, but enough to pretty much swamp anything in front of them.  Almost nothing in the game short of AV 14 armour survives more than one turn when faced with a full genestealer brood with a broodlord.
**Definately give the broodlord +1A for 4 points. Just do it.
**Another update!  Rending claws are S user AP5 rending.  It's only a slight change but helps when putting genestealers against weaker enemies (guardsmen, eldar, etc.)
**Genestealers will kill anything they touch (well...maybe not Wyches with a Pain Token, but no one uses them anymore). They are, after all, probably the greatest assault unit in the game. Any opponent that knows this will stay FAR away from them. This makes genestealers a major psychological tool in addition to what some would say is the greatest unit in the codex.
**tl;dr - Take Genestealers+Broodlord vs armies that don't have a lot of units immune to Pinning.  Infiltrate them as close as possible to the enemy's gunlines and The Horror them repeatedly.  You won't be able to assault them the turn you Infiltrate, but you can assault the next turn.

*'''Hormagaunts:''' Hormagaunts, due to being cheap and having cheap access to poison, are among the most devastating and effective attackers in the <s>Tyranid army</s> The entire game. Per point spent, they deal more damage, survive more wounds, and can even run across the board faster than anything else that can compete with them. Their only major drawback is a stark lack of frag grenades. However, keep them from fighting with inopportune targets and get them Feel No Pain from <s>a Tervigon</s> any psyker with Catalyst, and these little bugs will really tear it up on the battlefield. They can also equip adrenal glands to glance tanks and transports to death on the charge. Plus, you can field them in absolutely massive broods, rivaling full sized guard platoons in sheer size. Now get +2 attacks on the charge when outside Synapse with less [[Derp|charging at the nearest enemy]] when you start to Feed. 
**Update time! Now only +2 attacks on the charge on a roll of 6 outside of synapse, otherwise enjoy your [number of models] S3 hits 50% of the time! (yes, they hit themselves). They run faster, which is basically the whole point of hormies in 6th. A late game objective grabber. Being a bolt pistol cheaper they are better at this, and remember grounded nids don't take Instinctive Behavior.
**Fun House Rule: let Tervigons spawn these guys and let the madness ensue 

*'''Rippers:''' Tyranids have numerous traditional weaknesses, one being blast templates. Rippers, being swarms, take double damage from blast templates. Having a toughness of three, they are morbidly weak to Instant Death as well. Their weapon skill is low, their saves are 6+, they can't hold or contest objectives, and <strike>they die if they fall out of synapse</strike> they die less than 5E if they fall out of synapse and roll 1-3 (which they will). To say they at least aren't an actively inhibiting part of any army would be a stretch. And with the Parasite of Mortrex removed along with a points increase for no apparent reason, there's basically no reason at all to use them any longer.
* However, Rippers can now purchase deep strike for pennies. Of course, this hardly redeems them, but if you really want to have some, it does make them usuable as a halfway decent distraction unit than can simply go to ground every turn for immunity to Instinctive Behavior and +1 to cover.<strike> As swarms auto-pass dangerous terrain, there's no stopping you from deepstriking into cover.</strike> 6ed Swarms are not slowed by difficult terrain but must test for dangerous terrain as normal. 

*'''Termagants:''' Termagants are pretty much nothing (base) compared to hormagaunts and genestealers. Their guns are short to mid range, their ballistic skill is average, they fight as well as Guardsmen in close combat and their saves are worse. In fact, they cost one less point than Guardsman, and since Termagants can't ride transports there isn't much that can be done with them. However, for every brood of 30 Termagants you have, one Tervigon can be purchased as a troop choice, and Termagants receive counter-attack from being next to a Tervigon. Therefore, despite their mediocre-at-best statline, they are arguably the most competitive Troops choices on the tabletops of sixth edition when paired with the Tervigon. Like Hormagaunts, they can be fielded in numbers so large the gameboard will look like an unending sea of bugs. Give them devourers though, pay a pretty penny for a hive tyrant with Hive Commander and have them Outflank on a side of the board and they can certainly dish out alot of dakka! If you want Preferred Enemy, you must bring the Swarmlord to grant them that special rule. THIS combo is slaughter incarnate to infantry.
**Something to keep in mind is Termagants can now Mix and Match weapons. Due to the wording, any model can replace their weapon with a different one, rather than a unit. Want some good [[Dakka|dakka]] but don't want to pay through the nose for having 30 Devourers? Just take at least half and let the other half keep their Flesh Borers! This means you can also experiment with Spinefists and Spike Rifles now that they're free.

*'''Warriors:''' Warriors are also a solid unit, but they have one problem: Instant Death. They have a 4+ save, three wounds, and a toughness of four, so against small arms fire they're as tough as Terminators. However, hit their squad with a Battle Cannon and they all evaporate, and autocannons will rip them into very small pieces. They have access to weapons that ignore armour saves, have decent guns, have good weapon skill, and overall have some pretty reasonable options. It's just not a good idea to make an entire army composed of Warriors since small numbers and being no-brainer targets will hurt them. Cover can be their friend in 6th and with Primes leading them, at least Str8 won't be such a problem. The question is, though, do you wanna risk your Prime?
**And we should probably mention that Boneswords are AP3 now. Don't bother pairing them together, take one with a Lash Whip and give them Rending Claws so they won't be limited to MEQs.
**If you do use Warriors, take a unit of three, equip one with a Cannon of your choice, include a pair of Rending Claws on two other Warriors, and have them sit on an objective at your deployment zone. They make a decent unit that can shoot Blast weapons while still be able to hold on their own if someone trys to assault them.