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

==Dataslate Formations==
*'''Lictor Forest Brood:''' This Formation consists of 5 Lictors (which act as if they were a single unit), and allows them to switch the Stealth rule for the Shrouded rule. In addition, they can be deployed as close as 6" to an enemy unit if they use Infiltrate to deploy into a forest. Situational, but could be useful on the right map. (Just to remind you pheromones 6'' mawloc lulz)

*'''Manufactorum Genestealers:''' This Formation consists of 5 Genestealer Broods (which may not include additional Genestealers). If they Infiltrate to deploy into a Building or Ruins, they can deploy up to 6" of an enemy unit. It's not much, but it helps them get into close quarters more safely than usual.

*'''Deathleaper's Assassin Brood:''' This formation consists of Deathleaper and 5 Lictors; any unit within 12" of any model in the formation gets a -1 penalty to Leadership, and also benefits from Preferred Enemy (Characters and Independent Characters), making it useful for hunting down and killing any special snowflake units (especially since it synergizes with its Mind Eater trait quite nicely). If nothing else, it gives Deathleaper a few meat-shields it can hide behind.

*'''Broodlord's Hunting Pack:''' This formation consists of 3 Genestealer Broods (one of which must contain a Broodlord, and only one Broodlord can be taken). If they arrive from Reserves, they can set up in any unoccupied Building or a Ruin (although they have to be more than 6" away from enemy units in the latter case). In addition, they gain Preferred Enemy towards a unit of your choice when they deploy.

*'''Gargoyle Bio-Bombs:''' This formation consists of 3 Spore Mine Clusters and 3 Gargoyle Broods. If a Spore Mine Cluster in the formation starts a move (including Run or Charge) within 6" of a Gargoyle from the Formation, it can move 6" in the movement phase and will not halve the distance rolled if it runs or charges. Perfect for getting your mines into position quickly.

*'''Endless Swarm:''' 3 broods of Hormagaunts, 3 broods of Termagants, and one brood of Tyranid Warriors. Each time one of the Gaunt broods is destroyed, roll a D6; on a 4+, it goes back into ongoing reserves, with the original number of models, weapons, and upgrades it had when you started. If that one gets destroyed, you can try to put it back into reserves as many times as you can pass the roll. It seems good- right until you read the part where it says the opponent still gets victory points from destroying the units that make up the formation even after they come back. Ask yourself a question: do you REALLY want to feed your opponent an endless stream of victory points?  The answer is yes, because in the other 5 missions you may have an unending stream of objective holders and if you've lost that many 30 gaunt units in killpoints, you've already lost anyway.

*'''Incubator Node:''' 3 broods of Termagants join a Tervigon and only give the big guy the ability to re-roll ones to spawn more gaunts.  It's essentially a free set of troops since there's no limit as to how big the gaunt broods can be, and this can definitely free up troop slots for some Warriors. BUT there is a [insert math here] bigger chance of rolling a double be wary of this 

*'''Synaptic Swarm:''' Tyranid Prime joins three broods of Warriors and they all get an 18" synapse range.  This isn't going to make any of them good by a long shot, but it'll definitely give you some free synapse if you're using up your troop slots for gaunts and Tervigons.

*'''Skyblight Swarm:''' A Flyrant, a Crone, 2 Harpies and 3 Gargoyle broods enter a bar...and then the [[Flying Circus]] begins!  All these FMC's give the Gargoyles the ability to take objective points ''even if'' an enemy unit is within range of the same objective. (Unless the enemy can do the same thing too).  Also, like the Endless Swarm Formation, if a brood of Gargoyles get killed, they go back to ongoing reserves with the exact same loadout as before on a 4+.  Ask again: Do you ''REALLY'' want to fork over infinite victory points?  The answer again is yes, because do you really care as long as there's a 5/6 chance of playing an objective game anyway?

*'''Living Artillery Node:''' An Exocrine joins 3 Biovores and a Warrior Brood with a Venom Cannon or a Barbed Strangler.  This gives everyone Pinning on their shooting and the ability to re-roll the scatter die when firing a Blast or Barrage weapon.  AWESOME - re-rolling the scatter on Blast/Barrage is once again - AWESOME 

*'''Bioblast Node:''' A Tyrannofex joins 3 Carnifex broods, each with a monstrous biocannon, and a Warrior brood with a biocannon.  For this, the entire formation gets Split Fire and anyone within the 12" of the Warriors can reroll 1s to Wound in shooting.  Pretty decent for the Warriors to get some protection, but they're still sitting ducks.

*'''Wrecker Node:''' The same formation as above, minus the Tyrannofex and the mandatory dakka (In fact, you can't take any biocannons at all).  The Wariors still let anyone within 12" of them to reroll 1s to wound, but this time in assault.  Also, the Fexes now inflict D3+1 HoW hits.  Largely less useful because of the Warriors' weakness to things harder than a stiff breeze.

*'''Tyrant Node:''' A walking Tyrant takes a brood of 3 Tyrant Guards and a Venomthrope Brood.  This formation gives the big bug +6" of Synapse.  It's basically a free Dominion, and the chance to take more non-FOC Venomthropes is a choice hard to pass up.  However, the mandatory walking Tyrant makes things a bit hard, being the slow bastard he is. Can the tyrant be the swarmlord? - no :( But you can make the Tyrant into a "Templant" with the Miasma Cannon and Shreddershard Beetles which makes it a devastating (and quite hard to kill) unit on the charge 

*'''Subterranean Swarm:''' A Trygon Prime joins a normal Trygon, a Mawloc, and three Ravener broods.  The whole formation gets rolled as a group for reserves and once the Prime's location is found, everything can deep strike within 1" of the Prime.  The Raveners can't move or assault, but they can still shoot and run.  The main issue with this formation is the price, as this is a lot of dosh to spend on a deepstriking force. Main draw of this formation - I can't think of a single army that would be able to wipe out a Trygon Prime and (at least) 9 Raveners the turn after they arrive from reserves as well as focus on what may be charging across the board. Yes the price is high but even if it does not come in until turn 3 or 4 you can still do some serious late game damage. 

*'''Living Tide:''' A Tyrant Node, a Synaptic Swarm, 3 Endless Swarms, a Wrecker Node and a Skyblight Swarm, all in one formation with a bonus 6" for the Tyrant Node, free Fear for everyone, and a re-roll for the Endless and Skyblight Swarms when their gaunts/gargoyles die so they can return to reserves.    This shit's practically an army in and of itself!  If you're even able to field such a monstrosity in an Apocalypse game, rest assured that shit will be FUCKED.  Just like your wallet.
Here's what you need:
*A Flyrant
*A Tyrant
*1 full Tyrant guard brood
*A Tyranid prime
*A Venomthrope brood
*7 Warrior broods
*9 Termagant broods
*9 Hourmaguants broods
*A Crone
*2 Harpies
*3 Gargoyle broods
*3 Carnifex broods
That is 244 models as a bare minimum for 1 formation. I repeat 
or a max of 714 models but th- ho- [[HHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg-]]