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

==Tactics==

*'''Protecting Monstrous Creatures''':
Monstrous Creatures have less wounds than a horde of gaunts, but are only one model. This makes them more vulnerable to single shot weapons, but less vulnerable to pie plates. If they are touching area terrain, they get a save(either 4+ or 5+). If there is a unit between them and the unit shooting them, they get a 5+. If they are at least 25% obscured by anything, they get a 5+. A wall of gaunts is all that is needed to shield them. Be careful in how the gaunts are positioned, however, so that you don't slow the Monstrous Creature. Hormagaunts are ideal for this, <s>because they run a rerollable 3d6, picking the highest</s> Now they run 1D6+3. Gargoyles are good as well, with their 12" movement. Keep the gaunts in front and shield the Monstrous Creature, then charge with them in a manner that leaves an opening for the Monstrous Creature to get in as well. Since most Tyranid ranged weapons have low AP, you will get far more cover saves from this than your opponent's units will. Tervigons can do this without even trying, since they spawn their own gaunt meatshields. If you are playing a "Nidzilla" army without many gaunts, venomthropes can provide a similar effect: just be careful to keep them alive.

*'''Dealing with Flyers''':
7th edition is filled with Flyers. Stormravens, Stormtalons(aka flying potatoes), Doom Scythes, Burna-Bommaz, Vendettas and many others 1)arrive from reserve 2)can move up to 36" 3)require snapfiring to hit 4)can't be assaulted. The following strategies are of use against Flyers:
*'''Devourer''': The Devourer can glance Flyers to death. Devilgaunts fire it S4 Assault 3. A mob of them are sure to hit the flyer; however this only works against AV10.
*'''Dakkafex/Tyrant''': This is probably your second best option straight-up. Monstrous Creatures fire S6 Assault 6 Twin-linked per Devourer, and so can even glance a Stormraven with some luck. The Twin-linked is great when snap firing. The big weakness of the Devourer is the 18" range, and the fact that S6 isn't very effective against a Stormraven or a cheap Vendetta. 
*'''Impaler Cannon''': S8 Assault 2 24" Ignores Line of Sight is a good deal. These can easily get glances on Flyers: if you can hit them. That's the problem: you only get 6 shots per Elite slot, per turn. Only one hits on average, and even that will only cause damage half the time against some of the heavier Flyers.	
*'''Vector Strike''': This is the best access nids have to anti-air (with the crone being better all-around): D3+1 attacks that automatically hit the side armour. This seems to be how Games Workshop wants Tyranid players to deal with Flyers. Unfortunately, these attacks are only at S6(or S5 in the case of the Harpy) (and S8 in the case of the Hive Crone!). It is still worth the attempt in many situations, however. It is statistically likely for this to at least do something.		
*'''Hive Crone''': 4 S5 Haywire missiles that rerolls to hit against fliers and S8 vector strikes arguably make this the Tyranids' [[Heldrake]]- one of the few good units in an otherwise bad codex (and it can start the game already on the table too).


*'''Carnifex Slingshot''': (Can no longer do this in 7th ed, can't attach ICs to MCs)
Have two Carnifexes equiped with the weapons of your choice, attach a Tyranid Prime to them with Scything Talons, Rending Claws, Flesh Hooks, and Adrenal Glands, have the unit move up. You can easily Look Out Sir AP2 shots to the Carnifexs, while be able to soak up one or two small arms fire, making them very difficult to remove without mass amount of Krak Missles. By the time the unit is behind Hormagaunts, in the movement phase detach the Prime from the Carnifexes and join up with the Hormagaunts before charging in. This allows the Prime to be alive longer and can deal with hidden powerfists while the Hormagaunts tear those Ultrasmurfs a new asshole! If the Carnifexes are lucky enough to be alive, have them either gun down heavy weapon squads with Brainleech Devourers or let them open up that Land Raider with it's Crushing Claws.

*'''Spore Mine Spam''':
Take 3 harpies, and 9 Biovores.  Make your Biovores shoot at things they can't see to maximize your chance of missing. Every bullet spent shooting a spore mine is a bullet not spent shooting your real threats.  You don't even always want to assault with your spore mines having them block passage ways, and provide cover to your coming swarm can provide more than a couple dead models.

*'''Deathleapers assassination... thing'''
Turn 0
infiltrate this guy with a full brood of genestealers (brood lord optional but always a good idea) in some cover as close as possible to the opponents warlord. watch and wait. Hope that the deathleaper passes LD test (he has 10 so your probably okay)
Turn 2
charge into the warlord as quickly as possible have the deathleaper issue a challenge which the enemy will accept because they'll be facing 20 genestealers.
Defeat them at I7 with 6 attacks (you charged right?), WS 9 and S 6. Kill warlord. use hit-and-run, Drink delicious tears. Use pheromone trail to deep-strike mawloc for added troll.

EDIT: the Deathleaper IS NOT an Indipendent Character, so you can't join other units. 

*'''DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA'''*
*hive tyrant with hive commander
*the swarmlord
*two units of 30 devilgants
Using hive commander, outflank one unit of devilgants to get 90 shots on something that's probably far back and probably doesn't want to be shot at 90 times. Give preferred enemy to the gants that start on your frontline to make them more effective while they're still a full unit (if you got the first turn). DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKA on turn one with preferred enemy, then DAKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA again when your outflanking units arrive with Swarmlord's delicious +1 to reserve rolls. If you're playing against an army like Tau who likes to sit back more, this'll be really good against a Riptide (watch out for early warning override, though) due to the sheer number of worms you're outputting. Also if they don't have any frontliners that the gaunts can get in range of, the Swarmlord and a Tyrant will give you a pretty decent chance of getting onslaught for an extra d6" run before your shoot. If that's still not enough (and you're alright with the expense), you can throw adrenal glands on your gaunts starting on the field to give them fleet and reroll the run die, in addition to giving a little more strength to a full unit of 30 if they get up to charging.

*'''Neutralize'''*
* Harpy
* 10 Gargoyles
Assault the same unit with these guys on the same turn
The harpy gives the poor souls -5 to their initiative so the gargoyles strike before they do
Then use the blinding venom attack. Ever seen an enemy pass 10 initiative tests at once? Well Nothing can so they're all WS and BS 1 until the end of their next turn! Q something to chop 'em with

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics/Old]] [[Category:Tyranid]]

{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}