Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Tyranids (section)

==Dataslate Formations==
*'''Hive Vanguard (Start Collecting Tyranids pack):''' A measly intro pack to the pain of Tyranids, this gives you a Tyrant, three Warriors and a pack of Gargoyles. If the Gargoyles are within 18" of the Tyrant at the beginning of movement, they can jump off the board to perform another Deep-Strike, which can't scatter if they're DSing next to the Warriors. This might help bring Gargoyles in for a distraction on the other side of the board or perhaps to recover them from an unwinnable fight, but aside from that, they can do little else.
**Another way to look at it is to max out the gargoyles unit to 30, and deep strike them in to the enemy's lines turn 1. There's also no reason you can't run a flyrant in this formation so he can meet them up there. Imagine running 2-3 of these formations. 90 gargoyles infront of your enemy turn 1 offloading all their guns. Plus 3 flyrants. Pretty darn good. 
**It could also be used to grab unclaimed or contest objectives late game. Requires some luck on the scatter, but could be nice. 
*'''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, or a Broodlord (according to the draft FAQ)). They gain Hit&Run and 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). Note that due to FAQs, this means they hit harder versus any unit thar contains at least one Character...including a Sergeant. This gives them insurance against rolling 1s to wound vs most "human" armies, though Xenos and Demons tend to lack mandatory "sergeants."
*'''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, 2 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.
** The Apocalypse formation gives you the option of 3+ termies and 3+ hormies (With no need for a babysitting Warrior brood), all with the ability to force the enemy to only take snapshots at them if they roll a d3 less than their turn number (making it unstoppable after turn 3) and can resurrect an entire unit without cost during a break.  Quite obviously, this was the basis upon which the other swarm formations the Dataslates have came from.
*'''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 (actually you should get the exact same amount of termagants just with larger, fewer broods)
*'''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 Objective Secured- a very powerful tool since it takes effect even in Unbound lists. 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 (11/12 with Maelstrom) 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 Warriors 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. 
** The Apocalypse version makes only the Trygon Prime and Raveners mandatory, with the ability to add more Raveners, Mawlocs, and Trygons.  They also make anyone who Deep Strikes within 12" of the Prime never scatter, grants Shrouded the turn they arrive, and forces anyone within 6" of them to test for pinning.  Other than that, it still works the same way, but with a bit of extra insurance.  
*'''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 everyone within synapse of the Tyrant Node (I.e. the only reason you should bother with the Norn Crown) 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.  '''JESUS CHRIST'''.  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 Hormaguants broods
**A Crone
**2 Harpies
**3 Gargoyle broods
**3 Carnifex broods
***That is 244 models as a bare minimum for 1 formation, I repeat, '''JESUS CHRIST''', or a max of <s>714</s> 746 models @ 18,732 points (remember that fucking everything can have a Tyrannocyte now, see [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:The_Living_Tide_-_WTF_Mode.pdf]]) but th- ho- [[HHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg-]]
*'''Phodian Annihilation Swarm (Deathstorm):''' All the units of the Box get put in.  Aside from all the normal benefits of the units, they also grant all units Stealth (and give 'Stealers Shrouded since they have Stealth) and the Spawn gives everyone Preferred Enemy while still alive.  This is actually rather nice, as it gives the Warriors and Fex some nice cover and makes the Stealers practically untouchable in cover...provided they're not fighting cheesing fuckmongers with Ignores Cover out the ass.
*'''Carnifex Crusher Brood (Apocalypse)''': Join 3-5 Carnifexes to get IWND.  If more than three of them have Bio-Plasma and share LoS, they can make a combined Assault 1 Hellstorm attack with Strength equal to 4+the number of Fexes and AP2.  Rest assured that even at it's lowest, it'll be mulching little guys and MEQ's.
*'''Living Fortress (Apocalypse)''' - 2 Tyrants (1 possibly being Swarmlord) and 3 models of both Tyrant and Hive Guard.  Doing this gives all nids in the formation Feel no Pain and anything within synapse of the Tyrant Preferred Enemy and Counter-Attack.  They also can opt to form a Fortress of Chitin if they get shot at, getting Shrouded and upping their Armour by +1 at the cost of making all movement through difficult terrain. This is actually a very powerful formation, giving preferred enemy to everyone in Synapse Range, potential of 24" with the Swarmlord, is very helpful making many units have more reliable hits, e.g. Hierophant with preferred enemy for even more trolling.
*'''Vanguard Infestation (Apocalypse)''' - 3+ Genestealer broods (with a Broodlord) join 3+ Lictors (One of which could be Deathleaper).  They start in reserves and use the Lictor's Chameleonic skin to arrive, with the ability to force any food within 36" of them use their lowest Ld values.  It doesn't help their survivability much, but it gives the Lictors meatshields. 

===Warzone Valedor===
*'''Cronecoven (Apocalypse)''': 3+ hive crones join in and for every vector strike after the first, add +1 strength
*'''Eater Swarm (Apocalypse)''': 3+ Haruspexes (Haruspices?), 3+ Pyrovore Broods, 5+ Ripper broods.  They all start in reserves and have IB Devour and outflank.  Any character with LoS with them lose Ld equal to the number of turns.
*'''Eye of the Hive (Apocalypse)''': 3+ warrior broods each with 5+ models Roll a d3 at the beginning of the game, and every unit that arrives after that turn gains Preferred Enemy to one codex. Also, units within 18" get to attack even if they are killed in close combat before their Initiative step.
*'''Harpy Skyhunters (Apocalypse)''': 3+ harpiesand  3+ spore mine clusters.  Harpies firing at a Flyer within 12" of a Spore Mine get Tank Hunter. 
*'''Kraken Tendril Swarm (Apocalypse)''': This includes 1+ Warrior Broods, and 3+ units of Gants or Gaunts (In broods of 20+), plus optional Gargoyles.  The formation may, once per turn, make a 60" move that can't go within 12" of an enemy, but they may shoot afterwards. Also, every unit gains Outflank and Acute senses.
*'''Leviathan Skyswarm (Apocalypse)''': This throws in 1+ Flyrants, 3+ Gargoyle Broods, 2+ Harpies, 0-3 Harpies, and an optional Harridan.  When Gargoyles assault a flyer, they roll a d6: a 1-3 means that they get flattened, a 4-5 means nothing, and a 6 gives a glancing hit.  Also, anyone with Skyfire shooting them loses -1 BS and if these guys Deep Strike, they can always avoid impassible terrain.
*'''Sporestorm Brood (Apocalypse)''': 1+ Exocrine, 1+ Biovore brood of 3, and 3+ Spore Mines.  The mines begin in reserve and can re-roll the scatter die so long as they're within 12" of another Tyranid.  IF an Exocrine hits anyone within 6" of the Mines, he gets TL, while a Fex shooting any similar targets get to reroll all to-hit and to-wound rolls.
*'''Tervigon Broodnode (Apocalypse)''': 3-5 Tervigons with Onslaught and Catalyst must nominate one as the queen.  If the queen is killed, the formation is broke but it gets to spawn gaunts with any weapon they want (devourers), and each can roll 3d6 when spawning and you choose which which 3d6 to apply to every tervigon in the formation.  It's all for massive hordes, but the doubles rule still counts.
*'''Tyrannofex Gunbeast Brood (Apocalypse)''': 3-5 Tyrannofexes, with at least 2 of them using Rupture Cannons or Fleshborer Hives.  Anyone shot and hit by these beasts get a special marker that makes any other Tyrannofex that shoots it get TL, Ignores Cover and Tank Hunter.  Heavy Firepower to the MAX.
*'''The Shadow Incarnate (Apocalypse)''': A Tyrant with 3 Guards and 2+ Zoanthrope Broods.  This doubles the range of the SitW and gives anyone within 24" a +3 on their Deny rolls.  Also, the Tyrant gets a new power called ''The Terror'', which is a Nova Power with a range of 6" per Psyker in the formation (Presumably counting Zoanthropes as a group because Brotherhood of Psykers) with S2, AP1, Assault 10, Pinning, and Blind.  Useful for only...Orks, Fire Warriors, and Guardsmen, all who would even begin to be frightened by S2.  Blinding and Pinning are some rather handy ways to lock down pesky units.
**Alternate Take:  it takes fairly little investment to get your nova to hit the entire board (literally or figuratively). The volume of blinding and pinning fire will ensure a couple casualties and a little chaos... everywhere.  This makes it sort of a force-multiplier more than just a weapon.

===Shield of Baal: Leviathan===
*'''Hypertoxic Node''': A Tyrant with toxin sacs joins the new Toxicrene and 3 spruced-up Venomthropes to gain the Toxicrene's ID on a 5+ to-wound.  The Tyrant also gains the Toxic Miasma, which he (or any other members within 12") can use at any time.  Definitely a nice way to tarpit shooting with the Venomthropes pumping Shrouded to protect a Flyrant.
**'''Note''': Nothing is stopping you from taking Wings on the Tyrant, so this can be used to gain 3(!) additional Elite choices and a Heavy Support. All you have to pay for that is an extra 10 points for Toxin Sacs on the Tyrant. You were going to take lots of Venomthropes and a Toxicrene in a Tyrannocyte anyway, right?
*'''Neural Node''': A Maleceptor leads 3 Neurothrope-led Zoanthrope broods.  All it gives is an 18" SitW and can re-roll 1's when using powers.  Yeah, the Maleceptor's still pretty shit, just slightly less so against psyker-heavy armies.
**'''Note''': Rerolling 1s is amazing when you are going to be throwing that many Charges around. The additional Shadow in the Warp-range may sound weak, but it does make it far easier to snipe those damn Farseers with Psychic Overload. 
**'''Note''': Additional Shadow in the Warp range also makes it really easy, and rather fun, to kill of enemy characters with the new Nerothrope power with 3d6 vs. LD (at -3 via RAW with SitW) 
*'''Skytyrant Swarm''': A Flyrant takes two broods of Gargoyles to use as ablative wounds and boost Synapse by 6".  The Tyrant can roll Look Out, Sir on a 2+ and spend each one of them as a wound.  The smart way to run this is to DS in there with your mob of flying wounds and then spam the shit out of their blinding acid and then blast them.  Issue is that you'll always be gliding and if you all die, you give up 3 VP.  Unlike the Skyblights, you can't roll to put them in reserves.
*'''Sporefield''': 3 Mucolid Clusters can join in 3 Spore Mine Clusters.  They all gain Infiltrate and if anything ever dies, they can return to reserves on a 4+.  Unlike the other ones, which might fork over all the kill-points, these guys get the safety of not forking over those points, but also being able to suicide themselves at the nearest flyer/MC/FMC and come back laughing!  Buy a bunch and then buy some minimum Mucolids and maybe a Sporocyst in the main FOC, and watch them panic at all the Sporemines!
**'''Note''': As long as you have the models, always toss out one Sporefield at the very least. You get a playable Sporefield for no more than 90 points, they give no kill points whatsoever and they WILL play merry havoc with your opponent's movement phase in addition to raping any flyer stupid enough to come too close.
**'''Note''': Note that you are totally free to field an entire army of these things. Granted, you won't win any games (unless you get very lucky and manage to wipe out your opponent before all your mines go boom) but it will be hilarious to watch your opponent trying to get the hell away from up to 33 Mucolids and 101 normal spore mines in 1000 points (and even more hilarious shenanigans at higher point levels). 
*'''Skytide''': LUBE UP.  THE FLYING CIRCUS IS BACK IN TOWN.  Pack in a Skytyrant Swarm, a Sporefield, and THREE Skyblights.  This is now an army.  Not only does each formation keep their rules, but the Skytyrant Flyrant also gives other Tyrants within Synapse a boost of 6" on their own Synapse range and gives you a re-roll on any removed unit before they die for good.  It's not as much as the Living Tide (and thank GOD for that), but it's still hella pricy with all those Flyrants. Here's what you need:
**4 Flyrants
**11 Gargoyle broods
**6 Harpys
**3 Crones
**3 Mucoloids
**3 Spore mine clusters
***for a minimum of 127 models and a maximum of 379.