Making the Dakkafex Work for You

Old School here to talk about the Dakkafex and to show off my childish Photoshop skills ... and now that we have had a chuckle, let's begin ...
... the dakkafex is simply a Carnifex armed with two sets of Twin Linked devourers with Brainleech Worms. The set-up is nothing new, but something that I rarely see locally, so I wanted to discuss the pros/cons and felxibility of the Dakkafex as a unit.

One of the reasons the Dakkafex is rare is that the heavy support slot is occupied by choices like the Trygon (far superior in CC than the carnifex of any build) and the Tyrannofex (far better at ranged anti-tank than the Carnifex in any build). Each of these units is better in their own specialty and on the surface each is more durable. What the Carnifex does offer is a unit in-between the two that can add some synergy to certain army builds.

Tyranids: Blogs You Need to Read!

Are you a Tyranid player or prospective Tyranid player, but noticed that there really isn't very many places to go on the web to read solid tyranid advice? Where do you go? Forum Army list boards? No, don't sink to that level ... let the forums have fluff and Project Logs, they are good at that, but let the bloggers have tactics and army list discussion. I have prepared a list of great places in the blogosphere I read frequently (and sometimes many times over) when I am trying to up my game ...

Tyranid Tactica: The Tyrannofex - so misunderstood

Old School here to talk about the often misunderstood Tyrannofex. First however let me say thanks to 6inchmove for the photo. I recall when the new Tyranid codex came out, after many of the old nid players were done ranting, folks began to talk about the tyrannofex and how it was too expensive for BS3 and a poor weapon skill. Many of those folks continued to dismiss it on the unit v. unit basis, comparing it to other codices' staple heavy support units like long fangs, broadsides and more.

The truth is that it isn't terribly accurate, only hitting half the time. Even then, without AP1, you aren't garaunteed to actually take any tanks out of the fight (go ask a dark eldar player how their dark lances have been doing, yeah, that's why heat lances to the codex!) - "So why not just take Zoanthropes and be done with it, OST?" Well because there is more to this giant than a big ass gun and like any other tyranid unit, it functions best with synergy ...

Tyranid Tactica: Deathleaper - I'm gonna have me some fun ...

Hopefully you get the reference to the movie Predator! Anyway, its been a while since we chopped up Nids, so let's take a look the other gimmicky elite choice from the codex: Deathleaper (I'll give you one guess as to who the other one is lol).

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Psykers to psuckers: Deathleaper makes people really scared by coming onto the board. In game this translates to a model of your choice in the opponent's army receiving a drop in leadership by D3. This can be really fun for dropping the effectiveness of enemy psykers and psychic hoods as everyone already knows. It also, when combined with shadows, means enemy force weapons shouldn't be too much of a problem from the particular psyker that is trying to insta kill our MCs. One drawback to this is that some armies are running multiple psychers, so you won't get everyone.

There are also characters and models that benefit from leadership based abilities like counter-attack ect, so there are other case-by-case uses for Deathleaper, but I think psychic defense is the main use for this effect.

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Where did he go? Oh, he's contesting! Deathleaper has another wonderful ability that allows him to keep disappearing and popping back up. You can use this ability to leave and then re-appear the next turn. the idea is to time it right, counting on the game ending on turn 5, so you can contest an objective if need be. The best part is that if the game ends, you have it, if not, you lost a creature that really had no further us in your army anyway. the enemy can mitigate the effects of this by spreading out on an objective he holds in order to keep you from being in range to contest, but I have found this really doesn't happen very much. Consider this an important ability, but understand it is not an overall strategy for winning and that it is also situational.

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Layers of defense: The deathleaper has many layers of defense to protect itself. First off, enemy units who wish to shoot at it have to shoot per nightfight and then half the distance rolled. Sometimes an opponent chooses to shoot him forgetting this rule and it costs them a round of shooting. Deathleaper also has stealth, which means all the lovely 5th edition cover will be granting him 3+ and he gets a 2+ for going to ground. Finally, he also causes units within 12" of him to move one less D6 in difficult terrain (which is where Deathleaper will be), which can stop folks from moving in on objectives late in the game and protect nearby units from possible assaults (sometimes).

To round off his defense, he also has WS9, meaning most troops units are hitting him on 5's AND he has hit and run, so if you appear to contest, the opponent still might not scrape him off the objective. This also makes him a good unit for killing small squads and for assaulting to move units off of objectives.

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Deathleaper can also use his fleshhooks to pop rear armour on vehicles, but that is also situational.

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The cons: The first major con with Deathleaper is the fact that he takes one of our valuable elite slots. no matter what kind of nid army you run, this slot is valuable. While Deathleaper offers a little bit of utility, he also needs to fit your synergy and you also need to understand that he is a little gimmicky and as with all gimmick units, you must evaluate how useful your army is without him. If you find yourself needing him in the list, you may want to find a better plan, if you can win without him, but he is a nice little topping on your nid sundae, then take him at your pleasure.

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What lists does he work well with? The drop list is a great place for the deathleaper as drop nids (nids with heavy reserves and Hive Commander) are pretty reliable on their own and his abilities (and the chance he will show up early) compliments most drop nid builds very well.

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For heavy walking lists and for mass horde lists, he is still pretty effective as he still hurts the enemy leadership and powers, but he also gives you the late-turn contesting unit that can turn the game for you (walking nid lists are great for wiping objectives in multiple objective games and holding them two objective games, but sometimes struggle with far off objectives in terms of mobility and synaptic range). He is a little more oddball in these builds but still a decent choice.

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Overall: what makes Deahtleaper a strong unit is the massive amount of options he gives you for messing up your opponents plans. He will likely have to count on trying to hold an extra objective to pull off a win against you or will have to work damn hard to kill the Leaper. Anything he commits to killing the leaper will have to deal with the fact that they may not get to do so - wasting that unit's time and against Nids, he may not be able to stop you from contesting and holding more than him. In the hands of an inexperienced player, Deathleaper is an annoyance. In the hands of an experienced player, Deathleaper can be the deciding factor in objective missions.

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Those are my thoughts and experiences on Deathleaper. I would love to hear your ideas, concerns, experiences and anything else you can add to this article.

Tyranids Vs New DE, Thoughts and Concerns based on Experience

Old school here with a few thoughts on Tyranid concerns when facing the new Dark Eldar. I know that when the word first dropped on poison weapons, dark lances and that agonizers would still wound the same way, it caused some discomfort for Tyranid players. How would this effect our monstrous creature build. Can they out manuever and out shoot us and maybe even beat us in CC?
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As somebody who has run Dark Eldar before and also played tons of games against them, I am already all too familiar with lance spam and and wyches and what they can do to our army. Recently, I played a game against SeerK over at Craftworld Lansing and got a small dose of the new dynamic brought on by their new weapons and vehicle manueverability. The shot above is from a game we played using Dawn of War - as you can see they can pull a pretty crazy turbo boost from the board edge.

Now, this is no way a complete list of concerns and thoughts as it only represents one game's experience (one where seerk was tired from donating plasma and playing other opponents all day), but there are some things we have that make us awesome against DE and some things to look out for.

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First off, yes, troops with poison guns can really hurt our MCs, trying to pull cover is irrelevant as it is the weight of fire and the amount of saves caused that will whittle you down. While the poison weapons hurt, the shard carbine is even scarier to me. The carbines managed to take five wounds from my Tervigon in a single volley - a fearsome prospect when your nearby guants can get rocked hard by her loss. Don't get me wrong the Tervigon still shines here as she breeds Guants, whose shooting is deadly to DE troops (torrent wyches to death rather than allowing them CC shelter) and to DE vehicles in large doses (wrecked the only raider I shot at with them, alien bolt pistols FTW)! I'm not sure right now about the answer to the poison shooting other than not to let them get there with your own firepower.

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Wyches are great in CC, and with an agonizer can really drop MCs quickly. The best way to deal with them is to A) crash their raider and watch half die in the crash (duh) or B) let them charge a guant screen, easily kill it in one round of combat and then light them up with your other anti-infantry firepower. FNP will protect them from some of your wounds, but generally not enough to stop them from being dropped below recoverable levels.

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This brings me to leadership. Most of the Dark Eldar codex has low LD and everytime they suffer a vehicle destoyed result they run the risk of running. Every time they get shot up (like the example above), they run the risk of running away. Devourers and the use of deathleaper can make this even more effective against them. Doom also loves to eat Dark Eldar (taste the same as they did last codex YUM!). In our game, LD was an issue when the doom ate most of his wyches and the Duke ran away from some fleshborer shots.

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On the reverse side, they also have vehicle wargear that can give you a negative leadership modifier which isn't a big deal when fearless or within synapse, but it can suck when your non synapse models run away from a little shooting themselves due to this effect.

( a picture of the Duke running away)

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A big concern for us I think is the Dark Lance, considering how our MCs have a hard time gaining the old 4+ cover save. Now the good thing is that the raiders are more expensive and thus there will be less lance spam, the bad news is that ravagers can still hustle and blast us with them. The addition of Ravagers to their army makes targeting the raiders a tougher proposition in the early turns as we will need to preserve our MCs for the later turns. DS'ing units and pods themselves if close enough can put the hurt on ravagers, but your hive guard will likely struggle for range as Ravagers are likely to have nightshields (limiting you to 18" range against them). Blasters in Trueborn squads on venoms are deadly for nearly the same reasons.

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The best answer here is to try to get yourself in a position where you can at least shake lock the ravagers and still shoot down some of the key raiders (shooty nid armies with harpies and tyrannofexes can handle that and drop nids with trygon primes or dakkafexes can handle this as well.)

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Drop Nids in general can come in and disrupt the Dark Eldar vehicles while also landing enough MCs to saturate the DE lines and get the Termagaunts into range to gun them down when the DE are disembarked. Shooty nids do the same but it takes a little longer as the DE cross the board. Walking deathstar lists will suffer as the DE can outmaneuver and shoot them down.

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So what does it all mean? Well, based on this game, there are still a lot of unknown variables to deal with - like how bad will the crucible of malediction suck for our multiple psychic MCs? In general Drop lists should continue to take the same take-all-comers lists they have been successful with, just don't be afraid to get in there and mix it up and bring enough MCs or units that shoot on the drop and you'll be just fine. Shooty Nid lists just need to shoot and move to the sound of the exploding vehicles, paying attention to the movement phase to ensure the charges, countercharges won't overwhelm your army. Pure Deathstar Lists? ... you were never balanced to begin with and DE will punish you the way your other opponents should have already.

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The bottom line is that this codex, like any other, should not make you change your whole take-all-comers and the way it works (unless it was unbalanced and didn't work already lol!) or sell your army (I have seen this already on the forums ... more cheap Ebay Nids for me!). What it does call you as a Nid player in 5th edition to do, is adjust tactics when playing the Dark Eldar, much like you would against other Xenos players with unique builds; just like other armies do when they have to face Nids ;) Their army is crap in the hands of a crap general just like Nids, but just like us, a good DE general will be a fearsome opponent for us and anyone else in the 40k universe.

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Once again, its all about how the game is played. I hope to get many more games in with SeerK as he was not feeling so good during our first game and due to a small error lost the game a million kill points to 3 (literally a million lol). That's what it means to have a Glass cannon and I bet I will have some tough games in the future as he breaks in the new codex!

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How about you. What are your fears and concerns? Any nid players have experience against the new DE? Any other armies with experience against them? Have some insight or more games under your belt. Let's hear what you think and what your observations are. The floor is yours.

Tyranid Tactica: Venomthropes

Old School here to present Venomthropes in the Tyranid Tactica series here. I have to admit, that I have given the Venomthropes a bad rap in the local scene here after the first game I played with them went WAY south. I have changed my mind since starting this tactica and running a walking list a couple of times.

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The obvious Pros of venomthropes include:

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The 5+ coversave bubble: Now I know I decry the 5+ "hail Mary" save, but when it takes serious focus fire to down your T6 MCs, a 5+ cover is more likely to come into play and give you a chance to get more creatures across the board.

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Defensive Grenades: This is an obvious boon to walking armies who are likely to get charged. It dampens the effects of power weapons can have, limits libbies even further and can also limit those armies with counter attack (a nice side bonus when playing against the wolves).

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Dangerous Terrain: Making opponents move as if in dangerous didn't seem like a big deal until I faced a Nightspinner for the first time. Making units take that test whittles at them and makes an opponent second guess whether or not to commit to a charge. Most of the time it will do nothing, but it can have some decisive effects (just think about how many times one more wound would have made a difference.

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Lash Whips: Don't let these bad boys make you think you are some sort of combat thrope, because they are not, these are there so that when the enemy hits your guant screen, you can roll forward with your big CC counter assault and make the enemy's critical units strike at I1 and turn the tide of the fight in your direction, garauntee CC victory and set the momentum forever in your favor. Poison attacks that wound on a 2+ are cute, but isn't really a big deal.

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Toxic Miasma: This is there to help soak up wounds on those horde armies like Guard and Orks and to really screw other armies like Tau for letting themselves get tied up with Nids.

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Now let's talk Cons for the Venom:

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First and Foremost! It takes up Elite Slots! This is an obvious con in the world of Hive Guard spam, Zoanboat bananzas and deathleaper/ Doom tagteam wrestling, but seriously, that is why we have tank suppression and heavy anti-tank built into our Fast and Heavy slots ... so given the proper list and synergy, the venoms still make sense.

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Weaksauce: The venom can be double-toughnessed off the board and has a not-so-mighty 5+ armor save - ouch. That sounds horrible, but it can be mitigated by taking multiple small units of them to spread their bubble and create targeting issues and they can be protected simply by the fact that most opponents are going to be looking at the big bugs crawling across the board and wanting to shoot them - so messing with target priority is the best way to protect them. If they do find themselves under really heavy fire, you can always go to ground as well.

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Now that we have established the pros and cons, let's take a look at how synergy works for them.

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Spam them or don't take them: Look, you can try to justufy running a single unit of them to sit in the back field providing cover for a T-fex, a Harpy or a unit of X, but why spend points there when those units are either fast, tough or the points could be spent pushing your army further in the direction the rest of your list is going anyway?

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Not so Fast: These guys have a 6" bubble of awsome and move slow, so they do not jive well with very fleet armies like Trygon/ Stealer Spam armies and cost a lot to pod, so they don't really fit in Hive Commander armies either. You can put them there if you want to, but they will seem useless and they will simply be a waste of points you need for anti-tank in these lists (this is a mistake I have made, so listen!)

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Slow and Hard (Oh My!): These guys benefit a list that is tough, has multiple wounds, screening units, anti-tank and slow enough for them to keep up with a hard CC core. This creates an army that has a strong center, target priority scrambling, tank popping and troop eating with advantages that bone other hard CC lists. What does it look like? Let's check it out.

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Hive Tyrant 170

Old Adversary 25

Heavy Venom Cannon 25

Bone Sword, Lash Whips

2 Tyrant Guard 120

Venomthrope - 55

Venomthrope - 55

Venomthrope - 55

11x Termagants 50

10x termagants 50

Tervigon w cluster spines, catalyst, poison sacs 185

Tervigon w Cluster Spines, Catalyst, Poison Sacs 185

Harpy w/ Twin-linked Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines 170

Harpy w/ Twin Linked Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines 170

Tyrannofex w/ rupture cannon, cluster spines, dissecator larvae 265
Tyrannofex w/ rupture cannon, cluster spines, dissecator larvae 265

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Now this is neither the most original list (see the 2000 point version on YTTH, KYE or Spit for the Dice Gods) or the most potent 1850 list the Nids can throw down, but it does illustrate the synergy of the venomthropes in a walking Nid army. This list can pop and shake tanks with 5 units as it moves across the board. At first glance the Tyrant and his guard seem like a liability, but then look at the tervigons (spitting screens), and walking tyrannofexes (their guns are assault) - now combine that with the Old adversary bubble and the cloud effect of the venomthropes. The special rules are flying everywhere, making the Tervi and Tyrannofex a threat in CC along with the potency of the tyrant and the support from surviving harpies on the skirts of the venomthrope bubbles and suddenly we have a very killy recipe that assaulty armies break themselves against and shooty armies have a hard time scraping off the board before it hits them. Just keep it in a bundle, keep it moving and keep it in supporting range. Use your powers, shoot and move and don't freak out if the enemy starts insta-popping venomthropes. Chances are they are going to kill some off, but it is going to help get the MCs across the board. If they dump shots on MCs, they will likley be dealing with cover saves, so again, the venoms help get you across the board.

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That is my two cents on Venomthropes. There are plenty of ways to run a list around them, like a ravener assault list, but I think the one above gives the maximum support needed for a take-all comers. That is my two cents on Venomthropes. Please contribute your experience, list options or comments - every little bit makes articles like these stronger and more helpful to budding Nid players.

Tyranid Tactica: Tervigon

Old School here to talk about Tervigons. Ever since the codex first dropped, people have been going crazy about this unit. We have seen the wax and wan of the 5 tervigon lists, the arguements against tervigons as a whole and now it seems that most folks have settled into the two troop tervi build. With that being said, let's take a look at Big Momma.

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The Ultimate Utility Unit: The Tervigon is horrid as far as close combat is concerned so let's get that on the table and out of the way. What it does offer is massive utility in several forms:

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First great thing about the tervigon is the ability to be taken as a troop choice - just add the cost of a squad of termagants to the overall pointscost of the tervi. Having a 6 wound monsterous creature as a troop choice is an obvious benefit to an army. Having it not be a beast in close combat and the fact that it isn't the biggest baddest MC in your army also gives it a layer of survivability most people take for granted - it isn't priority target #1 and by the time most people get to it, it will be harder to deal with as they will have grinded their army against the worst your list has to offer.

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Spawning gants: This ability is obviously good for objective missions and having termagants close by gives the tervi a layer of protection in the form of a counter attacking mob that is generally benefitting from at least one of the biomorphs on the tervigon. For Killpoint missions, the gants can seem like a hinderance, but used correctly, you can spawn screens, forcing your opponent to either change direction or hit the screen and take a counter-charge from your nastier units. In this method, you may give away kill points, but you can make that up by playing smartly. In KP missions this means holding off spawning until it is necessary, like the event of a countercharge screen or to avoid allowing the tervigon to get swamped, buying time for your cc units to get into range. Also don't forget that tervigons can spawn when locked in combat, an ability that will suprise many opponents and give you a built in countercharge.

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Catalyst - Catalyst is a power that has utility in terms of buffing your gant screens, buffing your MCs against missile launchers or cc attacks and for protecting the tervigon itself (don't forget that you can cast it on yourself). This should be considered your tervi's primary psychic power.

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Onslaught - Onslaught is an ability that allows your shooting units a little more range. Good for getting the Hive guard in better position to pop tanks ect. Is it worth the points, I don't think so most of the time, but I wouldn't totally discount it.

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Dominion - Never forget that you have this power. Many people forget to use this, but every once in a while, there comes a time when that extra synapse can be effective and it is usually in the late game that you need that unit of Hormagants to charge a particular unit instead of that throw away unit you opponent has put near them to throw them off ect. Always remember that this is an option and sometimes a critical one.

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Biomorphs:

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Cluster spines - with BS 3, these have a better chance of hitting your target than your stingers and may even net you some target saturation against a squad that is coming to take you out. Always take these; they're free!

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Poison sacs - I always take poison sacs. Poisoned gants are an annoying proposition for enemy MCs and high toughness units to deal with, but the tervigon has to be close to get it off, so don't forget to stick close or the gants are little more than grots for most enemy infantry.

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Adrenal Glands - AG are useful when combined with poison sacs as they will give the nearby gants the chance to hit the all-to-common t4 units BEFORE they swing and will allow you the re-roll to wound. Just keep in mind that many units will not let you get this charge off. I would take it if I had an extra 10 points in my list - one of the few times I would purchase an upgrade for the tervi instead of just buying a couple more gants. I would not take this without poison sacs.

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The rest of the upgrades - as a pre-cursor to the rest of the upgrades, I would say that this MC is NOT a combat monster and any upgrades not yet mentioned will only make the tervigon a slightly better than half-ass MC in combat.

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Crushing claws - Spend the points on something better. For what these cost, you could upgrade a trygon, go the extra distance and afford a tyranofex, buy more gants ect.

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Scything talons - again, why? She only gets a few attacks, so the possibility of these coming into play as opposed to a unit with more attacks like a ravener of trygon are slight and while the talons are cheap, why not just buy another gant?

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Acid Blood: Not worth the points. If you are taking wounds in CC, it is likely against something with an invul (IC) or against a mob (Won't impact them as much).

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Toxic Miasma: You are going to own the units this hurts anyway or your gants will drag them down for you. Again not worth the points.

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Implant attack: Not worth it as it MIGHT happen once in a hundred games, save these for batter CC units!

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Regeneration: Nifty, but not thrifty. Don't pay 30 points for this upgrade. You are already T6 and have a 3+. Sure it will make you more survivable, but just like crushing claws, you can make a lot more milage using these points to upgrade something else.

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So how do you put these in your army?

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Single tervigon: not too bad for a unit that can make it's own scoring units. It cuts back on the chances of you over producing kill points, but it also cuts back on your chances for giving off FNP to critical units, cuts back on your breeding in objective missions and cuts back on the amount of scoring T6 MCs. I have run it quite sucessfully, but generally I find myself wishing for a little more in the scoring department in objective missions.

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Many Tervigons: We have all seen the 5 tervigon lists. I think they will give you a lot of scoring units, a lot of synapse, but will also give you an army that hits the enemy like a wet sack of dogshit. At 1850-2000 ppints, most mech armies will be able to deal with your other MCs and then hop in their transports to tankshock you and pick off the tervigons. KP missions will also be a rough proposition in most cases. You can try it if you have the money and time to buy and paint all those gribblies, but I would rather have something with a little more bite and variety.

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Two Tervigons: This build gives you a good base for your army. Two big scoring beasts, the chance to put out a lot of objective holders, plenty of FNP where it is needed and a good amount of synapse coverage on the table. This build can work out well with screening and support for walking deathstar armies whether they be warrior or tyrant based and can also work well for more deepstrike and speed orientated lists, giving you an anchor to revolve around that gives good support. The Hive commander build also allows you to outflank a tervi for better option in getting them in scoring position or in postion to really mess with static fire-line lists.

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Overall, I obviously like the two troop tervi build. I have used it in both Hive Commander and Walking Tyrant lists and it does really well. Single tervigon works, but you will feel a little gimped, so if you take them, try running two as a base for your army. Give them Castalyst and Toxin sacs for a start and other than that keep them cheap and they will serve you well. It may seem expensive points-wise, but what other army gives you this much utility and survivability for 500 points in the troops section?

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Those are my two cents, now I turn it over to you to add on your thoughts and strategy.

Mistakes I Will Not Make Tonight with my Nids!

I am off to the FLGS and in order to remind myself not to make the same mistakes as last week, I will remind myself by posting them and maybe you won't make them either (if you are).

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I always shoot my damn spore's cluster spines where I want, but it isn't correct, I have to sahoot the nearest target (and yes I have to shoot). I have twice now caught myself shooting a target nearby without measuring to see how close it is and once decided not to shoot in order not to risk shooting my stuff - even experienced players need to read - read - read the codex!

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I will remember that I can give feel no pain to my guys even in CC. I have wandered around way to many times without casting it into CC to help my trygons (I am amazed my record has been as good as it has been).

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Finally, in objective missions and if it serves me KP missions, I will remember that there is nothing stopping me from crapping gaunts with the tervigon at the start of my movement phase - even if I am in CC!

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I think that is it. Do you forget to do stuff either for or against your benefit and seem to only catch yourself after the fact. Know someone who does. Let's hear your story!

Tyranid Tacica: Genestealers

Old School here to talk about one of my favorite units; Genestealers! One of the first creature entries I read in the old Rogue Trader book was about the Genestealers and since then I have hated them in the hands of the enemy and recently came to love them in my tyranid force.

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Let's talk about the good things first:

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Genestealers are troops. Being troops helps you score when they do manage to live, but for them it makes even one genestealer a unit the enemy must try to gun down.

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Infiltrators - Genestealers can outflank thanks to this rule - much to the displeasure of guardsmen across the Galaxy. This forces the enemy gunlines to either move (losing possible shots) deploy in the middle of the board (which is where the rest of your army should want them) or just risk it and possibly get popped (S4 rending is a threat to any vehicle that isn't a Land Raider or a Monolith). Don't forget that if you have enough LoS blocking terrain, you can infiltrate them, but the cases where infiltrating is better than outflanking is rare.

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Move through Cover and Fleet are another great benefit these guys have. The combination of these two rules mean that you will generally get good distance through terrain, a run move and if assaulting through cover (careful there stud!), you have three dice to make that on as well! This also makes a real difference when somebody is whacking you with weapons that make you move as if you are in difficult terrain as well. Overall, genestealers are quick and when lingering near the board edges, the enemy has to be very afraid of your speed.

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No need for Synapse - no brainer here.

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Finally, high initiative, high Weapon Skill and rending AND volume of attacks - This means you will regularly catch troops, elites (ones without 3+ Inv) and even MCs, strike them first, achieve hits on 3+ and then rock them out of their armor with rending and mass saves - often before they can even swing!

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Alright, let's talk about the bad stuff:

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Armor - This is the thing that all the 4th Ed Nid players cried about; they have a 5+ save, which means in the open, they are going to get rocked and if anything can live through their assault and return even a mediocre number of wounds, the stealers will start to die and lose their edge. The solution? Stay in combat, pick fights you can win and stick to cover.

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Too good at killing mech - often times, stealers will catch that tank on the edge of the board and get a decent number of rends. This is good right? Well, sometimes our claws get a little over-zealous and explode the vehicle, making us take that crappy save again and costing us some stealers. Depending on the rest of your list, this can be an acceptable loss or a devestating one - tactics can fix this problem.

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Not having grenades is another blight to the GS existence. You have these terrible claws and fangs and the ability to move through cover, just not the ability to use those claws first if you assault through said cover - bah! Tactics and synergy can overcome this problem - a friend with whips is a friend indeed.

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Lets talk upgrades:

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Scything Talons - No need for these as you will most often hit on threes, at worst fours, what will re-rolling your ones do that you can't get from ...

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Toxin Sacs - One of my favorites for these puppies, the sacs will make you the bae of almost all standard troops in the game and make MCs crap their ... whatever they wear and BEST of ALL, give you the chance to rend more, which will make for more dead troops. If you plan to use your stealers for more than just a cheap distraction unit, then consider these badboys a mandatory choice! If you think they will make you too killy (ending combat in the turn you charge), then just take these, but less stealers.

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Adrenal Glands - Glands are good for the guy who really wants to kill vehicles (you could potentially glance a Land Raider), but the sacs are a better choice for hunting troops and MCs. The adrenals also only work when YOU charge and with I6, the initiative bonus will mostly be lost on them. I have seen folks use both sacs and glands, but I feel it makes stealers a little too expensive for their survivability.

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Mycetic Spore - this is the unit that needs the spore least in the whole codex. With all the other great ways to get to the enemy, why take the pod; the one option that ensures you will not assault and will most likely get shot to death? If you just want to take the pod, give it to 10 guants and call it a day.

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Brood Lord - Here we go. I am in the school of thought that would rather take more stealers than take a Brood lord ( I get more attacks without him). He has even more bite in the WS and initiative department, but do you need it? He has higher strength and toughness, but do you need it? When I ask myself these questions, I typically say no.

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The redeeming qualities that he does have is that he can take a save here and there to get more stealers to the enemy (at this point his extra attacks start to shine, if he lives) and that he can be given Implant attack, making his rending insta-death to ICs, all the while he is a squad upgrade, making him impossible to pick out in CC.

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Aura of Dispair is a power worth mentioning. Let's say you outflank and want to get those pesky Long Fangs or those damned heavy weapon squads, but you rolled a 1 for your run move. Aura allows you the chance to at least lower the leadership of those units. Guard players and Wolves players know that one point can be life or death and now all you need to do is make that Harpy or Zoan or whatever kill 25% of that squad and you have a better chance of it running - possibly off the board. It doesn't always work and a lot of units out there are also fearless, but it is worth mentioning.

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Overall, the brood lord is expensive, but is very useful if you want to hunt down an IC with your stealers or scare static firepower footpounders off the board, but otherwise (even with his powers ), he is best off in the case while the regular stealers do the fighting instead.

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Builds:

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Stealers work well in Hive Commander lists where you have an increased chance of them coming in along with other units you have in reserve. they also work well in Swarmlord lists sometimes (depends on the list) as he allows you to re-roll the side you want.

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I take genestealers one or two ways; Naked for the sheer joy of a few cheap dudes running in to either kill a tank or some troops and maybe living to do it again (or to add a distraction) OR I take them poisoned so that I can make life hell for MCs, troops and well ... anybody AND I still have the option of killing tanks. The poison build also makes the enemy want to expend ammo killing them, which may seem counter productive for me (losing scoring units), but it also takes shots away from the rest of my army (the really big nasty stuff) - besides, your tervi's will just crap more scoring units anyway!

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Numbers: I normally run two units of 8-10 no matter what upgrades I give them. This makes some opponents nervous about the edges, adds redundancy and gives me hope that one squad will get a side with prizes nearby(!) and provides enough threats in the enemy deployment zone to draw attention away from the Trygons or Tervigons or whatever else is one the board.

Army builds they work well in - They really work well in both drop armies and foot armies. They can add distraction and deployement manipulation to both styles of army, which is good for both. I prefer to run mine in a very fleety army that includes 3 trygons (one or two as primes or relacing a trygon with a unit of raveners), a hive commander Winged Tyrant and a strong base made of termaguants, troop tervigons and hive guard - this way, I can use them in the mass drop bananza, use them to distract from a walking wall of MCs OR I can use them to castle up against a drop army (daemons) and get the jump on them with stealers AND fleeting and flying MCs.

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Stealers also do well in shooty nid lists as Harpies and Tyrannofexes can pop transports for the outflanking stealers (solving a major problem for them and making the insides into lunch). Obviously, you want to try to blow the vehicle up BEFORE you make the run move for the stealers!

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I think that is all I have for these nasty gribblies! Stay tuned for more Nid tactics. I have also been getting a ton of e-mails for building lists to fight specific enemies and while I don't condone tailoring lists to fight one person's army (take-all comers only dammit), I can sympathise with a person who struggles against a certain type of army - so there may be some VERSUS articles coming up. Let me know what you think and please add something to this tactica if you think something is missing. I am by no means the end-all for tyranid tactics.

Tyranid Tactica: The Doom of Malan'Tai

(photo credit to Dakka's Lindsay40k for this amazing model) Old School here with another tactica for the Nids. I am sure "Doom of Malan'tai" and "Tactica" being in the same title made some of you laugh, hell it made me giggle a little too, but then I know there are some people who just don't quite know what this little creep is for, so let's talk about the big-headed kid - the much-maligned Doom of Malan'tai!
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I have a couple rules about the Doom I must insist you follow (Don't feed him after midnight lol):
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Don't Count him toward the plan: When I take this model (and I do it quite often), just build the rest of your list and the ideas you put into it without any tactical regard to the Doom. Don't sit around thinking what he will do - it doesn't matter - he might not eat any souls, he may just eat Double-Toughness shots and Die - He might just change the way the enemy moves - or not - and maybe ... just maybe, he will kill something important or do that and then blow something up - or make the enemy shoot it so much all your other stuff gets to do their job! You never know exactly what's going to happen, so don't plan, just execute when it comes to this guy.
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Always put him in a Spore Pod! Seriously, what use will this model be in most games if he starts 48 inches from the enemy? A Doom without a spore pod will likley get killed and do nothing more than go home and cry himself to sleep on his huge pillow. This really is a no-brainer. In a pod, he becomes a threat to any disembarked, footslogging group of models on the board, regardless what their leadership is (average roll on 3d6 is 10, even ld10 will give up wounds 50% of the time). This often means that an enemy will either disregard the Doom and play for the best, keeping their units near each other to help deal with trying to gun down your MCs (playing into the Doom's hands) - OR - they will spread out and try to minimize the damage the doom can do when he drops (playing into your army's hands). Either way, the Doom will land and the doom will do his job.
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Always Cataclysm unless assault is the better option or running will get him to contest: That is right, even a S4, AP1 large blast is fine, because if it hits a squad, they will fold, he will gain wounds or break even. This also boosts the enemy's willingness to try to double-toughness him with big guns! If you have a ton of wounds, even better, start taking out tanks, T5 stuff, whatever, it's all good. Just keep killing! The bigger the distraction the better! Every ounce of effort the enemy expends on him, the less he spends on your army! The more you kill or distract or disrupt the enemy, the better your investment in the Doom will pay off - the only time, I would run would be to contest an objective if you have to with him if he still lives on turn 5 and you have nothing else around (won me a game once).
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The Bottomline: The Doom is the ultimate distraction unit beacause for 130 points, you will always do SOMETHING with this unit. As stated above, you may kill your points back at least, or distract enough units for a critical turn allowing the big MCs to close with the enemy or disrupt the enemy enough to ruin his game plan, throwing him off balance and giving you the momentum. The point is that this is a unit the enemy has to do something about or it will do something to them!
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Now the downside: This badboy lives in the land of Elite choices, which is the most hotly contested FOC slot in the whole codex. Taking him means not taking another unit of Hive Guard or not taking those Zoans, which can be a hard choice. At 1850, I take him instead of the zoans and I recognize that he may just die to the first missile launcher shot that comes his way (because pimping is sometimes easy - even with a 3+ invul); I accept that risk for all the potential benefits he might lend as stated above.
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So if you are into the gamble, want to make hell for the opponent and maybe even cause some mayhem (I once owned a Daemon Prince, Havoc Squad and 3 Chaos Termies in one turn), then I would give him a try. If you would rather have garaunteed shooting (I can't blame you), less BS called your direction and better AT options, then you may want to pass on this model.
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Now I turn the tactica over to you: What do you think of the doom? Used him before? Been the victim? Have a great Doom Story? Please share, feedback is always welcome and please check out the the link in the photo credit up top, the guy made an awesome scratch build and it desrves more credit than the one I made!

Tyranid Tactics: The Parasite of Mortex

Old School here with a brief respite from the harder Tactica Articles on the Tyranids I have been writing so far to bring you the Parasite of Mortex.

Fun and Killy: Let's start this off by saying the Parasite is a big ball of fun if you enjoy conversions and if you own enough ripper swarms - Why not, this model boasts W5, S6, I6, four attacks and a 3+ save. Independant Character status means you can hide this guy in squads of gargoyles, shrikes or skyslasher swarms (if you own those). Implant Attack plus rending means that multi-wound characters and models will go down quickly before the Parasite (not to meantion other Nids).
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Aside from that, the Parasite can breed rippers from enemy casualties and from outflanking units using toughness tests - added to it's other abilities, lack of invul and T4, you can pigeonhole this model into a troop hunter role - perfect for hunting down those space Marine squads where the Librarian is hidden and killing the Libby before he strikes (or any other cheap squad with a hero or lone MC). The Parasite can also be a means for cracking vehicles and then dissuading the enemy from charging, though depending on his squad, the parasite may get punished badly for this.
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The weaknesses of the Parasite include his T4 and his breeding ability makes him a liability in kill point games.
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I would use the Parasite in a list with a lot of other big units to distract from it - Tyrgons, MC spam, Zoanthropes ect. This way, it can make it up the board to get it's job done - the Parasite really needs a hearty squad to protect it - Gargoyles can lead to a lot of death through majority T3 and their 6+, but Shrikes on the other hand can provide a heartier unit that flies, can stand on its own and can also put up a fight along side the Parasite - I would go with boneswords, adrenal glands and toxin sacs to allow you to out inititiative most enemy units and to compliment the abilities of the Parasite. You just need to run a nasty list that stands aside from this unit, understand that it may not make it to the end and keep the squad in cover as it advances.
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When you breed rippers, push them out to be speed bumps, so the enemy either has to assault them to get to you or you can play leapfrog with them - playing against guard, if you can push into a flank with this unit, you can break out with a ton of rippers and distract his whole board edge, allowing the rest of your army to advance and dominate - the same goes when fighting any other mid to low toughness armies.
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In Conclusion, I would say that in general I wouldn't take the Parasite of Mortex in a take-all-comers list or a competitive environment, but I won't rule out that the Parasite can be really nasty in the hands of a good player and competitive if he really plays a lot with it and understands its tactics, but in general, I would leave it for the fun, pick-up games.
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As always, feedback is appreciated!

Tyranid Tactica: The Tyranid Prime

(photo credit to Aventine) Old School here to talk about the Mini-Tyrant, the Super warrior, of course I mean the Tyranid Prime - the cheapest HQ choice in the book and GW's alternative to Warrior HQ choices from 4th edition.
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The Stud Warrior: Tyranid Prime has everything you wish your warriors had - WS 6, BS 4, S5, T5, I5, and those wannabes can even have the WS and BS if he joins their squad! The problem is that he can't ride in their pod (boo GW) and he can't take wings ... so if you want him to party with a group of warriors, they are going to have to do it from your deployment zone, hmm, we'll talk about that one later.
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What are you taking him for? Good question, some folks use the prime as a fighting unit (combat role) on the field, some just buy the cheapest variant and attach him to a squad for wound allocation and to fill the HQ slot(support role), others use him for a mix of those two purposes. The prime's role on the field will define his upgrades, so let's talk about those.
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Biomorphs: Top Set of Arms

Scything Talons: The cheapest possible option, the Talons can help you out with re-rolls, but there are better options for this unit unless you are just using him as a cheap HQ and a wound soaker.

Rending Claws: These are cheap and on this set of arms still leave him with ranged weapon options. They can help ignore armor, but I wouldn't count on it and they can help with vehicles, but once again, I really wouldn't count on it too much.

Dual-Boneswords: Ah, yes the New Exalibur of the Nid codex, the dual bonesword option! Want to rock non-eternal warrior IC's, monstrous creatures and multi-wound A-hole units like Nob Bikers in close combat? These are the weapons for you, then. A single Tyranid Prime armed with these will make most of those units think twice about trying to charge his squad. A LD on 3d6 makes anyone more than a little nervous! If you want a fighting Prime, this is the upgrade for you.

Bonesword+Lash whip: Less effective on it's own than the dual-bonesword, this option will allow the Prime to lower the initiative of the enemy. Here, he is not very scary, but if he is hanging out with a tyrant and his Tyrant guard and they are armed for war, then this can be a good option. The same can be said if he is hanging out with a gang of Dual-bone sword warriors. If he is just hanging out with some Hive guard or something like that, the Dual-bone swords will be the better choice, but by all means, try both out and decide which flavor you prefer.
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Biomorphs for the second set of arms:

Rending claws: This set means leaving a ranged weapon behind and if you are taking boneswords, it really just help you out against vehicles and once again I would count on the sixes. Leave the vehicle hunting to units with wings or fleet.

Scything talons: Not too bad for the Prime who runs around with the tyrant and his crew, as it will help him hit more often with his bone sword(s).
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Devourer: The BS4 helps out, but with the fearlessness on the board in a take all comers environment, there isn't much reason to take it when you could have the deathspitter, unless you are just taking the cheapest possible Prime.
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Deathspitter: On his own, the Prime with a deathspitter isn't scary and for this reason, I would leave it out when running up the board in a Hive Tyrant Deathstar unit, but if he is running with a group of warriors, a massed amount of BS 4 S5 weapons can have a real impact and can even help to shake those transports! Not expensive and not half bad.
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Boosting upgrades:
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Adrenal Glands: Not the greatest upgrade for a couple of reasons - The prime is already I5 and will excel at troophunting and lashwhips would only cost you an extra 5 points. Support role primes tend to sit in units that don't really charge, so I can't see it being much use there either. If you are dedicating him to seeking out and destroying ICs, however, then this may be the upgrade you choose.
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Poison sacs: S5 on this model makes poison weapons pretty awesome! I know it may not seem like it, but combining this upgrade with dual boneswords creates a combo where you can really wound those MCs and high toughness ICs, break plague marines and plaguebearers and decimate Marine squads of any other flavor. Guard will actually benefit from this and so will all other weaker units, but I think in this case, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
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Regeneration: I am not a fan of regen in general ... it is a gambler's upgrade, however his IC status means that he can spread the love and over the course of the game, actually get his wounds back, but I would rather drop these points into other units and options.
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Possible layouts for the Prime:

In the Deathstar: A walking Tyrant with a bone sword, lash whips and 3 tyrant guard with boneswords makes a nasty deathstar, add a Prime with either dual boneswords (the tyrant has the whip) and scything talons or toxic sacs and you have a REALLY nasty unit. If the Tyrant has Old Adversary, then ignore the recommendation for Scything talons and poison sacs.

This can be a little different in Swarmlord's formation as the lashwhip is usedul on the Prime and since the Swarmlord can give out abilities elsewhere, you may just want the talons or sacs.

In a Group of Warriors: Groups of warriors led by a prime should always be nasty - don't take half-measure making little squads, make the squad BIG and push it up the board behind units that give you cover or provide an even bigger distraction. Dual bone swords are perfect for the warriors (no need for that many whips), the prime can the take the whip and the whole formation can take toxic sacs, making them a serious threat to just about any unit in the game. Add Deathspitters for mass S5 fire at 18" and you have a pretty resilient, scary unit, just avoid double toughness weapons at all costs.
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The Wound soaker, HQ fill Prime: This guy is there to be cheap and let you take your points elsewhere. Take him bare and stick him in a squad of Hive Guard for wound allocation, add him tp some termaguants for a fearless objective holder, ect. Add weapons to make a threat if you feel, but in general, just keep this guy cheap and hide him. Don't add him to anything with fleet as he will slow them down.
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So there are my two cents on the Tyranid Prime, please feel free to add your feedback and experiences!

Tyranid Tactics: Swarmlord

(photo credit to Eldar Addict) Old School here with a tactical article for the Swarmlord.
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Having covered Hive Tyrants so thoroughly, it is only natural to follow up with a post concerning the Swarmlord. Now Swarmlord is the stuff of legend and rightfully takes up the position in the Nid codex that Abbadon takes in the Chaos Codex and aside from making 13 year olds squeal in adoration, he hasn’t gotten a whole lot of love from the tactical articles I have seen on the web. I think he has his place on the battlefield and can be competitive, so let’s talk about Swarmlord’s Strengths, Weaknesses and tactical application.
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Uber Tyrant or Jack of All Trades?: Swarmlord’s Statline is that of a regular Hive Tyrant with a few exceptions; He is Weapon Skill 9, meaning he will hit on three against anything other than the very nastiest MCs in 40k (Bloodthirster comes to mind), He is Initiative 6, which is nice to have because he becomes I7 if he gives his unit Furious Charge and he has 5 wounds, another nice touch considering he is rocking a 3+. The 3+ doesn’t mean much with all the Missile Launchers out there these days, but a little synergy with other units and the application of guard can make you much more survivable. Get him in combat and he gets his 4+ and his guard retinue to back him – he will roll through nearly any hammer unit at that point (see tactics below).
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Aside from that, he has the ability to give out Acute Senses, Furious Charge and Preferred Enemy to friendly units and while it isn’t the same as giving a 6” bubble of Preferred Enemy, it still can be tactically beneficial.
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Swarmlord also has a sort of Hive Commander ability where he still confers +1 to the reserve rolls, but instead of allowing a unit to outflank, he allows outflankers to re-roll their table edge result – not a bad exchange and when you consider that his reserve roll bonus is also stackable with a normal Hive Tyrant with Hive Commander.
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Finally, Swarmlord has Psychic Monstrosity, which gives him the 18” synapse bubble he needs to build his assault spearhead around. Having access to all the Tyrant Psychic powers is nice, but we all know you only need paroxysm and leech essence.
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Tactical Application: Unlike the mass synergy, support guru that the Hive Tyrant is, the Swarmlord is all about himself and what he can do – Being a foot tyrant with only assault capabilities, it shouldn’t be surprising. First off, I would say that Swarmlord fits awkwardly in any list smaller than 1850. AT 1850, if you want to run him, you need to understand that your list is built to support him and his uber death squad – period. You also need to understand that he needs tyrant guard and that you need to stop worrying about individual unit points-cost and go with what makes your list killy that fits into 1850. With that being said, let’s talk shop on putting him to use on the field.
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Here is a basic block to start an army around the Swarmlord:
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Swarmlord with 2x Tyrant Guard armed with Bone Swords (430)
Tyranid Prime with bonesword, lash whip and scything talons (95)
Tervigon with Catalyst (175)

(Here is your basic Assault spearhead team for the Swarmlord. This gives you 13 powered attacks on the charge from the Swarmlord and his Guard, another 5 when joined by the IC Prime – plus the enemy’s best models should be lash whipped by being base to base with the Prime and if you screened yourself right, the enemy should be subject to paroxysm. The tervigon trails you casting catalyst and if need be, can throw its MC attacks into the mix. When you consider the fact that Swarmlord can also give the unit preferred enemy or Furious Charge, you can start to see where this is heading – even the best assault units once nerfed and lashed and charged will struggle to survive more than one turn of this abuse … now let’s talk about the rest of the list)
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With 700 points left, we can go with a more shooty army that pops or at least shakes vehicles for the death star unit – or we can go all-in assault and really mess up target priority for the enemy and completely overload his ability to deal with assault.
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Shooty: Add the following units to the list above –
2 Hive Guard – 100
2 Hive Guard – 100
1 Harpy with Twin-Linked Venom Cannon (170)
1 Harpy with Twin-Linked Venom Cannon (170)
10 Genestealers (140)
10 Genestealers (140)
10 Termagaunts (50)
10 Termagaunts (50)
Tervigon with Catalyst (175)
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Alright, this added to the 700 points above, would leave you at 1795 (I am not going to write your whole list for you!) and it gives you two troop tervigons running up along Swarmlord, capable of providing catalyst support or spitting out screening units, two squads of hive guard for shaking tanks and popping transports, two harpies capable of assisting in assaults, screening the death star unit and messing up the enemies tank game at least a little – the side benefit to the harpies is that they will draw away big guns. The gaunts just make the tervis troops and the stealers can be run several ways;

1) Standard outflank, capitalizing on Swarmlord’s outflanking and reserve roll benefits. This will make them likely to come in and pop rear armor with rending and make a distraction for enemy fire. If not that, then it will force the enemy deployment into your favor.

2) They can run behind all the monstrous creatures and provide a second wave CC to get the Swarmlord’s unit out of any potential prolonged combats or they could jump ahead to block a likely assault to allow swarmlord to get the charge.
Now this list is simple and spammy, but it illustrates the potential synergy of units prone to support and units prone to shooting and how they can work together.
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Now for the All-out Assault list: This list can run up the board or, if need be, take advantage of swarmlord’s army-wide gifts:
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(the 700 point Swarmlord block above)
Trygon (200)
Trygon (200)
Trygon (200)
10 Genestealers (140)
10 Genestealers (140)
Tervigon with catalyst (175)
19 Termagaunts (95)
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Alright, The assualty list is another simple spam list I drew up just to illustrate the point. You have multiple deployment options in this list by which to mess with the enemy, but generally, you can scuttle across the board behind the trygon screen. The trygons will run straight toward enemy lines and swarmlord and his entourage should be running right behind them. If you want some adrenaline glands for at least two of the trygons, buy them and take the points from the large gaunt unit (I designed them as the extra points fund anyway.) Their main point is to make the one tervigon a troop choice and in objective missions it can stay home with the big gaunt squad and make babies. In KP missions, it can add to the spearhead or if situation dictates, you have some tactical flexibility.
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Honestly, these lists aren’t going to make you a ton of friends casually, but in a take-all-comers environment, they can be a good starting point for bringing the swarmlord out. I would prefer a regular tyrant with wings, but Swarmlord can be fun, choppy and a challenge for you to try to run. Please don’t hammer me over the lists as I am not selling these as the lists you must run, but as an idea of how certain elements can work together to create synergy on the battlefield. I encourage you to try many variations and see what fits your tastes. Which leaves me one more talking point …
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The 2+ reserves list: The 2+ reserve list is an army that includes Swarmlord and a Hive Commander Tyrant. This can be extremely pricey, but it can also be pretty effective. The idea is to pack your list with creatures that come in reserves like stealers, trygons, harpies, podding troops ect to create a “shock and awe” scenario. Back before the FAQ, I tried this a few times with a walking tyrant and a winged one and while it can be expensive, it worked out well, but it was also a one trick pony in that it had a hard time working in any other way than pure reserves (no real table walking) and if the points are less than 2000, it feels even more restrictive. Also anyone who has experience fighting pure drop lists knows how to counter it via deployment and their own reserves. I would say try it out, but don’t bank on a one-trick list when this codex is capable of so much more.
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That’s my two cents on the Swarmlord, feedback is always welcome.

Tyranid Tactica: The Hive Tyrant - a VERY in-depth view

Naturally, the first unit I have chosen to feature for this tactica series is the Hive Tyrant – the Hive Mind’s chosen representative on the battlefield. If you haven't read the first article in this series, please do. The Hive Tyrant is also a common HQ choice for many Tyranid armies for two reasons:
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It is the only HQ choice in the codex GW decided to make an official model for … and the Hive Tyrant is the ultimate support platform for the tyranid army, capable of taking abilities with army-wide benefits, powers that can take the fight out of the best enemy units and weapons options that can make it a force multiplier for your combat units.
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Is the Tyrant a combat unit or a support unit? I cannot stress this enough, despite its really awesome, combat-oriented stat line, the primary role of the tyrant is SUPPORT. It is single-handedly the best support unit in the codex if not the game for many of the reasons listed above, so let’s talk options and tactics.
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Army Wide Special Abilities: The Tyrant has three abilities it can take, two of which can benefit much if not all of your army and give you a built-in tactical ace-up your sleeve – let’s take a look.
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Indescribable Horror: Let’s take out the garbage; this ability wouldn’t be bad if it was built into the tyrant already. As it stands, why would I invest any points into something that keeps some units from assaulting my tyrant (or him and his guard) some of the time?
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Old Adversary: This ability works well in some list builds, but you need to take your army’s composition into account before you consider this ability. For instance, if your build involves getting the enemy into combat with a ton of hormagaunts, non-double scything talon carnifexes, ect (otherwise WS3 units you want in combat who don’t already benefit from a re-roll to hit), then Old Adversary is a good consideration and if you play your game right, you will reap the benefits of preferred enemy. Other builds however, such as Trygon/ genestealer spam, don’t need old adversary as much due to the dual scything talons and high natural WS of the units involved, along with the multiple deployment options of those units.
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Hive Commander: This is a great ability for its points cost when taken in a build that compliments its effect. If you run an army that involves non-podded hordes scuttling across the table, with no innate abilities to deploy off table, then this may not be the ability for you. If you run an army that uses pods, involves a mass of units like stealer, trygons or any other deep striker/ outflanker units, this is certainly the ability for you.
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Don’t get Type-casted: Now, 3+ is nice to come in and it also counters guard’s Master of the Fleet, but that doesn’t mean that your army has to come in via reserves just because you have this ability – the real key point here is that it unlocks your ability to tailor your attack to your opponent, making this a great ability for take-all-comers lists. The idea is then to build a list that is both strong on the board and strong in a scenario that calls for deep striking. More on this later.

Psychic Powers: The tyrant is a potent psychic and his abilities once again compliment his role as the ultimate support unit in the tyranid army.
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Paroxysm: What a wonderful power! You brought an Assaulty Hammer unit? Have fun at WS1 hitting my guants on 5’s. Oh, did I deep strike next to your battlesuit squad armed with plasma rifles; have fun hitting me on 6’s. This power really is a force multiplier, it allows your assault units to take on larger (or more dangerous) enemy units than normal because they will likely be hit less by the enemy, making them more survivable while, at the same time, they are hitting more – making them more killy – increasing their chance of killing the enemy unit outright from fearless saves or from cutting them down.
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Paroxysm also makes deep striking in the vicinity of a nasty enemy shooting unit less of a bother as it means they won’t be shooting you (at least with any accuracy). This means that shooting unit either moves or dies. Whether you nerf an enemy assault unit or cut the accuracy of a shooting unit, this power is likely to catch the enemy off-guard or will make him alter his initial plans, which can force him to make mistakes – which often leads to tyranid victory!
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Leech Essence: The usual second choice for tyrants, Leech isn’t going to be a game changer most of the time, but it can give you a chance to regenerate one of the tyrant’s wounds without wasting points on regen, it can kill a couple guardsmen or a space marine here or there, but mostly it is a nice second power to have and I’ll leave it at that.
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The Horror: An often overlooked power, I regard this the same way I regard Leech – it can be nice to have, but I wouldn’t count on it doing a lot. It could potentially lead to you dropping in and making some guardsmen run away or maybe even some wolves – but I wouldn’t bank on it. In a take-all-comers list, you can count on facing fearless armies, where the horror will do nothing, unlike Leech which at least can be useful anywhere.
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Psychic Scream: The poor man’s Doom of Malan’tai, this ability seems cool, but really lacks the luster the Doom’s ability has by 1) being a psychic power, 2) not happening at the beginning of each shooting phase and 3) not being taken on 3d6. So this leaves us with a power that will generally be ineffective or maybe kill one or two guys in what most of the time, will be your low LD, horde-type armies anyway. So, moving on …
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The Gear: The Hive Tyrant has a lot of options – Let’s break it down to what works with what build and what is just generally badass. I will start with wings and Guard as those two choices will define a lot of the other gear choices.
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Wings: They are expensive, but depending on your army build, they may be mandatory. Walking hordes will have little use for these – some folks want to use them to drop the tyrant into midfield when he is actually needed, but the walking armies can leave little room for him to land and that is an awful big investment for so little payback. The real list for the flyrant is a list built with fleet and cav units, such as Trygons, genestealers and Ravagers. The Tyrant can use his support abilities to make these units even deadlier, maximizing their potential, but he needs to be as fast as they are. His lack of guard isn’t a big deal in this scenario as the enemy will have other priority targets rather than the Tyrant to deal with. The same can be said for drop lists, where he can drop in with the storm. If your tyrant isn’t going to have wings, then I would recommend giving him …

Guards: Tyrant Guard are ablative wounds and, if it comes to it, extra CC power for the foot tyrant. They help the walking tyrant cross the board to fulfill his mission and in the scuttling horde lists out there where he has plenty of units his own speed, guards help the tyrant build his death star. If you plan to take Guards, give them the lash whips if you want your tyrant to be able to shoot. If you don't want to shoot, take a guard and run every turn in order to keep up with your force.
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Lash Whip and Bone Sword: The Lash Whip and Bone Sword are standard and are pretty awesome for the Tyrant’s support role. A winged Tyrant can easily use them to move to a potential combat that might be difficult for his dedicated cc unit, join into the charge and lower the initiative of the biggest threat just by being in base to base with it. The bone sword helps further by possibly inst-killing those pesky Librarians before they get to swing on your trygons! They can be handy for the walking tyrant as well, but I think his limited movement will make these weapons less than ideal.
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Scything talons: With the naturally high WS of a tyrant, the standard set is usually enough (now he only misses on 2’s). Two sets will make him re-roll everything, though the effectiveness of this over one set with bone swords and lash whips is negligible.
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Devourers with Brain Leech Worms: Perfect for the Flyrant who wants to drop in and either gun down a low LD squad and make them run or for the tyrant who wants to come in and shake vehicles. Two sets make you even shootier, but also make you more expensive. One set with the Lash Whip and Bone Sword can make for a multi-purpose tyrant, but I would rather stay with the standard build.
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Deathspitters: Even twin-linked, I would leave this one alone. I have played Tau before and if I wanted some Fire Warriors, I would just play them again.
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Heavy Venom Cannon: So, you want to snipe vehicles? This is a good option for the walking tyrant as he can walk around with his guard and stun, immobilize and pop enemy transports and tanks. It isn’t too bad for the winged tyrant in theory due to rear armor shots, but you will likely be in assault most of the time and all the cannon does is jack up the points-cost of an already pricey tyrant.
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The Stranglethorn cannon: This weapon gives you the chance to pin enemy units down and while it sounds really good, you have other means available to the tyrant to nerf enemy units, so why not use them. If you do want to try it out, run it on a walking tyrant and have plenty of other units that can pop vehicles so he can take advantage of the troops – but I would generally leave this weapon at home for the tyrant.
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Biomorphs
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Adrenal Glands: Tyrants can already drag down and enemy’s initiative, but can he reliably pop heavy tanks in combat? This is a good upgrade for a winged Tyrant if you have 10 points.

Toxic Sacs: Not really a great choice for take-all-comers because you basically choose from wounding on 2 most of the time or re-rolling 4’s … I’ll take the 2’s.

Acid Blood: A fancy trick and an expensive one. Most units that are going to single-out a tyrant and try to kill it in CC will have to be quick to get away from being counter assaulted and likely won’t worry too much about this upgrade.

Implant Attack: Another expensive fancy trick not needed for most tyrants.

Toxic Miasma: Expensive and not a big need for it in take all comers lists.

Regeneration: Very expensive for something that MIGHT work on a 4 wound model, combined with Armored Shell, it can be annoying, but most of the time, this upgrade is not needed.

Armored shell: Expensive, just take guard if you are that scared of taking wounds.

Thorax Swarms: Very expensive for what little they do. I would leave this option at home as well.

Examples:
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The Flyrant: Hive Tyrant with Wings, Bone Sword, Lash Whip, Scything Talons, Hive Commander, paroxysm, leech essence (255)

This Tyrant is geared for a multiple deployment army (an army that can do well on the board or can be nasty deep striking). Throw him in with a trio of Trygons, some outflanking genestealers and anything else that is fleet and large enough for him to hide behind. He can then either come up the board behind them, ready to provide paroxysm or lash support against hammer units, take out a transport for the trygons to eat and can be in multiple places quickly. He can also deep strike in with all the big nasties to provide a “shock and awe” assault against gunline armies. His scything talons mean he will seldom miss when adding his two cents to assault and if needed, he can provide outflanking abilities to a squad of troops that normally don’t have it. This tyrant is all about flexibility and choices, both in field functionality and in terms of deployment and gameplay.
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If you want to remove Hive Commander, try Old Adversary and drop down and surround him with podding gribblies to protect him, just watch out for the old Master of the Fleet, as your DS won’t go exactly as planned. Also, never run Old A with a bunch of Trygons, as it wouldn’t make much sense!
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The Walking Tyrant: Hive Tyrant on foot, Bone Sword, Lash whip, Heavy Venom Cannon, Paroxysm, Leech essence, 2x Tyrant guard (315) or with only 1 guard (255)
This Tyrant can be expensive, but it will walk down the field, stunning vehicle for your hordes to mop up. Anything that gets too close, will suffer from paroxysm. This build’s primary benefit is the fact that the enemy is going to dump shots into it to make it go away while it hopefully manages to pop a vehicle or two. The downfall is that it moves slower than most of your army (trygons fleet, hormis bound, ect.), which is why I left out Old Adversary. Honestly, if I wanted to make a cheap tyrant, I would give him the basic layout, a guard and run every shooting phase until mu army got where it needed to be. Unfortunately, this will likley leave my enemy out of paroxysm range the turn my army gets to the enemy - which is why we suck it up and pay for wings. Not being able to drop in hurts this build a lot and if I had to, I would pick the flyrant everyday.
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In Conclusion: Damn this is a long article! Alright, in conclusion, you have a lot of choices, but the strength of the tyrant is in his ability to open up your deployment options to fight your opponents on your terms – making the Nids possibly the most flexible (and maybe the most competitive) armies in the game. His support capabilities are outstanding and his presence on the field can push the game in your favor and make the enemy curse through his teeth. I obviously prefer the winged Hive Commander and I think that layout is the optimal build for this unit, but I encourage you to try other builds, try them some more and then come to your own conclusions. Never forget that he is a SUPPORT element and should fill that role as best as possible. Have fun and Happy Feeding! Comments always welcome.