Tyrainds At The End Of 5th Edition

So here we are at the end of 5th edition and what a ride it has been with Tyranids…

Before their release it was wave after wave of marines and IG, and then ‘nids were going to be the first xeno release of 5th edition- a fearful codex to offer gamers a real enemy to face on the table. Broken rumors abound as usual, and many of the power gamers at the club immediately started building their army focusing on spammed hive guard and tervigons…

…and then the codex dropped, things were not as WAAC as they appeared, and with no vehicles, an overcost of units like crazy, and a restrictive FOC Tyranids fell from grace a few mere months after their release.

Not having ANY kits for the tervigon, swarmlord, and harpies didn’t help…

But there were still a few units of note, like DOM, and psychic powers…which promptly got the smack down lest there be any challenge to marines…

Ok, enough of being a downer, no further need to rehash what is already known, but rather let’s take a step back and look at Tyranids in the here and now for those of us still playing them or (gasp) even considering starting them.

Is there such a thing as a “competitive” Tyranid list? I guess I should define competitive from my point of view so we are on the same page…

A comparative army is one that can handle the various phases of the game- moving, shooting, assaulting, etc. with multiple units from across its force organization chart. Examples- take a competitive Space Wolf army. They have movement with their 6+ razorbacks, shooting with their las-plas and 15 long fangs, assault with their grey hunters and thunder wolves. They have multiple units that can perform each role. There are no hard choices to be made since you can cram in all your toys, so in theory whatever you face at the moment on the table you can deal with.

Can Tyranids do this? I’d like to hear your arguments, and from playing them for quite some time now in both casual and tournament games I’d say vs. the other 5th edition books the answer would be NO.

Tyranids based on the design flaw in their codex, either though intent or neglect just cannot field a competitive army- as a hive commander you are going to have to make choices, compromises, and limit your plan of attack- there just isn’t redundancy in numbers to take on the other armies at 2K+ points.

Notice I didn’t say you can’t win with Tyranids, just that there is no other army out there to compare against them and the general tactics of the game, and indeed other armies just doesn’t carry over to Tyranids. Point #1- Tyranids are the only army that don’t have ANY vehicles.

So why bother playing Tyranids, or more accurately, why am I still playing them? Well, more than anything 5th edition has been nothing but a marine love fest- marines vs. marines get’s really boring, so playing Tyranids always results in a fun game for me- it is always different and does much to recreate the feeling of 40K- the Imperium vs. desperate aliens and xenos.

Second is that there is something to be said about being the underdog- winning games is fun, no disputing that, but how you win can be just as important. Some books and army builds are just better than others based on the design flaws of GW. Some armies are just auto-win based on the rules, not the skill of the general behind it. With Tyranids a win is a total win on skill alone- from the very start of the game till the very end- there is no luck involved with them- you win and lose based on your skill with them. There are no codex crutches with Tyranids- you will get good at the game really fast- you just have no choice, adapt or die.

Finally on a personal note, I like playing Tyranids since I don’t feel bad if they die on the table. Yes, I tend to get a little into the game beyond just rolling dice. Losing my Black Templar sword brethren terminators are a huge deal- over the course of playing them through 5th edition I’ve probably lost around sixty or so of them- those are losses in marines and terminator armor that is disastrous! With Tyranids I don’t have to feel bad that they die- they are just space bugs, expendable fodder for the win- the hive mind will just gestate and belch up some more…

List wise my play style and evolution of ‘nids has evolved into two extremes- a reserve based list known as null deployment or a big zilla type list with five tervigons and three trygons. The first wins on application of surgical skill and precision strikes, and the second wins on the application of overwhelming skill, drowning key points of your opponent’s army in gaunts, shutting it down bit by bit so your trygons can take the army apart.

These days at the end of 5th edition I play the null deployment model exclusively at this point as it is the most relaxing and fun for me to play. Bigzilla is effective, no doubt, but it takes a lot of energy to move hundreds of models (spawned gaunts), taking them on and off the table, and then there is transporting the entire thing- three cases.

Special characters have also made a huge comeback for me here at the end of 5th- Swarmlord, DOM, Deathleaper, and Old One Eye all make it into the list since I don’t have to worry about being competitive. Since I can’t build a competitive list based on the definition, my list has to be about creating moments of opportunity- a chance to get that special character into position so it can influence the game- very hard to do indeed! Tyranids have really kind of become hero-hammer.

So let’s look at a few other ideas and observations from my experience with Tyranids as we finish out 5th edition…