6th Edition Tyranid Army List

*In the interest of staying current, this list/post is outdated rather badly now. The biggest revelation that changes it is the introduction of Dataslates. For a great rundown on the most promising and newest among them, check this out

Hello again Folks!

All right, I promise, absolutely promise, that this is my last Tyranid entry. After this I plan on doing some more Battle Reports, Terrain showcases, and Eldar Tactica

Fear the Xenos menace!

But!
First, I wanted to present how I think I would field the new Tyranids. Here's the list:

Swarmlord                HQ
Flyrant                       HQ    Wings, TL Dev., Hive Commander
9x Warriors               TR    Deathspitters, Rending Claws
10x Genestealers      TR    9x Scything Talons, Broodlord
10x Genestealers      TR    9x Scything Talons, Broodlord
24x Termagants        TR    base
Trygon Prime            HS
Trygon Prime            HS
3x Biovores               HS    base

2000 pts on the nose.

So, here are the notes-

Deploy the Swarmlord (I know, I know, hear me out), Gant blob, Biovores and Flyrant in some back corner of the board. Their entire job is to survive the first turn.

The Flyrant's Hive Commander upgrade allows the Warriors (yes, Warriors) to Outflank, while the 'Stealers can Outflank as well (due to Infiltrate) unless there's some amazing place for them to Infiltrate into in turn 1. The Swarmlord is here, mostly, to add that +1 to reserve rolls.

On deploying, spreading out that Gant blob can give a reasonable chance of holding back any Alpha Striking drop-pods, to maybe keep Swarmy alive for that first turn.

The list is designed to get as much as possible all up in the other guy's grill turn 2, so Deep Strike and Outlank everything that can. Ideally, you get the Warriors, Trygons, and 'Stealers all popping out of the woodwork at once and overwhelming the enemy without suffering too many casualties getting there.

Because of the nature of the strategy, this will either work (sweet!) or be over very quickly so you can take another stab at it with something else.

This is how I see this going

I took Warriors because I wanted to use the Hive Commander upgrade to add Outflank as big and burly a unit as possible, and a maxed unit of Warriors is it. I also gave them the Deathspitters to be a credible threat to the most possible targets (including AV 11 and T8 defenders), and because when they arrive from Outflank they need to do as much damage as possible outside of assault. Then I added on the RCs because I'm optimistic and think they could actually get in to CC, although one could also use those points on a second set of Deathspitters for each Warrior.

Warriors are, I think, still viable if you invest a lot in them. They are squishy, but they are also Synapse Troops with a whole lot of wounds - and with the benefit of Outflanking, rather than being in the crosshairs all the way across the table, they have a good chance of getting in there and getting their licks in.

The other option in this same slot is Raveners, for just about the same cost. However, their only advantage is that they can Deep Strike rather than Outflank (and thereby don't need the expensive Hive Commander upgrade), and in return they're not Synapse (with IB: Feed no less...)

The Trygons I took as Primes because the gun is better and they don't have to worry about Synapse.

Between the Warriors and Trygon Primes, the Synapse web is rock solid, and any Psyker your opponent is holding back will be suffering from Shadow in the Warp.

The Broodlords I added with the hope that The Horror could throw down some pinning and reduce the fire the arriving units have to suffer early. Especially if there are Psyker-led units that are vulnerable under the Shadow in the Warp, The Horror should have an even better chance of success.

The Scything Talons I took on the Stealers because, unless I misread the rules, that gives each of them +1 Attack (for a second pair of CC weapons, in their army list entry they only have the Rending Claws).

Sidebar: You know who hates taking Pinning tests at a -5 Ld? Grey Knights. This list would f-up those shiny silver snots.

The idea was to get as tough a mob as possible that could Deep Strike or Outflank, that didn't have to worry about Synapse, and could do some ranged-damage as well as just CC. After the flood drops down, good ol' Swarmy and his surviving pals could always wade in for the (hopefully light) mop-up.

Seems reasonable. Also, see above in this picture: what happens if you lose Synapse.

So that's that. This is my own list made from scratch with the new Codex in hand, and no outline from the 5th ed Codex. I feel that's the only way to really design a list because despite the generally similar feel to the army, some of the 6th changes utterly change the way 'Nids can (or can't) be played.

I hope this is helpful to anyone out there, and go ahead and let fly with the flamestorm of criticism!

Good luck, and Happy Gaming!