Discussing the brutalness of the powerful Tyranids

[TYRANIDS]

HEYY EVERYONE!!!!
This thread is all about the love and brutal raw power of the most animalistic 40k amey ever to play!....YES... i mean the Tyranids! I wanna hear from all of u lovers of alien bugs! ive love the tyranids for 4 years now and now just about everything about them including backround knowledge and history of them! BUT!!!! i wanna hear wut u think!

-STF

[rapture]

I am a big fan of the models and the idea that they literally eat everything in their path, but I haven't gotten to play against them yet.

[billybob]

They don't have the power of nidzilla lists anymore, nor the security of "Immune to instant death"
They're still a good army, but their hay-day in the power game was the previous rendition. Right now it's all about tervigons, giving gaunts feel no pain, andWarrior primes helping warrior units with weapon skill boosts and bone swords.

[cavalier1864]

Over the years I have played against 'Nids more often than any other non-MEQ army, and I have to say that I have often found that the 'Nids are the biggest paper tiger of them all. Granted, I have not had as much experience with the new codex, but just looking at the new codex I have to say that my tactics have not really changed much at all.

Here are some good rules of thumb:
Chaos Daemons:
Flamers of Tzeentch and Pink Horrors are your go-to units, while fiends and bloodcrushers will be your keys to victory against the big bugs. Try to push your ability to appear anywhere on the battlefield to your best advantage. Stick a Herald of Slaanesh or Nurgle in their just to make it harder for the 'Nids to hurt your core.

Dark Eldar:
DE have it easiest, with the plethora of Poison in their ranks and their massive advantage in speed and RoF. Shardcarbines and Splintercannons are your best friends for knocking those pesky Hive Tyrants, Tervigons, and Mawlocs out of the game. Hellions are a great choice in general, and are especially good against the bugs.

Eldar:
Eldar have a tough time of it against Tyrannids, especially with things like the Death Leaper ruining your Farseer's day. That being said, weight of fire is your friend, and Dire Avengers with storm of blades is a must for knocking out little bug squads. A squad of Pathfinder upgraded Rangers is useful for knocking out Tyrants and Zoanthropes, but is otherwise just going to provide Lictor-chow. Swooping Hawks and Warpspiders are invaluable against 'Nids, especially Hawks in small squads using Skyleap. Warwalkers and Wave Serpents are decent against 'Nids, Wraithlords and Wraithguard are not.

Imperial Guard:
Plasma, plasma, plasma, plasma, plasma, baked beans, and plasma. Oh, yeah, and flametanks like Hellhounds and Chimeras with HHF or even Leman Russ variants with SHF. Big bug lists hate Plasma, little bug lists hate templates. Keep your distance and remember FRFSRF when dealing with advancing hormagaunts, termagaunts, genestealers, and ripper swarms.

MEQ:
All Space Marine Variants, including Chaos Space Marines, need to remember that the key to victory is the humble Bolter. Flamers are also really valuable as free upgrades go, and Rhinos and Razorbacks are your bread and butter. Nothing ever changes.

Necrons:
Standing around and shooting things with Gauss Rifles may not be glorious, but it is very frustrating for 'Nids to deal with. Nightmare Shroud, Solar Pulse, and Lightning Field are good buys (especially if you eliminate a synapse creature and can thus force units to run). Teleporting Warrior Squads around with your Monolith is a pretty smart way to deny opposing CC units from snatching a quick fade-out victory.

Orks:
Hot CC on CC action with Orks is not the way to go. That being said: Deffrollas on Battlewagons packed to the gills with angry Boyz is really the best way to deal with either the horde or Nidzilla lists. Orks will always have a bit of a struggle with Bugs, though, mainly because the best tactic for Orks is to get all up in your opponent's gob, which is playing to the 'Nids best strength.
Tau:
Tau fare decently against 'Nids, but their main problem is always going to be trying to slow down the rush and crush of bugs careening towards them. 6 Squads of Fire Warriors and 3 Stealth Suit Squads is your best bet, with Devilfish and Pirannahs to swoop in and corral the big stuff and Broadsides to knock the biggest nasties on their butts.

Witchhunters:
Immolators and Exorcists are the way to go, but the problem is that your old codex really doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. Maximize your Sisters to Bolter and Flamer everything in the face, preferably from the inside of a cozy Immolator.