"I started playing about a year ago and have been following your blog for some time. I'm a big fan of nids, regardless of what the net says. I wanted to try to build a list that used warriors and avoided tervigons, as most of what I play has tervigons and I like the way warriors look. This is what I came up with:
(My books and models are in a different country, so my math might be a bit off)
Tyranid Prime, twin bone sword, regen, adrenal glands 100
Tyranid Prime, twin bone sword, regen, adrenal glands 100
Venomthrope x 3 165
Hive Guard x 3 150
Hive Guard x 3 150
Warrior x 3, deathspitter, scything talons 120
Warrior x 3, deathspitter, scything talons 120
Warrior x 3, deathspitter, scything talons 120
Warrior x 3, deathspitter, scything talons 120
Ravager x 6, rending claws, scything talons 210
Genestealer x 8, rending claws 113
T-fex, cannon 265
T-fex, cannon 265
Total 1990
The idea is to push the Ravagers forward aggressively, backed up by the Warrior squads. The T-fex and hive guard advance behind the Warriors, opening tin cans so the ravagers and warriors can eat the guys in them. Venom's provide cover and attract fire from more important bugs. Primes start with the warriors, giving better shooting and some wound allocation fun. Genestealers infiltrate for an early threat, or outflank, depending on the army I'm against.
The majority of the army provides synapse or doesn't need it. The small warrior units can sit on objectives and take a pounding before being dislodged. Ravagers have the long threat range, attracting early fire away from the hive guard. They can also threaten low AV vehicles. Combined with the Genestealers it partially makes up for Nid's lack of tin can openers. T-fex's are expensive, but they are the only thing that hurts AV14. Although not as good as at it as other MC's, they can also do some CC damage late game, if they can close.
I don't have the ability to play test, so I'm wondering if you think its a viable list/concept, and what could be done to improve it.
Steve"
This is actually Puppy's reply not mine! So thanks :P.
Hey Steve, glad you like the blog. I'm a bit of a sucker for Warriors myself, so I've done a fair amount of testing with them and I've got some good news- they're awesome. You've already hit on a couple of key strategies for using them, but I think I can make on some improvements to the list.
Tyranid Prime (Whip/Sword, Toxin, Regen)
Tyranid Prime (Ditto)
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
2 Zoanthropes
3 Warriors (Whip/Sword, Toxin, Venom Cannon)
3 Warriors (Whip/Sword, Toxin, Venom Cannon)
3 Warriors (Whip/Sword, Toxin, Venom Cannon)
3 Warriors (Deathspitters, Venom Cannon)
3 Warriors (Deathspitters, Venom Cannon)
20 Hormagaunts
4 Raveners
1 Carnifex (2 TL Devourer)
1 Carnifex (2 TL Devourer)
I tried to stick to your list's original theme, but I wanted to make some tweaks to get things to work right. Tyrannofexes are great units, but their main use in a list is to provide threat at extreme range and to shield other MCs from Missile fire- without those other MCs in a list, they lose a lot of value. Carnifexes with cover can be pretty nasty beasts, and if you want to get really tricksy, you can attach the Tyranid Primes to them to get cover even more easily. (If you really enjoy this, I might recommend adding Regen to the 'Fexes.) Here they provide a huge volume of suppression fire against tanks and pummel infantry like nobody's business. I changed the setup of your Primes slightly as well- Toxin is, 99% of the time, better than Adrenal, especially when you have a Lash Whip- wounding Wraithlords on 4s is brutal, and rerolling wounds against anything T5 or less will get you a LOT of kills. I likewise added Whip/Sword to a good-sized portion of your Warriors- aside from being resilient Synapse, Warriors can also be incredibly tough melee combatants, and even just three of them is enough to cut most Space Marines to pieces. If your Primes aren't tagging along with the 'Fexes, they should be in one of these squads, providing protection from Missiles and Las. The two "minimal" squads are there as cheap-ish scoring that can swamp in some extra attacks if needed and pester tanks. Every squad gets a Venom Cannon because it allows you to hurt tanks (always useful, even if it's just shaking them) as well as soak up two extra wounds without losing anybody- remember those wound allocation tricks! Hormagaunts are there to screen you when terrain is scarce and likewise are a nice, expendable scoring unit. They and the Raveners also give you some functionality against horde armies for when your Devourers fail to do the job.
The Genestealers got cut because they were an aggressive element in a list that isn't necessarily terribly forward- with so many scoring units, you're happy to just sit back and absorb fire, as you are practically guaranteed to still have guys left at the end. If they come forward to fight you, that's fine, too- Tyranids love it when things walk into their mouth for them. The Venomthropes, while certainly a good unit, didn't fit well with the rest of the list (they also generally want to be used in an aggressive-style list) and removing them freed up space for some Zoanthropes, which solve the AV14 problem for us without resorting to Tyrannofexes, saving a few points.
I hope this is something along the lines of what you're looking for- I'm not sure exactly how it will perform at 2000pts, as I generally play at somewhat smaller values, but the core concepts should be all valid and, worst case scenario, you can tweak the Carnifexes to something else if you don't find it's working for you. (Shrikes and/or Raveners would push it in a more aggressive direction, Harpies would fill a similar role as cheap anti-tank.)
Feel free to mail back if you have any questions/concerns, I'll answer more quickly this time I promise. :P
