1500 point tyranids.

[Spirit]

Hive Ship, Ld9
-Prow/Thorax pyro acid (FP16)
-6x launch bays

Hive ship, Ld8
-Prow/Thorax pyro acid (FP16)
-6x launch bays

Cruiser
-Prow/Thorax torpedoes (S8)
8 torpedos per turn and as long as i keep it within 16-90 cm of the enemy, it will reload without needed a Ld test, not bad for 100 points.

Cruiser
-Prow pyro acid (fp8, fires L/F/R)
-Port/Starboard pyro acid (FP 8 per side)

7x Kraken
-Pyro acid batteries (FP 6x7=42)


6xEscort Drones
- Bio plasma (Fp 2x6=12, ignores shields)
although slow and short ranges, they are 15 points each! the enemy must deal with them or face taking a lot of hits!

6x Vanguard Drones
- Feeder tendrils
i like the idea of causing masive amouts of critical hits and 5 blast markers on a battleship!

1500 points total, 2 re rolls, but no hive mind imperative.



Ok, some background to the list.

• Not playing particularly competative, so i do not like the idea of "take only hive ships with 6 spores"
• will be building the fleet up in points as i make the models
• my local store is to run a 3000 point campaign, this will be the basis of the list, so i would like some good ways of upgrading a tyranid fleet to 3000
• Because of the above reason, i cannot add refits to my ships, they will be added as they "level up"
• however, i will be playing non campaign games for a while yet, so some constructive criticism on what i should include to make it better in a one off game would also be good

Thanks a lot guys!

[Volandum]

Note that you only fire boarding torpedoes, which are not very effective - against most targets 3 are the equal of a single a-boat.

How are you getting FP16 PA on the cruiser? Do you mean FP8 broadside?

5 is NOT a legal number of escort drones. Have you not noticed me talking about them recently? Get 6 or 0.

[Spirit]

oh whoops, so lose one kraken and have 2x6 and 1x7?

Are the cruisers 4 per broadside? Sorry working off memory for the moment.

[Volandum]

The cruisers are 4 per broadside, yes.

Yep, that'll do. Well, if you lose one Kraken you can actually afford 2 escort drones, and 7 escort drones is permissible too.

[Spirit]

Ok list edited, while i realise the torps are not that good, they still pose a threat to lightly armoured things, and they can turn, so even if they miss they can turn and hit again, so they will have to be dealt with, and the more markers i put on the board the more the enemy has to shoot down!

strength 20 ordinance per turn just seems like too much of a good idea to pass up, are they really that bad considering my alternatives for 120 points? 2 kraken?

[Spirit]

The cruisers are 4 per broadside, yes.

Yep, that'll do. Well, if you lose one Kraken you can actually afford 2 escort drones, and 7 escort drones is permissible too.

I only had 5 vanguard, so 1 kraken (40) gets me one escort (15) and one vanguard (25)

How would you upgrade the list? to 2k to start with.

[Volandum]

Ah, only escort drones have restrictions. If you want an extra vanguard that's fine too.

I would add a carrier Hive Ship and nine pyro-acid drone ships.

EDIT: I mean of course the FP16 PA + 6LB Hive Ship, and the Escort Drones with PA.

[Spirit]

why not more kraken?

And are there any other effective hive ships?

Why no more curisers? More at 2.5?

Also, a rules question, if we roll a solar flare as a terrain feature, ships with no shields take a hit, does this mean i lose any kraken that fail their save?? Seems a bit brutal lol.

[Volandum]

I'm not a great fan of cruisers, but I think it won't hurt much to get some.

Kraken are nice, they're just quite expensive.

No, I think PA/LBs are the best hive ships.

Yes, it means kraken die if they fail their Brace save. Eldar really hate this, but can try to ride the flare. That still spreads out a whole lot of blast markers, though, which means pain.

[Spirit]

Oh and also, is the hive mind imperative worth it? It doesnt seem to be to me because most of the time i will be testing on ld9 or 10 with a re roll, and abuse of the instinc chart stops some of my ships even needing to test lol.

Whats the best way to use this fleet? I have no idea on using them , just think i will enjoy them lol.

What will i struggle against?

[Volandum]

I don't think the Imperative is very useful, unless you intend to navigate Warp Rifts on a regular basis.

I don't know much about playing with the Tyranids. Stick together under the cover of your Hive Ship's batteries, because once you split it'll be a nightmare to try to reassemble. Learn when you want to be instinctive and when you don't. Eldar are always a pain - you can only really get at them with ordnance (and possibly lucky AAF). Chaos are quite tough too.

[Gorin9SQ]

Ah, only escort drones have restrictions. with PA.

Shortly before we lost the SG forums, the board officials said the 6-12 is for ALL escorts, not just the escort drones.

[horizon]

Official Q&A on Tyranids from Warp Rift 18:

Q: On the 6-12 escorts per hiveship, what does ‘escorts’ mean, the generic type or the specific class? And is the 6-12 compulsory, or is 0 a valid option as well?I know most people are actually in agreement on this, but I’ve seen it confuse new players.

A: Escorts refer to any one of the different escort types, meaning Kraken, vanguards and the generic escorts. Yes, “0” is an option besides fielding squadrons between 6 to 12 ships. By design, the escort drones are MUCH cheaper and weaker than Kraken, as these were intended to be essentially ablative armor for hiveships while Kraken are the fleet’s heavy hitters. A particularly themeful fleet would be very heavy on the cheap escorts and rather light on the faster Vanguards and expensive Kraken. Just as in WH40k, the bus’ greatest strength lies in the sheer numbers they can field.

[Volandum]

I guess I'll have to accept that. Note that squadrons can be of size 1-12.

[Spirit]

Dammit i was about to come on and question that rule!

Lol oh well glad i was right about it in the first place.

So far i've built up:

1 hive ship
2 kraken
6 drones
6 vanguard

So based on how hard warrior heads are to come by in numbers (only got 3 at the moment) i'm gonna stick to 6 of each class anyway. But i think more drones with some batteries will be in order for 2k points.

Can i get some answers on running a nid fleet during a campaign? Not sure how to handle reenforcements, refits ect. Can they get "crew skills"?

How do they level up? Use the base Ld of 7 that they use for bracing with and then just take a crew skill/evolve roll instead of adding to Ld? But that means ld7 makes them very easy to evolve. Which i suppose makes sense..

What about the points cost of the evolutions? If that is the only way to get my fleet better, it seems silly to have to spend points on it in a campaign...

[Volandum]

Well in that case your fleet is still illegal - 1 Hive Ship and 14 escorts.

[Spirit]

You misunderstand, that is what i have built from the above list, so i have 1 hive ship, 2 cruisers and some kraken still to be converted.

[Dexter099]

This looks like a hard list. It will take damage on the way, but that can be mitigated by the krakens. Once it gets there, though, it will hurt...

[Spirit]

This looks like a hard list. It will take damage on the way, but that can be mitigated by the krakens. Once it gets there, though, it will hurt...

Thanks mae, what would you do to push it up to 3000 points? How many hive ships?

[Volandum]

Ah, yes sorry. I seem to be imperceptive today.

At 3K I would take at fewest 4 Hive Ships, and probably go for more like 6 if it were convenient.