New Tyranids List Building

With the leaked rules for the Tyrannocyte and Sporocyst, and the huge waves they will make in Tyranid list building, I couldn't help myself and made a dozen or so lists that seemed intriguing. My first instinct was to add all of the deep striking. Unfortunately, while I think the Tyrannocyte is a good value, 75 points adds up very quickly and more than three starts to get unwieldy.

The ability to deep strike any unit really changes the feel of the codex and how an army can be put together.

As I said, my first look I wanted to jam everything in the list, and wound up with three Tyrannocytes, two Sporocysts, and a very minimal army to actually use the new resources.

The addition of Mucolids as a 15 point troop option also breaks the mold for Nidzilla lists. My first take featured 3 Tyrannocytes which carry in 2 Dakka Carnifexes and a Tyrannofex, 4 flying Hive Tyrants, and a combination of 12 Rippers or Mucolids for troops.

After a dozen or so other lists and talking with BeeCee and Ron, I decided to take a look at some of my older lists that worked and see how I would update them. I keyed on my list from Battle for Blacksburg, which featured the Living Artillery Node and our early rule of two list.

The old list used two Crones, who have suffered greatly from the changes to Vector Strike as well as the decline in Flyers. In most matchups, a pair of Flyrants are more than enough to dominate the skies, making the Crones nearly obsolete. With the addition of pods allowing for greater strike anywhere potential, they become more so.

With that in mind, my updated list drops the Crones and Bastion, and swaps the venomthrope and zoanthrope for a Malanthrope. Then two pods are added with some potential drop units. The ability to choose which unit goes in the pod during deployment allows for a good bit of flexibility in how they are used.

• Combined Arms Detachment:
• Hive Tyrant: 2 TL Devourers, Wings, Electroshock Grubs
• Hive Tyrant: 2 TL Devourers, Wings, Electroshock Grubs
• Malanthrope
• 30 Termagants: 10 Devourers
• Tervigon: Crushing Claws, Electroshock Grubs
• Tyrannofex: Electroshock Grubs
• Exocrine
• Tyrannocyte
• Tyrannocyte
• Living Artillery Node:
• 3 Warriors: Barbed Strangler, 2 Rending Claws
• 3 Biovores
• Exocrine

This list has four Monstrous Creatures that can be put into the pod in various combinations and cause havoc, depending on the opposing list and likely deployment. A quick variation to the list is to exchange the second Exocrine for 3 Hive Guard, freeing up 5 points, which would likely mean the termagants' devourers are dropped for a unit of Deep Striking Rippers. 

At the moment, I think this list is much more reserved and not putting too many eggs in the deep strike basket, which can be tempting. The two Tyrannocytes give the list flexibility to react to the opponent's list and get units that have been hampered by their short range to get into the fight. 

Fellow Tyranid players, what lists are you looking forward to trying out with the new additions.