2018, the Year of Tyranids!

Hey everyone,

BC is back in action with an update to my "What army should I play" post a couple weeks ago. If you are a podcast listener or you are adept at reading the title of this blog post, it's all Tyranids in 2018!

So before we get too deep in to this let's talk about the game plan. As part of my 2018 goal I want to play in four RTTs and my usual GT, the Renegade Open. I don't see much time for more than that.


Part 1- Model assembly and painting:



The plan is to assemble all of my models as soon as possible. I want to be able to test lists throughout the year without worry. I own a ton of Tyranids so I should be able to make just about any list I want. I also want to be able to test against the models in my collection that are not assembled.

I am setting a deadline of the end of February/Mid-March to get everything assembled. The power of the plastic crack addiction is strong and I have a ton to assemble. Let me know in the comments if you are at all mildly interested in seeing model assembly progress, I'm not sure anyone is.

As for painting, i will be showing progress throughout the year. Unfortunately thanks to being short staffed at work and a bout of the stomach flu going through my family, there isn't much to report yet. Hang in there, it is coming!

Part 2- List creation and evolution:

This might be the most important aspect of the "one army, one year" approach. The evolution of the list. I think it will be important to make detailed notes and keep a changelog of the units that shift around so that I can see if my decisions are kneejerk and if my changes produce the desired results. I will be sharing this log and the reasoning behind decisions on the blog to hopefully inspire others to journey along with me or to learn form my growing pains or even disprove them.

If you listened to the podcast, I brought up that I am starting with a non-optimized list for this yearlong journey. A big reason for that is I want to test some aspects of the Tyranid codex that the internet feels are not optimal to make sure I vet them out fully before moving on.

With that in Mind, I'll share my starting list for Tyranids:

Kraken Battalion-

Flyrant with brainleech devourers and monstrous rending claws, adrenal glands, toxin sacs, Kraken relic (-1 to hit)

Neurothrope

16 Genestealers with 4 acid maws

21 hormagaunts

3 rippers

Jormungdr Battalion-

Flyrant with brainleech devourers and monstrous rending claws, adrenal glands and toxin sacs

Neurothrope

3 rippers

15 devourer termagants (will go in tunnel with raveners)

5 tyranid warriors with deathspitters and boneswords

3 raveners with deathspitters

Carnifex with 2xbrainleech worms, enhanced sense, spore cysts, mace tail

Carnifex with 2xbrainleech worms, enhanced sense, spore cysts, mace tail

Kronos Spearhead-

Neurothrope

6 hive guard

2 biovores

2 biovores

1 biovore


Part 3- Accountability:

So this is the hardest part of this puzzle: How do I keep the focus on Tyranids, especially if I falter in a few of the early games and am tempted by the green grass of another army?

Coming very soon- First game thoughts and a different list to try. I think in order to make this work, I need to understand every aspect of tyranids and only in trying a few completely different lists, will I have that.