The Swarm from LV-426


Building the Tyranid Swarm
The Tyranid army I play is fairly static so I have been coming up with ideas for the other archetypes available in the codex. I am going to start by looking at the swarm. I do not have enough Hormagaunts to build this at the moment; I do however have a ton of Genestealers I can proxy them with.

Concept
Just like the Aliens or Starship Troopers films the idea is to have a seemingly endless horde of a hundred or more bugs swarming across the table toward the opponent. Hormagaunts, Gargoyles and Genestealers are all great for this. I wanted to avoid Monsters, however the Tervigon is just too good to pass up on. Raveners 12" charge helps get them into melee quicker and their claws can destroy tanks. Orinally I was going to use two broods of hormaguants; as I do not own those I instead went for Devilguants.

Army List: The Swarm from LV-426 @ 2000 Points
050 Termagants x10
160 Hormagaunts x20 w/ Toxic Sacs
160 Termagants x16 w/ Devourers
250 Broodlord & Genestealers x11 w/ Toxic Sacs
250 Broodlord & Genestealers x11 w/ Toxic Sacs
150 Gargoyles x25 (Mobile cover for the other units)
210 Raveners x6 w/ Rending Claws

Brains options 1
110 Tyranid Prime w/ Bone Sword & Whip, Deathspitter, Regeneration
220 Zoanthropes x3 in Mycetic Spore
250 Hive Guard x5
190 Tervigon w/ Catalysis, Toxic Sacs, Talons
Has 93 Bugs (single wound models), 17 Large (multi-wound) Bugs , 1 Monster & 1 Spore.

Brains options 2
390 Tervigon w/ Catalysis, Toxic Sacs, Glands x2 (one HQ; one Troops)
180 Zoanthropes x3
200 Two Broods of Hive Guard x2
This gives 93 Bugs (single wound models), 15 Large (multi-wound) Bugs & 2 Monsters


Alternative units
1. Raveners could be replaced with Shrikes for more Synapse and extra shooting.
2. Swap the Prime (and a Hive Guard) for a second Tervigon.
3. Drop the Spore and walk the Zoanthropes with the horde; Spend the extra points on more bugs. Combines quite well with option two.


Tactics
Genestealers outflank (or infiltrate) to threaten the sides of the gaming table; Meanwhile the Hormagaunts, Raveners & Tervigon are the main horde to charge up the middle of the board. Tervigon gives Feel No Pain (for a 4+ Save) to the front rank of the swarm. They in turn give everything else a 4+ cover save. The Prime goes with the Hive Guard so we can direct our shooting and gives them some combat potential. Zoanthropes will deep strike in to help with Synapse and destroying tanks with their psychic attacks. The Termagants can hold the home objective or join the horde as required. We also have the Tervigon's Babies that will push us past the target of one hundred bugs.


Strengths: The core units are fast moving (Beasts, Wings and Bounding Leap) so should be getting into second or third turn assaults. Combining this with Genestealers attacking from the flanks (or infiltrating) will help minimise the time available for enemy shooting. Even with blast weapons a hundred bugs is a lot to take out.

Weakness: We only have three Synapse units so we are likely to end up with some units running on instincts. This should not be too bad as we want most of them to just charge at the opposition anyway. This list is light on shooting, and while that was part of the design, it may struggle in games against heavily armoured and/or fast tanks. Most of the army gets no save against common handguns; it is reliant on getting cover saves from terrain or other Tyranids.

Other Point values
For higher points - I would add a second Tervigon (as HQ), Hive Guard #6 & Shrikes. I actually put together a 1k list which I like. For 1500 I would add in the Prime and make Tervigon a Troops unit.

1000 Points - The Swarm from LV-426
220 Tervigon: Catalysis, TS, Talons, Regeneration
200 Hive Guard x4
160 Hormagaunts x20 w/ Toxic Sacs
160 Termagants x16 w/ Devourers
170 Genestealers x10 w/ Toxic Sacs
090 Gargoyles x15
Total: 7 Kill Points; 61 Bugs, 4 Large Bugs, 1 Monster.

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