What is a Tier a nid?

 An Article by BigSanta

Hello Delusions of Grandeur,

I wanted to start off with my Tyranids articles with a quick intro in to the Bug men.

Fluff-

The Tyranids are an alien race from parts unknown. They have come to the 40k galaxy for one purpose, NOM NOM NOM. The Tyranids have Hive Fleets that travel from planet to planet devouring all biological matter. Grow and consume is their prime directive. From the lowliest grot to the grandest Lord, they are all bio-matter to feed the swarm. Even Hive Fleets will fight each other; their motif is, “the strongest will survive and strive.”

What the Tyranids army is in 40k-

I see the Tyranids as a unique army because of
the fact they are the only toughness based army in the game. The Tyranids are a close combat army. Ya, there are shooting elements, but they’re only there to crack open the shells of vehicles to get at the delicious bio-nugget inside, or to disrupt the opponent. You will not win a shooting war against anyone. To achieve victory you have to get in the opponent's face and bring the fight to them. They boast some of the highest initiative creatures throughout their army, but lack in grenades. They can field large amounts of cheap troops and can still have massive monstrous creatures bearing down on you. The Tyranids are a dance on the battle field. They have many abilities that require you to be within radius of other creatures, and you have to judge if charging into units behind cover is worth it at the time.

What are Tyranids to your opponent-

The bugs can be very intimidating. The prospect of having to deal with gaunts all the while spawning more can frustrate an opponent, especially in an objective based game. The monstrous creatures are difficult to kill because of high wound count, so they provide distractions to get the other elements of your army into place. The close combat ability of the bugs can be devastating and on you quick, there is a lot of fleet in the army so units have a good assault range.

Don’t kid yourself though-

Tyranids are a good army but in no means the best. There are a lot of things to consider when trying to win games. Achieving the perfect balance of an army can be daunting but the work will reward you with ridiculous combos and powerful abilities. The best part though is to see the look in your opponents eyes when they realize it’s, “GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER!”

Editor's note:

Heh, it's true enough they can be intimidating. I remember the old MC list 'nids used to have with (was it 8?) monstrous creatures + 60 Genestealers. Pretty rough for my close combat PDF Blood Angels to deal with. It's kind of what made me start playing more balanced lists, since I couldn't win in assault against Santa's army, or win by shooting (cuz I didn't have any). Should be fun to see what he has to say :)