Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Tyranids (section)

===Fast Attack===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Gargoyle</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Gargoyle.jpeg|thumb|left|A bat with a gun]]










Have blinding venom which gives them some use in combat. They have finally been acknowledged as flyers so they can make use of being able to fall back and shoot, even if it's only with Fleshborers. Squads of 20 or more get to re-roll 1s when shooting like termagants. Seem a bit pricey.
* Not mentioning being able to deep strike in?  Pretty useful for putting 10-30 fast moving (12" base) blobs of dakka harassers into someone's back-line (if they'll fit!) or into the path of a major threat heading towards your back-line.  Combined with the Endless Swarm 2CP stratagem, Gargoyles are a good bet for a late-game line breaker VP, or to tie-up fire support units, you know, the usual back-end mischief (ooooooooohhhhh).
* It could be better as Gargs only have a single attack each, but Blinding Venom makes them a useful hammer to an enemy unit already in combat vs the anvil of another unit.  No overwatch, Gargs charge in and even 10 attacks should just about kill 1 MEq which is all you need for that unit in the gribbly sammich to get -1 To Hit, stacking the odds even more in your favour.  Cackle as that power fist or thunder hammer flails about needing 5s to hit.
* Also dropped in price, so the MSU is now just 50pts.









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Nothing to see here.


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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Mucolid Spores</div>

[[Image:Mucolid.jpeg|thumb|left|Big. Floaty. Goes Boom]]








Beefed up Spore mines. 20 points a pop nets you T3 W3 6+ Sv that behave exactly as Spore mines, but when they explode on a roll of 2 - 5 they inflict D3 mortal wounds or D6 on a roll of 6. Decent for trolling flyers, as all mines in this edition have the {{W40kKeyword|FLY}} keyword. 










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Nothing here. Move along


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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Ravener</div>

[[Image:Ravener Model.jpeg|thumb|left|Sword Snake]]






Goddammit Raveners we've wanted to like you for about six editions now and we may finally have our chance. Their two biggest weaknesses ie. cost and no frags have both been fixed. They're cheap now, real cheap; (<30 if you don't dick about with Devourers or Deathspitters, why are you doing that?) and swing first on the charge. Additionally they can still deep strike and attempt to charge that turn, but the real beans of these guys is the sheer number of attacks they put out. With Spinefists and 2 x Talons they're putting out NINE attacks a turn. '''NINE'''. Granted the Spinefists are only hitting on 4+ at S3 but the 5 CC attacks are S4 and hitting on 3+ with re-rolling 1s. For two more points and the sacrifice of one attack you can have rending claws instead; DO THIS. Marines will have to save a LOT of wounds on 4+ even before the inevitable rends. A full squad of Raveners with claws and Spinefists comes in at around what a Landraider used to be, which isn't bad when they're getting a 4+ in cover vs small arms fire and they're no longer subject to instant death vs S8+.






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*Comparison with Shrikes - Both move 12" but Raveners don't fly, so Shrikes are slightly better at bouncing around and can charge flying things. Shrikes also have the better save (4+ vs 5+ and being Synaptic they'll never have to worry about morale making half the unit run away, but then again on the other hand Raveners can pop up and try to charge the turn they arrive; at most they'll have to sit for a turn before getting into combat whereas Shrikes are perhaps more likely to get tagged a couple of times on the way in. Shrikes have more flexibility in weapons loadout (no Boneswords for Raveners) and on the whole are probably about 25% better, but they're also 25% costlier. Point for point, 9 Raveners is about 7 Shrikes, at which point the former is somewhat better against infantry while the latter is somewhat better against vehicles. ''On balance, if you're already taking foot Warriors for combat and are having them pop up with a Trygon, take Raveners to accompany them. If you're fielding neither Warriors or Raveners, the Shrikes are a good compromise between the two''.


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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Sky Slasher Swarm</div>

[[Image:Sky Slasher Swarm.jpeg|thumb|left|Like the worms in your ears, but with wings]]




Skyslashers have been around for 3 editions now and have never been any good. That hasn't changed but now at least they're as amusing as hell so that has to count for something. They're Swarms and with the Fly rule they ignore terrain. With cover changing they're never getting better than a 5+ save but now can't be doubled out by S6+ and unless your opponent turns d3/d6 weapons on them they're not going to be evaporating big chunks of these in a hurry (moral victory to you sir/ma'am if your opponent starts turning Missile Launchers or Lascannons from your big bugs to these goons). They've also lost Hammer of Wrath, but nobody ever used them anyway so that's hardly a loss. Additionally they only hit on 5+ now which ''sucks in so many ways'' it's probably fair on balance to say that they have (somehow) been nerfed. ''On the other hand at 11 points base'' they've become significantly cheaper and for 2 more points a base (ie an 18 point investment for a full sized unit) they can all have S2 pistols that fire FOUR shots each. Given that pistols can now be fired in or into combat, '''that's a hilarious 8 papercuts a turn per base'''. Picture the look on your opponent's face when they get shot with 36 BS2 S2 pistols then charged with what amounts under 7th ed thinking to 36 WS1 S3 attacks; any kill is a victory and will annoy the hell out of them. In terms of mathhammer, this unit will land 4 wounds vs MEQ in the shooting phase and another 4 in the assault phase so it all takes is a little bad rolling and half a squad of the ''Emperor's finest'' have had their faces eaten off by low flying and extremely hostile alien piranhas. '''And don't forget that since they fly, they can jump out and shoot again in their own turn.''' They cost very little and while they're unlikely to be particularly effective they're going to be worth huge laughs. Make sure to talk about how funny it will be if they take the last wound off a very big and very damaged centrepiece like a Land Raider or a Wraithknight; your opponent will kill it himself before he lets that happen.




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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Spore Mines</div>

[[Image:Spore Mines.jpeg|thumb|left|Small. Floaty. Smelly. Goes Boom]]










3" move. 7+ save. Purchased units can "Float Down" (Deep Strike). They cause between 0 and D3 mortal wounds if there is ever an enemy model within 3". Do not award VPs, cannot claim objectives. In Matched Play, they and Mucolid Spores do not detract from reinforcement points if they're created by other units (e.g. Sporocysts, Biovores, etc.).










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No text!


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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Shrike</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Shrike.jpeg|thumb|left|A warrior on uncle's crack cocaine]]


Now with 4+ saves so they're carbon copies of warriors plus wings. Sexy as hell, they've gone from being blasted away by Bolters to standing up to Heavy Bolters, Autocannons, and even being able to shrug off a few Krak missiles with some luck. Also one of the scariest things a soldier can face. Sure Gargoyles are a lot swarmier and Flyrants and such are bigger and deadlier, but at least you can watch gargoyles drop and monsters stay in the sky or don't come in large numbers. Shrikes are in that perfect combination of deadly and swarmy and flying to be downright terrifying. If groups of 9 foot tall monsters with huge swords that cleave through armour like butter and acid spitting <strike>machineguns</strike> auto-shotguns descending on you doesn't make you shit your pants then you clearly [[Space Marine|are brain dead]]. Since they can obviously {{W40kKeyword|FLY}}, give them double Boneswords and sicc them after enemy fliers, which they are allowed to assault. Sure, that flier can fall back and still shoot, so you won't be able to tarpit it, but with AP-2 and a whole bunch of attacks after your shooting, you will put quite a dent into them before they can fly away.


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The rest have text.


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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Dimacharon</div>

[[Image:Dimachaeron.jpeg|thumb|left|Fun fact: This boi can munch as much as a pothead, but still stay this skinny]]






Degrading M, WS and A. The Dimachaeron's new incarnation is interesting to say the least. He's sporting 6 attacks that are kinda hindered by -2 AP, but his Sickle Claws make for a decent anti-tank weapons if you really have to wreck some Russes around. He also no longer have access to FnP, but now every time he '''NOMS''' some {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} pleb he gets himself 5++ for the rest of the game, which is really nice considering the amount of plasma your opponent will spew at him. Oh, and his signature skill, '''Leaper killer''', is really trollworthy - whenever the Dimachaeron moves, you do not count any vertical distances it moves against the total it may travel. And he moves '''[[Awesome|12 WAFFLING INCHES]]'''. Use Swarmy's "Hive commander on him" or the Metabolic Overdrive stratagem and watch your opponent's face as the Big Bad Lictor literally crossed half the board on turn 1.








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*FAQ alert: the grasping talons and thorax weapon has been FAQ'd. When you roll a 6+ to hit with this weapon, the strength value changes from 7 to <strike>12</strike> 14 (it's Sx2; weapon's S, not the unit's) and the damage increases from 1 to d6.  <3


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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Meiotic Spores</div>

[[Image:Meiotic Spores.jpg|thumb|left|Boom. Skibbedi pap-pap]]

Boy, isn't this edition cruel to the poor mines. They no longer produce ordinary spores upon death, and in terms of gameplay, Meiotic Spores are just -1 T, W and Sv Mucolid Spores. Did i mention that min size squad costs 54 points? Avoid x3.

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*However these spores come down before the movement phase 12" away from enemy units, this allows them to move then charge giving them only a 9" charge compared to the other spores 12" charges.
**Alternate take: Why charge when you can use metabolic overdrive, move, run, then overdrive with hive fleet kraken - is almost a guaranteed turn 1 bomb.

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