What's up everyone, Chaplain Sam back with another post in the Tyranids in 7th Edition series. We have a bunch of new exciting models, but now it's back to the old stuff. I want to go over the formations that Tyranids have access to. The bulk of them are mediocre at best, but there are some gems in the bunch that can really give a Tyranid list a boost. I'm going to keep the reviews pretty short for each formations, otherwise this post would end up even longer than it already will be. I hope you all enjoy!
Good
Living Artillery Node
Skyblight Swarm
Average
Review - It would be really hard to use this formation in a tournament because it takes so long to move horde armies, but that doesn't mean it can't be effective with a little more time. The sheer number of (cheap) wounds to get through can be overwhelming, especially when half of the units will just come back from reserves after dying. I had a lot of success with my Ninety-Nine Bugs list and it would have been even more successful if I had used this formation. Make sure you have enough synapse in your list so your opponent can't just pick off a few synapse creatures then watch your army fall apart.
Bioblast Node
Incubator Node
Tyrant Node
Subterranean Swarm
Lictor Forest Brood
Synaptic Swarm
Gargoyle Bio-Bombs
Manufactorum Genestealers
Broodlord's Hunting Pack
Good
Living Artillery Node
- 1 Exocrine
- 3 Biovores
- 1 Tyranid Warrior Brood
- Organic Bombardment - All ranged weapons have pinning and units can re-roll the scatter dice when shooting if they are within 12" of the Warrior brood
Review - The LAN formation is my personal favorite. Re-rolling the scatter dice makes Biovores pretty nasty. They can camp out in a corner out of line of sight and drop pie plates the whole game. Pinning is a nice boost too. Forcing a unit to snap fire the next turn is an excellent way to deal with tough-to-shift units like Centurions. The biggest challenge is keeping all the units close enough to the Warrior brood. The LAN formation is a nice addition to any Tyranid list, but I think it works particularly well with a list full of walking shooty MCs with Malanthrope support.
Skyblight Swarm
- 1 Hive Tyrant
- 1 Hive Crone
- 2 Harpies
- 3 Gargoyle Broods
- Objective Secured - Garg broods are OS.
- Skyswarm - After being eliminated, Garg broods come back from ongoing reserves on a 4+.
Review - Skyblight was the premiere formation in 6th edition. The changes to vector strike and losing the ability to land and charge in the same turn really took the bite out of Harpies and Hive Crones. However, the OS Gargoyles are still excellent and can help you claim/deny objectives and tarpit annoying units. This formation is still strong, especially with a few more FMCs sprinkled in, but it should be played more defensively. It will be darn hard to bring down that many FMCs for most lists, so focus on the mission and kill what you can.
Average
Endless Swarm
- 3 Hormagaunt Broods
- 2 Termagant Broods
- 1 Warrior Brood
- Endless Swarm - After being eliminated, Termagant and Hormagaunt broods come back from ongoing reserves on a 4+.
Review - It would be really hard to use this formation in a tournament because it takes so long to move horde armies, but that doesn't mean it can't be effective with a little more time. The sheer number of (cheap) wounds to get through can be overwhelming, especially when half of the units will just come back from reserves after dying. I had a lot of success with my Ninety-Nine Bugs list and it would have been even more successful if I had used this formation. Make sure you have enough synapse in your list so your opponent can't just pick off a few synapse creatures then watch your army fall apart.
Bioblast Node
- 1 Tyranid Warrior Brood
- 3 Carnifex Broods (must take monstrous bio-cannons)
- 1 Tyrannofex
- Bio-deluge - All units in formation have split fire rule and can re-roll to-wound rolls of 1 in the shooting phase if they are within 12" of the Tyranid Warrior brood.
Review - I am a huge Carnifex fan, so I really like this formation. All the units in the formation are useful when taken normally, so re-rolling to-wound rolls of 1 is really just the cherry on top. There isn't a lot to say on this one, but it's a very solid formation.
- Deathleaper
- 5 Lictors (individual units)
- Preferred Enemy: character/independent character
- Paranoia and Ill Discipline - Enemy units within 12" suffer -1 to their leadership
Review - The Deathleaper's Assassin formation pretty much defines how your list will play. It's really aggressive because all the units can infiltrate. Basically you deploy nice and close and in cover and try to withstand a turn of shooting before you go to work. I'd fill in my list with other units that can infiltrate, MCs in bug pods, and Flyrants. Look out for anything that ignores cover!
Poor
Wrecker Node
- 1 Tyranid Warrior Brood
- 3 Carnifex Broods (cannot take monstrous bio-cannons)
- Rampage of Destruction - Carnifexes inflict D3+1 Hammer of Wrath hits and models within 12" of the Warriors re-roll to-wound rolls of 1 in the assault phase.
Review - The Wrecker Node is the melee version of the Bioblast Node. The 'Fexes get a nice boost in combat, but close combat 'Fexes aren't any good to start with. They are just too slow and if you were going to take a slow combat MC it has to be the Dimachaeron.
Incubator Node
- 1 Tervigon
- 3 Termagant units
- Hyper-progenitive - Reroll spawn rolls of 1
Review - The bonus of this formation isn't even really a bonus because it increase the likelihood that the Tervigon will roll doubles and plug up. Endless Swarm is much better.
Tyrant Node
- 1 Hive Tyrant (cannot take wings)
- 1 Tyrant Guard Brood (must include three models)
- 1 Venomthrope Brood
- Command Node - Plus 6" to Hive Tyrant's synapse range.
Review - Hive Guard and a Hive Tyrant without wings are a pretty big point sink. The boost to the Tyrant's synapse range just isn't worth paying for units that you would normally leave on the shelf.
Subterranean Swarm
- 1 Trygon Prime
- 1 Trygon
- 1 Mawloc
- 3 Ravener Broods
- They Came From Below - All units must arrive from reserves. Make a single reserve roll for entire formation. Trygon Prime must deploy first using Subterranean Assault and then the three Ravener Broods are deployed within 6" of the Trygon Prime
Review - Everything coming in from reserves together is useful, the Mawloc and Raveners are nice, but the Trygon Prime and vanilla Trygon are just wasted points.
Lictor Forest Brood
- 1 Lictor Forest Brood
- Deadly Fruit - Shrouded inside forests and can infiltrate into forests as close 6" to an enemy.
Review - Interesting, but forests are not common enough on boards and aren't consistently in favorable positions. If you want lictors opt for the Deathleaper's Assassin formation.
Synaptic Swarm
- 1 Tyranid Prime
- 3 Tyranid Warrior Broods
- Synaptic Conduits - All units in formation have an 18" synapse range
Review - Too many Warrior Broods. Warriors are a nice source of synapse, especially with the range boost, but three is overkill. Warriors don't have enough firepower to invest in three units of them.
Gargoyle Bio-Bombs
- 3 Spore Mine Clusters
- 3 Gargoyle broods
- Wings of Death - Mines within 6" of a Gargoyle unit can move a full 6" in the movement phase and does not halve runs and charges.
Review - This just isn't very useful. (I'm not a fan of spore mines either)
Manufactorum Genestealers
- 5 Genestealer Broods
- Unsuspected - Units can infiltrate into buildings or ruins within 6" of an enemy model.
Review - Getting in close is nice, but Genestealers are still too overpriced for this to be effective.
Broodlord's Hunting Pack
- 3 Genestealer Broods
- Must include exactly 1 Broodlord
- Hidden Beneath the City - Can deploy into unoccupied buildings or in ruins at least 6" from an enemy model
- Hunting Pack - All models in formation have preferred enemy against one selected unit.
Review - See above. Genestealers need a point reduction before this will be useful. Although that new Broodlord model coming down the pipes looks pretty awesome!
That's it folks! I hope some people found this useful or interesting. I think it's nice to have all the formation rules and reviews in one place instead of split between several different books. It's time to start making lists now! Keep an eye out for the next few Tyranids in 7th Edition posts.
Chaplain Sam signing off.
Which formation is your favorite? Any success stories with formations other than Skyblight and LAN? Let me know in the comments.