Can Tyranids Compete? Part 1

So I was recently surfing some of my favorite blogs and came across this: http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2010/10/rapid-fire-recap-battle-for-salvation.html#comments

In the comments section they started to discuss Tyranids, the lack of representation at the event, and their lack of competitiveness overall. First off let me say this isn't me arguing with anyone or calling anyone out. Mikes blog gets the mention because that's where I came across this again and it really got me thinking. I'm not sold on Nids not being competitive. I recently started a dedicated Tactics article on Dakka Dakka about the competitiveness of Nids in the current meta-game that can be found here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/319613.page

 Now that article is more of a Review of the units in the army with a few tactics and combo-builds built in. It does have some of the more solid Tyranid players I know contributing but it doesn't answer the question of if Nids are truly competitive. Mike makes a good point in his comments on his blog that Nids lack the duality you can find in some of the more popular and well represented codex's like IG, SW's, and though he doesn't mention it Dark Eldar. Another point made is on other blogs is there lack of transports or their ability to 1 + 1 that every else, other than Daemons and Necrons, can take advantage of. Tyranid Armies reliance on certain units such as Tyranofexes and Hive Guard to stop mech is also something many people point to as a major flaw in their design. Their susceptibility to what some consider to be the current #1 codex (Space Wolves if you've been living under a rock) doesn't help nor does another Phil Kelly book coming out that a lot of people in the blogosphere are saying is going to put the nail in the Nid coffin. So can Tyranids compete with all of this stacked against them? I think so personally.

Let's recap the problems Nids have:

1. Lack of Mech
2. Lack of Duality, over reliance on certain units for Anti-Tank
3. SW's

So we're going to explore each of these for this segment. And in Part 2 try and build a list taking the above issues into account to see if it's possible to build a truly competitive Nid army.

1. Lack of Mech

This hurts us (that's right, not you, us) in more than a few ways. Mech is used to increasing the lifespan of a unit, pushing people off objectives late game, negating types of weaponry from being useful, bring more fire support to the table, and finally for enhancing duality in a list. Since we don't have mech as Tyranids what are our mechanisms or tools for doing the same things? We don't have any. This is the first step to realizing that we are a completely different army and need to be looked at in a completely different way than any other army currently in 5^th Edition. Sure we can say Catalyst to increase lifespans of units or the Mawloc/Deathleaper for contesting objectives late game but those are gimmicks or are reliant on certain units surviving. We don't have Mech and we need to get over this fact just like Daemon players like Yermom and Brent from Strictly Average have gotten over it.

1. Lack of Duality, over reliance on certain units for Anti-Tank

This is a valid objection to Tyranids being non-competitive at the highest level. Our units are more specialized and generally only fall into the anti-troop/anti-mech categories. This makes enemy target priority easier. On the other hand we have the ability to saturate both target priorities by properly building a list. The advantage we do have is that our "Anti-Mech" units are generally our toughest and hardest to eliminate units in the game. Our "anti-tank" is generally considered to be located on exactly 4 models; Tyranofexes, Zoanthropes, Hive Guard, and Harpies. I see this as a fallacy that most people bring to the Tyranid codex. These units are actually beginning turn anti-tank. Suppressing fire if you will while the army closes. And even better is that people will focus on these units as you close. Meaning that as long as you don't build your list around these units you'll find yourself reaching the enemy with the majority of your CC oriented units almost completely intact. We'll talk more about this in the list building segment of this series but I believe this problem can be overcome with list building and certain strategies.

1. SW's

So it's my personal belief that Phil Kelly is pissed that they didn't let him write the Tyranid codex. Space Wolves have 2 primary things that make Tyranids cry and that most people will tell you is impossible to overcome. The first is Jaws of the World Wolf. This is a killer against Tervigons, Carnifexes, and Tyranofexes. Against Tervigons in particular this is brutal as they are widely acknowledged to be one of the better units in the codex. The other thing Space Wolves have that make us cry is 18+ missile launchers for a ridiculously low price. So how do we overcome them? We use catalyst partially to force target selection. We use self generated cover saves and terrain to mitigate damage. The JotWW is much harder to defend against. You have to get the model on foot as early as possible. From there it's completely situational how you deal with it. But it's something to consider when constructing your lists and tactics.

I realize part of this can come off as Learn to Play Better. It's not meant that way. I think that we need to adjust the way we view Tyranids and look at them from a unique perspective separate from the rest of 40k. Next time we'll look at the process I go thru to build a list with Tyranids and we'll see if they can be competitive.