# Tyranid Warrior Bio Weapons



## jimmothy87 (Jul 6, 2009)

Am fairly new to 40K, having only played 2 games thus far with my Blood Raven SMs and am now starting a Nids army. At present I have one good friend who will be a regular opponent, thus far have played against his CSM and it's quite terminator and tank heavy - predators, Land Raider, Vindicator. However he is building up an Ork army at the same time as my nids. 
Am about to assemble my 3 Nid warriors and wondering what people think would be the best way to arm them to deal with either the CSM or greenskins. Am limited by budget so can only rely on the GW plastic box set of 3 Warriors.


----------



## Wolfgang_Molder (Mar 3, 2008)

hmmmm....i usually like to equip mine with scything talons/rending claws and give them leaping, they become a fast hitting CC unit that has alot of attacks and can get in out out pretty quickly, if you can scoot them around the main bulk of your opponents army and hit his soft vehicles or small units (havocs, possesed, hell even oblits if you have cover for the charge in)


----------



## Inquisitor Einar (Mar 6, 2009)

A good investment would be some small rare earth magnets.. you can then magnetize your warriors and their weapons to exchange weapons at will.


----------



## godzy (Jun 5, 2008)

> A good investment would be some small rare earth magnets.. you can then magnetize your warriors and their weapons to exchange weapons at will.


 So true.
with orks in mind, you should fiels a barbed strangler/venom cannon. orks have open topped all over the place, and the big pie plate cant miss, and maybe slow them greenskins down.


----------



## Sqwerlpunk (Mar 1, 2009)

Warriors are best, in my opinion, with Deathspitters, that single Barbed Strangler, and Toxin Sacs. Something cheap on their off hand, remember you can do the wound allocation abuse.

Enjoy setting down up to like 10 great anti-infantry blasts from a single squad.


----------



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Sqwerlpunk said:


> Warriors are best, in my opinion, with Deathspitters, that single Barbed Strangler, and Toxin Sacs. Something cheap on their off hand, remember you can do the wound allocation abuse.
> 
> Enjoy setting down up to like 10 great anti-infantry blasts from a single squad.


Agreed, I run mine with Deatspitter, Lash whips, and Toxin sacs; and I chuck in a Barbed Strangler too, because it's only 5 extra points with TS, and kicks 8 kinds of ass.

A few people disagree with me on the Lash whips, I honestly have no idea why, it's 1 point more than Scything Talons, and gives them extra use. For a start, with the new counter-charging rules you can get lots of base contact going on.
If they get charged by enemies, you don't want to kill more of them, you want to _stay alive,_ and what better way to do that than reducing their attacks?
On multiple occasions I've also bogged down a Defiler or Monstrous creature with 3 of them, each one takes one of their attacks, which leaves them with 1 in most cases, making them completely useless (no instant death, takes a MINIMUM of 2 turns to kill a single warrior), and all the while you still have synapse there, and can get a big guy to come in and smash it.

You might want to just give them the guns though, and work on a Lash whip conversion before gluing them on.
There are no plastic OR metal Lash whips except the Hive Tyrant one, and that's too big.
I've thought of Green Stuffing them on the Talon arms, but I haven't tried.


----------



## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

I have 9 warriors currently: 4 with twin devourers, 3 deathspitter/scything, 1 deathspitter/rending and a barded strangler/scything.
I often run the twin devourers and the barbed strangler with just the weapons (and enhanced senses), sure all the guns are S3 but the unit is nice and cheap and with the large blast of the BS and the living ammo of the devourers they do tend to wound a lot (against guard this unit is a godsend). The deathspitter unit I occasionally tool up with toxin sacs or enhanced carapace but again they work well by themselves.

I hadnt really thought about doing lash whips to be able to use the unit as a tarpit (though I do use my tyrant guard like that) it is an awesome suggestion... warriors certainly never win combats so might as well try to not lose instead. If you want to get lash whips then the old tyrant guard models come with them (love those models), as do all the old tyrant models- if I can think of an arm to put on the other side I'll certainly use the 2 lash whips knocking around my bits box on a deathspitter and barbed strangler.


----------



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Tim/Steve said:


> II hadnt really thought about doing lash whips to be able to use the unit as a tarpit (though I do use my tyrant guard like that) it is an awesome suggestion... warriors certainly never win combats so might as well try to not lose instead. If you want to get lash whips then the old tyrant guard models come with them (love those models), as do all the old tyrant models- if I can think of an arm to put on the other side I'll certainly use the 2 lash whips knocking around my bits box on a deathspitter and barbed strangler.


Yeah, the old Tyrant guard did have them, they were standard equipment.
Doesn't mean they're a viable option, they're metal for a start, and OP said that money was an issue, so bitz ordering is out of the question.

My suggestion for making Warrior whips (rawr :3), is to make a shape out of wire, and merely sculpt a 'tube' around it, kinda like the ammo tubes for the guns, and put some little hooks on the end, they look nice on the Tyrant whip.


----------



## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

I wasnt really suggesting buying the bits (though that is a decent option if you can afford them), just saying that they exist- if you see anyone using an OOP Tyrant then he has likely converted it to use better options then LW+BS so may well have them spare in a bits box (as I do... but not for long). The arm is a good size for the warriors and the lash whip is lasrge enough to be obvious, but not big enough to be silly; basically a good size (thanks to the stupid 'model growth' that has hit GW over the last 10-15 years).

http://www.nugax.com/WH40K/NidHQ.html
For those who dont know the model I'm on about (its about 1/2" taller then a new warrior)


----------



## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

I personally run Warriors with Twin-linked Devourers, Toxin Sacs, Extended Carapace and Enhanced Senses. Doesn't really work in broods under 4 as they don't have the omph to kill the enemy before they start dieing. Though Deathspiter Warriors are great too!


----------



## Spot The Grot (Jul 15, 2008)

I would just go with the classic deathspitter and scything talons. It works vs all armies pretty well.


----------



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Spot The Grot said:


> I would just go with the classic deathspitter and scything talons. It works vs all armies pretty well.


Scything talons on them is pointless, really.


----------



## cafel (Dec 21, 2008)

Winterous said:


> Scything talons on them is pointless, really.


You need to fill the second weapon-bio morph and scything talons does so cheaply.


----------



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

cafel said:


> You need to fill the second weapon-bio morph and scything talons does so cheaply.


So do Spine-fists.
But dude, Lash Whips, 1 point more than talons and SO MUCH more useful.


----------



## Spot The Grot (Jul 15, 2008)

Winterous said:


> So do Spine-fists.
> But dude, Lash Whips, 1 point more than talons and SO MUCH more useful.


I very rarely find lash whips useful. They only work on multiple attack models. Against basic troops which is what they should be assaulting (if they have to). If you send them against something with multiple attacks most of the time that unit in question tends to be good at CC. I wouldn't want to risk a synapse unit like that.
If they do assault , then it would be against a unit they could obviously win against. Perhaps a unit of marines that are not at full strength.

Like i said most unit that have more than 1 attack tend to be a CC unit , and will out class the warriors even with lash whips , unit like this maybe - terminators (assault or ranged) , orks , striking scorpions. All of those unit would beat the warriors.

There are very few unit that i think hav multiple attacks and aren't meant for CC. One of the few unit that comes to mind is sternguard.I can see it coming in handy against chargers , but once again thats circumstancial.

I prefer the idea of 3 S5 attacks (who doesn't give them toxin sacs?). Rather than 2 S5 and having a chance of taking away an attack.

Lashwhips are only handy in certain circumstances , like if they get charged or are simply against a unit like orks.

Scything talons always do their job while lashwhips are very circumstancial , thats why i would go scything talons. Also to get lashwhips you would have to convert them.

As said they are also 1 point cheaper.


----------



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Spot The Grot said:


> _Wall of text mang!_


Aah, you seem to have gotten a few things wrong.

Your Warriors are keyed to shoot, move them AWAY from aggressors, not towards them; if you charge with those puppies and EXPECT to do any harm, you're kidding yourself.

You want your Synapse to SURVIVE, not kill things that charge it, the Lash Whips greatly enhance their survivability against elite melee units, like Terminators, and Monstrous Creatures.

Picture this (I've actually had this happen, more than twice!), there is an enemy Defiler barging up through the centre of the board, and is clearly going to charge an important Carnifex or something, and have a good chance of killing it too!
What do you do with your Scything Talon warriors? Nothing, they stand there and try to ignore it, hoping the Carnifex doesn't die.
What do _my_ Lash Whip warriors do? Charge it.
Yes, that's right, they charge it.
There's 3 of them, that's 3 attacks the Defiler doesn't have; assuming it's got all melee weapons, that leaves it with 2 attacks, and about a 1 wound per round average against the Warriors.

They're only 1 point more, and they Greatly enhance their survivability against units that charge them.
A standard Tactical Squad might not seem much of a threat to you if you're in cover, because half the wounds they cause won't do anything; but if they decide to charge you, you've basically cut their attacks in half, or at least 2/3; which means your Warriors can continue to provide Synapse, and hopefully live through the assault while they wait for those nearby Gaunts to charge the bastards.

You said "I wouldn't want to risk a synapse unit like that.", you're not risking it by taking these, you're REDUCING risk.
Just because you take them doesn't mean they charge anything that moves, quite the contrary, Scything Talons are more suited to that task than Lash Whips.

If you're even in RANGE to charge the enemy after firing your Deathspitters, then you're also in range to hit yourself with them; good going Billy.


----------



## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

You know whats better? A mix. 1 in 3 Lashwhips or so. In a 6man brood, lashwhips on all of them is overkill. 2 should be enough, as it is rare for models to have more than 3 attacks. If they do, they will be knitted out for combat, and your in bad spot anyway. Plus you get wound allocation, though in this case it is merely a bonus.


----------



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Wolf_Lord_Skoll said:


> You know whats better? A mix. 1 in 3 Lashwhips or so. In a 6man brood, lashwhips on all of them is overkill. 2 should be enough, as it is rare for models to have more than 3 attacks. If they do, they will be knitted out for combat, and your in bad spot anyway. Plus you get wound allocation, though in this case it is merely a bonus.


Well, against hordes of troops, a single warrior can only be in base contact with so many of them.
But they really shine against monsters, as I've said.
An Avatar will hate them, because he can't do a damn thing when they've charged him (or vice-versa).


----------



## jimmothy87 (Jul 6, 2009)

In the end I went for scything talons on all three and then a venom cannon, devourer and death spitter. In a 500 point game (the first nid game i've played so far) I managed to take out a squad of Boyz and a squad of Nobz with these guys alone and ended up winning the annhialation mission by killing every last model having lost 6 termagants and a genestealer!


----------



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Erk.
You're best off not mixing weapons (besides the 2 'heavy' ones).

All Deathspitters, and a Barbed strangler, all with Toxin Sacs.
All Devourers, not sure what else.

Those are the primary 2 outfits.

The blasts rape infantry, and can hurt larger things with the Spitters.
Devourers hurt heavier infantry quite nicely, because of sheer volume of wounds where there are few models to be touched by the blasts.


Seriously, you went for the front-of-the-box outfit '-_-
You can always mix them up later though, when you have more.

Venom cannon on Warriors isn't too good; S7 maximum, with only 2 shots at BS3.
They're better left to Tyrants and Carnifexes; it doesn't do well against infantry, and does poorly against vehicles. (an Autocannon that always glances)


----------

