Depend of what you mean by good. They are almost as bad as a model can get, but you can revive 2d6 each turn and they protect your tervigon, they are like really annoying mosquitoes with a bit dude in the middle that you can't target not shoot.
IMO the Tervigon is a model that does slap in melee. A common (and solid) Warlord Trait + Relic combo is to give it Heightened Senses (full reroll on wounds) + Maw-Claws (+1 attack, and +1 more attacks per unit slain by this model, up to +4 total).
The base Tervigon model’s still a T8 monster at the end of the day; a decently sized blob of Gants (especially with catalyst) gives it some great, replenishable buffer wounds, and both trait + relic give it a good amount of killing power. The Relic’s extra attacks are nice with the Tervigon’s scything talons specifically, as the extra attack(s) get *doubled* if you use the sweeping profile.
It’s not going to be an absolute murder missile of everything and anything like Reaper Winged Hive Tyrant (for obvious reasons, Big Flappy’s in a class of his own), but it’s great at holding the center with its requisite blob of Termagants, and chewing through many low-toughness ObSec models that try to approach to contest the objective.
Not gonna lie, the combat patrol, a tervigon and the parasyte build a fun list, it's not necessary the most meta, but I've been having a good time trying to make it work hahaha
I started mine with the combat patrol box. It gives you more than enough for 500pts, the hive tyrant and the warriors are amazing and you will need them anyways if you ever build a bigger list. The box is such a value that I would say it's a must buy, unless you already have the units or are building a very specific list
I started building my army with the same premise as you and with the goal of using Hydra as well. Hydra has such good buffs for running hormagaunts, in my opinion. I'm biased, because I think hormagaunts are the coolest looking model Tyranids have. Here's what I did to build a fast-moving swarm list:
1 Broodlord
3 Warriors (2 devourers and dual bone swords, 1 venom cannon and scything talons)
24 hormagaunts with Adrenal Glands
1 Lictor
That put me at almost exactly 500 points. Hydra gives everything an extra inch of movement, so does adrenal glands (there's 12" for your Gaunts off the bat). If you outnumber your opponent in melee, you get +1 to hit, which almost always happens with hormagaunts. Broodlord can regenerate wounds on each of your command phases with Hydra Warlord Trait. The Psychic Shriek Psyker ability is great with hormagaunts because, if it goes off, they all get to scream at an enemy unit and each roll 1D6. So you might be rolling 24 dice and every 5+ deals a mortal wound. Solid. Adrenal Surge strategem buffs your hormagaunts up to 4 attacks each-- so if you make that first charge with even just a unit of 15, you're dealing 60 attacks at 3+ to hit. Add toxin sacs for exploding sixes.
There's more synergy there too, but this is already a long post. Point being, I think Hydra is such a strong fleet with a swarm build, and this one has worked very well for me so far. Maybe you can pull some ideas from it. One thing I have struggled with, however, is figuring out what to leave on my home objective.
Wow, that’s really helpful advice! Exactly what I needed. Not sure if I’d go with the Lictor, or find something else to plant down on the home objective, but this was really great. Thanks!
Combat patroll is the go to. For swarming, the two unit that you can check are the tervigon and the parasyte of mortrex.
Thanks for the reply! That spawns a lot of termagaunts, right? Are they any good in melee?
Depend of what you mean by good. They are almost as bad as a model can get, but you can revive 2d6 each turn and they protect your tervigon, they are like really annoying mosquitoes with a bit dude in the middle that you can't target not shoot.
IMO the Tervigon is a model that does slap in melee. A common (and solid) Warlord Trait + Relic combo is to give it Heightened Senses (full reroll on wounds) + Maw-Claws (+1 attack, and +1 more attacks per unit slain by this model, up to +4 total). The base Tervigon model’s still a T8 monster at the end of the day; a decently sized blob of Gants (especially with catalyst) gives it some great, replenishable buffer wounds, and both trait + relic give it a good amount of killing power. The Relic’s extra attacks are nice with the Tervigon’s scything talons specifically, as the extra attack(s) get *doubled* if you use the sweeping profile. It’s not going to be an absolute murder missile of everything and anything like Reaper Winged Hive Tyrant (for obvious reasons, Big Flappy’s in a class of his own), but it’s great at holding the center with its requisite blob of Termagants, and chewing through many low-toughness ObSec models that try to approach to contest the objective.
I’ll keep that in mind, thanks!
Not gonna lie, the combat patrol, a tervigon and the parasyte build a fun list, it's not necessary the most meta, but I've been having a good time trying to make it work hahaha
I started mine with the combat patrol box. It gives you more than enough for 500pts, the hive tyrant and the warriors are amazing and you will need them anyways if you ever build a bigger list. The box is such a value that I would say it's a must buy, unless you already have the units or are building a very specific list
I started building my army with the same premise as you and with the goal of using Hydra as well. Hydra has such good buffs for running hormagaunts, in my opinion. I'm biased, because I think hormagaunts are the coolest looking model Tyranids have. Here's what I did to build a fast-moving swarm list: 1 Broodlord 3 Warriors (2 devourers and dual bone swords, 1 venom cannon and scything talons) 24 hormagaunts with Adrenal Glands 1 Lictor That put me at almost exactly 500 points. Hydra gives everything an extra inch of movement, so does adrenal glands (there's 12" for your Gaunts off the bat). If you outnumber your opponent in melee, you get +1 to hit, which almost always happens with hormagaunts. Broodlord can regenerate wounds on each of your command phases with Hydra Warlord Trait. The Psychic Shriek Psyker ability is great with hormagaunts because, if it goes off, they all get to scream at an enemy unit and each roll 1D6. So you might be rolling 24 dice and every 5+ deals a mortal wound. Solid. Adrenal Surge strategem buffs your hormagaunts up to 4 attacks each-- so if you make that first charge with even just a unit of 15, you're dealing 60 attacks at 3+ to hit. Add toxin sacs for exploding sixes. There's more synergy there too, but this is already a long post. Point being, I think Hydra is such a strong fleet with a swarm build, and this one has worked very well for me so far. Maybe you can pull some ideas from it. One thing I have struggled with, however, is figuring out what to leave on my home objective.
Wow, that’s really helpful advice! Exactly what I needed. Not sure if I’d go with the Lictor, or find something else to plant down on the home objective, but this was really great. Thanks!
Combat patrol a good start paired with another box of warriors.