Adaptation

I've had my copy of Codex: Tyranids for a few days now and have looked over most of it with an eye for changes from its previous edition and how they affect my own army, Hive Fleet Hydra. Although I had great hopes for this book, I'm left feeling a bit underwhelmed. I would probably be more excited about it if I were actively collecting them at this point and interested in adding new units to my old army. I do not plan however to add anything to my swarm for quite some time as I right now have plenty of other projects on my hobby-plate. Mycetic Spores open up some exciting new styles of play for 'Nid armies which I will not be able to try out using only my current collection. Also it seems like most of the online community has understandably fallen in love with a few of the new beasties, in particular the Tervigon and the amazing new Trygon/Mawloc kit. Even with my stated goal of not purchasing any new 'Nids, that Trygon is just so fantastic I may end up getting one anyway. But really what I am interested in doing is figuring out how to make the most out of the bugs that I already have.

My Tyranid army was collected with the intent of being fielded as a 2000 point force and so I actually have a decent amount with which I can work. This exercise should be easier as I now favor smaller games with fewer points per side, thus making this task more about cutting out from my list what no longer makes sense rather than trying to force my current army build into conforming with the new rules. I was never a big fan of the Nidzilla armies that were so popular with the previous book. Tyranid armies to me were always about lots of swarms of little bugs overrunning the enemy with some mid-sized bugs and big bugs mixed in to lead the army and provide some serious stomping power. I love the Carnifex model but an army made up almost exclusively of them and Genestealers just did not appeal to me. Therefore I've got some monstrous creatures available but also a good number of the smaller fellas to bulk out my swarm. Here then is a review of all the Tyranids I have and whatever biomorphs and weapons that are represented on the miniatures themselves.

Hive Tyrant: Scything Talons x 2, Wings, Toxin Sacs

Hive Tyrant: TL Devourers x 2, Toxic Miasma

Lictor

Zoanthropes x 2

Tyranid Warriors x 3: Rending Claws, Devourers

Genestealers x 12

Termagants x 24

Hormagaunts x 16: Adrenal Glands

Hormagaunts x 16: Toxin Sacs

Tyranid Shrikes x 3: Rending Claws, Devourers

Raveners x 2: Scything Talons, Rending Claws

Raveners x 2: Scything Talons x 2

Carnifex: TL Devourers x 2, Frag Spines, Regenerate

Carnifex: Scything Talons, Heavy Venom Cannon, Adrenal Gland

So the first step in this process is to take stock of the resources available to Hive Fleet Hydra, which is what the above list is meant to do. Now the real work can begin as over the coming days I start crunching numbers and trying out different combinations of broods. I want to come up with a variety of possible army lists so that I can then set about testing them in some actual games. Although it's still likely that I will occasionally want to use as many 'Nids as I can, nowadays I prefer games of either 1000 or 1500 points and so developing lists at those levels will be my priority. I would love to hear any suggestions of how I can best make use of what is already in my collection and I am grateful for anyone who cares to voice their thoughts.