Relentless and Expendable combine to horrible effect.  Firstly there are few Blast Markers generated when a unit takes casualties. When the Nids try to engage they're on a 0+ thanks to the overly-generous +2 bonus they get for Relentless.  If their opponent tries to stop them by putting Blast Markers on, they're on 1+.  It's still automatic.

And then, when they shed Blast Markers rallying they also get +2 bonus.  0+ again.  2+ if they're broken (which you're lucky to do as it's so fiendishly difficult to put Blast Markers on a formation as dead Brood Creatures don't generate them).

Why +2?  Did you experiment with +1 first?

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I'll respond more indepth later, gotta go to a visitation tonight.

The sniper limitation only applies to the "extra attack", the Lictor's "normal attack" can still be applied to units not in base.

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True, but if I was being a pedantic opponent.

3 Lictors charge. say 2 normal hits, 2 Sniper hits.
Well, I allocate to the 2 units in close combat with the Lictors, then the Tyranid player must allocate the Sniper hits to the same 2 units in base contact (being the only one's in range of the CC Sniper attack).
4 hits can only kill 2 units.

Playing a game at the moment, and believe me, from experience, nids do not always charge. I have been having to make tests at 3+ due to wanting to make double or triple moves due to blast markers.

People seem to forget that not everything has infiltrate, and therefore, double and triple moves without the rule are still an active part of the game. We have just gone 3 turns and the Nids have only had 3 charges. With 6 activations x 3 turns (counting teleporters), that is 3 out of 17 actions.

I think perhaps people are exaggerating a little too much when they talk about the 'benefits' of Tyranids....

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I don't think it's "exaggerating", but, in my experience, it's having a "bad experience" against/with a new army that colours further perceptions of the army.

This seems especially strong when playing against some of the "weird" armies, like Necrons or Tyranids; opponents have some "go-to" tactics or strategies that suddenly blow up in their faces and they become frustrated and fail to see any of the drawbacks this "new" army might have, seeing it only as 'broken'.

That is not to say that there aren't many valid points and complaints to be made, but, especially with armies that are still in development, one has to realize that things are in a state of flux and all the possible bugs haven't been worked out.

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"+1" has been experimented with and often found wanting... the, absurdly common *laugh*, happening of a Lictor swarm showing up with a Blast marker and then failing to engage in its first activation was ridiculously frustrating. Tyranids are, even more than Orks, bred to close with the enemy and rip and chew them apart... it is the thing they are the best at, even when instinctive, Tyranids will attack prey-things.

They are just as succeptible to failing the other types of action as any other army... if people are complaining about the "too many fires" approach of Tyranids marching across the board, why aren't they placing Blast markers on the swarms to cause 1-in-3 of these rushes to fail?  There's no garrauntee that all those swarms are going to be up there for the "big push" in the following turn.

As to the bonus to rallying: the grip of the Hive Mind is as strong as iron when Its creatures are linked, they instantly return to good order and are incapable of feeling any kind of fear or hesitation; why shouldn't they shed Blast markers easily?  The "will of the Hive Mind" is what makes Tyranids so scary.

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Haha

He said 'bugs' on a Tyranid discussion..

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I also find artillery to be very efficient vs Tyranids. If the Tyranids do the three-swarm-march-up, they will not utilize terrain maximally, because going the full distance is more important. If they hug terrain, you accomplish something too. Tyranids have no aircrafts or drop-pods, and apart from Lictors, no teleporting terminators either, so defending artillery is quite easy.

/Fredmans

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