How to Beat Tyranids with Space Wolves

Beating Tyranids with Space Wolves isn't too much of a challenge when you consider that the Space Wolves Codex was practically designed to kill monstrous creatures.

Every Tyranid player is terrified of our Rune Priest's "Jaws Of The World Wolf" psychic power. But while our Grey Hunters can gun down hordes of Gaunts and our Long Fangs can take down monstrous creatures with Krak Missile Salvos before charging everything into a massive close combat, there are plenty of things that the Tyranids can still do to us!

Just be sure to soften up a Tyranid army with plenty of shooting before you do charge in to finish them off. Because charging in with chainsword in hand, thinking the bugs will be a push over in close combat will certainly get you killed.

So this is one of the times when the Space Wolves need to rely on their shooting and only charge into close combat to clean up or when the conditions are absolutely right.

Based on my gaming experience, I'm going to explain how to beat a typical Tyranids army with Space Wolves, while explaining what to look out for and how to best utilise your units to deal with each threat.

Oh, and watch our for those Tyranid Shrikes!


TYRANID ARMY STRENGTHS

Numbers
The Nids can throw down a lot of bugs and that's before those Tervigons starting makin' babies. So expect to get drowned in fodder if you're not smart with your bolters and frag missiles.

You're going to love the Heavy Flamers on your land speeders for being able to mop up a Gaunt squad whenever you need it.

Close Combat
Just because you've got a better Codex doesn't mean that you're going to beat Tyranids in close combat. They can throw way more dice than Space Wolves and get rerolls on practically everything. Don't forget that Tervigons can cast Feel No Pain on Gaunts too. So your Grey Hunters will get ripped apart if you're not careful.

Shoot first, fight later. That's the best approach against the Nids.


TYRANID ARMY WEAKNESSES

Shooting
For all their speed and close combat craziness, Tyranids aren't great at shooting. Sure, they've got the Hive Guard which are pretty good for popping your Rhinos transports and Zoanthropes aren't bad either. But in the game of mechanised armies, they're not that great. Also, a Tyrannofex is a massive points sink, even if it is a weapons platform.

Just watch our for massed 'living ammo' fire which can completely obliterate your infantry if they happen to get caught outside of their transports.

Lack of Vehicles
Every gun in your army can hurt something! Even your bolters can bring down Monstrous Creatures, so make each and every single shot count - you're gonna need them.

Synapse
First of all, Synapse makes units Fearless. That's great, because it means when you do get into combat it should only be at the right time (you should be shooting, shooting, shooting otherwise) to give you a decisive win. So when you do give those Tyranids a sound thrashing in close combat, they'll have to take even more armour saves for it...and Tyranids aren't known for their great armour saves.

The other flip side of Synapse is that the Tyranid player is often forced to move his army a cohesive whole in order to keep all the little critters in Synapse range of a big creature. This gives your Space Wolves more tactical flexibility that a Tyranid army. It also means that if you can take out the Synapse creatures you can effectively restrict your opponent's movement...or watch all their creatures instinctively wander off towards the nearest tree or run forward into your waiting guns.


TYPICAL TYRANID ARMY LIST
Everybody seems to take lots of Trygons, Tervigons and Hive Guard and who can blame them when they're easily the best choices in the book. The Tervigons sat back and spawn lots of Gaunts each turn to drown you in an endless sea of cheap models, while the Hive Guard blow up your tanks and finally, all the little creatures just hold you up so that the Trygons can slither up and stab you in the face.

Tervigon (HQ)
2 Hive Guard
2 Hive Guard
2 Hive Guard
Tervigon (Troops)
Tervigon (Troops)
10 Termagaunts
10 Termagaunts
10 Genestealers
Trygon
Trygon
Trygon Prime


Tyranid Strategy VS Space Wolves

As already stated, the Tervigons sat back and spawn lots of Gaunts each turn to drown you in an endless sea of cheap models, while the Hive Guard blow up your tanks and finally, all the little creatures just hold you up so that the Trygons can slither up and stab you in the face.

So how does that work in pactice? Well, basically the Tyranid player eats up half of the board (claiming any objectives) and does their best to minimise damage and multiply rapidly in the first two turns of the game.

First they want to blow up your transports with the Hive Guard. Then they want to get all those Termagaunts and Trygons into firing range and hose down your Grey Hunters with as many 'living ammo' shots as possible. When all those shots are re-rolling to wound, your Space Wolves can be wiped out very quickly.

Once the Space Wolves have taken enough casualties the whole swarm will sweep in, turning the game into a long, drawn out, close combat while the Tervigons keep pumping out new Gaunts to grab and objectives.

Space Wolves Strategy VS Tyranids

You're going to have a tough time as the Space Wolves player. You've only got so many models and you've got to make every gun count.

So for you this game is about concentrating your firepower to take down one threat at a time. And be sure to always deal with the immediate threats and systematically work your way up the Tyranid army in this way.

That way you'll do your best to stay out of close combat and ensure that you get off as many shots as possible each turn.

So frag missile barrages from your Long Fangs against Gaunts, followed by Rapid Firing Boltguns from your Grey Hunters should mop up Gaunt swarms.

Meanwhile all lascannons need to be targetted towards the Trygons and stack wounds for a couple of turns until they get close enough for your Grey Hunters to finish them off with Melta Guns.

Long Fangs really shine against Tyranids, because they can also pour Krak Missiles into monstrous creatures.

The same goes for Land Speeders who can finish off monstrous creatures with their highly mobile Multi Meltas before burning swarms with their Heavy Flamers. They also make great bait units of course!

And not forgetting the infamous Jaws Of The World Wolf Psychic Power which is well worth firing at Hive Guard and even Trygons. Because there's always a chance of instantly removing one of these models from play.

Most importantly, you'll just have to ignore the Tervigons who are likely to be sitting at the back anyway. Once you've wittled down the Tyranid swarm enough, you can begin to make your way up the field firing, charging and killing in the best way that Space Wolves know how.

And as always, make sure that when you charge you outnumber your foes and wipe them out in a decisive close combat. You can't afford to get bogged down or you will be quickly overwhelmed.

Finally, by the time you've up the field and near to those Tyrgons, let Jaws Of The World Wolf do what it does best and see the Tyranid player cry. But when you consider that Tervigons have 6 wounds, it really isn't effective aiming all those Krak Missiles, Lascannons and Melta Guns in their direction, otherwise the Space Wolves would take most of the game trying to kill them.


CONCLUSION
Beating Tyranids with Space Wolves is about using your firepower strategically before being able to advance. It's a tough match up, make no mistake. Just remember to focus your anti-infantry firepower on one threat at a time. It's all about target priorities and taking out what can threaten you each turn.

So do your best to deploy in a way that minimises these threats (spreading out is best) while giving your units a good field of vision so that they can back each other up with their guns and drive back the Tyranid swarm as a united army.

Once you've killed enough Tyranids with your guns, you can press the advantage and rampage through their army. Just expect to take a lot of casualties in doing so!