Tyranids in Age od Sigmar

[Skarband]

Hello I have a question, is there an equivalent of Tyranids in AoS? which army is most similar?

 

 

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[Kramer]

Non. 
perhaps maybe beast of chaos on a good day. 

[EccentricCircle]

That's a tricky question as it depends a bit on what you mean. There is no one to one analogue, i.e. The way that Eldar mirror Elves, and Orks were based on orcs.

Do you want an army that plays like tyranids? A chittering horde that swarms its enemies in melee and can always bring in more troops? Mostly in that case one of the undead armies might be to your taste, although they tend to lack some of the bigger monsters.

If you want something with a similar look and feel to nids as a hobby project, then maybe Seraphon, the old Lizardmen would be a good fit. They have big monsters, non human design (reptilian rather than insectoid). They can be painted in bright and complex colorschemes, or quite simply using contrast.

Lorewise we don't have a good equivalent there is no hive minded faction, and nothing has th same feel precisely. For the swarming horde army with stranger creatures and a relentless desire to dominate you could check out the Skaven, but they are sillier than the nids, and have more character, particularly amoung their leaders. 

Skaven would be my top pick, followed by Seraphon I think.

I hope that helps.

Edited September 13, 2020 by EccentricCircle

[Fisherdwarf]

I would say Flesh-Eater Courts would be a fairly similar army. Tons of swarming ghouls, some big and scary monsters as well as medium sized, hard-hitting horrors.

They're basically only melee with magic support, but otherwise they could pretty much be proxied by tyranids on the tabetop, if that's what you're looking for.

[MaatithoftheBrand]

In terms of flavour, I'm going to echo what people are saying above - for a "bring it all down" type of horde, the Beasts of Chaos (particularly the subfaction that are based on Morghur - can't remember the name of them off the top of my head...?) are a pretty good fit, although there is more of a low cunning vibe than a vast, insectile and alien intelligence. If its the ravenous horde you want, then Flesh Eater Courts is literally that, and somewhat breaks down into the same three "categories" of Tyranids (Gaunts - Ghouls / Warriors - Horrors and Similar / Nidzilla - Terrogheists and Zombie Dragons), and from what I've seen of my friend's army, plays in a similar way with your "Synapse" heroes and big beasties anchoring a large swarm. Finally, Skaven can also do the massive horde with big monsters, although in terms of lore flavour they are very much not Tyranid in a way that the other two are. They can do shooting better than the other two, if that's an important detail for you?

 

In terms of simply going for models or armies that look very "other" and strange, I'd say maybe a Tzeentch Arcanite army? Lots of model variety, and bounding horrors/flamers, strange masked acolytes, two headed raven beastmen, hulking ogres, and the mutilath vortex beast can greate a very colourful and varied force to look at on the tabletop. 

 

In terms of enjoying painting a mixture of flesh and "chitin" on a model, Spiderfang Grots from the Gloomspite Gitz get a large number of carapaced beasts alongside some softer flesh, on both the Araknarok Spider and the Grots themselves, and can do a horde of small, fast models around big monsters vibe even without dipping too much into Moonclan. As said above, Seraphon can do the scale patterns and also have a good array of impressive monsters to choose from. The Daughters of Khaine and, to a lesser extent certain Sylvaneth models and maybe something like the Ossiarch Bonereapers, can also give you strange textures to paint, often alongside soft flesh for that contrast.

[Grim Beasties]

In terms of lore there have been things that are similar to Tyranids in the insectoid department, but don't really have any model and only small descriptions. Like the Ur-Grub from beastgrave or the Sleeper from gotrek and Felix.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Grim Beasties

[Neverchosen]

As people have already answered regarding which armies in AOS feel like Tyranids, I will take a slightly different approach to answering this question.

So if you are interested in proxying Tyranids into AOS: You could make a cool insectoid themed Beasts of Chaos army but you would want to use very few if any of the models featuring those garish bioweapons. Hormagaunts seem like really good proxies for basic infantry like Gors and both armies feature tons of monsters. It would be fun to read the rules of Beast of Chaos monsters and finding the right model to fit those rules. Genestealers could make for the basis of a really cool bestial Flesh Eaters army from Ghur. Genestealers would work for Ghouls, Aberrants from GSC could make could cool Crypt Horrors (converting the weapons to feel less sci-fi), I dunno maybe Zoanthropes for Flayers? I don't really know the Tyranid range well enough to know for certain what would be a good proxy for each unit. You would need some creative list building to accomplish a goal of using a purely proxied Tyranid focused AOS army. This is the best route to take if you are interested in the Tyranid model range but do not own them and want to play AOS as opposed to 40k. That way you can buy the proper units that fit your army with little to no concern with how they would function in a different game system. Also, if you are a dedicated Tyranid player this could help you expand your force but also likely to include a lot of redundancies for your army.

If you were into kit bashing there are some cool options for Tyranids in AOS: I think that mixing Tyranids with Sylvaneth for a frightening spite themed army would look fantastic. Idoneth might have some fun options if you want to see them to ride massive mutant sea bugs into war. Finally, Tyranids make for really cool Chaos mutations in AOS, again this is mostly useful for kit-bashing, but you could proxy some chaos monstrosities like Demon Princes, Spawns, Fomoroids, Soul Grinders, Beasts of Nurgle, Fiends etc. I believe that Tyranids work better as mutants/demons/mutations for Chaos in AOS than in 40k, since as they have no rules in the system so people wont arbitrarily assume it is a Carnifex or a Genestealer like they would in 40k. I think the kit-bashing route might be the best way to go if you already have a Tyranid army you can use any extra bits and in some cases you can proxy some units. This also allows you to buy new units and learn to paint and play with new model ranges.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Neverchosen

[Kramer]

3 hours ago, Neverchosen said:

 I think that mixing Tyranids with Sylvaneth for a frightening spite themed army would look fantastic

Oh I like that!

With the playstyle with the woods that grow everywhere, which can be more deathworld forest style terrain. Or egg sacks that fill the board. New bugs crawling out of the ground with the summoning. Kurnuth models have a nice size between the towering treelords and the small dryads. 

That's a great idea.

[Maddpainting]

Well nids has lots of small, mid, and large units, and with all sizes you can melee or shoot. So i'd say Sylvaneth would fit well, BoC and FeC as well too. But there is no 1 to 1. 

 

[Neverchosen]

7 hours ago, Kramer said:

Oh I like that!

With the playstyle with the woods that grow everywhere, which can be more deathworld forest style terrain. Or egg sacks that fill the board. New bugs crawling out of the ground with the summoning. Kurnuth models have a nice size between the towering treelords and the small dryads. 

That's a great idea.

Why thank you, @Kramer. Such high praise from one of the more talented and creative posters on this forum.

I have always wanted a dark fae army and I think that is the closest that I will get. However, you have blown me away with your much more well thought out and creative ideas. Sadly it is well beyond my budget and skill set, so I hope someone steals my idea and I can look on jealously from afar.

[Maddpainting]

Nurgle actually might be very good too as you can pick from many armies and they have many similarities like Nurglings for Rippers, and many others, thinking about it more so I think General Nurgle might be the best fit.

[The Mysterious Mr B]

Does anyone know of any home-brewed Tyranid battletomes (essentially just the warscrolls and allegiance abilities, etc)? 

[Ragequit]

On 11/29/2020 at 11:00 PM, The Mysterious Mr B said:

Does anyone know of any home-brewed Tyranid battletomes (essentially just the warscrolls and allegiance abilities, etc)? 

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2016/04/want-to-play-tyranids-in-age-of-sigmar.html
Don’t know how old or balanced this is but remember seeing this a few years back

[CeleFAZE]

If you want to bring tyranid models into AoS (rather than finding a rough analogue) I would note that the way the bone carapaces of the Ossiarch Bonereapers fit together actually have a very tyranid kind of look to them. I've been tempted to start a conversion project of my own if I ever venture outside of my current army.

[Malakithe]

As far as a bio-created psychic race thats all linked to one mind and literally consumes every thing in its path...no...and thank Sigmar there isnt cuz nothing would be able to stop that.

A race like that lore wise in such a small setting as the mortal realms would be too op

[CeleFAZE]

17 hours ago, Malakithe said:

As far as a bio-created psychic race thats all linked to one mind and literally consumes every thing in its path...no...and thank Sigmar there isnt cuz nothing would be able to stop that.

A race like that lore wise in such a small setting as the mortal realms would be too op

Doesn't this basically describe the majority of the Death grand alliance, though? Replace the hivemind with Nagash, and biomass with bone, bodies, and souls and you have a fairly apt comparison. His end goal is even to render all the realms as undead in thrall to him, which while explicitly distinct from the tyranids motivations is thematically similar.

[Malakithe]

On 12/6/2020 at 2:01 PM, CeleFAZE said:

Doesn't this basically describe the majority of the Death grand alliance, though? Replace the hivemind with Nagash, and biomass with bone, bodies, and souls and you have a fairly apt comparison. His end goal is even to render all the realms as undead in thrall to him, which while explicitly distinct from the tyranids motivations is thematically similar.

To a point this is true. Nids would be more like a massive never ending horde of regrow able zombies that just always keep moving and consuming and multiplying. Nagash has plans and plots and many of his servants are free-willed to a point. While he does want everything to be undeath he has to stop himself, wait, plan things out.

Nids wouldnt stop. Its just go go go from one place to the next without real thought or process. Consume, grow, spread. Nagash doesnt do that at all. He still has structure to what he does. Even to Bonereapers have long term contracts with the living. 

[Baron Klatz]

Yeah, even the NightHaunt who lethaly swarmed the realms in their millions didn't murder everyone, they spared those that submitted to Nagash or even kneeled to be ruled over by the geist army.

That's actually closer to a Orruk Waaagh. Notably the one Gorkamorka lead in the beginning of the Age of Chaos where his armies rode roughshod over chaos and order all the way to the edges of the realms and then turned around and trampled over them again destroying any place that was trying to rebuild from the first Waaagh.

Even then they leave survivors as they just want a fight and don't mindlessly hunt every creature down.

Tyranids would be a God-king forsaken fusion of Death and Destruction so you have nigh-unkillable flesh craving horrors from Death are mixed with the unending aggression of Destruction so they hunt everything down and remove any notion of reason from them.