Learnings of the Shas

Fighting Tyranids part two: Target Priority and Firepower Application.
In part one, I looked at splitting your opponents force to weaken the army and synapse web. In this second part I'm going to look at how you should select targets and what sort of weapons you should be using.

Target Priority is very important when fighting Tyranids. quite often your opponent will try and overload your fire power, presenting so many targets, you don't know what to shoot. It is very important in these situations to sit back and analyse the oncoming swarm. Look for key targets, that when killed, will disrupt a large portion of the army. These targets are usually synapse creatures, though not always. An example of an army booster is a Venomthrope. These should be killed quickly if you are planning on using low ap weapons to kill monstrous creatures as Venomthropes provide all units within 6" with a 5+ cover save. The best ways to deal with Venomthropes are Instant Deathing them (they're only toughness 4) or causing a decent number of wounds. Unless you're a Guard player, you probably want to use the latter as your high strength guns should be targeting monstrous creatures. Up next in the list are synapse creatures. As mentioned in part one these creatures are vital to the Tyranid army. Unfortunately these models tend to be high toughness, multi-wound affairs with a decent save. This doesn't make them easy to kill but it doesn't make them invulnerable. This is the point where Application of Firepower becomes important. You want to make sure you're hitting this unit with every high strength, low ap weapon in your list until it keels over and dies. Then move on to the next one and so on and so forth. Sometimes it seems this is a silly way to approach the Tyranid army, especially when you've got fast assaulters, such as Shrikes bearing down on you, but the important thing to remember is that if you've deployed carefully, the Shrikes won't get you until turn 2 at the earliest and should have to cross some open ground to get to you, leaving them vulnerable to fire.
In short, split your opponents forces, kill the army boosters and Synapse and then pick off the fast assaulters.
If there's anything I haven't addressed or you've got tactics you think I should try please let me know. I hope you're enjoying the series so far,
Ko'vash