Help with Tyranid GSC list

[TheHiveKing]

I know this list probably sucks, but i am really making due with all that i have currently. i have enough money to buy mabye 2 or 3 more boxes of cult models. all i have is death watch overkill, swarm box, broodcoven and various over thyranid models(mainly ones listed in the list itself).


Tyranid CAD

HQ

Hive Tyrant W/ 2 TLD with brain leach worms and electro shock grubs

Hive Tyrant W/ 2 TLD with brain leach worms 
Troops

10 Termagaunts 5x Devourers

10 Termagaunts 5x Devourers
10 Termagaunts 5x Devourers

Tervigon W/ norncrown
Heavy support

Mawloc w/ prehensile pincer 
Carnifex w/ 2 TLDs with brain leach worms



Subterranean Uprising formation

Primus w/ sword of the voids eye

7 Acolyte Hybrid
7 Acolyte Hybrid 
5 metamorphs all w/claws 2 w/ hand flamers(am going to buy these soon)

4 Aberrants 2 w/ power hammers

Brood coven

Patriarch w/ mastery lv 2 and 2 familiars 
Magus w/ mastery lv 2, 2 familiars and dagger of swift sacrifice
Primus
 total:1862

any advice is welcome, but if you sugest any models just remember i dont have much money since i am still in highschool. i really can only buy about 1 $70 kit a month since my mom wants me to save some of my money. 

[nidzy]

I think your reasoning is fairly sound with this list, given that you already pointed out that these are the models you own.

A couple of notes:

On upgrades: I would skip the following upgrades: norn crown (too expensive, the primaris power does the same thing for free and you have 3 models that have it in this list), prehensile pincher (not worth its points, mawloc is there to burrow rather than fight anyway), dagger of swift sacrifice (no. Take the couchling on that magus instead!). See if you can give the second flyrant egrubs as well.

What to buy next: I really think your purchases should focus on more acolytes (look for deathwatch deals on ebay if any are still around) or maybe on some genestealers if you want to run purestrains. Stealers would be a relatively cheap way to get into some more cult models compared to acolytes and give that Patriarch a place to run. I think you could pretty easily come up with 20 genestealers for $70 on ebay, and get pretty close to that just retailing since they run at $30 for 8. That is a great value compared to the 5 for $40 acolyte kit.

List changes: That brood coven doesn't have a place to be in this list. You could stick it with the aberrants I guess, or a squad of acolytes but that will likely hurt their ability to roll 2 on cult ambush. You could add a CAD for the Magus and patriarch, using the neophytes from the deathwatch box set as troops. My biggest suggestion (mirroring the buying suggestion above) is to buy some stealers and throw in a first curse, or add some stealers to the aforementioned CAD to start. You should be able to do that pretty easily with the points adjustments I have suggested above as well as potentially dropping the aberrants which aren't very good.

Hope this helps! Happy nidding

[TheHiveKing]

Dec 26, 2016 19:53:43 GMT nidzy said:

I think your reasoning is fairly sound with this list, given that you already pointed out that these are the models you own.

A couple of notes:

On upgrades: I would skip the following upgrades: norn crown (too expensive, the primaris power does the same thing for free and you have 3 models that have it in this list), prehensile pincher (not worth its points, mawloc is there to burrow rather than fight anyway), dagger of swift sacrifice (no. Take the couchling on that magus instead!). See if you can give the second flyrant egrubs as well.

What to buy next: I really think your purchases should focus on more acolytes (look for deathwatch deals on ebay if any are still around) or maybe on some genestealers if you want to run purestrains. Stealers would be a relatively cheap way to get into some more cult models compared to acolytes and give that Patriarch a place to run. I think you could pretty easily come up with 20 genestealers for $70 on ebay, and get pretty close to that just retailing since they run at $30 for 8. That is a great value compared to the 5 for $40 acolyte kit.

List changes: That brood coven doesn't have a place to be in this list. You could stick it with the aberrants I guess, or a squad of acolytes but that will likely hurt their ability to roll 2 on cult ambush. You could add a CAD for the Magus and patriarch, using the neophytes from the deathwatch box set as troops. My biggest suggestion (mirroring the buying suggestion above) is to buy some stealers and throw in a first curse, or add some stealers to the aforementioned CAD to start. You should be able to do that pretty easily with the points adjustments I have suggested above as well as potentially dropping the aberrants which aren't very good.

Hope this helps! Happy nidding

i would have ran the first curse but i am short 4 stealers would it be worth it to give them scything talons? and i think i will purchase a few boxes of acolytes. any suggestions on how to equip them?

[Zod42]

What nidzy said above is excellent advice.

I only wanted to add a couple of things (purely my opinion):
> It seemed like you were planning to bring 3 squads of Termagants at 10 each, but you'll want them at 1 squad of 30 to bring the Tervigon as a Troop choice (assuming you want to stick with a CAD (otherwise you could do the Hivefleet detachment to bring 3 HQ units).
> In my opinion, scything talons seems an unnecessary expense in points. First Curse should be plenty killy without them.
> Most people run Acolytes with few upgrades to allow more bodies on the board, but I could see adding a couple of upgrades to a couple of squads depending upon your intended prey. The logical recommendations are hand flamers and rock saws (in different groups)to expand your toolbox with which you have to work, but bare-bones Acolytes work pretty well by themselves in numbers. I like the demo charges for comedic value, but I can't seriously recommend them.

[TheHiveKing]

Dec 27, 2016 22:54:43 GMT Zod42 said:

What nidzy said above is excellent advice.

I only wanted to add a couple of things (purely my opinion):
> It seemed like you were planning to bring 3 squads of Termagants at 10 each, but you'll want them at 1 squad of 30 to bring the Tervigon as a Troop choice (assuming you want to stick with a CAD (otherwise you could do the Hivefleet detachment to bring 3 HQ units).
> In my opinion, scything talons seems an unnecessary expense in points. First Curse should be plenty killy without them.
> Most people run Acolytes with few upgrades to allow more bodies on the board, but I could see adding a couple of upgrades to a couple of squads depending upon your intended prey. The logical recommendations are hand flamers and rock saws (in different groups)to expand your toolbox with which you have to work, but bare-bones Acolytes work pretty well by themselves in numbers. I like the demo charges for comedic value, but I can't seriously recommend them.

I must have missread the Tervigon rules. I thought it was just for every 30 gaunts i ran instead of every 30 gaunt unit. I would rather not make them one unti, so i will just go with Hive fleet detachment. 

[Zod42]

Yes.

Unfortunately, that was the case in this edition:
The Scuttling Swarm (page 96):
"For every Termagant brood of 30 models included in your army..."

[No One]

Honestly, unless you're limited in detachments (and I suppose dependant on mission), I'd just go with another CAD (ds rippers or mucolid for the extra troop) - I think ob sec's a non-trivial thing to lose, especially if you're playing the Codex FAQ (for ob sec spawned gaunts).

Another point of note that wasn't mentioned above - the metamorph kit only comes with 1 claw. Your group may be fine to just have the talons 'count as' for claws (most people don't know or care about nid upgrades, as long as they're differentiated for different things), but at that point, just see if you can get some DW:O acolytes - they're pretty easy to convert into taloned metamorphs (and probably clawed if you've actually got some claw bitz - there's a couple of threads with suggestions elsewhere if you want to buy some bitz) with the stealer talons. Not sure what prices are like at the moment, but worth checking out (they skyrocketed after the codex came out, but were still cheaper per model than the box set, and have likely gone down by now).

[Zod42]

Dec 29, 2016 9:06:30 GMT No One said:

Another point of note that wasn't mentioned above - the metamorph kit only comes with 1 claw. Your group may be fine to just have the talons 'count as' for claws (most people don't know or care about nid upgrades, as long as they're differentiated for different things), but at that point, just see if you can get some DW:O acolytes - they're pretty easy to convert into taloned metamorphs (and probably clawed if you've actually got some claw bitz - there's a couple of threads with suggestions elsewhere if you want to buy some bitz) with the stealer talons. Not sure what prices are like at the moment, but worth checking out (they skyrocketed after the codex came out, but were still cheaper per model than the box set, and have likely gone down by now).

Some people recommended these as Metamorph claws:

Google search "Pleasure Knights Claws".

I intend to check these out myself.