Beginner Needs Help Organizing An Army

[sizer323]

Hello Fellow 'Nids,

I'm new to 40k and picked out the Tyranids for my first army. I've picked up quite a bit of random stuff and what I gather are a few essentials. I'm needing help organizing an army list. Probably a 1000 pt, and a 1500 pt list would be good.

I bought large lots of models from ebay and have been in the process of cleaning and repainting (helps with the $$).

I don't have any tervigons yet ( , but 2 are my next purchase). Here's what I have to work with:

HQ's:
2x Tyranid Primes (magnitized warriors). 2x boneswords and deathspitters

Elites:
6x Hiveguard
4x Zoanthropes (got 1 extra to possibly proxy as Doom)
10x Ymgarl

Troops:
52x Hormaguants
41x Termagants (all fleshborers)
26x Genestealers
3x Broodlords
5x Warriors (Magnitized ranged weapons, Scy talons are stuck on. Thinking of 5 with scy talons, deathspitters, 1 barbed strangler)

Fast:
None...should I worry?

Heavy:
2x Carnifex with TLBL Devs and HVC (I know the TLBL Dev is the best out of a bad bunch, but they came this way and were a steal)

Can I make a decent 1000 pt or 1500 pt army out of this? Here's what I'm thinking:

HQ:
2x Primes with swords and deathspitters, regen

Elites:
3x Hiveguard
3x Hiveguard
10x Ymgarls

Troops:
4x Warriors
6x Genestealers w/Broodlord all scy talons
6x Genestealers w/Broodlord all scy talons
20x Hormagaunts
20x Termagants

Heavy:
2x Carnifex w/TLBL Devs and HVC

That would be about ~1500 points. Probably put one prime with fexes and keep hive guard nearby and in cover. Other prime goes with warriors. Infiltrate Genes and probably swap psychic powers.

Termi's stay in back and hold objectives. Warriors advance with Horma's and help Gene's take objectives.

Should I add AG or TS to the Horma's? What about the warriors or primes?

Should I swap a hiveguard for a Zoan?

Flyers are an issue. Suppose my mini Fexstar could do okay, though I'll lose a turn of shooting out of them.

Any tips to make this more competitive?

How could I cut this down to a 1000 points?

What should I add to grow this? I'm thinking a flyrant and a couple of tervigons for sure.

Thanks in advance!

[deadeight]

First off I don't think TL Devourers with BL worms are the best out of a bad bunch on a carnifex. The only carnifex builds people seem to be running are with 2xTL devourers, they're really good. It's the HVC on the carnifex which is a bit of a pain, but you can always just pretend it has 2xTL devourers.

If your primes are magnetised on all the arms I'd think about the boneswords carefully. You've got a shooty warrior brood with a barbed strangler, which in a lot of situations you're probably not going to want to get into CC with. At least I normally don't; the prime is for the BS. Then if the other prime is in with the carnifexes, think about what that unit will be doing. The carnifexes with TL devourers are going to be shooting on the way up, and are probably going to want to engage vehicles or big stuff in CC if they can, against which a bonesword is of little use. Regen like you've put on them is great in both cases imo, and so are deathspitters.

But to be honest the best thing is to play some games and see how you are going to work the army. You may find you're instant deathing a bunch of stuff and it's worth it for how you're using them.

AG &TS is good on hormagaunts if you have the points. I don't put them on warriors or primes as they're too expensive imo, and I keep mine shooty. With zoans it depends how you use them, and your points; a popular tactic is 3 in a mycetic spore dropped which makes it 220 points, 3 hive guard are 150pts. However, zoans are a lot better against AV14 stuff if you come up against it (zoans have strength 10 instead of 8, and the lance special rule makes AV14 count as AV12, so zoans have str10 shots against av12 instead of str8 against av14, at the expense of a little range/los and a psychic test). Alternatively if not using a mycetic spore use Onslaught on a tervigon to walk the zoanthropes up.

[sizer323]

deadeight,

Thanks for the feedback! You're probably right about the primes. I mostly had the boneswords to help distinguish them from regular warriors. I suppose if one is attached to the 'fexes I could just go with scy talons. Those points could probably be better used elsewhere.

At least with the new rules the HVC is slightly more useful. I may try it with and without once or twice.

I'm strongly considering using the zoans in place of one hive guard unit. Seems like they bring a little more versatility and crazy psychic shenanigans.

[sizer323]

As far as positioning the primes, should I keep the one in the warriors in front to absorb ID hits and then Look Out, Sir! the others?

Is that the same strategy with the fexes? Put one on my prime and LOS and then attempt regen?