500 pts. new to 40k list (help)

[undertow92182]

As the title of the thread indicates, I am brand new to 40k though am a seasoned veteran of Fantasy. I'm also brand new to the boards so hello.

After much deliberation of balancing and weighing armies while constructing and evaluating all their inherent strengths and weaknesses I said F*@$ it and went with the "Rule of Cool" and whats cooler than space bugs? That aside I took a much more practical approach to army construction and after much lurking have put together a list I feel shows the diversity and strength of the Tyranids in a 500 point setting.

~~ HQ ~

110 pts - Prime with LW/BS, Deathspitter, and Regeneration

~~ Elite ~~

100 pts - 2 Hive Guards

~~ Troops ~~

60 pts - 12 Termigants

185 pts - Tervigon with Toxin sacs and Catalyst

~~ Heavy Support ~~

45 pts - Biovore


Total: 500 points.


The tactic is to pepper the opposing field with pie plates from the biovore and push up the middle with the Tervigon and her babies to support synapse and bring catalyst to the party once they lock up. The toxin sacs ensures that the termies have a CC advantage for when they finally cross the field. The Prime sticks with the Hive Guard and acts as mobile anti-armor able to eat shots for his homies and using the T6 Hive Guard and his own Regeneration to mitigate incoming shooty wounds. If anything assaults he brings the LW/BS to swiftly shut down the fight... if the enemy hangs back then he uses the HG as shields as to get him across the field quickly (in the case of no armor).

The idea is to use the Biovore for long range support, use the Tervigon and gants as the center pushing/scoring force, then have the prime with the HG to act as much needed anti-armor. Both the Tervigon and Prime units are highly flexible and able to sustain both fire power and CC potential while remaining rugged either through mass of wounds or T6 and Regen.

Please, feel free to tear me apart.. it's the only way to learn.

[commandersasha]

I think within the points limitation, you have a good list there; 600 is less than half of what I play, so I can't speak for how games work out at that level, but you have anti-armour, anti-infantry and objectives well covered, so there are no glaring weaknesses.

As the Tervigon with her gaunts will be the centre of the action, I'd consider losing the regen on the Prime, and adding Adrenal Glands to the Terv; that 10 points is then buffing her AND lots of gaunts, whereas the Regen MIGHT help one model.

Let us know how it goes!

[undertow92182]

Good point on the adrenal glands. I'll certainly take that into consideration and maybe try the list both ways to see what produces the better result. Sadly, my use of this army is still a little ways off as my main gaming buddy is banking on use of christmas funds/gifts for the bulk of his force. If it helps, he is going Dark Eldar (one of the reasons regen looked a little tempting).

[rampagingfex]

I really like this for a starter army. It's not as broken as something you "could" create, but it's got nice balance and all the models will be really useful as you start building 1000 and up armies.

-RF

[FTGTEvan]

Definitely seems like a solid foundation, particularly knowing you'll be up against DE. They'll probably be much faster than you, but hopefully they won't have too many transports floating around at this point level. A turn or two from the HG and Biovore can slow them down and level the playing field. I'm on the fence about the Regen vs. AG. AG will definitely have a larger overall effect, but Regen has a chance of being a lifesaver in keeping that unit alive longer under Dark Lance fire. That said, incoming fire on the HG+Prime can be minimized by using cover.

[undertow92182]

Rampagingfex - Thank you, that was actually something I was considering when putting this list together. I want to avoid models I only field in low point games as most place don't run escalation too much and they turn into wasted cash. The only exception will be for Tyranid Warriors which I do plan on getting since they can help patch up synapse holes when Tervigon's inevitably eat missle fire.

VTAeries - Out of curiousity do you have experience vs. DE? If so maybe you can help me. As I'm slowly amassing models for my inevitable horde I've been truly stuck between going Hive Tyrant on foot with Hive Tyrant Guard or going Flyrant with 10 screening gargoyles. Opinions?

[FTGTEvan]

I have pretty limited experience with them in their current incarnation. I played them in 3rd, and 1 of my 3 6th ed. games so far was against them; so, I have a little experience with them. I'm sure others are more familiar.

They have a potential for some heavy cheese in the form of Venom-spam, but essentially, you have to worry about the fact that they'll load up on Splinter cannons (Assault 4, wound on a 4+ if I remember correctly) and Dark lances/blasters (S8, AP2).

My error in the game I played against them was that I formed a battle line. The DE player was able to just bounce around, getting his units all within blaster range of one unit, but distant from everything else, and shoot that unit into oblivion. If I clustered up more, I might have stood a chance just by having enough guys remaining in one place to counter punch. Since I was all walking, I never really got in range to shoot anything.

But, while they're very fast when in Venoms (or Raiders), they're pretty fragile; a good volley of gant fire can take them down. If you can get them grounded then you stand a fair chance. Your list looks to be balanced enough to handle it. Your best tactic might be getting the HG in an area terrain piece in the middle and hunkering down and dropping their skimmers. Partly for that reason, since you want to hide them if possible, I would lean to AG on the tervigon to boost the surrounding gants; they could stand a chance in combat against base warriors