Thinking about getting into Nids

[HERO]

Will probably sell off my Blood Angels, some Dark Eldar and Chaos Space Marines and pick up Tyranids!

I've always wanted to start them, and was super excited for the new codex until I read it. Let's just say I'm just as disappointed as most of you. However, I can't be kept away forever... now that I'm being pulled in with some pretty tasty deals.

I was thinking about picking up..
3x Tyranid battleforces (is this a good idea?)
3x Trevigons box
1x Trygon box
3x Carnifex box
1x Hive Tyrant box

I'm going to kitbash some of the Warriors into Hive Guard, use some other Warrior bodies for Tyrant Guard, and probably pick up a Venomthrope from a friend.

The army I'm trying to make is..

1750

HQ:
Swarmlord = 280
+Tyrant Guard = 60

TROOP:
10x Termagaunts = 50
Trevigon (Cluster, Adrenal, Toxin, Catalyst) = 195
10x Termagaunts = 50
Trevigon (Cluster, Adrenal, Toxin, Catalyst) = 195
10x Termagaunts = 50
Trevigon (Cluster, Adrenal, Toxin, Catalyst) = 195

ELITE:
10x Ymgarl Genestealers = 230
3x Hive Guard = 150
Venomthrope = 55

HEAVY:
Trygon (Prime) = 240

Do you think I have a pretty good idea of what to start with?

[retnab]

With 3 Tervigons you're going to want a lot more spare Termagaunts. I'd skip out on the Carnifexes too.

[rpricew]

Unfortunately, retnab is probably right.

For a Troop Tervigon you need at least 36 Termagants on average per game (10 base plus 20+Spawning). Since they come in boxes of 12... 36!

Carnifex are good as shooty units, but most of the time you need to put them in a spore and if they are solo, they die pretty quick. You need target saturation to make them live.

[HERO]

How are the Tyranid battleboxes in terms of savings? Are they a good buy?

Edit: My opponents are quite friendly in letting me use the Hormagaunts as Termagaunts if the situation demands

[rpricew]

Challenge with them is they come with 8 Genestealers (not very 6th edition friendly unless you run them as Ymgarls), 16 Termagants (Good), 16 Hormagaunts (which I love, but most people don't) and 3 Warriors (which need to be converted into something else)

29.00 = 12 Termgants
29.00 = 12 Hormagaunts
50.00 = 3 Warriors
30.00 = 8 Genestealers

$138.00 USD retail as opposed to $125.00 USD for the box.

$13.00 savings for 4 more Termagants & 4 More Hormagaunts. Is it worth it to you? Can you use these models?

What you need to find out is what kind of army do you want to run. I saw your list. Why do you want to run it. What do you know about Tyranid playstyle? What is your playstyle? Are you a horde player? Are you ok with everything in your army dying for you to pull out a last turn win with 2 Termagants hiding in cover holding an objective for the win? Are you good with a steep learning curve and having to really think 3 moves ahead to try and keep pace with certain builds? Are you ok with just simply being 50% behind every time you line up against DE Venom Spam? How much money do you have or want to spend?

In order to play the way I want to play (different lists that can be changed up regularly) I have over 8000 points of Tyranids without upgrades. I have models that I think are cool, and models that I need to win. Some days I like to play hordes and other days it's nidzilla. I have the money available so when I want to change my list (either because it's failing miserably, or I'm just bored with it) then I can do just that.

If you're trying to build one single list, then follow the old saying of "measure twice and cut once" Find out what you really want to play, because when it's all assembled and painted... that's all you have.

Ask away if you have questions...

[infornography]

I can't really recommend more than 2 battleforces as past that point finding a use for the genestealers and warriors in it will get increasingly difficult.

The warriors are mostly useful for conversion purposes. One can turn into a Tyranid Prime. The rest can be converted (with some spare bits obtained from a friend or local games store) into Hive Guard or Tyrant Guard. Or even Lictors, zoanthropes, or other things with a bit more creativity.

I would drop the venomthrope entirely. They have been nerfed to the point of irrelevance with 6th edition. Getting cover for your army is much easier now without them and they lost the defensive grenade upgrade that they give other units.

Also I would seriously consider getting a flyrant and kitbashing some twin linked devourers for it. That is our only reliable anti-air.

[HERO]

Oh, I don't mind playing an seemingly underpowered army. I play Dark Eldar, where vs. Nids they might seem amazing, but against Guard, GK and Necrons it's a whole 'nother story!

I've always been interested in Tyranids.. as they're one of my favorite armies in all of Warhammer.

[rpricew]

Jan 7, 2013 3:35:10 GMT HERO said:

Oh, I don't mind playing an seemingly underpowered army. I play Dark Eldar, where vs. Nids they might seem amazing, but against Guard, GK and Necrons it's a whole 'nother story!

I've always been interested in Tyranids.. as they're one of my favorite armies in all of Warhammer.

Then you should pick the units that you like! You're going to spend time painting and assembling them and there is nothing better than seeing the horde take over the board...

This is why I love playing Tyranids...

[retnab]

If you want to run Venomthropes I strongly suggest bringing two, as they basically have big targets on their backs the second they start giving out their cover saves. Alternatively if you want to give good saves to your guys a Skyshield Landing Pad is 20 points more, gives a 4++ save over a 5+ cover, and can't be removed but can't be moved either.

[TheContortionist]

bring a bunch of ripper swarms and carnifexand pyrovores because when you best people it will be funny.

[Space is pretty big]

Jan 7, 2013 6:58:36 GMT TheContortionist said:

bring a bunch of ripper swarms and carnifexand pyrovores because when you best people it will be funny.

Soooouuu It'll never be funny then?

[FTGTEvan]

As mentioned before, not sure you would want to go 3x Battleforces. You could get several extra boxes of gants for spawning/alternate loadouts; termagants with devourers are pretty awesome, even if they're twice the points. 6" greater range and 3 shots per model.

I might also suggest dropping one Carnifex kit (though from what I can tell, the bits are a kitbasher's dream) and getting a second HT box. That or scour ebay for an extra torso since you can nearly build 2 from 1 box.

Overall, the list looks pretty good, and your shopping list should provide a good variety for you to swap out a few things here and there as you get to play with it and get a better feel for what works for you.

Cheers! and welcome!

[Squire]

Why buy everything in one go? Why buy all of that stuff then write an army list that only includes a fraction of it? Unless you have a very quick paint scheme then surely it's best to buy a couple of boxes at a time and finish painting those before moving on- or just buy the army that you expect to field first of all, then add more units when you feel the need to make changes

The battleforce is worth it if you plan to field the warriors and two of the other units. I bought it because I intend to use the warriors, termagants and hormagaunts, and I was going to buy them anyway. The genestealers just give me something else to paint and an extra option for playing if I want it.

The carnifexes should probably be set up with quad devourers. 36 twin linked S6 shots coming out of that unit, and it actually isn't so big that it can't be easily accomodated in a 1500 point (or bigger) list. You could get away with them in 1000 points actually. Now I think of it... I might go down the triple dakkafex route myself. I could still fit a tervigon, mawloc, two units of warriors, two zoanthropes and some gaunts into 1500 points... but now I'd have a deathstar of doom and destruction

[Jabberwocky]

If you are buying the battle force, the hormies can easily be given spinefists/devourers/fleshborers and used as gants, though they will need their bases weighting.

If you then field your 3 units of gants with a variant wep, you can keep all fleshborers for spawning.

Alternatively just tell your opponent *all* gaunts are basic gants and no one should really care.

[edjammies]

I would personally drop the carnifexes and just buy their worth in Hive Guards instead. Also, drop one Battleforce and get 3-4 boxes of termagants instead. That will give you the near-optimum amount of termagants(roughly 80 total you're going to get) to actually run 3 Tervigons.