Brand new player. Some advice needed

[hivefleetkicknwing]

Greetings, new forum member here with a quick question. Just got into the hobby and fell in love with the bugs so should I get the "Spearhead" detachment as a first buy? From reading around it seems like everything in that box has its uses but is it worth the loot to pick one up?

[purestrain]

Aug 21, 2019 16:23:33 GMT hivefleetkicknwing said:

Greetings, new forum member here with a quick question. Just got into the hobby and fell in love with the bugs so should I get the "Spearhead" detachment as a first buy? From reading around it seems like everything in that box has its uses but is it worth the loot to pick one up?

Other than the trygon the fexen and tyrannofex are great additions, as is a hive tyrant. The pack should come with the other weapon kits for them so I'd say yes.

[yeturs]

the trygon is really fun to play with for casual stuff. I would recommend the spearhead, then look into getting termagants and other infantry.

Also, look into magnetizing the carnifexes and tyrant, so you can swap weapons around. So glad I did when I got the spearhead.

[hivefleetkicknwing]

Appreciate the fast reply. One more quick question concerning the spearhead detachment. Does the Hive Tyrant come with the option for wings or not?

[hivefleetkerrigan]

Aug 21, 2019 17:15:10 GMT hivefleetkicknwing said:

Appreciate the fast reply. One more quick question concerning the spearhead detachment. Does the Hive Tyrant come with the option for wings or not?

It does. All combo boxes gw puts out are the exact same sprue from the base boxes, so all of the options are available.

[Hive Bahamut]

Two part:

If you want to play higher end look no further than Genestealers, Hive Guard, and possibly Carnifex including OOE. Tyrant chasis also perform alright along with Venomthropes/Malanthrope and Neurothropes in most meta. I am pretty casual and these units need to be somewhere or I basically autolose.

Casual is whatever you like, but be warned, that spearhead is full of monsters and they are easily the weakest units in our roster. (All Nid monsters are quite bad.)

Nids are a lower tier book and fairly old in the 8th cycle, that being said by using certain "cookie cutter builds" they perform alright. Just don't be sad when a 40 point twin lascannon ruins any monster we have.

[hivefleetkicknwing]

I understand the "old age" of the codex and some units not being on par with the others. But I figured this would be a good way of getting my feet wet with the faction without committing too many resources. Worse case scenario if I dont like the Nids then I will have a nice collection of big painted monsters.

[LordPathos]

hivefleetkicknwing

I'm glad I got to you before it was too late!

There are naysayers on this forum. They creep about the threads, spouting off vile lies and falsehoods! You must brace yourself, for facing them is inevitable, but hopefully my warning will be enough.

If you get a Tyrannofex, Apoc spearhead or not, know there are 3 weapon options. Two are mediocre at best, but the third is, honestly, what makes the Tyrannofex an auto-include in every list. That third weapon is the Fleshborer Hive. It is the single best weapon in the Tyranid arsenal and I would even go so far as say in the whole game. There are many reasons why I make this claim, but I will give only one for now and it is based on math! And when has math ever been wrong? The FBH shoots twenty times. TWENTY! The puny rupture cannon shoots only 3 times and the acid spray has 2d6 shots (average of 7). And as we all know, 20 is a much higher number than 7 and even more so than 3.

Now, I can feel the said naysayers already rolling their faces over their keyboards, getting ready to spout off gibberish. So I must whisk my away as to not look upon their slander.

AWAY WITH ME!

[terminatoruk]

Gah - £80 for all that?! Feel a bit salty I spent £110 on 4 Carnifexes before Apocalypse was released. Oh well

Welcome to the hive / hobby - a brilliant choice

[terminatoruk]

Aug 22, 2019 5:38:34 GMT LordPathos said:

hivefleetkicknwing

I'm glad I got to you before it was too late!

There are naysayers on this forum. They creep about the threads, spouting off vile lies and falsehoods! You must brace yourself, for facing them is inevitable, but hopefully my warning will be enough.

If you get a Tyrannofex, Apoc spearhead or not, know there are 3 weapon options. Two are mediocre at best, but the third is, honestly, what makes the Tyrannofex an auto-include in every list. That third weapon is the Fleshborer Hive. It is the single best weapon in the Tyranid arsenal and I would even go so far as say in the whole game. There are many reasons why I make this claim, but I will give only one for now and it is based on math! And when has math ever been wrong? The FBH shoots twenty times. TWENTY! The puny rupture cannon shoots only 3 times and the acid spray has 2d6 shots (average of 7). And as we all know, 20 is a much higher number than 7 and even more so than 3.

Now, I can feel the said naysayers already rolling their faces over their keyboards, getting ready to spout off gibberish. So I must whisk my away as to not look upon their slander.

AWAY WITH ME!

Interesting that - would be a great combo with scorch bugs + pathogenic slime stratagems at the expense of 3 CP.  Would wound virtually anything on max 4+ and causing 2 Damage a piece for anything not saved; a real Primaris killer right there and would put a ton of wounds into vehicles.

I guess it depends on the role you want to fill though - it's a cool number of attacks for sure but you can only use it within 18" v.s. the rupture cannon's 48" range - one of Tyranids only 2 weapons with this range - and therefore will (usually) get more turns it can fire and keeps the Tyrannofex out of danger of getting charged.  You are also almost always going to be forsaking the 'Weapon Beast' special rule (allowing you to fire twice if stationary) to get in range (unless of course you just want it to create an area of denial around an objective which is definitely a cool option) so in most cases it will be 20 Str5 AP0 18" Damage 1 shots v.s. 6 Str10 AP-3 48" Damage D6 shots.

I will say though (not nayslaying the idea) I think the 24 S6 hitting on 3+ shots of a Dakkafex with x4 devourers + enhanced senses + spore cysts (115 pts) would be more optimal for the points (vs 166pts for Tyrannofex CA2018 cost + fleshborer hive) for the at the same range.  Noted - it doesn't have the T8 14W chassis of the Tyrannofex but the Carnifex doesn't degrade and has spore cysts for -1 to hit which is significant for survivability (against a Str9 -4AP Lascannon from Space Marines with the Devastator Combat doctrine activated, that T8 is going to mean nothing unfortunately )

If you take 3 dakka fexes (x4 Devourer with brain leach worms + enhanced senses + spore cysts - 115 each), vs 2 tyrranofexes (with fleshborer hive - 166pts each) for example...

2 Tyrannofexs - 28 T8 wounds (with no penalty to hit), 3+ save with 40 (80 if stationary) 18" Str 5 AP0 shots hitting on 4+ (degrading with damage) ... 332 pts
3 Dakkafexs - 24 T7 wounds (with -1 to hit at range), 3+ save with 72 (whether moved or not) 18" Str 6 AP0 shots hitting on 3+ (no degrading with damage) ... 345 pts

...this is why I ended up getting 4 Carnifexes in the end even though I run mine with Heavy Venom Cannon + Deathspitters for the range and the fact I think they look cool!

Let's hope they improve the Tyrannofex in the future with an invulnerable save or something similar to give it a bit of a niche over the Carnifex.

I think the key here is magnetisation - who knows what could change when (if?) the revised Tyranids codex arrives?  If you magnetise, you can swap the options out as you see fit at a later stage (or even turn the Tyrannofex into a Tervigon if you wanted at any time).

[LordPathos]

Aug 22, 2019 14:29:26 GMT terminatoruk said:

Aug 22, 2019 5:38:34 GMT LordPathos said:

hivefleetkicknwing

I'm glad I got to you before it was too late!

There are naysayers on this forum. They creep about the threads, spouting off vile lies and falsehoods! You must brace yourself, for facing them is inevitable, but hopefully my warning will be enough.

If you get a Tyrannofex, Apoc spearhead or not, know there are 3 weapon options. Two are mediocre at best, but the third is, honestly, what makes the Tyrannofex an auto-include in every list. That third weapon is the Fleshborer Hive. It is the single best weapon in the Tyranid arsenal and I would even go so far as say in the whole game. There are many reasons why I make this claim, but I will give only one for now and it is based on math! And when has math ever been wrong? The FBH shoots twenty times. TWENTY! The puny rupture cannon shoots only 3 times and the acid spray has 2d6 shots (average of 7). And as we all know, 20 is a much higher number than 7 and even more so than 3.

Now, I can feel the said naysayers already rolling their faces over their keyboards, getting ready to spout off gibberish. So I must whisk my away as to not look upon their slander.

AWAY WITH ME!

Interesting that - would be a great combo with scorch bugs + pathogenic slime stratagems at the expense of 3 CP.  Would wound virtually anything on max 4+ and causing 2 Damage a piece for anything not saved; a real Primaris killer right there and would put a ton of wounds into vehicles.

I guess it depends on the role you want to fill though - it's a cool number of attacks for sure but you can only use it within 18" v.s. the rupture cannon's 48" range - one of Tyranids only 2 weapons with this range - and therefore will (usually) get more turns it can fire and keeps the Tyrannofex out of danger of getting charged.  You are also almost always going to be forsaking the 'Weapon Beast' special rule (allowing you to fire twice if stationary) to get in range (unless of course you just want it to create an area of denial around an objective which is definitely a cool option) so in most cases it will be 20 Str5 AP0 18" Damage 1 shots v.s. 6 Str10 AP-3 48" Damage D6 shots.

I will say though (not nayslaying the idea) I think the 24 S6 hitting on 3+ shots of a Dakkafex with x4 devourers + enhanced senses + spore cysts (115 pts) would be more optimal for the points (vs 166pts for Tyrannofex CA2018 cost + fleshborer hive) for the at the same range.  Noted - it doesn't have the T8 14W chassis of the Tyrannofex but the Carnifex doesn't degrade and has spore cysts for -1 to hit which is significant for survivability (against a Str9 -4AP Lascannon from Space Marines with the Devastator Combat doctrine activated, that T8 is going to mean nothing unfortunately )

If you take 3 dakka fexes (x4 Devourer with brain leach worms + enhanced senses + spore cysts - 115 each), vs 2 tyrranofexes (with fleshborer hive - 166pts each) for example...

2 Tyrannofexs - 28 T8 wounds (with no penalty to hit), 3+ save with 40 (80 if stationary) 18" Str 5 AP0 shots hitting on 4+ (degrading with damage) ... 332 pts
3 Dakkafexs - 24 T7 wounds (with -1 to hit at range), 3+ save with 72 (whether moved or not) 18" Str 6 AP0 shots hitting on 3+ (no degrading with damage) ... 345 pts

...this is why I ended up getting 4 Carnifexes in the end even though I run mine with Heavy Venom Cannon + Deathspitters for the range and the fact I think they look cool!

Let's hope they improve the Tyrannofex in the future with an invulnerable save or something similar to give it a bit of a niche over the Carnifex.

I think the key here is magnetisation - who knows what could change when (if?) the revised Tyranids codex arrives?  If you magnetise, you can swap the options out as you see fit at a later stage (or even turn the Tyrannofex into a Tervigon if you wanted at any time).

[terminatoruk]

Haha that's good - I like that!!

Can't deny the figures though

[hivefleetkicknwing]

Woah too much math lol. Thanks for all the replies, you guys sure know how to make someone feel welcome. So I bought the set and the codex, now onto paints. Looking at reviews for the games workshop painting kit dont look very promising. Is there a "get started" paint kit that any of you guys would recommend for a begginner??

[terminatoruk]

Aug 22, 2019 16:28:23 GMT hivefleetkicknwing said:

Woah too much math lol. Thanks for all the replies, you guys sure know how to make someone feel welcome. So I bought the set and the codex, now onto paints. Looking at reviews for the games workshop painting kit dont look very promising. Is there a "get started" paint kit that any of you guys would recommend for a begginner??

Haha sorry - I can go off on a tangent.

So you've started at a great time if you want to get some decent looking / rapid results in your painting - you might want to check out the GW Constrast paints. 

I eventually decided they weren't for me but I know I've set myself on the road for months and months of drawn out painting; with Constrast paints (and the complementing Wraith Bone or Grey Seer constrast undercoat sprays) you can get some good looking results in a fraction of the time.

What I would recommend rather than buying a generic 'starter set' that'll have a load of paints you might never use is to decide on a colour scheme.

Generally at basic level I've found you'll need:

- A primary colour for the carapaces
- A secondary colour for the skin (this should constrast against the carapace to make it stand out)
- A teritiary colour (joints, weapons, talons, claws, hooves etc...)
- One or two specialist colours used in small areas (e.g. eyes, toxin sacs, feathering on the carapace etc..)

So here comes the hard part; deciding on a scheme!

This part alone took me ages to decide - I guess the first question is do you like any of the off-the-shelf GW hive fleets (Levitathan, Kraken etc..) or whether you would prefer to make-your-own faction.

Unlike Space Marines, Tyranids do have the advantage that no one really 'frowns' on you if you decide to go all-in custom and make whatever fleet you want (called a 'splinter' fleet).

The advantage of going for a custom fleet is you can run them with whatever 'parent' fleet rules you want if you decide you change your mind.

For example, if you check out my Hive Fleet Dragur in the painting section I've gone for a black and white scheme with purple joints / weapons and a yellow eye colour.  Currently running as Hive Fleet Jormungandr but might run them as Levithan at some point.

[hivefleetkicknwing]

That model looks great!! I have decided I want to paint my own splinter fleet and have not decided on a parent fleet. Deciding what color to paint my bugs is even harder than deciding on an army to play lol. I will definitely give your suggestions some looking into. Last time I painted any models were the snap fit dark vengeance set. But practice makes perfect I guess.