Might start Tyranids next, advice sought.

[emptyhat]

I'm thinking that after April I'll put my Guard and Orks on the backburner for a bit and start on Tyranids and Lizardmen.

What I really like about Tyranids are some of the models like the Lictor and the Trygon so I'd like to get these to paint. Of course it would be a shame to put a lot of work into these only to have them sit on a shelf so I'd like a 1000 point list that they can work with. It doesn't have to be a power list by any means but I'd like to avoid having a force that is such a push over that I'd need to buy another 1000 points prematurely to make it work.

Here's what I was thinking of last time I looked at my codex.

HQ1: Hive Tyrant:
170 Points

Elites1: Lictor Brood (1):
65 Points

Elites2: Zoanthrope Brood (2):
120 Points

Troops1: Hormagaunts (30):
180 Points

Troops2: Termagaunts (30):
150 Points

Fast Attack1: Ravener Brood (3):
90 Points

Heavy Support1: Trygon
225 Points

1000 Points Total

Would this work out ok?

[KRIEGEIRK]

My only suggestion... Get ready to spend some cash!!!! I know how you feel though, I played Nids back in 2000, and seeing the figures they're putting out now has me wanting to start them up again. I wouldn't see why your list wouldn't work out. You just have to find a good median between who gets shooty and who stays assaulty. Some of the Nid's have WS 9, that is insane!!! Nid's definitely show what they're made of in CC thanks to their great numbers, WS, and key figures having up to 4 wounds with high armor saves. My biggest suggestion, get them close fast hit hard and make your opponents sorry they even showed up Since I haven't seen a Nid codex in like 12 years, I don't know if they still have the fleet option but that was always a nice perk to have to move in fast.

[treadiculous]

Kriegreirk - Nids mayy seem costly, but they don't compare that badly to other armies, I've been knocking up a few 1k and 1.5k list for different races and they all come in around the same cost (which suprised me to be honest!)

I made a thread a little while ago and was given some fantastic advice by Westrider, much like Emptyhat I wanted the coolest looking models with the best fluff... I like Trygons and Lictors..

The Trygon remained in my list, but the lictor was pushed out... partly becuase it is an odd unit which only works well against certain opponent units, and partly because I themed my army on the Nid Wall of T6.

Here's the list in breif:

Tyrant + Old Adversary, Armoured Shell, Regen

Tervigon, Toxic + Catalyst, + 10 Gaunt

Tervigon, Toxic + Catalyst, + 10 Gaunt

Trygon + Regen

Venomhrope

= 1000

Tyrant Guard x 2

Trygon

Ravener x 6

= 1500

I would be getting an extra 30 or so Guants so that I have a total of 50 (in case I roll really well for the tervigons). This list is not sooo expensive when compared to a horde list.. the cost is increased only by the addtional gaunts that might be needed.

What I like most is the viual aspect of a whole bunch of some of GW's best looking monsters all bearing down on some poor opponent! (please note, bizarly, in my mind Nids do not have ranged weapons, hence no Hive Guard or Tyrannofex or Zoanthropes - and I would be using hormagaunt instead of termaguant models)

With the release of the Tervigon, I may start investing in Nids earlier than planned.. I was going to wait until I had finished my Eldaanesh Corsairs but with the new releases I'm getting impatient!

The thread (please note, my posts get more cohesive toward the end!)

commissar.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=hoard&action=display&thread=13451

[emptyhat]

I'm pretty sure that most nids still have fleet (bwahaha) but yes the pains of the wallet await. My plan for that is to set a monthly GW budget from April to December and hire Trooper to whip me for not painting fast eenough and RT to whip me for spending money on GW products.

But yeah I think it works out as £250 for 1000 points ;...(

Thanks for the link Tread, I think I only read the first half when it was being posted.

The Lictor is definitely getting bought though as it will be fulfilling a desire, one might say ambition, to paint one that I’ve had since I was about fifteen.

Will this list have big problems with AV14 spam at 1000 points? I think the worst you're likely to see at that level is probably 3 Leman Russ or Two Landraiders.

(p.s. are you still coming to the meet up Tread? We can work on drunken swarm schemes there.)

[WestRider]

Feb 25, 2012 9:54:17 GMT -5 emptyhat said:

HQ1: Hive Tyrant:
170 Points

Elites1: Lictor Brood (1):
65 Points

Elites2: Zoanthrope Brood (2):
120 Points

Troops1: Hormagaunts (30):
180 Points

Troops2: Termagaunts (30):
150 Points

Fast Attack1: Ravener Brood (3):
90 Points

Heavy Support1: Trygon
225 Points

1000 Points Total

Would this work out ok?

OK, what we've got here are too many Units for 1K, that don't have the tools they need to actually get the job done. We're going to have to trim somewhere to make sure that what's left can do what it needs to.

Tyrant: There's pretty much no reason not to take Old Adversary. Armoured Shell might be worthwhile as well, since you only have two Synapse sources and it doesn't take that many Krak Missiles to drop a Tyrant without it.

Lictor: He wants a buddy. One Lictor just doesn't get much done anymore. Either that or drop him to pick up Points for other things.

'Thropes: Good. Just be aware that they still die as fast as 4 Marines to basic Weapons Fire, and then you're short a Synapse Node and a lot of Firepower. Be careful with them.

Hormies: This Unit is simultaneously overkill and underpowered. Anything they can handle, they'll just overwhelm, but there's a lot that they won't be able to touch. Maybe scale down to 20 with Toxin Sacs.

If you end up with enough Points for Adrenal Glands as well, that lets them be an additional threat to most Vehicles, too. If you get enough Points freed up elsewhere, might be worth going for two Broods of 15 with Toxin Sacs and/or Adrenal Glands. I like mine tooled all the way up if I can afford it.

Termagants: Split them into two Broods, maybe 10 and 20. You're getting dangerously low on Scoring Units here, as I found out last night with a similar List at 750

Raveners: Need Rending Claws. Since they can't take Adrenal Glands, they really have no Role that the Hormies can't do better and cheaper unless they have Rending. You also really want 5-6 in the Brood. Honestly, this is probably where I'd trim Points, save them for 1250.

A shame, really, Raveners are awesome, but they don't really do anything Core to this List, and pretty much everything else needs some more Points spent on it.

Trygon: Drop Regen, add Adrenal Glands. Might be worth a Prime upgrade, since Synapse is kind of a concern at 1K.

[taboggan]

Okay, you need to have this mindset with Tyranids: "EVERYTHING is expendable as long as you kill everyone else on the field"

with that in mind. you need a LOT of hormagaunts, I would also suggest devilgaunts which are termagaunts with devourers. 30 x3 = 90 termie shots in 1 turn. *evil smirk*

[emptyhat]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys. I've been working so I haven't been able to open up my codex again and look at this until now but I like what I'm hearing.

By the way I'll probably get my gaunts from battleforces so would Warriors be good at 1000 points?

[DadCRO]

In my opinion, warriors die too fast from krak missiles. Tyranid Primes are much better, due to T5 and 3+ Save.

[Wraelis]

I feel like you might need some more synapse or better protection for what you have. For the Tyrant, you may want to invest in some Tyrant Guards. With that you can effectively give the big guy much more wounds as well as the ability to be in cover. Or you could just go give him the 2+ save. All I know is that I can usually kill my friend's tyrant really easily when he doesn't have the guards and even then it's just a few more rounds of krak missiles. Just know what people are going to prioritize and make sure they're a hard target to take down.

[emptyhat]

Hive Guard are pretty ugly and finecast but what ever works right. I have a feeling that my budget will have to stretch for them after one too many missiles to the face.

I'm quite juiced for painting nids now. Gotta get back into the mood for my Orks so I can be ready for the meet up (meanwhile in a corner my guardsmen cry).

[WestRider]

Guards are definitely excellent for a Tyrant. The easier Cover is even more useful than the extra Wounds.

Warriors can work. You need a list that overloads Target Priority for Krak Missiles (so lots of 3+Sv MCs, which Krak Missiles also love to target), and still they should hug Cover. Tricky, but it can work.

Warriors are also good for Converting into Hive Guard:


They can also make a good base for Venomthropes, Biovores, Zoanthropes, Raveners, Lictors, or Tyranid Primes. Basically any of the 40mm Base Nids can be made from Warriors with a bit of work.

[Wraelis]

I like your style westrider. I feel like most of your army is just made out of warrior bits... haha

[WestRider]

Actually, there are more Stealer bits than Warriors in the 'Thropes and Raveners I've converted, but yeah, I use them a lot. I don't like Metal Models, and now don't want to shell out for FineCast, so pretty much anything that's not already available in plastic gets made from other stuff.




Oh yeah, that reminds me, you can do Tyrant Guard as well:

[Wraelis]

Nice! That Ravener is awesome!

[emptyhat]

That's pretty interesting Westrider, I'll keep it in mind since I'd like to get better at conversions.

[3ff3ct]

Well, if you ever want to talk nids you also know where I am, although I do like the good 'ole horde list, the new big bugs have made me want to up my monsterous creatures count....

I'd definately trust anything Westrider said, although there are quite a few builds that work with nids (as there are with any army) so I guess what you go for is definately personal choice ;D

[emptyhat]

Yes, yes 3ff3ct we must chat about the swarm over a pint in April, in the meantime you must PM me your Kan count so that we can collude on 3vil apocalypse formations

[WestRider]

Feb 29, 2012 14:40:21 GMT -5 3ff3ct said:

I'd definately trust anything Westrider said, although there are quite a few builds that work with nids (as there are with any army) so I guess what you go for is definately personal choice ;D

Absolutely get advice from other viewpoints. I'm pretty good with my Nids, but I only run a couple of builds, and I'm pretty much always running Attrition lists regardless of Dex.

There are big, important chunks of the Nid Dex that I've rarely or never used*, and plenty of viable Builds that I've never tried.

*Most notably, Stealers and Trygons. The Stealers are a weird fluff thing, I just don't like them in the Nid Army. The Trygons are just because I've never gotten around to picking any up. Regardless, they're both very solid Units that I can't really tell you much about beyond the utter basics.

[3ff3ct]

Feb 29, 2012 19:59:08 GMT -5 emptyhat said:

Yes, yes 3ff3ct we must chat about the swarm over a pint in April, in the meantime you must PM me your Kan count so that we can collude on 3vil apocalypse formations

2 finished, 1 80% done, 3 70% done and 3 in need of repair/conversion/TLC

[emptyhat]

I've got 5 done, 3 awaiting magnetisation and 4 old metal kans that continue to defy me. Plus 2 Dreds.

So we can pool resources for an Apocalypse Dread Mob, bwahahahaha.

[treadiculous]

That makes me want to bring my 9 Knas, 4 Dreds and 2 Stompas to the Gathering.. but I really can't do it..

boo.

[emptyhat]

That's too bad tread we could have had a Dread Mob vs guard big game.

[akaiyou]

Nids is my starting army and by far my favorite (14,000 pts of them so far <3 lol) so I have the luxury of testing out just about everything in the book with a couple of pretty decent convertions. Check out my converted Harpy:



I also have really nice looking (IMO) converted hive guard that I used Tyrant Guard bodies for with modified Barbed Stranglers. They look real close to the real thing i think...

Anyway with all that said. You should def buy some Hive Guard or convert some. And you can buy that lictor you want and just play him as a Deathleaper. Lictors sucks, but the Deathleaper is badass and worth his salt.

So here's what I would do considering you want at least 1 trygon and 1 death leaper in your army.

HQ:
Hive Tyrant w/Venom Cannon, Bonesword & Lashwhip, Old Adversary, Leech Essence, Paroxysm - 220 pts
Note: This is my default footslogger tyrant and he works WONDERS for me every time.

Elite:
Deathleaper
Note: He give syou psychic defense by lowering leadership of a key enemy model, as well as improved reserves and many other bonuses. He's great

Troops:
Tervigon w/Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Cluster Spines
Note: You NEED this guy, very solid synapse creature and reliable as a troop choice allowing you to fare better in objective missions. Combined with the hive tyrant's old adversary they make a near unstoppable melee combo.

12x Termagants
Note: Keep within range of tyrant and tervigon and they are a force to be reckoned with.

Heavy Support:
Trygon
Trygon

Notes: Yes get yourself 2 trygons, just 1 does not work, he'll show up and get mauled. But when you drop two on your opponent they suddenly start to panic. Combined with the Deathleaper's ability the trygon's should show up from reserves more reliably if needed, specially during Dawn of War deployment missions.

Total = 1000 pts on the dot.

This army is fairly cheap to build up and will serve you very well, you have solid troops, solid anti vehicle from the 2 trygons in the opponent's face and the tyrant's venom cannon to support a bit.

If you really dont want to get 2 Trygons then i recommend 1 trygon and 4 hive guard split into units of 2. That's exactly 200 pts so swappable with the extra Trygon and makes your anti vehicle power vastly improved.

No offense to anyone else who offered suggestions but I believe, this is def the best build you can do, for what you wish to use from everything that's been suggested so far without being crazy expensive