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Sorry if this is in the wrong section first of all- I don't know if this'd be better suited for 40k Background or here.

Me and my brother are collecting 40K to participate in Apocalypse battles. He will be playing SM and WH. So far I have a large CSM force, but I'm looking for something to bring alongside it. While I'm finishing off my Chaos with some Renegade IG, I started thinking of Tyranids.

Now, obviously one look at the allies matrix in Apocalypse and the backstory for 'Nids would suggest they won't ally with anyone. I've been thinking for a couple of hours if there's anything that could unite CSM and Tyranids (even just for one battle, I don't care if they turn on each other after it).

What I'm wondering is if anyone can think of an even partially plausible reason those two forces could ally? If not, I may end up getting 3k+ points of 'Nids, but until I have that many I need a reason to field them in Apoc.

I doubt there are any valid reasons, but if anyone can think of something I'd appreciate it.

On the basis that Apoc is designed to be 'bring all your models, seriously, its fine', your reasoning doesnt have to be amazingly fluffy.

However:
- Nids are known for their infiltration of human society and creation of hybrids... One of these human looking hybrids takes a senior role in a CSM legion (pretending to access daemonic powers, but actually utilising Hive mind psychic abilities).

This would allow some really interesting 'Possessed CSM' conversions - along the lines of Hybrid conversions.

- Nids land on a Deaemon world eating & attacking - just before its swallowed by the warp. Once it re-enters normal space, the Nids are now under the control of a Greater Daemon.

- again, some great conversion opportunities for Summoned Nids, Spikey Lictors, Carnifex-Oblits...

Magic.

Seriously.

It's chaos. They have wizards. You need no other reasoning.

'Nids and Chaos would never 'unite', but that doesn't mean they couldn't end up fighting on the same side. It is perfectly acceptable to have a Chaos force that directs (or redirects) a Tyranid force to attack a target its wants destroyed, or even for a Chaos force to isolate some Tyranid forces, subvert the Hive Mind, and take control over them.

So they're never going to have unified objectives, and for it to work the Tyranids would probably never know (or care) that they are helping the forces of Chaos achieve their objectives, but it could happen, even if only be default.

We had a big game a few years ago where it was Imperium/Tau vs Eldar/Chaos. The justification was that while the Eldar would never ally with Chaos, fate had granted them a vision of pain and terror if the Chaos Lord in this particular instance was unsuccessful in his objective, so they weren't allies, the Eldar were just along to ensure that the future came out the way they wanted.

Fair enough, thanks for the ideas everyone. I wasn't sure if taking control of the 'Nids would work (story-wise) with the Hive Mind and all.

I guess it's easier that I'm not looking for a way for them to fight for each other's needs- just to coexist on the same battlefield.

Edit: One more question- with all the rumours of a 'Nid overhaul in February, is it even a justifiable idea to start up a 'Nids force now?

Sure. It's not very likely they'll get rid of gaunts or warriors. And with the larger things like carnifexes, you can magnetise them, so even if they get rid of half the options you can still use the model.

Artificial hive minds!

Chaos bends the Warp to infulance the Hive Mind.

Simples *Squeek*

I watched some crazy anime once (maybe someone can help me out here) And there was a toxic jungle taking over the planet. All the bugs inside the jungle were evil/possessed. The bad guys picked up one of the baby big bugs (baby hive tyrant/fex) and flew it into the good guys castle. All the daddy bugs stampeeded to thier death trying to get thier baby back, all while good guys died in the mess and confusion.

What I'm saying, Chaos steals an important bug, drops it behind enemy lines. Nids attack "with" Chaos becuase Chaos isn't in the way, the other team is.

You could always model your tyranids as Lost and the Damned. It'd be a pain in the ass but it would look cool.

Alternatively you could simply say that your nids aren't part of a hive mind, but a biological weapon (like the flood from halo) developed by a techno magi under your control.