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My buddy is exploring the option of starting nids. Whats a good way progress the army, he's shooting for about 1500 and going up from there to about 2500 tops. Any advice is appreciated.

In my opinion

Must haves:

-6 hive guard
-1-2 Carnifex boxes for tervigons
-40-80 termagaunts
-At least 20 genestealers

Good ideas:

-Warrior box to make Warrior Primes
-Hive Tyrant
-30 Gargoyles

Less good but still good ideas:

-Trygons
-Hormagaunts
-Raveners
-Carnifexes

Anything else and youre playing a very specific type of list and you should have the idea before hand anyways.

I suggest he decide if he wants to go for Nidzilla or Gaunt swarm.


Nidzille is Tyranid Warriors as troops and as many big bugs as you can get. Its slightly cheaper then gaunt swarm.

Gaunt Swarm is a bunch of gaunts. a variation has Tervigons as some of your troops to make even more gaunts, but there isn't a model for a Tervigon so he would have to scratch build one(Carnifex make a good stand-in with only minor conversion)


Units to avoid: Pyrovore and Harpies.

everything else is good.



I would suggest the Battleforce box. it has some warriors, genestealers, and a bunch of gaunts(which fit in almost every list)

from there he should buy a Hive Tyrant, some more gaunts or Warriors(depending on the direction he wants to go) and maybe a few Carnifex. Zoenthropes are also a must have(now in Resin so they don't fall over )

Must buy's:
Hive Guard: These are the best Anti-Tank weapon the Nids have with anything AV 12 or less. Their weapon is very reliable and they are tough as nails with T6 and 2 Wounds. Plus, they are only 50 points each. You should get at least 4 of these.

2 Tervigons: These guys can poop scoring units and can be a troop choice themselves. They are T6 6 wound monstorus creatures too, making them amazing objective holders. Plus, they can give FNP to troops, which I suggest using alot on Genestealers to make them more survivable. Did I mention they can poop Termigants? That is amazing in objective games, and decent in KP games. So get 2 carnifex boxes and convert. 1 is okay, but 2 work together outstandingly.

Lots of Termigants:
I would say take 20 of these guys, divide them into two squads of 10, and give them devourers. Devourers are assault 3 weapons, so even a few of these guys can do a TON of damage simply with the sheer weight of firepower they bring to bear!

Genestealers:
As an MEQ killer, these guys rock. They can go toe-to-toe with almost every other CC unit in the game with a high WS, lots of attacks, good strength, poison glands, high initiative, and to top it all off, rending. These guys can also infiltrate or outflank, which is awesome because they get into CC veeeery quickly. these guys are great, just make sure to not expose them to any shooting, because without FNP they arent very durable.

Hive Tyrant: This guy is a monster. Paryoxsm and Leech Essence are outstanding powers. They have lots of options, but your best off with giving him a BS/LW for the best CC monster you can get.

Everything else (Except Pyrovores) can be used pretty well if you know what your doing. I would suggest reading the codex, reading some strategy articles, and building an army list on paper before you buy anything though, because Nids are expensive.