Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well my moms giving me enough money to buy an army(battleforce) with metal/finecast hq.
Only problem, I dont know what to pick and which is better.

Im torn between eldar and tyranids. Both armies are so cool and after playing against them i decided to start my own.

For hq's, I found a broodlord and an eldar autarch and eldrad

Which do you think is the best one in terms of battleforce contents,as a deal, and terms of the codex (like if theyre OP)

Elves. Both of them are kind of underpowered atm, but bugs just got a new book so they're going to stay underpowered for a while. Elves are due for a new book soon though, so you'll have something to look forward to there.

What do you currently play?

Neither is OP.

If anything they are mid-range.

The 'OP' armies are pretty much all Marine variants at present, though DE are capable of a vicious game with a player who understands their playstyle.

Eldar are a finesse army. You have to use the right tools for the right job. They have some awesomely cool stuff, but some thing that their units are a little overcosted.

As to the battleforce, I consider it a good deal. My wife plays Eldar, and has no issue with any of the units in there (though i guarantee you some 'competitive' player will tell you that they are all trash. Don't believe them, if you go Eldar. Try them out for yourself and make your own opinion


Nids aren't OP either, though they can be nasty played right.
Nids work best as a swarm army, for me (when i played them), with Tervigons producing masses of Termagants to swarm over the enemy Some gorgeous big critters too.

The battleforce has a lot of stuff you'll find useful starting off, but the Broodlord isn't an HQ any more, sad to say. He's a sergeant upgrade for Stealers IIRC.

I see you dont have that many points in the armies you already have, so maybe expand on those so you can play higher point games?

Cant speak for the Tyranids battleforce but the Eldar one is so-so. You get a Wave Serpent and WarWalker which is awesome. What is not awesome is that you get only 5 Dire Avengers (their separate box contains 10) and 10 Guardians+Platform. If they would swap out the 10 Guardians for another 5 DA it would be a lot better imo.

Of course if youre going to use the Guardians or like the way they look they I'd say its a good deal.

Stvafel wrote:I see you dont have that many points in the armies you already have, so maybe expand on those so you can play higher point games?

Cant speak for the Tyranids battleforce but the Eldar one is so-so. You get a Wave Serpent and WarWalker which is awesome. What is not awesome is that you get only 5 Dire Avengers (their separate box contains 10) and 10 Guardians+Platform. If they would swap out the 10 Guardians for another 5 DA it would be a lot better imo.

Of course if youre going to use the Guardians or like the way they look they I'd say its a good deal.

kronk wrote: What do you currently play?

Well @ kronk I do SM and Tau. Tau struck me when i read the codex on fluff and etc. SM theyre just awesome imo.

@ Stvafel well in our FLGS most games are mid 1000-2500 and i have a AOBR box coming from the uk so that makes my sm army 1200-1300 points. On my tau, they were a "fun" army to play with. I just bought them regarding their fluffiness.

Well im quite disappointed that the broodlord's not an hq anymore =( Im thinking on eldar. I have some 4thed guardians lying around here might aswell use them with the BF.

Stvafel wrote:I see you dont have that many points in the armies you already have, so maybe expand on those so you can play higher point games?

There are pros and cons of this, but yes, its generally true. You'll want at least one army capable of playing games up to around 2000 points. Overall though, I enjoy playing smaller point games. I'd rather play 2-3 smaller games than a single larger point game. Although it seems I'm in the minority there! I personally have a 2000 point Eldar army, 1000 point CSM army, and a 500 point Guard army.

Having multiple smaller armies also helps a lot if you are planning to get friends into the game. Having several armies means you can loan one out to somebody, and having smaller armies means that you can fit more games in. Trying to walk a new player through a full 1850 point game is incredibly tedious, best to play several smaller 500-1000 point games. It also gives you the time to swap armies for people to experiment around if they want to. So if you are trying to get a community fostered, multiple small armies are the way to go.

Now I primarily play Eldar so I feel like I can talk about them!

The battle force + a farseer will not actually get you a 'good' 500 point army. It gets you close however and is a pretty good jumping off point. There are two main problems with the Eldar Battle force.
1) Guardian Defenders are overpriced for what they are worth. 8 points a model is pretty steep for s3, t3, and 5+ armour. The fact that they have 12 inch assault weapons with 0 close combat ability makes them a tough sell.
2) only 5 Dire Avengers. Its actually not a bad number, since generally these days competitive lists seldom take squads over 5, but for a new player you may want to expiriment with full 10 dude squads, and there is no way to do that without paying for a box of em, and they are surprisingly expensive!

The biggest thing is that you are also going to want a second Wave Serpent. Very few Eldar units actually want to be on foot. Especially not most aspect warriors (scorpions, spiders, and hawks are an exception) So unless you are bringing hordes of fearless guardians (2-3 squads + avatar) you should stick with a transport for everything. This isn't a bad deal, since Eldar transports are ALOT of fun. AV12 all around and the energy field mucking around enemy shooting really makes Serpents the toughest basic troop transport in the game, and the speed is a huge selling point. Being able to move 24 inches if you need to is excellent.

If you wanted to start the the army as cheaply as possible without sacrificing any power and using everything in the battleforce, I would have to recomend a list like this.

(93) Farseer- Guide, Warding, Spear
(85) 10 Guardians- Shuriken Cannon
(110) Wave Serpent- tl Shuriken Cannon, Underslung Shuriken Cannon
(60) 5 Dire Avengers
(110) Wave Serpent- tl Shuriken Cannon, Underslung Shuriken Cannon
(40) War Walker- 2 Shuriken Cannons

total: 498

Would cost you Battleforce + Farseer + Wave Serpent, and gives you a 500 point list that can punch with the best of them.

Remember you want to magnetize your guns. While Shuriken Cannons are amazing in really low point games, they quickly fall by the wayside when you can start fielding scatter lasers. s6 spam is really what Eldar do best, and this list epitomizes it. Shuriken Cannons are actually almost statistically identical to a missile launcher when it comes to shooting at Rhinos and Razorbacks. 3 shots gives you a lot more opportunity to do damage than one. So when you load up on strenght 6 spam, especially 5-10 points cannons, it allows you to take more guns, and in this way you can get the fire power needed to shoot down both infantry and tanks in a hail of shuriken fire. Storm Ravens and Land Raiders are almost non existent in low point games, and remember you can still ram or spear things.


As for Tyranids... I can't really say much about them. I've played against them a few times, and they seem like a very difficult army to play. You really need your list to work well together or you'll get steamrolled by the 40K easy mode that are Marines. One thing I can say about Tyranids is that they have some Gorgeous models. The new Tervigon kit, and the Trygon are both incredible kits and are excellent on the table! Warriors also have awesome models but are not nearly as good. Just remember to include a bunch of Hive Guard... you'll want their impaler cannons to help open up tanks.

Aside from that I really don't know much about Nids or whether or not the battleforce is a good deal. The Broodlord will not satisfy your HQ requirement though. Hes a sergeant for the Genestealers... you'll want a Tyranid Prime or Tervigon for your HQ choice.

The eldar battle box is actually pretty good.

if you buy a falcon and an autarch/farseer/eldrad you have a playable low point army, and you will use all those models at higher lvl point costs.

I'd buy more Tau if I were you... especially since they should get a new 'dex in the next 12 months or so.

For the record a Broodlord is no longer an HQ. He is an upgrade to a unit of Genestealers. For Nid HQs you will need a either a Tyrant for the Swarmlird or Hive Tyrant, a Warrior box. Build all 3 differently to run as Tyranid Primes. Or a tervigon. I recomend the warriors as they are cheaper and give up to 2 HQs. Plus, they can combined with the battleforce Warriors for a brood of 4-5 warriors and a Prime.