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I've been fiddling with my 500pt Nid army, but I'm still relatively new to the hobby. Any advice would be welcome. I will be playing almost exclusively against orks, necrons, and vanilla SM.

HQ: Tyranid Prime w/ pair of boneswords + Deathspitter 95pts

Troops: 11 Termagants w/ devourers 110 pts

8 Genestealers w/ toxin sacs 136

3 Warriors (one with Barbed Strangler) 100 pts

Fast Attack
10 Gargoyles 60pts

Total/ 101 (!)

I just recently switched out a Brooklord to give my Termies devourers. Broke my heart a little--that big guy is so rad and good at killing--but I like the idea of 3X gross worm bullets. The biggest problem/concern I have had in the few games I've played is that I really have no way to pop vehicles at this point level. The Genestealers can just barely get through the SM Dreadnought I frequently see. Ork Trukks are less of a problem.

The Warriors eat up a ton of points, which I am sure people will advise me against, but I feel like it is almost a waste to use a Prime without them. Plus I need that synapse stuff.

I'm assuming your a new nid player? Just a few tips, just 1 tyranid prime is NOT what you should have in a nid army. You need some kind of tank bustin' fire powwwaaaaaaa! If you know what I mean. And also, 11 termas and 8 genestealers aren't going to do much. For 500 points, you need about 15 of the same troop choice.

Not a bad fluffy list. I would have gone Whip and BS becuase of challenges.

You might consider swapping the warriors + prime out for a Trevigon. It will give you more troops and provide some ability crack on heavy tanks.

Only concern with Warriors is S8 spam.

I like something a bit more like this:

HQ:
1 Prime with BS&LW 95

Elite:
1 Hive Guard 50
1 zoanthrope 60

Troop
11 devilgaunts 110
12 gaunts 60
13 gaunts 65

Fast:
10 Gargoyles 60

Prime joins Devilguant squad for LOS! and 36 18" shots. HG gives you ranged AT. The Zoanthrope give you a second Synapse unit + psycher buffs. Gargoyles can either blitz or DS for line breaker. Finally 2 broods of gaunts to take an hold objectives.

I agree on the BS&LW. In 500 pts you won't see crazy expensive CC monsters. You can take barnowl's list, which is a bit more consistent. But definitely DON'T take a Tervigon, your list is based entirely around Termagants, and if the spawner dies, you're basically tabled. I know it sounds crazy, but if you're going to take an MC in 500 pts, take a HT. At least that's the one MC I had problems dealing with in 500 pts.

Hedkrakka wrote:
I agree on the BS&LW. In 500 pts you won't see crazy expensive CC monsters. You can take barnowl's list, which is a bit more consistent. But definitely DON'T take a Tervigon, your list is based entirely around Termagants, and if the spawner dies, you're basically tabled. I know it sounds crazy, but if you're going to take an MC in 500 pts, take a HT. At least that's the one MC I had problems dealing with in 500 pts.

I'm completely the reverse. Tervigons are great at low points levels and I wouldn't take a tyrant beklow 1,500 pts - ever. Tyrant needs a guard or wings, so you looking at 250+ in any form and that's over half the army here. Even if tervigon stops spawning it's still a T6, 6 wound MC and so can deal with any/all vehicles you'll see at this level. Single zoey is just too unreliable. My suggestion:

HQ Prime 95
TR Tervigon 200
TR 10 devourer gants 100
EL 2 Hive Guard 100

If you go up to 750 pts I'd drop the Prime for a second tervigon and add a second unit of hive guard.

Your argument is perfectly valid. However, I wouldn't take devilgants, they are a lot of pts invested in a very fragile unit. Numbers and redundancy matter IMHO, especially with Nids.

BTW, I think your points values are off on the spawner. Correct me if I'm wrong.