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Hey dakkanauts,

Im thinking of starting a tyranid army, is the battle force a good place to start?

I'm assuming you are talking about the Tyranid Swarm?

If so, it is not bad.
Gargoyles are pretty good, necessary if you plan on using Skyblight.
With all the weapon options for Termagants, you can either make the Hormagaunts Melee oriented (Hormagaunt) or Ranged (Termagant). Plus if you go Termagant, you'll have more if you decide to include Tervigons in your army.
Ripper Swarms....I've got nothing on these guys.
Carnifex - either build it up as Old One Eye to have an HQ so you can start your Galactic conquest or build it up as a Carnifex. Carnifexes are a bit better this edition being cheaper than before. Plus they can be taken in broods of 3.

As I tell all players who ask what to get, first thing, is what kind of player are you? Are you a horde or small elite player or in this case Monstrous Creature player? Are you a shooty or assaulty player? Maybe a combination of all 4?

I would say it's an awesome start. If you don't like Hormagaunts, they can always be used as "counts as" termagants. I just love the look of Gargoyles and glad they are in the box.

Once I finish my remaining gaunts, I am going to get this box.

So in most cases, this is a great start for Tyranid players. It's a good starting point and you can always add more to it later if you like going the horde route, or just add to it with more MC if you like to go that way later.

One thing to note. I am sick of painting gaunts. :p Only negative side to it.

Awesome, good to know its a solid base of units to start with.

BoniFactor wrote:
Awesome, good to know its a solid base of units to start with.

If you go on GW site, and add them all up separately, you will be seeing you are getting the Fex for free, I think. If not the fex maybe the Gargs, are free.

Oh crap. $52 Canadian for a box of 20 hormagaunts. $52 for a box of 20 haunts. X2 since you get 40 of each in the swarm box, right there is $204. So yeah you are getting the Fex and Gargs for free.

Davor wrote:

BoniFactor wrote:
Awesome, good to know its a solid base of units to start with.

If you go on GW site, and add them all up separately, you will be seeing you are getting the Fex for free, I think. If not the fex maybe the Gargs, are free.

Oh crap. $52 Canadian for a box of 20 hormagaunts. $52 for a box of 20 haunts. X2 since you get 40 of each in the swarm box, right there is $204. So yeah you are getting the Fex and Gargs for free.

Awesome. Hopefully spikey bitz carries it so I can get 20% off !

Best Units:
Hive Tryant - Twin Dev w/ Brain leech

Biovores - 2 would be good.

Zoanthropes - 1 or 2. 10 str lance or 5-3 small blast. Plus synapse.

Venomthrope 1 or 2 needed. - great for cover saves w/ a Bastion or Imperial Bunk if Stronghold is allowed.

Termagants- I would get 60 or so and 1 Terv/

Tervigone - Good back line Synapse I like it w/ Miasma Cannon. Spawns Gants.

Hapry/Crone - Both very mobile and very good. I prefer the Harpy but am not in the majority. Spore mines are good fast attack and cheap.

Dakka Fex - Good if not low on wounds.

Mawloc - Really good can be a troop killer just don't deep strike into a middle of an army solo.

Exocrine - Very good. Lots of shot 7/3.

Tryannofex - Acid spray or Rupture both good!

The Swarm box is a great start since you get a free Carnifex and a free unit of Gargoyles in the box. I suggest the Carnifex be given the twin-linked Devourer and Barbed Strangler for now.

On top of that, you'll want two boxes of Warriors, which will give you one unit of five plus a Tyranid Prime, which can work as your HQ for a while until you move up to a Hive Tyrant.You'll need that extra Synapse, believe me.

That gives you:

1 HQ (Tyranid Prime)
5 Troops (2 each Hormagaunt and Termagant)
1 Fast Attack (Gargoyle)
1 Heavy Support (Carnifex)

It'll be roughly 750 points, so you have some wiggle room for Biomorphs and upgrades as well as another unit.

My personal suggestion (which most won't give, but I try to combine the investment with neat models for efficiency) is to grab a box of Raveners. They're not the best unit in the codex, but they give you another Fast Attack choice and, more interestingly, you get to do some kitbashing ... the Ravener box comes with one extra Ravener tail assembly. Each of the two Warrior boxes comes with an extra Warrior torso (Since the Prime parts take up one of the leg assemblies) ... combine the extra Ravener tail with the extra Warrior torso, put the Lashwip on one arm, cut up a right-hand Bonesword and a second Lashwip and make them into a right-handed lashwhip, put it all together, and you have yourself a plastic Venomthrope.

A Ravener squad runs about a hundred points plus fifty-ish for the Venomthrope, so now you're at 900-1000 with a second fast attack and an elite choice.

Total cost:
Swarm box
Two Warrior boxes
One Ravener box

This is the best bang for your buck, good diversity, enough Synapse that you won't fall apart (but it's stretched mighty thin!), and will give you a general feel for Tyranid tactica.

Expanding from here will depend on your personal desire and local meta, but reccomendations are:

Hive Tyrant. You'll fall in love with her quickly. Most people will direct you towards the winged Hive Tyrant with dual twin-linked Devourers but you only get one set per box. If you plan ahead, you can save the Devourers from this one for the next one and do this one up for melee, or go with twin Deathspitters and a canon, You can even go with a Swarmlord, but the general concensus is that Swarmy isn't quite up to snuff this time around.

A second box of Raveners and Warriors. This will let you make a second Venomthrope, fill the Ravener unit to six, and since you had five Warriors, this'll give you eight, which is enough for two units of four, which will expand your synapse mightily.

The box of two Carnifexes is an awesome buy, You can make a "Dakkafex" at this point, with a pair of Devourers, as well as a melee-based Carnifex. If you have a lot of tanks and Toughness five models around your area, go with a pair of Scything Talons and Crushing Claws, if things are a bit squisher but faster moving, go with two sets of Scythes and an Adrenaline boost ... nothing worse than botching your Charge roll for your melee guy.

This will push you over 1500 and, in fact, tickle 1700 points, so you'll now be at "full game" level, plus you have lots of spare parts from the Tyrant, Carnifexi, and Warrior kits.

You can replace the Carnifex box with any number of things, mind you. The new fliers are good, a second Tyrant is a blast, Zoanthropes always have a use, Lictors and Genestealers if you want to go more sneaky, more Gargoyles, heck, a second Swarm box and revel in a gajillion little guys. The world is your oyster!

Your tasty, tasty oyster. Mmm...

I won't argue with Waaksani, but I'd grab the Swarm box, a Hive Tyrant, and an extra box of Gargoyles. More wings, two broods of FA Gargs...? If you are up to it you can custom mod for the twin link Devourers. I used Crushing claws, and replaced the pincers with two Devs on each.

I've seen pix of a very nice conversion of a Heavy Cannon (chop off end, glue 2 to 4 devs on it with some spacing. use green stuff or epoxy to fill out gaps...)(the pic is some place on this site I believe..)

Wakshaani wrote:
The Swarm box is a great start since you get a free Carnifex and a free unit of Gargoyles in the box. I suggest the Carnifex be given the twin-linked Devourer and Barbed Strangler for now.

On top of that, you'll want two boxes of Warriors, which will give you one unit of five plus a Tyranid Prime, which can work as your HQ for a while until you move up to a Hive Tyrant.You'll need that extra Synapse, believe me.

That gives you:

1 HQ (Tyranid Prime)
5 Troops (2 each Hormagaunt and Termagant)
1 Fast Attack (Gargoyle)
1 Heavy Support (Carnifex)

It'll be roughly 750 points, so you have some wiggle room for Biomorphs and upgrades as well as another unit.

My personal suggestion (which most won't give, but I try to combine the investment with neat models for efficiency) is to grab a box of Raveners. They're not the best unit in the codex, but they give you another Fast Attack choice and, more interestingly, you get to do some kitbashing ... the Ravener box comes with one extra Ravener tail assembly. Each of the two Warrior boxes comes with an extra Warrior torso (Since the Prime parts take up one of the leg assemblies) ... combine the extra Ravener tail with the extra Warrior torso, put the Lashwip on one arm, cut up a right-hand Bonesword and a second Lashwip and make them into a right-handed lashwhip, put it all together, and you have yourself a plastic Venomthrope.

A Ravener squad runs about a hundred points plus fifty-ish for the Venomthrope, so now you're at 900-1000 with a second fast attack and an elite choice.

Total cost:
Swarm box
Two Warrior boxes
One Ravener box

This is the best bang for your buck, good diversity, enough Synapse that you won't fall apart (but it's stretched mighty thin!), and will give you a general feel for Tyranid tactica.

Expanding from here will depend on your personal desire and local meta, but reccomendations are:

Hive Tyrant. You'll fall in love with her quickly. Most people will direct you towards the winged Hive Tyrant with dual twin-linked Devourers but you only get one set per box. If you plan ahead, you can save the Devourers from this one for the next one and do this one up for melee, or go with twin Deathspitters and a canon, You can even go with a Swarmlord, but the general concensus is that Swarmy isn't quite up to snuff this time around.

A second box of Raveners and Warriors. This will let you make a second Venomthrope, fill the Ravener unit to six, and since you had five Warriors, this'll give you eight, which is enough for two units of four, which will expand your synapse mightily.

The box of two Carnifexes is an awesome buy, You can make a "Dakkafex" at this point, with a pair of Devourers, as well as a melee-based Carnifex. If you have a lot of tanks and Toughness five models around your area, go with a pair of Scything Talons and Crushing Claws, if things are a bit squisher but faster moving, go with two sets of Scythes and an Adrenaline boost ... nothing worse than botching your Charge roll for your melee guy.

This will push you over 1500 and, in fact, tickle 1700 points, so you'll now be at "full game" level, plus you have lots of spare parts from the Tyrant, Carnifexi, and Warrior kits.

You can replace the Carnifex box with any number of things, mind you. The new fliers are good, a second Tyrant is a blast, Zoanthropes always have a use, Lictors and Genestealers if you want to go more sneaky, more Gargoyles, heck, a second Swarm box and revel in a gajillion little guys. The world is your oyster!

Your tasty, tasty oyster. Mmm...

Fantastic breakdown, thanks so much for the insight Wakshaani! Your sign off made me chuckle. To the synapse mobile!

pinecone77 wrote:
I won't argue with Waaksani, but I'd grab the Swarm box, a Hive Tyrant, and an extra box of Gargoyles. More wings, two broods of FA Gargs...? If you are up to it you can custom mod for the twin link Devourers. I used Crushing claws, and replaced the pincers with two Devs on each.

I've seen pix of a very nice conversion of a Heavy Cannon (chop off end, glue 2 to 4 devs on it with some spacing. use green stuff or epoxy to fill out gaps...)(the pic is some place on this site I believe..)

You can argue with me you know. I'm older than dirt but I took all of 5th edition off, so I'm the first to say that I'm rusty.

I dug my Tyranids out from storage in January and have been starting to plug gaps and virtually create the army over again as many of the old models weren't really compatable anymore and point costs/army sizes had radically transformed. Finding little tricks like the extra torsos was a happy coincidence.

Mind you, one advantage I have over the newer guys is that I had four boxes of old-style warriors out there, just waiting to be cracked open. I was able to turn those into Pyrovores (Yeah, I use them, and I'm probably the only one), Lictors, and more. Darn versitile box, that.

The new Swarm box, however, was key as back in *my* day Gargoyles were only in metal, so nobody had 'em, so it's my first time trying those guys out. Doubling my Termagants and Hormagaunts was an added bonus, and who can argue with a free Carnifex? I mean really now.

When you buy the swarm box, buy magnets. 3/16" should handle all your MC needs, except maybe the exocrine/haruspex heads which I used a 1/4". You can go with the smaller 1/8" for warrior arms.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Wakshaani wrote:

pinecone77 wrote:


Mind you, one advantage I have over the newer guys is that I had four boxes of old-style warriors out there, just waiting to be cracked open. I was able to turn those into Pyrovores (Yeah, I use them, and I'm probably the only one), Lictors, and more. Darn versitile box, that.

How the blazes did you make Pyrovores out of those old, I am assuming 2e/3e warriors, boxes?

It's not hard. I should take a few pics and post 'em since I have one in the process of being made rather than complete. (And, yeah, these are the 2nd ed modern-ish Warriors with a base of Rippers included, not the ancient ant-headed ones.)