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I am looking to branch out a bit from my 4800 points of Necrons and was thinking of putting together a Tyranid force. I want to start off with a 500 point list that is legally playable in the Zone Mortalis (or other skirmish) rules of play. I really like the look of the winged Tyranids, particularly the Gargoyles and Hive Tyrant but am not sure where to start or what combo of units will work at 500. I would also like to lean more towards melee as I my Necrons offer sufficient range play. I need at least: x1 HQ, x1 Troops, x1 Elites. Any help will be appreciated!

You have a couple options, but only a couple. You could go with a Flyrant, which gives you the wings but that's 240 right there and guaranteed target number one. The rest of your list could be Termagants and a Zoanthrope or two but in my book that's boring. I've tried it at 500 and just didn't get the experience of Nids.

I'd suggest a Tyranid Prime, some Warriors, a Venomthrope and a squad of Termagants. Kit out the Warriors with Deathspitters, a Barbed Strangler (or Venom Cannon) and Scything Talons to save points while giving the Prime something special. Swords and Deathspitter maybe? The Venom gives the Shrouded and the Termagants round out your points with as many as you can fit. Fun, skirmishable and a bit more true to form. You won't be able to add more till you jump up the points. Tyranid HQs are expensive and small games hurt us bad. I haven't had fun with my bugs till 1000pts minimum, and the more points there are the more fun I have.

At 555 the Phodian annialation Swarm Formation from the DeathStorm set is not a bad starting point for nids. And would work well in a Zone Mortalis game.

For small games the trevigon starts to make be better as even a single birthing cycle can skew the game in the nid's favor point wise.

1 each HQ, Troop and Elite is unusual. I assume this is something your group has decided on. At 500, I will sometimes run a Footrant, warrior brood and 2 termigant broods. The footrant is going to be shot a lot, put I try to get enough threat out of the troops protect it. You could drop a quant brood for a venom for better saves and get your required elite.

Thanks for the input. I should have been more clear. For ZM you need to have a HQ and either a Troop or an Elite depending on format. So I would like both Troop and Elite but they do not need to fit into a 500 pt. formation together. In fact, according to the rules, the Elite requirement is for the "Attacker" and it replaces the Troop requirement. Are the Gargoyles not very good? I just liked the models but if they are sucky I will choose something else. I like the look of the Venomthrope but could not find the Prime on the GW website.

Gargs are awesome. Prime is made from the Warrior kit.

EDIT: Garoyles are Fast attack which is most likely why they have not been mentioned. In a 500pt CAD you don't have room for them. In ZM as a the HQ +elite combo: Tervigon with egrub, 2 Zoanthrope + Nuerothope, then you could probably fit a small gargoyle brood.

If that's the requirement, then go with what you like. A Flyrant, Twin Linked Devourers and E-shock Grubs, a single Lictor and then two squads of Gargoyles, one with 17 and the other with 18. I think that comes to 500 exactly but check my math. The Lictor can do his own thing and doesn't NEED support, but it isn't going to be a powerhouse. The two big broods of Gargoyles can stay near the minimum distance the Flyrant can Swoop so stay in Synapse like that. You should do fairly well. You have a distraction threat with the Lictor and the Gargs can give you your main force. They're not great but no Tyranid small bug is. But they are a big part of the 'Skyblight Formation' which is very good at higher points. It's not a bad thing to have to have in lists overall and they serve a valuable purpose.

I know I have read before a good way to get going with nids is a Swarm box and then adding a tyrant.

I almost did just that before I decided to stick with humans and started a guard army!

At 500 points your opponents are going to have a really bad day vs a flyrant. Odds are they'll have no skyfire and maybe a flyer of their own that should die quickly to twin-linked devs with BL worms. Chuck in a Mawloc, a couple of lictors and a mucolid and you should be sweet to wreck face.
On the other hand a more fun force would be a walkrant with a tyrant guard, 15 Gaunts, 15 Gants, a Venomthrope and a Zoanthrope. Very swarmy and soft but loads of fun.

for your troops I'll second the call for tyranid warriors. as they'll give you some cheap secondary synapse. which could be handy. I'd build a unit of 5 of them, that'll also if you buy the boxes, give ya the parts you need for a tyranid Prime. which could be useful if you decide later on that the hive tyrant is too big a points investment for the 500 point games.