Help me start Tyranids - 500 pts.

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**seerex**

Hello all,

I've played a bit of 40k (about 5 games now) and want to start my own army. Been playing both Necrons, orks, chaos daemons and CSM but none of them really appealed to me (playstyle or visually for painting). So i kinda think Tyranids is a great fit. As far as i understand they have great utility, both ranged and melee, look awesome and are "kinda" beginners friendly but with a lot of depth (correct me if i am wrong).

So for my next match with my friends i gotta come up with a 500 pts. army. So, what is the best way to go about this? I need a good core, that i can expand on. So i don't just want a good list for 500 pts. games, but a list i can grow and expand as i purchase newer models.

Currently i was thinking of getting the "get started" set from GW, which includes:

- Hive Tyrant
- 3 x Warriors
- 10 x Gargoyles

I don't have the codex, so i don't quite know how many points they are, but seems like a good start?

What do you guys think? Thanks in advance!

**SharkoutofWata**

It's easy to build those models into things you will literally never use again. So you should have a very firm idea of what you want to do moving forward, or be handy with magnetizing. Build a Flyrant, wings and Devourers which don't come in that box so you'll have to proxy, buy the little ones from a Carnifex sprue or the big ones from Forge World, and Warriors are a subpar choice no matter what you give them. Magents are best so you can fill out your 500pts as needed for now, then swap them to the cheapest of the cheap when you might want a Formation later on.

Wrath of the Hive Mind is another good box to look at though. More expensive, but you'll likely get more use out of the models for longer. Unless you particularly like Gargoyles and want to run something with that in mind. Wrath can be a good start up to 1000pts before the things in it need to go away in favor of the actual good stuff Nids need to stay decent.

**pinecone77**

seerex wrote:
Hello all,

I've played a bit of 40k (about 5 games now) and want to start my own army. Been playing both Necrons, orks, chaos daemons and CSM but none of them really appealed to me (playstyle or visually for painting). So i kinda think Tyranids is a great fit. As far as i understand they have great utility, both ranged and melee, look awesome and are "kinda" beginners friendly but with a lot of depth (correct me if i am wrong).

So for my next match with my friends i gotta come up with a 500 pts. army. So, what is the best way to go about this? I need a good core, that i can expand on. So i don't just want a good list for 500 pts. games, but a list i can grow and expand as i purchase newer models.

Currently i was thinking of getting the "get started" set from GW, which includes:

- Hive Tyrant
- 3 x Warriors
- 10 x Gargoyles

I don't have the codex, so i don't quite know how many points they are, but seems like a good start?

Sure, the getting started boxes are a good start. While Warriors are not popular, they are a mainstay of Tyranid Formations, so they can continue to be valuable. I suggest you build one with a Cannon, and the other two "plain". A general "meta rule" for Tyranids is that upgrades are usually less useful than simply buying more models.

I suggest you magnetise the Tyrant if you are handy, as rule changes might make equipment less useful in the future.

The current "best build" for a Tyrant is Wings, Two Twin linked Devourers with Brain Leeches, and a Thorax hive with Electro grubs, for 240 I built my own Devourers, and there are several ways to do so...or you can buy some from Forge World. Expensive, but exelent sculps.

I think the box come with a formation in it so that helps. Buying some Ripper swarms off of e-bay might be a good way to add some ground presence that will continue to be useful.

The new Deathwatch box contains some very nice Genestealer Cult figures that just might be fun to use as well.

Good luck! And welcome to the Hive Mind!

What do you guys think? Thanks in advance!

**Inevitable_Faith**

It really depends on how much money you want to spend right out the gate. For a low cost intro the start collecting box is good. I bought it and was happy to see they didn't skimp on giving wings for the tyrant. It also comes with a formation as well so it's legal right out of the box. The formation is pretty fun to play with too even if it isn't really a hyper-optimized list. And really it's hard to argue with the saving on it too, coupled with the codex it's a very inexpensive way to get into the hobby.

Ultimately it's important to have an idea of what you want to build. You could go with a swarm list and field lots of little gribblies like gaunts and rippers or you can go Nidzilla and stock up on the big monstrous creatures. Flying circus is a nid list I fight a lot too, lotsa winged hive tyrants and crones, real annoying. Having an idea there would be a good start. YMMV with gargoyles and warriors, they're not the most competitive units in the dex but can be lots of fun in casual games.

Hope this helps and I hope you greatly enjoy answering the call of the Hive Mind!

**seerex**

Thank you all for the answers. i didn't know it came with a formation and of thus is legal out of the box, that is great!

I don't think i wanna magnetize anything, and just assemble it with what i think looks decent. I don't have any magnets and have never magnetized anything before. besides, my friends wont care if i play with a winged hyve tyrant even though i didn't buy wings for him. I think that is ok with them

Any advice on which troops to get? i was thinking either Termagaunt or Hermagaunt?

**Inevitable_Faith**

I felt the same way about magnetization when I first started out but over time I did switch over and now I magnetize almost everything. GW models are too expensive to buy redundancies just so you can have the right model for the job. Your group sounds relaxed like mine and that's a good thing, if you ever start playing at certain LGS though or ever enter the tournament scene then some will ask that your models will be WYSIWYG.

Magnetization isn't hard at all once you've seen it done. There's plenty of videos online about how to do it and quite a few on Hive Tyrants specifically. Here's a link to one that I personally found quite helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-9mvOhyBOk

I know present you might be thinking that's a lot of work and you just want to get playing but I promise that future you will thank yourself for going through the trouble of getting it done, especially after a new codex drops and suddenly your favourite build isn't as viable anymore.

As for troops I went with hormagaunts cause I've watched far too much Starship Troopers and was really inspired by the swarming masses of spikey bugs. I think most people go with termagaunts however. They're cheaper, have ranged weapons and if you take 30 of them in a squad you can take a Tervigon as a troop choice that spits out more of them (birthing sacks). Personally I feel if you want to go with hormagaunts then dedicate yourself to them, get lots and swarm the table with them. If you want to fill your army with lots of other options then maybe a couple boxes of termagaunts will be all you need.