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Hi everyone, it was my birthday the other day, and after I've bought clothes, games and a few other bits and bobs, I've got £70 to spend on 40k, I'm a hardcore Xenos fanboy, I've got an expansive Tau force and around 2k of Orks, so, what shall I buy with my £70. I don't need any paints, my family have that one sorted, so I was wondering what I should get, Dark Eldar is a No-No, and I want to start a new army. My opinions between Tyranids, Necrons and Eldar are tied, so basically, which army shall I start collecting and what should I buy to get that force going ?

 DarkShade1999 wrote:
Hi everyone, it was my birthday the other day, and after I've bought clothes, games and a few other bits and bobs, I've got £70 to spend on 40k, I'm a hardcore Xenos fanboy, I've got an expansive Tau force and around 2k of Orks, so, what shall I buy with my £70. I don't need any paints, my family have that one sorted, so I was wondering what I should get, Dark Eldar is a No-No, and I want to start a new army. My opinions between Tyranids, Necrons and Eldar are tied, so basically, which army shall I start collecting and what should I buy to get that force going ?

Tyranids. Get a Start Collecting box and a second pack of Gargoyles. You're already on your way to the Living Tide!

Nothing (psychically) screams Xenos like Tyranids!

I actually just started a Tyranid army... loving it so far. It may not be the most competitive thing in the world but it is certainly fun to play.

I'd go with Necrons. The Start Collecting Box comes with an Overlord, 12x Warriors, a Triarch Stalker and 3 Canoptek Scarab bases that can easily be turned into 4 or more by putting fewer Scarabs on each base. I put 3 on mine and they look fine.

Add in a box of Immortals or Warriors and you have two options in your price range.

Option #1 (Necrons Getting Started + Immortals Box)
HQ - Necron Overlord w/Warscythe, Res Orb and Phase Shifter
Troops - 12x Warriors
Troops - 5x Immortals
Elites - Triarch Stalker w/Twin Linked Heavy Guass Cannon
Fast Attack - 3x Canoptek Scarabs
Points : 586
Price : 70.5 GBP

Option #2 (Necrons Getting Started + Warriors Box)
HQ - Necron Overlord w/Warscythe, Res Orb and Phase Shifter
Troops - 12x Warriors
Troops - 12x Warriors
Elites - Triarch Stalker w/Twin Linked Heavy Guass Cannon
Fast Attack - 6x Canoptek Scarabs
Points : 717
Price : 72 GBP

I would prefer option #2. I think having 7 more bodies is better, even with the worse armor save. Also, more Scarabs is always a good idea. It's not a bad start to an army, and they're all models you'll use when expanding the army.

If you're not keen in any of those 3 in particular, grab the none your meta has little representation of.

EnTymeTyranids. Get a Start Collecting box and a second pack of Gargoyles. You're already on your way to the Living Tide!

anticitizen013Nothing (psychically) screams Xenos like Tyranids!

I actually just started a Tyranid army... loving it so far. It may not be the most competitive thing in the world but it is certainly fun to play.

What would you two (EnTyme and anticitizen013) recommend I get if I were to go Tyranids, like what the Necron suggestion above did, what would you recommend I get?

Well, like I said, the Start Collecting box is definitely a good place to start. The good news is you get a Tyrant (who is just begging for some wings). The bad news is you also get 3x Warriors (not necessarily a bad unit, but underwhelming). You also get 10x Gargoyles. The real benefit to this is that you are well on your way to a Skyblight Swarm (basically Tyranid Flying Circus)! You would just need to add a Crone, two Harpies, and two more Gargoyle broods. The Warriors aren't part of the formation, but they're still cool models, and they could be used as part of one of the other (underappreciated) Tyranid formations.

Note: I don't currently play Tyranids, but they are on my "To-Do" list after I finish my SM army, and I have done quite a bit of research on them. I'll either move on to them or start a War Convocation.

P.S. If you are wondering about that Living Tide I mentioned earlier, that's kind of a pipe dream. I think the minimum size of that formation is almost 250 models and around 5k points, and it maxes out at over 700 models and 18k point (and would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 grand for the models alone). Have fun with that movement phase.

XV107 R'Varna Riptide
£72

 DarkShade1999 wrote:

EnTymeTyranids. Get a Start Collecting box and a second pack of Gargoyles. You're already on your way to the Living Tide!

anticitizen013Nothing (psychically) screams Xenos like Tyranids!

I actually just started a Tyranid army... loving it so far. It may not be the most competitive thing in the world but it is certainly fun to play.

What would you two (EnTyme and anticitizen013) recommend I get if I were to go Tyranids, like what the Necron suggestion above did, what would you recommend I get?

My fear with the Tyranids is that the army isn't particularly good. Sure, there are always going to be a couple of better than average builds, but in general, Tyranids are considered to be a bottom tier army.

The Getting Started boxes are definitely the way to go if you want to get into a new army. MOST of them are decent, but the 'Nid one isn't great. Warriors aren't a great unit and it's likely that you won't be using them long term. If you do want the 'Nid option, I'd do one of these for a casual starting list at ~70 GBP.

Example List for ~70 GBP (Getting Started Box + either Genestealers or Hormagaunts or Termagants)
HQ - Hive Tyrant w/Wings and dual Twin-Linked Devourers with Brainleech Worms
Troops - 3x Tyranid Warriors w/Vennon Cannon and 2x Bone Sword and Lash Whip
Troops - 8x Genestealers OR 12x Hormagaunts OR 12x Termagants
Fast Attack - 10x Gargoyles
Points : 542 with the Genestealers/490 with the Hormagaunts/478 with the Termagants
Price : 68 GBP for any of the three options


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Again, not really competitive, but at least that would get you started. I prefer the Necron option. It's just a better Codex right now and more fun to play from my viewpoint.

I would add a other box of Gargoyles for the formation. It can put out an insane amount of dakka or offer many ablative wounds to get your HT into melee and issue a challenge with his lashwhip and bonesword. The warriors, while not the most useful thing in the codex, are still good to have. They are hard to ignore once they get up close, or they can take pot shots at enemy locations with the barbed strangler.

Other things I would add are hormagaunts (cheap bodies that once they get into melee can be very effective in terms of points per model), Mawlocs because I think they are awesome (2x S6 ignores cover large blasts!), and some Zoanthropes for some additional psychic might and synapse. Venomthropes are good to give your bodies shrouded and thus added survivability.

Honestly it depends what kind of force you're going with, since there is a lot of variety in the Tyranid list. I'd recommend checking out the huge 300+ page thread here on dakka as well as 1d4chan for some unit analysis too!

But yeah as mentioned, they aren't super competitive... but they are definitely fun!

funny how no one mentioned Eldar...the hate is deep in some people

As it stands, you have a shooty army with Tau, you have a melee army with Orks, so you should get something in between. Eldar fits the bill better. They have both and can be tactically flexible. Just don't fall into the cookie cutter crap that people will feed you...scat bikes, wraithknights, blah, blah. Pick a "path" and run with it. I think an Aspect host suits you better as it will have a mix of both close combat and shooty elements. Eldar have sweet sleek vehicles (serpents and falcons) and a nice mix of visually appealing troops.

If I were to do an aspect Eldar army again (sold one many years ago) I would actually run with an "Element" theme and paint accordingly....earth...striking scorpions in a serpent, fire...fire dragons in a falcon....air...swooping hawks....water...probably go Dire avengers in a serpent. Add a fire prism or 2 for AT, stay away from D weapons and wraithknights, all good.


To add some fun, add a harlequin formation or two to the mix.

If your dad or whomever has a credit card, you could give them the 70 in cash and get them to order from element games or other online discounter. That way your 70 quid goes even further. Maybe even an extra box worth

How about Eldar.

2 boxes of Guardians, a Farseer (on foot) and a single Vauls Wrath Support Battery from the GW webstore (listed s Eldar Support Battery). Comes to £71.50 and gives you what you need to run a Combined Arm's Detachment with an HQ, 2 Troops and a Heavy Support thrown in.

Get another unit of Guardians down the line and you've got a standard Pale Courts Battlehost Formation with the Disciple of Vaul trait added on.

Just want to say thanks Imateria, Ratius, bullyboy, anticitizen013, Kriswall, commander dante, EnTyme and Vector Strike for all the help you guys have given, however, I think I'm going to with the suggestion of bullyboy as Aspect Eldar seem really cool, but honestly though, everyone's feedback was really helpful and informative, thanks

 DarkShade1999 wrote:
Just want to say thanks Imateria, Ratius, bullyboy, anticitizen013, Kriswall, commander dante, EnTyme and Vector Strike for all the help you guys have given, however, I think I'm going to with the suggestion of bullyboy as Aspect Eldar seem really cool, but honestly though, everyone's feedback was really helpful and informative, thanks

No arguing with that, Aspect Warriors are very cool. May I suggest looking at gettin the Imperial Armour 11: Doom of Mymear book from Forgeworld at some point in the future, most of the formations it adds to those already in the Codex are more fluffy than competitive and the huge level of customisation available to the Pale Courts Battlehost can effectively let you run the army however you want.

 DarkShade1999 wrote:
Just want to say thanks Imateria, Ratius, bullyboy, anticitizen013, Kriswall, commander dante, EnTyme and Vector Strike for all the help you guys have given, however, I think I'm going to with the suggestion of bullyboy as Aspect Eldar seem really cool, but honestly though, everyone's feedback was really helpful and informative, thanks

Not a bad choice. I didn't recommend Eldar at first because they don't have a Getting Started box. You won't get as much bang for your buck. I'd definitely check eBay also. For something like basic Guardians, you might be able to get much better deals than going retail.

Save £20 more and buy the tyranid swarm box from element?

I've heard of people getting success with the Getting Started: Necrons box. Buying two of them and making an army based around that sounds amazing. Not as alien as Tyranids, though.

 Imateria wrote:

 DarkShade1999 wrote:
Just want to say thanks Imateria, Ratius, bullyboy, anticitizen013, Kriswall, commander dante, EnTyme and Vector Strike for all the help you guys have given, however, I think I'm going to with the suggestion of bullyboy as Aspect Eldar seem really cool, but honestly though, everyone's feedback was really helpful and informative, thanks

No arguing with that, Aspect Warriors are very cool. May I suggest looking at gettin the Imperial Armour 11: Doom of Mymear book from Forgeworld at some point in the future, most of the formations it adds to those already in the Codex are more fluffy than competitive and the huge level of customisation available to the Pale Courts Battlehost can effectively let you run the army however you want.

Totally recommend this when you get more cash, The Doom book is absolutely fantastic and has a lot of really cool model rules and fluff!