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Hey all, i have a friend who is getting into the hobby, and is trying to decide which army he wants to play. After telling him a little about the backstory, he asked if there were any armies like the Zerg or Protoss from Starcraft, so we pointed him to Tau, Eldar, and Tyranids. He liked the general aesthetic of the eldar and Tyranids best, but is having some trouble narrowing down which one he wants to start. I asked him if he liked more elite armies or more swarm armies better, but he says he likes them both pretty equally. Any helpful tips or points to bring up that might help him decide between the two? Anything would be appreciated!!

Considering Tyranids are in such a state that our regular that played them basically permaquit 40k.

I'd say go Eldar. Because hey...I'm starting them up too! And they are really good. And a nice beginner army.

If he can't decide which one because he likes them both equally, the only option is to flip a coin. It's not so much the coin facing that decides, but rather the moment that coin goes in the air, he'll know which one he wants to come up

I would say eldar. Tyranids have so few viable combinations that unless opponents go VERY light on him he'll get stomped pretty badly. Eldars are much more forgiving even with less optimal lists so it should provide bit more interesting games at the start than get run over completely all the time.

If your friend doesn't want an uphill battle in a competitive environment, recommend he goes for Eldar. They also got some new stuff in the Fracture of Biel-Tan just now.

If he likes how they look equally and doesn't care about they're style he should probably decide what to start considering a couple of things: Tyranids are more expensive and need more time to paint them all, but there are a lot of eldar players around nowadays so playing something that is not that common can be a good point too. I wouldn't like being the 1000ish player in a certain area that use the same list of everyone else.

 Blackie wrote:
Tyranids are more expensive and need more time to paint them all

Actually, Tyranids can be one of the lowest model.count armies out there. Since Mucolid Spores were introduced, you can have 2 models fulfill your troop requirements, and then just play nothing but Monstrous Creatures. You can also use Ripper Swarms for your troops, and only need 6 bases of them to play. Still expensive $-wise, though for all the MCs.

@OP: if you're friend is thinking about Tyranids and Eldar, ask him if he wants to play 40K on Super Hard Mode (Tyranids) or Easy Mode (Eldar). You should give him plenty of warning that Tyranids are probably the weakest army in the game, but also that doesn't mean you can't have fun with them if you're willing to accept that, and who knows? Maybe one day GW will release a decent Tyranid codex, but I dream...

Nids.
I've never seen a bad looking Nids army and there's so many different colour schemes to choose from.

 jasper76 wrote:

 Blackie wrote:
Tyranids are more expensive and need more time to paint them all

Actually, Tyranids can be one of the lowest model.count armies out there. Since Mucolid Spores were introduced, you can have 2 models fulfill your troop requirements, and then just play nothing but Monstrous Creatures. You can also use Ripper Swarms for your troops, and only need 6 bases of them to play. Still expensive $-wise, though for all the MCs.

@OP: if you're friend is thinking about Tyranids and Eldar, ask him if he wants to play 40K on Super Hard Mode (Tyranids) or Easy Mode (Eldar). You should give him plenty of warning that Tyranids are probably the weakest army in the game, but also that doesn't mean you can't have fun with them if you're willing to accept that, and who knows? Maybe one day GW will release a decent Tyranid codex, but I dream...

Those are not even tyranids IMHO, they're an attempt to be competitive in tournaments. In casual games tyranids are ok, like any other army, and someone that starts the hobby shouldn't think about tournaments for a while, maybe years.

What armies do you and your group play?
You can discount those from his list or get him something that would be a good match up or find something that would be good to ally for larger games between your group.

Personally I think something that he likes the models and fluff for is the most important at this stage.
He'll stand a much better chance of getting them painted.

 Blackie wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

 Blackie wrote:
Tyranids are more expensive and need more time to paint them all

Actually, Tyranids can be one of the lowest model.count armies out there. Since Mucolid Spores were introduced, you can have 2 models fulfill your troop requirements, and then just play nothing but Monstrous Creatures. You can also use Ripper Swarms for your troops, and only need 6 bases of them to play. Still expensive $-wise, though for all the MCs.

@OP: if you're friend is thinking about Tyranids and Eldar, ask him if he wants to play 40K on Super Hard Mode (Tyranids) or Easy Mode (Eldar). You should give him plenty of warning that Tyranids are probably the weakest army in the game, but also that doesn't mean you can't have fun with them if you're willing to accept that, and who knows? Maybe one day GW will release a decent Tyranid codex, but I dream...

Those are not even tyranids IMHO, they're an attempt to be competitive in tournaments. In casual games tyranids are ok, like any other army, and someone that starts the hobby shouldn't think about tournaments for a while, maybe years.

It's a pretty common way to play Tyranids called Nidzilla. It's not particularly competitive...very easy to counter. Pentatyrant (Flying Hive Tyrant spam) is the tournament mode...I don't care for this myself, because I typically don't like having more than 2 of any one MC, except for Carnifex Broods, which come in 3s.

Alot of us Nid players really enjoy the Monstrous Creature aspect and models of Tyranids more than the swarm aspect. As you've said, going the swarm route involves buying and painting tons of infantry...I burned out on painting my color scheme for a long time after painting 90 termagants and 90 Hormogants. It's also kind of a PITA to setup and push that many models across the board.

I guess what I'm trying to say is Nidzilla isn't very competitive to begin with unless you Flyrant spam, and some of us play Nidzilla for no other reason then we like the MC big bug models, and they're fun to play with.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
It's also worth noting that Flyrant spam itself is not very competitive, as it's very easily countered with AA.

Yeah you're right, I was thinking about lists with only flyers and mawlocs other than min troops.

I think a beginner should learn the mechanics of the game and how to paint his miniatures, that's why I would never recommend a tyranid army composed mostly by monstrous creatures for someone that wants to start the hobby.

 Blackie wrote:
Yeah you're right, I was thinking about lists with only flyers and mawlocs other than min troops.

I think a beginner should learn the mechanics of the game and how to paint his miniatures, that's why I would never recommend a tyranid army composed mostly by monstrous creatures for someone that wants to start the hobby.

Yeah, I can agree that playing with only Monstrous Creatures to start with would leave you a bit clueless as to how other common unit types like infantry work in the game and play on the table.

I have a ton of fun playing my nids. I would gladly recommend them. Aparently I enjoy it so much 2 players at my LGS started their own nid armys.

Also, Eldar are what they are at this point. 8th will be coming and a new Nid dex shouldn't be far behind if all the rumors hold up. They have nowhere to go but up and thats an exciting prospect to look forward to.