Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi guys!
I'm having trouble deciding what to start painting for my army.

I have collected quite a sizable army, and I have assembled it (weapons are magnetized, but my termagants don't have their weapons yet. So I thought i'd ask you guys to help me put together a 2000 pts army from what i have, so i can start painting!

Do you think I can put together a competitive army with these models?
What Hive should i go for?
Should i build a brigade?
Do i need to buy tyrannofexes and exocrines to be able to play competitively?

So far I've collected:

45 genestealers
60+ Terms
60+ Horms
9 Rippers
30 gargoyles
3 Lictors
4 zoantropes
9 Warriors
2 Carnifexes
3 Biovores
15 spore mines
2 Broodlords
1 Old one eye
1 Swarmlord
1 Flying hive tyrant
2 Trygon/Mawloc (magnetized)
4 Tyrant guard

Hive Fleet Kraken

40 genestealers
60 hormagaunts
30 devourer gaunts

Swarmlord
1 Flyrant
2 Neurothropes

2 Trygons

Should be right about 2k, what a lot of us are seeing as one of the competitive tyranids builds. I ran very similar with the index and had solid results.

Tyranids are fast enough that they don’t need to depend on guns to be competitive. Your big artillery bugs are good, but not necessary by any means. There’s a ton of tools to put your gribblies right in their face compared to other codexes.

A brigade is super easy to bring, though you have to balance increased CP with less a less efficient army. 6 troops/3 FA/3 HS are pretty easy to bring for cheap, but most issues are about the 3 elite choices. If you can get those situated the rest should be fine.

Yep...you should settle on a Fleet first...some Fleets lend themselves to being Big Bug-Shooty, others to speed rush. Once you have that down, the rest will be "easy".

 Traceoftoxin wrote:
Hive Fleet Kraken

40 genestealers
60 hormagaunts
30 devourer gaunts

Swarmlord
1 Flyrant
2 Neurothropes

2 Trygons

Should be right about 2k, what a lot of us are seeing as one of the competitive tyranids builds. I ran very similar with the index and had solid results.

Thanks!
So do you normally bring 30 devourers or like 20 devs and 10 flesh borers? Also do you bring them up with the trygon?
I'm a bit scared of bringing the swarmlord with no body guard. I know catalyst and the regenerating wound stratagem helps, but isn't he a bit vulnerable I could get a tyrannocyte for him. (don't have that model though)

 killerpenguin wrote:

Thanks!
So do you normally bring 30 devourers or like 20 devs and 10 flesh borers? Also do you bring them up with the trygon?
I'm a bit scared of bringing the swarmlord with no body guard. I know catalyst and the regenerating wound stratagem helps, but isn't he a bit vulnerable I could get a tyrannocyte for him. (don't have that model though)

Mixing fleshborers in with the devourer gaunts is mainly for if you're planning on regenerating them with a tervigon.
If you're just dropping 30 in with a trygon, then going full devourers makes more sense.

Swarmlord is always going to be vulnerable. Tyrant guard don't really help all that much. Just gives the enemy another unit they'll shoot down first.
You just have to deal with the fact that the swarmlord probably isn't going to survive past the first couple of turns, and take full advantage of his hive commander ability while he is still alive. His best chance of survival is to cram enough units into the enemy lines to shut down their shooting.