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A friend of mine is somewhat interested in getting into the game but with the condition that we somehow find him the smallest possible list that is still cool, one idea that was floated was an eldar list with the 4 avatars...which I have no idea what might be since I'm a new player as well and play tyranids.

Any help?

Knights.

Imperial or Chaos Knights. I think you'd be lucky to get 5 in a 2k point list at the moment.

They are however very costly.

If you want a somewhat cheaper list with a few more models (but still the advantage of being few models) consider something running several Terminators or Tanks.

Well, with the new detachments any army can play really elite or"big" so to speak. Tyranids may be traditionally a horde-style army, but using a lot of monstorus creatures instead can be fun, and won't add up to a lot of models.

If he wants elite infatry the new Primaris Marines are pretty Elite. The Dark Imperium box has 22 models, and they come to some 900-ish points. Other Marine lists are quite elite, such as the Grey Knights for example.

Mechanized Imperial Guard with tanks as the focus don't add up to very many models, but they are big since they are vehicles.

I guess the most important question is what type of list he wants to play, shooty or stabby? Infantry, tanks, monsters? Like I said, the detachment system let's you do basically whatever really.

As I said the list that most caught his interest when described to him was this "4 avatar" eldar list, no clue what it is and was hoping someone could inform me.

The knights style list I suggested to him but sadly it was waved off as boring

A single Warlord Titan?

Knights is the easy answer. If money isn't a limiting factor (which kinda has to be the case if you're building an all Knights list) he could pick up Aetaos'rau'keres from Forge World to go with a Renegade Knight list for a little variety.

If he didn't actually mean a list with four models, he could give Thousand Sons a try and build a list made mostly/entirely of Scarab Occult Terminators. They're both very expensive (points wise) and very good, though I doubt you'd be able to make a winning list with just SOT's. Throw in Magnus for a big bad centerpiece.

Perhaps Tyranids might be the answer? If the Eldar Avatar spam was tempting....

Perhaps Nidzilla is right up his alley.

VIlacom wrote:
As I said the list that most caught his interest when described to him was this "4 avatar" eldar list, no clue what it is and was hoping someone could inform me.

The knights style list I suggested to him but sadly it was waved off as boring

sounds like 4 avatars of Khain. eldar.

not sure why he thinks that sounds so exciting but IKs are "boring" having seen both the avatar mini and IK minis, IKs are MUCH nicer looking on the table top.

But... I may be biasedf towards big stompy robots.

Not sure about the "four" part, though? Does he mean the Citadel Avatar, the two Forge World ones and the Avatar of Ynnaed? Seems a bit cheesy, because if you've got a situation where three Craftworlds have all sent their Avatar of Khaine to the same battlefield, you'd think at least one of them would have brought some mates.

Do the FW avatars can be taken at the same time as the one from the index (which is unique)?

Also, why does he want very few models? If it's for painting/transporting/cost issues, big models are not necessarily better than small elite squads. Point costs being equals, it might be cheaper/take less room to make a GK army than an IK army.

VIlacom wrote:
A friend of mine is somewhat interested in getting into the game but with the condition that we somehow find him the smallest possible list that is still cool, one idea that was floated was an eldar list with the 4 avatars...which I have no idea what might be since I'm a new player as well and play tyranids.

Any help?

Not sure what the 4 Avatars are unless he is talking about the Exarchs. That list is rather difficult to run. Now if he likes Eldar, a Wraith list is beast and can be run smallish, 1 Wraithseer, 1x10 Wraithguard, 1x10 Wraithblades and if you want 1 Wraithlord and 1 Wraithknight. Also GK can run a very small list with paladins or termies with Draigo.

3 Baneblades is pretty close to 2000pts depending on sponsons. A fully pimped out one is 674pts.

2 Stompas, 1954 points.

 JohnU wrote:
2 Stompas, 1954 points.

Heh. Beat me to it.

My spirithost army has 21-22 models at 2000 points, so there's that.

Technically, in a 1500 point game your list can consist of precisely 1 Warhound Scout Titan.

Triple-Baneblade lists can be pretty rad though. Especially if one of those Baneblade variants is a Shadowsword, to put the fear of the Emperor into rival superheavy lists.

At 2k?

Hierophant bio titan

single model

1920 points

enjoy.

VIlacom wrote:
A friend of mine is somewhat interested in getting into the game but with the condition that we somehow find him the smallest possible list that is still cool, one idea that was floated was an eldar list with the 4 avatars...which I have no idea what might be since I'm a new player as well and play tyranids.

Any help?

Smallest as in dollars or models?
They are different items. 4 knights can cost you $560 MSRP.
You can find armies for much cheaper.

Yeah, I'll be honest the entire approach is probably the wrong way to do it. It's not a cheap hobby, nor is it a time-friendly hobby. Making a vague economic decision at the start - he's probably not really that interested in getting into the game. This won't end well (i.e. look for cheap models on eBay from this guy in a few months time - poorly assembled).

Yeah, cost is definitely a whole other can of worms.

Probably the cheapest way TBH has less to do with which models you field, and more to do with where you get your models. GW seems to try to scale its prices to how many models they expect you to field, so that a full army from GW is always some kind of expensive.

So for a cheap army, you'll have to look for things like second-hand or non-GW models.

Or play Imperial Guard, and be able to proxy historical models. Which basically gives them the widest selection of non-GW models out of any army.

One of cheaper ways to do it is the HH: Betrayal at Calth game.
It lacks options, but it's one of the least expensive ways to get a get a starting SM force.

Well since he is a new guy honestly the easiest thing to do is probably grey knights

bunch of paladins some vehicles. a can of silver spray paint (army painter or what not), easy details and done.

get them second hand for maximum value.

it will also depends on how many points you plan on playing

There is no such thing as a "4 Avatars" list for Eldar. There are only 2 (Khaine & Yncarne) and both are unique (1 per ARMY only)

Although you could do both Avatars and 2 decked out WraithKnights, but it would probably suck.
5 Imperial Knights really is the best option

I still think the best first army in nearly all respects are codex Marines.

 MisterMoon wrote:
I still think the best first army in nearly all respects are codex Marines.

The dark imprium starter comes with a rule book (with missions and stuff and fluff which is a great way to get people hooked) dice and stuff and about 1000 points in space marine off the bat.