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.

Got the Codex and Tyranid Xmas box arriving as presents for Christmas.

Can anyone advise roughly how many points the Xmas battle force lets you build?

Thanks

Edit....and also, what would be a good starting point for adding to the force?

Back of the napkin says it's about 650-800pts, depending on equipment whether you build a Carnifex or Hive Tyrant as Old One Eye or the Swarmlord respectively.

I think it's a solid start to an army, particularly with the changes in Chapter Approved. However, most of the points really come from the Carnifexes and Hive Tyrant, and it doesn't have a second HQ choice (unless you build Old One Eye).

More Termagants would help provide additional screening, since a single unit of 12 will get wiped out quickly.

You could take 3 or 6 Warriors and a Prime to fill another HQ slot and get some solid shooting. If you like the models, 9 + Prime is now a pretty useful choice thanks to the new rules in Blood of Baal.

Hive Guard and Genestealers are our meta options, so either of those would be a solid purchase. I'm not as fond of Genestealers as most Tyranid players seem to be, but Hive Guard are great.

The box only comes with, apparently, one Ripper Swarm, but getting more of those would be useful. A unit of 3 is a nice, cheap deep-striking objective-grabber.

However, all that said, Tyranids have a lot of different ways to play so it really comes down to what you like. Do you want a swarm of small bugs, lots of big ones, or somewhere in between? Do you want a gunline, or an assault army? Lots of deep strike, or more conventional shock assault? If you have some idea of how you want to characterize the army, that'll help provide more concrete recommendations.

 catbarf wrote:
Back of the napkin says it's about 650-800pts, depending on equipment whether you build a Carnifex or Hive Tyrant as Old One Eye or the Swarmlord respectively.

I think it's a solid start to an army, particularly with the changes in Chapter Approved. However, most of the points really come from the Carnifexes and Hive Tyrant, and it doesn't have a second HQ choice (unless you build Old One Eye).

More Termagants would help provide additional screening, since a single unit of 12 will get wiped out quickly.

You could take 3 or 6 Warriors and a Prime to fill another HQ slot and get some solid shooting. If you like the models, 9 + Prime is now a pretty useful choice thanks to the new rules in Blood of Baal.

Hive Guard and Genestealers are our meta options, so either of those would be a solid purchase. I'm not as fond of Genestealers as most Tyranid players seem to be, but Hive Guard are great.

The box only comes with, apparently, one Ripper Swarm, but getting more of those would be useful. A unit of 3 is a nice, cheap deep-striking objective-grabber.

However, all that said, Tyranids have a lot of different ways to play so it really comes down to what you like. Do you want a swarm of small bugs, lots of big ones, or somewhere in between? Do you want a gunline, or an assault army? Lots of deep strike, or more conventional shock assault? If you have some idea of how you want to characterize the army, that'll help provide more concrete recommendations.

Thanks for the info, very helpful.
Very little idea on what I want to do as im back new to the game after a long break. Just knew I wanted Tyranids along with the other stuff im buying.

I take it from your comments, the new(?) Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord is a pointless addition?

VAYASEN wrote:
I take it from your comments, the new(?) Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord is a pointless addition?

I'm not sure I follow- if I've given the impression that the Hive Tyrant or Swarmlord are bad, it's actually the opposite. The Hive Tyrant is an excellent shooting and psychic platform (especially with wings), while the Swarmlord's ability to let another unit move a second time is fantastic for getting Genestealer blobs into the enemy army turn 1.

 catbarf wrote:

VAYASEN wrote:
I take it from your comments, the new(?) Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord is a pointless addition?

I'm not sure I follow- if I've given the impression that the Hive Tyrant or Swarmlord are bad, it's actually the opposite. The Hive Tyrant is an excellent shooting and psychic platform (especially with wings), while the Swarmlord's ability to let another unit move a second time is fantastic for getting Genestealer blobs into the enemy army turn 1.

sorry no, its just me being overwhelmed with all things 40k after returning hehe.

I noticed a 'new' Swarmlord/hive Tyrant on the Element games site. Was Tempted to buy it to add to the forces but I didnt realise one came with the Xmas box (unless I have misunderstood your first post)

Sorry for the misunderstanding and thanks again for the info.

The "new" one is a repackage.

Previously, it had the old style packaging.

VAYASEN wrote:
sorry no, its just me being overwhelmed with all things 40k after returning hehe.

I noticed a 'new' Swarmlord/hive Tyrant on the Element games site. Was Tempted to buy it to add to the forces but I didnt realise one came with the Xmas box (unless I have misunderstood your first post)

Sorry for the misunderstanding and thanks again for the info.

Oh yeah, it's literally just a repackage. The one that you can see in the middle of the box art on the Christmas army box is the same as the one in the new Tyrant/Swarmlord box.

If you want to go all-in on big creatures, multiple Tyrants is a solid choice, so you could always get more than one. Again, it really comes down to how you want to build the army. Tyranids are really spoiled for choice when it comes to army archetypes; while none of them are really top contenders in the meta there are a lot of viable options.