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Getting ready to play my first real game of 40k and I chose Tyranids. We're doing a narrative Crusade style game of 300 points to start. Here is what I put together without really knowing what I'm doing:

Parasite of Mortrex (80 pts)
10 x Termagants (60 pts)
10 x Termagants (60 pts)
1 x Biovore (50 pts)
1 x Pyrovore (40 pts)

Is this a decent starter army to just learn the game and the Nids with?

 ExtraCrispy wrote:
Getting ready to play my first real game of 40k and I chose Tyranids. We're doing a narrative Crusade style game of 300 points to start. Here is what I put together without really knowing what I'm doing:

Parasite of Mortrex (80 pts)
10 x Termagants (60 pts)
10 x Termagants (60 pts)
1 x Biovore (50 pts)
1 x Pyrovore (40 pts)

Is this a decent starter army to just learn the game and the Nids with?

Are you using Detachments?
If so, consider which one to use.

I would recommend trying to have a more unified defensive profile.
Your opponent's little guns can blast your Gants, while their bigger ones can focus down the bigger bugs. A carpet of 40 Gants and a single Character would be more effective than what you have, especially given they'd be better at holding objectives; as would taking Warriors instead of Gants for everything being T5+.

That said! I'd make the assumption you aren't looking for a hardcore, murder everything and hear the lamentations of their armies type list. I think what you have now will work just fine-might be a little light on melee, but that's a preference you can work with. There's definitely room for improvement, but I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially as a new player.

Looks pretty good for such a small points count. The biggest thing that tends to help out in games at 500 points or less in number of units you have so that you can do objectives and score points.

I'd recommend Invasion fleet for your detachment to start out so that you can adjust on the fly to whatever it is you're up against.

If / When you do end up moving up to 500 points, I'd suggest one chunkier model like an Exocrine or Screamer Killer, and pair it with a smaller melee threat like a Lictor, or Hormagaunts.

Big things can be good - another option is shockrtoops. Genestealers have historically always been a solid choice in that role. Plus they can teach you good movement tricks in making sure they make it into combat.

Thanks.

We played a demo game last night. I fought Necrons. Neither of us used our special rules well, so it was a quick game - I was pretty much wiped out. The Necron regenerate is soooper annoying. I think my list was okay but I need to really learn how to use the units together.

 ExtraCrispy wrote:
Thanks.

We played a demo game last night. I fought Necrons. Neither of us used our special rules well, so it was a quick game - I was pretty much wiped out. The Necron regenerate is soooper annoying. I think my list was okay but I need to really learn how to use the units together.

Yeah, Necrons are really rough at small points costs because you often don't have the firepower to kill a full unit in one go and then they keep coming back. Best thing you can do in that is to throw everything you have into a single unit to try and kill it before moving on, if you spread out, you'll get overwhlemed. Getting Sustained Hits from the Invasion Swarm detachment will help with this a little. Using Rapid Regeneration and Endless Swam stratagems to keep bodies on the board will help you counteract the regeneration effect as well. (This would work better if you Termagaunt squad was a 20 man, but then you loose flexibility to do objectives.)

If you just have the basic termagaunts from the starter set, you're stuck with the Fleshborers, but if you can give them Devourer's that would help a bit as the extra shot on each gun will output more than the +1 strength will. Especially when you get extra hits on 6's.

Also, with a lot of Necron units being weak in melee, using your spare 10 points to swap a unit of Termagaunts for a unit of Hormaguants would help too. Or some Ranged Warriors that are good at shooting and close combat.