I've been gathering Epic Tyranid models for around 12 years now, and have collected something of an unreasonable number of the little bugs. I want to sell off some of what I have, but I also want to keep enough to have at least a legal 3000pts to play with, plus enough spare to vary my lists and 'future proof' the army against changes in list composition (maybe 4000pts or so in total).

I've been trying to get into Epic, but have had trouble finding opponents. I've only managed to take my 'nids to the board twice, so am far from an expert as to what is good to have.

I've been looking through battlereports here, and army lists that have been taken to tournaments, but I may as well also ask here:
What is the most reasonable number of models to have in a Tyranid collection if you expect to play varied 3000pt games?

Currently my total number of bases is:
6 Dominatrix
27 Hive Tyrants
27 Tyranid Warriors
24 Lictors
1 Broodlord
27 Genestealers
54 Termagants
25 Hormagaunts
29 Gargoyles
0 Raveners
0 Biovores
9 Carnifex
5 Zoanthrope
3 Haruspex
13 Malefactor
18 Dactylis
30 Exocrine
8 Trygon
4 Harridan
1 Hierodule
0 Hierophant

Please note that this is bases- so I have 9 carnifexes (1 per base), but 270 termagants (5 per base). Warriors are 3 per base.

This is not a sales thread- that will come later.

Thanks for any help.

I have played tyranids several times, but am not familiar enough with them to be able to advise on the collection sorry.

Whereabout in the world are you though? There are opponents about, particularly if you're in the UK (11 Epic tournaments running about the country this year), but there are also communities in parts of Oz, NZ, the US and more.

the Nid list is quite volatile, and size of force varies greatly.
I'd say you're safe to ditch most of the dominatricies, probably some of the hive tyrants, lictors, and exocrines
beyond that, everything seems to be at levels you could concievably have at a 3000 point game (though you probably have more than you'd need in normal circumstances of most)

if you do decide to ditch some, I'd be quite interested in the genestealers and broodlord

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~Every Tool Is A Weapon, If You Hold It Right~

I would suggest you at least halve Doms, Tyrants, Exocrines, and this would still leave you enough to go mad with various options in the Tyranid list, to match the rest of numbers. You're unlikely to use more than 12 Dactylis or Lictors too.

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Here's what I've got. Plenty of options, I went for symmetry rather than what the list does, although most numbers work out (biovores are the exception, I went with 5 in the list because that's what's in the pack).

1 Dominatrix
3 Hive Tyrants
12 Tyranid Warriors
12 Lictors
2 Broodlord
16 Genestealers
32 Termagants
32 Hormagaunts
16 Gargoyles
16 Raveners
12 Biovores
12 Carnifex
12 Zoanthrope
12 Haruspex
12 Malefactor
12 Dactylis
12 Exocrine
6 Trygon
4 Harridan
3 Hierodule
2 Hierophant

_________________
Dave

Blog

NetEA Tournament Pack Website

Squats 2019-10-17

What are you using as broodlords? There's not an "official" mini is there?

My broodlord is an old model, it's listed as 'Magos familiar 3' in this link:
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Genestealers_(First_Edition)_-_Collectors_Guide

Thanks for the opinions so far. Although it may be possible to use all of models in certain list builds, I'm almost certain I never will (27 Hive Tyrants?!), so I'll do a bit more research and then let people here know once I've come up with a 'for sale/trade' list.

That familiar works well, I went with a Lictor without the talons.

_________________
Dave

Blog

NetEA Tournament Pack Website

Squats 2019-10-17

I picked up a couple of those familiars for mine as well. Shame there's not a 40k style proxy anywhere though, I do quite like that model.

When you say bases do you mean units? Do you have 54 x 5 termagant miniatures for instance? I've played a bit against Tyranids and I don't think you need that many Tyrants, termagants, hormagaunts gargoyles and warriors at 3000pts or close. You can probably sell a few exocrines, dactylis and perhaps a few malefactors.

(I'd sure be glad to buy a few if you sell)

Were are you in the world?

By 'bases' I mean the single base of models you'd place on the field. For the bigger things (Hive Tyrants, Carnifexes, the slug tanks) that's 1 model per base. For the smaller things (termagants, hormagaunts, gargoyles) that's 5 models per base (so I have 54x5 termagant models). I put warriors as 3 to base.

I've had a few offers from people, and will contact them when I've made my final decision. I'll also post up a notice in the trade area of this site.

I live in Australia, usually around Brisbane but I don't currently have a fixed address. I know there's a small Epic gaming group in Brisbane- I've been out there a few times- but I've been moving around too much to find any group I can stick with. Hopefully that'll calm down in the next few months.

Sorry for the double post, but for those interested I've made my decision and now have a lot of spare bugs up in the trading forum:

http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=26872