New Tyranid Codex - Unit Reviews - Troops

We're onto the meat of the codex now, the Troops section. A reminder that these reviews will be pretty wordy so bear with me and remember that I'm not a Tyranid player so I might get the odd thing wrong here and there but I'll welcome corrections. There are no new units in this section but there's a notable abscence, the Mycetic Spore. This is a big deal for an army that struggles to get across the board and has very few options for getting in amongst an enemy gunline. Nevertheless they're gone and short of a dataslate they're probably not coming back this edition.

Tyranid Warriors 

There's nothing particularly wrong with Tyranid Warriors but don't expect to see them unless someone is trying to escort a Prime. They're the same cost as in the previous book and I still don't think that's bad for a 3 wound model. Still with a 4+ save they're not particularly tricky to kill and there's still some S8 out there to instant kill them. Crucially they're synapse creatures which, with the changes to Instinctive Behaviour might be their saving grace.

It's always easy to think a of units in a vacuum and so warriors can easily be written off because they'll never make it to the enemy right? That's assuming that your opponent ignores all of your other units and there are plenty of armies that rely on massed S6/7 rather than S8. You can equip the warriors with a barbed strangler and deathspitters and go hunting cheap scoring units like guard, kroot, cultists, etc. Like I say, they're not useless but most players will go for a swarm of gaunts instead.

Genestealers
These guys were hit particularly hard by the 6th Edition ruleset. Preventing units from assaulting from Reserves or when Infiltrating basically stopped genestealers from being useful. Sadly, they're no different now. They cost the same number of points but now there's no real need to give them scything talons except for an extra attack each and perhaps for WYSIWIG issues. Adrenal glands are a little cheaper but they already have Fleet and don't really need Furious Charge. Toxin sacs are still good for giving a re-roll to wound though. This is all irrelevant though as when you arrive from reserve you get gunned down by bolters and take more casualties from Overwatch. Even a full brood of 20 would struggle to be effective and works out very expensive. They'll stay on the shelf.

The Broodlord used to be quite entertaining with his old psychic powers. He now gets The Horror which is only useful if you're Infiltrating them and requires line of sight so you can't hide him from view. He costs the same points but since his biomorphs now come from the wargear section you pay a ridiculous amount for them! Adrenal glands and toxin sacs are ridiculously expensive for him. He doesn't particularly need them of course but it seems like a mistake. Oddly he also has access to regeneration if you really wanted to put a 30pt upgrade on him!

Termagants (and Tervigons)

As I mentioned in the HQ section you now need 30 gaunts to shift a Tervigon to the troop section. That means you can expect to see A LOT of termagants. The good news is that termagants' base cost has been reduced by a point. The strangleweb is now 5pts but still not worth bothering with. The other gun upgrades have all reduced by a point too and you no longer have to replace all of the guns in a squad with the same thing. That means you can have some meatshield gaunts at the front with fleshborers and then the devourers behind plugging away. They may only be BS3 but 120 shots at S4 for 240pts isn't too bad. Alternatively throw in some adrenals and they're almost as good as hormagaunts but with guns too.

Obviously there'll be a lot of spawned gaunts which will be totally vanilla and can't benefit from adrenal glands or toxin sacs from the tervigon anymore. They'll still be able to grab objectives well enough though and frustrating to shift. It's annoying when your expensive unit kills half a dozen 4pt models a turn.

Hormagaunts
Hormagaunts have probably suffered the most from the changes to scything talons. Mind you, they're pretty speedy with the changes to bounding leap as it now gives them an extra 3" to their run. That could be the difference between getting a second turn charge off or not and works well if combined with Hive Commander for Outflank. They've also dropped in base cost by a point but their upgrades are slightly more expensive. Combat units tend to struggle in the current meta though and they've got to compete with termagants. Tyranid players new and old will probably have a decent stash of them though so I'd expect we'll see them still.

Ripper Swarms
For some reason ripper swarms have gone up by 3pts per base. They get plenty of attacks and they're Fearless but again I don't really see the point. They can get Deep Strike to allow them to get into the middle of the enemy army but since they can't control or contest objectives they seem like a waste of points to me. Perhaps a hardcore Tyranid player can point out why you'd use them but I'd be hard to convince.

Conclusion
Unless you're thinking from a fluffy varied army perspective (and there's nothing wrong with that), I expect most people will be fielding termagants and still using them to bring tervigons into this FOC slot. The question now is whether Tervigons are still worthwhile. I can perhaps see a use for a single Tervigon with Dominion (and perhaps Norn Crown) to help with Synapse but otherwise I think you'd actually be better off using the 195pts to buy 48 termagants (or less with upgrades). Realistically that's probably as many as you'd get from the tervigon on a good day anyway. Warriors can come in handy as a synapse creature alternative but most experienced players will target them early.

It's frustrating that genestealers are still useless but I suppose it was to be expected. I don't like automatic choices but there aren't really many options here. As ever I'm sure I'm missing something though. Onto the Elites section tomorrow which was traditionally pretty crowded with decent units. Is it still the case now?

New Tyranid Codex - Unit Reviews - HQ

I'll start my look through the codex with the HQ section. As ever these reviews will be pretty wordy but hopefully thorough and therefore useful for helping you decipher the new book. This section has gained a couple of entries in the form of Old One Eye and Deathleaper which have moved from Heavy and Elites respectively. There aren't any actual new units though.

Hive Tyrant

The tyrant has dropped in points right? Actually, wait, he no longer comes with a lash whip and bonesword which are also 5pts more expensive. The basic tyrant is actually 15pts more expensive then! A flyrant with lash whip and bonesword is still 10pts cheaper mind you and he's gained BS4 which is handy. His abilities have become cheaper with Indescribable Horror now at a reasonable cost. It still isn't all that useful though, most things that would threaten a tyrant in combat have Fearless or ATSKNF. Hive Commander for 20pts is well worth it in my opinion as it's one of few options to get your units up the field faster. Old Adversary isn't awful either. I'm not really sold on the tail biomorph as I'm not sure he really benefits that much from a single extra attack.

With the heavy venom cannon being slightly better than before it seems like an automatic choice to pick off a vehicle or two as you fly over, that is, unless you want the extra attack from having two pairs of weapons. Alternatively if you're planning on beating up troops then twin-linked devourers are probably the way to go. The other talons will probably most likely be swapped for a lash whip and bonesword (there's no point having a pair now). This will make the tyrant I8 which is great against pretty much everything but daemon princes and instant death is fun against a wraithknight.

Ultimately there's little new stuff here. You can easily get carried away and make a 400pt tyrant but realistically most builds will come in under 300pts. To give me an idea I priced up a Flyrant with Hive Commander, whip and sword, HVC, regeneration and adrenal glands which comes in at the same cost as the last book. It gains Fleet, extra BS and +3 Initiative over the 5th edition version plus Regeneration and Instant Death are more reliable. The trade off is unreliable psychic powers although I think the powers are as good if not better than before. The lack of Leech Essence affects survivability though.

The Swarmlord

For an increase of 5pts you get BS4 which is useful for Warp Blast/Lance. His bone sabres still cause Instant Death but invulnerable saves are now taken as normal against him. Alien Cunning still adds 1 to reserve rolls but no longer helps with Outflank accuracy. Again Leech Essence disappearing reduces his survivability and he's still only got a 4++ save in combat. Finally, his Swarm Leader now gives Furious Charge, Preferred Enemy or Monster Hunter (which replaces Acute Senses). Otherwise he's the same as before.

The issue with the Swarmlord has always been getting him to the target alive. He's not got access to Regeneration and Leech Essence is gone so it's just a war of attrition to bring him down which won't be too hard for most armies. That being said, if he's in an army with lots of FMCs then he's likely to get ignored since he's far slower. Of course you can still give him a Tyrant Guard but I'll get to that.

There used to be very few units the could stand toe-to-toe with the Swarmlord and come out of it alive. I'm not convinced that's as true anymore. He gained Character, which can be a double edged sword. It could allow him to single out a character to either kill it off or prevent it hurting him but it could just mean he's fighting a sergeant for a turn. Still he'll stay in combat longer that way I suppose.

I still think he's viable but only in the right type of list. It's a shame he's lost the re-roll successful invulns thing and I can't really see why when he wasn't going to cause that much damage. I think less people will take him now unfortunately.

Tyrant Guard
These guys are now a decent 10pts cheaper and but lose an attack into the bargain. Like the Tau bodyguard they automatically pass LOS which is awesome as it means you don't have to worry about positioning as much as before. They've also got access to crushing claws along with toxin sacs and adrenal glands. If you're taking a 2-3 guard then a mixture of crushing claws and whip/sword is probably advisable to give you both AP2 and the chance of instant death, though I suspect most will run them vanilla as ablative wounds.

Tyrant Guard are, of course, only any use if you're planning on running your Tyrant/Swarmlord up the field. They do their job better than before thanks to auto LOS and for 10pts less too. Still, you're adding 50pts+ to an already expensive MC so you might be better spending 35pts on wings instead.

Old One Eye
This guy used to appear in the Heavy Support section and I can't recall ever seeing him in an army. Perhaps that was because he couldn't compete with the other heavies but I suspect it's more likely down to his speed (or lack of). He's a whopping 40pts cheaper than he was but still pricey at 220pts. He'll get FNP pretty quickly but he's still foot-slogging across the board. His regeneration has been replaced with the standard 4+ version which I suppose is an upgrade. Otherwise he's the same as before and still just as unlikely to make an appearance.

Tervigon

I should probably be talking about the Tervigon in the Troops section as that's where he's most likely to be found. I will, of course, mention him there but let's have proper look now too. Aside from a slight boost in Initiative his statline is the same. I'm sure you've already read that he's taken a big hit to his special rules though. It seems GW have decided that the Tervigon was far too good before. Presumably they've sold plenty of them and want to shift some other stuff now. Anyway, let's see what's changed.

Brood Progenitor is now extended to a 12" Counter Attack bubble but units can no longer use his Ld (though he made them Fearless anyway so who cares?). Sadly no more adrenal gland and toxin sac sharing either. Synaptic Backlash has an extended damage radius of 12". That's a big blow to start with and feels unnecessary. It can guarantee getting Dominion but Onslaught and Catalyst must now be rolled for and it only gets one of the three. Obviously you can still spawn some termagants but they can no longer move or assault in the turn they appear. That's a big deal in objective games where you could keep a near constant supply on the objectives with the old version.

None of this would be too bad if the Tervigon's cost had dropped like other units have. Unfortunately, the Tervigon itself is now a huge 35pts more expensive. Not only that but you now need a unit of 30 termagants to convert them to Troops which is 70pts more than the 10 termagants before. Now obviously you still get the extra termagants you're paying for but that's 105pts more expensive and you're going to have to buy a shitload of termagants if you're going to run two tervigons. I suppose there's little point taking toxin sacs or adrenal glands now though and crushing claws are a lot cheaper. They were probably too cheap before but if you decide to use them they pretty much wipe out the savings on other units. Perhaps we'll see more lists without Tervigons now.

Tyranid Prime
If you thought the price increase on the Tervigon was bad, the Prime has gone up a whopping 45pts which is a more than 50% increase. There's little change in his upgrades and he now pays 20pts more for regeneration. If you're planning on taking warriors then I suppose the Prime is worth a go but the only other reason to take him is that he's a synapse creature that you can hide in a unit. He's still not all that durable and, although he was perhaps cheap before, the point increase feels like an insult.

He might still make an appearance but since he's got no spore pod I'm not sure how you'll get him across the board intact. Perhaps I'm missing something but I can't really see a use for him.

Deathleaper

Another new entry from elsewhere in the FOC, Deathleaper used to be an Elites choice. He's 10pts cheaper now and he's now a Character (again can be good or bad). His Mind Eater warlord trait gives you a bonus 2 VP for a killing an IC in a challenge. He can no longer yo-yo in and out of play but can now Infiltrate instead of being forced to stay in reserve which could be useful for bringing in Lictors nearby in turn two. Not sure there's much point mind you. Otherwise he's pretty similar unless I've missed something.

When trying to bring him down enemy units can only fire Snap Shots effectively making him as tricky to hit as an FMC but without the grounding tests! That's pretty awesome but at T4 and a 5+ save he's no more survivable than an AV10 flyer. Sure Stealth makes him more survivable but I can't imagine he'll make it into combat against many armies unless he can be well hidden plus he's vulnerable to Instinctive Behaviour if he's away from the rest of the army and won't be Fearless either.

He sounds pretty cool on paper and he's not awful but I really think there's better ways to spend your points. Perhaps he'll open up some nice combo but I'm not seeing it yet. It feels like he appears, may or may not die and then kind of does nothing. You could really fuck up a psyker with his -D3 leadership in combination with Shadow in the Warp though, a decent answer to seer and screamer councils perhaps?

Conclusion
Tervigons are likely to spend their time in the Troops section (even with the increased cost) and I doubt we'll see Old One Eye. That means it's a choice between the remaining four. I really don't see a role for Primes except as more survivable synapse perhaps. Deathleaper could find some use but you'll probably need to take Tyrants for synapse. To me the stand-out unit is still the tyrant or perhaps a Swarmlord with a couple of tyrant guard.

Either way, you're going to spend a whole heap of points in the HQ section! Tomorrow it's onto the Troops which are considerably cheaper.

New Tyranid Codex - Weapons and Biomorphs

Before getting into the FOC reviews I thought it was worth going through the main wargear options to make our analysis of the units easier. I'll only cover the weapons that appears as options as I'll look at the unit specific weaponry with the relevant unit.

Melee Bio-Weapons
The first thing to note is that Tyranids can now get a bonus attack from having two pairs of close combat weapons. In the old book this was "already included in their profile" which means a lot of units have now got an extra attack.

• Boneswords - reduced to AP3 (still AP2 on MCs) but automatic Instant Death on a 6. Probably better for a single sword but no point taking a pair now. More expensive too.
• Crushing claws - +1S, AP2 and Armourbane. AP2 is a bit useless on MCs but useful for Tyrant Guard. Still Unwieldy and MCs would probably be better with the old +D3 attacks
• Lash whips - now boosts the model's Initiative rather than reducing enemy's. Probably better in most cases
• Lash whip and bonesword - simply a combination of the two as you'd expect but now 5pts more than before in most cases
• Rending claws - no change
• Scything talons - HUGE change, simply gives AP6 (who cares?) and no longer allows re-rolls to hit. That's a massive blow to Tyranids. Everything from Hormagaunts to Tyrants will suffer because of it

Basic Bio-cannons

• Barbed strangler - no change
• Venom cannon - no longer penalised against vehicles and cheaper

Monstrous Bio-cannons (Tyrant/Carnifex)

• Twin-linked deathspitter - cheaper but otherwise unchanged
• Twin-linked devourer with brainleech worms - no leadership penalty but same profile
• Stranglethorn cannon - cheaper but no rules change
• Heavy venom cannon - no longer penalised against vehicles and cheaper

Biomorphs

• Toxin sacs - no rules change, cheaper for warriors and hive guard but more expensive for gaunts
• Acid blood - must roll to wound now with S5, same cost and more widely available though.
• Adrenal glands - now gives fleet but more expensive
• Regeneration - now gets a wound back on 4+ but only one roll regardless of the number lost that turn. Now costs the same for every unit which feels unfair as some units see a big increase in its cost

Thorax Biomorphs (Tyrant, Tervigon, Tyrannofex)

Massive 15pt price reduction for hive tyrants so worth considering. Also available to Tervigons now.

• Dessicator larvae - no change just tidied up with Fleshbane
• Electroshock grubs - gains haywire and at S5 has potential as anti-tank
• Shreddershard beetles - gain shred

Bio-Artefacts (Tyrant, Tervigon, Prime, Trygon Prime)

• Maw-claws - nice way of getting Preferred Enemy and not too pricey
• Miasma Cannon - situational and expensive, great for fire warriors though!
• Norn Crown - expensive but potential for 30" synapse
• Ymgarl Factor - could be useful to give tyrant 2+ save in combat, pricey though
• Reaper of Obliterax - offers Shred and +1S but otherwise just expensive lash whip and bonesword

Conclusion
The big news here is scything talons. Not such a big deal for units like the tyrant who usually swapped them out anyway but hormagaunts have suffered because of the change. Seems a shame as I don't think they were particularly overpowered in these days where combat units struggle anyway.

Boneswords probably aren't as good as they used to be. Basically the capacity for instant death is now in your hands rather than your opponent's but there really isn't any point taking a pair of them unless I'm missing something.

In some ways I can understand why regeneration is now a standard costs across the board but it's a shame that there's a huge increase in cost for some models. The mechanic is probably better though as you've got a good chance of getting a wound back. Those situations where you were flukey and got three wounds back won't happen anymore but probably a fair trade.

Unless I've just not spotted them it seems Implant Attack and Toxic Miasma have vanished as upgrades. Neither of these are a huge loss and venomthrope have retained their toxic miasma which I'll cover in their review.

Otherwise things are pretty similar. There's a few nice little bonuses here and there be they price decreases or extra rules. Right, now onto the units themselves.