Origin of the Tyranid Species? The First Exocrine

Way back in the 1990’s the newest wave of Tyranids models were originally hatched.

With the release of Epic series of games, a lot of models were created for each faction of 40k in to fill the vast tabletops of this game.

Chief among these for the Tyranids were the Exocrine, Haruspex, Dominatrix, and Malefactor models that towered over the smaller infantry stands.

Then Armorcast (one of the producers of resin models before Forge World) came along and bought the license to produce some of these large scale resin models for play in games of second edition 40k.

This gave birth to the first “Gargantuan Creatures” for the game as the Tyranids got 40k scale Exocrine, Haruspex, Malefactor.  And now it seems like technology closed the modeling gap, and in 2013 we have plastic versions of some of these big baddies.

This was the Exocrine model, a sort of self propelled artillery model for the bugs that fired the first Bio Cannon (which is now on the massive Hierophant, and Harridan models).

This guy came out of the box in one piece, which was nice for “beginners” like me.  All the normal working with resin rules applied here, but strangely from the directions they advised against using green stuff to fill gaps and bubbles because it shrunk over time.

I haven’t noticed that these days, but it’s funny hearing a disparaging remark about green stuff from so long ago.

Currently I haven’t been able to find a set of rules for this mode, but the old datasheet from Second edition can be found here.

More info on this big baddie below, courtesy 40k Wikki:

An Exocrine is a large Tyranid creature bred for long range fire support. Its forelimbs are fused together to form a skeletal platform for a powerful bio-cannon that fires high velocity chitin shells with a silicon-based penetrator core. The bio-cannon is powered by a sudden surge of muscle contractions starting in the creature’s head frill combined with an electromagnetic boost from adapted nerve bundles.

The Bio-Cannon is a Tyranid Biomorph and is among the largest weapons yet encountered on Tyranid organisms. Equipped to titan-sized creatures such as the Hierophant and Harridan, the Bio-Cannon is triggered by a massive electro-chemical shock that spews forth a hail of highly venomous and corrosive maggot organisms. These organisms then impact on the target, splattering a rain of bio-acid and poison that can melt through nearly any material in a matter of seconds and reduce the unfortunate victim to a steaming pile of bubbling goo. – 40k Wiki

Author: Robert B

Robert is a veteran tabletop and miniatures gamer, and writer with over 20 years of experience. His specialtiesies are the worlds of Game's Workshop's Warhammer. He began writing for BoLS In 2010.