40K Breaking: Tyranids – Headhunting With HQ Options
Games Workshop just unloaded a TON of new info about the Tyranid’s Characters & Options – you’ve GOT to see this!
Prepare to drink from the Firehose because the Tyranids info is flowing today! Games Workshop gives us a peek behind the curtain at what we can expect from the Tyranid Characters and a look at some of the new options heading our way.
Special Characters are back in a big way for the Tyranids:
The special characters of most armies are tied to specific Regiments, Chapters, or Legions. Tyranids characters, however, do not represent storied or singular heroes from history but particularly distinct bio-organisms employed in every hive fleet. As such, if you’re looking to add the Swarmlord, Red Terror, Deathleaper or Old One Eye to your army, you won’t be restricted by which hive fleet you choose!
Not only are we getting confirmation of the return of some classics, we’re also getting confirmation that these characters aren’t tied to a specific Hive Fleet! You can have a Swarmlord from Behemoth, Kraken, or Kronos!
A new addition to the HQ slot – the Tyranid Neurothrope is no longer a unit upgrade but rather a new HQ choice!
Like its incarnation in the Index, the Neurothrope can heal your Zoanthropes by draining the lives of enemies with Smite, but it can now also cast an additional power from the Hive Mind discipline.
The Neurothrope is no Doom of Malan’tai but you could get close. Apparently, it will retain some of it’s Zoanthrope “healing” ability from the index and you can load it up with some really mean abilities:
New Warlord Trait – Kronos: Soul Hunger
That’s pretty mean! You do NOT want to get caught in this Neurothropes Warp Shadow… I wonder if Tyranids are going to have a bonus to deny or a way to disrupt psychic powers even further.
Psychic Power: Psychic Scream
Here’s our first official look at one of their Psychic Powers as well. Only a warp charge 5 it’s similar to Smite. However, if it’s a Psyker, there is an added bonus of being able to fry one of their Psychic Powers randomly! OUCH!
You didn’t think Hive Tyrants weren’t getting another look did you? Well look out because the Tyrant is back to claim its crown! It’s got an improved Invulnerable save now – a 4+ (up from a 5+ in the Index) and from the looks of things – the Tyrant has also gained a few wounds!
For comparison sake, here’s the Hive Tyrant’s Old stat line from the Index:
Now, the Tyrant does appear to have gained a point of Toughness, 2 Wounds and lost an attack. You know what? I’m perfectly okay with those changes! One of those attacks was the pesky pincer tail attack which was annoying to remember anyways. I hope they re-worded that bit of wargear…
Anyways, Games Workshop also teased a couple more things for the Tyrant:
New Bio-artefact (Relic): Hyper Adaptive Biology
It’s restricted to Hive Fleet Gorgon, but it makes your Multi-wound Warlords (like the Hive Tyrant) pretty tough cookies to kill! Going from T6 to T7 isn’t THAT big of a jump. However, going from T7 to T8 means just about all small arms fire is only wounding you on a 6. I’m SO down to try that out!
New Warlord Trait: Adaptive Biology
One of the Big-Bug weaknesses has always been anti-tank weapons (which most armies are already taking lots of) are just as effective on Big-Bugs. Well, now you can at least reduce the damage from those devastating multi-wound attacks a bit.
Games Workshop didn’t end the teasers there; They showed off 3 more Bio-Artefacts that are going to greatly aid the Tyranid players out there:
Kronos Specific Bio-Artefact: Balethorn Cannon
Kronos is apparently the anti-daemon fighting wing of the Hive Fleets and WOW do they have the right too for the job. It’s an upgraded Stranglethorn cannon and it’s down-right MEAN! The real kicker here is that Invulnerable saves don’t work on this weapon.
Hydra Specific Bio-Artefact: Slimer Maggot Infestation
Another weapon unique to a Hive Fleet, the Slimer Maggot Infestation takes your Deathspitters to the next level. Note: It replaces TWO deathspitters with slimer maggots with this profile – that means it’s a single weapon profile. Still, it’s the same firepower and the new Deathspitter range of 24″, Assault 6, Strength 7 AP -1 AND you can re-roll failed wound rolls for this one. That’s going to be pretty great for units like Flyrants out there to take.
Generic Tyranid Weapon Upgrade: The Miasma Cannon
The Miasma Cannon is an upgraded Heavy Venom Cannon. It also does 3 damage per shot! On top of that, it’s auto hits when it’s within 8″ and wounds on a 2+ against non-Vehicles. That’s pretty impressive. It’s like a weapon that goes from long range to a template attack – I like it!
Honestly, I’m pretty torn now! I was probably just going to make Swarmlord my primary go-to HQ choice, but based on this…Well, Tyrants are looking pretty cool! And how about the new Neurothrope? I guess I’m just going to have to play a ton of games and figure out what works for me. Darn.
Well Tyranid fans – How are you liking today’s teaser!? That’s a lot to digest but let us know what you think in the comments below!
