Warhammer 40K: New Tyranid Wave Thoughts
The new batch of Tyranids are up for pre-order and we’ve got our hands on them and here’s what we think of the new crop.
Games Workshop showed off pretty much all of these models after the Oghram campaign outcome with the Tyranids on top. So while we’ve known about them for a while this was our first chance at the new Tyranids up close. And they do not disappoint.
The Norn Emissary
Let’s just start with the biggest bug first. The Norn Emissary is a great model. I do wish it was the size of an Imperial Knight as I’ve been wishing for a Tyranid “Lord of War” in plastic for a long time. The Norn Emissary isn’t that — but it’s still really cool. We got a preview of the rules for it and the Assimilator and I think the Emissary wins overall because of the 4+ Invulnerable and the extra range on it’s attacks. The Assimilator is pretty deadly in close combat but this is Tyranids, so…what’s isn’t?!
Assembly-wise the model goes together easily. Just be mindful of the option you’re building. The instructions are color coded so you know which one you’re working on. I got my wires crossed and built the Assimilator instead of the Emissary. Oh well. Guess I’ll just have to build a second one…
The Neurolictor
The Neurolictor is a fun one for sure. If you’ve ever wanted to run an whole Lictor force the new Tyranids options and Codex will allow you to do just that. And I’d highly recommend you snag a Neurolictor for that type of army. It brings some extra abilities and psychic punch to your games.
Building this model was certainly the easiest of the batch. It’s a single sprue and there’s not a whole lot to get wrong here. I suppose that’s the only downside to it. If you want to run more than one, well, there’s only one pose.
Deathleaper
When I first saw the Deathleaper I was a little conflicted about it’s new fashion choice. Why does a Tyranid need a trenchcoat? I dunno — but Deathleaper thinks he looks cool. Maybe he’s just a big Matrix fan. Anyhow, Neo here is back with a new model and I gotta say that I DO like this over the old one. It’s not even close. This one has a lot more personality and you can tell that it’s Deathleaper and not just a generic Lictor. Also the face tentacles are just…impressive. Maybe I’m playing too much Baldur’s Gate 3…but who’s not these days?
In terms of assembly you’ve got a similar situation as the Neurothrope: Only one pose. So it’s pretty easy to build. There’s just more to do here. I didn’t find any particularly tricky steps with this one and even the “trenchcoat” skin flaps have really good guides in the model so you can’t mess those up. Well done with this one, GW.
The Lictor(s)
Okay, this one surprised me. I wasn’t expecting this kit to be this good. What I mean by that is GW managed to create this model in such a way that you can have up to 3 different poses with basically the same bits.
What else is cool is that all these options are basically interchangeable. So you can really tweak the arms and scythes. You can also have those three different stances to work with. Basically, if you’re wanting to run a bunch of Lictors in your army you’re going to be able to have them all look very different — and that’s a good thing!
Biovore / Pyrovore
For this kit I opted for the Pyrovore. Why? Because I strongly disliked the previous sculpt so much I refused to include them as an option. I had basically blocked them out of my memory never wanted to try to build a list with them. But with this new version I’m more than happy to include them in my army as an option now. Plus The Biovore and it’s living artillery is perfect for long-bomb lists.
Build wise, this was honestly the trickiest of the bunch. The problem I had was the scythe-like legs. You can see on the model that not all of them touch the base, which is normally fine. But the instructions didn’t make it entirely clear as to how much of an angle they were supposed to fit into the model. I HIGHLY recommend you dry fit this one before you try to glue anything down. When I finally did start to glue things in place, I started with the rear legs as anchor points because those DO touch the base, then I moved up to the front right leg. And finally, I glued in the other appendages. That ensured that they were all at the correct angles and looked correct on the base.
What about the Genestealers and Hormagaunts? Well, to be honest, I’m still working on those. They have a lot more to clip and clean than I was expecting and we’ll show them off next week. So stay tuned for more Tyranids!
What do you think of this batch of bugs from Games Workshop?
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