Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: Codex Tyranids – The Good, Bad, & The Ugly
Goatboy here and it’s a glorious week as we finally get to look at the new Codex Tyranids. Here’s what’s good and bad inside the covers.
Yup that’s right an Xenos book is the first book in the new edition! I mean I think Space Marine are coming pretty quick after the gribbly bugs but hey – Xenos crossed the finish line first! But overall it is a pretty neat Codex that adds a few things from the initial Tyranid Index. While it isn’t nearly as potent as some of the best Indexes we have now it fits in with the middle – where the game probably should be.
As usual I want to focus on the things in Codex Tyranids I liked and saw. I am sure as everyone else reads it they will figure out their own things they like and dislike about the book. I said it before I do like the Codex and have already thought of a list I would think about playing if I wanted to dive into painting some Tyranids. I am still a bit shell shocked from a 4+ year old commission where I had to speed paint a ton of bugs – but hey I could break the cycle right?
Codex Tyranids – The Good
We’ll start with the Good and there is a lot of it in the book. The top level look of the book is pretty neat with a new design for the datasheets. That’s right all the datasheets are in the book so while you could go out and buy the cards when they come back out you don’t need to with the book itself. They shifted a lot of the design and now everything fits on one page per unit to allow for a much easier read of the units’ rules. I understood the initial Index design idea of using the back for unit “building” options as you wouldn’t need that in the game. However, it is pretty easy to add who a unit can join with on the front. It is a good design shift and looks a lot cleaner from a quick rules reading standpoint.
New Bugs
From there the new units added to the book are pretty good. I was initial kind of meh on the big monster but after some thought and discussion with some friends I think it might actually be pretty dang good. The Norn Emissary I like more, just due to the fact it has a good multiple choice shooting attack that allows it to remove a lot of threats. Both of the versions have this awesome rule of picking an objective marker and when in range of it they get a 5+ FNP and OC 15 which is pretty nutty. I can see a lot of armies running 2 to hold objectives, get in the way and just become a pain to remove from the center.
The new Neurolictor is also pretty dang sweet as it can set up some Battleshock bombs with giving units a -1 and then causing a unit to have to take one. I can see an army that tries to utilize Battleshock as a method to break turns and score points as well as activating abilities. One of them allows other Nid units to add 1 to the wound if the unit is Battleshocked which seems like a good combo with this infiltrating Lone Operative jerk.
New Tyranid Detachments
The book also has 6 Detachments to choose from and 3 feel like they could be shown in matched play. The original one is reprinted again so it replaces the one from the Index. We have a Synaptic one that allows those units within range of Synapse to have a rule choice they pick at the start of each battle round like a Doctrine rule from Marines. All 3 are good so it feels like a decent detachment with good Strats and Enhancements to choose from.
The other one that seems interesting is the Vanguard Onslaught one that is built to be the Lictor version. The new Lictor rules are not that great but in this detachment you can do some interesting things with them. Their rule gives all Nids the ability to fallback and charge. If they are a Vanguard Invader unit (listed on their cards) they can advance and charge. This is pretty good basic rule and they have an amazing enhancement that gives them a redeploy for 3 units after seeing who has the first turn. As you can tell this army can be extremely aggressive and pin an opponent in its back field as you move up and control the center. Look for my army list later this week with this Detachment.
Codex Tyranids – The Bad
The book isn’t all good there are a few kind of disappointing things in the book. The big one is some of the other detachments don’t feel very good.
Several Meh Detachments
There is of course a big Guant swarm detachment that gives all your guants the surge ability like the Zerkers have. This could be good but we know how a lot of Battleline isn’t very good unless it can be resummoned again and again on the table top.
There is a Monster Mash detachment that is also not very good either. It has a boring rule and all the upgrades are just not that interesting. You get a bonus if the enemy unit is below half strength which can be frustrating in this game when things don’t live that long on the table top. I would think it would just be better to give them bonus to hit if they are stronger than who they are attacking and then a +1 to wound if they are not stronger than what they are attacking. That would make a lot more sense to me.
There is also an Assimilator Detachment too that doesn’t have enough units to make interesting. I am sure someone will figure that one out but it just doesn’t feel as good as the better ones. The other thing that is weird in all of these is there is no “you can only take x units” in it like we thought we would see. This isn’t bad as again their rules are only limited to those units that get them but it is still something missing in the rules space.
Some Meh Units
On the unit fronts the Lictor got hit by some rules adjustments even though they got a new model. It is weird to see them get worse with a fancy new kit. The Biovore has become the biggest infantry model with an 80mm base and a shift in how they seed Spore Minds. Only one unit can do it per phase and again they didn’t answer if those things can score secondaries or not. The Tyrannofex also lost some of its damage prevention in only getting a once per battle change a damage characteristic to 0.
Oh and also those Genestealers got hit too with losing full Rerolls. It is always interesting to see some units shift in the new book and I expect the other books to have that happen too. I guess whenever they come out. The new kits look amazing though and I am sure will see thing shift if we get other detachments in the future.
Still waiting…
Codex Tyranids – The Ugly
Where the heck is our super heavy monster? Why didn’t we see one come out with this to get another giant monster Knight like kit for the Nids? Where is the Norn Queen of doom, or a Dominatrix? Also why are some of these models that are awesome only have one mono-pose? The Neurolictor is a major lynchpin of the army and it only has one pose with a kit that doesn’t fit any other unit that well. The Lictor isn’t nearly as good rules-wise, and you get so many ways you can assemble that monster. So why not have the kit be a combo so we have different heads and other fun stuff. Why can’t the lictor be a snakeLictor too?
Codex Tyranids – The Verdict
Overall it is a pretty interesting book and I am glad to finally see how the 10th Edition Codexes will shape up in the future. I expect we might see some special releases in White Dwarfs and online in the future with 2 pages or rules to complete a new and unique army chained off of the rules we have now. Also it is interesting to see that most of the units stayed the same compared to their Index cards – with just small tweaks to fix issues we had in the past. It gives me hope that as we continue to play 10th Edition we will get locked in to the rules more and more to allow games to quickly move along. It also means if something is broke – GW will fix it – in due time.
NOM NOM NOM
