Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, for many years now, tyranid has been one of my least favorite armies. However, reading their fluff in the 6th ed rulebook - a species that is attempting to become sentient in its own horribly sporadic way, the individual creatures slowly creating their own god, has caused me to be somewhat open minded towards this particular army. Of course, I'm still rather hostile, in general, so I'm looking for some proper fanboys to convince me that tyranid are an army that's worth collecting and playing.

My chief gripe about tyranid is that it seems INCREDIBLY shallow, fluff-wise. What motivates a tyranid to do what it does? Nothing. They only act on instinct. Why does a tyranid choose to do anything? No reason - it just needs to feed, and so it wanders randomly around, looking for food. What will the galaxy look like if the tyranid win? Nothing, it will be a bunch of barren rocks and various gas clouds. Who agrees with the tyranid way of seeing the universe? No one. They all hate them, justly so. It all seems like base nihilism. Yes, proper grimdark is extremely absurdist, but there's no irony whatsoever with tyranid. They're not trying to make any statement, or be satirical in any way. They just sort of lie flat on top of the 40k universe asking everyone to use them as a punching bag. I mean, that's what the guard are for, except they at least have some real character to them.

Secondly, what do you tyranid players see in the models? Are they bugs? Are they lizards? Why are they all brightly colored? What, really, are they? I'd be willing to put up with the difficulty finding army foam that fit tyranid models, or the fact that some of their models are so front-heavy that they don't stand up straight if there was some reason to actually like the models. What do you see as the aesthetics in these things?

Thirdly, and this is hardly your fault, but what is the point of a tyranid army on the table top? It seems to be a shooty army at my first glance, which is a huge yawner, and doesn't even make sense with their fluff. I know that tyranid players gripe about their current codex, but give me SOMETHING here. I know a lot of people complain about their armies when they shouldn't, but I've yet to see a well-reasoned person that says "Yes, there are problems with tyranid on the table, but they're still actually pretty decent because..."

Finally, how do you relate to this army? There are other "bad guy" armies out there. Chaos is incredibly personal, the idea that emotions and the desire to make your environment in the way you think is best resonates really well with people. The DE demon pact even slightly makes sense a bit, and ork fluff is absolutely fantastic. But, why, why play tyranid? If you win, how do you feel good about yourself? What kind of a statement are you making by showing up with a tyranid army? Who is the narrator of your battle reports? It feels to me like tyranid are SO unrelatable, I'd really like to know what avid tyranid players see in it all.

As I said, I'm hostile towards this army, if you didn't pick it up implicitly through this post. I really, really am trying to be open-minded about this though, hence me asking for input. It just seems at the moment that the mountain I'd need to climb to collect and field a tyranid army is very, very sheer.

Really, what makes this army fun?

space dinosaur-insects are cool.

Really, I'm not sure what your after here. Nids obviously aren't your cup of tea, so play a different army?

I already know they're not my cup of tea, which is why I don't play them. What I want to know is why ANYBODY would collect and play them.

Is it really just people who fell in love with Jurassic Park when they were younger and eventually decided to play 40k?

Ailaros wrote:I already know they're not my cup of tea, which is why I don't play them. What I want to know is why ANYBODY would collect and play them.

Is it really just people who fell in love with Jurassic Park when they were younger and eventually decided to play 40k?

They're a cool army of gribbly insectoid dinosaurs from space. What's not to love?

Ailaros wrote:I already know they're not my cup of tea, which is why I don't play them. What I want to know is why ANYBODY would collect and play them.

Is it really just people who fell in love with Jurassic Park when they were younger and eventually decided to play 40k?

You know when you watch something like Aliens or Starship Troopers, and you see the macho human heroes being all macho jock like and acting like rock hard invincible douchebags, then when they see those xenomorphs come out of the walls or those bugs crest that hill, and suddenly they're pissing themselves with fear and shooting wildly, all training and discipline out the window as they try to do nothing else except escape with their lives?

That's why I play Tyranids. I don't need to know my armies motivation. They don't need gods to worship or families to protect. They land, attack, and everyone craps their pants and gets the hell out of dodge.

Sure, they list a lot of that effect in the 5th edition fluff - as you said, Cruddace simply turned them into the galaxies punching bag. They need Kelly to come back and turn them back into the galaxies super predator.

This isn't going to appeal to everyone - that's fine. No races fluff appeals to everyone. If you're not into being the bad guy everyone is terrified of, but has no real goals or motivations or heroes, then you just won't like Tyranids.

Well the same questions could be asked of all races. Why do humans, or any life, do what they do. They do what they to just to live and persist. The Imperium may have ideas of morals, values, dogmas, etc., but they are all just things humans have built as tools in their perseverance in survival. Humans too, basically wander around looking for food/farming and reproducing. What do the rest of them do? Fight a war against demons they created, fight amongst themselves, etc.

Tyranids, like humans, live just to live. Like humans, they are interested in just persisting. Difference is Tyranids aren't splintered and bickering. There are no corrupt governments, murders and rapists, racism, etc. They have moved passed the pettiness of life on such a small scale as humans onto something so vast and united it roams the universe. Space Marines can boast of planetary wars, but the Hive Mind has left GALAXIES in it's wake. And beyond that, they needed no dogma or ideals drilled into them. The armies of man, Space Marine and Imperial Guard, talk a lot about honor, duty, unity, etc. but they can't even get along with each other. Tyranids have true unity, and don't need battle cries and slogans to remind them.

In the grand scheme, all the races of our galaxy, eldar, tau, etc. are incredibly young compared to the Tyranids. Considering the closest galaxy is something like 60,000 light years, and Tyranids float through space, they have existed for billions of years and have undoubtedly consumed numerous galaxies to become what they have.

They have the same purpose as all life, but they have evolved to a point of efficiency that no other race in 40k comes close to. Tyranids shed all the baggage the other races carry and hone only the core of what life is. Survival and persistence, and after the Milky Way galaxy is consumed bits of the human race, the eldar, the ork, etc. will join it on it's journey to unite the universe to a higher form.

It is "nihilistic", but nihilism is just a word people use to paint over the reality that the universe really doesn't care and give people morale who are afraid of such a notion. Tyranids dropped that baggage, and it's working out pretty well for them.

As for aesthetics, you either like it or you don't. There's no "reason" to like the aesthetics of anything as it's completely subjective, sounds like you just need to accept that you don't care for their look.

I think it's all about fear. The perfect nigh unbeatable predator, the primal level of ALL life far more base then the emotional desires of chaos. Kill, feed, breed, the swarm must continue, we must continue. That is all there is, and all there must be.

Aesthetically I like them in a rather liquid black paint scheme, Ala Ridley Scott and H.R. Geiger's famous xenomorph. Lots of natural weapons, fangs, claws, a very... alien sense to them, again similar to the xenomorph, it's not insectoid, it's not reptile it's something wholly "other" and it's the type of thing that will really only work in a scifi setting because of it.

Fluff wise I think they've actually got potential, the theories that they were created, or are fleeing some greater threat for example. Interactions with the hive mind, with the hive mind itself revealed to be an actual sentient gesalt intelligence in it's own right, it';s millions of members making it smart, driven as any human or other sapient/sentient species. Albeit that's all potential, it'll require a hell of a fluff writer to pull anything like that off.

Edit: and of course you can always use the Nids as a political statement for your love of the ideal of perfect communism

Ailaros wrote:Really, what makes this army fun?

On Sunday I had a game of Tyranids vs an Imperial Guard gunline, which was largely hiding behind an Aegis line. He also had first turn. I opted for the 'bloodbath' strategy.

I deployed with a screen of ~70 cheap infantry (hormagaunts and gargoyles) at the front and surged forward, straight into the guns. Less than 10 of these guys made it to the Aegis alive. It was enough. They engaged the large infantry line, tying up the guardsmen and preventing their weapons teams from shooting my monstrous creatures as they caught up. By turn 3 the first wave had been fought off, but it was too late. A Hive Tyrant and 2 Trygons ploughed into the line, scattering any forces that weren't quickly killed. Meanwhile, a Tervigon spawned a screen of disposable Termagants. Their job was simple - throw their bodies into a nearby transport and surround it. The Chimera was swarmed by skittering gaunts who ensured that once the Terivgon cracked it open, the occupants could not escape.
All that was left was for the huge creatures to reach the final heavy weapons teams entrenched in a nearby ruin. They desperately fired every last shot they had, finishing off two of the massive beasts. But it was not enough.

The game ended with a single Hive Tyrant and Trygon surveying an empty battlefield. The Tyranids had taken significant losses, but they would not be mourned. Afterall, all around them was fresh biomass to rebuild the swarm and do it all again.

KalashnikovMarine wrote:Fluff wise I think they've actually got potential, the theories that they were created, or are fleeing some greater threat for example. Interactions with the hive mind, with the hive mind itself revealed to be an actual sentient gesalt intelligence in it's own right, it';s millions of members making it smart, driven as any human or other sapient/sentient species. Albeit that's all potential, it'll require a hell of a fluff writer to pull anything like that off.

I hope they don't touch their mysterious origin at all. The fact that all we know is that they came from outside the galaxy and have eaten a dozen before us is enough to get the fear going. Well, with a decent writer. The mysterious origin should be used to play up the fear aspect, not explain it and ruin it all.

Ailaros wrote:I already know they're not my cup of tea, which is why I don't play them. What I want to know is why ANYBODY would collect and play them.

Is it really just people who fell in love with Jurassic Park when they were younger and eventually decided to play 40k?

Well, I guess its different people, different taste.

Just like I would NEVER paint my IG your color scheme xD

Kaldor wrote:space dinosaur-insects are cool.

-Loki- wrote:Aliens or Starship Troopers

KalashnikovMarine wrote:The perfect nigh unbeatable predator

-Loki- wrote:I hope they don't touch their mysterious origin at all

These sum it up nicely, although I would add that in a universe as grim as 40k's, where even the 'good' guys are essentially mass-murdering, xenophobic, religious fruitcakes... who gets to be the bad guy? Chaos are too chaotic (shock) and only really threaten the galaxy when they can be bothered, Dark Eldar are too busy being sneaky and distilling perfume from infant tears to really worry about.

Enter the Tyranids.
To butcher a quote from Terminator:

Listen, and understand. [The Hive Mind is] out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

On the table, they have historically been the best assault army - fast, deadly and numerous. Of course, to be effective they need ranged support as well, and you used to be able to make mean shooty lists with Tyranids.

Tyranids make me think they need their own "Forging a Narrative" box (throws up a little bit) in the BRB; most games with Tyranids on the field are going to look and feel like you'd expect from the fluff - hordes of smaller beasts hurtling towards the enemy, with massive creatures following closely behind. I also doubt there is a finer army to have assault a defended position in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.

I would and wanted to collect them to convert into a zerg army, and play them as such. I'm big into starcraft.

It's a horde army, I ended up getting orks instead of them due to cost, but I really like the idea and may re-visit it down the road.

A lot of little guys with some bigger ones just crashing into your doorstep, sure you lose most of them on the way, but when they hit they hurt.

It's kind of cool to be in control of the villain. Especially one that evokes so much from older sci-fi movies and themes. People who grew up watching the Alien franchise and similar saw these terrible creatures wreck havok all over our movies. Very rarely do you get to control such a beast. Combine that with the complete lack of knowledge about what they are after or where they come from and its a pretty cool race to play.

In summary

-Mindless bad guys (no grey area as many bad races have)

-Has a very 70's-80's-90's sci-fi feel

-Lots of unknown lore

-Mindless fun

-Really cool models

If you have seen the first alien movie (or the secoond) you unerstand nids

played zerg in starcraft? you understand nids

watched starship troopers (has to be movie, not book) you understand nids.

If you havnt done any one of those three things, then no they probably wont speak to you.

One last thing: play as or against nids on a cityfight board with nightfight the whole game. its a blast. also, the space hulk game that came out a while ago captures their feel pretty well too. The whole normal games of just hordes of nids running towards you and chomping on things isn't quite the feel that they should have IMO.

Ailaros wrote:I already know they're not my cup of tea, which is why I don't play them. What I want to know is why ANYBODY would collect and play them.

Is it really just people who fell in love with Jurassic Park when they were younger and eventually decided to play 40k?

not the biggest fan of jurassic park. like it but not my favorite movie.

i LOVE my bugs but why did i want to start playing them? because of their squad size of course. after i learned how to play the game using my blood angels, i wanted to play a horde army and i wanted to shoot. imperial guard just seemed like the same as marines. orks you say? i want to shoot, not miss.

so tyranids were my natural choice. i really liked the customization of the 4th ed carnifex, as well as the endless number rule. ah memories... so rules, no fluff, just rules. the fluff for me is only about 5-10% of this game. yeah its cool, but the fact that something has 3 str 8 ap 2 shots is WAY cooler to me. there are those who focus on fiction and those who focus on non-fiction. whatever makes you enjoy the hobby is whats good for you. if you dont like them, keep not liking them. it adds to the fluff. ;-)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
oh yeah! my new tervigon lets me move, run, shoot, then assault in the same turn. pretty cool and really fun!

It was the 4ED Carnifex and customization. Never mind if it was over priced, I would buy +1T and +1W no matter the cost. And that is what murdered 5E 'Nids for me. In short, they lost their character. And ability to perform really well on the table short of spamming Hive Guard and Trygons. But I still love my 'Fex

meneroth2 wrote:If you have seen the first alien movie (or the secoond) you unerstand nids

played zerg in starcraft? you understand nids

watched starship troopers (has to be movie, not book) you understand nids.

What's great is I've done all of those things.

For those who are interested, there are starship trooper bug models out there if you want such an army.

I don't consider Tyranids bad guys at all, or good guys. Just like I wouldn't consider a pack of wolves good or bad. Those are words for less evolved species!

Though i normally lurk in the fantasy section of Dakka, as may be obvious.... I must step up for my beloved first army, yes my old friends the Tyranids. I am a huge fan of fluff, and much like our OP (i love his website and battle reports) love to create battle narrative, and while Tyranids appear, at first glance; to be simple go here and eat stuff bugs they actually have a very in-depth narrative feel to them. To create a narrative experience for what it's like to be a Lictor perfectly camouflaged in the enemy's midst, waiting, just waiting to tear into whatever you desire, this is possible due to the limited sentience of synapse creatures, (yes i imagine the Lictor as having sentience regardless of the codex, because they couldn't match their fluff role well without it). You can easily have your hive tyrant be the ancient never-dying warrior it was meant to be, able to remember all the past times it, or any Tyranid had faced its foe, able to change its body at will to match the challenge, able to summon incredible psychic powers, along with incredible combat prowess. This is what Tyranids are about, its a strange BE THE BUG situation, imagine being a brood of Genestealers, all communicating telepathically, hiding in ruins watching as imperial guardsmen set up their heavy weapons in a position that they feel is safe. Or a convoy of marine tanks rolling through a city only to have a massive Trygon burst out from under them, and Carnifexes charging from the buildings on either side, flanked by swarms of gaunts. The narrative feel is incredible and doesn't always have to be from the viewpoint of the bedraggled defender, i think it is way more fun to have the narrative of the Tyranid be the main narrative, being a synaptic creature and feeling the presence of the hive mind guiding you, and feeling the tug on the strings of the mindless creatures that surround you, your perfect puppets ready to do any task, follow any order, your perfect warriors, your children. All ready to die a thousand times and be reborn to serve the swarm, not just to feed but to perfect yourself, to learn and grow, to extinguish all other inferior life until all that remains is perfect. Tyranids are no Bad guy, they are, in DnD terms, true neutral, they are purpose incarnate, no good or bad, they are simple, but also extremely complex in a paradoxical way, pure purpose and limitless force of will, patience coupled with a primal savagery and fury.

OK, there we go, not as in-depth as i could go, but the point has been made, Tyranids are not as flat or simple as people imagine them, they are very complex and deep, they are often smarter then most of their enemies, a fact that is often forgotten when people see a "BIG BUG WITH A SWORD ZOMFG, SHOOT IT SHOOT IT". Just have fun with them, know that your opponent with often have some smug feeling of satisfaction about their marine chapters fluff, or ork war-bands stories, little do they know your hive fleet was old when the universe was new, your swarm and its children have left thousands of planets as barren rocks in their wake. GALAXIES have been consumed by your brothers, and now this puny foe stands in your way, these armored men singing of their emperor, oh you have seen many emperors before, and you have seen many like them, and you remember; you remember what happened to all that came before them, you and your children remember, and you are hungry.

Melchiour wrote:It's kind of cool to be in control of the villain.

Yes, but there are other villains. Why THIS one?

infinityandbeyond wrote:On the table, they have historically been the best assault army - fast, deadly and numerous.

Certainly this used to be true, way back in the day. I haven't seen all that terribly much worth chopping since their new codex came out, and in 6th edition, it just seems suicide to try to make it into close combat with low-statline models.

Perhaps if they got a new codex that actually allowed them to get into assault, I'd see. As it is, they seem an inferior choice to other assault armies.

KalashnikovMarine wrote:Aesthetically I like them in a rather liquid black paint scheme

A what?

KalashnikovMarine wrote:I think it's all about fear.

-Loki- wrote:I hope they don't touch their mysterious origin at all. The fact that all we know is that they came from outside the galaxy and have eaten a dozen before us is enough to get the fear going. Well, with a decent writer. The mysterious origin should be used to play up the fear aspect, not explain it and ruin it all.

See, and this is really what I don't get. Other armies are scary. Other armies have wonderful, rich fluff behind them. I don't get the idea of playing an army that basically has no fluff whatsoever, much less the idea of playing an army that I didn't WANT them to make any fluff for.

Yes, mystery adds fear, but mystery is like nutmeg. A little bit adds christmas cheer. Too much makes you feel like you've been run over by a train. I mean, just look at Hitchcock. Yes, it's not the firing of the gun, but the suspense of it being fired, but all of this predicates the person having a full, rich understanding of gun violence. I mean, if I walked up to you and pointed a potato at you and said "give me all your money!" would that be scary? What if I told you that the potato was really a magic weapon, and that I'd already killed 20 people with it? You'd dismiss me as crazy and just walk away.

In order for there to be fear, there needs to be the credible threat of harm. The more you understand that threat, the more credible it becomes. If you pull a gun on a parent and her child, the parent will become very afraid, while the little boy will start making pew-pew noises because guns are cool!

I mean, do you just have to be paranoid - afraid of things you don't know, cant' understand, and might not even exist - to like the tyranid fluff? Or is it that I just didn't watch enough movies in the 80's?

60mm wrote:It is "nihilistic", but nihilism is just a word people use to paint over the reality that the universe really doesn't care and give people morale who are afraid of such a notion.

... because when I see this, not only do I have the above-mentioned reason why nihilism isn't scary, but the idea that it is scary just sounds silly and pretentious. I mean, really, trying to scare someone by telling them how little you believe in? I feel this has been satirized before...


We believe in nothing, Lebowski! Nothing!

Rawr...

I see I was a bit slow in typing, but see my above.

Ailaros wrote:

60mm wrote:It is "nihilistic", but nihilism is just a word people use to paint over the reality that the universe really doesn't care and give people morale who are afraid of such a notion.

... because when I see this, not only do I have the above-mentioned reason why nihilism isn't scary, but the idea that it is scary just sounds silly and pretentious. I mean, really, trying to scare someone by telling them how little you believe in? I feel this has been satirized before...

Well nihilism has nothing to do with "how little you believe in", but why don't you just accept that you don't care for Tyranids? Everyone is giving their reasons and you are arguing them as though people's preferences and likes can be argued. You should remember that there is no hard reason anyone likes any of this stuff, it's all subjective so there's no point in trying to refute any of it. I think Space Marines look like dorks and you couldn't convince me otherwise but rock on to everyone who loves them, it's all just different peoples fancies.

See, and this is really what I don't get. Other armies are scary. Other armies have wonderful, rich fluff behind them. I don't get the idea of playing an army that basically has no fluff whatsoever, much less the idea of playing an army that I didn't WANT them to make any fluff for.

Yes, mystery adds fear, but mystery is like nutmeg. A little bit adds christmas cheer. Too much makes you feel like you've been run over by a train. I mean, just look at Hitchcock. Yes, it's not the firing of the gun, but the suspense of it being fired, but all of this predicates the person having a full, rich understanding of gun violence. I mean, if I walked up to you and pointed a potato at you and said "give me all your money!" would that be scary? What if I told you that the potato was really a magic weapon, and that I'd already killed 20 people with it? You'd dismiss me as crazy and just walk away.

In order for there to be fear, there needs to be the credible threat of harm. The more you understand that threat, the more credible it becomes. If you pull a gun on a parent and her child, the parent will become very afraid, while the little boy will start making pew-pew noises because guns are cool!

I mean, do you just have to be paranoid - afraid of things you don't know, cant' understand, and might not even exist - to like the tyranid fluff? Or is it that I just didn't watch enough movies in the 80's?

I don't know I think a bunch of mindless bugs trying to eat you alive seems pretty scary, it's like imagine 1000 spiders crawling all over your bed at night just for no reason at all...

Fear could be instinctive even you won't know why it could harm you whatsoever.

The thing with nids is that they are "mindless" somewhat. You don't know what they are going to do nor will you know why or how and when, I think that itself is pretty scary...

Sandant, great post!

Makutsu wrote:Fear could be instinctive even you won't know why it could harm you whatsoever.

If you instinctually fear it. I instinctually fear a thousand spiders, I don't instinctually fear this:

60mm wrote:Everyone is giving their reasons and you are arguing them as though people's preferences and likes can be argued. You should remember that there is no hard reason anyone likes any of this stuff, it's all subjective so there's no point in trying to refute any of it.

What? People discuss and argue about subjective things all the time. Just look at religion.

In this case, I'm not looking for an objective answer, nor am I looking for "I like it, so there". I'm trying to cultivate an aesthetic.

sandant wrote:I think it is way more fun to have the narrative of the Tyranid be the main narrative, being a synaptic creature and feeling the presence of the hive mind guiding you, and feeling the tug on the strings of the mindless creatures that surround you, your perfect puppets ready to do any task, follow any order, your perfect warriors, your children. All ready to die a thousand times and be reborn to serve the swarm, not just to feed but to perfect yourself, to learn and grow, to extinguish all other inferior life until all that remains is perfect.

There, thank you.

You see tyranid, then, as being sort of the tomb kings of 40k?

I don't fear the look of Carnifexen with Devourers either, those guns are sooo puny! I'm going to be converting some soon to not look like little stubs and hopefully make them more intimidating

The competative non-MC units are £15.50 a model. That works out at about $25. For a 35/40 point model.
THAT is the real reason they're not too popular.

I've always thought they were pretty lame though. But then, I feel that about anything that isn't firmly established in western consciousness - tau (fish/alien things), necron (skeletons, but also robots? wassupwiththat), et al.

Ailros wrote: There, thank you.

You see tyranid, then, as being sort of the tomb kings of 40k?

Thats a pretty fair analogy I guess, I mean I do love my Tyranids, more so then my marine chapter, 1500 points of pure regret.... But I feel they get pretty short changed by the community as some silly dumb bug that brought claws and teeth to a gun fight. I also feel that the fluff is pretty cool, i mean the death leaper fluff alone made me like lictors more then is reasonable, i just feel that they are so cool, especially with the knew stealth and night-fighting rules(/digress). Well, i do like the fluff except for Robin's Tyranid seeking black holes, that manage to kill all of Hive Fleet Behemoth whilst simultaneously managing to not draw a single imperial ship into the warp along with them, did i mention that Tyranid ships fight at extremely close range and that anything that would harm Tyranids would harm the hundreds of ships they are literally attached to, but i digress, again. Ailros, i love your work, and respect you as a member of the community, i only hope that perhaps my post made you look a little more kindly upon the children of the Hive mind.

Ailaros wrote:

Makutsu wrote:Fear could be instinctive even you won't know why it could harm you whatsoever.

If you instinctually fear it. I instinctually fear a thousand spiders, I don't instinctually fear this:

I think the reason why you wouldn't be scared instinctively is because they don't exist in real life as far as well know...(Floating to our galaxy maybe?)
Fluff wise,
If you could imagine a Hive Tyrant 3 times your height slicing up your friends and family for no reason at all and eating them or consuming them into parts of their bodies then I think most people would be very terrified.
And there are little bugs like Rippers which are like 1000 spiders swarming over you.

It goes the same as Aliens from the movie, I think they are really similar in terms of how they look like and fluff.
I don't think I would want 1 of those in my room let alone a bajillion.

Ailaros wrote:See, and this is really what I don't get. Other armies are scary. Other armies have wonderful, rich fluff behind them. I don't get the idea of playing an army that basically has no fluff whatsoever, much less the idea of playing an army that I didn't WANT them to make any fluff for.

Yes, mystery adds fear, but mystery is like nutmeg. A little bit adds christmas cheer. Too much makes you feel like you've been run over by a train. I mean, just look at Hitchcock. Yes, it's not the firing of the gun, but the suspense of it being fired, but all of this predicates the person having a full, rich understanding of gun violence. I mean, if I walked up to you and pointed a potato at you and said "give me all your money!" would that be scary? What if I told you that the potato was really a magic weapon, and that I'd already killed 20 people with it? You'd dismiss me as crazy and just walk away.

In order for there to be fear, there needs to be the credible threat of harm. The more you understand that threat, the more credible it becomes. If you pull a gun on a parent and her child, the parent will become very afraid, while the little boy will start making pew-pew noises because guns are cool!

I mean, do you just have to be paranoid - afraid of things you don't know, cant' understand, and might not even exist - to like the tyranid fluff? Or is it that I just didn't watch enough movies in the 80's?

Different people find different kinds of horror scary. Me? I get nothing from torture porn like hostel or saw, but others are terrified of them. I get nothing from slasher flicks either. Someone in a mask with a knife or someone being killed by a sadist with a torture device is just so dull.

A well crafted sci fi horror film? Gives me the willies. Alien and Aliens, the first few times I watched them, scared the crap out of me. The Thing was a masterpeice (well, the original was). Movies like this evoke the feeling Tyranids give me, and are the reason I like the completely mysterious origins. The biggest mistake Ridley Scott did with Prometheus was describe the origins of the xenomorphs. They were no longer a terror hiding in any dark place ready to drag you away and cocoon you, they were no longer the alien that could show up anywhere and with its own unintelligible reason create a nest in a ship and start a brood. They were a bio weapon. Not even a bio weapon gone wrong, just the particular type of bio weapon that the space jockeys sludge created on LV426.

The mysterious origin adds to the fear because even though we know they're from another galaxy, they're obviously intelligent. They psychically communicate, we just don't know what they're saying. They could be here for a reason, they could merely be here because we're the next buffet on the list.

It's a very specific type of fear of the unknown they're going for with the Tyranids, and it's something Cruddace failed to capture at all. The 4th edition codex did it better, and even had a cool intro from Andy Chambers about the mindset needed to 'get' Tyranids.