Yeah. Trygons gained nothing in the new 'Dex, and lost all their re-rolls. Why would people be re-tooling their Mawlocs into Trygons?

Endless bugs? Endless bugs! Endless bugs.

I, for one, endorse endless bugs. I question, however, why wasn't such a staple of Tyranid-ness in the codex?

Because Nids can't have nice things.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Yeah. Trygons gained nothing in the new 'Dex, and lost all their re-rolls. Why would people be re-tooling their Mawlocs into Trygons?

trygon tunnel.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Yeah. Trygons gained nothing in the new 'Dex, and lost all their re-rolls. Why would people be re-tooling their Mawlocs into Trygons?

Because this dataslate just gave Nid players back one of our old broken combo's that we haven't been able to use sence 4th ed Apoc.

Endless Swarm: On a 4+ a unit of termigaunts or Hormigaunts can come on the table from Ongoing Reserves.

Trygon tunnel: Infantry Units coming onto the table from reserves can deploy from the trygon tunnel.

That means that our returning units can get right where we want them. And if they get wiped out they can pop right out again. It is only one unit per tunnel per turn, but it takes the useless tunnels and makes them very nasty again.

well it makes them maybe nasty on a 4+ if you just got your devilgaunts shot off the board. it also means you have to take a trygon which to me is still kinda iffy.

 Lord Scythican wrote:

Most of them are old, but this one isn't:

That one has been on GW website as a formation to buy pretty much since release. But could still be an indication, though i hold no expectations.


Dakkagaunts, outflank, shoot, die, tunnel, repeat. Sounds fun.

Tyrgon tunnels: the perfect way to bring on endless swarms, right in the enemy's backfield.

It also looks as if the flying swarm will free up fast attack spots... maybe we'll get to field our shrikes, as well as two crones and the gargs.

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:


Tyrgon tunnels: the perfect way to bring on endless swarms, right in the enemy's backfield.

It also looks as if the flying swarm will free up fast attack spots... maybe we'll get to field our shrikes, as well as two crones and the gargs.

Combine it with Gargoyles bio-bombs, gargoyles and blind tests everywhere XD.

 Gloomfang wrote:

Because this dataslate just gave Nid players back one of our old broken combo's that we haven't been able to use sence 4th ed Apoc.

Endless Swarm: On a 4+ a unit of termigaunts or Hormigaunts can come on the table from Ongoing Reserves.

Where are you getting rule that from? I don't see it on any of the previews.

 xttz wrote:

 Gloomfang wrote:

Because this dataslate just gave Nid players back one of our old broken combo's that we haven't been able to use sence 4th ed Apoc.

Endless Swarm: On a 4+ a unit of termigaunts or Hormigaunts can come on the table from Ongoing Reserves.

Where are you getting rule that from? I don't see it on any of the previews.

The image was leaked somewhere.

It is a formation of 2 broods of termagants, 3 broods of hormagants and 1 brood of warriors that go to ongoing reserves on a 4+ when the unit is destroyed. It has potential if combined with the Tunnels IMO.

 Tyran wrote:

The image was leaked somewhere.

Found it


The main issue I see with it is that you're still gonna need to buy 2 Troops units on top of this for your primary detachment. But it could work really well alongside 2-3 Trygon Primes and maybe a Lictor-based formation. The trick will be to keep to smaller gaunt units around 15-20 strong, so they can die fast enough to come back again, and can all fit near the tunnel.

Well, if you really wante dto troll someone, you could take two Ripper squads for your troops selections, then take 2 Endless Swarm formations.

718 pts for 12 troop selections (that respawn on a 4+) and some Rippers to, like, go do Ripper things. 720 to replace them with a pair of Termagant squads.

1040 if you want a THIRD endless swarm. "Yeah, 'gaunts stink, but 9 units of 'em ain't bad. We will bury you in our corpses!" *WAVE*


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Heck, for 1500, you could have:

Tyranid Prime (stock)
2 units of Termagants (stock)
4 Endless Swarms

And still have 15 points to upgrade your Prime.

Not the best army, and you certainly wouldn't take it to a tourney, but 12 units of Hormagaunts, 8 units of Termagants, and 4 units of Warriors that all come back on a 4+ means that you can claim all of the objectives. Heck, you can borrow some from neighboring tables even.

 Gloomfang wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Yeah. Trygons gained nothing in the new 'Dex, and lost all their re-rolls. Why would people be re-tooling their Mawlocs into Trygons?

Because this dataslate just gave Nid players back one of our old broken combo's that we haven't been able to use sence 4th ed Apoc.

Endless Swarm: On a 4+ a unit of termigaunts or Hormigaunts can come on the table from Ongoing Reserves.

Trygon tunnel: Infantry Units coming onto the table from reserves can deploy from the trygon tunnel.

That means that our returning units can get right where we want them. And if they get wiped out they can pop right out again. It is only one unit per tunnel per turn, but it takes the useless tunnels and makes them very nasty again.

Don't you mean 4e nid CODEX? That was 100pts, gave you and endless swarm brood of 10guants, that Fall Back TOWARDS Synapse!!! Man I miss that.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Though not as strong as the old Rule. It does able to hormies and warriors now so I guess that helps. With a fast swarm you will need the Trygon, otherwise IB could be a PITA.

barnowl wrote:

 Gloomfang wrote:

n.

Don't you mean 4e nid CODEX? That was 100pts, gave you and endless swarm brood of 10guants, that Fall Back TOWARDS Synapse!!! Man I miss that.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Though not as strong as the old Rule. It does able to hormies and warriors now so I guess that helps. With a fast swarm you will need the Trygon, otherwise IB could be a PITA.

Techinically it was +3pts per model for endless swarm and the termigaunts couldn't cost more than 8pts. The only way you could get WoN on hormigaunts was to take the Endless Swarm from Apoc and that was a minimum broodsize of 20 AND you paid 200pts extra for that formation.

You can't WoN the warriors. Rules says gaunts/gants
Actually IB can be good in this case. I used to run WoN and ES a long time ago. Folks stopped shooting when you got to 3-4 gants in a brood. Now you can take them out of synapse and be sure they will die (Feed) or flee off the table. Before tehy would run back to synapse and not die, now they just head towards the table edge. Much better that way.

So they made the Nid players pay extra for something that should have been in their codex to begin with to make it viable.

Good times. Can't wait to see how they apply that to future codexes.

So whats the deal with that leaked image? It contradicts what is posted as a preview on the iTunes page.

The preview shows that the formation needs:
3 Horms
3 Terms
1 Warrior

While the one posted above only says 2 Termagant units are required.

Question, if you take the Endless Swarm formation, and one of your Termagant broods is 30 strong, would that unlock a Tervigon as a troops choice as in your primary detatchment?

On a related note, could one of the broods purchased as a part of the formation Outflank using Hive Commander on a Hive Tyrant?

 Tarnag wrote:
Question, if you take the Endless Swarm formation, and one of your Termagant broods is 30 strong, would that unlock a Tervigon as a troops choice as in your primary detatchment?

On a related note, could one of the broods purchased as a part of the formation Outflank using Hive Commander on a Hive Tyrant?

I think it does actually unlock a Tervigon, as long as it's 30 man strong. The Tervigon rule says, paraphrased "for each 30 strong Termagant unit included in your army." Pretty sure that includes formations.

rollawaythestone wrote:

 Tarnag wrote:
Question, if you take the Endless Swarm formation, and one of your Termagant broods is 30 strong, would that unlock a Tervigon as a troops choice as in your primary detatchment?

On a related note, could one of the broods purchased as a part of the formation Outflank using Hive Commander on a Hive Tyrant?

I think it does actually unlock a Tervigon, as long as it's 30 man strong. The Tervigon rule says, paraphrased "for each 30 strong Termagant unit included in your army." Pretty sure that includes formations.

True, the wording definitely would suggest that. If so, that's fantastic! If I could get to my codex right now I'd look up on the wording to the Hive Commander as well, because if it's similar then you could get a pretty big unit of Devilgaunts Outflanking that unlock a troop Tervigon for your main detachment.

 Tarnag wrote:

rollawaythestone wrote:

 Tarnag wrote:
Question, if you take the Endless Swarm formation, and one of your Termagant broods is 30 strong, would that unlock a Tervigon as a troops choice as in your primary detatchment?

On a related note, could one of the broods purchased as a part of the formation Outflank using Hive Commander on a Hive Tyrant?

I think it does actually unlock a Tervigon, as long as it's 30 man strong. The Tervigon rule says, paraphrased "for each 30 strong Termagant unit included in your army." Pretty sure that includes formations.

True, the wording definitely would suggest that. If so, that's fantastic! If I could get to my codex right now I'd look up on the wording to the Hive Commander as well, because if it's similar then you could get a pretty big unit of Devilgaunts Outflanking that unlock a troop Tervigon for your main detachment.

Yes 30 gaunts in the formation unlock a tervigon. However Hive commander specifically says in the same detachment. Almost like they knew that they had dataslates with formations that had troops and didn't want you to do that.

 Gloomfang wrote:

 Tarnag wrote:

rollawaythestone wrote:

 Tarnag wrote:
Question, if you take the Endless Swarm formation, and one of your Termagant broods is 30 strong, would that unlock a Tervigon as a troops choice as in your primary detatchment?

On a related note, could one of the broods purchased as a part of the formation Outflank using Hive Commander on a Hive Tyrant?

I think it does actually unlock a Tervigon, as long as it's 30 man strong. The Tervigon rule says, paraphrased "for each 30 strong Termagant unit included in your army." Pretty sure that includes formations.

True, the wording definitely would suggest that. If so, that's fantastic! If I could get to my codex right now I'd look up on the wording to the Hive Commander as well, because if it's similar then you could get a pretty big unit of Devilgaunts Outflanking that unlock a troop Tervigon for your main detachment.

Yes 30 gaunts in the formation unlock a tervigon. However Hive commander specifically says in the same detachment. Almost like they knew that they had dataslates with formations that had troops and didn't want you to do that.

Ah okay, interesting. Two 30 strong Gaunt blobs in the Endless Swarm would unlock you two Tervigons for your required troops then. Though they would take awhile to respawn.

So, not to be a negative-nancy, and maybe it is because i mostly play against a semi-WAAC Wolves player, but i can see him wiping a unit down to 5 or less and ignoring them. With superior ranged weapons and 3+ being his worst armor save, he can easily afford to. I know for sure that it will help put pressure on some people, but against my main opponent, it will be useless.

Agreed, opponents just would ignore their last few gaunts until they had to deal with them, if you were using the tunnel trick.

 RiTides wrote:
Agreed, opponents just would ignore their last few gaunts until they had to deal with them, if you were using the tunnel trick.

Which is a weird situation in which we can use the terrible synapse rules to our advantage.

Pull said unit out of synapse and watch it break, eat itself, etc... and replace it with a fresh one.

OR... lets say our opponent legitimately does ignore the unit. Well it will still tie something up, eat overwatch, etc... Ignoring the models doesn't render them useless as it still only takes one gant to force an opponent to lose out on a shooting phase, etc...

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:

 RiTides wrote:
Agreed, opponents just would ignore their last few gaunts until they had to deal with them, if you were using the tunnel trick.

Which is a weird situation in which we can use the terrible synapse rules to our advantage.

Pull said unit out of synapse and watch it break, eat itself, etc... and replace it with a fresh one.

OR... lets say our opponent legitimately does ignore the unit. Well it will still tie something up, eat overwatch, etc... Ignoring the models doesn't render them useless as it still only takes one gant to force an opponent to lose out on a shooting phase, etc...

This is what I would say, charge them in and force them to kill the stragglers or be tied up. I think small but elite units of Gaunts might be the best option here, Devilgants, Hormagaunts with Toxin, in smaller squads so that they do get killed off (I was thinking units of 20 Toxingaunts and 15 for Devilgaunts) with two Trygon Primes, and just pray for 4's.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Yeah. Trygons gained nothing in the new 'Dex, and lost all their re-rolls. Why would people be re-tooling their Mawlocs into Trygons?

The endless swarm populates the Reserves, so Tunnel assault becomes a viable thing....


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Argozian wrote:
So, not to be a negative-nancy, and maybe it is because i mostly play against a semi-WAAC Wolves player, but i can see him wiping a unit down to 5 or less and ignoring them. With superior ranged weapons and 3+ being his worst armor save, he can easily afford to. I know for sure that it will help put pressure on some people, but against my main opponent, it will be useless.

Toxin sac 'em, and close assault, he'll kill them with overwatch, if not you can do wounds from poison. Then come back for annother go when you're dead and gone...

Considering models coming out of the tunnel can't move or charge the turn they arrive, I'm not sure why people think this is suddenly super viable. They'll have to start at least one turn on the tunnel, so without Synapse camped nearby your hormagaunts still have a decent chance of killing themselves, and your termagants still have a not awful chance of showing up and then running away.

It's certainly a workable combo, and you may catch a few people with it, but it's not exactly redeeming anything. Especially when you factor in the low popularity of datasheets in the first place.

 streamdragon wrote:
Considering models coming out of the tunnel can't move or charge the turn they arrive, I'm not sure why people think this is suddenly super viable. They'll have to start at least one turn on the tunnel, so without Synapse camped nearby your hormagaunts still have a decent chance of killing themselves, and your termagants still have a not awful chance of showing up and then running away.

It's certainly a workable combo, and you may catch a few people with it, but it's not exactly redeeming anything. Especially when you factor in the low popularity of datasheets in the first place.

while I totally understand your point and don't really disagree with it, I think this goes back to a lot of nid players saying their biggest complaint about this codex was it was boring, unimaginative, and all around didn't play at all like nids should be played. This goes at least a little bit of the way to fixing that and gives you another play style and one that a lot of people will want to play around with even if its not really a competition grade list ability being that you are HEAVILY relying on a 4+ and synapse being around the turn after you come out of the tunnel ( you don't test after coming from reserves of course).

as far as dataslates go I personally am not as offended by them as I feel others are , considering they are a smart business move for the company and can make a lot of sense for things like space marine companys/chapters etc.

However I've got to admit this one bothers me a little, Endless Swarm should've 100% been in the codex , that would've ended/tempered a good portion of the complaints about the codex release in the first place and I highly doubt anyone would've dared to call it OP as you have to prey for a 4+ and if you don't get it then your whole game plan is down the drain.

I agree that stuff like this should have been in the Codex as an option to make up for our lack of Allies.

Or the removal of our spore pods.

Given how quickly Gaunt broods can be shredded I can see this as being useful in one form or another. Sure it isn't perfect but

BlackArmour wrote:while I totally understand your point and don't really disagree with it, I think this goes back to a lot of nid players saying their biggest complaint about this codex was it was boring, unimaginative, and all around didn't play at all like nids should be played. This goes at least a little bit of the way to fixing that and gives you another play style and one that a lot of people will want to play around with even if its not really a competition grade list ability being that you are HEAVILY relying on a 4+ and synapse being around the turn after you come out of the tunnel ( you don't test after coming from reserves of course).

as far as dataslates go I personally am not as offended by them as I feel others are , considering they are a smart business move for the company and can make a lot of sense for things like space marine companys/chapters etc.

However I've got to admit this one bothers me a little, Endless Swarm should've 100% been in the codex , that would've ended/tempered a good portion of the complaints about the codex release in the first place and I highly doubt anyone would've dared to call it OP as you have to prey for a 4+ and if you don't get it then your whole game plan is down the drain.

While I have an issue paying another $10 buck a pop for essentially a handful of pages from a codex already purchased, I was actually referring to peoples hesitance to allow them in games and tournaments. I'm pretty sure there are a few threads in Dakka Discussions and Tournament Discussions boards on the issue.

I won't get into what I feel about the actual implementation of dataslates. Suffice to say I have purchased 0 and will continue to purchase 0 of them. This one, as you said, definitely feels like GW simply cut the pages out of the codex, pasted them into a new file and slapped a price tag on it. It really says something ugly about an already poorly received codex, and I'm not referring to the receipt of its power level so much as its content.

Souleater wrote:I agree that stuff like this should have been in the Codex as an option to make up for our lack of Allies.

Or the removal of our spore pods.

Given how quickly Gaunt broods can be shredded I can see this as being useful in one form or another. Sure it isn't perfect but

That would require GW to be willing to acknowledge those things are an issue. I frankly doubt that they are that big.

Incubator node
1 tervigon
3 termagant broods

Tervigon rerolls 1's when spawning

synaptic swarm
1 tyranid prime
3 tyranid warrior broods
18" synapse range

Skyblight Swarm
1 winged tyrant
1 hive crone
2 harpies
3 gargoyle broods
gargoyles have the endless swarm rule (when a unit is destroyed an identical unit is put into ongoing reserve on a 4+)
gargoyles also can control objective markers even if an enemy scoringh unit is in range of it

living artillery node
1 exocrine
3 biovores
1 tyranid warrior brood (must have biocannon)
All ranged weapons fired by models in this Formation have the Pinning special rule. In addition, models in this Formation that are within 12" of this Formation’s Tyranid Warrior Brood can re-roll the scatter dice when firing weapons with the Blast or Barrage special rule

Endless Swarm
3 hormagaunt broods
2 termagant broods
1 tyranid warrior brood
Endless Swarm

Apparently the dataslate is available overseas. I personally haven't bought it yet, but the above is from someone who has...

If true it seems to be a pretty big difference in the quality of things available as dataslates and what came in the codex itself.

Gargoyles with Endless Swarm that score regardless of contesting units is crazy.

living artillery looks great. exocrine and 3 biovores +3 heavy slots still to fill. so awesome.

3 flyrants
4 crones
2 harpies
3 x 10 + gargoyles that score no matter what
2 x 10 termagaunts

1840 pts

Hmmmmm....

Wait, what? I can take an Exocrine and 3 Biovores outside of FoC and use the 3 remaining Heavy Support slots to field Dakkafexes and Mawlocs? Sold...

Scoring gargoyles is pretty sweet, the tax for them isn't too bad either. 3 x 30 blobs will be very hard to shift once on objectives, and the fact they come back on a 4+ is just the icing on the cake

I kinda like the living artillery one...

I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

Skyblight is exactly what we wanted... yes we have to get an extra harpy rather than a crone, but controlling an objective, even if there's an imperial knight, or an entire army camping on it, is beautiful.

And if they kill the gargoyles, you can deep-strike them back in!

There is a weakness if the mission is The Relic, of course; but this means gargoyles score for both conventional missions and The Scouring. This is a huge boost to nids, if you already like Flying Circus; the Gargoyles are like super-scoring troops, that don't only contest objectives, they control them.

Overall, the new dataslate really encourages diverse builds; yes, it's annoying this wasn't in the codex proper, but nonetheless it looks pretty exciting and a very valid compensation for the lack of Allies. And remember, if you have allies, you need to buy a second codex, in exactly the same way you need to buy a dataslate

Good job nids, you have something to look forward too now. Let the swarm begin!

Also since the first set was the 'stealthy invaders' the second the main war and infinite swarm, that must mean the third dataslate is going to be the Big Biomorphs at this rate, hopefully we see something nice for melee carnifex.

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

Overall, the new dataslate really encourages diverse builds; yes, it's annoying this wasn't in the codex proper, but nonetheless it looks pretty exciting and a very valid compensation for the lack of Allies. And remember, if you have allies, you need to buy a second codex, in exactly the same way you need to buy a dataslate

Well not entirely true.. You don't technically need to *buy* either of them if you have friends who you can borrow one from. Although I rather buy a dataslate than entire other book. Second thing is, the ally codex already exists in the game so you're not really wondering if GW will even create a dataslate to fix problems. In this case they did, but if I'm playing Tau I don't need to hold my breath for a space marine codex for example.

Wow, those dataslate formations look pretty good (Skyblight swarm and Living artillery swarm, that is).

I wasn't expecting dataslates to be allowed in events due to the fact that they break the FOC and give units free buffs... better units, with no additional points cost, that don't use a FOC slot is just kind of OTT.

That said, nids kinda need it so if an event allows these... sweet

 jifel wrote:
Incubator node
1 tervigon
3 termagant broods

Tervigon rerolls 1's when spawning

synaptic swarm
1 tyranid prime
3 tyranid warrior broods
18" synapse range

Skyblight Swarm
1 winged tyrant
1 hive crone
2 harpies
3 gargoyle broods
gargoyles have the endless swarm rule (when a unit is destroyed an identical unit is put into ongoing reserve on a 4+)
gargoyles also can control objective markers even if an enemy scoringh unit is in range of it

living artillery node
1 exocrine
3 biovores
1 tyranid warrior brood (must have biocannon)
All ranged weapons fired by models in this Formation have the Pinning special rule. In addition, models in this Formation that are within 12" of this Formation’s Tyranid Warrior Brood can re-roll the scatter dice when firing weapons with the Blast or Barrage special rule

Endless Swarm
3 hormagaunt broods
2 termagant broods
1 tyranid warrior brood
Endless Swarm

The outside of FoC units do not count as your mandatory troops, does this also mean that troop units from outside the FoC are no longer scoring?

Shuppet, it's been debated on another thread,but it seems pretty clear that troops from the Formations count as scoring (like the über Gargoyles)

 Kirasu wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

Overall, the new dataslate really encourages diverse builds; yes, it's annoying this wasn't in the codex proper, but nonetheless it looks pretty exciting and a very valid compensation for the lack of Allies. And remember, if you have allies, you need to buy a second codex, in exactly the same way you need to buy a dataslate

Well not entirely true.. You don't technically need to *buy* either of them if you have friends who you can borrow one from. Although I rather buy a dataslate than entire other book. Second thing is, the ally codex already exists in the game so you're not really wondering if GW will even create a dataslate to fix problems. In this case they did, but if I'm playing Tau I don't need to hold my breath for a space marine codex for example.

I wouldn't argue with that; but most people, like us, are likely to end up buying a second codex if they have allies. You can manage without it, of course, just as you can run dataslate formations without actually owning the dataslate.

Yes, dataslates hit the wallet, but mostly via the purchase of more Harpies, Gargoyles, Warriors etc etc.

Any confirmation yet about which Endless Swarm is correct? There are two versions. 3 or 2 Termagant units?

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
Shuppet, it's been debated on another thread,but it seems pretty clear that troops from the Formations count as scoring (like the über Gargoyles)

TY Oblivion. Mind linking me to the other thread? Not sure which one it is, but wouldn't mind reading the debate.

Also wondering if they count as troops for the purpose of Hive Commander (it would be my expectation that they do not as they are not troops in the FoC, which is unfortunate to say the least)

 SHUPPET wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
Shuppet, it's been debated on another thread,but it seems pretty clear that troops from the Formations count as scoring (like the über Gargoyles)

TY Oblivion. Mind linking me to the other thread? Not sure which one it is, but wouldn't mind reading the debate.

Also wondering if they count as troops for the purpose of Hive Commander (it would be my expectation that they do not as they are not troops in the FoC, which is unfortunate to say the least)

You're welcome. Thread is here.

Hive Commander does have quite specific wording which means you're right, it doesn't apply to Formations Troops.

Skyblight is exactly what we wanted... yes we have to get an extra harpy rather than a crone, but controlling an objective, even if there's an imperial knight, or an entire army camping on it, is beautiful.

The quote earlier says scoring unit, so you can still be denied the objective by non scoring units.

puree wrote:

Skyblight is exactly what we wanted... yes we have to get an extra harpy rather than a crone, but controlling an objective, even if there's an imperial knight, or an entire army camping on it, is beautiful.

The quote earlier says scoring unit, so you can still be denied the objective by non scoring units.

No, it says that the Gargoyles score, unless the other unit on the objective "also has this special rule." (The rule is named Objective Secured).

rollawaythestone wrote:
Any confirmation yet about which Endless Swarm is correct? There are two versions. 3 or 2 Termagant units?

Someone posted a screen-grab from the eBook version that says 3 and 3. The iBook version says 3 and 3. I could be proved wrong, but I reckon the 2 and 3 formation is from an old version, I think the eBook preview.

The one thing that I'm sure of about this supplement - it is going to move units of the Exocrine and Harpy/Crone kit.

Keep your eyes peeled for next months supplement, including Haruspex and Hive Guard buff, sell the kits all over again.

Is there a preview at the end of the book for the next part again? If so, what's on the cover?

I'm just surprised GW just doesn't sell customized data slates.. Pay 99.95 and you can write your own rules!

Looks like the dataslates are pretty much the extra FOC slots that were rumored, from before the Codex release. I'm excited to see what the next one is, I like the style of both releases so far. Keeping fingers crossed for Hive Guard and perhaps even some Fortifications?

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

So they can pay more money to get some marginal effectiveness out of their gakky Codex? Nah. I doubt it.

I'm in with both feet, margarine or no! I can't believe it's not butter!

 Kirasu wrote:
I'm just surprised GW just doesn't sell customized data slates.. Pay 99.95 and you can write your own rules!

They wouldn't be able to control that, and we know how much GW loves their control!

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

So they can pay more money to get some marginal effectiveness out of their gakky Codex? Nah. I doubt it.

Sure, but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. WE play Flying Circus so the new 'slate is perfect for us . If we had allies, we'd have to shell out for their codex, in any case.

 xttz wrote:
Is there a preview at the end of the book for the next part again? If so, what's on the cover?

Just a plug for the first one :(

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

So they can pay more money to get some marginal effectiveness out of their gakky Codex? Nah. I doubt it.

Sure, but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. WE play Flying Circus so the new 'slate is perfect for us . If we had allies, we'd have to shell out for their codex, in any case.

I agree with HBMC tho. The new options we have are restrictive as hell. Seem to average around 500 points to take one of these swarms. Sure if that is your list already you just got respawning scoring Gargoyles, good news for you. For the rest of us, it's pretty much "build a diversified list the way we want to", or "take one of these swarms and make sure we spend the rest of our points buying the right models to support them". Not what I would call a great product - but hey what little variation it does offer, I won't argue against I guess.

 SHUPPET wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

So they can pay more money to get some marginal effectiveness out of their gakky Codex? Nah. I doubt it.

Sure, but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. WE play Flying Circus so the new 'slate is perfect for us . If we had allies, we'd have to shell out for their codex, in any case.

I agree with HBMC tho. The new options we have are restrictive as hell. Seem to average around 500 points to take one of these swarms. Sure if that is your list already you just got respawning scoring Gargoyles, good news for you. For the rest of us, it's pretty much "build a diversified list the way we want to", or "take one of these swarms and make sure we spend the rest of our points buying the right models to support them". Not what I would call a great product - but hey what little variation it does offer, I won't argue against I guess.

Cheapest and most useful seems to be the Living Artillery Node needs 7 models most nid players will already have runs 405 minimum for rerolling scatter on up to 4+ large blasts.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Good job nids, you have something to look forward too now. Let the swarm begin!

Also since the first set was the 'stealthy invaders' the second the main war and infinite swarm, that must mean the third dataslate is going to be the Big Biomorphs at this rate, hopefully we see something nice for melee carnifex.

The third is the "Tyranid have killed all the main defenders of the world and are now mopping up and converting biomass", so Hausperex, Pyrovores, and Rippers will be big things, as well as Hive Guard. Not sure beyond that.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

barnowl wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
I can see a lot of nid players awakening from a two-month long depression.

So they can pay more money to get some marginal effectiveness out of their gakky Codex? Nah. I doubt it.

Sure, but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. WE play Flying Circus so the new 'slate is perfect for us . If we had allies, we'd have to shell out for their codex, in any case.

I agree with HBMC tho. The new options we have are restrictive as hell. Seem to average around 500 points to take one of these swarms. Sure if that is your list already you just got respawning scoring Gargoyles, good news for you. For the rest of us, it's pretty much "build a diversified list the way we want to", or "take one of these swarms and make sure we spend the rest of our points buying the right models to support them". Not what I would call a great product - but hey what little variation it does offer, I won't argue against I guess.

Cheapest and most useful seems to be the Living Artillery Node needs 7 models most nid players will already have runs 405 minimum for rerolling scatter on up to 4+ large blasts.

Well, the cheapest is the Endless Swarm, at 360 points. Not the most useful, but maybe the easiest to assemble.

Does someone knows the name of the third dataslate?

Via Facebook

Hey Guys,
There are a couple of updates and amends to the formations in the new Dataslate: Tyranid Invasion.
If you have an iBook version, your copy will update automatically over the next few days, if you have the eBook from blacklibrary.com, you can download an up–to-date version from the ‘My Downloads’ section of your account right now.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/games-workshop-digital-editions/Dataslate-Tyranid-Invasion.html

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/games-workshop/id536481148?mt=11&uo=4&at=10lqaZ

Here’s a quick summary of the updates:

Living Artillery Node:
Contains one Biovore Brood of three Biovores

Endless Swarm:
Contains Three Units of Hormagaunts and three units of Termagaunts

Thanks,
- Eddie

PS: not to long to wait until number three in the series…

There's nothing about the size the broods need to be, right? I.e. for the Skyblight Swarm, the gargoyles don't have to be 30 models to a unit?

 RiTides wrote:
There's nothing about the size the broods need to be, right? I.e. for the Skyblight Swarm, the gargoyles don't have to be 30 models to a unit?

Some formations do specify restrictions on unit size (for example the Artillery one requires one brood of 3 Biovores). However if no restriction is specified, you're free to take any unit composition the codex would normally allow. This means the Skyblight formation can include 3x10 Gargoyles, 3x30 Gargoyles, or any combination in between.

Intense! I don't think I'm going to run that one, as I really don't want to have a flying circus type list. However, I think it's going to be very popular!

MVBrandt just mentioned the Nova Open is considering allowing a formation to be taken instead of Allies- meaning Nids could take one of these, which would certainly give them a boost.

Definitely considering how I can squeeze in a Living Artillery Node, personally

While not as potent as adding a farseer or squad of death cult assassins to other armies, these are indeed a decent substitution for allies for nids.

Very happy this one has a bit of merit, although it would be nice to have some usefulness added to warriors so they would not feel like a "tax" in these formations.

Here is hoping the next one will have some love for trygons and other MC's.

Agreed I hope other events consider allowing Nids to take a formation in lieu of Allies (and indeed, allowing ANY army to take a formation instead of Allies- seems like a very reasonable way to allow them).

Interesting times.

We were like many other players, who were disappointed with the first 'slate, and delighted with the second, as scoring Gargoyles was what we hoped for from the 'dex in the first place.

Fingers crossed we get something good for our carnifexes in the third dataslate. This Black Library post says that they will be previewing the dataslate next Tuesday, 25 March.

I really hope the next one has a nice buff for Swarmy and Walking Tyrants with Guards. The walking Tyrant is so Iconic and one of my favourites and it sucks to only see the winged version.

It'll be about the feeding stage of the invasion, so these units are most likely to get attention:

Haruspex
Pyrovores
Rippers
Hive Guard

Hopefully Carnifexes and Tyrannofexes will see something too.

I'm okay with Haruspexes getting something good... I absolutely love the model, but the rules for it are severely lacking.

Hooray for buying more things which should have been in the codex.

Boy am I hopefuly for Gua-err, Astra Militarum.

I was delighted with the second dataslate, too, and it looks like the major GT closest to me (Nova) will likely be allowing it! I'll be building a Living Artillery Node to run with my current army (meaning an Exocrine, 3 Biovores, and 3 Warriors)

I hope this next dataslate is as interesting as the second... fingers crossed!

Hmm, I like what I've seem so far. But I don't think I'll buy…

http://www.blacklibrary.com/games-workshop-digital-editions/Dataslate-Tyranid-Onslaught.html


Subterranean Swarm

BioBlast Node

Subterranean Swarm could be promising... fantasies tell us we'll get a workable trygon tunnel, and maybe Raveners will be worth fielding.

Bioblast Mode is the second confirmed new formation.

Come on Heavy venom cannon boost! Bioblast node sounds like something I'll already have available.

Mother of God...

I Ninja'ed !

Huzzah ^.^!



AND I Like the Idea of the Subterranian Swarm ALOT! Maybe it just means that Raveners get to use the Tunnels instead of just infantry?

Man, both of those do sound promising. Here's hoping although I'm already happy with Living Artillery Node from the last one. Any way to field more big bugs in a greater variety (since they're all crammed into the 3 heavy support slots) is great, and having several viable formations would keep the book from becoming mono-build. Very excited!

 Bloodhorror wrote:
Mother of God...

I Ninja'ed !

Huzzah ^.^!



AND I Like the Idea of the Subterranian Swarm ALOT! Maybe it just means that Raveners get to use the Tunnels instead of just infantry?

I doubt Ravenors will be able to use Trygon tunnels. They seem dead set on preventing that. Maybe they'll at least let you determine the order they come in.

Could just be something like 'the entire formation arrives from reserves at the same time' or 'units from this formation that are arriving from deepstrike within x" of the Trygon Prime do not scatter'.

Serious Pipedream Request:

Raveners Assualt on the turn they come on Via a Trygon Primes Tunnel...


It'll never Happen, but my lord how happy I would be...

 Bloodhorror wrote:
Serious Pipedream Request:

Raveners Assualt on the turn they come on Via a Trygon Primes Tunnel...


It'll never Happen, but my lord how happy I would be...

How happy we would ALL be.

eek... shoulda mentioned there's a carnifex on the cover.

Yep... I'm excited

Do we know when this will actually release? Sorry if it's already stated and I missed it.

I think it's preorders this Saturday, downloadable from 00.01 next Saturday.

Are they ever going to put all these data slates in print? I for one refuse to buy or "preorder" digital rules. If they put them in a volume I would pick that up quick. If not where could I get a copy to print?

 mjl7atlas wrote:
Are they ever going to put all these data slates in print? I for one refuse to buy or "preorder" digital rules. If they put them in a volume I would pick that up quick. If not where could I get a copy to print?

Buy them, reformat them, and then print them yourself is pretty much the only option unfortunately. I'm a paper kinda person myself, and these digital only rules are irritating to me.

I'd like to think that when all three are out we'll see a hardback containing all three.

Easy to print them though, especially as there are only a few pages of rules.

The iPad version preview is up with different pages.





It's pretty much certain we'll see a HT + Tyrant Guard formation of some kind.

It'd take a lot to make HT+guard viable. But they have those expensive kits now, it'd be a profitable move to suddenly get people needing a ground Tyrant and guard.

We have enough nids not to feel the need to buy raveners (altho' they're great models).

But It Came From Below sounds really promising... one can only guess it's a rule that lets everything pop up through the same tunnel.

I'm hopeful that dataslate will make Raveners worth while. Granted, it'll make me angry having to buy a dataslate just to make my Raveners useful, but at least they will be useful.

The main thing that's pissed me off about the Tyranid release in general is so many of the units I already own are crap, Raveners and walking Tyrants being 2 of them, Lictors being another.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
We have enough nids not to feel the need to buy raveners

And for people like me who already own them? lol

 Iechine wrote:
It'd take a lot to make HT+guard viable.

My money says this will be based on the Living Fortress apoc formation, which works like this:
2 Hive Tyrants (1 can be the Swarmlord)
3 Tyrant Guard
3 Hive Guard
(all acting as a single unit)

Any Tyranid unit within synapse range of a HT gains PE and CA.
When shot at, the unit can choose to gain Shrouded and +1 to armour saves, but counts as moving in difficult terrain.

If the dataslate version is anything like this, it could be viable.

Looks like I predicted three of the formations almost perfectly (two more to go)

 jifel wrote:


1 Tyrant/Guard/Warriors formation with buffs to psychic powers Check!
1 Ripper/Warrior formation that can still can't score, making it meh.
1 Haruspex/Pyrovore Formation with a mostly useless special rule
A big "Trygon Assault brood' with 2 Trygons and a Mawloc (maybe a Prime?) and Raveners that is disgustingly good. Check!
A big Carnifex/Tyrannofex wave that is kinda useful and may be nice (think power level of the Living Artillery) Check!

Woo, 3/5 at the least on my predictions...

It would take a lot to make the trygon one useful.

I have found they die rather easily; this combined with the scything talon nerf (ouch!) makes them less useful offensively than before.

Unless you were already running these units, the formation special rules have a lot to over come.

Don't get me wrong.... I WANT my two trygons and 9 raveners to be useful......

here is hoping.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/games-workshop-digital-editions?basket_add=1&basket_item=7405
If I can read the small image correctly it says Wrecker node? So that gives us 4/5 formations
Subterranean Assault
Living Tide
Bioblast Node
Wrecker Node

Amiright?



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Tyrant Node is mentioned in the Living Tide so that would be all 5

The Wrecker Node image looks like it contains Tyrant Guard (plus a Fex), so that could be the Tyrant formation.

Where are you seeing Living Tide?

Where is this Living Tide and Tyrant Node?

I've not/can't see it

www.blacklibrary.com/new-at-bl/Tyranid-Onslaught.html
and read the living tide text

Seems like the 'Tyrant Node' is part of the Living Tide formation, not a separate one. Unless the Living Tide is a formation of formations or something.

That's exactly what it sounds like. It sounds like we get four typical formations like so:

Subterranean Swarm (Trygons, Mawloc, Raveners)
Bioblast Node (Tfex, Cfex and Warriors)
Wrecker Node (Cfexes plus ?)
Tyrant Node (HT, guard plus ?)

Then Living Tide is a 'formation of formations' comprising of the Tyrant Node plus others (probably Endless Swarm and Skyblight looking at the pic). I'd expect that to come out at ~2k pts minimum, so it's probably only really suitable for Apoc.

Apoc only? Just like how super heavies and d weapons should be apoc only as well?

Anything can happen now. Apoc be damned everything CAN be standard for 40k now it seems.

Time will tell.

He did say "only really suitable for Apoc" because he was guessing it was 2000 points minimum- not that it wouldn't be allowed in a standard game, just that it'd be too expensive to take after your mandatory HQ and 2 troops.

Looks like Living tide has the Skyblight swarm as part of it, you can see the flying tyrant in the front and some flying stands in the back of the image.

Living Tide has me kind of uncertain, if it turns out to be just a glorified synapse boost then it will be pretty pointless, I'm hoping for a bit more than that to make it worthwhile (what would be great is if it reduces the overall point cost of all the models in the formation, now that would make it not only awesome, but also practical in games outside of Apoc, another option would be to make it usable without a main detachment being necessary)

Really disappointed that the Haruspex doesn't seem to get any formation love. Seems like such a shame to have a cool looking model get zero love ><

@omerakk

I think the problem is GW doesn't understand tyranids and doesn't understand how to create rules for Tyranids.

The Dataslates are nice, they make Tyranids competitive, but all these formations should not have been necessary to make them competitive.

They can't make good formations or rules for the haruspex because they don't really get the point of the Haruspex or how to use it, they only made it to look cool.

The next codex for Tyranids should be written by someone who actually plays the race and enjoys their background, someone who can do justice to the race.

Here are the onslaught formations guys

Bioblast node
1 warrior brood (with biocabnon)
3 carnifex broods (must take nc biocannon)
1 tyrannofex
All units get split fire and can reroll wound rolls of 1 in shooting phase when within 12" of the warriors

Wrecker node
1 warrior brood (no biocannon)
3 carnifex brood (no biocannons)
Carnifexes do d3+1 how attacks and when within 12" of the warriors reroll 1s to wound in cc

Tyrant node
1 walking tyrant
1 brood of 3 tyrant guard
1 venomthrope brood
Tyrant gets +6" synapse range

Subterranean swarm
1 trygon prime
1 mawloc
1 trygon
3 ravener broods
The entire formation uses 1 reserve roll, deploy prime first then the raveners are placed within six inches and do not scatter, trygon and mawloc deploy as normal

Living tide
1 tyrant node
1 synaptic swarm
3 endless swarms
1 wrecker nore
1 skyblight swarm

Everything causes fear and as long as the tyrant from the tyrant node is alive all synapse creatures within its synapse range add 6" to their synapse range and you can reroll failed endless swarm rolls for the gaunts and gargoyles from the endless swarm and skyblight formations

Grabbed this off of a Tyranid facebook page. I have no idea how valid or true these rumors are, but I figured they should be posted. So, if these are true, what're everyones thoughts? Personally I'm a bit disappointed. Living tide is essentially apocalypse only. Subterranean could be nice for threat overload, but the Tyrant Node is just useless as listed, as it's just free dominion, not worth the lack of wings. The Bioblast depends on the wording, if only one Carnifex has to take a Biocannon then splitfire Devourers is cool. Otherwise, I don't see it as feasible. The CC one just feels like "here's Toxin sacks if you're near warriors" which is meh.

zookie from TheTyranidHive says he has it and posted pretty much the same thing. not a good look; was hoping subterranean swarm was going to be good.

I'm liking the Tyrant Node actually, as it gives bonuses to a setup I might play occasionally anyway- I usually don't field my lone Venomthrope because I can't fit it in the list, (Hive Guard, Lictors and Zoans are my usual three Elites of late) but I do like a Guard and Tyrant mob. I am also one of the people who gets some use out of a lot of the units that are declared sucky- I just handily won a 1000 point vs. Tau largely by murdering things with a trio of Raveners deep struck behind a building and a single Lictor popping up in a building and sucking up inordinate amounts of fire. Like, surviving a whole firing phase. The Bioblast one might actually be ok because of Split Fire.

 jifel wrote:
The Bioblast depends on the wording, if only one Carnifex has to take a Biocannon then splitfire Devourers is cool. Otherwise, I don't see it as feasible.

I believe the Devourers are considered biocannons.

 Tyran wrote:

 jifel wrote:
The Bioblast depends on the wording, if only one Carnifex has to take a Biocannon then splitfire Devourers is cool. Otherwise, I don't see it as feasible.

I believe the Devourers are considered biocannons.

Sonova... that's what I get for making assumptions. I assumed that it meant a HVC/BS. You sir, are 100% correct.

That means a TFex and 3 Carnis out of the FOC... give them all two devourers, splitfire and rerolling 1s to wound? That is nasty. I like it!

Splitfire means they can shoot a weapon at different targets, right? So two devourers at two different things?

It's an expensive points-wise formation, but man, there could be a silly amount of carnifexes on the table

Can the Swarmlord replace the Hive Tyrant for the node?

3 Fex's outside of the FOC is good enough, let alone split firing and basically guaranteed wounding!

Must...... Buy...... More.......... Fexes!

Keep in mind a unit has to pass a Leadership test before it can use Split Fire, and Tyranid non-synapse units aren't exactly known for their high Leadership.

 jifel wrote:

Here are the onslaught formations guys

Bioblast node
1 warrior brood (with biocabnon)
3 carnifex broods (must take nc biocannon)
1 tyrannofex
All units get split fire and can reroll wound rolls of 1 in shooting phase when within 12" of the warriors

Wrecker node
1 warrior brood (no biocannon)
3 carnifex brood (no biocannons)
Carnifexes do d3+1 how attacks and when within 12" of the warriors reroll 1s to wound in cc

Tyrant node
1 walking tyrant
1 brood of 3 tyrant guard
1 venomthrope brood
Tyrant gets +6" synapse range

Subterranean swarm
1 trygon prime
1 mawloc
1 trygon
3 ravener broods
The entire formation uses 1 reserve roll, deploy prime first then the raveners are placed within six inches and do not scatter, trygon and mawloc deploy as normal

Living tide
1 tyrant node
1 synaptic swarm
3 endless swarms
1 wrecker nore
1 skyblight swarm

Everything causes fear and as long as the tyrant from the tyrant node is alive all synapse creatures within its synapse range add 6" to their synapse range and you can reroll failed endless swarm rolls for the gaunts and gargoyles from the endless swarm and skyblight formations

Grabbed this off of a Tyranid facebook page. I have no idea how valid or true these rumors are, but I figured they should be posted. So, if these are true, what're everyones thoughts? Personally I'm a bit disappointed. Living tide is essentially apocalypse only. Subterranean could be nice for threat overload, but the Tyrant Node is just useless as listed, as it's just free dominion, not worth the lack of wings. The Bioblast depends on the wording, if only one Carnifex has to take a Biocannon then splitfire Devourers is cool. Otherwise, I don't see it as feasible. The CC one just feels like "here's Toxin sacks if you're near warriors" which is meh.

3 endless swarms seems a bit excessive, doesn't seem to be enough synapse for that number of bodies.

Subterranean swarm seems risky as they only need to take out the prime to remove the synapse, I guess it needs close support from flying synapse.

Well that's... largely disappointing if true.

Bio-Blast is pretty limited as you have to use the Carnifex Ld7 for the test, meaning it will fail 50% of the time. I expect you'd also want 1 Fex with a different weapon loadout to make the most of this, meaning you're building your list around a 50% chance.

Wrecker Node seems a bit of a waste of time... 3 Fexes will rarely have issues killing whatever they run into, so extra damage and re-rolls seems overkill for what is an expensive ~500pt formation. Would have made more sense with a movement bonus to get into combat quicker.

Tyrant Node is reasonable, if a bit expensive. It's a nice way to squeeze a free Elite slot for Venomthropes, and effectively gives you a free Norn Crown in the process. You could probably throw a proper Norn crown on there and stack Dominion too for a crazy 30" Synapse. Then if you roll the right Warlord Trait that could be 36"...

Subterranean Swarm is a nice way to use those units, if not particularly powerful. Plus it gives you 3 extra HS slots. Could work well alongside some Lictor-heavy formations and Biovores in regular HS slots for massed Pinning before attack.

Living Tide is nice, but it starts at ~3100pts before any upgrades. This will likely only see 4k+ pt Apoc games, when bonuses to replace your million guants are the last thing on your mind. In fact, fielding 300 guants and constantly replacing them is a good way to ensure you opponent never plays you at Apoc again.

I might use the Tyrant node simply because I have a wingless Tyrant that I have no intention of converting to winged.

 xttz wrote:
Well that's... largely disappointing if true.

Bio-Blast is pretty limited as you have to use the Carnifex Ld7 for the test, meaning it will fail 50% of the time. I expect you'd also want 1 Fex with a different weapon loadout to make the most of this, meaning you're building your list around a 50% chance.

LD test on 2D6 is passing 58% of the time so fails 42% of the time, slight difference but still.. and your forgetting the biggest bonus which is Fex's outside of the FOC allowing you to maximize for other HS options. Why do I want a Fex with a different weapon option? dakka fexes all the way baby!! haha

bodazoka wrote:

 xttz wrote:
Well that's... largely disappointing if true.

Bio-Blast is pretty limited as you have to use the Carnifex Ld7 for the test, meaning it will fail 50% of the time. I expect you'd also want 1 Fex with a different weapon loadout to make the most of this, meaning you're building your list around a 50% chance.

LD test on 2D6 is passing 58% of the time so fails 42% of the time, slight difference but still.. and your forgetting the biggest bonus which is Fex's outside of the FOC allowing you to maximize for other HS options. Why do I want a Fex with a different weapon option? dakka fexes all the way baby!! haha

I'm still hoping you can use the Warrior leadership for the test, as even 58% isn't great.

The reason for taking a different weapon option is to not over-saturate a target. Say you have 3 Fexes with Barbed Stranglers, it would be overkill to shoot them all at the same thing. Even 36 double-devourer shots is overkill sometimes. So to make your ~450pt unit more flexible you throw in an HVC to split fire with. This would be worth doing on LD9/10 units, not so much on Ld7.

Ignoring the FOC is nice, but if your formation costs 500+ pts it can be tough to make the most of the other HS slots.

I thought the fexes in the formation were 3 separate broods, and just splitting their own fire- I.e. firing their 2 weapons at 2 different targets. Is that incorrect?

It's not clear from that leak if the formation is 3 Carnifex broods (up to 9 of them) or 3 Fexes in a single brood. There's so many typos in there it's hard to be sure until we see the real thing.
The latter would be far more likely, though.

Split Fire allows a single model in a unit to fire all its weapons at a different target, after passing a leadership test. So you can have 1 dakkafex shooting seperately while 2 HVC fexes target a vehicle.
You can't have 3 fexes with HVC + devourer splitting off all weapons of the same type at different targets.

THis is pretty much a report of the same info from the Tyranid Hive, but a couple of points are clearer.

In summary, this is more like the first dataslate; some more usable, but not that exciting, options, if you have the models already. Subterrannean Swarm does give a good option for placing lots of raveners alongside your Prime.... but otherwise, a Comms Relay is nearly as useful.

[quote author="@zookie" source="/post/784134/thread" timestamp="1395968453"] As was promised this is what the dataslate has to offer. Like last time I am going to hold off any judgment until I have some time to think it over.

We have some new fluff ending the story with a handful of pages in all.

We got the 5 new promised formations
A Bioblast Node consists of the following units:
• 1 Tyranid Warrior Brood
• 3 Carnifex Broods
• 1 Tyrannofex
Special Rules: Bio-deluge: All units in this Formation have the Split Fire special rule. In addition, models in this Formation that are within 12" of this Formation’s Tyranid Warrior Brood can re-roll failed To Wound rolls of 1 in the Shooting phase.

A Wrecker Node consists of the following units:
• 1 Tyranid Warrior Brood
• 3 Carnifex Broods
Special Rules: Rampage of Destruction: Carnifexes in this Formation inflict D3+1 Hammer of Wrath hits instead of the usual D3. In addition, models in this Formation that are within 12" of this Formation’s Tyranid Warrior Brood can re-roll failed To Wound rolls of 1 in the Assault phase.

A Tyrant Node consists of the following units:

• 1 Hive Tyrant
• 1 Tyrant Guard Brood
• 1 Venomthrope Brood

Special Rules: Command Node: The Hive Tyrant in this Formation adds 6" to its synapse range.


A Subterranean Swarm consists of the following units:

• 1 Trygon Prime
• 1 Trygon
• 1 Mawloc
• 3 Ravener Broods
Special Rules: They Came From Below…: All units in this Formation must be placed in Reserve. Make a single Reserve Roll for the entire Formation. When the Formation arrives from Reserve, deploy the Trygon Prime first, by Deep Strike, using its Subterranean Assault special rule. Once the Trygon Prime’s final position has been established, the Formation’s three Ravener Broods immediately enter play.
Place the Ravener units so that all of their models are wholly within 6” of the Trygon Prime’s base and in unit coherency. These models cannot be placed within 1” of enemy models or within impassable terrain; if any models cannot be placed, these excess models are removed as casualties. The Formation’s Ravener Broods cannot move in the Movement phase or charge on the same turn they arrive, but can shoot or Run.
The Formation’s Trygon and Mawloc enter play via Deep Strike as usual.

A Living Tide consists of the following units:

• 1 Tyrant Node
• 1 Synaptic Swarm (see Tyranid Invasion - Rising Leviathan II)
• 3 Endless Swarms (see Tyranid Invasion - Rising Leviathan II)
• 1 Wrecker Node
• 1 Skyblight Swarm (see Tyranid Invasion - Rising Leviathan II)

Special Rules:
Fear

Synaptic Command Network: As long as the Hive Tyrant from the Tyrant Node Formation has not been removed as a casualty, then all other Synapse Creatures from this Formation that are within its synapse range add 6" to their own synapse range.
The Swarm Unleashed: As long as the Hive Tyrant from the Tyrant Node Formation has not been removed as a casualty, you can re-roll failed results when rolling to see if a Termagant, Hormagaunt or Gargoyle Brood from this Formation that has been completely destroyed is replaced (see the Endless Swarm or Skyswarm special rules in Tyranid Invasion - Rising Leviathan II).






We also got 2 new mission one is a massive 10 turn game the other is a big last stand mission
As far as art work goes it looks like nothing really new.
And that's that!

If the Fex formations actually are 3 broods rather than 3 models in a single brood, the Wrecker Node will be decent. You can send out units of 1-2 Fexes without it being overkill.

Could you explain why you don't think it will be overkill, xttz?

If it was one brood of 3 fexes, that's overkill in a lot of situations. You're looking at between 6 and 12 HoW hits at S9 before the combat even starts. That's followed up by a bunch more S9/10 hits.
Very few vehicles need more than 1-2 Fexes to destroy, with 3 you'd often be wasting attacks. It's also a ~500pt 'deathstar' unit that's fairly easy for opponents to avoid most of the time.

Having 3 broods of 1-3 Fexes is far more flexible. They can be spread out to threaten more of the board, and there's an element of target saturation with multiple units. You can also choose how strong each brood needs to be according to your opponent - I'd be more inclined toward single Fexes against Chimera variants, but 2-3 against Land Raiders or Monoliths.


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Walking Nidzilla, baby

List: 2000 pts

----- HQ -------------------------------
1. Hive Tyrant* (245pts)
- 1x Hive Tyrant
- 2x Devourer with Brainleech Worms - Twin-linked
- 1x Tyrant Guard

----- Troop ----------------------------
1. Termagant Brood (120pts)
- 30x Termagant
2. Tervigon* (195pts)
- 1x Tervigon

----- Elite ----------------------------
1. Venomthrope Brood (45pts)
- 1x Venomthrope

----- Formation ------------------------
1. Tyrant Node (390pts)
- 1x Hive Tyrant
- 2x Devourer with Brainleech Worms - Twin-linked
- 3x Tyrant Guard
- 1x Venomthrope
2. Bio-blast Node (1005pts)
- 3x Tyranid Warrior
- 1x Barbed Strangler
- 1x Carnifex
- 2x Devourer with Brainleech Worms - Twin-linked
- 2x Carnifex
- 4x Devourer with Brainleech Worms - Twin-linked
- 2x Carnifex
- 4x Devourer with Brainleech Worms - Twin-linked
- 1x Tyrannofex
- 1x Thorax Swarm - Electroshock Grubs

9 MCs, with 48 T6 wounds (inc. Guards)
84 twin-linked S6 shots a turn (mostly either BS4 or re-rolling wounds)

Might be worth dropping a Fex for more Venoms or Zoans for synapse, though.



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Here's a (probably fairly niche) use for the Bioblast split fire bonus:

Stick a Prime in a big Dakkafex brood. Use Split Fire with the Primes' Ld10 to fire a few pot shots at something nearby. Then fire the Fexes at something else they're likely to ruin.

Your brood can now charge the closer unit because the Prime shot at it, letting you wipe out 2 targets a turn.

 xttz wrote:
Here's a (probably fairly niche) use for the Bioblast split fire bonus:

Stick a Prime in a big Dakkafex brood. Use Split Fire with the Primes' Ld10 to fire a few pot shots at something nearby. Then fire the Fexes at something else they're likely to ruin.

Your brood can now charge the closer unit because the Prime shot at it, letting you wipe out 2 targets a turn.

Yep, that's cool although corner case, of course, in that you probably aren't wanting to put your Prime out there... but still cool

Does the Hive Tyrant of the Tyrant Node must be walking?

 Tyran wrote:
Does the Hive Tyrant of the Tyrant Node must be walking?

yes according to the rules posted on the 'hive

I think the walkrant should have had such a buff to begin with so there was actually some point in taking him instead of just giving him wings.

I'm tempted to use Tyrant node simply because I have all the options, it makes the walkrant slightly better and means I can fit in another elite choice.

Overall I dislike the dataslates, they should have just frakked off the FOC to begin with for Tyranids (maybe let them take +1 of each compared to a normal army) and some of the boosts probably should have been standard.

Walking tyrant should have had 2+ armor and possibly one more wound. Then it would not have been auto pick on the flyrant every time

Bioblast looks good, but the others look kinda underwhelming.

The bioblast lets you bring dakkafexes outside the FOC, and a Tyrranofex and gives them rerolls.

Even with the split fire feature sucking, the overall benefits make it worthwhile

Interesting... so to run a Bioblast Node, you'd be looking at something like the following minimum:

3 Warriors, Venom Cannon - 100
Carnifex w/ 2 x TL Devourers with Brainleech Worms - 150
Carnifex w/ 2 x TL Devourers with Brainleech Worms - 150
Carnifex w/ 2 x TL Devourers with Brainleech Worms - 150
Tyrannofex w/ Rupture Cannon - 205

Total - 755

That is interesting because, while it's a lot more expensive the the Living Artillery Node (which clocks in at only 390 iirc for 3 Biovores, 3 Warriors with a cannon, and an Exocrine) it's another way to get heavy support selections outside of the FOC.

I can only see myself considering it if I wanted to take Mawlocs or the like. If I want to take Carnifexes with Exocrines or Biovores, obviously I can just go with the Living Artillery Node.

Still, interesting

I see that xttz listed a Tyrannofex above without a Rupture Cannon. Do people not generally upgrade to the cannon? I had thought that was the main reason to take a Tfex.

Using him aggressively with the torrent flamer is seen as the superior option.

Ah, got it. Well, in that case the minimum to run it effectively is "only" 735

Here's a quick list with both a BioBlast Node and a Living Artillery Node:

Tyranid Prime - 125

20 Termagaunts - 80
10 Termagaunts - 40
10 Termagaunts - 40
3 Warriors, Barbed Strangler - 100
3 Warriors, Barbed Strangler - 100

Crone - 155

Mawloc - 140
Mawloc - 140

Carnifex w/ 2 x TL Brainleech Devourers - 150
Carnifex w/ 2 x TL Brainleech Devourers - 150
Carnifex w/ 2 x TL Brainleech Devourers - 150
Tyrannofex w/ Electroshock Grubs - 185

3 Biovores - 120
Exocrine - 170

Total - 1845

You could swap the Crone for another Carnifex or Mawloc, of course, for a full 9 heavy support choices . I like the possibility of this formation, personally- it doesn't seem overpowered, but it does unlock a greater variety of Nidzilla than just cramming 9 Carnifexes into 3 heavy support slots.

Edit: While I'm at it, here's another with just the BioBlast Node... still gives a whopping 7 heavy support slots. Not bad!

I'd go with Bioblast Node with 5 Fexes plus Living Artillery, 2 Flyrants and the rest termagants for 2K

 RiTides wrote:
I see that xttz listed a Tyrannofex above without a Rupture Cannon. Do people not generally upgrade to the cannon? I had thought that was the main reason to take a Tfex.

The Rupture Cannon is really poor thanks to a terrible AP value and only getting 2 shots at BS3. It would be worth taking if it was AP1/2, had more shots, or there was some To Hit bonus like Twin-linked / PE. Instead the Tyrannofex is better off used as a relatively cheap linebreaker. For 185pts you get a pretty tough unit with a 2+ save and two template weapons, one of which has Torrent. Who needs assault grenades when you can just flush entrenched units out with multiple flamers? It's also a threat your opponent cannot ignore, so it's a great place to stack Venomthrope / Catalyst bonuses to as a fire magnet while everything else advances behind it.

Even without the bonuses, Bio-blast is going to be pretty useful for just letting you ignore the FOC and spam heavy support MCs all over the board, most of which are pretty effective. About ~1300pts will get you a HT, Exocrine, T-Fex and 5 Carnifexes plus Warriors and Biovores. Spend your other ~500pts on troops, upgrades and venoms and you'll have a very flexible list.

 xttz wrote:
Even without the bonuses, Bio-blast is going to be pretty useful for just letting you ignore the FOC and spam heavy support MCs all over the board, most of which are pretty effective. About ~1300pts will get you a HT, Exocrine, T-Fex and 5 Carnifexes plus Warriors and Biovores. Spend your other ~500pts on troops, upgrades and venoms and you'll have a very flexible list.

Are you using both a Bio-blast and Living Artillery formation, or just putting all the fexes into the Bioblast formation? I'm not seeing 1300 for all that though

Still, this is a very promising formation at least for fun monster mash lists, so I'm happy about it

1035 for Bioblast with 5 fexes, 230 for Flyrant and 390 for Living artillery means you got about 1655 if you go 1850 you have 195 pts to go, if you go for 2K you have about 345 pts left.

Either way you will end up fielding a pretty powerful force

Congrats GW, you have successfully sold the old Scything Talons to Carnifexes for $14.99.

HQ) Walkrant with double devs
Troops) Vanilla Termagant + Tervigon
Elites) Venoms x 2
[Bio-blast + Living Artillery
Warrior Broods with stranglers x 2
Biovores x 3
Exocrine
T-Fex
Double-devourer Fexes x 2
HVC Fex x 1
SC Fex x 1

1850pts

8 MCs, 41 T6 wounds