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It's a nid-playing freind's birthday coming up, so I thought that I'd buy him something nice and gribbly. So, simple question-is the Anphellion project a good buy for a Tyranid player?

Thank you in advance.

It is a very good buy - some unique units in there, some very good background and stories, and as usual *gorgeous* artwork.

Obviously the Trygons rules have changed since publication (twice...) but there are lots of other units that cannot be found elsewhere -yet.

Trouble is your friend may just want a Harridan after that...think armour plated dragon

Dude, I'm a nid player! And my birthday's coming up! OMG!!!

nosferatu1001 wrote:Trouble is your friend may just want a Harridan after that...think armour plated dragon

Oh my...

Klawz wrote:Dude, I'm a nid player! And my birthday's coming up! OMG!!!

If we didn't live in entirely different continents, then I'm sure i would buy you one too Klawz .

Seconded. One of the best possible presents for a Tyranid player (next to the Harridan that is ).
New units, nice pics, good story.

Great book for background/story and pictures. I would pass if you're only interested in the gaming aspect because the army lists are outdated by a lot. Good news is FW will eventually FAQ the army portions to bring them in line with 5th edition.

Note 1- this book might have even been updated already.
Note 2- I like the book and I'm not really a Nid fan.

nosferatu1001 wrote:It is a very good buy - some unique units in there, some very good background and stories, and as usual *gorgeous* artwork.

Obviously the Trygons rules have changed since publication (twice...) but there are lots of other units that cannot be found elsewhere -yet.

Trouble is your friend may just want a Harridan after that...think armour plated dragon

This.

They're also supposedly FAQing the Elysian "Detachment 99" list included in it, which is essentially hardcore Elysian Veteran squads who are experienced Tyranid fighters seconded to the Ordos Xenos.

Add in the floorplans for the Anphelion Complex(which can be scanned, enlarged AND used for Space Hulk!) and you've got a good buy that he'd get a hell of a lot of usage out of.

So, it seems pretty conclusive. The Anphellion project it is then! Maybe this means he'll get me something for my Birthday this year....

....nah .

Nearly all the rules are outdated now.

That said, it's by far the most readable of the IA books - the smaller scale makes it much more engaging. Also, the missions to replay are much more meaningful as they portray significant parts of the conflict. (compared to vraks, for example, where any 40K battle is going to be a tiny, insignificant skirmish).

Scott-S6 wrote:Nearly all the rules are outdated now.

That said, it's by far the most readable of the IA books - the smaller scale makes it much more engaging. Also, the missions to replay are much more meaningful as they portray significant parts of the conflict. (compared to vraks, for example, where any 40K battle is going to be a tiny, insignificant skirmish).

Of course the rules are outdated now?

The book was done in the last edition, and all 3 Codexes involved have since been updated.

However, as was mentioned:
Forge World is revisiting all their army lists. Taros Campaign, Anphelion Project, all 3 Siege of Vraks books.

IA8, however, is where the "revised" Taros Campaign Elysian list will be.

I was just making the point that the book isn't worth buying for the rules. It's still my favourite of all the IA books (and I don't play nids)

You don't buy Imperial Armour books for the rules in the first place. They're background pieces.

You may not but I do. Also, Nos has suggested that there are "lots" of units with rules "not found anywhere else". This is not the case.

The only things not covered in IA-apoc (or the normal apoc book) are:
brood nests
spore chimneys
capillary towers

That said, the nid rules don't appear to have kept changing like some of the others so most of the other units are still valid if you don't have IA-apoc
malanthrope
mycetic spores
heirodule
heirophant
trygon (apoc rules)
harridan

IA-Apoc's rules overwrite IA4's, just like Apoc's rules for the Trygons were overwritten by the Tyranid codex.

But again, it really doesn't matter since we're getting free PDF updates this summer.

The IA apoc rules are identical to the ia4 rules for the items I listed.

Also, the trygon's rules for apoc are still in force and are not over-ridden by the codex.

If you check IA-Apoc2, it has a handy list of where the current rules for every unit can be found. (this would have been much more handy had it been on the website so that it could be up-to-date though)

Be aware that Apocalypse rules are for Apocalypse games and don't necessarily invalidate rules for normal games. Even if you might want to use them.