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Ok, so one of the main reasons I can't get behind Nids as an army anymore is the lack of personality (Just a mindless swarm). However, I always seem to remember waaayyyy back in my Epic days that Nids DID have sentience (Individual Nids that is, like a Tyrant would communicate telepathically with his enemies). I cannot for the life of me remember the book it was from.

So tl;dr: Does anyone have any fluff material where Nids were actually sentient creatures (At least the Tyrants)?

Zoats?

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Zoats

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Colossus_%28Hive_Fleet%29

In the newest codex, the Swarm Lord is bordering on sentient IIRC.

Do genestealers count? (Due to their ability to establish a following of non-tyranid creatures.)

Don't all astropaths/psykers that encounter 'transmissions' from the hive mind go insane/die from trying to interpret them?

Why would the Tyranids communicate with the other races? It's the equivalent of me talking to my lunch.

Well Tyranids still are (often primitive) sentient beings, the Hive Mind just controlls their minds and actions. And this is okay, as Tyranids are the ultimate animalistic Xeno horde, you won't discuss the weather with an Alien Warrior, right?

Does anyone remember when Nids could have any other race fighting for them as Mind Slaves, think it was in the same White Dwarf as Zoats, Brood brothers and the old Screamer killer.

The Ymgarl Genestealers are kind of sentiant.

I feel sorry for the poor little guys though.

They're constantly trying to get back to the main swarm but the Hive ships don't want to absorb them because the genestealers are hyper hungry (side effect of their formshifting)

So they always get left behind after the Nids are done.

I specifically remember an older Dex that had a caption saying "We must find the meat things...". Maybe it was the original Epic rulebook?

obsidianaura wrote:The Ymgarl Genestealers are kind of sentiant.

I feel sorry for the poor little guys though.

They're constantly trying to get back to the main swarm but the Hive ships don't want to absorb them because the genestealers are hyper hungry (side effect of their formshifting)

So they always get left behind after the Nids are done.

Where'd everybody go...

Now I want to model some sad Ymgarls...

I wish they'd bring back the Red Terror, swallowing units was just so fun.

Who says you can't have personality!? There are some really cool ripper models, "comedy rippers", in the Painting and Modeling section that are quite literally some of the most characterful models I've ever seen.
Actually, I found them, they're right here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/329994.page

I love it, EmoStealers FTW

Footsloggin wrote:I wish they'd bring back the Red Terror, swallowing units was just so fun.

The Mawloc is what the Red Terror always wanted to be but couldn't because of the small size.

Meh if you want an all-destroying alien race that talks go with Orks. They gots lots of interesting things to say.

What was the first Epic Ruleset that Nids showed up in?

I believe Epic Tyranids were introduced with Epic 40,000 (3rd edition..) just before it sank without trace. Hence the premium on Epic 'Nids on Ebay..

Nahh. Epic Tyranids appeared in the Hive War expansion for 2nd Edition Epic and were hugely popular in our store.

endtransmission wrote:Nahh. Epic Tyranids appeared in the Hive War expansion for 2nd Edition Epic and were hugely popular in our store.

THAT'S IT. Awesome...now to find that book...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok, thanks to endtransmission I finally found what I was looking for. In Hive War, a psyker is ordered to tap into a Devourer rifle that the Imperium had found and put in stasis. He reads it and says;

"We hunt the meat things, the enemies of our maker. He knows our need to plant our seed within them.....

We hunted the meat things to lay the young eggs within their flesh..."

etc. That was just a gun in the old school Nid fluff! Back when Nids were sentient/intelligent and cool.