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When Lictors debuted, they had a haematoxin ability that meant that when a model gets wounded by them, it is guaranteed to slowly die. Basically it was a 2e Implant Attack, and these days they're one of the few large combat-oriented Tyranids who can't take this biomorph. Additionally, their fluff lists many instances of them eating a prey-thing's brain and gaining intel from assimilating their memories, and of them targeting prey leaders for assassination.

So, here's the house rules I propose, inspired by my alternative Malanthrope rules:

Lictors have Implant Attack biomorphs for no extra cost.

Special rule: Assimilation.

The Lictor's role being to act as a scout for the Hive Mind to learn about its prey, it has evolved Feeder Tendrils that enable it to devour the brains of prey and assimilate their memories to gain valuable intel. The knowledge of prey leaders with high-level strategic intel are of particular value to the Hive Mind. If a Lictor unit survives the battle having inflicted Instant Death on any HQ units that are Independent Characters or Monstrous Creatures, the owning player scores an additional Kill Point or Objective for each of these killed units.

Note that some HQ units may take a retinue which makes them count as being a member of a unit. These models will still yield Kill Points or Objectives even if they are not behaving as Independent Characters or Monstrous Creatures at the time of death!

Note: it is recommended that sporting players consider C'tan and the Eldar Avatar as having the Eternal Warrior USR.

I like it.
Have you watched Starshiptroopers 2 Hero of the Federation?

I've thought myself recently on how I'd like to change lictors to make them more usable. I like and agree with both of those, although the kp bit only matters most in a third of the regular scenarios. How about, once it's killed an enemy, it giving preferred enemy against all units of the type killed to the rest of the army, as long as the lictor is in synapse range?

And maybe, if you were generous, allow them to assault on a turn they enter? I get that this is more of an overhaul than a tweak, but it depends on how open minded your opponents are.

The PE thing is cool, in fact this is pretty much how they behaved in the previous edition. It was localised, I think in a 6" bubble around the Lictors. There's a slight problem in balancing this in 5ed, where PE is a LOT more powerful; partly offset, I imagine, by the large number of existing re-rolls in the Tyranid army and the relative ease in dealing with Lictors.

Perhaps the assault rule could be best represented by lifting from the Ymgarl Genestealers?

It is indeed a throwback to 4e, as I rather liked that rule. But yes, I can agree that there are a few more re rolls in the new units so fair enough. Which bit of the ymgarl rules were you referring to about assaults?

When Ymgarl Stealers arrive from Reserve, they're placed within a terrain feature (chosen during deployment) and may move and assault.

How about this for the 'Assimilation' rule:

The Lictor's role being to act as a scout for the Hive Mind to learn about its prey, it has evolved Feeder Tendrils that enable it to devour the brains of prey and assimilate their memories to gain valuable intel which it can pass on to the rest of the Swarm. If the Lictor brood breaks or wipes out an enemy unit in melee, it gains the Old Adversary ability (usually only available to Hive Tyrants) for the remainder of the game.

The knowledge of prey leaders with high-level strategic intel are of particular value to the Hive Mind. If a Lictor unit survives the battle having gained the Old Adversary rule as a result of a round of combat in which any HQ units that are Independent Characters or Monstrous Creatures were casualties, the owning player scores an additional Kill Point or Objective for each of these killed units.

Note that some HQ units may take a retinue which makes them count as being a member of a unit. These models will still yield Kill Points or Objectives even if they are not behaving as Independent Characters or Monstrous Creatures at the time of death!

This makes it clearer that the Lictor has to feed without distraction on the brains of a freshly slaughtered prey; didn't fit to make them able to suck the brains out of a Farseer whilst the bodyguard stand there waiting for it to finish .

Allow the lictor to allocate wounds as the controlling player pleases (they are very capable assassins afterall) , and if a casualty is inflicted, reduce the opponent's LD value by 1, to simulate the horror of the Lictor literally eating their squadmate's brain out.

That and allow them to assault the turn they come on... Then they would work well as IC killers, or a good means of killing off that hidden Power Fist.