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So, I had this little idea that unlike most armies, Tyranid don't really benefit from a standard decurion formation, but rather excel under a rites of war system with the give and take. I'm not looking to propose anything game breaking, just looking for feedback and possible testing on these to try and refine them.

Anyhow, the first rite I wanted to propose is a simple one to tackle the biggest issue that most people identify with tyranids, which is to say warriors.

Rite of War: Alpha Strain

Detriment: Lose all elite force organization slots. Must purchase at least 1 Tyranid Prime per CAD.

Gain: Aquire 3 extra Fast Attack slots per CAD.

Strength in Numbers: As long as a unit of Raveners, Shrikes, or Warriors has at least 4 or more models, when it comes to the distribution of wounds in relation to instant death, treat their toughness as being one higher. As long as the unit has at least 7 or more models, treat their toughness as being one higher than that. (So, a unit of 4 requires S10 to ID, while 7 or more are immune to it until they take more wounds.)

Edit: Update 2 (Take this next one with a grain of salt.)

Rite of War: Monstrous Mass

Detriment: Lose all troop slots and no units containing models without either FMC or MC can be purchased. In addition, all models in this CAD do not have scoring and objective secured. Instead of 2 mandatory troop choices, instead bring 1 mandatory full brood of carnifexes.

Gain: All FMC and MC in this CAD gain FNP (5+), as well as a +1 to their regeneration modifier. If the model already has FNP, improve it by 1. The modifier for regeneration has no effect if the model does not have regeneration.


This is what I have for now. I'll work on the rest as I go, with at least 1 more for horde, and flying lists as a focus. Let me know what you guys think.

First one essentially cripples an already low-tier army. You lose all Elites, so your Zoanthropes, Hive Guard and Venomthropes are gone, just for the chance to make your Warriors a little bit more resilient to ID, which is fine since they're just as easy to blast away with anything stronger than a Heavy Bolter.

Second one, you appear to want to make an all MC army, yet the Carnifex tax leaves you with fewer points to make this happen. Just make it so Carni's can be taken as Troops, HS and Elites choices, without having to be a full brood.

This is not how Rites of War work. You don't loose slots. You just change how they can be filled. You also do not gain free rules or discount points in any way. Rites of war very specifically do not change the cost of anything. They just add and take away options so that you can gain access to ways to build a list that would not otherwise be possible while restricting you to the RoW theme.

Examples:

Subterranean Assault:

-Raveners may be taken as troops.
-Trygon Prime may be taken as HQ.
-1 Trygon Prime must be taken as a HQ option.
-Trygon may be taken as Fast Attack

-No jump or fmc units may be taken.
-No Tyrannocytes may be taken.


Skyblight Swarm:

-Gargoyles may be taken as troops
-Shrikes may be taken as troops
-Mandatory 1 Shrike and 1 gargoyle brood as your mandatory troop options.
-Mandatory HQ Hive Tyrant that must have wings.

-All units must be jump or FMC or come deployed in a Tyrannocyte.


Living Artillery:

-Biovores may be taken as Troops
-Hive Gaurd may be taken as Troops
-1 Mandatory Troop option must be a Biovore Brood.
-1 Mandatory Troop option must be a Warrior Brood.
-1 Exocrine Must be taken as a Heavy Support

-Warrior Broods must purchase a Biocannon
-HQ options must be a Hive Tyrant Or Tyranid Prime.
-HQ choices must take a biocannon or The Miasma Cannon
-Any Carnifex taken must take a biocannon



Note - It does not say "X MUST be taken as Y". It says "MAY". Which means gargs and Shrikes can still be taken as fast attack giving you 9 slots to fill with the nids jump infantry or allowing you to fill out the many troop slots with them and saving for FA slots for Harpys and such.

You adjust units around to fit a theme that suits a particular tactic. THAT is a RoW and they are MUCH better than formations.