Tyranid Fandex: 6th Edition

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**Unyielding Hunger**

So, I got bored and decided to release a Tyranid fandex if for no other reason than to speculate on what things might look like in this new edition. I would love to get feedback and suggestions for improvements, for all those that play with or against our beloved Tyranids. I will be updating this kind of piece meal as I figure out how to balance each section of the army.

Some of the guidelines that I thought were important:
-These guys swarm, and drown you in weight of numbers.
-They have an advantage in the sheer number of large creatures they can throw out.
-Flying units have been addressed in this Edition, so Tyranid flyers need some attention to bring them in line.
-The Tyranid swarm is known to adapt quickly.

HQs:

Spoiler:

Elites:

Spoiler:

Troops:

Spoiler:

Fast Attack:

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Heavy Support

Spoiler:

**Formosa**

Looking good, few pointers though, tyrant should.not get free toxin and adrenal.glands, these would be auto.takes otherwise and if so, why not just put it in its profile.

A few of my suggestions,
Heavy venom cannon becomes assault 2 no blast or ap 3 blast
Brain worms ap5
Spike rifle str4 ap4 assault x 18"
Warriors need t5 or 25pts each.
Regen to change to "it will not die"
Naked fex for 125-30pts and option for 2+ save
Harpy 140pts and similar options to fex
Tyranofex ( this one may get me shot lol) 4 wounds, 200 pts
Acid spray 25pts str 6 ap3, rupture cannon str10 ap d6, fleshboror hive str 5 ap5 heavy 20 range18" brainleech
Thats some of em

**Unyielding Hunger**

Formosa wrote:
Looking good, few pointers though, tyrant should.not get free toxin and adrenal.glands, these would be auto.takes otherwise and if so, why not just put it in its profile.

A few of my suggestions,
Heavy venom cannon becomes assault 2 no blast or ap 3 blast
Brain worms ap5
Spike rifle str4 ap4 assault x 18"
Warriors need t5 or 25pts each.
Regen to change to "it will not die"
Naked fex for 125-30pts and option for 2+ save
Harpy 140pts and similar options to fex
Tyranofex ( this one may get me shot lol) 4 wounds, 200 pts
Acid spray 25pts str 6 ap3, rupture cannon str10 ap d6, fleshboror hive str 5 ap5 heavy 20 range18" brainleech
Thats some of em

Thanks for catching those upgrade bloopers. Fixed. As for the weapons, I am going to try and not mess with those for now. I am putting out some work now on balancing out the elite options, and the thing that has me concerned is just making sure that choices become valid. Also, making Deathleaper seem like a mainstream competative choice is difficult. Also, the elite section is now up.

**Formosa**

Sorry if I'm missing something... But ib on lictors needs to go, pyrovores needs acid spray and torrent rule, flesh hooks on deathleaper need to force an enemy to accept a challenge...get over here lol, doom is a bit cheap.
Could you explain the 1-9 choices for certain entries, also when you get round to making the harpy make sure it can take twin linked devourers with worms, as at the moment all it can do to other flyers is... Nowt

**Unyielding Hunger**

Formosa wrote:
Sorry if I'm missing something... But ib on lictors needs to go, pyrovores needs acid spray and torrent rule, flesh hooks on deathleaper need to force an enemy to accept a challenge...get over here lol, doom is a bit cheap.
Could you explain the 1-9 choices for certain entries, also when you get round to making the harpy make sure it can take twin linked devourers with worms, as at the moment all it can do to other flyers is... Nowt

Excellent points, however, some are misguided. The reason why the lictors have instinctive behaviour is because they are not genestealers or synapse creatures. They must have the instinctive behaviour tests. Also, Flamespurt is more than capable of handling the damage that a Pyrovore should wield. Torrent is a tough sell, simply because most people are already disinclined against the pyrovore, and also, Torrent would justify raising the price of the unit, therefore making it much more difficult to balance out with the rest of the elite units. Deathleaper is really tricky, because that would most likely make the character too powerful. As is, he is more survivable, while cheeper, allowing you to spend those extra points elsewhere to bolster your hordes. Besides, as 6th edition has come out, those flesh hooks technically already give you the chance to strike at a major character in a unit. Most of the time, these troops sit in the back, or the middle, or something along those lines, so as long as you deploy the lictors and deathleaper closest to that model, the enemy will have to roll wounds on that character. As for the devilish little Doom of Malan'tai, I actually raised the price from the codex. What would you suggest as a better price? I kept the price higher, but still low, in order to take into account that most people will place the Doom of Malan'Tai inside a drop pod, which will raise the price of the model anyways.

As for the options on boosting certain numbers of units, I felt it was an option due to the fact that many of these units would be simply killed by the large amount of firepower that is present in 6th edition. Keeping costs low allows for suitable battlefield losses while still allowing these units a chance to fight back and give as good as get. Also, there are a disproportionate amount of people who buy Pyrovore models for use as biovores, and this gives them the chance to display them all in all their goodness, as intended. What was your opinion on the numbers, though? Also, Harpies are a ways away, and no promises.

**Formosa**

Fair enough, your points are well made, another thought I had ( again contraveracial) is rather than 1-9 venomthropes in a brood, keep it 1-3 but allow them to be attached to a unit.
As to troops, I have always thought 14 pts for a stealer is too much, 12 seems fair to me, but then it's may be too cheap, gaunts are fine and warriors are far far too expensive for what they can do, as I said before 25 pts each or leave.them as is but make them t5.

**Unyielding Hunger**

Formosa wrote:
Fair enough, your points are well made, another thought I had ( again contraveracial) is rather than 1-9 venomthropes in a brood, keep it 1-3 but allow them to be attached to a unit.
As to troops, I have always thought 14 pts for a stealer is too much, 12 seems fair to me, but then it's may be too cheap, gaunts are fine and warriors are far far too expensive for what they can do, as I said before 25 pts each or leave.them as is but make them t5.

Honestly, I did try to come up with a way to attach venomthropes to infantry, but could not come up with it. As is, I think we must deal with the simple truth that we will just have to put them between two units as a sandwhich. If you have an idea that wont break the meta and turn an elite unit into a scoring unit, i am all ears.

Also, just finished up the troop section, and I kept some areas the same. I do agree that it is expensive for a genestealer unit, however, they are an elite close combat infantry unit, so they do deserve some sort of price tag above and beyond. Your remark on the warrior toughness made me frown. To be honest, the warriors are every bit as fragile as their smaller counterpart, and it is a theme of Tyranids that most of their units have T4 or less, except when you get into the big boys. However, tell me what you guys think about the Ripper swarms. I tried to make them seem far more valuable, and hopefully they are. I took away their ability to spinefist with the buff, that way things wouldn't get insane. My thinking was that rippers are the most abundant form of tyranid bio form, so they needed to be relatively cheap, and extremely dangerous if they get close. After all, these things are the primary harvesters, digesting everything the hive fleet needs.

**rigeld2**

I think you have some typos in the Warrior section - only one Deathspitter in the brood and no heavy weapons?

As far as Venomthropes go... make them ICs, just like Sanguinary Guard.

Compare your Rippers to your Hormagaunts. Now tell me why I'd ever choose Hormagaunts. 2 points cheaper per base when you add AG/TS, triple the wounds and the blast/template vulnerability is not that big of a deal (especially with triple the wounds and cheaper). Mindless sucks but at 160 points for a full unit, throwing a Prime in there for 50 is just fine. 890 points gets you 120 AG/TS rippers plus 2 primes. What army can deal with 360 wounds at 1k points?

**chrisrawr**

Easiest way to put venoms into squads is to look at wolfguard really. Same with yer biolobbers and flame mutts, they should all be able to turtle into hormie/termie swarms.

**Formosa**

Remember tyrants used to be able to join other units, this is where "shoot the big ones" came from, now I'm not saying bringthat back, but allowing genome to join a unit would be fine,
As an ic can already, and the unit still scores

**Happyjew**

Formosa wrote:
Remember tyrants used to be able to join other units, this is where "shoot the big ones" came from, now I'm not saying bringthat back, but allowing genome to join a unit would be fine,
As an ic can already, and the unit still scores

While they were able to join units (all Tyranid MCs could at one point), they were able to be picked out for shooting. Shoot the Big Ones! just removed cover provided by units.

**Unyielding Hunger**

Well, I would like to say in my defense that I am relatively new, and I don't actually have much information on the early Tyranid codexes. I fixed the heavy support typos on the warriors, and bumped up the prices on the rippers. On the venomthrope issue, I do agree, and tried to modify it to be more like the wolf guard/sanguinairy guard, however, I don't know precisely how they made it possible, however, I think i got it right. If you guys know the proper way to make squads of ICs, I am all ears. I will be working on the Fast Attack and Heavy Support sections soon, so keep suggestions and the feedback rolling. Oh, and before I forget, why do you think the pyrovores should be allowed to join other units like the venomthropes?

**rigeld2**

You make a squad of ICs by ... making a squad and giving all of them the IC rule.

Wolf Guard aren't ICs, they're "special".

I think you went too far on the Ripper points - they're 10 ponts per base right now and ... so you save 4 points per base on decking them out (AG/TS) and give them an extra attack?
Not bad, but not sure if it's ideal either.

**Unyielding Hunger**

Well, the trick was to make them more expensive than a hormagaunt, in order to match their increased firepower capabilities. The trick with this thing is trying to make each unit actually useful for competetive play. More expensive, but with some marked advantages. Also, makes an interesting option for a Parasite of Mortrex themed army.

**rigeld2**

Making them more expensive than a Hormagaunt assumes that Hormagaunts are costed correctly in the first place.

**Unyielding Hunger**

rigeld2 wrote:
Making them more expensive than a Hormagaunt assumes that Hormagaunts are costed correctly in the first place.

Making a hormagaunt cheaper is probably a bad idea. For wound saturation, do you really think it's even remotely fair to have a unit that costs even 4 pts? that 120 pts for 30 wounds. At 2k, thats 360 wounds in troops, for just under 1,500 pts. I'm sorry, but you would win just through tar pits, regardless of the army at that point. As is, I don't think I have ever heard of a person complaining about Termagants or Hormagaunts being too expensive or too undercosted. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. However, always up for suggestions, provided they are well written and have substance behind them. Justify a lower costs, and I'll consider it.

**rigeld2**

I'm mostly thinking about the upgrade costs. In a shooty edition (6th absolutely is) having the melee version of our gant cost more than the shooty version, especially when the shooty version gets free AG/TS is just ... weird. 10 points for a maxed Hormagaunt, 5 points for a naked Termy that gets free buffs from momma. And Counter-Attack.

**Unyielding Hunger**

No one ever said a codex was consistant. Unfortunetely, this is probably one of those controversial areas in any codex. Bright side though, is that Hormagaunts have that extra attack, which from a cost perspective, should make them more expensive than a shooting unit. If you could, tell me what you think of the fun little buff on the pyrovore.

**rigeld2**

What - making the brood bigger? Still a useless model. It's most useful when people charge it (for wall of death hits) but it's pathetic in CC. Spending 360 points for 9 worthless models doesn't make it a good thing.

**Formosa**

Hence why I suggested acid spray and torrent rule, 12"+ templat would make then nasty indeed and possibly worth the cost

**Unyielding Hunger**

Actually, it should have decent combat skills now. It ignores armor saves and wounds on a 2+. Also, autowounds anything that wounds it.

**rigeld2**

• Acid Blood - Decent, but you only have 3 wounds to "throw back" and it's an I test, not automatic.
• Acid Maw - For it's one attack, it ignores armor saves.
• Toxic Touch - I missed this the first time through - again, only 1 attack.

9 of them is 360 points. We'll have them charge 9 naked SB/PF Terminators (same points and FOC slot, neither are CC oriented units). Everyone swings at the same time.
Vores: 18 attacks, 9 hit, 9 wound, 6 failed invul saves, 6 terminators die.
Terminators: 18 attacks, 12 hit, 10 wound, 10 dead Pyrovores. 9 wounds, 3 fail the I test, 2 invuls fail. 4 explosions, 1 wound, no failed saves. Total 8 terminators dead and they won the day.

I don't see that being a good use of points. I did skip firing the flamers - that might make a difference, but I doubt a significant one and it's hard to mathammer flamers.

**Unyielding Hunger**

So, keeping flamespurt, what would you suggest to make it more even and on par?

**rigeld2**

An average Init, more attacks... give them an actual role instead of something like "LOL I HAZ A FLAMAR!"

**zephoid**

This was my codex that i made quite a while ago.

http://www.mediafire.com/?9f6y6qfl6axa1it

Poor formatting though. Never got around to fixing it up into codex formatting. Got sick of the terrible 5th codex and finally abandoned it to build more into my eldar army.

I dont like a lot of the design decisions you made. Mostly with not combating a lot of the problems with the current codex. Tyrants are too costly, lictors are still useless, pyrovores are still useless, hive guard are still the go-to unit for the codex, slots are still congested, fexes are still overcosted, tervigon still exists, ect.

edit: sp

**Unyielding Hunger**

Unfortunetely, they are rather slow and gangly, as a matter of course and balancing with biovore attacks and initiative. I wonder, what if there was a decrease in cost, while giving it an armor save upgrade option? They would get some more survivability, while still being an anti horde unit, like they were imagined to be. Sound fair?

**skycapt44**

I've skimmed the discussions so far, what do people think about getting some invul saves on some of the bigger bugs. IE Tyrant, tervigon, trygon etc? We do have FnP available but I feel with the size and toughness of these bigger bugs we should have some invul saves.

**Unyielding Hunger**

I actually looked at Invul saves for a while, but i scrapped that idea. Invul saves to me, justify high priced units, and that seemed to be the exact opposite of how Tyranids appear. Still, if you can find justification and examples for where an invul save is warranted, I suppose we could speculate. The problem seems to be the fact that the only beings in the Tyranid swarm, Swarmlord included, that is sufficiently psychicly powerful enough to receive a save are the Zoanthropes. Everything else is so focused on combat in general that they have developed significant armor, and therefore get a high armor save.

**zephoid**

Inv saves largely dont make sense for nids. The zoan has one because its whole existence is dedicated to creating it. The trygon should have one as it did in the IA4 forgeworld version as the electric field it generates could detonate shells or disrupt electrical weapons before they hit.

FnP should be more widespread and should be an option for the tyrant. Either as a power or just an ability to give to others.

Old catylist needs to be brought back as it was the nid's solution to lack of grenades that was really fluffy.

Endless swarm needs to replace the tervigon as that creature makes no tactical sense at all.

Giving gaunts or rippers the ability to scout would make a lot of sense as they are often the precursor to the actual armies.

Rippers need something, im still not sure what as their purpose is largely a non-game feature (reclaiming biomass).

Warriors NEED to be T5 2W.

genestealers need a rule to allow assault out of outflank and infiltration.

Tyranid Prime is too good for 50 points. Nids really dont make much sense having an IC either. Make him perm attached to a unit but gain the movement abilities of the unit (shrikes, wings; raveners, beasts)

Pyrovore needs a S5 AP3 6" torrent flamer. expensive unit, but very strong vs MEQ.

Biovore needs some type of flak barrage vs fliers. S6 AP- ignores cover, concussive. Make them pay for the upgrade but be able to fire any mine type.

**skycapt44**

Understandable. Perhaps we could look at increasing the armour saves ? I mean if a terminator shrugs of bolter fire with a 2+ save you would think a Tervigon or trygon could do the same. It's a grey area for sure so I'm not sure what to do about it. Nids do have access to a lot of FnP options which essentially gives them a invul save for brief periods. I always had a hard time with the tervigon 3+ and the trygon 3+. I feel they should be 2+ similar to that of the tyranofexx. I just find it hard to belive that a massive trygon or Tyrant gets a 3+ saves and so does a space marine.