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So we know what we will see next - from the terrain article: ''...come back next week for a look at the Tyranid leader from the cinematic trailer who’s strong enough to tear a Terminator in two.''

Some people say that there is a new Ripper behind that Drop Pod. I am not sure as it may also be a new Termagant's head but I may be wrong as well.

There also the claws of something else on the blurred red background areas near the doors on the left.

 NAVARRO wrote:
There also the claws of something else on the blurred red background areas near the doors on the left.

Harupsex tongue

It's a death world jungle terrain piece that they normally use for xenos photography

Dudeface wrote:

 NAVARRO wrote:
There also the claws of something else on the blurred red background areas near the doors on the left.

Harupsex tongue

Yeah, it looks like one to me.

Rippers were posted in a now-deleted Tweet

Mouth looks slightly bigger and smirky but meh pretty much the same from what I can say.

There's not really much you can change on a ripper unless you go for that ripper swarm base that FW did. Considering that they might still have regular rippers on other sprue that aren't being updated, it makes sense that they might be a slight upgrade but not a big refresh.

Ripper bases like the FW ones would have been nice. Nurglings got that treatment in plastic, and even Scarab swarms became more swarmy looking in the new Necron kits.

The other change I'd have welcomed would have been a ripper kit that gave us winged rippers

 Overread wrote:
There's not really much you can change on a ripper unless you go for that ripper swarm base that FW did. Considering that they might still have regular rippers on other sprue that aren't being updated, it makes sense that they might be a slight upgrade but not a big refresh.

Spine ripper, horned ripper, winged ripper, cortex leech, heel ripper, 2nd ed ripper... some of the things they could have explored. Or FW nurgling like clusters since they are sticking to bare minimums in concept updates. But no you got 4 or five disjointed minis on a base.

Main difference with the rippers is that the eyes look like they're below the carapace, instead of peering out through holes in it. Which matches the rest of the tyranid range better. It's now just some of the forgeworld models (hierodules, hierophants) which still have that look.

Hierodules and maybe even the Hierophant ought to be converted over to plastic to give Nids a plastic lord of war. Probably the Hierodule, since it could be a Knight equivalent, would fit on a knight base, and has at least a ranged and cc focused version.

Dodgy photo shop aside, does this solve base sizes? Looks like 25mm gaunts and 40mm Ryan's to me

Not seeing 25mm bases but could be wrong

Yeah I'm pretty sure those gaunts are on 28mm. Definitely 40mm for the leapers though.

I'm keen to see how the new Termagants compare sizewise to the ancient 2nd ed plastics. Those were a bit too small ... but the 3rd ed plastics were a bit too big.

If the new ones strike a happy medium, it might be possible to get naturalistic variation in creature size by mixing sculpts from all three eras into the same brood. (Plus the old metals if you've got them.) Might make them seem more like hordes of real living creatures and less like model kits.

Alternatively you could use each era of sculpt for a different brood--all the 3rd ed plastics in brood 1, the new plastics in brood 2, that sort of thing--so that they're easy to distinguish on the table when crowded together.

(I have a motley collection going back to late 2nd ed, so just thinking aloud.)

 xttz wrote:
Rippers were posted in a now-deleted Tweet

4 Rippers per base? After Necron's Scarabs, I expected them more crowded there, like 5-6 per base.

Big missed opportunity here, FW rippers are still the golden standard.

 Shadow Walker wrote:
So we know what we will see next - from the terrain article: ''...come back next week for a look at the Tyranid leader from the cinematic trailer who’s strong enough to tear a Terminator in two.''

Just caught this- that's a weird brag, since that's been within a normal genestealer's wheelhouse since terminators were introduced.

 Shadow Walker wrote:

4 Rippers per base? After Necron's Scarabs, I expected them more crowded there, like 5-6 per base.

Rippers were always individual. People just defaulted to 3 because that was their wound characteristic for years. 3 models for 3 wounds and it also let you field more without having to buy legions of kits.

So even now you could put 4, 5, 7 or however many you can squeeze onto a base.

Voss wrote:

 Shadow Walker wrote:
So we know what we will see next - from the terrain article: ''...come back next week for a look at the Tyranid leader from the cinematic trailer who’s strong enough to tear a Terminator in two.''

Just caught this- that's a weird brag, since that's been within a normal genestealer's wheelhouse since terminators were introduced.

Genestealers have always been known to slice right through terminator armor, not rip them in half.

Also through sheer strength so no cutting or slicing motion involved.

It's been my experience that a lot of Marine players these days don't seem to think that Genestealers should be much of a threat to Marines.

I'd like to see something turn up that actually scares the beejezus out of them again.

Not that I'm bitter.

Hooray for new rippers. Just like with the new scarabs, I wish they were a bit more massed like nurglings (or the FW version, as seen below). Just a tidal wave of fangs sweeping over anything in their path. I guess if you accumulate enough, you could make your own waves, but that could take awhile

I have six of those FW Ripper bases and while I love them to bits, the ~$80 USD was not the greatest cost they inflicted upon me.

 catbarf wrote:
I have six of those FW Ripper bases and while I love them to bits, the ~$80 USD was not the greatest cost they inflicted upon me.

Given the cost of three nurgling swarms is $35 USD, it's "funny" that the FW kit only cost a bit more.

Since these swarms are likely to come included in another unit, I guess it's not too bad that there aren't that many on the bases. Hopefully some of the other new nids will include a few on their own bases that can help supplement the swarm

4 rippers on a base just doesn't feel like a swarm to me. Maybe a gang, or a pack, but not a full swarm.

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
4 rippers on a base just doesn't feel like a swarm to me. Maybe a gang, or a pack, but not a full swarm.

As much as you can think of Rippers or Scarabs as a free addition to another kit, I'm not a fan of being limited by how much of the parent kit you buy. It naturally leads to stretching out your swarms to get the most out of the limited number of critters you have. I actually prefer swarms as their own kits provided they're sculpted to look like swarms. Even if it means paying extra. My Tomb Kings swarms always looked much better than my Necron swarms.