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Has there been any lore written (whether in codex or novel form) in the past 10-15 years (i.e. not original Rogue Trader stuff) where the Tyranids can be warped by the Warp?

I know they don't willingly travel through the Warp, and I know that they can go into the Warp (there are specific stories in the current Tyranid codex where they are thrown through a Warp Storm to another part of the galaxy).

So in short, is there any way for Tyranids to be twisted / changed by the Warp or by Chaos (that is official canon)?

There was one piece I recall where a hive fleet was infected and subsequently mutated by a nurgle virus. Unsure if it was retconned.

 miniwargaming wrote:


So in short, is there any way for Tyranids to be twisted / changed by the Warp or by Chaos (that is official canon)?

2 codices back, so the one prior to the cruddace one, there was reference to a splinter fleet being spat out of the warp near the eye of terror, mutated beyond recognition into forms more terrifying etc etc. I think it was on the little map.

The warp mutates even inanimate objects like walls and what not so I don't really see anything as being immune to at least some of its effects once it enters the empyrean.

Basically, it comes down to relative local power. If there's enough Tyranids to generate a strong enough Shadow in the Warp, then they suppress local Warp effects.

If not? Then the bugs can get all kinds of nasty.

There was something about a group becoming mutated by Nurgle ages ago. However Tyranids don't use the Warp to travel, are immune to Chaos mind fething, and go around Warp Storms, so they don't have many issues with the Warp in general.

 Psienesis wrote:
Basically, it comes down to relative local power. If there's enough Tyranids to generate a strong enough Shadow in the Warp, then they suppress local Warp effects.

If not? Then the bugs can get all kinds of nasty.

I always viewed Shadows as an on/off mechanism. Does if have varying degrees of power based on population?

Yes. It is, in fact, entirely dependent upon, and caused by, the Tyranid population.

Previously the Tyranids did use the warp to travel. Then came GW's stupid narvhal retcon which was unneeded and which caused more problems by creating havoc with previous background. Previously, the Tyranids used warp travel but were protected from daemons by their sheer gestalt power. If a fleet was weak or cut off from the Hive Mind, then it could get mutated just as individual Tyranid creatures can be killed by diseases or be affected by warp powers.

Didn't a fraction of Kraken survived being thrown in and eventually out of the Warp by the Eldar.

Yes. That's the basis of Valedor. It was a pretty big splinter fleet, though.

Storm Of Iron also had the iron warriors using a tyranid hive ship which they'd infected with the Obliterator virus as a mass transport.

locarno24 wrote:
Yes. That's the basis of Valedor. It was a pretty big splinter fleet, though.

Storm Of Iron also had the iron warriors using a tyranid hive ship which they'd infected with the Obliterator virus as a mass transport.

But we don't know how the infection was implemented, it obviously wasn't in the heat of the battle.

 Tyran wrote:

locarno24 wrote:
Yes. That's the basis of Valedor. It was a pretty big splinter fleet, though.

Storm Of Iron also had the iron warriors using a tyranid hive ship which they'd infected with the Obliterator virus as a mass transport.

But we don't know how the infection was implemented, it obviously wasn't in the heat of the battle.

That's an interesting example, and Forrix (the Iron Warrior general who's POV that chapter is from) goes into a little depth.

He notes that the Iron Warriors infected the Hive Ship's neural pathways with the Obliterator virus, cutting it off from the Hive Mind (both from the creatures it controls, and the greater mind controlling it). I would imagine a boarding action to deliver the virus to its brain would be the way to go; mature Hive Ships have far too much armour to penetrate with a ranged weapon if you're targeting the brain. This of course rules out Chaos magically summoning the virus into its brain... but the Shadow should interfere with that if you've reached the point where you have a Hive Ship in play.

This wasn't enough to defeat it though; Iron Warriors sorcerers spent an unspecified (but implied to be significant) amount of time mentally trying to overpower the bio-ship, and finally they were able to drag it off to the Eye of Terror where they turned it into a monstrous cyborg zombie Hive Ship, used to ferry large numbers of Titans (an Imperator and all its friends) from world to world.

Cutting Tyranids off from the Hive Mind to make them easier to defeat is something that gets touched upon every now and again. There has never been a quick, easy means of accomplishing it though, and never on a significant scale.