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I'm in a rough spot on Tyranids.

I love them. They were my first army back in 3rd edition. The idea of this writhing horde of creatures, all genetically engineered to be perfect killing machines, that swarmed planets and evolved to fight every new threat they've faced... it was pretty awesome. But now I say Tyranid and all I see are Big Bugs, some swarmy-shooty targets, and flying bugs. Ultimately though, they come across as just another army. Used to be that army-wide Fearless at times, while "run away immediately!" at other times was interesting, but now it's pretty standard it seems. There's been some new bells and whistles over the editions; Mawlocs, Hive Guard, and Hive Crones... but those have ultimately been just new units of the same army. The true feel of the Tyranids has been lost, and part of me asks if it was ever even there to begin with.

So I put my noodle to work, and I think I've come up with a solution. Let Tyranids be the "mutable" army. Something that really does adapt to fight each and every opponent in their own unique way.

What if Tyranids had a "Mutable" rule for some weapons or some units that would allow them to change up a unit's composition or wargear before the game begins? Lists of weapons that are good, but not great, against something, and pretty bad against others. Sometimes you want a Barbed Strangler for infantry hordes, and sometimes you want something with punch for going against vehicles. You normally can't take both, you'll be locked into your selection before seeing what your opponent's brining.

Example: wrote:
Mutable: If a player purchases a Mutable biomorph, they may replace that biomorph with any other biomorph from the same set of options when they are deployed or arrive from reserves.


Hive Tyrant Weapon Biomorphs;
- Venom Cannon........................................................10 points
- Barbed Strangler......................................................10 points
- Mutable......................................................................15 points

A player can save points by purchasing one or the other, or can "prepare for anything" by taking the mutable option and making the choice when the Hive Tyrant is deployed or arrives from reserves.

This can even be taken further by giving Mutable to required options that cause the unit to drastically change battlefield roles!

Example: wrote:A brood of Biovores must be upgraded with one of the following pairs of biomorphs;
- Sporelauncher & Lumbering Form........................5 points
- Pyrosacs & Bounding Leap....................................5 points
- Mutable.......................................................................10 points

To make this work though, the Tyranid weapon list has to be massively altered. Here's a few suggestions:

- Make the Venom Cannon a 2-shot S4, AP4 gun with Poison 2+ and Haywire.
- Make the Barbed Strangler slow down whatever it shoots at by 3" during their next move.
- Devourers get to reroll to-wound rolls and are short range, Fleshborers are longer range, and Spinefists give an extra attack in close combat.

Some snazzy ideas there! I've also been kicking around thoughts about making tyranids feel more adaptable. Your ideas seem sound and certainly worth playtesting. A few thoughts on your weapon suggestions:

*Your version of the venom cannon mostly makes sense, but haywire feels a bit off. I see what you're going for with it (acid doing superficial damage easily to a vehicle), but would it perhaps be better to simply make it armorbane since the acid is made specifically to melt through vehicles? I'd be fine with your version too.
*That barbed strangler idea is snazzy. What would you do with the stranglethorn?
*Agreed on the "little guns." Would this change TL-devourers with brain leech worms?

Other ways to approach all this that I've been poking at:
* A "Perfect Predator" detachment (or whatever one wants to name it) that lets you choose from a list of generic bonuses for the entire army during deployment. You might be adapted for speeding thus boosting your entire detachment's movement rate, letting them automatically roll a 6 on their run moves, or letting them assault after running. Or maybe you have "Gene-Tailored Chitin" that gives your whole army an invul save that is one step worse than that unit's invul save (minimum 6+.) Or maybe you're adapted for fighting on this planet's terrain and have stealth and MTC as a result. That sort of thing.

*I like the idea of mid-combat mutations as either an upgrade or a formation. Sort of like Ymgarl stealers, but more prevalent throughout the formation. Not exactly canon for 'nids as a whole, but I love the idea of a tyrant with ymgarl genes morphing his gun symbiote into a pair of bone swords or turning the mass into ablative armor as he identifies and prepares to engage a threat.

I really like the idea of having the "Mutable" trait. It would certainly add more flavor to the army.

Here's an idea I thought of, just as a brain storm:

Some weapons have the Mutable quality. When firing a Mutable weapon, it has the AP equal to the armor save of the last target it shot at (starting with AP -). If the last target it shot at is a vehicle, it gains the Armorbane special rule until it shoots at a non-vehicle unit.

I also think they should bring back User strength based ranged weapons. That just seems like it makes sense.

The user strength-based weapons were cool and fluffy, but also probably a lot harder for the designers to work with. Rather than designing a single weapon, they'd really be designing a weapon for each strength value and platform that can take it. It would be cool, but I imagine it's easier to simply design "big devourer" and "little devourer" rather than making something that has to factor in the strength of a carnifex, a tyrant, a warrior, and a gaunt.

I was thinking on how to apply it to mid-game weapons. I'd call those Ymgarl (insert name). It'd probably also be considered a biomorph. My only concern is that you'd end up with a single option that, due to your opponent, is clearly the best option each turn. You can counter this by making it such that you have to change upgrades each turn, but army-wide that becomes a whole lot of info to track. Hence why I was thinking just sticking to mutable being based on when the unit is placed on the table. Still, I definitely think they can and should expand upon the Ymgarl factor! It's too cool and flavourful to let go!

Maybe that'd be the "Perfect Predator" voltron-detachment bonus. Every turn you could pick a bonus to apply to the whole army, and be allowed to do so multiple turns in a row.


I also wish they'd bring back strength-based ranged weapons. It made a ton of sense for a Carnifex's gun to be way stronger than a Warrior's.