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I’ve played 40k since v3, although I’ve barely had a game since v7.
Anyway, after buying a Boarding Patrol of Tyranids, I decided to have some fun and paint a really small force up. I’m one of those that buys models that I like the look of, and ignores the ‘meta’ thinking of what is most overpowered. I do however like to stick to codex legal builds.
And this is where I’m confused…

Part one
I bought some Raveners.
The instructions are pretty clear for the different chest ranged weapons, but I’m really confused with the melee weapons.
Despite having 6 arms the two arm build types in the instructions show either:
>Two sets of Scything Talons
>Scything Talons and Rending Claws

See images in spoiler tag.

The codex however allows for:
> Ravener Claws with 2 Scything Talons
> Ravener Claws with 2 Rending Claws
As far as I can gather from the codex, Claws are the ‘hands with long nails’, Talons are the ‘curved daggers’.
Whatever I build has to have Ravener Claws automatically. Looking at the weapon stats, the Rending Claw seems the better choice than the Scything Talon. Mind you, I do prefer the look of the 6 talons on the model than the little hands.
Can anyone give me advice on what arms to put on these critters to make it Codex compliant? The instructions in no way match the codex.



Part Two
Genestealers… These have 2 different coloured builds in the instructions. One with ‘hands/talons’ showing, one with just ‘hands/claws’.
The Codex only has an entry for a single weapon called “Genestealer claws and talons’.
Does this mean I can build these with a bit of a mix in the unit? As they’re 2 separate builds, will these suddenly become 2 separate choices in the next edition – or have they been 2 choices in the past? Do people give a crap how I build them? On a modelling note, I really don’t like the ‘live long and prosper hands’.
Which is the ‘Acid Maw’? I’m hoping it’s not the awful 'Pirates of the Caribbean' beard or the head with the scrote hanging off the chin.



Thanks for any help and advice.

'Ravener Claws' are the unswappable sets of talons in the top and bottom arm slots. Yes it's a little annoying that they used the word 'claws' for these, as they look like talons. But it's the only way the model makes sense. It's just the middle set of arms which are swappable between scything talons and rending claws.

Up until the 9th edition codex genestealers used to be able to swap one set of arms for scything talons, but since then both of these weapons have been consolidated into a single profile. So in regular 40k it no longer matters which you have on the model.
Note that kill team still differentiates between these weapons in case you plan on using them for that.
There's no telling if 10th edition will go back to making their scything talons separate again.

The acid maw head is the one with the scrote chin. Feel free to use a different one. Personally in the past I've used the tentacle heads for that, as I had a bunch assembled with those from 4th edition. Although in 9th edition the acid maw stratagem is kinda garbage so it doesn't matter much right now (I say that because although the stratagem says it caps at 6 mortal wounds, there is no way in the codex to roll more than I think 3 dice for it, and genestealers can't roll more than 2)

Genestealers have a lot of legacy options not relevant to the current codex. And who knows what will be in the next one.

I personally use the tentacle face for acid maws, although the one with the junk on it’s chin is probably the “correct” one.

The talons used to be a lateral sidegrade you paid for, then was free, now is just cosmetic. I use them to differentiate units. Swarm 1 has hands, swarm 2 claws.

Also, in a 100% not supported by the codex action, I used 32mm base extenders on my stealers. Because let’s face it, with all those arms going everywhere, you are never going to actually get into true base-to-base contact anyway, and they look better and are more stable on larger bases.

The tentacle face is “feeder tendrils” I think, which was an option in 4th Ed IIRC.

Always magnetize when building minis. Rules change, minis stay.

 p5freak wrote:
Always magnetize when building minis. Rules change, minis stay.

This is solid advice, especially for the raveners. Nid arms are actually pretty easy to mag. (Full disclosure, I’ve not built that specific kit, but this hold true for all the other plastics)

A bit harder for genestealer heads though. Of course, I don’t think you can play nids without accidentally accumulating more stealers than you could ever want. They get bundled with everything. So glue what you want, and when the rules change, just clip and build a few new guys with the right options and swap into the squad.

Also, most players are probably not going to know the difference between all the stabby bits on nids anyway. From a WYSWYG POV, it’s a close combat bug that blends what it touches. Do people care if it’s got the option that’s slight better vs. MEQ, or the one better at clearing GEQ? No. If you end up with something that threatens things like tanks, or has other unusual features, maybe. But that’s just my opinion from a casual POV. YMMV.

Personally my motto with magnets and Tyranids is if its a Warrior or Larger use magnets; if its smaller - eh don't bother.

That's not to say you can't, just that you get diminishing returns for the amount of fiddly time you have to spend working with the magnets.

Gaunts and Genestealers have very few options compared to the likes of Warriors, Carnifex and Hive Tyrants.

For the duel build models I tend to just stick to weapon arms. Exocrine is pretty easy to do as a full swap in forms, but most of the others are a bit more involved to let you switch between the two forms.



In the end how far you go depends on you, but that's my stance not to go too overboard with magnets.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the replies. That's helped a Tyranid noob out loads.

As for magnets, having just magnetised every single weapon option available on HH Contemptor, Leviathan, Spartan, Proteus and a Rhino (including magnets inside the hull while building so I can add on dozer blades, searchlights, every single hatch option, hunter killer missiles etc), I don't want to see another magnet for a while :-)
Actually, I'll probably use magnets on the Hive Tyrant I have, but the rest can be fixed, and if I play 10th and the options change dramatically, the models will be WYSINWYG. I do wonder if it will be much harder getting magnets into 'rounded' tyranid joints though.

The big reason I like warriors and larger for magnets is units like warriors, tyrants and carnifex in particular have 2 weapon sets per model. What can happen is not just that the best weapon choices change between editions but that legal setups can change.

So if you fix all the arms you could end up with units that aren't actually allowed to take what you've equipped them with.

The worst thing with tyranid arms, esp things like big venom cannon and such is that they can droop with magnets. You can often get around this by attaching a small brass rod to one part and having a hole in the other - basically pinning without the glue. The magnet does the holding and the pin just stops the part rotating

It is only slightly more difficult to magnetize ball and socket joins. Putting the magnet in the socket is easy, your drill will naturally want to rest in the right spot. Finding the right spot/angle on the rounded ball join is a little harder. You need to make sure you have the right angle, and then just use your knife to get a starter hole and work from there.

I’ve set up my tyrants and carnafexes for swaps, but just glued warriors and smaller.

Nids have avoided the worst of “No Model, No Rules” by the virtue of have full, flexible old kits for most of their stuff. If they do get updated there is a chance options will go to Legends.