WarCom: The Tyranids are the big headline threat in the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 – did this prominence inform any of the decisions you made when writing the Codex? The setting of Warhammer 40,000 is violent and pessimistic. It depicts a future where human scientific and social progress have ceased, and human civilisation is in a state of total war with hostile alien races and occult forces. It is a setting where the supernatural exists, is powerful and is usually untrustworthy if not outright malevolent. There are effectively no benevolent gods or spirits in the cosmos, only daemons and evil gods, and the cults dedicated to them are proliferating. In the long run, the Imperium of Man cannot hope to defeat its enemies, so the heroes of the Imperium are not fighting for a brighter future but "raging against the dying of the light". [18] Through constant sacrifice and toil, the Imperium delays its inevitable doom. The tone of the setting has led to a subgenre of science fiction called " grimdark", which is particularly amoral, dystopian or violent. This comes from the game's slogan: "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war". [19] It is not known whether the crashed bio-ship was on a scouting mission when it was lost, was a casualty in a pre-Imperial Tyranid invasion force that was defeated by unknown adversaries, or part of a plan by a Tyranid super-intelligence that may have "seeded" the galaxy with many such slumbering broods.

The arrival of the Hive Ship and its escort vessels heralds the next stage of a Tyranid system invasion. As a powerful synaptic node of the Hive Mind, the Hive Ship disrupts the Warp in a radius of several light years. By the time one of these massive voidfaring creatures has arrived, it is often too late for a planet to send out an astropathic or other psychic cry for help. The Tyranids are not native to the galaxy; they have journeyed across the unspeakable cold of the void, where time and space conspire to hold the stars apart with inconceivable distances. This carpet of the dead may, of course, also include those Tyranid organisms that the defenders have managed to overcome. Their deaths hold little meaning to the Hive Mind. They have served their purpose, and will serve the swarm once more after their corpses are devoured. In official tournaments, it is mandatory for players to only use Games Workshop's models, and those models must be properly assembled to match the player's army roster; substitute models are forbidden. For example, if a player wants to use an Ork Weirdboy in their army, they must use an Ork Weirdboy model from Games Workshop. [11] Games Workshop has also banned the use of 3D-printed miniatures in official tournaments. [12] Public tournaments organised by independent groups might permit third-party models so long as the models are clearly identifiable as to which Warhammer 40,000 model they are meant to represent. Tournaments might also have rules regarding whether armies are permitted to be unpainted or must be painted to a certain standard.

Tyranids in 10th edition

Rich: The new Codex contains the most diverse set of ways to collect and play a Tyranid army that have ever been presented, while simultaneously containing some of the most streamlined and user-friendly rules ever designed for the faction. As a result, a Tyranid Hive Fleet must use more conventional forms of biologically-induced reaction-based propulsion during the final approach to a new star system, which can slow their arrival by Terran years or even entire solar decades. Whilst this form of propulsion is ultimately slower than a reliance upon the Warp-Drive, it is a great deal more reliable and allows the Tyranids to move slowly, if implacably, across the galaxy.

Mawlocs - The Mawlocs are a subspecies of the Trygon. They are worm-like and blind, though they are incredibly agile despite their size. Their short claws are not suited for close combat, rather to tunnel efficiently under the battlefield, although they are by no means defenseless. They prefer to swallow their prey whole to be digested alive for several days. Despite being blind, the Mawloc can gather information of the surface through pressure waves since they can travel through solid and fluid objects below ground. When a Mawloc begins to home in on the enemy, severe tremors errupt on the surface, which can tell the Mawloc where its prey is with more accuracy. If the sound is regular and rhythmic, it is easier for the Mawloc to home in on. Even a heartbeat will tell it where its next meal is. Norn-Queen • Hive Tyrant • Neurotyrant ( Neuroloid) • Broodlord • Neurothrope • Tervigon • Tyranid Prime • Trygon Prime • Malanthrope New Rippers are continuously created to propagate the cycle of gluttony. As the planet's surface is depleted, similar bioforms deplete all of the life in the oceans and within the planet's crust. Eel-like Rippers swarm through the oceans in massive swarms devouring all of the native sealife. Burrowing variants expand the tunnels dug by Trygons and Raveners, consuming subterranean fungus, root systems, and any burrowing fauna. At the same time that this rain of devastation begins, those Genestealers and Lictors which have already infested the planet reveal themselves. Using the knowledge that they have obtained and the hybrid fauna they have spawned, these creatures sow confusion through the ranks of the defenders. By selectively targeting officers and communications hubs, the infiltrators can effectively delay or even compromise a planet's defences. From the smallest feeder organisms, to the microbes that decompose new biomass; from the sessile and rooted flora-like forms, to the huge tendril-like shoals of the hive fleets, every Tyranid organism has a place within the will of the Hive Mind.Should a psyker attempt to use their otherworldly abilities, the cerebral cacophony worsens even further; the psychic sound of a billion alien thoughts scratch at their mind, and unless they are particularly strong-willed they will be pitched into an insanity where they will repeatedly utter phrases in a tongue too alien to properly pronounce. This means that, by the time the Shadow in the Warp falls, it is already too late; these beleaguered planets are effectively on their own. They must fend for themselves and face the Tyranid swarm with the weapons they have to hand, or die in the attempt. Larger, more complicated, Tyranid bioforms have been grown to make limited decisions appropriate to current stimuli and situations, but even these actions are subordinate to the goals of the Hive Mind.

Hive Guard - The Hive Guard are charged with protecting Tyranid structures and are capable of unleashing salvo after salvo of intense firepower. Essentially gun-beasts, they are heavily armoured in a shell-like carapace and have a body designed to be a stable firing platform for the massive impaler cannon bonded to their forelimbs. Physically linked to the shard-beasts that comprise the ammunition of their cannons, Hive Guard can target enemies with unerring accuracy - even those who they cannot see because they can receive sensory impressions from the shard bests in mid-flight. The three Tyranid species most active during this stage are Vanguard Drone Ships, Lictors, and Genestealers. These bioforms share two critical characteristics for identifying new target planets and performing infiltrations: stealth and independence. All of the organisms involved have physiological abilities that are focused upon concealment. These talents are exploited to the utmost, so that they can initially observe the native environment safely. As there are often a very limited number of Tyranids involved at this stage, these specimens exhibit an uncharacteristic degree of self-preservation. ranges with devourers, deathspitters or even heavier bio-cannons. Whatever weaponry it wields, a Tyranid Warrior is a dangerous and unforgiving foe, able to identify and exploit the weaknesses of its targets with innate shrewdness. Worse, with its alien consciousness permanently bonded to the ageless Hive Mind, a Tyranid Warrior can instantly draw upon a reservoir of knowledge and experience that spans epochs, should its own prove insufficient to the task at hand. [4]

Combat Patrol Tyranids

At the same time, the cult's hybrid members, united by a smaller psychic gestalt known as the Broodmind, begin to emit a collective psychic signal through the Warp that acts as a beacon for the approaching Tyranid hive fleet. Rippers - The Rippers are small, snake-like organisms designed to devour biomatter so that new DNA and nutrients can be absorbed by the Hive ships. They are released in the final stage of a Tyranid invasion. As their time in the system is both brief and stealthy, Imperial agencies may remain completely unaware of the foreboding intrusion. In those cases when a drone ship is identified, it must immediately be considered the highest priority target in the system, as destroying it before it can deploy its cargo may significantly delay any Tyranid intrusion.

Every weapon, gland and projectile used in their armies is a bioengineered Tyranid organism in its own right, from the spores polluting the atmosphere, to the grotesque spires that burst from the tortured ground during an invasion.

In those instances when sheer numbers prove inadequate to overcome the planet's defences, the Hive Mind may direct larger strains to assist in the battles. For those planets with extensive defences, the swarm may grow exceptionally large creatures. Specimens of the Dominatrix and the Hierophant strains have been observed which are comparable in size and strength to Imperial Titans. As this happens, many of the Capillary Towers are also broken down so that their biomass may be reabsorbed. Finally, the planet's atmosphere, and then the last few massive Capillary Towers, are absorbed into the Hive Ships.