A Genestealer hybrid of four or more generations of consistent Human parentage would pass for a baseline Human on cursory inspection, although a closer look would reveal bluish skin, sharp, pointed teeth and unsettling behaviors. Daemons invaded the moon of Baal Prime, annihilating a great portion of the Leviathan's invasion swarms. They were led by Ka'Bandha, the ancient nemesis of the Blood Angels, who had determined that he and he alone would be responsible for the destruction of the Blood Angels. 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. It is unknown if the Shadow in the Warp is created deliberately by the hive fleets, or if it is simply a by-product of the Hive Mind's innate synaptic control. In any case, the Shadow in the Warp creates fear and panic wherever it falls, instilling a pervasive dread into the minds of a prey world's defenders, plunging entire planets into misery and despair.

The massive Warp presence of the Tyranid Hive Mind, however, manifests itself in that realm through the Shadow in the Warp phenomenon. The current collection of Tyranid hive fleets have migrated to the Milky Way Galaxy, presumably after overpopulating or overfeeding in other nearby galaxies of the Local Group. The Orks have proven troublesome as GeGenestealers are bipedal, standing in a perpetual crouch, and have two sets of arms, one equipped with Human-like hands, one with powerful ripping claws. Their dense musculature and the distending hinge of their jaw allows the generation of incredible bite-pressure. [4a] However, on closer inspection their alien form is revealed. They have heavily ridged heads, mauve to violet skin, and may even hide an extra clawed limb under their tattered clothes. Taking a fully upright stance, the Third Generation Hybrid is reminiscent of many mutants in Imperial society. Their foul features go unnoticed in the underhives of many Imperial worlds. 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 Tyranids travel in great fleets of gigantic living creatures that serve as spacecraft, each of which is home to countless lesser Tyranid organisms grown in the bubbling organ-sacs of the vessel's reproductive chambers.

Tyranids Codex release date

Tyranids appear in a multitude of genera, and all have an extremely rapid rate of evolution directed by the Hive Mind, adapting to threats in direct response to their presence. Tyranid matter is constantly reabsorbed into biomass reclamation pools to create new species and adapt existing ones to suit the Hive Mind's immediate purpose. In the latter days of the 41st Millennium the galaxy-wide cataclysm of the Great Rift tore a ragged wound across realspace, signalling the beginning of a new age of darkness, the Era Indomitus of the Age of the Imperium. Once these abominations have eaten all they can, they slowly drag their bloated bodies towards digestive pools formed by the Capillary Towers. Rather than spewing the devoured biomass into the pools, the Rippers hurl themselves in, to be digested along with all that they devoured. The Tyranids cannot be reasoned with, appeased or surrendered to. There can be no hope of mercy from such a foe. To face the Tyranids is simply a matter of survival: kill or be consumed.

The mutable, inconstant psychic energy of Chaos provides none of this vital sustenance. With every passing season, more planets and systems are swallowed up by the roiling tide of empyric madness, denying the Tyranids the precious biomass that sustains them. Along the battlefront, Termagants use their ranged weapons to lay waste to opposition, while Hormagaunts boldly engage any opposition in close combat. These xenos, along with other variants of the Gaunt genus, may be found in swarms of hundreds coordinated by Tyranid Warriors. Another physiological anomaly that Genestealers display is the redundant respiratory and circulatory systems inherited from their host species. Furthermore, they exhibit vestigial digestive systems. Some specimens even have complete stomachs, although these are superfluous given the efficiency of the phage cell.

Tyranids Battleforce

Vast swathes of the galaxy have already been stripped of life, and with every passing Terran year the hive fleets push deeper into regions of populated space. Even as the prey races direct their forces to repel these threats, still more Tyranid fleets approach from the intergalactic void and emerge from their aeons-long slumbers.

Genestealers were the first Tyranid species to be encountered by the Imperium. But before the Imperium had knowledge of the Tyranids as a species, they believed Genestealers were a separate species indigenous to the moons of Ymgarl (using leech-like creature called Csith as main host for reproduction) [11] but then spread to other planets by infiltrating passing cargo ships and derelict Space Hulks. [1a] It is believed Genestealers were introduced to the moons of Ymgarl in M35 from Hive Fleet Tiamet in the Tiamet System, carried inside the Imperial vessels that were sent to destroy the system. [2a] In 680. M41, the first Genestealer Cult was encountered by the Imperium on Ghosar Quintus. [9] The Magos Biologis of the Imperium categorises each Tyranid hive fleet as a separate force, an individual entity that competes with other hive fleets for resources. Indeed, each is self-sufficient, appearing to exhibit different strategies and developing unique creatures to overcome its prey. Tyranid Warrior ( Shrike) • Ravener • Genestealer • Gaunt ( Termagant • Hormagaunt • Barbgaunt • Neurogaunt) • Ripper ( Sky-Slasher) While the swarm will readily sacrifice thousands of bioforms to take a single metre of ground, it will not waste them needlessly. Alternative strategies are consistently employed, as the Tyranids are clear masters of adaptation. It is worth noting that the battlefront swarms that cross the planet's surface do not typically devour the planet's defenders. Rather, they leave a swathe of refuse in their wake to be consumed by the next wave of organisms.As they grow, they may even modify the planet's tidal flow as their powerful metabolic filtration systems draw in all biomass. The only effective recourse at this stage is Exterminatus. Planets which have been subdued by the Tyranids are no longer salvageable. 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. 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.