White Dwarf has given us matched play legal rules before – typically in the form of Space Marine Successor Chapter rules – but with issue 471 we’re getting our first taste of rules legal for matched play that are likely to make an actual splash in the competitive scene. As part of its Flashpoints series, White Dwarf 471 introduces a Tyranid Army of Renown, the Crusher Stampede, which focuses on the larger models the army has to offer.
In this article Wings is going to go through the new rules, then turn things over to known Tyranid enthusiasts Innes Wilson and Gunum to give their thoughts and build some lists. Our hot take up front is that these rules look very powerful, and while they’re part of the Flashpoints series, there’s a designers note that makes it clear they’re legal for all types of play, so if you’re a Tyranid fan you should definitely be picking up a copy of this issue.
Army Construction and Bonuses
Armies of Renown are defined by their restrictions and this one is no different in that sense. If you wanted a return to the “Nidzilla” Tyranid lists of yesteryear, Games Workshop has finally created the army for you.
Restrictions
These are pretty straightforward – you can’t have any Swarms or models with fewer than 3 wounds, and for every non-MONSTER unit you need to have at least one MONSTER unit. Also, every unit in your army needs to be drawn from the same Hive Fleet, so no sneaky Genestealer Cult detachments allowed.
That is, obviously, a fairly hefty restriction – it doesn’t cut you off from Troops entirely, as you can (and should) bring Tyranid Warriors, but you lose access to the cheap objective chaff that is one of Tyranids strengths, something that will be particularly impactful with the upcoming secondary changes.
Benefits
So what do you get for giving up your devilgaunts, Genestealer Cultists, and mixed hive fleets? A host of benefits for your big nids. Your Monsters become Hulking Behemoths, which prevents them from getting Hive Fleet Adaptations but gives them a 5+ invulnerable save, lets them reduce incoming damage by 1, and makes them count as their number of wounds remaining when determining objective marker control, e.g. a Carnifex with 8 wounds remaining would count as 8 models.
Your non-MONSTER units also get the Shielded by the Hive Mind benefit, which also prevents them from getting adaptations but also gives them a 5+ invulnerable save.
This all absolutely rules up front – damage reduction is one of the best defences available in 9th, an army-wide 5+ invulnerable save is a huge deal, and monsters counting as lots of models is extremely good too – right up front there, the option of dropping a Mawloc in on an opponent’s objective and immediately stealing it by counting as 12 models is extremely funny. Like some of the other Armies of Renown, you also don’t lose your HIVE FLEET keyword, just the adaptation – which right now, means you should probably run this as Leviathan 100% of the time, and enjoy all their juicy stratagems.
On top of these benefits, you get access to the Crusher Stampede Traits, Stratagems, and Psychic Powers and oh boy is there some good stuff here.
Warlord Traits & Psychic Powers
Crusher Stampede WARLORDs get three new traits to choose from, while PSYKERs can pick from the three powers in the Mass Convergence discipline (which is a hell of a name).
Trait-wise, the most exciting is probably Raging Influence, which is an aura of extra hits on 6s in melee for MONSTERS, which will usually include the Warlord themselves. Exploding 6s is generally extremely good when you’ve got decent numbers of high-quality swings coming in, and this army can absolutely provide that, and it being an aura helps you really dominate the mid-board. If you just want to buff the Warlord themselves, you can instead take Rampaging Beast for +d3 attacks (determined the first time you fight each turn), which is generally slightly better for the model with it than the aura, but less good for those around them. Tyranids have quite a few ways to fight more than once, so this can provide serious value over the course of a turn if you want an apex killer.
Last, and probably least, you get Savage Intimidation, which makes the warlord extremely scary (as if they weren’t already), giving nearby enemies penalties to their to hit rolls and combat attrition debuffs. It’s fine in a vacuum, but with Nids still restricted to only having traits on one model, you almost always want something proactive in play.
That’s kind of the main challenge all of these have – they’re competing against bringing Swarm Leader for the full unit of Hive Guard this AoR still allows you to bring. As Leviathan, you do have the option of taking one of these and one of the Leviathan traits on one model via Alpha Leader-Beast, and I think it’s plausible that competitive lists might try out Raging Influence alongside one. All of these are perfectly good fun for more casual lists – they all do powerful stuff to make your bugs better.
The Mass Convergence Discipline
There are three Psychic Powers here and they’re pretty strong – the deal here is similar to Marines in that each psyker has to take all their powers from this list instead of the Hive Mind Discipline, but there’s enough strength packed into these two of the three choices here that you’ll probably want to do so.
Synaptic Barrier and Aggressive Surge aren’t complicated, but are both good, clean fun that most lists will want. The former gives a model a 4+ invulnerable save, perfect for whichever giant beast you’re yeeting into the opponent’s lines this turn, while the latter gives a model +d3 attacks.
As with the warlord trait, there are quite a lot of ways to compound the benefits of that in this army, so this is really worth having. The last power is once again not bad but also probably not worth the slot, giving a non-SYNAPSE unit re-rolls to hit in melee – not actually bad, but firmly not something you ever need. The other two are something you want a caster for pretty much every time though – good stuff.
Stratagems
So this is where things get wild – the concentrated power in these is on a par with the Leviathan supplement, and hey, now you can use both!
Leading the charge is the absolutely ferocious Thunderous Impact, which for 2CP gives a MONSTER +1 to each of hits, wounds and damage rolls against an enemy VEHICLE or MONSTER, at the cost of only targeting that unit this turn. That is one of the nastiest single buffs we have ever seen from a stratagem, and will turn already brutal things like the Dimachaeron and Hierodules into utter nightmares. It also lasts for the whole phase, so in theory you can combine it with Adrenaline Surge to go full-on sicko mode, especially if you’ve applied Aggressive Surge first, but you probably won’t need to given you can’t split attacks, and this gets many things well into “evaporate a knight in one swing” numbers. Right now, plenty of powerful lists put high value monsters into the mid-board, and this lets pretty much any of your monsters give them a terrible time.
Importantly, too, you can do that even if the opponent fights back before you get a chance to Adrenaline Surge, thanks to Death Surge, providing a Fight-on-death for non-CHARACTER monsters (the CHARACTERS already have Death Frenzy). Unlike most recent effects of this type, you can still use this if you have already fought, and when you use it you always operate on top profile. This only increases the value of throwing a buffed up monster straight into the opponent’s best units, because even if they somehow interrupt and mess you up, they’re still coming with you. Spicy.
The last key offensive tool here is Breaking Through, and it’s a very, very good one. This is a Mortals on Charge effect, something that’s been pretty varied in quality across books, but good news – it’s the best one that’s yet been printed, and it isn’t close. You use it when you charge with a monster, roll dice equal to their current wounds, then deal a MW (to a maximum of 6) for each 3+ if you have higher S than the target’s T, 4+ if you’re equal and 5+ in the relatively rare case of being weaker. This costs you a mere 1CP, and for what’s likely the extremely common use case of putting a 12 wound monster into an INFANTRY unit, it’s then a fairly reliable 6MW, which is exceptional. The Hive Mind has considered the problem of Drazhar butchering their precious monsters, and decided that they will simply step on him. Checkmate elves. I figure when playing this army your goal is to be slamming this button for profit as often as you possibly can.
On the defence, you get access to Unbreakable Chitin, which is “just” your standard Transhuman Physiology at 1CP for <=4 models or a MONSTER with <=10W, and 2CP if you’re above those thresholds. Extremely useful to have access to, though you are definitely aiming to save as many CP as possible for squashing your foes. Does also make large units of Tyranid Warriors a consideration, especially as you can further buff them with Hyper Adaptation, a pre-battle upgrade to boost their WS and BS for 1CP. While I’m leaving most of the list stuff to the experts, I kicked around a few things and felt you probably want to focus on monsters, but I can believe there turns out to be a role for Warriors, as you end up with a prodigious combination of defensive options between Synaptic Barrier, Unbreakable Chitin, and checks notes Unyielding Chitin. The chitin is tough, is what we’re saying here. If you favour shooty Warriors they can also now fire into combat as if they were a MONSTER with Enhanced Brain Functions.
Honestly the only stratagem here that’s anywhere close to a miss is Terrifying Charge, which lets you inflict -3Ld on something that’s within Engagement range of a MONSTER that charges this turn. Even this will have high situational value, as you don’t have to use it till the morale phase, and it’s one of the things where you will have extremely good information at the trigger point as to whether it’s worth it, and when it’s good it can be very good – kill one buggy, and it might be worth burning a CP on a coin-flip to take out another..
These stratagems rule, and the overwhelming problem you’re going to have with them is not having enough CP to be slamming the buttons all the time.
Our Thoughts
Wings
Really just some quick ones from me before I let the experts rampage over this – these rules are wildly powerful, but like a lot of Armies of Renown do come with real costs to unlocking them, and I’m hoping that results in them threading the needle to where they’re very good and competitively viable without being oppressive. I love a lot of what’s going on here – it’s always fun to see rules that are so splashy and cool that you start reviewing every compatible datasheet in a new light, and this 100% accomplishes that. I think one Mawloc should slither its way back into lists using this thanks to the extreme objective threat it now represents, while high attack beasts that weren’t quite deadly enough like the Trygon Prime get a big lift, all great stuff.
I will admit that on a first read I was a bit taken aback by how potent this is, but when you put together lists you do find that the limitations are real, and struggling for a third secondary is going to be a genuine challenge once ROD becomes RND (right now you can just go wild with Lictors). It wouldn’t shock me if a build emerged from this that was a bit much, but I can also see it landing about right, while also being a blast to play with and against. I definitely do expect to see builds in top fours out of this, and am excited to see which giant bugs end up the most popular. My only serious caveat on that is that I do think this is flat out broken with the Harridan, but given all the Ork Forge World Lord of Wars got Ramshackle errataed off them at speed after their codex landed, I’m expecting an “except TITANIC” rider to get slapped on the damage reduction effect here pretty sharpish.
That is only a minor complaint though, and overall I’m positive on this – Nidzilla is a fun archetype and it’s something the army should support, so it’s great to see it getting some love.
Innes
Let’s start with the easy bit. Conceptually I am in love with this Army of Renown. It is everything I have wanted from Tyranids for such a long time, in that it creates and incentivises lists running the monsters which are the reason I fell in love with the faction in the first place. For years we’ve maligned the Carnifex, the Trygon, the [insert your preferred non-Forgeworld, non-Hive Tyrant monster here]. And now they are here to absolutely power through your favourite units and T-pose on the ashes.
In a more specific sense this Army of Renown provides your monsters, and some infantry, with a very powerful defensive boost. Having an army wide 5+ invulnerable save, and all of your monsters doing their best Death Guard cosplay is worth the cost of admission if you’re going heavy on the monsters.
What that necessitates then is monsters good enough to be worth running. We are going to be losing our Leviathan Feel No Pain, but as we keep the Keyword all of the units will still have access to the Stratagems etc. from Warzone Octarius. You should play Leviathan with these rules. There’s very little reason to go outside of them, as all you’ll get is the Warlord Trait, Relic, Stratagem and Psychic Power, which Leviathan provides a much broader spread of. Kraken is the only one I’d even start to consider, but I think it will struggle.
So what monsters are worth running? Conventional Wisdom prior to the Crusher Stampede can more or less be disregarded, as the best monsters before had Invulnerable saves already and thus benefit less from the gain of one. Those monsters, like the Dimachaeron and the Swarmlord remain excellent. Turns out getting to lug around Iron Father Feirros and the Ironstone wherever you go is good enough even if you only benefit from half.
You can safely assume that The Swarmlord, Hive Tyrants, Dimachaerons, Both Varieties of Hierodule, and the Malanthrope remain competitively viable in this Army of Renown, and gain a decent number of rules. Scythed Hierodule in particular love not needing to take Dermic Symbiosis. More interestingly are the ones that go from not viable to very viable. I’ve picked my favourites to go a little more in depth on:
Stone Crusher Carnifex (specifically with Wrecker Claws): Little 4 attack battering rams with a convenient Damage 5 vs Vehicles and Monsters gain immensely from having defensive stats. At 115 points, these become wrecking balls that will take more effort than your opponent wants to kill for reasonably cheap.
Trygon Prime: This absolute unit had a little bit of trouble punching up, at S8 with murderous size it was definitely capable of mulching a small vehicle, but now with psychic powers like Aggressive Surge boosting her to 7+D3 attacks, and Thunderous Impact for the really big targets, there’s not much the Trygon Prime can’t rip to shreds. Her Synaptic link also provides a much needed source of Fall Back and Shoot/Charge, which can help Hive Guard out in a pinch, or give your midfield monsters a huge burst of movement. As the Crusher Stampede can’t benefit from Hive Fleet adaptations, Kraken isn’t coming to save you for fall back and charge making this much better than it is outside of the Army of Renown.
Harpy: I know, I know. But when all you’re wearing is a 4+ armour save, getting an Invulnerable save is an immense boost in survivability. But did you know that this little Flier is not in fact an aircraft? Meaning she can hold objectives, counting as 12 models. With a 30” move. And the ability to become Objective Secured through a Leviathan Stratagem. These little terrors are some of the best Tag Artists in the industry, and one of the most reliable users of an early game Breaking Through. Finally, they pack an aura fight last that triggers on charges, giving a very real amount of combat control to an army that lives and dies by the claw. Underestimate at your peril. Sadly I think the Hive Crone is still lacking in output, and doesn’t have the utility that the Harpy brings to make up for it.
Harridan: I’m trying not to think about this one too hard because I’m worried it’ll fly 30” outside my window and one-shot me as I type this. The Harridan was already fringe viable, depending on how your event rules it and deploying in Dawn of War. This definitely doesn’t hurt that viability. Gaining access to a Transhuman effect helps curb one of the weaknesses it had, as does fighting on death. It very consistently deals 6 mortal wounds, getting to roll 34 dice with Breaking Through before it takes damage. As an aircraft it suffers a little from not being able to lock things in combat, and it is 700 points, meaning you don’t get a whole lot else. If you want to make a game about one model, this is the way to do it.
Overall I’m super happy with this rules set. I think it gives you a lot of options on a different way to play Tyranids that carries over some of the power of traditional builds (namely Hive Guard) without being just pure upside. Losing Devourer Gaunts and Genestealers is a meaningful cost, and this version of the faction is much worse at scoring than a non Army of Renown counterpart. Genestealer Cult allies also factor into that equation, being a very good way of protecting yourself turn 1 and gaining great scoring options.
I think there’s a real world where this ends up being a problem child in the meta, but equally I think it could end up being too bad at winning games in the real world over the course of a 5-9 round event due to its poor scoring (or if you run whatever Gunum is).
As a list it’s way less vulnerable to a Hive Guard points hike or rules change that would be devastating to a traditional build though. Any future points drops on monsters (in say, the upcoming Chapter Approved 2022) could open up a lot more options here too. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have Harpies to paint.
Gunum
OHHHHHH YEAHHHH, I’m hype. We have arrived at a moment that I thought would never come. A day when the monsters should reign supreme, and we can enjoy them to their fullest. When we are looking at this kind of monster mash, the first thing, and really what should only be the only thing that I can think of, is the Carnifex. Now, I know what you’re thinking, Who needs an army of dreadnoughts? Well, dear reader, I would like to pose to you the question, who wouldn’t want to run an army of giant angry Cockroaches with Cannons strapped to their arms? The things provided to us by this new army of renown are almost immeasurable for true Tyranid players. Though we can do things like hive guard, or lame things like anything that Innes is suggesting. cough Dimachaereons and Harridans cough We can run truly rad things like my beloved Doom Balloons, the Tyrannocyte, and a legitimate Carnifex Swarm.
Sadly, for pure stratagem support, every list I think we’re going to see is Leviathan. I think there are arguments to be made to try and play some other options, but they’re probably not great. Thanks to the Hulking Behemoth special rule, none of our boys here will be able to get a Hive Fleet adaptation, So those chapter tactics are all pretty much useless for us. It then becomes looking at the stratagems, which ones can benefit us the most, and seeing that Leviathan is the only real answer. I was trying to not build a Leviathan list here, but it’s almost impossible.
Instead of going through every single unit that I think benefits from these changes, I’m going to try and focus just on the ones that I would see myself playing on a day-to-day basis. And that’s going to be the Tyranid warriors, the Carnifex, and the Tyrannocyte. Let’s throw a Hive Tyrant in there for good measure. What I think is going to be cool about these lists, is the pure durability we’re going to be having from the invulnerable save as well as the -1 damage. This allows us some interesting opportunities when we are looking at these units.
I can hear the masses already asking me, “Gunum, what the heck could you have in mind with these models? The Tyrannocyte is hot garbage, you can’t even start Carnifexes in them.” Which is a fair critique. But the list that I have in my mind, that I’ll be talking about just in a minute, is going to be focused around a couple of very great things that these models can bring to us that seems to be missing from the Tyranid Codex in general. One of those things is by providing entire units of Carnifex invuln saves. We finally have a type of brawler that can exist in the middle of the table. I have been on the hunt for something to fill this role in my list and seeing the Carnifex and the amount of customization it provides us as players provides us with something to challenge the table. When mixed with the pure shooting that can be put out by buffed Doom Balloons, I could see. The involved saves and the minus one damage begin to add up and almost feel like an oppressive match-up.
That’s before we even begin to talk about the different kinds of stratagems that we can now bring into play. When we are looking at things like thunderous impact or breaking through, suddenly our shooting base becomes a very scary close combat base. What I like about my armies is seeing the swiss-army-knife type of gameplay, where we’re able to look at different kinds of matchups and still be able to hold our own.
Army Lists
Innes
My first list makes use of a lot of tools common to current Leviathan lists, like Synaptic Link Warriors, and Rerolling Hive Guard, as well as some of the best of the benefactors of the new rules to try and provide a solid base of forward pressure to generate board control and let the Hive Guard do their job. Harpies provide board control and Spore Mine screening, while Dimachaerons try to do the damage. On Synaptic Links, I’m taking 3 sources of Bioweapon Bond for +1 to hit and a situational Feed from the Trygon Prime which can swap in for one of them in a pinch. [You can only use 3 links a turn, but the number you can include in the list is unbounded]
Tyranids Crusher Stampede – Hive Fleet Leviathan – Battalion Detachment
9CP, 1999pts
HQ
The Swarmlord – 240 Psyker (Synaptic Barrier, Aggressive Surge)
Neurothrope – 95 Psyker (Onslaught, Catalyst) Relic (The Void Crown) Warlord (Swarm Leader) Alpha Leader-Beast (Strategic Adaptation)
Malanthrope – 150
Troops
3x Tyranid Warrior, 6x Scything Talon, Synaptic Link – Bioweapon Bond – 66
3x Tyranid Warrior, 3x Scything Talon, 3x Lash-Whip and Bonesword, Synaptic Link – Bioweapon Bond – 75
3x Tyranid Warrior, 3x Scything Talon, 3x Lash-Whip and Bonesword, Adrenal Glands, Synaptic Link – Bioweapon Bond – 78
Elites
6x Hive Guard, 6x Impaler Cannon – 270
Flyer
Harpy, 2x Stranglethorn Cannon – 155
Harpy, 2x Stranglethorn Cannon – 155
Fast Attack
Dimachaeron – 255
Dimachaeron – 255
Heavy Support
Trygon Prime, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Synaptic Link – Feed – 205 Adaptive Physiology (Murderous Size), Relic (Biomorphic Carapace)
My Second list is a Harridan. We’re running Dermic Symbiosis on it so that it degrades at half speed to try and keep it in the game longer because whoo boy does this thing draw firepower. The rest of the list is designed to provide support and back up the scoring a little. We cut Hive Guard as there’s just not space in the list to give them the help they need. You could definitely go lighter on Dimachaerons if you wanted a more shooting heavy build, but I trust in the Dragon to get work done. A Flying Hive Tyrant specced for Resilience adds a bit more focus for our psychics and provides a scoring option with Warp Ritual or Psychic Interrogation.
Tyranids Crusher Stampede – Hive Fleet Leviathan – Patrol Detachment and Super Heavy Auxiliary Detachment
9CP, 1999pts
HQ
The Swarmlord – 240 Psyker (Synaptic Barrier, Aggressive Surge)
Hive Tyrant, 2x Twin Devourer with Brainleech Worms, Monstrous Rending Claws, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs – 215 Warlord (Perfectly Adapted), Alpha-Leader Beast (Strategic Adaptation) Psyker (Onslaught, Catalyst) Relic (Biomorphic Carapace)
Troops
3x Tyranid Warrior, 6x Scything Talon, Synaptic Link – 66
3x Tyranid Warrior, 6x Scything Talon, Synaptic Link – 66
Flyer
Harpy, 2x Venom Cannon – 165
Elites
Lictor – 37
Fast Attack
Dimachaeron – 255
Dimachaeron – 255
Lord of War
Harridan – 700 Adaptive Physiology (Dermic Symbiosis)
Gunum
OK, we’ve made it to the main event, it’s time for the big boys to go marching. When I made this list, I wanted a couple of things to be very clear right away. I want to be able to reach out and touch the opponent’s table without having to just punch them, and I want to have shooting that can affect multiple different kinds of toughness profiles. This is where the Heavy Venom Cannons on all my Carnifex, which would be 9 in total, and the heavy venom cannon on my Hive Tyrant come in. This is 10 d3, S9, -2, 3D shots, with a wonderful 43” threat range on a 3+ BS. This provides us a huge threat against everything and being a high strength and damage, even competing lists in the same style, have a high chance of taking a ton. Minus one damage is cool when it’s damage 2 coming at you, but my entire list is rolling in damage 3, which will start to add up. Our firing base of Fex being -1 to hit, -1D, and a 5++ is pretty awesome. It’s like having 9 Dreadnaughts that have smokescreen up at all times, and I dare you to tell me that doesn’t rock.
Next, we have the Doom Balloon (Tyrannocytes) ~ Tyranid warriors combo that I have been using often, Where the Warriors buff a balloon each to make sure they are getting the most use they can provide. This becomes a great backline of models, allowing our shooting from the barbed stranglers to focus on infantry and hordes, allowing the big guns a chance to fire at what matters. Carnifex is unique because we can build them in so many ways, from being minus one to being hit, two, giving them a neat little upgrade that isn’t used, often called Chitlin Thorns.(For those of you who don’t know, this is rolling dice for every model within an inch of the unit at the end of the fight phase, and on a 6 the enemy takes a mortal wound.) Chitlin Thorns is neat due to it activating at the end of -every- fight phase. Giving the Carnifex a cool ability to AOE hordes that may be trying to lock them down. I think something that we could see is people trying to swarm these, durable yet vulnerable models, to stop them from shooting at important targets, so having a turn-by-turn defensive upgrade that can help fight off say, a Harlequin grouping or a swarm of Hormagaunts, or some Blade Guard, could be very effective. They need to live to get use out of it, but let’s not get distracted by “Realism.”
The final thing that I want to point out, is the warlord trait that I’ll be taking is Strategic Adaptation, the redeploy provided to Leviathan. This allows us to do a couple of interesting things. First off, it allows us to put up to two units of Tyrannocytes into reserve without costing us any CP. Is this something I would do? No. Most likely not. But I do think it’s important to have options available to us. To help adjust to different matchups. For example, if we are unable to hide. These kinds of units against a major threat, being able to push them into reserve should help us get the maximum use out of these models. We may miss out on using the synaptic link, But that allows us to give our, debatably to me, more important units, a small buff. If I can’t buff my floating machine guns, I’ll buff my turtle cannons.
Secondaries for my list: To the Last/Stranglehold/(Reactive/Mission/List dependent)
HMO: Turtle Cannons
~ Tyranids Crusher Stampede – Hive Fleet Leviathan Spearhead Detachment – 9CP
+ HQ +
Hive Tyrant [185pts]: Heavy Venom Cannon, Biomorphic Carapace, Monstrous Scything Talons, Power: Catalyst, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Strategic Adaptation
+ Troops +
Tyranid Warriors [78pts]: Synaptic Link: Bioweapon Bond
Tyranid Warrior: Devourer, Scything Talons x3
Tyranid Warriors [78pts]: Synaptic Link: Bioweapon Bond
Tyranid Warrior: Devourer, Scything Talons x3
Tyranid Warriors [78pts]: Synaptic Link: Bioweapon Bond
Tyranid Warrior: Devourer, Scything Talons x3
+ Heavy Support +
Carnifexes [410pts]
Carnifex: Chitin Thorns, Enhanced Senses, Heavy Venom Cannon, Monstrous Scything Talons, Spore Cysts, Thresher Scythe x3
Carnifexes [405pts]
Carnifex: Chitin Thorns, Enhanced Senses, Heavy Venom Cannon, Monstrous Scything Talons, Spore Cysts, Thresher Scythe x3
Carnifexes [420pts]
Carnifex: Chitin Thorns, Enhanced Senses, Heavy Venom Cannon, Monstrous Scything Talons, Spore Cysts, Thresher Scythe x3
(Cost differences are due to me tossing Chitin Thorns on models till I filled out points)
+ Dedicated Transport +
Tyrannocyte [115pts]: 5x Barbed Strangler
Tyrannocyte [115pts]: 5x Barbed Strangler
Tyrannocyte [115pts]: 5x Barbed Strangler
Wrap Up
Always nice to get some serious excitement from White Dwarf, and we can only repeat our suggestion that any Tyranid players grab a copy of this while it’s available, because you’re going to want this in your toolbox. For everyone else, Innes is busily testing lists for this even now, so I’m sure we’ll have a more precise read on just how doomed smaller, weaker armies are in the near future. Comments, questions and suggestions to contact@goonhammer.com as always.
