This week saw our first test for the newly released Tyranid life forms! I had a blast watching them square off against a massive Grot army that had 300 Grots, 30 Grot Tanks, 3 Grot Mega Tanks, and Da Red Gobbo himself!
The new Neurotyrant comes packing some serious power with a Psychic Mastery Level 4, a special 15″ Blast Spell that inflicts Earthshock, and an infection that enhances the S+1 for units for the remainder of the game, but causes them to take Dangerous Terrain tests on each of your Command Phases as the virus consumes their organs to enhance their offense! It caused early movement delays and kept the Grot population down before it could get out of hand. It does not have any Melee capabilities worth mentioning and is physically weaker than its HQ counterparts, but makes up for this with focused psychic and permanent Aura.
The Von Ryan Leapers have the ability to hide in terrain pieces not occupied. Their location is written in secret after all deployment steps happen, including Scout and Infiltrate. They were moderately deadly, but also contributed to slowing the advance of the Grots. If an enemy unit enters their Terrain Feature, they immediately spawn into base contact once the movement is resolved. The Combat is considered to be On Going Combat with no Chargers. Due to hundreds of Pistols they did not last long, but they did buy valuable time early game.
Neurogaunts (I think GW just likes the word Neuro) were a bit of an oddity to fit in. Like all things new, there is no lore, just new models and rules to push sales as hard as possible. They come in at T2 with a Sv5+, making them both vulnerable and cheap, but with a moderate armour save that can make a difference. Cheaper than other Gaunt variants, they serve to escort the unit Champion who provides another source of Synapse. This is a great alternative if you want to use your points and slots for much more combat inclined Monsters but need to keep their Instincts under control. Coming in units of 10-30 models, they can still flood the field like all Tyranid armies should, even if they do not last long.
Barbgaunts were an odd model to work into the game as well. Just like all the others. Artillery from these models seemed odd and definitely not mobile. With no lore for their weapons we took some initiative here as well. Like the super spell of the Neurotyrant, slowing capabilities were a nice addition to the Codex. They are more robust infantry armed with the equivalent of Grav Cannons, but more in the form of web weapons seen in the Genestealer Cult as far as thematics go. They use the same core mechanic. They did not do any staggering levels of damage, especially fighting Grots, but they did stall several units almost all game when combined with the Neurotyrant. One round they stopped two of the Grot Tank units from moving all together!
The Screamer Killer is not a new model, and was already in our rules. It is an ancient metal model for early editions. We merged it into the Carnifex profile originally, but with a new model that is distinctly different we will be breaking it out into its own Datasheet again. It has not been tested, but boasts a powerful 5″ Blast at S8 AP2+ and is Pinning. It is not quite as strong as a Carnifex (S8 instead of S9), but it still has two sets of Scything Talons and a large number of Attacks. We look forward to testing this soon!
The Psychophage is another odd model that we have some ideas for. There are a few units that inflict Mortal Wounds on Psykers when rolling any Double to Cast. This one we want to try any 6 or 1 inflicts a Mortal Wound (In addition to any caused by 1s normally). It would even be able to effect models that do not take Mortal Wounds from Perils of the Warp because it is a different ability. This may change pending further tests. In addition, it has Sniper (2+) on its Melee weapons when fighting Psykers.
Orks are running very smoothly and are pending getting their Clans setup as soon as I can get caught up in paperwork. We are still pending Black Templar Chapter Supplement testing, the new Space Marine units, writing up the other Chapter Supplements, new Tyranid additions, and of course the Orks going into Final Draft stage!
All in a days work they say, but per last weeks post we are 2 years and 3000 man hours in, so more like a lot of days work. As always, happy wargaming! Our Tyranid Codex will have its live version updated as soon as we get the remaining two units tested properly!
Alternate 40k Rules 