So here we are fellow warriors, on the eve of another big old army release, IG/Astra Militarum, one of my armies! It got me thinking, I never posted anything about the Tyranids, so this can't be left alone a moment longer! I've been out of the loop of blogs and hobby for about a month, a newborn daughter can do that to you, but before I get my hands on that particular release I'll rant a bit about the last big army release, the one before Crimson Slaughter and the Imperial Knights which I'll have to rant on about later. So, without further ado, Tyranids!
I LOVE the new Tyranids, I think they're exactly what the game of 40k needs at this time. We've seen tons of massive updates to armies, we've had super units and lists put together for tournaments, Eldar and Tau being a massive favorite to deploy cheese. I think that the Tyranids, and to an extent the Space Marines Codex, shows that GW is finally stepping out and trying to make a balanced game. I know that they love their models, and they make tons of new units and new rules to sell those models, but at their core they still have to sell an army. You can make one unit completely amazing, but you still need to sell that tactical squad that's sitting on the shelf, so you better have a rules set that makes you have to take it and makes it useful.
When I look at these codexes, and play games with my Marines or Guard, and I play against Tyranids, I see a pretty balanced selection of units. There is no one definitive unit in the Tyranid Dex that is the be all end all of the tyranids. You're basically forced to take multiple units to compliment the other units in your army. If you want to make a shooty list you can, and there's tons of units to do that with, and options to buff them. If you want a melee list you can do that too, and yet again options are there to buff them.
Venomthropes are a powerful buff for your army, that bonus 2 to the cover save can go a far way, and as long as you're playing on a field that actually has terrain that can translate into 3+ or 2+ saves for your units! Sure, there are options in other armies that negate cover, Thunderfire cannons, or Markerlights, etc. But you can lock those units down as well with your deepstrikers. Mawlocs come to mind instantly. Deep strike underneath that pesky unit and BAM str 6 AP2 twice!? That's nuts! even if you miss on the strike and pop up next to that unit, they still have to deal with a Mawloc before it resubmerges and tries again. The whole time your army moves forward, slowly closing that gap of range.
Zoanthropes provide a wonderful boost to your punch, multiple warp blasts from a unit is devestating. The HQs and Characters are nothing to be laughed at either. Swarmlord has Instant Death Weapons and you put him with some guard, now that's a total of 10 wounds that need to be done to a unit that can have feel no pain every turn and has a toughness of 6. That's a hard nut to crack for anybody. People have complained that Tyranid Warriors are no longer awesome because they lack Eternal Warrior, but they do have 3 wounds. And even though a Krak missile can instant death one of them, how many strength 8 weapons is your opponent leveling at them a turn to get rid of them? How many of those units of his AREN'T shooting your Exocrine, or your Tyrant? If he chooses to shoot at those units, then your Warriors are closing.
The Tyranids to me are a constant threat army, your opponent has to constantly choose what is the most important thing to shoot at. In the back of his mind, he has to know that he can't kill everything, sooner or later something is going to get far to close for comfort. The Tyranids are designed to constantly apply pressure and I feel that this is something that has been sorely lacking in games. Every game I've played against other players is pretty straightforward. I instantly know exactly what my biggest threat is, I eliminate it and I move down the chain. Tyranids provide me with a laundry list of threats, that are all very real. I find them to be a difficult army to play against, and I feel that as time goes on we are going ot see more and more Tyranids players starting to win as they figure out what works for them.
On that note, that's another thing that has made me truly happy with this release. It has taken a severly long time for people to come up with a list that is overpowering for Tyranids. There is no Deathstar, or Jetseer, there's nothing that anyone has been able to agree on. It's forced the community to really talk with each other and figure out what they want to play and what works. And even in the case of some of the lists out there, there's still a massive debate as to exactly how awesome they are. We're finally starting to see some life in the community in regards to list building, no more one list wins all. In my opinion we need more Dexes like the Tyranids, and I sincerely hope the IG/Astra Militarum Codex this next month is the same type of layout. I want to see a whole bunch of varied lists more and more, no more standard tournament winners and power game lists.
What do you guys think? Feel free to let me know here, or on my personal blog www.313cadian.blogspot.com - it's where I post my painting and more random thoughts/stories ;) - Weekend Warrior Matt
The Weekend Warriors are a group of tabletop gaming bloggers, podcasters, vloggers and vodcasters based out of the Rocky Mountain and Four Corners regions of North America. They cover the gamut of games, primarily tabletop with the hobby behind it, however also including tangents such as fiction, video games, & other related items in the geekdom.
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