The ravenous Tyranid hordes appear on the horizon of the new edition of Warhammer 40k. Plus, a closer look at the new detachment rules.
The ever-adapting bioforms of the Tyranid Hive Fleets have arrived for their moment in the faction focus sun. As usual, Games Workshop has previewed three all-new detachments with numerous rule reveals and an accompanying video discussion. Today’s article, however, first pauses to address a community question about detachments in general, not just Tyranid options.
We had previously learned that detachments will function differently in 11th edition. Currently, a single detachment choice is made for an entire army, but it has been revealed that you’ll now be able to choose up to three detachments for your force. Today, it’s been confirmed that when army building you’ll receive three Detachment Points and that all of the new detachments revealed in the Faction Focus series cost a single Detachment Point (DP). It seems that most existing Codex detachments cost 2 DP, so there are some tremendous opportunities to mix-and-match to build whatever theme you like.
Now, on to the ‘nids.
Ambush Predators
Narrowly focused on Deathleapers, Lictors, Neurolictors, and Von Ryan’s Leapers, this detachment is all about improving your assassin bioforms. The bonuses here are short and to the point, much like the lives of enemy characters targeted by these horrible bugs.
Mind Hunger grants your big assassin monsters Deep Strike and further augments Lictors and Neurolictors with the ability to re-roll hit rolls of 1. Lictors look like the biggest beneficiaries here, as the new Deep Strike rules allow them to be placed 8″ away from enemy units. As well, the new Hidden rules will make them particularly difficult to eradicate if placed in dense terrain. Finally, this detachment contains one of the all-time great phrases in 40k history. “Quivering mind-meat” ranks up there with “cellar door” as one of the most beautiful phrases in the English language.
This nasty little enhancement grants some serious board control. An out-of-turn movement option during your opponent’s move has the potential to really throw them off their plans. Set up a counter-charge, block a lane of movement for your opponent, or slip behind cover to throw a wrench in your opponent’s gears.
A tasty 1 CP stratagem, Counterpredation is designed to help your murderous assassin bugs root out enemy stealth units. +1 S and AP will add some serious punch even to the relatively light-hitting Von Ryan’s Leapers, making them a threat to just about any enemy infiltrators.
Talons of the Norn Queen
Some of the biggest and baddest monsters available to a Hive Fleet are the focus of this detachment. Whether you prefer to run a Norn Emissary to slaughter hard targets or an Assimilator to secure objectives, this detachment has you covered.
This is a huge glow-up for your biggest and most expensive monsters! Where before you made your Singular Purpose choice at the beginning of the game, you can now make a second one. These big models cost a lot of points, and if they complete their Singular Purpose early in the game, they could feel somewhat wasted. Now, you can apply a new Singular Purpose to a juicy target or undefended objective at your whim.
An enhancement only for the Norn Emissary, Destabilising Predation improves her already potent ranged attacks with ANTI-CHARACTER 2+. With her native Precision attack, no character is safe, no matter how well guarded.
A benefit only for the Norn Assimilator; spend 1 CP when it suffers a mortal wound to gain Feel No Pain 4+ against mortal wounds. The Assimilator is already a big, tough beast, and this just further extends its survivability. Your opponents are going to have real problems shifting this guy off an objective.
Warrior Bioform Onslaught
The mid-size bioforms have languished a bit in the current edition of 40k, but this detachment looks like it’s going to return them to glory in 11th.
Tougher than ever and gaining Battleline, Tyranid Warriors can make the core of an army based around this detachment. The addition of a 5+ InvSv to your warriors and Tyranid Primes is a huge buff for the mid-size bugs and has me eyeing the contents of my Leviathan box set with renewed interest.
Further improvements are here for your Tyranid Primes with a unique enhancement. Elevated Might will let you re-roll their melee attack wound rolls and grants those attacks +1 AP. Suddenly, the Tyranid Prime looks like a real contender.
The preview wraps up with a stratagem further buffing the toughness of your warriors in a sneaky fashion. No matter how big a gun your enemy brings to bear, if it’s higher S than your Tyranid Warriors’ T, it gets -1 on the wound rolls! This dramatically increases your Warrior’s survivability and looks like it may just return the Tyranid Warrior to its rightful place at the head of the swarm.
The bugs are back, baby! Did they ever go away? I don’t know, I’m just excited for them. Cool stuff for sure, and the Faction Focus series will continue tomorrow with a look at Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons.
If shrimps is bugs are Tyranids shrimps?
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Simon Berman has been a wargamer since 1993 and has worked in the tabletop games industry since 2008 as a staff writer for the first three editions of WARMACHINE and HORDES. These days he’s the General President of the Brush Wielders Union, a worldwide organization of miniatures painters of all skill levels, a freelance games writer who has contributed to a number of roleplaying games like Eclipse Phase, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, and The Hammer and the Stake. He runs his own small-press publishing company, Strix Publishing, and paints more miniatures than he can keep track of. Simon lives with his wife in Tacoma, Washington along with a number of cats and a pack of savage wiener dogs.
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