Tyranids

[Adam]

So I've been thinking about Tyranids in IF40K, and how best to represent them. Tyranids are meant to be lethally fast, with hyperactive reflexes, disgusting and deadly bioweaponry and far too many claws. All this fits nicely into the IF statline, with Speed and Swiftness filling in the gaps 40K leaves open. It does, however, raise a problem: how do we make Tyranids every bit as nasty as they normally are, then add on faster movement than everyone else and being harder to hit, without making them horrendously broken?...

Synapse. Tyranids don't have much of a reliance on Synapse in 40K but in IF that should change. Synapse creatures should not only have tactical abilities, the skilled use of which en masse can quickly change the course of a game, but the creatures themselves should be stronger, faster and deadlier under the control of the Hive Mind.

- Synapse range is 12" for synapse creatures. Genestealers have a brood telepathy, meaning the unit itself counts as being in synapse and units within 6" don't suffer instinctive behaviour.
- Each non-Synapse unit entry has an Instinctive Behaviour rule. This rule is generally detrimental, specific to the creature type, and applies whenever the creature begins an activation outside of Synapse. Carnifexes rampage, Raveners burrow down, Gaunts suffer from Hearts of Rubber, et cetera.
- Non-weapon biomorphs are only active when within Synapse range. This applies all the time - if you move out of Synapse range your biomorphs stop working as soon as you've ended the move, and start working again as soon as you or another creature ends a move so that you're in Synapse range. Creatures may also have rules that only work while in Synapse.
- Gaunts and Hormagaunts get Without Number by default, but you can only bring on a number of broods (of 8) per turn corresponding to the number of Synapse units on the board. However, there's no need to keep track of which unit is which - as soon as you have 8 or more dead Gaunts/Hormagaunts of the same type (ie. with the same biomorphs/upgrades) you can bring them on. Both unit types have Swarm, letting you combine them into bigger broods. Larger broods gain bonus special rules.

So how best to implement this close combat brutality then? One easy solution, which relates to a special rule that used to be in the 3rd edition Nid codex, is to allow a Tyranid to attack with all of its weapons each time it attacks. For example, a basic Hive Tyrant might have only one weapon, a Power 6-7 bite attack. Scything talons are the same Power with Multiple Attack (2) and rending claws might be Power 8 or 9. If you buy it scything talons and rending claws, it gets three Power 6-7 attacks and one Power 8-9 attack with whatever nasty SR rending claws have... in each attack action. Ouch. (In practice, a Tyrant with scything talons won't go killing 15 men a turn, because it can only move 1" after each attack action and it'll run out of targets. That isn't particularly reassuring, though. What'll really happen is that I'm not actually going to write the ability to kill 15 men a turn into the thing's rules!)

As anyone who's played them will know, Tyranids do have a couple of redundant or useless units. Lictors are big, rubbish-ised Genestealers, Raveners are pretty good but are nevertheless oversized Hormagaunts in all respects, and Biovores don't really do much. Zoanthropes, the fourth of the "medium sized metal miniature that you can or will only ever have 3 of" category of Tyranid, are awesome, but anyway. I decided earlier that it'd be a good idea to, for each of these units (and a few others in the army), pick out a role and a couple of units they support. Extending this to list each model's role gets me:

- Hive Tyrant
Monstrous Hero - combines the benefits of both vehicles and heroes, and isn't going to die in a hurry. Has more synaptic abilities than the other kinds of synapse creatures. Benefits pretty much everyone, you more or less need one at 200-250+ points, just like 40K. Also has a good selection of weapons, all of which kick unashamed arse, and biomorphs likewise. See note above about it being able to make 15 attacks; while this may not turn out to be the case in the end (I'll presumably have to limit it somewhat, if nothing else but to keep the price down) Tyrants are going to be among the best models in the game, expensive but powerful and resilient.

- Broodlord
This guy will be faster than he is in the current Nids Codex, because at the moment, he sucks. Other than that he's a neat cheaper alternative to a Hive Tyrant. Melee-focused, but gets Commando so he's good forward synapse, and has the most movement powers of anybody. Benefits troops more than bigger stuff - his abilities work best when there are lots of units near him.

- Warriors
Cheap. I will probably deliberately undercost these by a small amount, because Nids rely on them. With heroes being hard to come by, Warriors are the army's mainstay Synapse unit. Not hugely resilient, but biomorphs can remedy that. Each unit has a couple of synapse abilities available - these might be upgrades, so there could be 6 to choose from but a unit only has two or three in-game. Warriors' synapse powers are fairly unflashy, but useful, and coordinate well with other broods doing the same or similar things.

- Lictors
Lictors' feeder tendrils give troops +1 Skill when engaged with the same category (troops, elites, etc) of unit as the Lictor is, but that's only the most basic of the Lictor's abilities. A Lictor is capable of concealing itself so that it's untargetable until engaged, has Power 8 attacks with a Power 12 crit, and can be deployed anywhere in any terrain piece at the start of any Situation phase. In short: these things will be frickin' badass.

Right, I have to go now, so I'll post the rest of this up tomorrow or something. Till then!

[dragonlord]

I like your idea for synapse and gaunts having without number. I think the Hive Tyrant being capable of killing 15 people in one turn is a bit much though, yes a Hive Tyrant should be very powerful but I think that's a bit over the top. I think your Lictor might be a bit too powerful too.

[Adam]

I realised not long after posting that that 15 potential kills isn't that much. Sith Lightning can do that, with the same or higher Power and an 8" range instead of melee. Most tanks can put out 8-12 anti-infantry shots a turn plus some other attack. The AT-TE can actually do 24, as its forward blaster battery is basically like having two droidekas duct-taped to the front of it.

[Adam]

Huh, "I'll write the rest up tomorrow", some promise that was. Here we go.

- Gaunts
Sp6 Sk3 Ar10 Fo1 Ac1 Sw9
Easy to kill, somewhat pathetic cannon fodder, but with a couple of useful rules. Gaunts gain special rules as their broods grow. I'm thinking: A brood with 12 or more models gains +1 Speed, a brood of 18+ doubles the cover to-hit modifier for friendlies behind them, and a brood of 24+ is immune to Hearts of Rubber (their instinctive behaviour penalty).

- Hormagaunts
Sp8 Sk3 Ar10 Fo1 Ac1 Sw10
These guys are FAST, and become pretty hard to hit when they run. Armed with Multiple Attack (2) scything talons for purposes of killin', they're mostly a disruption/engage-the-heavy-weapons-asap kind of unit. If you take loads of them, they get expensive, but can dish out the hurt very effectively. Like Gaunts, they gain special rules when in number; I'm thinking one that extends their melee weapons' range to 4", and Charge. Charge in particular is a bit mean as an inherent special rule, but if you pay for 24 of these guys they should be able to do some damage before they die.

- Genestealers
Sp5-6 Sk5 Ar11 Fo1 Ac2 Sw9
Not very hard to kill, but they'll have Commando and nasty rending claws. I may give these guys Onslaught and/or a rule similar to Outflank. Biomorphed up, Genestealers can be proper shock troops. Stealers also have Brood Telepathy, letting them operate independently and provide some measure of control to other units should all the synapse creatures be neutralised.

- Gargoyles
Gargoyles as it is seem to lack something. They're expensive, die as easily as other species of gaunt, and probably won't benefit from the new Without Number. With this in mind, they need some kind of new role. I'm not sure what, though. Hormagaunts may be less versatile, but they're cheaper, recyclable and almost as fast. Anti-vehicle seems a bit silly; I guess it could be added if necessary, but as vehicles are supposed to be strong vs Nids, I think it's best leave them to the slow, predictable Carnifexes. (Giving Gargoyles a weak anti-vehicle attack is still an option though, I guess.) Suicide bombing could be fun, actually - sacrifice Gargoyles to drop templates on enemy squads, a la spore mines. I could do that, although some minor fluff wrangling would be necessary.

- Raveners
I know what I want Raveners to do: burrow. With the ability to move underground, Raveners will be as fragile as they are now, but able to go places untouched, surfacing in the middle of enemy squads to disrupt and destroy. Ditch the thoracic ranged weapons, those are useful but don't really fit what Raveners should be doing. Raveners outside of synapse range burrow down, meaning they can't be killed, but can't capture objectives (for reference, there will be no missions where the ability to capture objectives doesn't matter), and don't move or surface until they're back in synapse range.

- Spore Clusters
Meh.

- Carnifexes
Graaargh! Carnifexes will be slow, but powerful. With a wide array of biomorphs letting them do anything from tank shock to dumping out masses of anti-troop hits, Carnifexes are the army's vehicles (literally, they'll be of the Vehicle unit type). Fairly simple, they mostly do two things: soak up damage, and dish it out. Carnifexes will of course differ from normal vehicles in that most of their death-dealing is done in close combat, and they can go on destructive rampages (and will, if not reined in by synapse creatures; this includes crushing your own troops). Biomorphs can add additional special rules, giving them more flexibility than is at first apparent.

- Zoanthropes
The floaty synapsey types. Hard to kill due to high Armour, take up very little space on the table, and just like in 40K, can lash out at vehicles with powerful Warp Blasts. Zoanthropes will have a different set of synapse abilities based on survival - roughly speaking, the Heroes have the movement spells, Warriors have (minor-but-stackable) buffs and Zoanthropes have defensive spells. As such, killing them not only helps collapse the synapse web but makes the swarm weaker; conversely, having three Zoanthropes lets you maintain good synapse coverage with little effort (as they do in 40K) but also helps keep your creatures alive en route to the prey.

- Biovores
Area-denial attacks. Instead of placing spore mines on the table, I think Biovores would be better off placing templates - representing thorny growth, acid pools, and so on. Less useful for attacking the enemy directly as they are for placing obstructions - giving the Tyranids an advantage in a choke point, say (Tyranids are of course immune to the effects of Biovore templates), or protecting the flanks of an attack force.

[dragonlord]

The gaunts and hormagaunts seem fine, one thought, do only generic gaunts (presumably things like termagants and spinegaunts) get Hearts of Rubber, or do hormagaunts and gargoyles get it too?
The genestealers seem good, I'm not sure about the brood telepathy affecting other units though.
Gargoyles I think should be similar to what they are now, flying gaunts, they're role should be to fly ahead and tie up enemy units allowing other gaunts and larger tyranids to close under reduced enemy fire. If they get any special rules I would say they should be aimed at disrupting the enemy. If Infinite Frontier didn't mostly lack morale I would suggest some sort of fear instilling rule, I'm not sure how that could be worked using the IF rules though. Maybe when the gargoyle brood is above a certain size (the 24+ bracket perhaps) they cause enemy basic troops within a certain range to suffer from Hearts of Rubber?
The Raveners I agree with entirely, the thoracic weapons don't really make much sense whereas tunnelling does.
The Carnifexes and the Zoanthropes seem fine too.
I can see the idea for the area denial style biovore attacks, but I can't help thinking that needing to keep track of the areas placed would become a nuisance.

[Adam]

Hormagaunts will definitely get Hearts of Rubber. Not sure about Gargoyles, probably depends on their role, and how likely they are to get shot up before they can actually have any in-game effect. Come to think of it, Gargoyles could act as one of the army's responsive units - they could be able to deepstrike, swarming onto a target from off-table and wreaking havoc. Excellent vs. isolated fire support units.

Brood Telepathy is meant as a stand-in for when your entire synapse web goes down. It won't be as good as normal synapse - biomorphs still don't work - but prevents Gaunts and Hormagaunts from entering instinctive behaviour mode. Also lets you play Vanguard armies more easily.

Nice idea on the fear causing. I could steal that for use that on Necrons, actually, given that the slow metal buggers will lack the massed firepower necessary to deal with hordes.

Keeping track of the areas placed by Biovores can be done fairly easily - just make some extra templates of the necessary size, or place a marker in the centre. Actually, what I could even do is make it place Spore Mines which *detonate* into these areas when approached or destroyed, but until then, can drift on the wind, limiting the 'vore's ability to seed critical areas of the board with impeding terrain and biological minefields from turn one onwards. The mines might even only detonate in the Situation phase, too.

[Adam]

Realised earlier that I didn't explain the way Rippers will work. Ripper Swarms aren't available as a unit choice per se, although Ripper Wave could be an option for a Hive Tyrant. Instead, you gain one swarm per synapse unit - the biomorph Symbiotic Rippers gives you two - and can 'summon' these during the game. Fluffwise, the ground is alive with furiously growing plant life, burrowing or crawling rippers and other minor Tyranid organisms, and indigenous life fleeing or mutating. The summonings represent all of that.

Summoning Rippers is a hero action for any synapse unit. When summoned, Rippers can be placed anywhere within 12" of the synapse unit summoning them and 6" of any friendly unit, directly into CC if necessary. They're swarms, so stuff can move through them (but not run, as the mass of creatures underfoot inhibits easy movement) and see through them without their shooting being affected, but they're able to prevent enemy units from disengaging - enhancing Gaunts' power as tarpit units - and contribute attacks, albeit minor ones.

[dragonlord]

That's quite a neat way of doing rippers, I've always found in my tyranid army that rippers are just a way to use up a few left over points, this would be a way to get them more use.

[Adam]

Thanks. It's mostly there because only having three bases of Rippers in a corner isn't really much of a swarm, and fluffwise there are hordes of the things underfoot during a major Tyranid invasion (hence, the number of them is linked to the number of synapse creatures). But yeah, making them an actual unit choice wouldn't have much point, as they're really just slightly reconfigured Gaunts.

[Adam]

More ideas.

Common special rules:
- Predatory Instinct: Rolls of 9 or 10 cause crits if the model needs 8+'s or better to hit, or always hit if not. Rolls of 9 or 10 to damage always wound (apart from non-Pr7+ weapons hurting vehicles... in most circumstances). Genestealers and Lictors have this. Broodlords (via synapse) and Lictors (via pheromones) can give it to other models.
- Seething: Too many thrashing limbs! +1 Swiftness while engaged. Common among Tyranids with four close combat limbs (Genestealers, melee Tyrants/Carnifexes, etc).

Melee weapons:
Tyranids can use all their close combat weapons at once any time they make a melee attack action. Resolve them in any order you desire. The attacks are considered simultaneous. Actual Power depends on the creature.
- Basic bite - one boring attack (can be made more interesting via Acid Maw, Tusked, etc)
- Scything talons - Multiple Attack (2)
- Rending claws - higher Power than the previous two, Critical Headshot that also works on vehicles
- Lash whip - prevents disengagement, debuffs Swiftness on a hit
- Bonesword - probably the best weapon, can scythe through multiple opponents with Sear and also is a psychic focus, but only Hive Tyrants can carry one
- Crushing claws - extremely high Power, always cause critical vehicle damage, can lift enemy models into the air and snip them in half to shock their mates (special melee attack action - the model only attacks with one pair of crushing claws, but opponents are shaken/horrified by the experience and suffer a minus to hit), might be available to Tyrants as well as Carnifexes. Basically rending claws where the crit is always on

Ranged weapons:
Tyranid weapons don't suffer the -1 to hit for Burst Fire or Explosive. Stats (Power, rate of fire) depend on the creature, but will mostly be similar to what they are now. Being predators, Tyranids aren't allowed to use ranged weapons in close combat (there may be a synapse power that temporarily circumvents this restriction, probably from Zoanthropes). Living Ammo, allowing weapons to re-roll damage rolls against non-vehicle targets, applies to a couple of weapons.
- Spinefist: The default weapon for Gaunts. I don't think I've ever seen a non-Gaunt with spinefists, so chances are I'll leave them out for most creatures. Very short range, about 6". Re-rolls to hit, low power.
- Devourer: Silly fire rate, similar to what it is now. Living Ammo. 8"-10" range (Nid guns have crappy ranges).
- Fleshborer: Again similar to what it is now. Living Ammo again. 10" range probably.
- Deathspitter: Template (3"), 12"-14" range, some rule to represent how corrosive it is (ignores cover?)
- Barbed strangler: Template (5"), can roll to damage on suppressive fire at -2 Power (or at full Power on a vehicle)
- Venom cannon: Slightly lower fire rate than now (to make it less dominant vs vehicles), but Explosive, maintaining kickass vs troops.

Lictor ideas:
- Armed with rending talons (Multiple Attack (2) rending claws) and rending claws, both at Power 7, for a total of three identical Rending attacks. Probably Actions 2.
- Deploys similar to the way it did in the 3rd ed Nid codex, which I rather liked. Decide which terrain piece it's hiding in before the game. Activate it whenever you want, place it on the table within said terrain piece and go nuts.
- Can move out of melee when it runs. Can run after performing actions (this lets it use Duel to kill heavy weapon models or whatever and then fade away).
- Inflicts -2 to hit instead of -1 when it's in cover; has a high Swiftness. Fortitude 2, Armour 12 (ie, fragile for an expensive model). Skill 6.
- Pheromonal organs let it give one of the following benefits as an ability, lasting until the end of the turn: all units within 6" of it get Predatory Instinct; all enemy units within 6" of it may be targeted by ranged attacks regardless of actual range (or within double the weapon's range, not sure yet); something else?

[dragonlord]

Predatory Instinct and Seething seem ok.
The melee weapons themselves all seem fine, as said before the 'attack with all weapons' in each melee attack action has the potential to be overpowered but that will come out in playtesting.

I don't see the fluff basis for tyranids ignoring the -1 for burst fire and explosive. The not being allowed to use ranged weapons in combat rule makes sense. Warriors can have spinefists, one of my warriors does, I think there the only ones other than gaunts and the spinebanks carapace option for carnifexes though. The ranged weapons seem mostly fine, I wasn't aware of the deathspitter being particularly corrosive, obviously need to brush up on my nid background.

The Lictor sounds ok but I would definitely not make the range unlimited for the targetting of enemy units within 6" of the lictor, to be honest even double range doesn't make much sense, how by being close to the enemy does the lictor make everyone's guns better? Making it lower or negate the cover modifier of enemy models near it would make some sense.

[Adam]

Sept 27, 2009 16:31:45 GMT -5 dragonlord said:

Predatory Instinct and Seething seem ok.
The melee weapons themselves all seem fine, as said before the 'attack with all weapons' in each melee attack action has the potential to be overpowered but that will come out in playtesting.

It should be alright - it's much the same as large vehicles having six-shot laser blasters. After all, a unit of two droidekas could theoretically gun down 24 infantry in a turn.

Sept 27, 2009 16:31:45 GMT -5 dragonlord said:

I don't see the fluff basis for tyranids ignoring the -1 for burst fire and explosive.

It's to do with the weapons' nature. Venom cannons, the explosive weapons, have much higher-velocity ammunition than most explosives might (think how slowly the MagnaGuards' rocket pistol shots move in Battlefront II, whereas the venom cannon crystals are stated as being high velocity shots). Burst Fire's downside is ignored for two reasons. The first, the rules reason, is that Tyranid weapons do their damage through hitting lots of models at once - whether by high rate of fire or by templates. The second, the fluff reason, is that as the weapons a) have lower-velocity ammo than most (apart from the aforementioned venom cannon), b) are symbiotically linked to the Tyranids carrying them, c) are carried by very large and powerful creatures with skin made of armour and layers upon layers of muscle. As such, they don't really have recoil, certainly not in such a way as to hinder the creature's aim.

Sept 27, 2009 16:31:45 GMT -5 dragonlord said:

The not being allowed to use ranged weapons in combat rule makes sense. Warriors can have spinefists, one of my warriors does, I think there the only ones other than gaunts and the spinebanks carapace option for carnifexes though. The ranged weapons seem mostly fine, I wasn't aware of the deathspitter being particularly corrosive, obviously need to brush up on my nid background.

Yeah, Warriors can have spinefists in the current Nid Codex, as can Rippers. Not much point in it though, considering how crap they are, particularly in IF. I guess I could make them free, or something, so you can make Warriors with spinefists if you want really cheap synapse.

The deathspitter, for reference, fires a large maggotlike organism that thrashes around in flight and sprays acid everywhere.

Sept 27, 2009 16:31:45 GMT -5 dragonlord said:

The Lictor sounds ok but I would definitely not make the range unlimited for the targetting of enemy units within 6" of the lictor, to be honest even double range doesn't make much sense, how by being close to the enemy does the lictor make everyone's guns better? Making it lower or negate the cover modifier of enemy models near it would make some sense.

Ruleswise, it's because Tyranid guns have a very short range, and I want to make Lictors a significant piece on the board in a way other than "oh look, I can kill heavy weapon guys and run away". Negating cover is alright, but I'd like some way (other than synapse powers) to extend the range of 'Nid guns against certain targets. I think I will stick with just doubling it, rather than unlimited range.

Fluffwise, the Lictor gathers information on its prey and spreads it out through the hive mind; it's reasonable to expect that it would tell everyone the prey's exact positions, where they're moving to, etc. Range in, well, any tabletop game represents effective ranges as much as anything; a modern assault rifle can apparently fire a bullet two or three kilometres, but you're never going to hit anything at further than 50-100 metres, especially in combat, where there's terrain, debris, smoke, people shooting at you, and so on. It's the same in FPSs, which Infinite Frontier is loosely based on. Try shooting someone in Unreal Tournament (with, say, a rocket launcher) from the other side of the map. Unless you know exactly where they're going to be in two or three seconds, you're going to miss, splash damage or no splash damage. Tyranids have short ranges due to their low-velocity ammo, but the Lictor *tells* everyone where the prey are going to be in two or three seconds.

Edit: The Lictor's third pheromonal ability could happily be the +1 to hit against the same category of model it's engaged with.

[Adam]

More fragments:

- All Tyranids without the Gunbeast special rule suffer -2 Skill on ranged attacks. (Gaunts, Biovores and Zoanthropes get Gunbeast.) This isn't particularly bad, as most of them are Skill 5 or higher.
- Biomorphs only work (the ones that are abilities can only be used) while the creature is in Synapse range, or during an activation it started in Synapse range. A lot of the Warrior synapse powers allow creatures to benefit from biomorphs they don't have, rather than stacking with existing ones (as nobody wants Skill 7 Troops running around). In this way, biomorphed creatures are more autonomous rather than always being better, and your cheaper 'Nids don't end up sucking by comparison (just look at Hormagaunts). It also means that I can make biomorphs a little cheaper themselves, so that units with biomorphs aren't pointless (Genestealers, Carnifexes).

[dragonlord]

I think you've managed to answer my queries satisfactorily. Gunbeast sounds reasonable, the biomorphs thing you've mentioned before and it seems reasonable too.

[Adam]

Good good. ;D I tried coming up with rules for all the biomorphs yesterday. Surprisingly hard to do (particularly as I don't use them very much in my lists!). I'm stuck on Acid Maw, Flesh Hooks, and Feeder Tendrils; I'd also like to add in some new ones, but those'll probably come about as I write the list. Most of them are pretty basic stuff, much like they are now, straight-up statline buffs and things like that. So far, I've got this:

Acid maw: ??
Adrenal glands (Speed): +1 Speed
Adrenal glands (Swiftness): You work it out.
Bio-plasma: Weapon, usable as an ability. Range 4". Can be fired either as Pr4 Flamer or as Pr8 with no special rules.
Bonded exoskeleton: The model is immune to critical vehicle damage effects.
Enhanced senses: +1 Skill
Extended carapace: +1 Armour
Feeder tendrils: ??
Flesh hooks: ??
Implant attack: Melee attacks gain Fatality (two wounds instead of 1, on multiwound creatures).
Leaping: Melee weapons have a 4" range.
Mace tail: Melee weapon that attacks only in the back arc, with a Power specified in the unit entry.
Regeneration: The model regains one wound at the start of each turn.
Reinforced Chitin: +1 Fortitude
Scuttlers: +1 Speed on run actions, 4" move on Disengage or Take Cover.
Scythe tail: See mace tail; has a lower Power but Sear (3).
Spine banks: Spinefist, usable as an ability; I want some other effect too but can't think of one.
Spore cysts: Short-ranged Biovore weapon with smaller AOE, used as an ability.
Symbiote rippers: Unit generates an extra base of summonable Rippers.
Thornback: May tank shock, more violently than a tank! Also increases Carnifexes' rampage damage.
Toxic miasma: Enemies suffer -1 to hit while engaged with this model.
Toxin sacs: All weapons on the model gain +1 Power.
Tusked: May make Charge attacks with its bite weapon. The weapon makes two attacks instead of one.
Winged: Airborne, +2 Speed.

[dragonlord]

Regeneration should be regains one wound at the start of each turn on a 6+ otherwise it's too powerful. Other than that the rest of the ones you've done are fine.
Can't acid maw, feeder tendrils and flesh hooks work basically the same way they do in 40k? Re-rolls to wound in the first round of combat for acid maw (or just re-rolls to wound in melee in general if that works better), prefered enemy (some sort of skill increase or minimum to hit roll) for feeder tendrils and frag grenades + vertically impassable terrain counts as difficult for flesh hooks.

[Adam]

Sept 29, 2009 15:34:35 GMT -5 dragonlord said:

Regeneration should be regains one wound at the start of each turn on a 6+ otherwise it's too powerful. Other than that the rest of the ones you've done are fine.

I've been wondering about that. Tyranid MCs aren't *that* hard to wound. Playtesting will tell, I should think. As it is, introducing some random element is probably a better way of doing it (or allowing the creature to spend an action point to regenerate a wound once per turn).

Sept 29, 2009 15:34:35 GMT -5 dragonlord said:

Can't acid maw, feeder tendrils and flesh hooks work basically the same way they do in 40k? Re-rolls to wound in the first round of combat for acid maw (or just re-rolls to wound in melee in general if that works better), prefered enemy (some sort of skill increase or minimum to hit roll) for feeder tendrils and frag grenades + vertically impassable terrain counts as difficult for flesh hooks.

Acid maw could, possibly. Maybe if you hit a target with the bite attack you get to re-roll to wound against them. Preferred enemy as a minimum to-hit roll is a good idea, I hadn't thought of that, although not a lot of use on Skill 5-6 Tyranids who'll be hitting on 6's or better 80%+ of the time. Re-rolls wouldn't be too bad, although overkill perhaps - a Skill 6 Nid (Genestealer or Tyrant with enhanced senses) hits Space Marines on 2+'s anyway - but definitely useful against faster opponents and for sharing with Hormagaunts.

Flesh hooks, though, leave me a bit stuck. Frag grenades don't exist any more, at least not in a way that flesh hooks could easily represent them. Maybe they allow the creature to benefit from Charge even if it moves through terrain. They aren't all going to have Charge, though...

[Oliver]

Flesh hooks could prevent the enemy disengaging, since they've got a load of hooks in them pulling them towards the Tyranid, as well as letting them climb cliffs.

[Adam]

Oh, nice one! That could well work. I think it might be a bit powerful though - unless made expensive, so people wouldn't use it that much. The only problem with it is that preventing people disengaging from combat is what Ripper Swarms are for. You've got several bases of rippers to summon... saying that, if each synapse unit contributed a swarm of three bases (6-9 wounds) it'd be too much, but if each unit contributes one base, it leaves plenty of room not only for Symbiote Rippers but for another upgrade with the same special effect!

Yeah, I think I'll use your idea, Mr. Smith

[dragonlord]

I agree that is a very good idea for flesh hooks.