Now that I've depressed all of you over the possible/apparent problems with the new Tyranid book let's start going through the individual units and see how well they work.

Hive Tyrant 

Rundown:  The first thing that any veteran will noticed here is that that the price tag for a Tyrant just went way up (newbees will just notice it costs a lot).  At a base of 170 and add-ons that can quickly raise the total above 200 we're talking about a unit that could easily be a full fifth of your force.  For that you better make sure you get a lot.

And, to a point, you do -- but it is clearly not the same bargain as before.  The Tyrant's WS climbed 3 points (which is good as before your leader was only as skilled as most secondary characters) while their Strength and Attacks improved by one.  However, that is in no way worth the extra 95 points you have to shell out even for the basic model.  The implication here is that GW believes the old Tyrant was massively under priced, a conclusion that does not jibe with my own experience.  Not that the old Tyrant wasn't nasty, but it was also slow.  The fact that the new version is just as slow makes me seriously wonder what GW was thinking.

Still, the Tyrant is nevertheless quite effective what with being a monstrous creature with a 6 toughness, 4 wounds, and a base 3+ save.  While it comes with no ranged attack standard (save if you take the right psychic powers), the two you can get -- Stranglethorn Cannon and Heavy Venom Cannon -- are better than anything you had before.  You can also take "skills" such as Old Adversary that gives every Tyranid unit within 6" the Preferred Enemy special rule and, of course, the usual collection of add-ons such as Acid Maw or Regeneration. 

One thing you can't take is an invulnerable save meaning you'll have to be careful getting the guy into hand-to-hand with power fists.  Do the tango with, say, a Space Marine Commander with one and your Tyrant is probably tofu (especially since your enemy will be able to ignore any attack on 4+).  You can raise your save to 2+ and/or take wings, but both cost a lot.

Opinion:  The new Hive Tyrant leaves me scratching my head over trying to fathom just what the GW "philosophy" was behind how it was changed or for that matter even how they view the creature in general.  Basically, it comes off as the same old guy just at a higher cost.  How is that supposed to generate any excitement for using it?  Did GW think the Tyrant was badly broken?  That's hard to believe since, well, it wasn't.  Did they want people to take it less often?  The sticker-shock the new price is likely to invoke will certainly encourage this, but -- again -- if there were swarms of Tyrants invading tournaments or whatnot I never noticed.  What then was the point of almost doubling the basic price?

All would be forgiven if something had been added to excite the imagination.  For example, what if taking a winged Tyrant allowed you to take gargoyles as troops?  Now that would be interesting (even if in the final analysis such an army may not be all that effective) if only because it would at least be something new!  Alas, all we get is a less affordable same-old same-old.  Mind you, I think the unit still "works" in the general sense, but certainly it is hard to see how it has been "improved".  We certainly aren't going to be seeing it fielded any more often than before.

Tyrant Guard

Rundown:  The Guard are just the same phenomenon as the Hive Tyrant, but just on a smaller scale -- higher cost, same basic unit.  The one nice change is that they can now take power weapons (e.g. boneswords), but this is balanced out by how they can't protect their master as well as before.  The old Shieldwall rule stated that the Tyrant could never be targeted individually while there were still Guard around.  Now he's just a de facto independent character susceptible to any effect that can target them normally, most notably being vulnerable in close combat.

Opinion:  It's more of the same -- just what was the thinking behind these changes?   If there was any unit less likely to make an appearance than a Tyrant it was his Guard.  Having to pay 15 more points for less of the same is hardly going to alter that.  I understand the appeal of reducing the Tyrant when with the Guard down to a mere independent character as it simplifies the rules (and eliminates arguments over just what "may not be picked out as a separate target" really meant).  However, it makes the Tyrant much more vulnerable to power fists in hand-to-hand, thus removing a prime reason to take Guard in the first place.

The only rationale that makes sense to me is that GW expects you to always take boneswords with Guard and thus produce a strength 5, toughness 6 trio with power weapons.  Nasty to be sure, but it completely inverts the supposed purpose of the unit.  Instead of the Guard being there to back-up their leader, now you buy the Tyrant to get access to his cadre of bug swordsmen (and at a 66% higher cost than before).

The Swarmlord

Rundown:  Simply put the Swarmlord is a regular Tyrant on massive alien steroids.  A unique character the 'Lord comes with quad boneswords, all the psychic powers, a 4+ invulnerable save, the ability to pump up the bugs around him, and even gives you a +1 to reserve roles.  Most of this can be duplicated in full or in part by a generic Tyrant, but the Swarmlord is optimized for what it does.  Not surprising then it is a massive 280 points, but considering all it does that price seems fair.

Opinion:  Finally, a Tyrant with some flair that warrants interest.  The 'Lord is clearly a unit around which to build an army given how much he costs and how truly frightening is his in close-combat.  Basically, he can put the fear of the swamp in any opponent.  Unlike regular Tyrants that should be afraid of power fisted characters with invulnerable saves such meat is the Swarmlord's preferred prey.  Match him up with some bonesword equipped Guard and there is nothing he and his crew cannot take on.  Of course, that would be a fifth of your army right there, but that's okay with the right design.  He's an obvious choice for a Nidzilla army if nothing else.

Tervigon

Rundown:  This unit is sort of like an alien demon cow that when it's not slicing up an enemy is giving birth to its next litter of termigant spawn.  As such it is clearly meant to be taken with termigants -- many of its abilities only work with them while the rest can work on most anything.  In fact, if you look under the termigant listing you see that for every 'gant brood you take you can bring along a Tervigon as a troops choice.  So, it's a hard-to-kill monstrous creature with cool abilities, psychic powers, and the power to turn the termigants around it from cannon fodder to a real threat -- and all for just 160 points!

Opinion:  I wonder if "Tervigon" is Tyranid for "An excuse to buy lots of Termigant models" since it might as well be.  Mind you, that's not a bad thing (especially for people like me who have 80 of the buggers painted), but I do think it makes for inelegant game design.  Take away the combo with the 'gants and the Tervigon is just a somewhat wimpy Carnifex for almost as much points.  Put it back in and you have what looks suspiciously like a "you're insane not to take them if you want to take a lot of Termigants" design for a horde army that will soon be the only such design you see.

Still, the Tervigon is awfully effective in that role, maybe even too much so.  Its ability to give any Termigant broods within 6" both Toxin Sacks and Adrenal Glands (if it takes them too) is killer.  Combine this with Synapse Creature and Catalyst and you make Termigants actually dangerous in close combat.  Best of all is the monster's ability to pump out 3d6 new basic Termigants a round (with a 31% chance of the ability being exhausted after each time it does so).  That's an average of 10.5 extra a round.  Since you can take as many Tervigons as troops as you have broods of Termigants (plus up to two as HQ) you could easily take four of the former and be producing 12d6 more of the latter each turn -- an average of 42!  Yikes!  The only real limit here (besides bad dice rolling) is that you have to paint up a boat load of new Termigants to get the most out of the ability.

Tyranid Prime

Rundown:  The HQ choice for those who don't want the pay the high price of a Tyrant (or who want a second-in-command), the Tyranid Prime basically fills the same niche as the Broodlord from last edition.  He's a pumped-up Tyranid warrior that can take a bonesword(s) -- that is, power weapons -- and boost the skills of his associated brood.  However, with only a 5 toughness he can be one-shotted (if only by strength 10 attacks) and he has nothing to protect himself than a 3+ save.  He is also an independent character and therefore a target in close-combat.

Opinion:  You take him if you want to save points for other things or want to fill out your HQ choices with something less expensive.  While reasonably tough he has the same basic vulnerabilities as a Hive Tyrant only worse, so make sure to take him with a 'honor-guard' of fellow Warriors.  Beyond that he is just another generic bug character who should always have a bonesword (or two).

The Parasite of Mortrex

Rundown:  The Parasite is a unique Tyranid Warrior who no doubt considers the Alien movies light-hearted comedy.  His main claim to fame is that he can cause his victims to burst into a swarm of rippers.  He can also fly and has Rending Claws back up with a 6 strength.  However, he has a measly 4 toughness and nothing better to repeal attacks than a 3+ save.  He does make Rippers easier to control, but he is a steep 160 points.

Opinion:  The Parasite is a cool concept that doesn't really work in practice.  His 4 toughness is really a show-stopper, especially without any invulnerable save to rescue him from power fists.  You'll need to send him along with a brood of shrikes as back-up, but even then make sure to stay away from anyone with power fists (or the equivalent).  Depending on the opponent that can be hard to do.  As a result against some enemies I'm not sure it can be trusted on to be effective -- certainly not enough to justify 160 points.  His Ripper producing ability sounds nifty, but requires good dice rolls to be a serious factor.  Basically, I wouldn't take him without a very good reason.

Next up:  Elites

Posted on: 1/29/2010 at 8:45 PM
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When I wrote my 'first impressions' post thinking that I would go on immediately to a unit-by-unit evaluation.  However, after more thought and reading the reactions and views of others it struck me that there is more to discuss at a higher meta-level before going on to the nitty-gritty.

In particular, I want to look at possible negatives in the new list, those aspects that might lead one to conclude things were better left unchanged.  However, at this point don't take such things as final judgments -- I'm pointing them out so that I can see if I can disprove them or show that what was gained makes up for it here or while going through the unit-by-unit survey later on.

#1 -- Units are Now More Expensive:  There are a couple of new unit costs that at first glance make you wonder what the designers were thinking.  However, how well does that work out overall?  Fortunately, there is an easy starting point for this -- comparing old and new prices.

Looking at this list one can make the argument that the models are overall more expensive, but there are certainly ways to mitigate if not reverse the trend.  Likewise, when it comes to points it doesn't matter if you are forced to spend more to get more -- the bang for your buck comes out the same.

More important to my mind is exactly what has been raised the most in price.  The best example is the Carnifex -- at a minimum of 160 gone are the old 115 (or less) point beasts.  For some army designs that's huge, especially given how you clearly got a lot more for less with the old codex.  Take my favorite Carny load out -- Twin-linked Devourers and Venom Cannon.  The base cost with that in the last book was 130.  Now it's 200!  Since I usually took two that's the equivalent of losing ~8 genestealers or ~24 termagants.  Not a huge amount, but certainly enough to possibly swing a game.

The end result is that what were once "standard" designs for a particular player are going to need a lot of revision (get used to hearing that).

#2 -- Where are the New Army Designs?  Yes, there are more units to pick from so technically there are more army designs out there, but I'm not talking about subtle distinctions between taking two units of Hive Guard as opposed to two units of Zoanthropes.  Basically, what are the fundamental designs that are available -- and, have the old ones that were already there been improved?

The one undeniable new design is the Drop Spore Tyranid army.  You certainly couldn't do that before.  Likewise, the Mycetic Spores themselves are fairly nifty what with their base cost being a reasonable 40 points and having access to an array of different weapons.  However, this new design isn't quite as nice as it first sounds.

When it comes to most "Deep Strike" armies (most notably Space Marines) you benefit from special assault rules which allow you to bring in your units faster and in unison more than what would otherwise be normal.  Not so with a Tyranid Spore force -- it uses just the plain old reserve rules.  Take a gander at this chart:

There is a gigantic difference early on when it comes to how fast your units will drop in.  It evens out by turn four, but that's not really the point -- the great limitation of any "deep strike" army is that your men will arrive piecemeal, thereby allowing the bad guys to destroy each in turn.  Special "Drop Pod Assault" like rules go a long way to mitigate the danger.  This is not just because you start coming in earlier, but also because you are guaranteed of showing up with a full half your army that first turn.  By comparison, the bug "Spore Pod Assault" is entirely up to chance -- the totals I give here are just averages.  That means that the possible results for Tyranids are going to be more variable toward the negative -- e.g. it can only be worse than the same roles if you played Space Marines.  While this doesn't somehow ruin the "Spore Pod" option it does give you pause as it's hard to be confident that a few bad die roles won't produce disaster.

Another new possibility is a flying force, but the absence of any way to have flying troop choices pretty much sours the design.  Without that the best you can do is a half-and-half force of flyers and runners who aren't going to be able to support each other very well unless the flyers hold back -- and in that case why spend the extra points when legging it to the enemy will do?  Why couldn't GW have come up with a way to take flyers as troops, their cost and fragility balancing their speed?  Is that really so hard to balance out?

Beyond those two you have the same old basic designs -- Nidzilla, horde, genestealer cadre, and shooty bugs.  I would argue that none of them have been clearly improved.

The Nidzilla army still faces the same main issue as before, namely that the army list doesn't really allow for it except by using cheesy ratios of big specials against puny troop choices.  The loss of protection from Instant Death for synapse now makes mid-range units -- those with 4 or 5 toughness -- you might otherwise use to flesh out the force more vulnerable to heavy weapons.  On the flip side being able to take Carnifexes in groups of threes is as much a problem as a benefit considering they must all be clones and all attack/charge the same targets.

Given the popularity of Nidzilla armies why O why didn't GW take this chance to allow them in a more elegant fashion -- say, with a special character that would allow Carnifexes to be taken as troops (while otherwise putting in new factors to preserve balance)?

The horde really hasn't changed much.  'Gaunts are still as much cannon fodder as before and therefore dependent on other, beefier units to get them real punch.  Yes, the Tervigon/termagant force is cool, but the higher cost of warriors and less effectiveness of 'stealers makes your old designs notably less attractive.

Speaking of which, Genestealer armies just don't work anymore.  Without the ability to take 4+ saves 'stealers will now melt in the face of the ubiquitous AP 5 infantry weapon and with wimpier Rending they won't do as much damage when they get into close-combat.  I won't go quite as far as to suggest this design has been "nerfed" but it is close.

As for the Shooty Bugs design...

#3 -- Where are the AP 3 (or Better) Weapons?  There are a grand total of two -- yes, just two -- weapons that are Power Armor killers.  The first is the 12" Carnifex Bio-Plasma (why is the 'Fex shooting with something like that anyway?) and the old standard Warp Blast.  Not even the new Hive Guard with their uber-weapons can beat AP 4.  Since 'Nids haven't been big on the big guns anyway I suppose this is to be expected, yet at the same time this oversight has some serious consequences.

Power Armor is the suit of choice in the 41st millennium.  Thus, the ability to credibly ignore it is fairly important when it comes to army design, if only because it forces your opponent to not take his saving throws for granted.  For example, a bunch of Necrons facing Imperial Guard with plasma guns will hesitate just to run down the middle of the board.  When facing Tyranids, however, that same player can do so with confidence -- and if you trot some Zoanthropes he knows where to concentrate his heavy firepower, especially since they can now be one-shot wonders when facing strength 8+ weapons.

Nothing is a better predictor of survival than a good armor save because when it works nothing mitigates it.  Unlike toughness whose effectiveness is on a sliding curve, 3+ armor will save you 66% of the time whether the strength of the weapon is 2 or 10.  This, for Tyranids that means that 2/3 of your shooting attacks (minus the two exceptions above) are guaranteed to fail when facing power armor.  The only way to overcome this is with mass fire, yet for bugs that means getting within 12" -- and won't you want to be charging into combat at those ranges anyway?  So much for the shooty force.

(Yes, you could always face Imperial Guards or Orks, but are you honestly going to design an army that plays in almost completely different ways depending on whether you are facing power armor?)

#4 -- Why is Everything Changed?  This is more a nitpick for veteran players than a direct criticism of the new book.  If you compare the old bio-morphs to the new ones you find that nearly all may have the same names, but their rules are quite different.  If you've gone to the trouble of modeling all those bugs with just this or that combination of bio-morphs it is quite likely you are going to find yourself wishing you could magically switch them out with something else.  Fortunately, most opponents won't be so crass as to stick you on this, so you can just "fake it" without facing changing all those models, but still it is annoying that often the new morphs are so different from the old ones.

#5 -- Why So Many Elites?  I mentioned this in previous posts -- the army list has way too many elite choices compared to the force as a whole.  Many are quite good and the rest of decent, but I suspect that some will seldom if ever be played just because it will make too much sense to spend those Elite points on the better unit.  At the very least Zoanthropes should have stayed Heavy Support.

I warned you this would be fairly negative in tone, but don't (yet, at least) think that means I am dismissing the new book as a whole.  Let's go through the units one-by-one as see what we can make work.

More to come...

Posted on: 1/25/2010 at 9:41 PM
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Technically, it's an assembled Trygon Prime, but I think it'll be easy enough to play it as a regular Trygon given the two are almost identical.  To put it another way, I'll be miffed at any opponent who insists I pay another $50 just to have a slightly different mini!

The model was surprisingly easy to put together with little flash -- it took about two hours.  The end result was a little bigger than I had expected, which is good as a large part of the appeal of the Trygon is clearly just that it is big and mean looking.

I've been going through the book extensively this week and finding more points -- potentially good and bad -- than I had originally expected.  I've also been crunching numbers to better drill down and understand the these new Tyranids.  I don't want to do them an injustice and jump too quickly to negative conclusions, but the problems I saw originally are still there (and some new advantages as well).

More to come...

Posted on: 1/23/2010 at 9:50 PM
Categories: Modeling
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Just got my box kit for the amazingly impressive Trgygon/Mawloc.  I wanted to show them to you so you can see what bug parts you get (that can also be used for any number of possible conversions).  Posting them also gives me more time to get my Codex analsys finished.  :-)

It comes with a grand total of two sprues, a large oval base, and construction instructions.  Runs $49.50 here in the US.

(Click for larger versions)

Expect the bugs to keep on coming....

Posted on: 1/18/2010 at 11:59 PM
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The bugs are back!  New book, new models, new rules -- it's time to celebrate the gigantic eating machine that is the Tyranid horde.

Since there is so much to talk about and as I am a Tyranid player I plan on offering an entire series detailing each model and all the rules that come with them.  However, I have to start somewhere so here are my first impressions...

The Good

1)  New Models:  I'm sorry, but brand new toys are always a good thing.  It allows you to add to existing armies, inspire you to perhaps start a new one, and at least catches the imagination.  Even better, while of course they are all in the same classic "bug-ish" theme as always, I think all the new models range in quality from good to great.

2)  Lots of Special Characters:  Not only are the old special bug characters back, but with them come a bunch of new add-ons.  I like this as the unique stuff adds a lot of flavor and allows you to go wild with conversions.

3) Bug Transports:  Your Tyranid force can now ride in style to any battle in mycetic spores.  That's just cool.

The Bad

1)  Units that Make You Go, "Huh?":  Some of the new models/units just don't quite make sense to me.  Not that they might not be effective, but that the rules just don't seem polished.  A good example is the new Pyrovore.  It's a fine model, but is really just a space marine scout with a heavy flamer and power sword for 45 points.  If the potential problem isn't obvious let me describe in this way -- a big gun and light sabre wielded by a 98-pound weakling using a walker.  Okay, maybe not that bad, but it does combine good damage potential with a fragile unit that can't get places quickly.  It's hard to know if it will really work -- and just seems like a lazy way to design a unit, IMHO.

2)  Genestealers are Now Bolter Fodder:  Say goodbye to 4+ armored genestealers (with one unimpressive exception).  That means they will melt in the face of the common infantry weapons.  They do now all come with infiltrate and can all take Broodlords (which are more wimpy, admittedly), but gone is the pure genestealer force.  They are just too fragile to run them down the middle of the board as you must (at least some) with a heavy 'stealer army.

3)  More Units, Less Choice:  You might have more choices between models, but now you less ability to configure them than you did before.  For instance, Zoanthropes only come in one flavor now and the base cost of a Carnifex has been jacked way up although you don't really get anything extra.

4)  Same Units, Same Problems:  I am a bit perplexed in some cases as to why units with well-known issues weren't improved.  Take Hormaguants -- just as fragile and wimpy as before, but now they are even slower.  Yippee.

The Ugly

1)  The Middle Monster Hole:  I know those who fight Tyranids will be glad to see that synapse no longer makes you immune to instant death, but it makes for a serious issue for the bugs themselves.  Basically, it means that all those middle tier monsters -- things like warriors or zoanthropes -- can now be one-shot kills.  That all but guarantees you won't see them as the backbone of any force as otherwise you can effectively destroy the army through some clever cherry picking.

2)  Bug Heads Go Boom:  You now have to roll for all psychic powers to see if they work.  Wonderful -- another reason for me to not depend on warp blast.

3)  What New Army Designs?:  There are more unit choices, but I am not sure there are any new basic designs.  In fact, the designs might even be a bit worse.  Nidzilla armies have to deal with higher point prices, there was nothing really added overall to encourage horde armies, and you can't take specialty forces like an all airborne swarm.  Sure, the new monsters are cool, but do they add anything to the effectiveness of Tyranids as a group?

4)  Bug Inflation:  When in doubt assume that the basic cost of a unit has gone up, sometimes way up.

Overall First Impression:  I hate to say it, but for the first time in a long time I am not sure if a new codex is a good or bad thing.  There is a lot to like, but there is also -- especially for veteran bug generals -- a lot to dislike.

More to come...

Posted on: 1/15/2010 at 11:40 PM
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This is in celebration of the release of the new Tyranid Codex.  I'm going through it right now and will post my thoughts soon.

Oh, and -- Narf!

Posted on: 1/13/2010 at 8:37 PM
Categories: Comics
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It's official -- GW is coming out with the updated Blood Angels codex in April.  The word just came in through their email announcements.  Likewise, with the book comes a (presumably new) "range of plastic and metal miniatures." 

The description goes on saying, "The Blood Angels have always been a powerful close combat army and have been made even deadlier thanks to a range of specialist wargear, the ability to field Assault Squads as Troops choices, and more Dreadnoughts than any other Space Marine Chapter, including a Death Company Dreadnought and the fabled Furioso Dreadnought. The Sons of Sanguinius will be deep striking onto a tabletop near you this April – now’s the time to practice painting red."

Not being a Blood Angels player this doesn't mean much to me, but it will for many.  It does mean more frustration at seeing yet another group of Space Marines not Dark Angels get a new codex filled with all new toys (they've all been like that since after the most recent edition of the DA book).  Like I foretold in the past DA continue to quickly receed into the distance on their trip toward relative obscurity.  <sigh>

Posted on: 1/10/2010 at 12:32 AM
Categories: Cool Stuff
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Yes, I know I haven't been updating as regularly as usual, but it has been that time of year -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, relatives coming and going, deadlines to meet, traveling here and there.  And, now I have a presentation to give this weekend!

However, with the new year that means we need to start getting serious about plans for Origins, so expect things to ramp up pretty quickly.  It would, however, help if my supposed <nudge> fellow bloggers <wink> would post more often. <sigh>

Until then let me employ the time honored manipulative Internet tactic of posting the one thing that always gets attention even when it has nothing to do with your blog or Youtube channel -- kittens!

I picked up my new pets over the holiday season -- a pair of (Traditional) Siamese cats named Leo and Martin.  My first Siamese was a great companion, so this time I had to go for two.  I've been trying to teach them 40K so we could play a few games, but so far I haven't gotten them past thinking that when you "kill" a model you aren't supposed to try to eat it.  Sort of like Orks that way, just a lot more fuzzy.

If nothing else the cats explain why I haven't been posting as much -- all that time necessary to feed them and pet them and watch them chase after bits of wrapping and generally be silly and on and on and on.  It's tiring.  Yup, really been too busy.  Haven't had the time.  Yup, not my fault.  No, honest.  Really.

Posted on: 1/4/2010 at 7:28 PM
Categories: Editorials
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