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A First Look at the New Tyranid Codex

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Warhammer 40K Tyranids 6th Edition Codex

Today’s the day. The new Tyranid codex is officially released and in stores along with the new Tyranid miniatures. The first Warhammer 40K codex of 2014. The first Warhammer 40K codex officially written by the “Games Workshop Design Team”, rather than a specific lead-author.

Moreover, this seems to be a codex that is getting a very bad reception in many forums and blogs, which may or may not be warranted (I cannot tell you at this point, to be honest).

Either way, I spend a nice morning with the book and a cup of coffee. A few thoughts on the (physcial) Tyranid codex.

#1 – The Tyranid Codex in my Hands

For a start, the Tyranid codex looks like all 6th Edition codexes for Warhammer 40K so far. It’s back down to 105 pages, just like the Eldar or Chaos Daemon codexes, for example. Not the thicker version we got for Space Marines.

Using the Eldar codex as a comparison (the most recent codex with the same page-count), the Tyranid codex actually packs a bit more fluff. Some 26 or so pages of background, plus a few gorgeous double-page (see above) and single-page spreads. The description of the army and units doesn’t start until page 38. In comparison, the Eldar codex only had about 16 pages of background, and fewer art-pieces early on, starting the army-discussion itself at page 25.

Tyranid Codex Unit Descriptions

Background (and art) seems to be at slight premium in the new Tyranid codex. I believe they gave themselves the extra space by occasionally squeezing several units on a single page, instead of using a full-page for every choice in the army list.

Biovores and the new Exocrine are grouped under “Artillery Organisms”, for example, while Pyrovores and the new Haruspex share the “Feeder Organisms”-page.

Overall, I think it’s a good change, though I haven’t read the entire background section yet (though what I read isn’t bad).

#2 – New Tyranid Units

Mutilator vs. Haruspex Beast

Speaking of the Haruspex, there are of course all the new entries for the new miniatures. As noted above, the rules seem to be getting a lot of hate on the interwebs so far (even compared to “normal” Games Workshop releases). That hate may or may not be justified.

As a “Tyranid-neophyte”, I found them to be fun to read. The new Haruspex for example regenerates wounds for gobbling up enemy units (Nom-Nom!) and comes with a biomorph rule that’s literally called “Gulp!“. I love it.  To me, the new Tyranid codex was more fun read than the slightly dry Space Marines codex (though the author might be the same…?).

The Haruspex miniature also gave me déjà-vues of the Vortex Beast from Fantasy. The latter, in my opinion, is the slightly more Cthulhu cooler miniature. Would be fun to see Vortex Beast as proxy for a Haruspex in a 40K Chaos Army (“Gulp!“).

#3 – Miniature Showcase

New Tyranid Codex Miniature Diorama

Right before the army list itself, you’ll find the display section of the miniatures.

The miniatures-show-case-section in the Tyranid codex (22 pages) is likewise slightly larger than the one in the Eldar codex (18 page).

There also seem to be more double-page spreads like the one above that show the new miniatures in a “fight-scene”, with terrain, opponents, etc.., rather than the single miniatures before a white background (which are still there, of course).

#4 – The Lost Nids

Another hot topic, of course, is that a few old Tyranid units have gone the way of the Squats.

The Mycetic Spore is gone, not just from the rules, but (on a casual first read) from the background entirely. Likewise the Doom of Malan’tai, the Parasite of Mortrex and Ymgarl Genestealers. The latter, at least, can be build with a “Bio-Artefact” named “Ymgarl Factor”.

#5 – Thoughts

For better or worse, the new Tyranid codex seems to be a codex that people love to hate, and possibly the rules do have issues. Usually, it takes me a few weeks to truly get to grip with things in the game itself.

Furthermore, a few old units have been cut, which is going to annoy people with a collection that includes models for these units. It certainly isn’t helping the codex at the moment.

However, as a physical product, I enjoy the book. The visuals are top notch, as we’ve come to expect from Warhammer 40K 6th Edition codexes over the past year-and-a-bit. More room was given to background and miniature-showcases, while the unit descriptions were handled more economically, which is a change I like.

The writing itself feels slightly more fun than, say, the Space Marines or Dark Angels codex, nor did I immediately find quite as many spelling mistakes as I did with the former.

Thus my verdict (as a person without a Tyranid army): an enjoyable book that I look forward to reading more in-depth in the coming months!

Z.

Zweischneid

Zweischneid

I am Zweischneid. Wargame Addict. Hopeless painter and founder of Pins of War. I hope you enjoyed this article. Don't forget to share your favourite miniature pictures and wargaming videos at www.pinsofwar.net.
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  • Mr. Wizard

    Although as someone who plays against Tyranids I am not sad to see the Doom go, why they would get rid of a mainstay of their army is beyond me unless they plan to release a data slate or some sort of supplement bringing it back.

    • Bobthemim

      You know that is the case.. Get rid of the #1 unit every nid army has somewhere and release the £30 supplement adding him back in with a slight change.. (extra wound?) and suddenly you have sold the crappy sup.

      • Hive Senteniel

        I think they got rid of the DoM simply because without a Spore Pod to drop him in front all those soul filled delicacies, he’s kind of not effective. He’d spend all day moving up getting shot at and couldn’t fire back really without hurting himself. Maybe if they do a Dataslate they’ll give hime Deep Strike (or release a Dataslate: Spore Pod later lol)

    • KJensen

      Well… The Doom was a bit too good for its points in my opinion, which leads me to thinking, that either GW has been struggling coming up with some more balanced rules for it (likely) or they decided to remove the entry, as there is no specific model for the Doom, that I am aware of (very likely).

      I haven’t read the codex, but hearing that Mycetic spores are gone both as a fluff concept and as a model gives me sadface. I think the idea of “fleshpods from the sky” is pretty cool from a thematic point of view.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if GW starts using dataslates to expand their game like they did with Be’lakor and Cypher though – especially not since their previous main outlet for “product updates” just got axed. With WD completely gone as in “dead” or “R.I.P”, players can’t really complain about “this content should be in WD”, because WD no longer exists.

      After a while dataslate DLC will be the norm, as only nostalgic people will think “Dammit, I’m not buying those datalsates; this stuff used to be in WD!”.

  • Hive Senteniel

    I think that a lot of people were expecting a more flexible codex with many options and dirt cheap units. You’d think that’s the way Tyranids works. But personally I can’t hate the Codex it has a lot of interesting things now. Elite Monsterous Creatures, A flying S8 monsterous creature in your FA slot, Hive Guard can now IGNORE COVER! (Where’s your Aegis Defense Line Now?).Also a lot of the Bio-Artifacts seem really useful. I can see how people are disappointed because it is more like a revised 5th edition rather than a brand new one, but ultimately people need to try out all the new options before they can complain. *Btw did the Nids actually win a few battles in the new fluff? in 5th I think nearly every battle in the fluff was a loss lol

    • Blackcaim

      Hive guard have always ignored cover. In fact, the old rules stated that on top of ignoring cover, jink saves couldn’t be taken. On top of that the HG had better BS at that time. However, I think that the codex may be playable, though we basically had most of our assault unit nerfed. It’s as though GW wants to punish assault armies. Ah well, hopefully the increased number of of units on the board will help us. (Though it’ll kill poorer players’ wallets)

      • Hive Senteniel

        Was that stuff FAQ’d/Amended for 6th? Because the 5th Codex says “Target can only count the benefits of cover they are in or touching if it lies between them and the Hive Guard”, otherwise I’ve been giving my opponents invalid cover saves lol

    • NagaBaboon

      Yeah hiveguard are exactly the same except 5pts more and with a lowered BS. Also the Bio artifacts don’t look terribly useful, or at least those that do seem kind of overpriced. I do agree that it seems like a revised version of the 5th book, but they have removed as many things as they’ve added which is a bit strange and I think the person doing the revision was not really paying attention to some of the entries at all!

      • Hive Senteniel

        I agree with you, the codex does feel somewhat neglected. They are some obvious issues that weren’t fixed and the removal of Biomancy has definitely hurt Nids (no Iron Arm= no swarmlord/tyrant without need for Guards, No T9 Tervigons or Tervigon troops for that matter) so there’s that and Warriors who still can be ID (at least the Prime should have had EW) but adding an Elite MC, a better Flyer and Vehicle killer (Crone), as well as a 7 shot Plasma Cannon with a Large Blast mode definitely helps out as well as cheaper MC’s all round. My biggest disappointment was actually the Warlord traits not really beneficial save for 2.

  • Robert Shorter

    They scrapped the DoM to screw Chapter House. Without the money or time to make a model for it they just got rid of it so their influence and business was limited.

  • NagaBaboon

    They have certainly made it a much more difficult book to play with the changes to psychic powers and instinctive behavior, keeping things in synapse range is going to be even more paramount than before. The loss of mycetics and ymagarls means making any kind of attack in turn 2 is going to be very difficult and we’re back to slogging across the board with an unfluffy, shooty ‘nid army. I don’t really know how it’ll hold up in game but they have certainly not restored balance to the dex, might as well cross out half of the unit entries with a biro, at least we might be seeing carnifexes again though so that’s cool!