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| I'll have what she's having, bartender... |
Well, I was planning on starting a unit by unit review of the new Tyranid codex, but after getting my hands on it and having a chance to read through the actual unit entries... no. Not gonna bother. In terms of execution, this codex is cartoonishly bad. It fixes nothing, introduces no new mechanics, takes away multiple units and capabilities, and to top it all off, includes some really lackluster sculpts for its new releases. Literally the only thing the Tyranids do well now is volume - of numbers, attacks, and shots, and that just isn't enough.
For argument's sake, here's the best list I've been able to come up with so far:
Competitive Tyranids - 1750
HQ:
Hive Tyrant w/ Wings, Hive Commander, TL BL devouvers - 250
Hive Tyrant w/ Wings, Hive Commander, TL BL devourers - 250
Troops:
30 Termagants - 120
30 Termagants - 120
Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Electroshock Grubs - 220
Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Electroshock Grubs - 220
3 Warriors w/ devourers and rending claws - 105
Fast Attack:
Hive Crone - 155
Hive Crone - 155
Heavy Support:
2 Biovores - 90
Fortification: Aegis Defense Line w/ Comms Relay
Tyrants and Crones hit the center and try to take out key units - hopefully the Tervigons arrive on the flanks, start spawning, and take out squishy units trying to avoid the FMCs. Warriors stay back either behind the Aegis Line or out of LoS manning the Comms Relay and keeping the Biovores on target, while the Termagants move in behind the MCs or defend the Warriors, as needed.
It'll win some games, possibly quite a few against players who aren't prepared for it... but I can't see it winning against a prepared tournament level army. In terms of threat to my opponent, this feels equivalent to the durability/board control lists I was fielding with the previous codex, and won't be nearly as much fun to play. And that's the crux of the matter - I'm not going to rebuild my army just to get back to what was already a tenuous position in the 40k pecking order.
Games Workshop couldn't meet my already lowered expectations for this release, and I see no reason to reward the company for that. I'll probably post up the odd Tyranid battle report in the coming months, but don't expect too much. If I'm feeling really energetic, there may be some articles/reports with my Chaos Daemons... who just got an even bigger incentive to use 3rd party models.
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