There’s a Shadow in the Warp, and it heralds the imminent arrival of Codex: Tyranids on pre-order this weekend. The big bugs have gotten even bigger, Synaptic Imperatives have made Synapse creatures even more pivotal, and hive fleets are packing a new biomorph known as the Parasite of Mortrex. The sound of mandibles clicking is deafening, and it’s time for a celebratory feast.*
Codex: Tyranids still has more secrets hidden under its chitin, however – such as Crusade rules all about scoping the galaxy for the latest tasty morsels.
At the start of your Crusade, you’ll scope out a juicy new world on which to chow down by rolling on a table of Planet Types. From the fine dining of hive worlds to the slim pickings of industrial worlds, each variety of planet has two important statistics for you to generate (and eventually consume) by rolling dice against the relevant table – Biomass and Crushed Resistance. Once you have prepared a slap-up meal that aligns with three sanctioned stages of biomass inhalation – Invasion, Predation, and Consumption, you may begin.
To progress, you need to earn the same number of points as the planet has at that stage. Every battle you win will earn your Crusade army one Biomass point and one Crushed Resistance point. Lose, and you’ll lose a Biomass point as your army burns calories to regroup. When a planet is stacked with defenders or teeming with life, you can undertake specific Agendas to please the Hive Mind and earn extra points and accelerate the process.
Each stage of your planetary assault introduces different rules to govern how you build your army and how your hungry bugs earn experience points. In the Predation stage, as your critters flood the planet’s surface, swarming masses are the order of the day. You’ll get extra Command points for running your Warlord in an Outrider Detachment, while Troops will receive extra experience for doing the grunt work.
These stages even offer special Stratagems to represent the Hive Mind’s shifting tactics. In the Consumption stage, the all-consuming Tyranid ecosystem has wrapped itself around the planet. As the inhabitants make their last-ditch attempt to take down capillary towers and reclamation pools, your hive fleet can defend these grotesque bio-structures by granting its organic artillery re-rolls on hit rolls of 1.
If you win here, your hive fleet can finally gorge itself on all of that lovely organic matter – then put its feelers out to find a new planet. In the meantime, you get to go on a calorific spending spree to upgrade your Crusade army. Biogenesis options let you spend Biomass points to grow your swarm by increasing your Supply Limits, improve your favourite bugs with free experience, or apply unique Adaptive Physiologies to your monstrous organisms.
The Hive Mind is ultimately a creature of habit (not to mention hunger), and will endlessly repeat this process of invading, preying upon, and consuming planets, improving itself over time. After a handful of planet-sized feasts, your fleet will be unrecognisable as the nascent swarm of starving bugs that first wandered into the galaxy.
Hungry for more? Codex: Tyranids arrives for pre-order this weekend with all the rules and lore** you need for the ultimate intergalactic food crawl – including Crusade staples such as Agendas, Battle Traits, Battle Scars, Psychic Fortitudes, and Crusade Relics, which you can combine to turn your swarm into a storied splinter fleet.
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* First on the menu – every inhabitant of the 41st Millennium.
** For models, you’ll need to pre-order the new Combat Patrol – also this weekend!