Our dissection of the upcoming Codex: Tyranids has revealed some truly remarkable adaptations. Within its glistening innards, we’ve discovered the Hive Mind’s game-changing Synaptic Imperatives, extracted a horrifying new bioform, and detected deadly developments in the evolution of Tyranid subspecies, from the biggest beasts to the smallest swarms.
So now we turn to their armoury. On the slab today we have the ubiquitous fleshborer, the weapon of choice for lowly Termagants and Gargoyles – and unfortunately for the rest of the galaxy, the Magi Biologis report that this biomorph has evolved. Once a humble splat gun, it now resembles a living hose of death.*
Each fleshborer is essentially an organic burrow, absolutely squirming with the worst beetles in the universe. When fired, this gnarly weapon stimulates the borer beetles into launching themselves from the barrel with their flea-like legs. On contact, they feast – it’s a short life, but a fulfilling one.
That sounds horrible enough, but the Norn Queens never saw a bug they couldn’t birth better. Some tweaks to their squishy inner workings have granted the fleshborer an extra 6” Range, a boost to Strength 5, and a pip of Armour Penetration – meaning this hail of hungry beetles is even deadlier when shotgunned at Space Marines.**
These improvements take a unit of Termagants or Gargoyles from a chitinous distraction to a genuine threat – but it doesn’t stop there. As CORE units these bugs can benefit from an array of buffs, such as the Hive Tyrant’s new Will of the Hive Mind ability. This allows a chosen unit to re-roll hit rolls of 1, saturating your enemies with living ammunition.
Fleshborers have been known to spawn a dizzying variety of insectile ammunition, perfect for putting ants in power-armoured pants – if your opponent is cowering out of fleshborer range, or hoping their tough hides will keep them relatively nibble-free, it’s time to bust out the Scorch Bugs Stratagem.
A signal from the Hive Mind causes the fleshborer larvae to produce volatile chemicals, increasing their range to a frankly disgusting 24” and taking them all the way to Strength 6. That’s enough to wound tender Aeldari Guardians and crunchy Skitarii cyborgs on a 2+, and even gnaw through meaty Toughness 5 units like Orks or Gravis-armoured Space Marines on a 3+. All that for just 1CP – and even for a maximum-sized unit of 30 Termagants, it’s still a bargain at 2CP.
With these new and improved fleshborers, a swarm of Termagants has never looked so tempting – no wonder the massive new Combat Patrol is teeming with them! And just wait until you see what the new codex does for your bug-spewing Tervigons…
We’ll have more previews on all things Tyranid as we dig deeper into the belly of the beast, so make sure you sign up for the Warhammer Community newsletter.
* Not to be confused with living noodles of death, also found in the Hive Fleets.
** The hulking Tyrannofex boasts an oversized fleshborer hive of its own – and trust us, it’s getting a lot nastier too.