The new Codex: Tyranids is up for pre-order this weekend, and it’s the first Codex released for the new edition of Warhammer 40,000. Inside, you’ll find all of the lore, showcased miniatures, and rules you’ve come to expect, as well as the complete rules to play with your horde of extragalactic alien monsters.
The new Codex replaces the free Index which came at the start of the edition, expanding your army options with new Detachments and introducing new and updated datasheets.
In addition to the familiar Invasion Fleet Detachment, there are five more to choose from. For the Tyranids, these represent the various ways that a hive fleet wages war over the course of their invasion, and today we’re declassifying some vital Ordo Xenos intel on how they work.
Each Detachment offers your army unique benefits: a Detachment rule, four Enhancements, and six Stratagems. While some factions will find that the Detachment from their Index changes slightly when their Codex arrives, this is not the case for the Invasion Fleet, which functions exactly as it does now.
If you like your bio-monsters large and stompy, you’ll be glad to see the return of the Crusher Stampede. This Detachment powers up your big beasties once they start taking damage, and they’ll be able to take plenty of it now that MONSTERS and VEHICLES are much tougher overall.
With army construction being much easier in the new edition, you can now fill your force with all the Carnifexes, Mawlocs, and Tervigons you’d like,* and it’s a doddle to make sure that every unit on your side of the battlefield benefits from the new rules. Don’t worry about having fewer miniatures on the board to contest objectives – the Ominous Presence Enhancement shores up the OC stat on your Characters.
But perhaps it’s still early days for your invasion, and you’re trying to keep your swarming on the down-low. Instead of crushing everything in your path, build your army with the Vanguard Onslaught Detachment and slip those lovely new Lictors, Neurolictors, and Deathleapers right behind your opponent’s lines.
As you might expect, these sneaky critters specialise in assassinating key enemy units with blistering assaults. VANGUARD INVADER units also include most flying creatures, as well as Broodlords and Genestealers, so even if stealth isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll have plenty of lightning-fast bruisers to pick from.
Just imagine the new Winged Tyranid Prime barrelling towards your opponent’s Warlord with the Chameleonic Enhancement keeping it safe and the Assassin Beasts Stratagem in your pocket.
Each Detachment puts a wildly different spin on your battle plans and – since they’re not locked to any particular hive fleet – you can chop and change which one you’re using whenever you like. Perhaps you flood the board with an Unending Swarm of ENDLESS MULTITUDE infantry, build a devouring Assimilation Swarm around a brood of hungry, hungry Haruspexes, or unleash the power of the Hive Mind itself in a Synaptic Nexus.
That’s all we can divulge for now – Inquisitorial privilege and all that – but we’ll be back tomorrow chatting to the designers of the new Codex about how they tackled the monumental task before them. There’s also plenty more to unveil from the book as we approach pre-orders on Saturday, so don’t miss it.
* Well, three of each anyway!