Games Workshop Warhammer 40k - Tyranids Haruspex

Product Information

Andy: It certainly pushed us to make sure that there was some focus on the opening events of the Fourth Tyrannic War. With Tyranids firmly at the forefront of the ongoing Warhammer 40,000 narrative right now, we’ve been careful to focus some attention on what hobbyists will already have learned from diving into the Crusade: Tyrannic War book, in particular. Hive Fleet can matter here. As this bug needs to get into the fray, Kraken is an obvious choice for that sweet first turn advance for positioning, especially if you throw on Onslaught to let the Haruspex charge afterwards. You can certainly do a Kraken- Swarmlord Haruspex missile for a first turn charge, and thanks to Opportunistic Advance, still have good odds for a first turn Genestealer charge as well. Leviathan isn’t a bad choice as an extra 6+ Feel No Pain on a T8 13 wound model starts to matter, especially one without an invulnerable save, but you need a synapse babysitter. Jormungandr isn’t bad either for the 2+ save against shooting, but as the Haruspex is a melee monster, you do want to advance, but it does help soften the alpha strike if you go second. Gorgon helps with the reroll 1s to wound, and Behemoth isn’t bad for the reroll charges (and this bug wants to charge). As the Haruspex is a monster, Hydra is not really meaningful, and Kronos doesn’t add anything either although the Haruspex is a big monster that wants to run up the board, that is a lot of reach for The Deepest Shadow. The Army’s rule is to allow Harvester units near objectives the ability to heal Tyranid units nearby. This seems pretty good, as each of the monsters is hard to chew through. Regaining d3 wounds per turn seems like a powerful way to mess up the enemy’s damage math. If you can’t remove a tyranid big bug right away, it becomes a nightmare as it gains some wounds, creates a unit that needs more shooting to chip away, and then eats something that gets too close by. Rich: Choosing a Detachment, from the Unending Swarm to the Crusher Stampede, gives you access to a wide array of gameplay styles that reflect how the Hive Mind goes to war. These are intentionally designed to show the adaptability open to all Tyranid swarms, as now any hive fleet can play in any style they like – the only limit is the imagination of the player.

WarCom: What were some aspects of Tyranid warfare that you most wanted to highlight when designing the new Detachments? Rich: The new Codex contains the most diverse set of ways to collect and play a Tyranid army that have ever been presented, while simultaneously containing some of the most streamlined and user-friendly rules ever designed for the faction. Mutilators and Possessed: apply almost the same to ogryns, a bit worst. Really close in that worst ten.WarCom: The Tyranids are the big headline threat in the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 – did this prominence inform any of the decisions you made when writing the Codex? Excitement for the new Codex: Tyranids is at fever pitch, and there’s still so much to see inside. We only just finished a look at the new Detachments yesterday , and we haven’t even brushed against the new miniatures , new Crusade rules, and new lore. Two Stalkers, firing together, won’t kill a Haruspex over the entire course of a game even if they don’t ever shoot at anything else. It’s one of the worst points-per-firepower you can get. Obelisk: probably the reason we say the Haruspex is “one of the worst ten”, instead of saying “it could be the worst one”.

Now, you could listen to us talk about it until we’re blue in the face, but there’s no beating insider knowledge. That’s why we spoke to Rich and Andy from the Warhammer Studio about the new Codex, and what it was like to work on such a momentous project. Daemonhosts and Jokaero are 25-35pt models with small numbers of wounds and no abilities of note. If nothing else on this list, they are _infinitely_ worse than the Haruspex on a variety of levels. Land Raider: again, firepower, and decent BS. Of course, it is more expensive, so in the end is not far from the Haruspex.Andy: Then of course there’s the wealth of new units and – the bit I’m most excited about from a gaming point of view – a treasure trove of Tyranid Crusade content. It charges hobbyists with consuming worlds and recycling their opponents’ armies into raw biomass, enhancing their gaming experiences with yet more warrior organisms to add to their swarm. Rich: I’ve always been a massive fan of the Lictor – I love the idea of an unknowable alien assassin, huge and powerful, and yet silently stalking and all but invisible to onlookers. With the introduction of Von Ryan’s Leapers , the new Lictor model, Deathleaper’s new miniature , and the Neurolictor, I feel like this Codex is a major celebration of the assassin archetype, and I am entirely here for that. Soon I’ll be forced to create a purely Lictor-themed army. Reivers: vertical movility and deep strike. A maxed squad costs close to the same as a Haruspex and have an almost decent antichaff power. While I agree that every model in that list needs changes to be decent, I don’t think all of them are worst than the Haruspex, and a few are a lot better than him.