Hobby: Building the Tyranid Culexus Assassin

By now, you've likely read the article espousing the glory that is the Culexus Assassin, and how I enjoy using it in my Tyranid Lists.  Naturally, being a fluff-minded gamer, I can't in good conscience take the default model and just throw it into my bug army.  It'd look jarring, it'd make no sense, and it'd completely break whatever immersion I had in a narrative experience.

Luckily, the Tyranids are an adaptable force, constantly evolving new creatures to deal with the threats they face on the battlefield.  As such, it's totally feasible for the Tyranids to create an organism with the same role as a Culexus assassin, but you know, with more legs.

Meet the Umbrathrope

My idea for my Tyranid assassin was to create some sort of aberrant Zoanthrope subspecies, although it wouldn't utilize it's own psychic ability, it would be driven to devour all external sources of psychic energy.  This fit neatly into my army's fluff, which is that of a mutant-filled swarm, with an instinctual need to follow and consume psykers. 

The Umbrathrope is a bizarre creature by even Tyranid standards.  It's relatively diminutive, albeit rather tall.  It has no legs, instead hovering a few inches off the ground, guiding itself across the landscape with several ropy tendrils.  It's body is festooned with antennae and spines of variable length, and it's head is composed of a mouthless capsule of brain matter, terminating in a set of tusks. It's name comes from the Latin "Umbra" meaning "Silence," representing it's desire to silence Psychic powers.  It's effect against psykers is so powerful that it operates completely out of sync with the Hive Mind, with other Tyranids considering it a bizarre presence.  They avoid it on the battlefield and generally seem to keep their distance from this mutant kin. 

This model was actually incredibly easy to build.  To create her you'll need: 

• 1 Mawloc/Trygon mandible piece
• Various Mawloc/Trygon antenna bits
• 1 Genestealer Torso
• 1 set of Genestealer Arms
• Green Stuff
• 1 Head from "Bathalian Mastermind," by Reaper Miniatures 

Simply attach the Genestealer Torso to the end of the Mawloc Mouthpart.  This creates the body and the hovering "tail."  Then attach the Genestealer arms in whatever pose you'd like.  The Spines and antennae are optional, but I find that they add a bit of weirdness to the model, and create a sort of "deep sea fish" aesthetic.

The green stuff is used to create tentacles that replace the second and third set of limbs.  They can be used to give the model the appearance of hovering, if you'd rather not glue her tail directly to the base.  I opted for using a scenic piece of ancient ruins from Scibor miniatures to hide this, but feel free to experiment! 

You can probably predict what happened to these Terminators.

The most important thing to remember when building this model is that it's supposed to be bizarre and different looking.  There's really no right or wrong way to create it, but I always say that weirder is better in these situations!

-Vitsika

Tyranid Zone Mortalis, pt 2: Some more fun stuff

Woah, what's that?  More content, hell yeah! Here's a few more units and formations for Tyranids to use in Zone Mortalis:

DATASHEET:

Incubation Node- 30 POINTS

Dedicated Transport

FACTION: TYRANIDS

      Lining the walls and floors of the living ship, countless Tyranid organisms lie dormant inside of monstrous living chambers.  These Incubation Nodes act both as nurseries and sentries.  Protecting the creatures growing inside them, and vomiting them forth as the first line of defense when the Hive is threatened.

Unit Type:

Monstrous Creature

Unit Composition:

1

Weapons and Biomorphs:

·      Scything Talons

·      Acid Blood

·      Toxic Miasma

Special Rules:

·      Immobile

·      Fearless

·      Infiltrate

·      Stealth

·      Living Chamber

·      Incubation

Living Chamber: The Incubation node is considered an Open-Topped Transport with a transport capacity of 10 for the purposes of holding models, as well as determining damage dealt to embarked models from Template weapons.

Incubation: An Incubation Node may be taken as a Dedicated Transport by any Troops choice in Codex: Tyranids.  This unit must begin the game embarked upon the Incubation Node.  If the Node is destroyed while a unit is embarked, the embarked unit is dealt damage exactly as if it were embarked upon a vehicle that was destroyed with an “Explodes!” result on the vehicle damage table.

Options:

May choose the following weapons and biomorphs:

·      Thorax Swarm (may take one)

o   Electroshock Grubs 10 pts

o   Shreddershard Beetles 10 pts

o   Desiccator Larvae 10 pts

DATASHEET:

NORN QUEEN-250 POINTS

HQ

FACTION: TYRANIDS

      Within the bowels of every Hive Ship, the Norn Queen broods.  Her bloated, rugose frame undulating with the pangs of endless births, her mind the epicenter of the inconceivable vastness of the Hive Mind, the living intelligence created from the fragmented sparks of her endless children. 

Unit Type:

Monstrous Creature (Character)

Unit Composition:

1 (Unique)

Weapons and Biomorphs:

·      Scything Talons

·      Acid Blood

·      Toxic Miasma

·      Stranglethorn Cannon

Special Rules:

·      Synapse

·      Shadow in the Warp

·      Immobile

·      Enhanced Breeding

·      Warp Field

·      Fearless

·      Infiltrate

·      Psyker (Mastery Level 3)

·      Synaptic Death Throes

Enhanced Breeding: The Norn Queen may spawn Termagants exactly as if it were a Tervigon.  However, before rolling to spawn, the Tyranid player may choose to instead attempt to spawn:

·      3D6 Hormagaunts

·      1D6 Ripper swarms

·      1 D6 Genestealers

·      2 D6 Gargoyles

·      A single Tyranid Warrior with a Devourer and Scything talons

For each 1D6 spawn, a result of “1” is treated exactly as a roll of doubles for spawning Termagants or Gargoyles.  (It may not spawn any more units of the chosen type)

Spawning a Tyranid Warrior is one use only.

Immobile: This unit may never move or be placed in any location other than it’s starting position after deployment.

Synaptic Death Throes: If the Norn Queen is destroyed, all friendly Tyranid units (spawned or otherwise) within 12” must take a leadership test.  If failed, they must test for instinctive behavior, even if within synapse.  Note: Synapse creatures themselves do not need to take this test.

Warp Field: This unit has a 3+ Invulnerable Save.

Options:

May choose the following weapons and biomorphs:

·      Thorax Swarm (may take one)

o   Electroshock Grubs 10 pts

o   Shreddershard Beetles 10 pts

o   Desiccator Larvae 10 pts

Defenders of the Hive

FACTION: TYRANIDS

      Certain Tyranid organisms are designed entirely for defensive purposes.  Like living walls they black corridors with their own bodies, daring any enemy to try and break them.  Some are evolved to deal death from afar through the use of various symbiotic organisms, spitting forth a hail of razor-sharp spines on foes as they stumble through the perilous innards of the Hive Ship.

FORMATION

A Defenders of the Hive Formation consists of the following units:

·      1-3 Hive Guard Broods

·      1-3 Tyrant Guard Broods

FORMATION RESTRICTIONS

None

FORMATION SPECIAL RULES

Living Shields: Models in this formation in base-to-base contact with another model in the same formation each receives +1 to their Feel No Pain (If they don't have FNP, they receive a 6+).  Any model is base-to-base contact with 2 or more models in the formation receives +2 to their Feel No Pain (up to a 4+).   

Immune System

FACTION: TYRANIDS

      Hive Ships employ many methods of self-defense, some simpler than others.  The creation and use of Spore Mines as a deterrent is likely a primitive adaptation to enemies attempting to steal resources from hive structures.  During boarding actions, these simple organisms are released in the paths of enemies, seeking them out like white blood cells, and killing them with explosive force.

FORMATION

An Immune System Formation consists of the following units:

·      3+ Spore Mine Broods

·      1-3 Mucolid Spores

FORMATION RESTRICTIONS

None

FORMATION SPECIAL RULES

They’re Coming out of the Walls!: Models in this formation may enter the battlefield via deep strike, even in Zone Mortalis missions, but may only attempt to deep strike into a living ship section of the board.  Additionally, they only scatter 1D6.   

Slime Trap: For each Mucolid spore that detonates, place a small blast marker under the center of the blast.  This area becomes difficult terrain.  If it was already difficult, it becomes dangerous instead.

The Swarm Awakened

FACTION: TYRANIDS

         When invaders breach a hive ship, the Swarm responds in kind.  Countless Termagants are spat forth as a mindless, unending wave of bodies, slowing down the enemy and killing any foolish enough to engage in such an innumerable foe.  Specialized Nodes continuously pull defenders to the endangered areas, sucking them from stasis chambers through powerful muscle contractions, and placing them exactly where the Hive Ship needs them most.

FORMATION

An Immune System Formation consists of the following units:

·      3+ Termagant Broods

·      1 Tyranid Warrior Brood

FORMATION RESTRICTIONS

All Termagant Broods must take an Incubation Node as a dedicated transport.

FORMATION SPECIAL RULES

Endless: When a Termagant Brood is destroyed, if its Incubation Node is still alive, roll a D6.  One a 4+, the unit is placed back into the Incubation Node, with the same starting number of models and upgrades.

Swarm Intelligence: If the destroyed unit’s Incubation Node is within Synapse range of a Tyranid Warrior within this formation, that unit returns on a 3+ instead of a 4+.

Zone Mortalis: Fighting in the Bowels of Tyranid Bioships

What's up guys?  Today I'll be talking a bit about adding a Tyranid twist to your games of Zone Mortalis.  These are some homebrew datasheets for turning your battlefields into Tyranid hives, complete with living walls that rearrange their configuration as the battle progresses! 

DATASHEET:
Hive Ship

Zone Mortalis Board

      The prototypical flagship of the Tyranid fleet, the Hive Ships act as the brain of the entire Hive Fleet.  Each one is swarming with a teeming hoard of defenders and traps.  Even the ship itself is not defenseless, as it is able to intelligently shift it’s layout to trap and kill invaders.

      The loss of even one Hive Ship is grave for a Tyranid invasion, as each one contains a precious Norn Queen, the progenitor of the swarm, and the organism responsible for genetically engineering new organisms to respond to battlefield threats.

The Hive Ship is a Zone Mortalis board, consisting of 9-16 1x1” tiles.  Each Tile is numbered in ascending order.

Organic passageways:  The walls of a Hive Ship are an ever-changing maze of intestines, arteries, and stomach chambers.  

At the beginning of each Player turn, D3 tiles are to be moved.  Randomly select which tiles will be rotated, and roll a D6 for each, consulting the following chart.

D6 Result:	Direction Rotated:	Degrees Rotated:
1	Left	90
2	Left	180
3	Left	270
4	Right	90
5	Right	180
6	Right	270

Units on each moving tile are moved along with the tile itself.  If a unit is forced to break coherency during a tile shift, it is now considered 2 separate units for the rest of the game.  Any model with its base partially in a moving tile must move the shortest distance possible into either tile. If it cannot move or it has gone to ground, it is destroyed, devoured by the living ship.

Tyranid players may take the following Biomorphs for their Hive Ship in a game of Zone Mortalis:

Biomorphs:

Bioluminescence  10 pts

The Hive’s walls are lined with pulsating bluish light that Tyranid organisms are especially sensitive to, allowing them to see well even in the darkened interior of the Bioship.

·      Friendly Tyranid Units gain Night Vision when within 1” of a Wall.

Enhanced Immune System  20 pts

Some ships are so vital that the organisms defending them are spurred into a battle-frenzy by the will of the Hive Mind.

·      Friendly Tyranid Units gain Preferred Enemy (Infantry) when within 2” of an Incubation Node.

Digestion Chamber  15 pts

The Hive must dissolve and digest all that stands in it’s path.  These chambers are massive stomachs, where the corpses of the slain are dropped off for processing into the nutrient-rich gruel that powers the Tyranid advance.

·      ONE TILE ONLY:  Enemy non-Tyranid units in this tile treat all ground as dangerous terrain.  Any hits caused by dangerous terrain in this room are resolved at AP 3.

The Tyranid board we use.  Prepare for a hobby segment on making one of these beasts!

DATASHEET:
Kraken Bio Ship

Zone Mortalis Board

      The Kraken is a Bioship that latches onto enemy space-faring vessels or structures like a monstrous leech.  A Kraken’s primary attack entails the living vessel boring an entrance into an enemy ship, and vomiting forth Tyranid organisms to slay the crew and harvest their biomass.  

The Kraken Bioship is a Zone Mortalis board, consisting of 9-16 1x1” tiles.

Special Rules:

Boarding action:  The Zone Mortalis Board should be divided into two sections.  One section representing the Kraken’s interior, the other representing the interior of the vessel being attacked.  Deployment zones for each force are limited to their respective vessel, but otherwise follow all the rules for an Attacker/Defender mission found in the Zone Mortalis supplement. 

Into the Breach!: Infiltrators may only be placed in their respective ships.

The Kraken area of the Board may take the following Biomorphs:

Biomorphs:

Bioluminescence  10 pts

The Hive’s walls are lined with pulsating bluish light that Tyranid organisms are especially sensitive to, allowing them to see well even in the darkened interior of the Bioship.

·      Friendly Tyranid Units gain Night Vision when within 1” of a Wall.

Enhanced Immune System  20 pts

Some ships are so vital that the organisms defending them are spurred into a battle-frenzy by the will of the Hive Mind.

·      Friendly Tyranid Units gain Preferred Enemy (Infantry) when within 2” of an Incubation Node.

Adrenaline Gasses  15pts

This potent cocktail of vaporized adrenaline sends the boarding Tyranids into a rage, propelling them into the enemy ship at blistering speeds.

·    Up to 3 Tyranid units gain Scout.

For more units and formations, read the second part of this article here. 

Have fun y'all, and be safe in there.  It's dark. 

-Vitsika