The Chime of Eons - The Great Devourer (Second Bite!)

“It is well known that destroying the more intelligent creatures in the swarm is essential to stop a Tyranid advance. Training in recognition and fire discipline is of some help in identifying the best targets but the chaos and confusion of the battlefield make it difficult for troops to pick out their targets amidst the swarming mass of creatures. Ultimately it has proven best to direct fire at the largest Tyranids in sight and pray to the Emperor that some of them are the leaders. ”

- Halting the Abomination, Inquisitor Agmar

Its time to get down to the meat and bone of this expansion.

Before we look at the specific cards, I'm going to save room by looking at a couple of things that bug me about the Tyranid expansion...


On the Hive Mind and Synapse Creatures
The Tyranids are controlled by a single Hive Mind - a gestalt consciousness of tremendous intellect and psychic might that controls the entire hive fleet and its creations. However, not all tyranid organisms are created equal.

At the lowest level are organisms that have very little capacity for independent rational thought, and if left to their own devices revert to instinctive behaviour - termagants, ripper swarms, gargoyles and the like are all organisms of this sort, and rapidly become animalistic and feral in the absence of psychic control. In fact, most tyranid technology is comprised of beasts of this level - even swords and guns are manufactured organisms slaved to the will of their users.

Next above these are the synapse creatures, who act as nodes passing on the psychic instructions and directions of the Hive Mind. Lesser organisms within psychic range of these synapse creatures can be controlled by the Hive Mind, so they are a key part of its chain of consciousness. Tyranid warriors are the most important and common sort of synapse creatures, and eliminating synapse creatures will be a priority in those fighting the tyranids. Without them, lesser tyranid organisms may fight on, but will do so in an uncoordinated and tactically simplistic way.

Above these still are higher level synapse creatures, such as the Hive Tyrants and Dominatrix beasts (and yes, GW really did make a unit call the dominatrix, doh!). These act as commanders of the force as a whole, and carry a closer connection to the will of the hive mind, as well as a greater synapse range.

Off to one side are creatures that can operate independently of synapse control, but which fall under the hive mind's influence when within synapse range. These organisms have loyalty to the hive fleets programmed in at a genetic level, so they are not outsiders as such, but are designed to act deep behind enemy lines or as vanguard forces without the hive mind's direction. Genestealers and Lictors fall into this category, as do the now deceased / retconned zoats that we mentioned last article.

In terms of the wargame, this structure of organisation is significant, in that a game unit's rules change when it is near or far from a synapse unit, going from fearlessness and perfect control to semi-random instinctive behaviour. One edition of the Epic-scale wargame (GW's minis game that worked on a more zoomed out scale, allowing for titans and giant warmachines and vast formations of troops) took things a level further, with the usual rectangular "army cards" used for most faction's force organisation replaced with hexagonal pieces that had to be arranged in certain patterns to represent the chain of commands from the Hive Mind down to the lowest organisms. Each GW game has approached this in a different way.

For the Conquest LCG, it was always going to be interesting to see how this unique psychic command structure was going to be represented. In mechanical terms, the separation of Warlord and Synapse Creature into two separate commitments is clever and makes for a new game experience. However, its not a great representation of the source material. Of the three warlords we so far know about, only one really deserves the title of warlord, as the others are not high enough in the synapse chain. Of the "synapse units" its also hit and miss, and actually the way they act in play is more suggestive of an independent creature or secondary warlord than as a synapse relaying the Hive Mind's will to lesser creatures. Also, many creatures that are synapse units in the fiction lack that identifier in the LCG: tyranid warriors for example.

Likewise, the Hive Mind specialisation is nice enough for a feeling of combined arms, but in only affecting Termagants it doesn't really do justice to the concept.

I'd personally have liked to see Tyranid units divided on synapse tier, and to have each unit's effectiveness be determined by the highest synapse tier present at a planet. As it is, existing terms from the fiction have been reappropriated to new concepts, which is disappointing even if the end result is clever gameplay design.


On the Hive Fleets and Traits
As noted, there's only one Hive Mind. However, over time the Imperium (and other victims of the tyranids) have tended to label and categorise the various major assaults by tyranids. There has been Hive Fleet Behemoth, Kraken, Leviathan and many others.

Each of these has existed within a different chronological timeframe, so in essence in doesn't really make much sense to have Hive Fleet name presented as a trait: organisms from Leviathan and Behemoth exist in separate periods of history.
What makes even less sense is for tyranid cards in the same deck to have different Fleet traits: by definition, if they're involved in the same conflict, they're part of the same Hive Fleet proper.

Having said that, in the source material there is some mention of hive fleets (uncapitalised) encountering and turning on each other, not because they're opposed, but because the Hive Mind is destruct testing to see which design is superior. When one fleet wins out it absorbs the biomass of the weaker one, and thus no tyranid numbers are lost.

The laws of thermodynamics make this somewhat conceptually silly, but its a nice idea: a bit like an LCG gamer playing two Space Marine decks against each other while controlling both decks, in order to decide which cards to take to tourney!

What is most unforgivable here in the use of Fleet traits in the haphazard way they've been assigned: we'll come back to this on the individual cards.

Some other traits here bother me too:

Creature, without exception appears on every Tyranid unit. This is a pre-existing trait, that exists on six other cards. What does it mean? That the Tyranids are non-sentient? Or that they're alien?

To me, a top quality trait should ideally be an in-game category that has meaning within the game's framework. In short, if a trait exists, then every unit that logically have that trait should be assigned it, and it should be referenced by at least one card effect. For example: Space Wolves is a well placed and needed trait.

A decent quality trait is one that has meaning and is assigned appropriately, which might have meaning in the future. For example, Ultramarines.

A poor trait is one that is applied inconsistently (see Transport) or that is found on too few cards to have any use (Hero, Shas'o), or which has no rules referencing it (see pretty much every trait at present), or which exists solely as a rules category and isn't tied to the fluff (Ally, Elite).

Creature looks to be a trait that is going to be one of the last category. Its hard to think what thematically could tie together all tyranid units with Razorwings, an Uber-Grotesque, a Fenrisian Wolf. Any card effect that needs to target all tyranid units could just say "target tyranid unit".

This to me is one of the sloppier parts of the game design, and could have been easily resolved with an up front meeting about what traits represent before the core set was released, and how they might be chosen. For example, give cards a subfaction trait (Space Wolves, Iyanden, whatever) and then a role trait (Infantry, Transport, Tank, etc) and optionally a trait that reflects nature (Fearless, Fanatic, etc.). Then, make sure that these traits are used!

SIGNATURE SQUAD -The Swarmlord

The Swarmlord
While there are "forgotten hive fleets", and while DNA evidence points to tyranid incursions into the galaxy long before they were recognised as a major threat, it is Hive Fleet Behemoth that is recognised as the true point of first contact and of declaration of war proper.

In 744.M41 (which is 255 before the contemporary setting of the wargame) an Imperial Explorator census went to the world of Tyran, which was on record as being an Adeptus Mechannicus base of little importance upon an ocean world, but what was found instead was a barren dry rock, stripped of life, water and atmosphere.

Tyran was not the first planet to have been reduced in this way, but it was where the mystery was solved.

The Tyranids (who would be named by the Imperium by the outpost where they were finally identified) had been moving across the Eastern Fringe like a plague of locusts, stripping worlds bare.

Thanks to the Shadow in the Warp (which is the psychic presence of the Hive Mind itself) none of these worlds had been able to send a message out to ask for help or report their fates. The Shadow blocks both navigator warp travel and telepathic communication. It is this same shroud that also conceals the true scale of the Tyranid hive fleets from the Imperium and the other natives of the galaxy.

On Tyran, however, while the planet was over-run the governor Magos Varnak had the presence of mind to keep pict-recordings and commentary of the invasion. His legacy was preserved by a last minute deposition of the data banks, dropping them down a prepared emergency shaft deep into the planet's crust, and far from the hunger of the tyranid hordes that stripped the surface bear.

This data-record was recovered, and brought to the attention of Inquisitor Kryptmann, who assembled this with other data and realised the true scale of the tyranid threat.

This first major tyranid incursion was dubbed Hive Fleet Behemoth.

Kryptmann mobilised Imperial forces in the area, including the Imperial realm of Ultramar, with the permission and alliance of Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines.

With the tactical and logistical genius of Marneus Calgar leading the defence effort, Behemoth was blunted, and so the Hive Mind responded by bringing into play a new war-leader - a Hive Tyrant that was to other Hive Tyrants as they are to common tyranid warriors.

This war-leader, the Swarmlord, was deadly because he was engineered for tactical brilliance. Such was his acumen that he out-manoeuvred even Calgar time and again.

The Tyrannic Wars (as the Ultramarines call it) raged for the best part of the year, and were finally brought to their close at the Battle for Maccrage. On the Ultramarines homeworld itself and in the space battles that surrounded the system, the Ultramarines fought and ultimately prevailed.

This is one of the more detailed pieces of history in the lore, as a previous edition of the wargame was launched with a Battle For Maccrage box set, that described these events in full. In fact, various canon sources have minor variations and conflicts in the reports of this battle.

The Swarmlord was defeated, though the realm of Ultramar, and the Ultramarines paid a high price in worlds and casualties.

However, the Swarmlord - like other Hive Tyrants - is in reality functionally immortal. Even if slain, its mind and experiences can be reborn into a new body, appearing anywhere within any hive fleet.

Its speculated by the Imperium that the Swarmlord's rebirth and deployment is triggered as a stress response, when battles and conquests are not proceeding according to the Hive Mind's plans. Thus while this genius tactician Tyrant is a fearsome foe, his appearance is also a sign that the Tyranids are on the verge of defeat in a given warzone. As to why the Hive Mind doesn't use the Swarmlord routinely, its perhaps because there is a significant cost in energy and resources to create such a potent being, or perhaps because the Hive Mind is loathe to create independent and intelligent minds when subservient and animalistic ones can acheive the same goal most of the time.

The known chronology has the Swarmlord being defeated at Maccrage in 745.M41, then again at Ichar IV in 991.M41 as part of Hive Fleet Kraken, and to have respawned again in 997.M41 as part of Hive Fleet Leviathan, with latest reports having him engaged against the Orks of Octarius.

Nevertheless, the Swarmlord is certainly a tyranid character worthy of the title Warlord, and the Conquest game rules for warlords (loss on their defeat, enhanced command and combat presence) are fully appropriate.

Aside from being a potent combatant, the Swarmlord is also a formidable beast of war, able to tear tanks apart with his claws, or slice down all save the most skilled foes with his boneswords. He is also a potent psyker, and incredibly hard to kill.

In execution, the LCG doesn't really represent this legendary commander very well. The game seems to have picked up on the word "Swarm", and made him into a Termagant-splasher, bringing the little chittering beasties to adjacent planets at a steady rate.

This is broadly thematic for Tyranids, in that they tend to arrive in great numbers, and the sense of finesse and misdirection is very much in keeping with the Swarmlord's way of war.

However, its also odd that this beast should have a trait that identifies him as mere creature, when it is probably more intelligent than most enemy warlords, and which neglects that he is a warrior, or a psyker. The Behemoth trait isn't so much inaccurate as out of date: all it indicates is when the Imperium first encountered him, not when he himself first saw action (as he is speculated to be immeasurably ancient, possibly older than humanity itself), and not where he is the present day setting.

More fluffy (though I'm sure worse game design) would have been a Hive Mind specialisation that enhances all the tyranids at his location in a meaningful way, perhaps even granting keywords at resource cost.

Still his presence in the "tyranid core set" is absolutely required one way or another - he is the most notable warlord of the tyranids!


Brood Warriors

The art here depicts tyranid warriors.

There's some nomenclature confusion going on here, it has to be noted, appropriately a descendant of the organic way the faction was developed by Games Workshop.

Early on the faction was called "The Tyranids and their Hive Fleets", and the early material has the Tyranids at the top of the synapse chain, directly channelling the will of the Hive Mind to their mind-slaves. Thus it made sense for Tyranids to be the namesetters for the factions - all other troop types are subservient to them.

The setting and game rules evolved, and the Tyranids went from being the controllers of an essentially leaderless army to the middle ranks of an army led by Hive Tyrants, Dominatrices and the like. Now, confusingly, there's a unit type called Tyranids within the Tyranid Faction, but its not really a Tyranid faction any more than its a Termagant Faction or Mawloc Faction.

Despite this, Tyranid Warriors (the full title is nowadays used to indicate the troop type rather than the faction) remain core to army lists, acting as synapse creatures around which much of the army is built, and with variable biomorphs that allow them to be fielded in a variety of battlefield roles.

This card is a little odd, in that the Hive Fleet trait selected isn't the same one as of the warlord they're assigned to. Its also very odd to have a card with Warriors in the title that doesn't have a Warrior trait.

The Hive Mind effect here is interesting, as it focuses on the unit's role as a coordinator of lesser troops, and if we squint, the abstraction looks just about alright.



Bone Sabres

Tyranid weapons, as previously noted, are not manufactured in the same way as those of other races, but rather grown as individual organisms (or in the case of some weapons, as multiple symbiotic organisms).

Boneswords have a small brain in their hilt and have blades of chitin encased in a psychically generated field, making them the tyranid equivalent of force weapons.

The rules for these have changed through the editions, at various times acting as a power sword (armour-chopping close combat weapon), a psychic catalyst to goad nearby tyranid forces into a frenzy, and at one kooky stage, giving the tyranid the ability to shield itself from projectile attacks by whirling the swords in front of the tyranid. Crazy tyranid ninjas are a thing of the past though, and note they're just seriously nasty melee weapons.

The Swarmlord's bone sabres are basically "same but better". Clearly the Hive Mind took a bite of some Space Wolf DNA and absorbed their fetish for better-than-yours weaponry.

It has a crystalline core, comprised of a material "not found in this galaxy", there's four of them wielded at once, and the Swarmlord gets a funky parrying rule in close combat.

The LCG doesn't really acknowledge any of this. Rather, they thought up a game effect that supports the warlord's game effect, looked up what weapon is unique to that warlord, then mashed the name onto that card effect.

Still, its a damn sight better designed card than Banshee Power Sword...


Indescribable Horror

Archon's Terror for Tyranids. There, that wasn't really indescribable now, was it?

We previously mentioned the Shadow in the Warp, which is the psychic presence of the Hive Mind that follows the fleets and renders astropathic communication impossible and warp travel very difficult. Another effect of the Shadow in the Warp is
that it projects a feeling of inner horror, which in the psychically inert (such as the Tau) gives a feeling of pervasive dread, and which in full psykers can send them bonkers-insane, ranting about claws and teeth and they're coming, they're coming, aaaarARRRAAAGH!...

I love the game effect here being dependent on the number of tyranids present, and that the art shows an Imperial Sanctioned Psyker recoiling from visions of the madness.

However, it really should have been a Power rather than a Tactic, and if we're being really pedantic should have had enhanced effect against Psykers and the more psychically sensitive factions. However, that wouldn't have been as elegant in game design terms.

The other thing I'd have liked to have seen would for this to have been a general Tyranid card rather than a Swarmlord signature card, both in terms of the quality of the faction mechanically, and from a thematic point of view.


Leviathan Hive Ship

Tyranids are a space bound species, living on their hive ships, and they visit planets only to strip them of biomatter before moving on.

As before with other cards, I think its a missed opportunity not to have a "Naval" or "Spaceship" trait. As it is the "Upgrade" trait covers such a diversity of cards it may as well be traited as "Support Type B".

Its worth noting here as well that the descriptor "Leviathan" in the title isn't a ship class: it just means "from Hive Fleet Leviathan." That in mind, where is the Leviathan trait?

The ability is very interesting, though its not clear thematically why it should be limited to Hive Mind specialization units. Doesn't the Hive Ship have any termagants on board?

The old question of scale rears its head as well - quite simply, a battleship-sized organism like a Hive Ship fits a lot better in a game scaled around multiple planets than does a single termagant or ratling deadeye! It ought to be that if the Space Marines have a single Tactical Squad and some Iron Guard Recruits, and the Tyranids just have one measly HIVE SHIP, then the Tyranids have a thousand times or more the strength to field.

Damn, I promised myself I wasn't going to pick on that game flaw any longer!



So Here's a Quiz...

To avoid ending on negativity, lets start the end of article quiz nice and early!

Just five questions today, all tyranid themed, and pretty easy. Bonus points to anyone who can swear they didn't need to look things up!

1) Leviathan, Kraken and Behemoth are the easy Hive Fleets to name. Name me three more! (or name all of them, if you want to show off)

2) Genestealers were thought to be native to this galaxy, but are actually tyranid organisms. Name three other species that were thought to be native, but are probably of tyranid origin.

3) Looking ahead we've got Specimen Omega as a previewed Tyranid Warlord. He's not the first "Specimen Something" who is a notable Genestealer character. Who was the other?

4) Iyanden found itself in the path of a tyranid hive fleet. Which craftworld made sure it didn't?

5) In Advanced Space Crusade we learnt that tyranids can teleport around their hive ships. By what means?

Back soon, with Old One Eye!