Tyranids
Drifting through the void come star-eclipsing shoals of immense creatures whose cephalopodic forms bristle with spines and feeder tendrils. Each of these living vessels is host to thousands upon thousands of dormant warrior-forms, ready to wake from their slumber when the hive fleet locates its next meal.
Welcome to the rules section of Codex: Tyranids. Whether forging your own tales of glory and infamy with narrative play or pitting yourself against your opponents in nail-biting matched play contests, this page present all the rules you will need to bring your Tyranids collection to life on the tabletop.Books
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Show History | ||||
| Book | Kind | Edition | Version | Last update |
 Tyranids | ||||
| Tyranids | Faction Pack | 10 | 1.4 | May 2026 |
 Boarding Actions | ||||
| Boarding Actions | Expansion | 10 | 1.1 | July 2025 |
 Legends: Tyranids | ||||
| Legends: Tyranids | Datasheet | 10 | September 2024 | |
 Munitorum Field Manual | ||||
| Munitorum Field Manual | Expansion | 11 | 1.0 | |
FAQ
Faction Pack: Tyranids
| Q: | While using the Subterranean Assault Detachment, does a Mawloc’s Terror from the Deep ability trigger when arriving via a Tunnel Marker? |
| A: | No. |
| Q: | What is the effect of the Unseen Lurkers Stratagem with respect to the Balance Dataslate ruling on Stratagems that prevent units from being targeted? |
| A: | The effect of the Unseen Lurkers Stratagem becomes: EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, your unit can only be selected as the target of a ranged attack if the attacking model is within 18" or, if your unit has the Lone Operative ability, if the attacking model is within 6". Your opponent can select new targets for the attacking unit’s attacks. |
| Q: | Do units that are repositioned by rules that do not specify that the unit being repositioned is first placed into Reserves (e.g. the Grey Knights Teleport Assault rule) need to take a Battle-shock test on a roll of 2+ if a TYRANIDS CHARACTER with the Hunting Grounds Enhancement is on the battlefield? |
| A: | A: Yes. Rules that are triggered by or apply to Reserves units are also triggered by and apply to a repositioned unit when it is set back up. |
| Q: | Can I use the Rapid Regeneration Stratagem when an ability like Doombolt would inflict mortal wounds on a TYRANIDS unit from my army? |
| A: | No. |
| Q: | When resolving a Mawloc’s Terror From the Deep ability, which units need to take a Battle-shock test: every unit within 12" of the Mawloc, or only those units for which a 5+ was rolled when resolving that ability? |
| A: | Only those units for which a 5+ was rolled. |
| Q: | If my opponent uses a rule to place a unit into Strategic Reserves during the first battle round, and that rule states that the unit must arrive on the battlefield in the next battle round, what happens if a model from my army uses the Psychostatic Disruption Enhancement in the second battle round when that enemy Strategic Reserves unit is due to arrive? |
| A: | The ‘cannot arrive’ rule takes precedence over the rule stating that the unit ‘must arrive’ from Strategic Reserves. Roll one D6: on a 4+, that enemy unit cannot arrive on the battlefield this turn. |
| Q: | If I select a unit of Neurogaunts for a Neurotyrant’s Neuroloids ability that is not led by a SYNAPSE unit, does that unit of Neurogaunts gain the SYNAPSE keyword? |
| A: | No. |
| Q: | When using the Reclaim Biomass Stratagem, can the Stratagem effect be used on the unit that was just destroyed? |
| A: | No. |
| Q: | Does an Attached unit containing a HIVE TYRANT and TYRANT GUARD receive the Stealth ability from a VENOMTHROPE’s Foul Spore's ability? |
| A: | No. The unit has the MONSTER keyword and the ability excludes MONSTERS. |
| Q: | Are SPORE MINES units that are added to an army during a battle restricted by abilities that prevent Reserves from being set up within a certain range (e.g. Space Marines Infiltrators’ Omniscrambers)? |
| A: | No. |
| Q: | Do rules such as the Insurmountable Odds Detachment rule and the CARNIFEXES’ Blistering Assault ability let me choose between not moving the unit in question or moving the unit as far as possible following the conditions? |
| A: | Yes. |
| Q: | If I roll one D6 for a CARNIFEXES unit’s Blistering Assault move and then choose not to move the models, do they still count as having made a Blistering Assault move that phase? |
| A: | Yes, they have made a Blistering Assault move of 0". |
| Q: | When a CARNIFEX model makes a Blistering Assault move or an ENDLESS MULTITUDE model makes a Surge move, does that model have to move the full amount allowed by the dice result? |
| A: | No, it can move any distance up to that allowed distance. |
| Q: | Does a unit affected by the Psychostatic Disruption Enhancement have to arrive from Reserves in the next Movement phase? |
| A: | No. |
| Q: | Does the Synaptic Goading Stratagem allow a unit to leave Engagement Range and move towards the closest objective marker? |
| A: | Yes. |
| Q: | Can units targeted by the Shadow in the Warp army rule use the Insane Bravery Stratagem? |
| A: | No. Insane Bravery can only be used in your Command phase. |
Keywords
The keywords presented in this section have a number of special features:
- CLICK on the link to open the tooltip.
- The number in parentheses indicates the number of datasheets containing this keyword. This number represents the total number of datasheets in the faction, regardless of the filter.
- The list does not include named keywords that match the datasheet’s name (unless there are other datasheets with such a keyword).
Introduction
If you select to use a Detachment, a Detachment rule listed here will apply either to your whole army or to particular units within it.
When mustering your army, your chosen Detachment enables you to upgrade CHARACTERS using the Enhancements listed here, as described in the Core Rules (see the Select Units step). If you are playing a Crusade battle, you can instead use the Renowned Heroes Requisition to give your CHARACTERS Enhancements, as described in the main Crusade rules.
Your chosen Detachment gives you access to the Stratagems listed here in addition to the Core Stratagems listed in the Core Rules. During the battle, you can spend Command points (CP) to use these Stratagems.
Army Rules
Synapse
Some Tyranids serve as synaptic conduits or nodal relays through which a portion of the Hive Mind’s iron will flows, overriding the natural instincts of the swarm to direct the teeming warrior-beasts to function as a single, gestalt organism on the battlefield.
If your Army Faction is TYRANIDS, while a TYRANIDS unit from your army is within 6" of one or more friendly SYNAPSE models, that TYRANIDS unit is said to be within Synapse Range of that model and of your army. While a TYRANIDS unit from your army is within Synapse Range of your army:- Each time that unit takes a Battle-shock test, take that test on 3D6 instead of 2D6.
- Each time a model in that unit makes a melee attack, add 1 to the Strength characteristic of that attack.
Shadow in the Warp
Tyranids flood the battlefield with the psychic signature of the hive fleet - an icy, alien dread that gnaws at the minds of their prey and smothers even the most stalwart courage. When faced with such unfathomable horror, many are driven insane or suffer catastrophic neural damage.
If your Army Faction is TYRANIDS, once per battle, in either player’s Command phase, if one or more units from your army with this ability are on the battlefield, you can unleash the Shadow in the Warp. When you do, each enemy unit on the battlefield must take a Battle-shock test. Each time an enemy unit takes such a Battle-shock test, if it is within 6" of one or more SYNAPSE units from your army, subtract 1 from that test.Invasion Fleet
3DP
Hyper-adaptations
Every warrior organism in the Tyranid race is fashioned by the ineffable alien will of the Hive Mind. Their flesh and chitin is endlessly mutable, honed into whatever form will prove most lethal to the prey.
At the start of the first battle round, select one of the following Hyper-adaptations to be active for TYRANIDS units from your army until the end of the battle:Swarming Instincts Each time a TYRANIDS model with this Hyper-adaptation makes an attack that targets an INFANTRY or SWARM unit, that attack has the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability. |
Hyper-aggression Each time a TYRANIDS model with this Hyper-adaptation makes an attack that targets a MONSTER or VEHICLE unit, that attack has the [LETHAL HITS] ability. |
Hive Predators Each time a TYRANIDS model with this Hyper-adaptation makes an attack that targets a CHARACTER unit, on a Critical Hit, that attack has the [PRECISION] ability. |
Enhancements
This leader-beast possesses highly sophisticated neural pathways, allowing it to identify priority strategic assets and adapt the disposition of its warriors to seize them before the foe even recognise their value. TYRANIDS model only. After both players have deployed their armies, select up to three TYRANIDS units from your army and redeploy them. When doing so, you can set those units up in Strategic Reserves if you wish, regardless of how many units are already in Strategic Reserves. |
This creature was created for one purpose: to completely eradicate the defenders of the target prey world. TYRANIDS model only. Once per turn, you can re-roll one Hit roll, one Wound roll, one Damage roll, one Advance roll, one Charge roll or one saving throw made for the bearer. |
With a neuro-cortex that pulsates with the irresistible power of the Hive Mind, this leader acts as a blazing synaptic beacon to the lesser creatures of the swarm, the better to direct their actions and react to the ever-changing state of battle. TYRANIDS model only. While a friendly TYRANIDS unit is within 9" of the bearer, that unit is within Synapse Range of your army. |
The same weapon rarely works against this leader-beast twice, as its alien physiology adapts at an astonishing rate to counter the attacks of the foe. TYRANIDS model only. The bearer has the Feel No Pain 5+ ability. At the start of any turn, if the bearer has fewer than its starting number of wounds remaining, until the end of the battle, it has the Feel No Pain 4+ ability instead. |
Stratagems
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit have the Feel No Pain 6+ ability. If your unit is within Synapse Range of your army, models in your unit have the Feel No Pain 5+ ability instead.
TARGET: Up to two TYRANIDS units from your army that are within Synapse Range of your army and are eligible to fight, or one other TYRANIDS unit from your army that is eligible to fight.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in any of those selected units makes an attack, an unmodified Hit roll of 5+ scores a Critical Hit.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit is destroyed, if that model has not fought this phase, roll one D6: on a 4+, do not remove it from play. The destroyed model can fight after the attacking model’s unit has finished making its attacks, and is then removed from play.
TARGET: That TYRANIDS unit.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time your unit Consolidates, models in it can move an additional 3" as long as your unit can end that move within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units. If your unit is within Synapse Range of your army and not within Engagement Range of any enemy units, instead of making that Consolidation move, it can make a Normal move of up to 6".
TARGET: Up to two TYRANIDS units from your army that are within Synapse Range of your army, or one other TYRANIDS unit from your army.
EFFECT: Select one Hyper-adaptation. Until the start of your next Command phase, that Hyper-adaptation is active for those selected units in addition to any other that may be active for your army.
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot select the same Hyper-adaptation you selected at the start of the first battle round.
TARGET: Up to two ENDLESS MULTITUDE units from your army that are within Synapse Range of your army, or one other ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit from your army.
EFFECT: You can return up to D3+3 destroyed models to each of the selected units.
Crusher Stampede
2DP
Enraged Behemoths
In their efforts to lay the monstrous beasts of a Crusher Stampede low, the prey only succeed in further enraging the rampaging monsters. The surviving beasts are driven to fight with greater fury the more of their number that fall.
Each time a TYRANIDS MONSTER model from your army makes an attack, add 1 to the Hit roll if that model’s unit is below its Starting Strength, and add 1 to the Wound roll as well if that model’s unit is Below Half-strength. In addition, while a TYRANIDS MONSTER unit from your army (excluding Battle-shocked units) is at its Starting Strength, add 2 to the Objective Control characteristic of models in that unit.Enhancements
The crushing menace of the Hive Mind rolls off this monstrous creature in waves, causing it to loom even larger in the minds of its quailing prey and lending it absolute dominance of the battlefield. TYRANIDS MONSTER model only. Add 3 to the bearer’s Objective Control characteristic. |
Contained deep within this organism’s body is a pulsating sac filled with a cocktail of adrenostimulant fluids linked to a ring of vascular-pneumatic sphincters, allowing them one last-ditch strike. TYRANIDS MONSTER model only. If the bearer is destroyed by a melee attack, if it has not fought this phase, roll one D6: on a 3+, do not remove it from play. It can fight after the attacking model’s unit has finished making its attacks, and is then removed from play. |
A contraganglion knot in this creature’s cranium channels and amplifies the smothering power of the Shadow in the Warp to nullify its prey’s psychic abilities. TYRANIDS MONSTER model only. Once per battle, when a Psychic Attack is allocated to the bearer, it can use this ability. If it does, until the end of the phase, the bearer has the Feel No Pain 5+ ability against Psychic Attacks. |
With its basic logic centres and instinctive drivers augmented, this warrior organism is capable of singling out and hunting down valuable prey without direct synaptic oversight. TYRANIDS MONSTER model only. Each time the bearer makes a melee attack that targets a MONSTER or VEHICLE unit, add 1 to the Wound roll. |
Stratagems
TARGET: That TYRANIDS MONSTER model. You can use this Stratagem on that model even though it was just destroyed.
EFFECT: Do not roll one D6 to determine whether mortal wounds are inflicted by your model’s Deadly Demise ability. Instead, mortal wounds are automatically inflicted.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS MONSTER unit from your army that has not been selected to fight this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit makes an attack, you can re-roll the Hit roll.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS MONSTER unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: That enemy unit must take a Battle-shock test and, until the end of the phase, each time a model in that enemy unit makes an attack that targets your unit, subtract 1 from the Hit roll. If that Battle-shock test was failed, subtract 1 from the Wound roll as well.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS MONSTER unit from your army that has not been selected to move this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit makes a Normal, Advance or Fall Back move, it can move through models (excluding TITANIC models) and sections of terrain features that are 4" or less in height. When doing so:
- It can move within Engagement Range of enemy models, but cannot end that move within Engagement Range of them.
- It can also move through sections of terrain features that are more than 4" in height, but if it does, after its unit has moved, roll one D6: on a 1, your unit is Battle-shocked.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS MONSTER unit from your army that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, ranged weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [IGNORES COVER] ability, and until the end of the phase each time a model in your unit makes an attack, you can ignore any or all modifiers to that model’s Ballistic Skill characteristic and any or all modifiers to the Hit roll.
TARGET: That TYRANIDS MONSTER model.
EFFECT: Select one enemy unit within Engagement Range of your model and roll six D6: for each 4+, that enemy unit suffers 1 mortal wound.
Unending Swarm2DP
Insurmountable Odds
When Hormagaunts, Termagants and other such expendable warrior organisms attack en masse they make up for their comparative fragility with sheer numbers. Coupled with the speed and ferocity of their onslaught - which only seems to increase as the prey try to gun the creatures down or drive them back - the gathered broods soon overrun even the most determined defenders.
In your opponent’s Shooting phase, when an enemy unit has shot, if a model from a friendly ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit was destroyed as a result of those attacks, that friendly unit can make a surge move of up to D6".Enhancements
An overriding need to sink their fangs into the flesh of their prey drives these creatures toward the foe. TYRANIDS model only. Add 2" to the Move characteristic of models in the bearer’s unit. |
These warrior organisms possess limited chameleonic properties that conceal their advance. The benefits of such deceptions decrease as they approach their prey, but can be enough to bring them safely into range to strike. TYRANIDS model only. At the start of the first battle round, select up to three friendly ENDLESS MULTITUDE units within 9" of the bearer. Until the end of the battle round, each time a ranged attack targets one of those units, models in that unit have the Benefit of Cover against that attack. |
A simple but potent biomorphic enhancement of these warrior organisms sees some amongst their number boast diamond-sharp talon tips. Lashing suddenly from amidst the mass of thrashing weapon limbs these plunge through armour to pierce organs and rupture delicate systems. TYRANIDS model only. Each time a model in the bearer’s unit makes an attack, on a Critical Wound, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1. |
Biostimulants course through the bodies of these warrior organisms, combining with goading synaptic impulses to lend them an unholy turn of speed. TYRANIDS model only. Each time the bearer’s unit Piles In or Consolidates, models in this unit can move an additional 3". |
Stratagems
TARGET: That ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit.
EFFECT: When making that Surge move, you can re-roll the D6 to determine how far your unit moves, and your unit can end that move as close as possible to the closest objective marker (instead of as close as possible to the closest enemy unit]. All other rules for making Surge moves still apply.
TARGET: One ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit from your army that was just destroyed. You can use this Stratagem on that unit even though it was just destroyed.
EFFECT: Add a new unit to your army identical to your destroyed unit, in Strategic Reserves, at its Starting Strength.
RESTRICTIONS: Any destroyed CHARACTER units that were attached to your unit are not returned. You can only use this Stratagem once per battle.
TARGET: One ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time an attack targets your unit, subtract 1 from the Hit roll.
TARGET: One ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit from your army that has not been selected to shoot or fight this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability, and If your unit contains 15 or more models, each time a model in your unit makes an attack, an unmodified Hit roll of 5+ scores a Critical Hit.
TARGET: One ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit from your army.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time your unit Advances, do not make an Advance roll. Instead, until the end of the phase, add 6" to the Move characteristic of models in your unit.
TARGET: One ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, your unit is treated as containing fewer than five models for the purpose of the [BLAST] ability.
Assimilation Swarm
2DP
Feed the Swarm
Even as the beasts of the Assimilation Swarm stalk across the battlefield they make use of the abundant biomass yielded up by the prey worlds slow demise. Warrior organisms heal even the most grievous wounds in moments, or stagger upright and return to the fight after they seemed slain. A strain of revolting vitality flows through the Tyranid broods as though leeched direct from their dismayed victims.
In your Command phase, each HARVESTER unit from your army can Regenerate one friendly TYRANIDS unit that is within 6" of it. A unit can only be regenerated once per phase. Each time a unit regenerates, do one of the following:- One model in that unit regains up to D3+1 lost wounds.
- One destroyed INFANTRY model (excluding CHARACTERS) is returned to that unit with its full wounds remaining. If that unit is an ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit, up to 3 destroyed models are returned instead.
Enhancements
This nightmarish creature seems virtually unkillable, its every hurt healing in moments as it guzzles down the hunks of bubbling biomatter that were once foes. TYRANIDS model only (excluding MONSTERS models). The bearer’s unit can be regenerated up to twice per phase, instead of once. |
The swarm’s warrior organisms fight with instinctive and single-minded ferocity to protect the all-devouring organisms in their midst. TYRANIDS model only. While the bearer is within 6" of one or more friendly HARVESTER units, when you target this unit with the Heroic Intervention stratagem, that use is -1 CP. In addition, while the bearer is within 6" of one or more friendly HARVESTER units, models in the bearer’s unit have the Fights First ability. |
Parasitised biomass and revivifying fluids flow through the Assimilation Swarm like lifeblood. TYRANIDS model only. While a friendly HARVESTER model is within 12" of the bearer, when using the Feed the Swarm ability, that HARVESTER model can Regenerate one friendly TYRANIDS unit that is within 9" of it, instead of one within 6". |
These warrior organisms boast additional fanged maws, jabbing probosci and haemophagic membranes that consume the fluids of their prey. TYRANIDS model only. Add 1 to the Strength characteristic of melee weapons equipped by models in the bearer’s unit. The first time the bearer’s unit destroys an enemy unit in the Fight phase while the bearer is within 6" of one or more friendly HARVESTER units, until the end of the battle, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of melee weapons equipped by models in the bearer’s unit. |
Stratagems
TARGET: One HARVESTER unit from your army that was just destroyed. You can use this Stratagem on that unit even though it was just destroyed.
EFFECT: Until the end of the battle, each time a friendly TYRANIDS model makes an attack that targets the enemy unit that just destroyed your HARVESTER unit, add 1 to the Wound roll.
TARGET: One HARVESTER unit from your army that is within 6" of that destroyed unit.
EFFECT: Regenerate one friendly TYRANIDS unit within 6" of your HARVESTER unit (See Feed the Swarm).
TARGET: One HARVESTER unit from your army that is within range of an objective marker you control.
EFFECT: That objective marker remains under your control, even if you have no models within range of it, until your opponent controls it at the start or end of any turn.
TARGET: One HARVESTER unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit have the Feel No Pain 5+ ability. If your unit is within range of an objective marker you control, until the end of the phase models in your unit have the Feel No Pain 4+ ability instead.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that has not been selected to fight this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, melee weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [LETHAL HITS] ability. If your unit is a HARVESTER unit, each time a model in that unit makes a melee attack, a successful unmodified Hit roll of 5+ scores a Critical Hit as well.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that just destroyed an enemy unit.
EFFECT: Your unit immediately Regenerates (See Feed the Swarm). When doing so, if your unit is a HARVESTER unit and you choose for one model to regain up to D3 lost wounds, that model regains up to 3 lost wounds instead.
Vanguard Onslaught
2DP
Questing Tendrils
In the early stages of an invasion, the Hive Mind harries and unbalances its foes with lightning-fast flanking attacks, before encircling them for the final, bloody slaughter.
TYRANIDS units with this ability are eligible to charge in a turn in which they Fell Back. VANGUARD INVADER units with this ability are eligible to charge in a turn in which they Advanced.Vanguard Prime
During the earliest stages of a Tyranid invasion, the rare bioform Imperial observers have named Deathleaper has been seen fulfilling a leadership and coordination role amongst the swarms. Employing pheromone trails and goading imperatives, the creature provides guidance to other warrior organisms that is the localised equivalent of synaptic control.
DEATHLEAPER loses the Hunter Organism rule and can be your WARLORD.Enhancements
This warrior organism has identified installations and routes of communication and supply vital to the prey. As the Tyranid invasion commences so the beast orchestrates ambushes and terror raids against these priority targets, ensuring that those enemy reinforcements who do reach the battlefield do so in bloodied disarray. TYRANIDS model only. While the bearer is on the battlefield, each time your opponent sets up a Reserves unit on the battlefield, roll one D6: on a 2+, that unit must take a Battle-shock test. |
Subdermal crystals in this organisms carapace capture and redirect light, helping to conceal it. VANGUARD INVADER model only. The bearer has the Stealth ability and each time a ranged attack targets the bearer’s unit, models in that unit have the Benefit of Cover against that attack. |
This hunter seeks vital priority prey that has been pheromonally marked for swift slaughter. VANGUARD INVADER model only. At the start of the battle, select one enemy unit. Each time the bearer makes an attack that targets that enemy unit, add 1 to the Hit roll and add 1 to the Wound roll. |
While no true synapse beast, this bioform has been grafted with a limited synaptic symbiote, the influence of which increases its host’s ability to formulate and enforce large-scale predatory strategies. TYRANIDS model only. After both players have deployed their armies, you can select up to three VANGUARD INVADER units from your army and redeploy all of those units. When doing so, any of those units can be placed into Strategic Reserves, regardless of how many units are already in Strategic Reserves. |
Stratagems
TARGET: That VANGUARD INVADER unit.
EFFECT: Select one enemy unit that was selected as the target of one or more of your unit’s attacks. That enemy unit must take a Battle-shock test. Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit makes an attack that targets that enemy unit, add 1 to the Hit roll. If the Battle-shock test was failed, add 1 to the Wound roll as well.
TARGET: One VANGUARD INVADER INFANTRY unit from your army that has not been selected to fight this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, melee weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [PRECISION] ability.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that is in Reserves, or up to two VANGUARD INVADER units from your army that are in Reserves.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, for the purposes of setting up those selected units on the battlefield, treat the current battle round number as being one higher than it actually is.
TARGET: Up to two VANGUARD INVADER units from your army that are within 8" of that enemy unit, or one other TYRANIDS INFANTRY unit from your army that is within 8" of that enemy unit.
EFFECT: Those selected units can each make a Normal move of up to 6".
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot target units that are within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units.
TARGET: One VANGUARD INVADER unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, your unit can only be selected as the target of a ranged attack if the attacking model is within 18" or, if your unit has the Lone Operative ability, if the attacking model is within 6". Your opponent can select new targets for the attacking unit’s attacks.
TARGET: Up to two VANGUARD INVADER units from your army, or one TYRANIDS INFANTRY unit from your army.
EFFECT: Remove the targeted units from the battlefield and place them into Strategic Reserves.
RESTRICTIONS: The targeted units must be more than 3" away from all enemy units.
Synaptic Nexus
2DP
Synaptic Imperatives
The leader-beasts of these swarms act as conduits to the will of the Hive Mind. Irresistible imperatives lash out from them like whips that drive lesser bioforms to hurl themselves at the prey, to fight on through fatal wounds or to attack with redoubled savagery.
At the start of the battle round, you can select one of the Synaptic Imperatives shown below. Until the end of the battle round, that Synaptic Imperative is active for your army and while a TYRANIDS unit from your army is within Synapse Range of your army, it will benefit from it. Each Synaptic Imperative can only be selected once per battle.- Synaptic Augmentation: While this unit is within Synapse Range of your army, models in this unit have a 5+ invulnerable save.
- Surging Vitality: While this unit is within Synapse Range of your army, add 1 to Advance and Charge rolls made for this unit.
- Goaded to Slaughter: While this unit is within Synapse Range of your army, each time a model in this unit makes a melee attack, add 1 to the Hit roll.
Enhancements
The Hive Mind channels lethal energy through its synaptic bioforms. TYRANIDS PSYKER model only. Improve the Strength and Armour Penetration characteristics of psychic weapons equipped by the bearer by 1. |
A maelstrom of psychostatic disruption boils about this bioform. It degrades artificial and biological cognition alike, causing teleport signals to fluctuate, geopositioning cogitators to spew contradictory data, and onrushing enemy warriors to reel in confusion. TYRANIDS SYNAPSE model only. Enemy units that arrive on the battlefield from Reserves cannot be set up within 12" of the bearer. In addition, once per battle, during the first or second battle round, when your opponent declares that a unit will arrive on the battlefield from Strategic Reserves, the bearer can use this Enhancement. If it does, roll one D6: on a 4+, that enemy unit cannot arrive on the battlefield this turn. |
The Hive Mind’s synaptic network is so strong that even the mangled remains of mortally wounded beasts can be compelled to fight on. TYRANIDS SYNAPSE model only. Each time an attack is allocated to the bearer, subtract 1 from the Damage characteristic of that attack. |
This grotesque biomorphic symbiote buries itself in its hosts thorax and emits a droning psychic note. The longer prey are exposed to the sound, the worse their atavistic terror response becomes... TYRANIDS SYNAPSE model only. While an enemy unit is within 9" of the bearer, worsen that units Leadership characteristic by 1. |
Stratagems
TARGET: One SYNAPSE unit from your army within 12" of that enemy unit.
EFFECT: Roll six D6: for each 3+, that enemy unit suffers 1 mortal wound.
TARGET: One SYNAPSE unit from your army.
EFFECT: Until the end of the turn, while a friendly TYRANIDS unit is within 9" of the selected unit, that unit is within Synapse Range of your army.
TARGET: One SYNAPSE unit from your army that has not been selected to shoot or fight this phase, and one enemy unit within 24" of and visible to the SYNAPSE unit.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a friendly TYRANIDS model makes an attack that targets that enemy unit, if the attacking model’s unit is within 6" of your SYNAPSE unit, re-roll a Hit roll of 1 and re-roll a Wound roll of 1.
TARGET: One SYNAPSE unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the attacking unit has finished making its attacks, each time an attack targets your unit, worsen the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that is within Synapse Range of your army.
EFFECT: Select one Synaptic Imperative, even if you have already selected that imperative this battle. Until the start of your next Command phase, that Synaptic Imperative is active for your unit instead of any other Synaptic Imperative that is active for your army.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that is within Synapse Range of your army and made a Fall Back move this phase.
EFFECT: Your unit is eligible to shoot and declare a charge this turn.
Subterranean Assault3DP
When the hive fleet’s organisms descend, no place is truly safe from their wrath. As the lands swarm and writhe, and the skies are clouded with winged monstrosities, other foes advance unseen below. Mawlocs, Raveners and Trygons burst from the ground to emerge in the midst of clustered defenders, scything apart and devouring screaming victims before they can raise their weapons in defence, sowing crippling fear and confusion through those that witness the unexpected violence.
Surprise Assault
Burrowing Tyranid bioforms burst from the ground in all their horror.
Each time a TYRANIDS model from your army makes an attack, re-roll a Hit roll of 1.Each time a BURROWER unit from your army is set up on the battlefield from Reserves, place a circular 40mm Tunnel Marker anywhere on the battlefield within 1" of that unit and more than 3" horizontally away from all enemy units.
In the Reinforcements step of your Movement phase, when you set up a unit on the battlefield from Reserves, you can set that unit up wholly within 9" of one of your Tunnel Markers and more than 6" horizontally away from any enemy units.
If an enemy model (excluding AIRCRAFT) ends any kind of move within 3" of one of your Tunnel Markers, that Tunnel Marker is removed from the battlefield.
KEYWORDS
MAWLOC and TRYGON units from your army have the BURROWER keyword.
In the Muster Armies step, you can select up to 2 TRYGON models from your army. The selected units gain the CHARACTER keyword.
Designer’s Note: This means that the selected models can be given Enhancements and one of them can be selected as your WARLORD.
Enhancements
Possessing an exceptionally acute connection to the hive mind, this creature benefits from a constant influx of sensory data, enabling it to traverse the battlefield and emerge at the place and time of maximum impact. TYRANIDS model only. Once per battle, you can target the bearer’s unit with the Rapid Ingress stratagem for 0CP, and can do so even if you have already targeted a different unit with that Stratagem this phase. |
From its concealed position beneath the battlefield, this bioform picks up on subtle traces of movement from the enemy force, impelling its fellow organisms to reposition themselves in preparation for a coordinated assault. TYRANIDS model only. After both players have deployed their armies, select up to three friendly TYRANIDS units from your army and redeploy them. When doing so, you can set those units up in Strategic Reserves, regardless of how many units are already in Strategic Reserves. |
This bioform uses its own keen senses and predatory intellect to burrow into position and strike before the enemy can react. TYRANIDS model with the Deep Strike ability only. The bearer’s unit can be set up using the Deep Strike ability in the Reinforcements step of your first, second or third Movement phase, regardless of any mission rules. |
Only rarely manifested by the hive fleets, the Trygon Prime possesses a greatly enhanced synaptic network within its neural cortex, enabling it to more precisely coordinate the assaults of burrowing Tyranid creatures. TRYGON model only. The bearer gains the SYNAPSE keyword. Improve the Strength and Weapon Skill characteristics of melee weapons equipped by the bearer by 1. |
Stratagems
TARGET: One MAWLOC or TRYGON unit from your army.
EFFECT: Until the start of your next Command phase, your unit has the SYNAPSE keyword.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army, wholly within 9" of one or more Tunnel Markers you placed.
EFFECT: One model in your unit regains up to D3+1 lost wounds, or you can return up to D3+1 destroyed models with a Wounds characteristic of 1 to your unit, with their full wounds remaining, instead.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that was set up as Reinforcements this turn.
EFFECT: Until the end of your next Fight phase, weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] and [IGNORES COVER] abilities.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that is wholly within 9" of one or more of your Tunnel Markers and not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units.
EFFECT: Remove your unit from the battlefield and set it up again, wholly within 9" of another Tunnel Marker you placed, and more than 6" horizontally away from all enemy units.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS MONSTER unit from your army that was set up as Reinforcements this turn.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, friendly TYRANIDS units within 6" of your unit can re-roll Charge rolls.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit or up to two BURROWER units from your army that are not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units.
EFFECT: Remove your unit from the battlefield and place it into Strategic Reserves.
Ambush Predators1DP
SLINKING VANGUARD ORGANISMS HUNT THEIR HAPLESS PREY, STRIKING UNERRINGLY FROM THE SHADOWS
Mindhunger
Ravenous instinct drives these vanguard organisms to predate leaders amongst the prey, and to crack open their crania and devour the quivering mind-meat within.
- Friendly DEATHLEAPER/LICTOR/NEUROLICTOR units have Deep Strike.
- Friendly LICTOR/NEUROLICTOR units’ attacks that target a CHARACTER unit can re-roll hit rolls of 1.
Enhancements
By the time the prey realise that they are being hunted, the Hive Mind’s vanguard organisms have already enfolded them in a murderous embrace. There is no hiding from what comes next. NEUROLICTOR/LICTOR/VON RYAN’S LEAPERS unit only. In your opponent’s Movement phase, when an enemy unit ends a move within 8" of this unit, this unit can make a normal move of up to D3+3". |
The dermis of these biohunters has been adapted to subtly alter hue according to what the ocular receptors of the prey expect to see, thus hiding the creatures even in plain sight. VON RYAN’S LEAPERS unit only. This unit has -3" detection range. |
Stratagems
TARGET: That DEATHLEAPER/LICTOR/NEUROLICTOR/VON RYAN’S LEAPERS unit.
EFFECT: Your unit’s attacks that target a hidden unit have +1 S and AP.
TARGET: One friendly DEATHLEAPER/LICTOR/NEUROLICTOR/VON RYAN’S LEAPERS unit.
EFFECT: Select one visible enemy unit within 12" of your unit. That enemy unit has +6" detection range.
TARGET: One friendly unengaged DEATHLEAPER/LICTOR/ NEUROLICTOR unit.
EFFECT: Place your unit in strategic reserves.
Talons of the Norn Queen1DP
WHEN THE AGENT‑BEASTS OF THE NORN QUEENS PROWL, DEEDS OF DIREST CONSEQUENCE ARE AFOOT
Higher Imperatives
Capable of incredibly complex reasoning and a frightening level of self-direction, Norn Emissaries and Assimilators display great agency and alien cunning in the completion of their tasks.
Friendly NORN EMISSARY/NORN ASSIMILATOR units have the following ability:Enhancements
Reaching out like the will of the Hive Mind made manifest, this organism’s pinpoint fire is perfectly tailored to strike down leaders amongst the prey. NORN EMISSARY unit only. This unit’s ranged attacks have [ANTI-CHARACTER 2+]. |
As though privy to glimpses of the Hive Mind’s own near‑omniscient view of events, this towering beast weaves unerringly aside from incoming threats. NORN ASSIMILATOR unit only. This unit has 4+ InSv. |
Stratagems
TARGET: That NORN ASSIMILATOR unit.
EFFECT: Your unit has Feel No Pain 4+ against mortal wounds.
TARGET: That NORN ASSIMILATOR/NORN EMISSARY unit.
EFFECT: Your unit’s melee attacks have +2 S.
TARGET: That NORN ASSIMILATOR unit.
EFFECT: Select one enemy unit hit by those attacks. That enemy unit is tethered until the start of your next Command phase:
- While a unit is tethered, that unit has -2" M.
Warrior Bioform Onslaught1DP
TYRANID WARRIORS ARE ADAPTED TO SHEPHERD THE HIVE FLEET’S TEEMING SWARMS TO WAR
Leader-beasts
The Hive Mind has spawned entire swarms of Tyranid Warriors upon this battlefield, adapting them to be tougher as well as more numerous, and thus to serve as better conduits for its will.
- Friendly TYRANID WARRIORS WITH RANGED BIO-WEAPONS/TYRANID WARRIORS WITH MELEE BIO-WEAPONS units have:
- TYRANID WARRIORS.
- BATTLELINE.
TYRANID WARRIORS/TYRANID PRIME WITH LASH WHIP/WINGED TYRANID PRIME models from your army have 5+ InSv.
Enhancements
This bioform and its symbiotic weapon-beasts have been adapted for maximum lethality WINGED TYRANID PRIME/TYRANID PRIME WITH LASH WHIP model only. This model’s melee attacks:
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This node‑beast’s bioadaptations allow it to perceive the minutest electrical impulse or heat signature. Few prey organisms escape its clutches. WINGED TYRANID PRIME/TYRANID PRIME WITH LASH WHIP model only. This unit’s melee attacks have +1 to hit rolls. |
Stratagems
TARGET: That TYRANID WARRIORS unit.
EFFECT: Attacks that target your unit with a S greater than your unit’s T have -1 to wound rolls.
TARGET: One friendly
EFFECT: Select one objective your unit is controlling. That objective is secured.
TARGET: That TYRANID WARRIORS unit.
EFFECT: Your unit’s ranged attacks have [IGNORE COVER].
Crusade Rules
In this section you’ll find additional rules for playing Crusade battles that are bespoke to TYRANIDS units. You can find out more about Crusade armies in the main Crusade rules.
As the hive fleets tighten their stranglehold on the galaxy, more and more worlds succumb to their unending hunger. The rules presented on the following pages allow you to devour one world after another, strengthening your force as your foes fall.
AGENDAS
TYRANIDS armies can attempt to achieve unique Agendas in addition to those found in other publications. These represent the faction’s unique goals and their particular methods of waging war.
REQUISITIONS
TYRANIDS armies have access to a number of bespoke Requisitions in addition to those found in other publications.
As they gain experience and prowess, TYRANIDS units in your Crusade force can be given one of the Battle Traits in this section instead of one presented elsewhere.
Themed to the unique nature of the TYRANIDS, these Battle Scars represent long-lasting effects units from your Crusade force may come to carry.
CRUSADE RELICS
In addition to the Crusade Relics presented in other Crusade publications, TYRANIDS CHARACTER models can claim one of the Crusade Relics found here.
CRUSADE BADGES
Here you will find three Crusade Badges representing goals you can set yourself when campaigning with your Crusade force. Once one is achieved, you could set yourself a new goal, or take the opportunity to start a new Crusade force.
Devouring Worlds
Generating a World
When generating a world to devour, your Crusade forces Biomass and Battles Played points begin at 0. To generate a world to devour, roll one D6 and consult the table below.Next, consult the relevant table below to generate the Biomass and Battles Played points needed for each stage of that world’s destruction. Generate the number of points needed for the Invasion stage first, then generate the number of points needed for the Predation stage by adding the value in the table to what you generated for the Invasion stage for that world type. Finally, generate the points needed for the Consumption stage in the same manner, but add the value in the table to that of the Predation stage instead of the Invasion stage. Note that Biomass points accrued during a previous stage of a world’s destruction still count towards the targets for the current stage.
Completing a Devouring Stage
To complete a stage and move on to the next, your Crusade force needs to have acquired at least as many Biomass and Battles Played points for that stage as were generated for it above. Keep a Battles Played tally during each stage; these tallies do not carry over into the next stage but simply act as a minimum requirement for advancement.- Each time you win a battle, your Crusade force gains 1 Biomass point.
- Each time you lose a battle, your Crusade force loses 1 Biomass point (to a minimum of 0).
Additional ways of earning Biomass points can be found in the Agendas section. Once you have reached a particular stage of devouring, you gain access to new Requisitions that you can purchase once per world.
Invasion
In the first stages of a Tyranid invasion, swift and adaptable broods of bioforms assess and then rapidly counteract the defences of the prey. Some organisms may already have infiltrated the target world, and only now burst from their hiding places to wreak bloody havoc. Others pour down from spore-blighted skies and flow into battle, the myriad heralds of yet greater horrors still to come.
BATTLE EXPERIENCE
Units from your Crusade army with any of the following keywords gain an additional 1XP from the Battle Experience rule if they are wholly within your opponent’s deployment zone at the end of the battle:
- ENDLESS MULTITUDE
- VANGUARD INVADER
- WARLORD
Predation
So thoroughly infested with Tyranid swarms has the prey world become, that broods prowl almost all environs and surge from every tangled thicket and blasted ruin to attack. Even defenders who consider themselves safe within formidable fortifications can be suddenly and violently disabused of that notion amidst a rush of chitinous bodies and stabbing talons from an unexpected quarter.
BATTLE EXPERIENCE
Units from your Crusade army with any of the following keywords gain an additional 1XP from the Battle Experience rule if they control an objective marker in No Man’s Land at the end of the battle:
- BIOVORES
- EXOCRINE
- HARUSPEX
- HIVE GUARD
- HIVE TYRANT
- PYROVORES
- TYRANNOFEX
- TYRANT GUARD
- WARLORD
Consumption
As the Tyranid ecosystem takes hold, strange living structures sprout forth that are vital to the final consumption of the world. Those Tyranid organisms charged with protecting these grotesque bio-structures now become exceptionally aggressive even as vile eater-beasts devour every scrap of available biomass and ferry it back to the waiting assimilation structures.
BATTLE EXPERIENCE
Units from your Crusade army with any of the following keywords gain an additional 1XP from the Battle Experience rule if they were not destroyed at the end of the battle:
- BIOVORES
- EXOCRINE
- HARUSPEX
- HIVE GUARD
- HIVE TYRANT
- PYROVORES
- TYRANNOFEX
- TYRANT GUARD
- WARLORD
Biogenesis
Each time your Crusade force completes the Consumption stage of its attack on a world, you can spend any of the Biomass points you have acquired on the upgrades shown below, before generating a new world to devour.Raw biomass is diverted to the creation of even more warrior organisms and hive ships to bear them through the void.
A great enough stock of biomass has been secured that a portion can be poured into fashioning strange and terrible graft organisms for the swarms’ mightiest leader-beasts.
The Hive Mind exploits the neurally cached experiences of its warrior organisms to hone their predatory instincts.
A focused allocation of biomass offers a brood the chance to rapidly and significantly adapt at the Hive Mind’s urging.
With so much accumulated biomass, the hive fleet can adapt whatever aspect of its nature the Hive Mind bids it to.
Agendas
If your Crusade army includes any TYRANIDS units, you can select Agendas from those presented here.In order to overwhelm the prey, devour the biomass of the dead and seed the world with toxic spores; the swarm must cover all.
The Hive Mind has marked those prey organisms whose swift destruction it wishes prioritised. The hunt begins.
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In preparation for the complete assimilation of biomass on this prey world, it is necessary to seed Tyranid structures on the battlefield, from sporecaster organisms to digestion pools.
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Every last prey organism that stands against the swarm must be overrun - butchered - and their biomass consumed so that fresh waves of bioforms may be spawned.
Requisitions
If your Crusade army includes any TYRANIDS units, you can spend Requisition points (RP) on any of the following Requisitions.The Hive Mind can break down the biomass of its warrior organisms, reabsorbing them and restructuring their bodies and neural pathways at a molecular level before spawning them anew.
The gestalt consciousness of the Great Devourer is omnipresent throughout the hive fleets, always urging its mindless, ravenous swarms on toward whatever strategic goals will see them best feed, grow and spread.
As the needs of the swarm change, so the Hive Mind is able to break down the physical form of its synaptic node-beasts while preserving their neuro-ganglia and the cached sense-impressions therein. This neural mass is then encased in a new and more suitable physical form.
Every warrior organism is fashioned by the ineffable alien will of the Hive Mind. Their flesh and chitin is endlessly mutable, honed into whatever form will prove most lethal to its prey.
Rudimentary Instincts
MUCOLID SPORES and SPORE MINES units never gain XP, and so can never gain Battle Honours. However, they are also assumed to pass any Out of Action tests they are required to take (no dice is rolled) and so never accrue Battle Scars. You can mark the XP section of their Crusade card as ‘N/A’ to remind you.These warrior organisms are possessed of a ravenous hunger, their eagerness to tear and rend flesh lending their blows additional, frenzied strength.
The sensory acuity of this brood has been heightened such that no prey can hide from them.
- Each time a model in this unit makes a melee attack, you can ignore any or all Hit roll and Weapon Skill modifiers for that attack.
- Each time a model in this unit makes a ranged attack, that attack has the [IGNORES COVER] ability.
This brood possess heightened tactical instincts that allow them to hunt efficiently even without direct synaptic oversight.
These warrior organisms are well protected by their pseudo-sentient carapaces and partial regenerative capabilities. It takes a great concentration of fire to do them any real harm.
Moving with lithe rapidity, these warrior organisms close the distance to their prey and begin their killing frenzy.
The bioforms of this brood have been imbued with tensile strength and whipcord sinews that allow them to spring upon their prey, lending their pouncing onslaught additional impact to maximise carnage.
These leader-beasts emanate the unfathomable will of the Hive Mind, an alien consciousness so vast it drives prey creatures mad.
Such is this creature's psionic power that enemy sorceries unravel in its presence.
So potent is the psionic presence of this leader-beast that it is able to act as a nodal amplifier to imperatives unleashed by other nearby synaptic organisms.
The damaged flesh and chitin of this formidable warrior organism regrows at an astounding rate.
This brood boasts thickened and extended chitinous carapaces.
So potent is this bioform's synaptic presence that it acts as a focusing lens for the psychic might of the Hive Mind.
Lingering neural trauma has left this brood with a damaged connection to the synaptic network.
Severed entirely from synapse control, this brood is forced to fall back upon its own hardwired instincts in battle.
Overdeveloped prey-response instincts drown out the higher functions of this brood, causing them to obsessively focus on the nearest prey to the exclusion of more strategically important targets.
So overcome with biochemical adrenaline and predatory aggression is this brood, that its warrior organisms seek constantly to hurl themselves upon the nearest possible prey and tear them to pieces.
Due to neurosynaptic feedback or cranial damage, this bioform struggles to mesh fully with the Hive Mind.
Physical and neural damage has eroded the strength of this organism’s synaptic signal, leaving it unable to fully impose its will upon the swarm.
Although able to still provide the warrior organisms around it with basic synaptic imperatives, this beast is no longer able to control their behaviour.
This organism’s psychic presence is all but non-existent, its ability to deepen the Shadow in the Warp stolen away from it.
Crusade Relics
When a TYRANIDS CHARACTER model gains a Crusade Relic, you can select one of the Crusade Relics presented here.Artificer Relics
This rare cranial biomodification allows its monstrous host to psionically drain the life from its prey, feeding off their animus and using it as fuel to both regrow and augment its own form.
PSYKER model only. Each time an enemy unit loses a wound as the result of a Psychic Attack made by the bearer:- The bearer regains 1 lost wound.
- Until the start of your next Command phase, add 1 to the Strength of the bearers melee weapons.
This foul net of neuro-membranes infests the cranial cavities of its host and amplifies their offensive psycho-synaptic aptitude.
Model with one or more Psychic weapons only. Each time the bearer makes an attack with a Psychic weapon, you can re-roll the Hit roll and you can re-roll the Wound roll.Antiquity Relics
This bio-artefact can penetrate the thickest armour in order to implant dozens of Ripper parasites within a host. In seconds, the ghastly creatures grow to full size, devouring the host from the inside out and bursting forth in a shower of gore.
- Melee weapons equipped by the bearer gain the [DEVASTATING WOUNDS] ability.
- Each time the bearer fights, if one or more enemy models (excluding VEHICLE models) are destroyed when resolving those attacks, after that fight is resolved you can select one friendly RIPPER SWARMS unit within 12" of the bearer. If you do, add one Ripper Swarm model to that unit. If any of those destroyed enemy models had the MONSTER keyword, add D3 Ripper Swarm models to that RIPPER SWARMS unit instead.
At the hilt of each of these enormous, curving blades is a shell of diamond-hard chitin. This houses the brain of the weapon-symbiote. With a mental command, the wielder can generate a surge of psychic energy through this organism that incinerates the sabres’ unfortunate victims from the inside out.
MONSTER model only. Select one of the bearer’s melee weapons. That weapon gains the following ability:Slayer Sabres: Each time the bearer fights, after that fight is resolved, select one enemy unit hit by one or more attacks made with this weapon this phase, then roll one D6: on a 2+, that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds, or D6+1 mortal wounds instead if that unit has the PSYKER keyword.
Legendary Relics
First named by Inquisitor Kryptman, the Norn Crown is a unique parasitic organism that burrows needle-like cerebral bores directly into the brain of its host, forming a neuro-synaptic link that acts as a hyper-conduit for the Hive Mind. Through this abhorrent union, the Hive Mind’s indomitable will can pour forth to augment and control the hordes of lesser Tyranids that scuttle in the leader-beast’s wake.
- While the bearer is on the battlefield, once per battle, you can use the Shadow in the Warp ability one additional time.
- While the bearer is on the battlefield, increase the range of friendly SYNAPSE units’ Synapse ability to 9".
Crusade Badges
Vanguard Tendril
Stretching out across the dark void, your swarms spread the soul-crushing Shadow in the Warp to sow dismay amongst the foe. With every successful act of predation, every prey bastion broken open and its defenders devoured, every massed clash won by means both insidious and monstrous, the power of your tendril grows. You have amassed much biomass and driven vanguard organisms like talons into the yielding flesh of yet more bounteous hunting grounds. Now is the time to push forward at the Hive Minds urging and let the true feast begin.
- You have successfully devoured one world.
- You have won at least two battles.
Monstrous Tendril
One after another the prey worlds fall to the rapacious hunger of your swarms. Whether teeming wildernesses of ferocious flora and fauna, populous megalopolis worlds covered in mountainous cities, or indomitable fortress worlds clad in plasteel and ferrocrete from pole to pole, none can resist your hunger. With each fresh victory your bioforms harvest more and varied quantities of biomass, opening up new options for adaptation and increasingly efficient consumption of the prey. Yet more worlds still lie before you. All must fall. All must be devoured.
- You have successfully devoured three different types of world.
- You have won at least six battles.
All-consuming Tendril
Immense swarms flood entire star systems at your urging. An unending torrent of biomass pours back into your tendril, fortifying it further with every world devoured. You are the will of the Hive Mind made manifest. You are the death of worlds, and you are unstoppable!
- You have successfully devoured five worlds, including at least one of each type.
- You have won at least ten battles.
- A CHARACTER from your Crusade force has reached the Legendary rank.
- A CHARACTER from your Crusade force possesses The Norn Crown Crusade Relic.
Boarding Actions
Introduction
Within the following pages you will find numerous Boarding Actions Detachments that can be used in your Boarding Actions games. Each lists which units you can include in your army, any modifications to those units’ army rule as presented in their Codex or Index, a Detachment rule unique to that Detachment, and a number of Enhancements and Stratagems that you can use.A keyword that will be shared by all units in your army.
MUSTERING RULES
Which units you are allowed to include in your army.
FORMING BOARDING SQUADS
Any additional rules that will apply in the missions Form Boarding Squads step. Note that not all Detachments will have these.
RULES ADAPTATIONS
Some units will be unable to use certain abilities in Boarding Actions battles. Where this is the case, these units and their relevant abilities will be listed here.
Due to the distinct nature of close-quarters battle in Boarding Actions, most army rules require some modifications to their effects. Where this is the case, these will be described here.
DETACHMENT RULE
Each faction will have a number of different Detachments to choose from, each with its own Detachment rule to reflect the unique fighting methods of such forces.
ENHANCEMENTS
Further Enhancements that you can give to CHARACTER models from your army, beyond those(Boarding Actions Enhancments), will be found here.
STRATAGEMS
Additional Stratagems that you can use, in addition to those (Boarding Actions Stratagems), will be found here.
Tyranid Attack
Amidst the dark of the void, the alien horror of the Tyranids is rendered all the more terrifying. Whether swarming forth to defend their own bio-ships or stalking their prey through the decks of voidships or star forts, the hunting swarms leave none alive.
Mustering a Boarding Patrol
You can include up to two of the following unit:You can include up to two of each of the following units:
- TYRANID WARRIORS WITH MELEE BIO-WEAPONS (3 models)
- TYRANID WARRIORS WITH RANGED BIO-WEAPONS (3 models)
- HORMAGAUNTS (10 models)
- NEUROGAUNTS (10 models)
- RIPPER SWARMS (3 models)
- TERMAGANTS (10 models)
Forming Boarding Squads
- The following units do not split into separate units in the Form Boarding Squads step:
Rules Adaptations
- ENDLESS MULTITUDE and RIPPER SWARMS units from your army are ignored for the purposes of determining visibility for friendly TYRANIDS models that do not have the ENDLESS MULTITUDE or RIPPER SWARMS keyword.
- You can give the TYRANID PRIME models in TYRANID WARRIORS WITH MELEE BIO-WEAPONS and TYRANID WARRIORS WITH RANGED BIO-WEAPONS units Enhancements as if they were CHARACTER models.
- TYRANID WARRIORS WITH MELEE BIO-WEAPONS and TYRANID WARRIORS WITH RANGED BIO-WEAPONS units can perform the Secure Site Tactical Manoeuvre as if they had the BATTLELINE keyword.
- ENDLESS MULTITUDE units cannot perform the Secure Site Tactical Manoeuvre.
- The RIPPER SWARMS unit loses the Deep Strike ability.
- The TERMAGANTS unit loses the Skulking Horrors ability.
- The WINGED TYRANID PRIME model loses the Deep Strike ability.
Synaptic Web
The internal structures of voidships are no obstacle to the insidious reach of the Hive Mind.
Units from your army with the Shadow in the Warp ability retain that ability.Units from your army with the Synapse ability retain that ability and gain this one.
When measuring whether a unit from your army is within Synapse Range of a friendly SYNAPSE model, Walls and closed Hatchways are ignored.
Detachment Rule
Xeno-Terror
To be trapped within the hull of a voidship with swarming Tyranids, subjected to the focused horror of the Shadow in the Warp that wreathes them, is more than some can stand.
When you unleash the Shadow in the Warp, subtract 1 from the Battle-shock test each enemy unit on the battlefield must take as a result. For each enemy unit that fails one of those tests, that enemy unit cannot Fire Overwatch this turn.Enhancements
Synaptic Goad This gestalt colony of ganglean parasites amplifies the Hive Mind’s localised control over its leading warrior organisms, driving them on to greater speed and aggression. In your Command phase, select one friendly TYRANID WARRIORS WITH MELEE BIO-WEAPONS or TYRANID WARRIORS WITH RANGED BIO-WEAPONS unit within 6" of the bearer. Until the end of the turn, add 2" to the Move characteristic of models in that unit. |
Reinforced Carapace Threaded with molecular veins of absorbed alloys and minerals, this bioforms chitinous carapace has a dull glint that hints at its formidable resilience. Each time an attack is allocated to the bearer, subtract 1 from the Damage characteristic of that attack (note that if given to a TYRANID PRIME model, this only affects that model and not other models in its unit). |
Stratagems
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that is within Synapse Range of your army and has not been selected to fight this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, melee weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability.
TARGET: One TYRANID WARRIORS WITH MELEE BIO-WEAPONS or TYRANID WARRIORS WITH RANGED BIO-WEAPONS unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit is destroyed as a result of an attack, do not remove it from play; after the attacking unit has finished making its attacks, roll one D6: on a 3-5, the closest enemy unit within 3" of and visible to your unit suffers 1 mortal wound; on a 6, the closest enemy unit within 3" of and visible to your unit suffers 2 mortal wounds. The destroyed model is then removed from play.
TARGET: One TYRANID WARRIORS WITH RANGED BIO-WEAPONS unit from your army that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Select one enemy unit that is visible to your unit and within Engagement Range of one or more friendly ENDLESS MULTITUDE or RIPPER SWARMS units. Until the end of the phase, your unit is eligible to make ranged attacks against that enemy unit as if it was not within Engagement Range of those friendly units. When doing so, each time a model in your unit makes a ranged attack, subtract 1 from the Hit roll and, after your unit has finished making its attacks, each of those friendly units that started the phase within Engagement Range of that enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS SYNAPSE unit from your army and one friendly TYRANIDS unit that has not declared a charge this phase.
EFFECT: Select one enemy unit that is visible to your SYNAPSE unit. Until the end of the phase, each time your other unit declares a charge, it can include that enemy unit as a target of that charge, even if it is not visible to it, and when doing so, add 1 to the Charge roll.
Boarding Swarm
When Tyranid hive ships latch onto prey vessels, they unleash tailored swarms of swift vanguard organisms whose purpose is to sow terror amongst the defenders and strike for vital targets such as the enginarium and command bridge.
Mustering a Boarding Patrol
You can include up to two of the following units (duplicate are not allowed):You can include up to two of each of the following units:
- HORMAGAUNTS (10 models)
- RAVENERS (3 models)
- VON RYAN’S LEAPERS (3 models)
Forming Boarding Squads
- Do not split HORMAGAUNTS units into separate units in the Form Boarding Squads step.
Rules Adaptations
- HORMAGAUNTS units cannot perform the Secure Site Tactical Manoeuvre.
- The LICTOR model loses the Pheromone Trail ability.
- The RAVENERS unit loses the Death From Below ability.
- The VON RYAN’S LEAPERS unit loses the Pouncing Leap ability.
Synaptic Web
The internal structures of voidships are no obstacle to the insidious reach of the Hive Mind.
Units from your army with the Shadow in the Warp ability retain that ability.Units from your army with the Synapse ability retain that ability and gain this one.
When measuring whether a unit from your army is within Synapse Range of a friendly SYNAPSE model, Walls and closed Hatchways are ignored.
Detachment Rule
Priority Predation
As these cunning vanguard predators move deeper into the prey vessel, they adapt their hunting patterns at need. They run down those victims worthy of slaughter while leaving lesser enemies to flee into the dark even as the Tyranids move away in search of far worthier prey.
Each time an enemy unit within Engagement Range of one or more TYRANIDS units from your army is selected to Fall Back, after that enemy unit has made that Fall Back move, for each of those TYRANIDS units, if there are no other enemy units within Engagement Range of it, it can make a Normal move of up to 3".Enhancements
Monoform Predators These hunter organisms are already perfectly tailored to their task. The Hive Mind does not waste biomass in altering them further. TYRANIDS models in this Detachment cannot be given Enhancements. |
Stratagems
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit have a 5+ invulnerable save.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit is destroyed, if that model has not fought this phase, roll one D6. On a 5+, do not remove the destroyed model from play; it can fight after the attacking unit has finished making its attacks, and is then removed from play.
TARGET: That TYRANIDS unit.
EFFECT: If your unit is not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units, it can make a Normal move of up to 3". After that move, if your unit is within range of an objective marker and no enemy units are within range of that objective marker, that objective marker is Secured by your army.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that is within 3" of that Hatchway and is not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units.
EFFECT: Your unit can make a Pounce move. To do so, your unit can be moved up to 3", but must end that move as close as possible to that Hatchway. When doing so, those models can be moved within Engagement Range of that enemy unit, but only that enemy unit.
Biotide
Whether responding to attacks by hostile boarding parties or spilling into an already-breached prey vessel, these unceasing waves of warrior organisms overrun their victims like a multiplying virus.
Mustering a Boarding Patrol
You can include up to two of the following unit:WINGED TYRANID PRIME
You can include up to three of each of the following units:
HORMAGAUNTS (10 models)
NEUROGAUNTS (10 models)
RIPPER SWARMS (3 models)
TERMAGANTS (10 models)
Forming Boarding Squads
- The following units do not split into separate units in the Form Boarding Squads step:
Rules Adaptations
- The RIPPER SWARMS unit loses the Deep Strike ability.
- The TERMAGANTS unit loses the Skulking Horrors ability.
- The WINGED TYRANID PRIME model loses the Deep Strike ability.
Synaptic Web
The internal structures of voidships are no obstacle to the insidious reach of the Hive Mind.
Units from your army with the Shadow in the Warp ability retain that ability.Units from your army with the Synapse ability retain that ability and gain this one.
When measuring whether a unit from your army is within Synapse Range of a friendly SYNAPSE model, Walls and closed Hatchways are ignored.
Detachment Rule
Unstoppable Swarm
This massed swarm of warrior organisms spills over and around one another as they advance, chitinous killers packing corridors floor to ceiling and bursting open hatchways with sheer weight of numbers.
Each time a TYRANIDS unit from your army moves, models in that unit can move through friendly TYRANIDS models as if they were not there. In addition, each time a TYRANIDS unit from your army attempts to operate a closed Hatchway, if your opponent tries to prevent it, add 1 to your result of the roll-off.Enhancements
Synaptic Beacon Like a psionic fire burning in the depths of the void, this organisms mere presence unifies and anchors all the swarms flowing about it. While a friendly TYRANIDS unit is within 9" of the bearer (ignoring Walls and closed Hatchways), that unit is within Synapse Range of the bearer and of your army. |
Hypersurge Gland This internal symbiote can expend itself in a single flood of aggression stimulants and drive its host into a sudden, accelerated attack against a key target. Once per battle, at the end of your opponents Charge phase, the bearer can use this Enhancement. If it does, it can declare a charge as if it were your Charge phase. |
Stratagems
TARGET: That TYRANIDS unit.
EFFECT: Your unit can make a Swarm move. To do so, your unit can be moved up to 3", but at least one model from your unit must end that move on the opposite side of that Hatchway from the one it started the phase on. When doing so, those models can be moved within Engagement Range of enemy units.
TARGET: One ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit from your army that is in Reserves.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit have the Deep Strike ability and, when setting them upon the battlefield using that ability, they can be set up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 6" horizontally away from all enemy units, provided they are also within Synapse Range of your army.
RESTRICTIONS: You can only use this Stratagem once and, until the end of the turn, your unit is not eligible to declare a charge.
TARGET: One TERMAGANTS unit from your army that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit can ignore other models in their unit for the purposes of determining visibility. In addition, if your unit is within Synapse Range of your army, each time a model in your unit makes an attack, you can re-roll the Hit roll.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army (excluding WINGED TYRANID PRIME units), that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time an attack targets your unit, subtract 1 from the Hit roll.
Infestation Swarm
Many doomed voidships have been infested by Genestealers, their corridors and crawlways transformed into the hunting grounds and brood-lairs of monstrous vanguard organisms. Such infestations prove nightmarishly deadly to any unwise enough to board these apparent derelicts.
Mustering a Boarding Patrol
When selecting this Detachment, you must select either the TYRANIDS or GENESTEALER CULTS keyword.If you selected TYRANIDS, you can include up to three of the following unit:
- GENESTEALERS (5 or 10 models).
If you selected GENESTEALER CULTS, you can include up to three of the following unit:
- PURESTRAIN GENESTEALERS (5 or 10 models)
Rules Adaptations
- GENESTEALERS and PURESTRAIN GENESTEALERS units can perform the Secure Site Tactical Manoeuvre as if they had the BATTLELINE keyword.
- The PURESTRAIN GENESTEALERS unit loses the Swift and Deadly ability.
- All models lose the Deep Strike ability.
Auspex Ghosts
All the enemy see are half-glimpsed darting shadows, or partial returns of contact blips on sensor-screens. At least, that is, until the Genestealers are in position to pounce...
Units from your army with the SYNAPSE or Cult Ambush abilities replace those abilities with this one.In the Deploy Armies step, your opponent must set up their entire army before you set up any of your units. If both players have a rule that allows them to do this, both players set up their units normally.
Detachment Rule
Half-Glimpsed Shadows
Possessed of alien cunning and unnatural stealth, Genestealers are able to fade back into the shadows or crawl across ceilings or under deck-plates, the better to evade notice by their prey.
Each time a ranged attack targets a GREAT DEVOURER unit from your army, if the attacking model is not within 6" of that unit, subtract 1 from the Hit roll.Enhancements
Stalking Menace Soon after this nightmarish predator vanishes from sight, its victims feel the hot reek of its breath upon the napes of their necks in the instant before it strikes. Once per battle, at the end of your opponent’s Fight phase, if the bearer is not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units, it can use this Enhancement. If it does, remove the bearer from the battlefield and place it into Strategic Reserves. It will arrive back on the battlefield in the Reinforcements step of your next Movement phase as if it had the Deep Strike ability. If this is not possible, the bearer is destroyed. When the bearer is set back up on the battlefield, until the end of the turn, it cannot declare a charge. |
Psi-spoor Sensitivity Able to taste its prey’s terrified mental signatures like pheromones, there is nowhere to hide from this beast. Each time the bearer declares a charge, it can target enemy units that are not visible to it. |
Stratagems
TARGET: One GREAT DEVOURER unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit have a 4+ invulnerable save.
TARGET: That GREAT DEVOURER unit.
EFFECT: In your opponent’s next Command phase, each enemy unit on the battlefield must take a Battle-shock test, subtracting 1 from the result. This Stratagem cannot cause a unit to take two Battle-shock tests in the same phase.
TARGET: That GREAT DEVOURER unit.
EFFECT: Your unit can make a Normal move of up to 3", provided at least one of its models ends that move on the opposite side of that Hatchway from when your unit opened it.
TARGET: One GENESTEALERS or PURESTRAIN GENESTEALERS unit from your army that is wholly within an Entry Zone.
EFFECT: Remove your unit from the battlefield and place it into Strategic Reserves. It will arrive back on the battlefield in the Reinforcements step of your next Movement phase. When doing so, if it was within one of your Entry Zones when it was removed, it must be set up wholly within another one of your Entry Zones. If it was within one of your opponent’s Entry Zones when it was removed, it must be set up wholly within another one of your opponent’s Entry Zones instead. If this is not possible, your unit is destroyed.
The VANGUARD INVADER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
Other models and units can be either visible or fully visible to the observing model, as shown below. Note that terrain applies additional rules to visibility (13.07).
Assassins and other covert agents are difficult to pinpoint in the storm of battle.
Unless part of an attached unit, this unit is not visible to enemy models unless they are within 12" of this unit, and it cannot be targeted by [INDIRECT FIRE] weapons unless the attacking model is within 12" of this unit.If this ability takes the form Lone Operative X", unless part of an attached unit, this unit is not visible to enemy models unless they are within X" of this unit, and it cannot be targeted by [INDIRECT FIRE] weapons unless the attacking model is within X" of this unit.
TARGET: One VANGUARD INVADER unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, your unit can only be selected as the target of a ranged attack if the attacking model is within 18" or, if your unit has the Lone Operative ability, if the attacking model is within 6". Your opponent can select new targets for the attacking unit’s attacks.
- If that roll succeeds, that unit does not become battle-shocked.
- If that roll fails, that unit, and each model in it, is battle-shocked.
While a unit is battle-shocked:
- The Objective Control (OC) characteristic of all of its models is modified to ‘-’ (02.02).
- Its controlling player cannot target that unit with stratagems (15).
- It is not eligible to start an action (16), and any action it has started cannot be completed.
The TYRANIDS and CHARACTER keywords are used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
This warrior organism has identified installations and routes of communication and supply vital to the prey. As the Tyranid invasion commences so the beast orchestrates ambushes and terror raids against these priority targets, ensuring that those enemy reinforcements who do reach the battlefield do so in bloodied disarray.
TYRANIDS model only. While the bearer is on the battlefield, each time your opponent sets up a Reserves unit on the battlefield, roll one D6: on a 2+, that unit must take a Battle-shock test.
The hardiest warriors refuse to be laid low, even by wounds that should by all rights prove lethal.
This ability always takes the form Feel No Pain X+. Each time a model with this ability would lose a wound, roll one D6: on an X+, that wound is not lost.The SYNAPSE keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
Some Tyranids serve as synaptic conduits or nodal relays through which a portion of the Hive Mind’s iron will flows, overriding the natural instincts of the swarm to direct the teeming warrior-beasts to function as a single, gestalt organism on the battlefield.
If your Army Faction is TYRANIDS, while a TYRANIDS unit from your army is within 6" of one or more friendly SYNAPSE models, that TYRANIDS unit is said to be within Synapse Range of that model and of your army. While a TYRANIDS unit from your army is within Synapse Range of your army:- Each time that unit takes a Battle-shock test, take that test on 3D6 instead of 2D6.
- Each time a model in that unit makes a melee attack, add 1 to the Strength characteristic of that attack.
TARGET: One TYRANIDS unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit have the Feel No Pain 6+ ability. If your unit is within Synapse Range of your army, models in your unit have the Feel No Pain 5+ ability instead.
- Select Model: Select one model in that unit by following the first instruction below that applies:
If a non-CHARACTER model in that unit has lost one or more wounds, you must select that model. Otherwise, if that unit contains one or more non-CHARACTER models, you must select one of those models. Otherwise, if one or more CHARACTER models in that unit have lost one or more wounds, you must select one of those models. Otherwise, you must select one CHARACTER model in that unit. - Resolve Damage: The selected model loses 1 wound. If this reduces that model’s remaining wounds to 0, it is destroyed.
MORTAL WOUNDS AND NORMAL DAMAGE
When resolving attack dice, if those attacks inflict a mixture of both mortal wounds and normal damage, resolve all of the normal damage first, then resolve all of the mortal wounds.
The TYRANIDS and SYNAPSE keywords are used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
A maelstrom of psychostatic disruption boils about this bioform. It degrades artificial and biological cognition alike, causing teleport signals to fluctuate, geopositioning cogitators to spew contradictory data, and onrushing enemy warriors to reel in confusion.
TYRANIDS SYNAPSE model only. Enemy units that arrive on the battlefield from Reserves cannot be set up within 12" of the bearer. In addition, once per battle, during the first or second battle round, when your opponent declares that a unit will arrive on the battlefield from Strategic Reserves, the bearer can use this Enhancement. If it does, roll one D6: on a 4+, that enemy unit cannot arrive on the battlefield this turn.
When a model is destroyed, first resolve any rules that are triggered when it is destroyed, then it is removed from the battlefield. If any such rules apply, and if the model was destroyed as the result of an attack, unless otherwise stated, those rules are only resolved and that model is only removed after the attacking unit’s attacks have been resolved. Unless otherwise stated, destroyed models and units cannot use abilities or be selected or targeted by rules.
Some rules only trigger if an enemy model or unit was destroyed by you, or by a model or unit from your army. This means that the enemy model or unit was destroyed by an attack made by a model from your army, or by a player rule you have. Enemy models or units that are destroyed by any other means are not destroyed by you, or by a model or unit from your army.
The HARVESTER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The INFANTRY keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The CHARACTER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The ENDLESS MULTITUDE keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
Even as the beasts of the Assimilation Swarm stalk across the battlefield they make use of the abundant biomass yielded up by the prey worlds slow demise. Warrior organisms heal even the most grievous wounds in moments, or stagger upright and return to the fight after they seemed slain. A strain of revolting vitality flows through the Tyranid broods as though leeched direct from their dismayed victims.
In your Command phase, each HARVESTER unit from your army can Regenerate one friendly TYRANIDS unit that is within 6" of it. A unit can only be regenerated once per phase. Each time a unit regenerates, do one of the following:- One model in that unit regains up to D3+1 lost wounds.
- One destroyed INFANTRY model (excluding CHARACTERS) is returned to that unit with its full wounds remaining. If that unit is an ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit, up to 3 destroyed models are returned instead.
TARGET: One HARVESTER unit from your army that is within 6" of that destroyed unit.
EFFECT: Regenerate one friendly TYRANIDS unit within 6" of your HARVESTER unit (See Feed the Swarm).
The HIVE TYRANT keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
- That model has the INFANTRY/BEASTS/SWARM keyword and is within a terrain area.
- That model is not fully visible to the attacking model due to one or more intervening terrain features and/or one or more intervening obscuring terrain areas (see below).
Each time a ranged attack targets a unit that has the benefit of cover against it, worsen the BS characteristic of that attack by 1.
The stealthiest warriors can evade the attentions, and the bullets, of their foes.
If every model in a unit has this ability, each time a ranged attack targets that unit, that unit has the benefit of cover against that attack (13.08).When Hormagaunts, Termagants and other such expendable warrior organisms attack en masse they make up for their comparative fragility with sheer numbers. Coupled with the speed and ferocity of their onslaught - which only seems to increase as the prey try to gun the creatures down or drive them back - the gathered broods soon overrun even the most determined defenders.
In your opponent’s Shooting phase, when an enemy unit has shot, if a model from a friendly ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit was destroyed as a result of those attacks, that friendly unit can make a surge move of up to D6".TARGET: That ENDLESS MULTITUDE unit.
EFFECT: When making that Surge move, you can re-roll the D6 to determine how far your unit moves, and your unit can end that move as close as possible to the closest objective marker (instead of as close as possible to the closest enemy unit]. All other rules for making Surge moves still apply.
- While a friendly model is within engagement range of one or more enemy models, those models – and the units they belong to – are engaged with each other.
- While a unit contains no engaged models, that unit is unengaged.
Tyranids flood the battlefield with the psychic signature of the hive fleet - an icy, alien dread that gnaws at the minds of their prey and smothers even the most stalwart courage. When faced with such unfathomable horror, many are driven insane or suffer catastrophic neural damage.
If your Army Faction is TYRANIDS, once per battle, in either player’s Command phase, if one or more units from your army with this ability are on the battlefield, you can unleash the Shadow in the Warp. When you do, each enemy unit on the battlefield must take a Battle-shock test. Each time an enemy unit takes such a Battle-shock test, if it is within 6" of one or more SYNAPSE units from your army, subtract 1 from that test.TARGET: That unit.
EFFECT: That battle-shock roll is automatically successful.
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot use this stratagem more than once per battle.
The AIRCRAFT keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The BATTLELINE keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The BEAST keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The BURROWER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The BURROWERS keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The CHARACTER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The DEDICATED TRANSPORT keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The ENDLESS MULTITUDE keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The EPIC HERO keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The FLY keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
When rotating a FRAME model as part of a move, if that model does not have a base, turn it any amount around its central axis, while keeping it upright.
The FRAME keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The GREAT DEVOURER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The HARVESTER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The HIVE TYRANT keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The INFANTRY keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The MONSTER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The PSYKER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The SMOKE keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The SWARM keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The SYNAPSE keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The TITANIC keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
- The attacking model is on a section of a terrain feature that is 3" or more in height.
- The attacking model has the TOWERING keyword and the target unit is within 12".
The TOWERING keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The TRANSPORT keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The TYRANIDS keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The VANGUARD INVADER keyword is used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
There are several categories of Battle Honours that can be bestowed upon a unit, such as Battle Traits, Weapon Modifications and Crusade Relics. Other categories of Battle Honour may be found in other publications. Each time a unit gains a Battle Honour, you can select from any category.
- Once a unit gains enough XP it will gain a rank.
- Only CHARACTER units can gain the Heroic or Legendary ranks.
- Each time a unit gains a rank, it can gain a Battle Honour.
- There are several categories of Battle Honours, which include:
- Battle Traits: New skills and abilities.
- Weapon Modifications: Upgrade an item of wargear.
- Crusade Relic: Gain a rare and powerful artefact.
- Each time a unit gains a Battle Honour, increase its Crusade points total by 1 (or by 2 if TITANIC).
The greatest warriors, most cunning tacticians and seers lead their armies to war possessed of hard-won skills and powerful artefacts that mark them out as legendary commanders.
You can select one Enhancement that unit has access to (if using this Requisition when that unit gains a rank, this is instead of it gaining a Battle Honour). When doing so, that unit has access to any Enhancements described within any Detachment rules that it could use, even though you have not yet started to muster your army and so have not selected any Detachment rules yet.
If the selected Enhancement replaces a weapon that is a Crusade Relic or a weapon upgraded by Weapon Modifications, that Crusade Relic or Weapon Modifications are lost. Recalculate the unit’s points value as a result of gaining this Enhancement and update its Crusade card. You cannot make any changes that would cause you to exceed your Supply Limit.
This Requisition costs 1RP plus 1 additional RP for each other Enhancement that your Order of Battle contains (to a maximum of 3RP).
Many deadly weapons can inflict fatal injuries on any foe, no matter their resilience.
Each time an attack made with a [LETHAL HITS] weapon results in a critical hit, you can choose for that attack to automatically wound the target.
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Some weapons possess a punishing rate of fire, or can land devastating flurries of blows, tearing the foe apart with relentless ferocity.
This ability always takes the form [SUSTAINED HITS X]. Each time an attack made with a [SUSTAINED HITS] weapon results in a critical hit, that attack results in a number of additional hits on the target as denoted by X.- Create Groups: Divide all models in the target unit into the following groups, as many times as required:
- One group for each CHARACTER model.
- One group for all other models with the same W, Sv and InSv characteristics.
- Allocation Order: Declare the order in which those groups will have attacks allocated to them, applying all of the following:
- If a non-CHARACTER group contains a model that has lost one or more wounds, that group must be first in the allocation order.
- No CHARACTER group can be earlier in the allocation order than a non-CHARACTER group.
- CHARACTER groups containing a model that has lost one or more wounds must be earlier in the allocation order than CHARACTER groups containing no wounded models.
- Make Save Rolls: The opposing player makes one save roll for each attack that wounded the target by rolling one D6.
Precision attacks can pick high-value targets out in a crowd.
While resolving attacks made with one or more [PRECISION] weapons, at the start of the Allocation Order step (05.03), if the target unit contains one or more CHARACTER models visible to one or more of the attacking models, the active player can select one allocation group that contains one of those visible CHARACTER models. If they do, until those attacks are resolved, or until that CHARACTER group is destroyed (whichever happens first), that CHARACTER group is the current allocation group.The most potent weapons strike with such power that they make a mockery of armour and can cleave through several foes.
Each time an attack made with a [DEVASTATING WOUNDS] weapon results in a critical wound, the attack sequence for that attack ends and the target unit suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to the D characteristic of that weapon. These are inflicted after resolving any normal damage inflicted by those attacks.Mortal wounds inflicted by [DEVASTATING WOUNDS] weapons can damage a maximum of one model for each critical wound; any remaining mortal wounds inflicted by that attack are lost.
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EFFECT: Your unit moves as described in Moving (03).
BEFORE MOVING: Make an advance roll by rolling one D6.
AFTER MOVING:
- Your unit must be unengaged.
- Until the end of the turn, unless otherwise stated, your unit is not eligible to declare a charge or start an action.
EFFECT: Your unit moves as described in Moving (03).
BEFORE MOVING: Select consolidation mode:
- Ongoing Consolidation:If your unit is engaged, you must select this mode and select every enemy unit it is engaged with.
- Engaging Consolidation:Otherwise, if your unit is within 3" of one or more enemy units, you must select this mode and select one or more of those enemy units.
- Objective Consolidation:Otherwise, if your unit is within 3" of one or more objectives, you must select this mode and select one of those objectives.
- Ongoing Consolidation:Models in base-contact with one or more enemy models cannot be moved. Each model that is moved must end its move closer to the closest selected enemy unit, and engaged with it if possible.
- Engaging Consolidation:Each model that is moved must end its move closer to the closest selected enemy unit, and engaged with it if possible.
- Objective Consolidation:Each model that is moved must end its move within range of the selected objective if possible, or closer to it if not.
- Ongoing Consolidation:Each model that started this move engaged with an enemy unit must still be engaged with that enemy unit.
- Engaging Consolidation:Your unit must be engaged with all of the selected enemy units. If one or more enemy units engaged with your unit have not been selected to fight this phase, your opponent must select each of those units, one at a time; when each is selected, it becomes eligible to fight and is selected to fight (12.04).
- Objective Consolidation:Your unit must be within range of the selected objective.
EFFECT: Your unit moves as described in Moving (03).
AFTER MOVING: Your unit must be unengaged.
Every warrior organism in the Tyranid race is fashioned by the ineffable alien will of the Hive Mind. Their flesh and chitin is endlessly mutable, honed into whatever form will prove most lethal to the prey.
At the start of the first battle round, select one of the following Hyper-adaptations to be active for TYRANIDS units from your army until the end of the battle:Swarming Instincts Each time a TYRANIDS model with this Hyper-adaptation makes an attack that targets an INFANTRY or SWARM unit, that attack has the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability. |
Hyper-aggression Each time a TYRANIDS model with this Hyper-adaptation makes an attack that targets a MONSTER or VEHICLE unit, that attack has the [LETHAL HITS] ability. |
Hive Predators Each time a TYRANIDS model with this Hyper-adaptation makes an attack that targets a CHARACTER unit, on a Critical Hit, that attack has the [PRECISION] ability. |
The TYRANIDS and MONSTER keywords are used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
Some rules refer to units being below starting strength, or at – or below – half-strength. The meaning of these terms varies depending on a unit’s starting strength, as shown below.
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- If a rule instructs you to move a model as close as possible to a unit or model you must end that model’s move in base contact with that unit or model if its move is sufficient to do so without breaking any other restrictions (such as coherency), or as close as you can achieve if its move is not sufficient.
- If a model is already as close as possible to a unit or model when it is instructed to make a move as close as possible towards a unit or model, that model cannot be moved, but still counts as having made the move in question.
- If a rule instructs you to move a model as close as possible to an objective you must end that model’s move within range of an objective if its move is sufficient to do so without breaking any other restrictions (such as coherency), or as close as you can achieve if its move is not sufficient.
- If that model is already within range of an objective it can move up to the maximum distance of that move but must end its move still within range of that objective.
EFFECT: Your unit is set up as described in Set Up (03.02).
BEFORE MOVING: Make a hazard roll for each model in your unit (06.03).
WHILE MOVING: Set up each model in your unit wholly within the set-up distance of that TRANSPORT, and as close as possible to that TRANSPORT. Each model that cannot be set up in this way is destroyed.
AFTER MOVING: Your unit is battle-shocked and, until the end of the turn, it is not eligible to declare a charge.
From detonating ammo stores to corrosive innards or frenzied death throes, some targets are deadly even in defeat.
This ability always takes the form Deadly Demise X. Each time a model in this unit is destroyed, after the units embarked within it (if any) have made their emergency disembark moves, roll one D6. On a 6, that model suffers a deadly demise; each unit within 6" of that model suffers a number of mortal wounds denoted by X (if this is a random number, roll separately for each unit within 6").EFFECT: Your unit moves as described in Moving (03).
BEFORE MOVING: Select fall-back mode:
- Ordered Retreat: If your unit is not battle-shocked, you can select this mode.
- Desperate Escape: Otherwise, you must select this mode. Make a hazard roll for each model in your unit (06.03).
- Desperate Escape: Each model that is moved can be moved through enemy models.
- Your unit must be unengaged.
- Until the end of the turn, unless otherwise stated, your unit is not eligible to shoot, declare a charge or start an action.
- Desperate Escape: If your unit is not battle-shocked, you must make a battle-shock roll for your unit (01.07).
Some weapons are designed to root enemy formations out of entrenched positions.
Each time an attack is made with an [IGNORES COVER] weapon, the target cannot have the benefit of cover against that attack (13.08), including from rules that give a model or unit the benefit of cover (e.g. Stealth).When all of a model’s ranged weapons have shot, that model has shot.
When all models in a unit that are making ranged attacks have resolved all of those attacks, that unit has shot.
If a unit was selected to shoot and none of the models in it make any attacks, it has not shot.
- The rule allowing this move type has been triggered.
- Your unit is not battle-shocked.
- Your unit is unengaged.
- Your unit has not moved this phase.
BEFORE MOVING: Select the closest enemy unit to be the surge target.
WHILE MOVING:
- Each model must end its move engaged with the surge target if possible.
- Each model that cannot end its move engaged with the surge target must end its move as close as possible to the surge target.
- Your unit cannot be engaged with one or more enemy units that were not the surge target.
- Your unit cannot move again this phase.
High-explosive rounds can fell several warriors in a single blast, but firing them too close to comrades is unwise.
Each time you gather attack dice for a [BLAST] weapon, add one additional attack dice for every five models that were in the target unit in the Select Targets step (rounding down).If this ability takes the form [BLAST X], each time you gather attack dice for such a weapon, add X additional attack dice for every five models that were in the target unit in the Select Targets step (rounding down) instead.
TARGET: One friendly unengaged unit within 12" of one or more enemy units. You can only select a VEHICLE unit if it is a CHARACTER/WALKER unit.
EFFECT: Resolve a charge with your unit (11.02). While doing so, before making the charge roll, you must select one of the following modes:
- Leap to Defend: When selecting charge targets, you can only select enemy units that made a charge move this phase and are within the maximum distance.
- Into the Fray:
- When making the charge roll, if the result is greater than 6 (after modifiers), change it to 6.
- When selecting charge targets, you can select any enemy units that are within 6" of your unit and within the maximum distance.
Those possessed of lightning-fast reactions may strike before the opponent can react.
While every model in a unit has this ability, that unit is a Fights First unit.See the Resolve Fights First Combats step in the Fight phase (12.04).
The VANGUARD INVADER and INFANTRY keywords are used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The TYRANIDS and INFANTRY keywords are used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The TYRANIDS and PSYKER keywords are used in the following Tyranids datasheets:
The leader-beasts of these swarms act as conduits to the will of the Hive Mind. Irresistible imperatives lash out from them like whips that drive lesser bioforms to hurl themselves at the prey, to fight on through fatal wounds or to attack with redoubled savagery.
At the start of the battle round, you can select one of the Synaptic Imperatives shown below. Until the end of the battle round, that Synaptic Imperative is active for your army and while a TYRANIDS unit from your army is within Synapse Range of your army, it will benefit from it. Each Synaptic Imperative can only be selected once per battle.- Synaptic Augmentation: While this unit is within Synapse Range of your army, models in this unit have a 5+ invulnerable save.
- Surging Vitality: While this unit is within Synapse Range of your army, add 1 to Advance and Charge rolls made for this unit.
- Goaded to Slaughter: While this unit is within Synapse Range of your army, each time a model in this unit makes a melee attack, add 1 to the Hit roll.
EFFECT: Your unit is set up as described in Set Up (03.02).
BEFORE MOVING: Your unit is set up as described in Set Up (03.02).
WHILE MOVING: Set up your unit wholly within the set-up distance of one or more battlefield edges and more than 8" horizontally from all enemy units.
- Before the Third Battle Round: While doing so, no models can be set up within your opponent’s deployment zone.
TARGET: One friendly unit that is in strategic reserves (excluding AIRCRAFT).
EFFECT: Your unit makes an ingress move (20.04).
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot use this stratagem during the first battle round.
Some units make their way to battle via tunnelling, teleportation, high-altitude descent or other extraordinary means that allow them to appear suddenly in the thick of the fighting.
During the Declare Battle Formations step, if every model in a unit has this ability, you can set it up in Reserves instead of setting it up on the battlefield. If you do, in the Reinforcements step of one of your Movement phases you can set up this unit anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models. If a unit with the Deep Strike ability arrives from Strategic Reserves, the controlling player can choose for that unit to be set up either using the rules for Strategic Reserves or using the Deep Strike ability.- Unit can be set up in Reserves instead of on the battlefield.
- Unit can be set up in your Reinforcements step, more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.
Burrowing Tyranid bioforms burst from the ground in all their horror.
Each time a TYRANIDS model from your army makes an attack, re-roll a Hit roll of 1.Each time a BURROWER unit from your army is set up on the battlefield from Reserves, place a circular 40mm Tunnel Marker anywhere on the battlefield within 1" of that unit and more than 3" horizontally away from all enemy units.
In the Reinforcements step of your Movement phase, when you set up a unit on the battlefield from Reserves, you can set that unit up wholly within 9" of one of your Tunnel Markers and more than 6" horizontally away from any enemy units.
If an enemy model (excluding AIRCRAFT) ends any kind of move within 3" of one of your Tunnel Markers, that Tunnel Marker is removed from the battlefield.
KEYWORDS
MAWLOC and TRYGON units from your army have the BURROWER keyword.
In the Muster Armies step, you can select up to 2 TRYGON models from your army. The selected units gain the CHARACTER keyword.
Designer’s Note: This means that the selected models can be given Enhancements and one of them can be selected as your WARLORD.
- That model has the INFANTRY/BEASTS/SWARM keyword and is within a terrain area that contains one or more dense terrain features.
- That model’s unit did not make one or more ranged attacks during this turn or during the previous turn.
Certain weapons are the bane of particular foes.
This ability always takes the form [ANTI-X Y+]. Each time an attack is made with an [ANTI] weapon, if the target unit has the keyword denoted by X, an unmodified wound roll of Y+ is a critical wound.In the first stages of a Tyranid invasion, swift and adaptable broods of bioforms assess and then rapidly counteract the defences of the prey. Some organisms may already have infiltrated the target world, and only now burst from their hiding places to wreak bloody havoc. Others pour down from spore-blighted skies and flow into battle, the myriad heralds of yet greater horrors still to come.
Many armies employ reconnaissance units who can sit concealed, waiting for the right moment to strike.
During deployment, if every model in a unit has this ability, it can be set up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 8" horizontally from your opponent’s deployment zone and all enemy units.So thoroughly infested with Tyranid swarms has the prey world become, that broods prowl almost all environs and surge from every tangled thicket and blasted ruin to attack. Even defenders who consider themselves safe within formidable fortifications can be suddenly and violently disabused of that notion amidst a rush of chitinous bodies and stabbing talons from an unexpected quarter.
As the Tyranid ecosystem takes hold, strange living structures sprout forth that are vital to the final consumption of the world. Those Tyranid organisms charged with protecting these grotesque bio-structures now become exceptionally aggressive even as vile eater-beasts devour every scrap of available biomass and ferry it back to the waiting assimilation structures.
Information uncovered by your forces has revealed the growing importance of this war zone and the increasing threat posed by enemies. In response, high command has acceded to your urgent request for reinforcements.
First named by Inquisitor Kryptman, the Norn Crown is a unique parasitic organism that burrows needle-like cerebral bores directly into the brain of its host, forming a neuro-synaptic link that acts as a hyper-conduit for the Hive Mind. Through this abhorrent union, the Hive Mind’s indomitable will can pour forth to augment and control the hordes of lesser Tyranids that scuttle in the leader-beast’s wake.
- While the bearer is on the battlefield, once per battle, you can use the Shadow in the Warp ability one additional time.
- While the bearer is on the battlefield, increase the range of friendly SYNAPSE units’ Synapse ability to 9".
- To do so, both players roll one D6, and whoever rolls highest wins the roll-off.
- If there is a tie for the highest roll, roll off again.
Genestealer Cults keep their fighting strength carefully hidden from their oppressors until the glorious Day of Ascension arrives. When they finally emerge to fight, it is after long years of meticulous planning, and with an intimate knowledge of the battlefield that grants them a tactical advantage. Even as battle rages, reinforcements slip from the shadows or spill up from the dark places below, called to war by the Broodmind.
If your Army Faction is GENESTEALER CULTS, you start the battle with a number of Resurgence points, depending on the battle size, as shown below.- Incursion: 6 Resurgence points
- Strike Force: 10 Resurgence points
- Onslaught: 14 Resurgence points
Each time a unit from your army is destroyed, if every model in that unit has this ability, you can spend the relevant number of Resurgence points shown below based on that unit’s Starting Strength.
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- Add a new unit to your army identical to your destroyed unit, in Cult Ambush, at its Starting Strength, with all of its wounds remaining and any [ONE SHOT] weapons those models are equipped with considered as not having been shot.
- Place one Cult Ambush marker (see below) anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy units (if this is not possible, no marker is placed).
Units in Cult Ambush
Cult Ambush is a type of Strategic Reserves. Units in Cult Ambush cannot be targeted with the Rapid Ingress Stratagem, but can be set up on the battlefield using a Cult Ambush marker as described below, or by following the rules for Strategic Reserves in a subsequent turn. Units in Cult Ambush are not automically destroyed at the end of the third battle round.
Cult Ambush Markers
Use a circular 32mm diameter marker for Cult Ambush markers. If an enemy model (excluding AIRCRAFT) ends any kind of move within 8" of a Cult Ambush marker you placed, that Cult Ambush marker is removed from the battlefield. At the end of your opponent’s next Movement phase, for each of your Cult Ambush markers still on the battlefield, you can select one unit from your army that is in Cult Ambush to make an ingress move. For that ingress move, set that unit up with at least one model in that unit in base contact with that Cult Ambush marker and all other models placed wholly within 3" of that Cult Ambush marker (that Cult Ambush marker is then removed from the battlefield). Units in Cult Ambush can make an ingress move in the first battle round using this rule.