These come to us via our main man on the rumors, Natfka over at Faeit 212,
First of all, here’s the text in its entirety:
Tyranids. Seen much of these lately on the tabletop? Not so much for a while now, but they are still out there. Here are a few rumors giving us a loose time frame for a codex release, as well as some new units.
Please remember that these are rumors, early rumors at that, so please apply as the author mentions.
via the Faeit 212 inbox (no permission given to give a name)
Q4 2013 40k goes to Eldar supposedly, so will be early/late Q4 2013/Q1 2014. May be Q3 2013. Not entirely sure. There will be a codex release and there may be a WD/model release earlier. That would push the codex back though.
Kit released for harpy that will make a second FMC – current playtest name hydra. Harpy will remain anti-infantry, hydra to be anti flyer/vehicle.
Synapse will go back to giving eternal warrior – and instinctive behavior will be radically changed.
For other new kits – nothing major. Prime plastic kit, shrike upgrade pack, and lastly, a new MC that is built off of infiltrating and will have a snacking rule similar to the fantasy ghorgon.
next two Rumors should be taken with even more salt then normal – there will be multiple large plastic kit that is a multiple option kit that can make warriors/zoanthropes/lictors, one that can make venomthropes/raveners, and one that will make biovores/pyrovores and one for tyrant guard/hive guard. The finecast models are getting changed up a bit – will move to plastic. Also, some of these kits may be condensed into one box. Secondly – Ward is writing the dex. Extra salt here folks – extra salt.
Once again, keep in mind this is a long ways off and these are playtest rules.
Let me tell you, this makes me a happy little bug lover! Nids are my favorite army to play, but the introduction of DE and GK last edition made them no fun for me, and largely not viable as a real tournament winner, IMO.
This edition, they are rock solid and really, only Eldar/Dark Eldar can give them fits anymore. Mech Deldar is a bear to take on with bugs, and I doubt that will ever change much. I am OK with that though, no army is without bad match-ups and as weaknesses go, DE are not the most common army at most tournaments so I can live with it.
Now why am I excited about these new play-test rumors? If true, they will DRAMATICALLY increase the Bugs ability to deal with things they currently struggle with.
1.For one, EW with synapse is so huge, I don’t know where to begin. The main thing that put me off with Grey Knights vs. Bugs was the fact one of their basic mooks could one-shot my big beasties. That is lame. A basic infantryman should not be able to kill an MC worth many times it’s points with a single shot in an army that relies largely on MCs to function. It was a fundamental weakness (just as an army that relies fundamentally on Poison weapons undermines a Toughness based army at a basic level). Getting EW back will make that match-up less of a headache, and it means that Nid beasties, if played well and kept within Synapse, will be something to fear again. GK will still be really good at killing them with Hammerhand and Weapons that ignore most Nid armor, but it won’t be so absurdly lop sided. Poison weapons still suck, but I don’t want an invincible unit, just a powerful tool that when used well, does its job and kicks some ass.
2.This also means that you will actually see Tyranid Warriors and Shrikes again! Think about how awesome Warriors, Shrikes, Lichtors, and Ravenors become with EW!? Their susceptibility to instant death is always what held them back from being good units (and in the case of Warriors and Shrikes, their high points cost). With the preponderance of str8 weapons out there, they were just too much of a liability to play in anything but casual games.
3.The rumored Hydra and the rumored changes to the Pyrovore (making it an AA unit) means Nids will have the ability to effectively fight Fliers instead of just using tricks to counter them, such as board control, etc. Right now, really, the only way to fight enemy fliers with Bugs is the Flyrant, and he is easily killed by other Fliers.
4.Plastic kits speak for themselves, really. Nids have really weird models with lots of spikes, crazy long and oddly angled arms, tails, weapons, etc. Having these models in plastic will make them so much nicer to make, especially Lichtors and such.
In total, these rumors tell me we will have units that will all be viable. Maybe not all great, but playable where we now have a lot of units that just well and truly blow, and others that are so good they are auto-includes. That is what a good dex does, IMO: provides you with multiple, viable builds that play the way the army is represented in the background. The example I always use of this is Dark Eldar. They play the way they read, and they do it in many different ways that all adhere to cool themes. Phil Kelly nailed it with that book.
Matt Ward writing it (if this turns out to be true) means we will likely end up with shitty fluff (Tyranids riding space surfboards while pimp slapping the Chaos Gods and blowing lines of warp dust with Draigo) and rules that lean towards the OP if the past is any indication. He is also responsible for the abortions that are the Grey Knights and Fantasy Daemons books, the two most game breaking, unfun piles of doo doo ever to come out of GW. But, Mr. Ward is also the architect for 6th from everything we have heard and he wrote Codex: Space Marines which in my opinion, is the best codex ever written, and Necrons, which I like a great deal. 6th is a great edition too–took a while for me to warm up to it–but I can honestly say it is the best edition yet. So, I reserve judgement on Mr. Ward’s latest work until I have it in my greedy little hands!
