Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 Tyranid Warriors

Product Information

In later editions they became a playable faction in their own right, and it was revealed that the Genestealers (first popularised in the board game Space Hulk) were in fact part of the advance reconnaissance element of the main Tyranid Hive Fleets.

Along the battlefront, Termagants use their ranged weapons to lay waste to opposition, while Hormagaunts boldly engage any opposition in close combat. These xenos, along with other variants of the Gaunt genus, may be found in swarms of hundreds coordinated by Tyranid Warriors. These may include Mawlocs and Trygons. As these creatures burrow, they plant the spores that can later grow into Capillary Towers. Other organisms may use the tunnels these massive bioforms create to access a planet's mineral wealth and subterranean life in the shelter of the tunnels. The synapse creatures that channel the commands of the Hive Mind are mostly, if not all, potent individual psykers. How any of this is done without drawing the attention of countless daemons of Chaos or the other psychic predatory entities of the Warp into the midst of the Tyranid swarm is unknown and possibly unknowable to the humans of the Imperium.Successful integration of the planet's wildlife triggers these infiltrators to emit a psychic call to the swarm. This call draws a fleet of vessels, including a Hive Ship to the system. The arrival of the Hive Ship and its escorts heralds the next phase of the invasion. Biomass is drawn up the towers, through a combination of massive pumping organs and suction. Once the last of the defenders have fallen, the surviving creatures of the Tyranid hordes hurl themselves into the digestive pools near the Capillary Towers. Their bodies are broken down and devoured so that the biomass may be returned to the fleet to be recycled into new creatures for future conquests.

Hunger briefly satiated, the hive fleet drifts away in search of its next meal, leaving nothing but an airless tomb behind. The Tyranid species is ultimately dedicated solely to its own survival, propagation and evolutionary advancement. The Tyranids collectively form a monstrous superorganism that travels across the universe in their great hive fleets of biomechanical Hive Ships, systematically consuming all other biomatter to enable their own rapid evolution and reproduction. Each wave of the invasion unleashes a fresh menagerie of biological nightmares, perfectly designed to sow despoilment and death. In mere solar days, a once-thriving planet is scoured of every drop of organic matter. Carnifexes - The Carnifexes are originally known as screamer-killers – are huge, hulking, living battering rams, armed with a variety of biomechanical, symbiotic weaponry. Even stronger than the Hive Tyrants, they are used for assaulting fortified positions and as armor formations, such as during boarding actions. Carnifexes are the Tyranid equivalent of tanks or Space Marine Dreadnoughts - and the monstrous creatures can be mutated into a multitude of different sub-species, some designed for tank hunting, others built to produce acid and toxins ideal for anti-infantry combat.In this manner, the planet's natural resources are turned against it, providing additional tools for the swarm. The majority, however, is set aside to feed the Hive Ships orbiting the planet. Those massive creatures generally delay their feeding until after the planet has been secured.

While the towers may appear to be a Tyranid plant analogue, they are no less aggressive than the more mobile bioforms. Capillary Towers extend tendrils throughout the planet that can absorb indigenous species -- both plants and any small or slower moving organisms. As they do this, the towers also filter the planet's atmosphere, absorbing the biomass of microbes and small flying creatures.

Tyranids in 10th edition

Norn-Queens - The Norn-Queens are gargantuan organisms that are essentially biomechanical wombs that give birth to all of the other known Tyranid life forms. They can biochemically and genetically manipulate biomass in infinite ways to create new organisms to serve any function the Tyranid race requires. The Norn Queens are housed in huge rooms aboard the Hive Ships. Each room is hundreds of metres high, filled with a single Norn Queen. Tyranid hive fleet incursions into the Milky Way Galaxy after the formation of the Great Rift, ca. 999.M41 The Tyranids were initially described in the 1st Edition of Warhammer 40,000 ( Rogue Trader), with their basic form not too different from that used today. Their only additional troop type was an enslaved alien race, the Zoat. At that time they were not an important faction in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Tyrant Guard - The Tyrant Guards are a special species of Tyranid spawned in small broods for the sole purpose of defending the Hive Tyrant. They are large, tough, and difficult to harm, and it is nearly impossible to surpass their defense. Tyrant Guard are completely blind, utterly controlled by the synapse creatures they protect. On occasion Carnifex also benefit from the Tyrant Guard's protection. Tyrant Guard are believed by some Adeptus Mechanicus Magi to contain the DNA of the defeated Space Marine Chapters, but the Imperium considers this blasphemy and denies its very likely possibility. Just as it seemed the defences of the Segmentum Solar and perhaps Terra itself would be tested, the Tyranids were distracted by being deflected into the star system of the powerful Ork Empire of Octarius in the Octarius Sector of the Segmentum Ultima.

It is also believed that Genestealers may use their cunning and stealth to infiltrate planets without the aid of a drone ship. Specimens have been found on abandoned Space Hulks and hidden among the cargo holds of Warp-capable vessels. The Tyranids are likened to a galactic swarm consuming everything in its path, feeding on entire worlds and leaving only dead husks in their wake. Their threat is such that an unprotected planet can be infested and stripped clean of all its organic material in a matter of solar weeks without even slowing down the advance of the hive fleet. Dominatrixs - The Dominatrixs are the Norn-Queen's link to the Tyranid ground forces. They are huge monsters, almost as large as a Bio-Titan and the stronger, more psychically-powerful female Hive Tyrant. They are symbiotically fused with a smaller (Warrior-sized) entity which acts as a psychic, synaptic link to the linked Norn-Queen aboard her ship.The coming of a Tyranid hive fleet is preceded by a smothering psychic signal that envelops entire star systems and disrupts all forms of Warp travel and communication. The three Tyranid species most active during this stage are Vanguard Drone Ships, Lictors, and Genestealers. These bioforms share two critical characteristics for identifying new target planets and performing infiltrations: stealth and independence. All of the organisms involved have physiological abilities that are focused upon concealment. These talents are exploited to the utmost, so that they can initially observe the native environment safely. As there are often a very limited number of Tyranids involved at this stage, these specimens exhibit an uncharacteristic degree of self-preservation. As this happens, many of the Capillary Towers are also broken down so that their biomass may be reabsorbed. Finally, the planet's atmosphere, and then the last few massive Capillary Towers, are absorbed into the Hive Ships. At the same time that this rain of devastation begins, those Genestealers and Lictors which have already infested the planet reveal themselves. Using the knowledge that they have obtained and the hybrid fauna they have spawned, these creatures sow confusion through the ranks of the defenders. By selectively targeting officers and communications hubs, the infiltrators can effectively delay or even compromise a planet's defences. Though they are formidable fighters in their own right, it is the Tyranid Warriors’ role as the synaptic lynchpins of the swarm that makes them truly deadly. Tyranid Warriors are psychic resonators for the unwavering will of the Hive Mind and some of the more common conduits used to exert control over the less receptive creatures of the hive fleets. As such, Tyranid Warriors form a vital link in the Tyranid swarm, acting as relays and amplifiers through which Hive Tyrants issue their commands. So crucial is this role to a hive fleet’s efforts to defeat a prey world’s defenders that each Hive Tyrant is invariably accompanied by several broods of Tyranid Warriors cultured from its very own flesh – the better to enhance the psychic link throughout the swarm. This is not to imply that Tyranid Warriors are merely drones, for each is instinctively capable of assessing local