I'm having an absolutely lousy day. I woke up to watch the result, but was feeling like garbage. So I tuned in, took some meds, and went back to bed. My next series of treatments can't come fast enough. Fortunately, they're just a little over a week away.
But do you know who's not having a bad day?
Tyranid players!
Yes! We have won the Battle for Ograhm campaign! As such, we get the prize of getting to see our reveals for 10th Edition first. And did we get reveals!
GENESTEALERS
Much of this is a range refresh, though we are getting a few new pieces. The new stealers are extremely faithful to their origins, the overall look and feel having not changed much since they were first depicted in Rogue Trader. The main things that have changed are different weapon options and the back armoured carapace. Here we see that back changed again, with the carapace not quite merging with the spine. Overall, I think these look awesome. They have a great sense of life and motion to them with a lot of predatory ferocity. Their faces are also very expressive.
We don't get a lot of details on what options come in the kit, so we don't know if we'll have new versions of all of the old head swaps or scything talons. But we do know we can field the whole unit with the Ymgarl heads. Hopefully they'll give us plenty of variety.
TERMAGANTS AND HORMAGAUNTS
I think we all knew these were coming. You seriously can't do one without the other. And those poor 3rd Edition Hormagaunts were just desperate for a new sculpt. These look fantastic, though there a few that have me worried about how much they might spill over the base and potentially fall over again. Again, these are very faithful to the 3rd Edition sculpt. But unlike Termagants, which just got slightly larger and more feral looking, Hormagaunts changed quite a bit from their origins. There's not really a lot left of the original Hormagaunt design, and honestly that's probably a good thing. Though that design does look cool, it's a little too reminiscent of the Xenomorph.
A reveal that I think has brought a lot of relief and excitement to Tyranid fans is that of the full Termagant kit. Now this apparently isn't all the options in the kit, since the preview and article mention weapon options that aren't shown. But it's nice to know that Termagants aren't getting simplified down to just one gun choice. The big surprise here is the return of some classic weapons such as the spike rife and the strangle web launcher. We're also getting a mini version of the bio-cannon from the Barbgaunt. All fantastic!
LICTORS
With GW getting out of finecast, it's no surprise we're getting replacements for models in that range. Additionally, Lictors are one of the more boring and static of some of the older models. These new models are much more dynamic looking, though I think one of them maybe loses a bit trying to call back to the older kits. Still, I really like the more hunched over, creeping look the alternate sculpt has.
One big surprise is the reveal of a new Neurolictor, which is described as being able to greatly disrupt enemy formations and even force line units to attack their allies. I really like anything that makes Tyranids look more alien and eldritch horror, and there's some interest things going one with the posing for this one too.
Of course, we've already seen the new Death Leaper, with it's slightly more Mind Flayer like appearance. But that's honestly my only complaint with it. I honestly still think it looks fantastic.
BIOVORES AND PYROVORES
Honestly, of all the miniatures in the Tyranid range that most needed a refresh, Biovores and Pyrovores have to be the top of it. The old models were not only finecast, but really showed their age. So I think everyone is really happy that they're finally getting redone.
However, I'm quite torn on the new models. On the one had, I think they look absolutely fantastic. If I'd never seen one of these before, I'd probably be extremely excited about these. I really think they look super cool. However, they're a huge departure from the original appearance. On the one hand, as a gun beast, it's nice that they somewhat show more of the evolutionary line into things like Tyrannofexes and even Hierophants. On the other, I wish they'd done more to show the transition. Having something like the rear legs still ending in hooves and still having a more hunched posture instead of scuttling one I think would have been a cool way to show how these are part of that transition.
NORN EMISSARY AND NORN ASSIMILATOR
Finally, we get to the big reveal and our new towering monstrosities to put on the battlefield. If you'd read the new Leviathan book, you knew that this one had to be coming. The new Norn Emissary is a vicious looking monstrosity designed to seek out specific threats to the Hive Mind's plans and eliminate them. Unlike Lictors or Death Leaper though, this creature does it while sowing as much destruction and chaos as possible.
As a sculpt, I think it looks absolutely amazing. I think that maybe it's ornamentation is a little bit too grand for what its purpose is, but it still looks extremely cool. But the big surprise is this is a dual kit.
The Norn Assimilator is meant to be the ultimate weapon of shock and awe. Supposedly this piece is kitted out to eliminate the toughest of enemy resistance such as enemy vehicles and fortifications. It's main weapons seems to be a pair of venom injectors that spew bioacid both as a ranged attack and in melee. I can imagine just how horrifying it would be to see a fortification or vehicle flooded internally with large amounts of bioacid to gruesomely eliminate all inside.
Here the ornamentation seems slightly less ostentatious, mostly from the reduced head sculpt. But if this is an anti-vehicle and fortification piece, I feel like the scything talons should be larger. I kinda want to swap the talons between the Emissary and the Assimilator. I also feel like the flesh hooks are a little small for its intended targets, and think those also might have been better on the Emissary. But overall, I feel both of these kits look incredible.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I'm extremely excited and happy about our new bugs. There's obviously pieces that I wish we were getting that weren't announced. New Red Terror, Doom, better version of The Swarmlord and Old One eye, honestly so many kit's I'd like to see redone or new types of tech I wish we had. But I also know that they can't redo or fill absolutely every wish that Tyranid players like myself desire.
There was one striking absence that I think has many of my fellow Tyranid players a little confused and frustrated.
Shrikes!
Why did they give us a flying Prime and didn't give us Shrikes for it to join! This thing is begging for some new Shrikes! Why, GW! Why!!!
Oh well. Maybe these aren't all the reveals for the new Codex, though I think they're supposed to be. There's also always the possibility we might see a new unit in a future Combat Patrol or Kill Team set. And then there's always campaign releases. There's plenty of room for new kits to be set up in the future.
Now we need to see what the new Space Marine miniatures will be.
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