The Previews Don't Stop Happening!

A quick reveal for the new Norn kits!

Claws, Brains, and Harpoons – How To Tell Your Norn Emissary From a Norn Assimilator

THE PROFILES

The Norn Emissary and Norn Assimilator have nearly identical statlines, both sharing the same basic profile.

Other than the faster movement, this is the same exact profile as the Tervigon, somewhat underwhelming given the hype of these being the biggest and scariest threats the Hive Mind has ever deployed (short of bio-titans, of course.)  They actually have a lower Toughness than a Tyrannofex, though they are slightly scarier than the currently unplayable Dimachaeron they've been compared to.  But the fact that the Norn Emissary has a 4+ Invuln does set it apart from the other big monsters in the list, including its cousin.

The Norn Emissary also gets some Zoanthrope style Psychic attacks to batter down targets with, though at 18" it'll need that tough profile to use them.  The first profile is some sniping fire, fitting for its designed purpose of removing specific targets.  While S8 if perfect for nearly all characters, D3 damage is far more underwhelming.  It's entirely possible even weaker characters will survive this attack.  The second profile is an anti-infantry attack, and this one is much more fit to purpose.  Any light infantry is going to take a pummeling from this, and heavier infantry will probably still take significant damage.  Finally we get a weapon for larger targets.  This is probably the most satisfying profile, being a S12 Melta weapon.  Providing it can get within 9", this will do significant damage to a large target before the Emissary charges in to finish it off.  As a final note, I find the AP on this attack to be all over the place.  I'm used to Tyranids having lower AP on their attacks, but I find it odd that the anti-Infantry profile has a -2 AP while the Melta profile only has -3.  Just seems odd to me.

The Assimilator's toxinjector harpoon is a bit of a sidegrade by comparison.  I don't see TWIN-LINKED so hopefully that means it gets to attack with both.  Either way the statline is similar to the Neurolance, but trades MELTA for a slightly higher base damage and shorter overall range.  The upside here is that a hit with one of these gives the Assimilator a fantastic +2 Charge bonus.  Again, this will allow the Assimilator to do significant damage before it moves in for the kill.

But all of that was just the overture.  Singular Purpose is an absolutely fantastic special rule!  You get to see what your opponent has and choose to give your big monster one of two special rules.  The first is full re-rolls to Hit and Wound against a single unit.  If your opponent has a big target you absolutely need to take down, this will go a long way to getting it off the table.  If they don't, the second ability allows you to rush your big bug up the board to seize a vital objective.  Provided you don't get too greedy with this, you can make sure the Norn Queen's representative nearly always gets that 5+ FNP, effectively giving it 21 wounds.

The article ends with the reveal that both are Synapse creatures, so they'll help make sure your models are in Synapse Range.  However, despite the Norn Emissary's depiction in Leviathan, neither is a Character.  As such, they can't get Enhancements (unless Crusher has a rule to give them to your monsters.)  Depending on the Enhancements available in each Detachment, this might be a good thing, as it means they don't have to worry about anti-Character weapons.  Just, you know, anti-Monster . . . and anti-Psyker for the Emissary . . . and possibly anti-Towering or anti-Titanic.  I also can't help but think that it would be nice to put Perfectly Adapted on one of these, then always have them storming the midboard with a 5+ FNP and OC15.

But we still don't know the entire story.  Both of these behemoths are likely to end up in melee, and we have no idea what kind of weapons they have there.  Additionally, models like this usually have a second special ability.  Singular Purpose is likely the one they share, then there'll be another rule that differentiates them further.  And, of course, there's point cost.  Guess we'll know what they're really capable of once the Codex reviews start dropping.