Swarmlord
The Swarmlord, also known as Schwarmfuhrer (due to his first leaked images comming from german WD scans, also it sounds way cooler) and also Gargamel (owing to how he fucked over Papa Smurf), is one of the few Tyranid character with a little bit of personality. Essentially the Granddaddy of all Hive Tyrants, the Swarmlord is the Creed of the Tyranid army, and also the most intelligent, cunning and experienced Hive Tyrant of the swarm. Whenever the Hive Mind can't overwhelm the opposition with sheer numbers or adapting new tactics, it spawns the Swarmlord, and he gets shit done. And besides being a super-general, the Swarmlord is also a close combat monster and powerful psyker, capable of facing off with the Despoiler himself.
He's also immortal, as his memories and personality are constantly saved by the hive mind and are placed in brand new shiny body if the previous one got blasted apart with massed melta fire. While the hive mind could potentially spawn a new Swarmlord without the previous one being slain, which could lead to multiple Swarmlords on different battlefields, no evidence of such cloning exists. However, if the Macragge Swarmlord is still alive, hibernating under the surface of the planet, there ARE at least two Swarmlords in the Galaxy.
He's something of an Ensemble Darkhorse on /tg/, well liked and thought of as incredibly badass. Shitting all over Calgar probably has something to do with it.
He serves as the Super-Heavy unit of the Tyranid Army in Dawn of War 2.
List of deeds
- First seen on Tyran, leading Hive Fleet Behemoth's final assault on a Mechanicum outpost. Not quite clear why, because the battle was pretty one-sided, although he could have been gathering more data about human warfare.
- Showed up on Macragge and kicked major ass, outclassing Marneus Calgar in both tactics and close combat. He cut off Papa Smurf's limbs, guts and one eye, but due to plot armor, failed to kill him. The honor guard managed to recover their Chapter Master thanks to the
force-feedingheroic sacrifice of their commander to the Swarmlord to buy some time. While the Ultramarines withdrew to the space, the Swarmlord led his forces to the polar fortresses to omnomnom the First Company and Ultramar PDF. And he succeeded. Unfortunately, the space battle for Macragge hadn't gone so well, mainly because the Imperial Fleet had the balls of steel Ultrasmurfs lacked; while the Tyranids won the planet, they lost the war. It's not quite clear what had happened to the Swarmlord, as his body was never found. It's possible that he's still under the surface of Macragge, waiting for a new hive fleet.
- It's likely that the The Great Beast, who lead Hive Fleet Kraken's invasion on Craftworld Iyanden was the Swarmlord itself. The Avatar of Khaine attempted to goad the creature in single combat during the fighting. However, the Swarmlord, not really knowing nor giving a damn about honorable duels and such, tricked The Avatar into getting shit kicked by twelve Carnifexes. It also avoided all Eldar attempts to assassinate him until the corsair prince Yriel finally managed to stab him in the face with a cursed spear. (If you look closely at the wording used, it's more likely to be a Hive Tyrant with Armoured Carpace.)
- Showed leading Hive Fleet Leviathan at the last years of M41, where it once planned and executed multiple simultaneous and devastating attacks on Hodur Sector, resulted in omnomnoming two dozens of imperial worlds (including one space marine chapter home world) in less then two months. Such a rapid and unstoppable Tyranid advance is rumored to be the main reason for inquisitor Kryptman's decision to launch his infamous mass-exterminatus cordon project and stolen-genestealer project to redirect Leviathan into an ork empire.
- Launched a campaign against Vior'Los, where he faced off in a Duel against Farsight and got his ass kicked.
- Now he's rumored to be in the Octarius empire, pwning Orks. It was going well, but then the Eldar went and purged the entire system of all life, and after that Ghazgkhull showed up, hopped up on WAAAAGH energy and blessed by the direct intervention of Gork and Mork themselves.
On the tabletop
The Swarmlord is one of the most deadly and expensive HQs in the game, being able to buff his army and slaughter almost anything in close combat with high weapon skill instant death attacks. It is as vulnerable to anti-tank fire as any other Tyrant with only one extra wound and a basic tyrant armor save, but more survivable in close combat due to a 4++ he gets from parrying attacks with his swords. There are only a couple HQ models outside Apocalypse capable of killing a Swarmlord in a challenge with a chance of or better than 50% - Primarchs, Draigo, Lysander, Abaddon and Skarbrand primarily, but also anything with a lot of high strength/AP attacks, anything that causes instant death or anyone that has Eternal Warrior, and even that doesn't save them sometimes most of the time. Give him a unit of Tyrant Guard and he's damn near unstoppable. If you have a friend who is a Blood Angels player who won't shut up about how powerful Mephiston is, just say "Swarmlord" and you instantly end/win any ensuing argument. Also it's hilarious.
And then, 6th edition happened. It lost Eternal Warrior, and Tyranids as a whole lost access to the main book psychic powers, including their buffs. And he lost his special rule that made enemies reroll successful invuln saves, AND got 5 point price increase as a final slap in the face. What does he get from all of this? One additional attack and he's level 3 psyker. ONE, UNO, EIN attack and ML3 when there isn't really much to use it on due to the Tyranid psychic table being at most decent-ish and unspectacular, and he gets less rolls for powers than he used to. Christ...
Given the removal of the Parasite, the nerfs to walking Hive Tyrants (R.I.P armored shell), and the obscene overcosting of Primes, the general theory on why the Swarmlord and other Tyranid HQs was hit so hard is that GW wants to promote sales of Flyrants and Tyrant Guard which are not only big and expensive models, but big and expensive models you have to buy a lot of. Everyone already had walkrants, most people only ever got one swarmlord, and the prime is a rather small model by GW standards. Tyrant Guard weren't spectacularly buffed, but Flyrants are one of the clear winners of the new book.
The Swarmlord however, is likely going to be sitting this edition out unless a new FAQ, Dataslate, Supplement, or Forgeworld book allows Tyranids to roll on BRB powers, and maybe give him back his rerolls while they're at it. So ends a year and a half of true glory, replaced with bitter mediocrity and memories of godhood now lost.
8th Ed Updates
With the coming of 8th edition fast approaching, our favorite hive tyrant is getting one hell of a buff. Most importantly, it has been CONFIRMED that the Swarmlord will be able to hit on a 2+, as opposed to the normal 3+. According to THIS Facebook post the Swarmlord will be "Absolutely incredible", and this raise hope for our favourite Alien Gargamel, for a retunr to his former glory of absolutely badassery
We now have rules for ol' Swarmy:
"He is an absolute beast now, as he should be! With a Toughness value of 6, 12 Wounds, a 3+ save and a 5+ invulnerable save (increased to a 4+ invulnerable save in melee) he is not easily taken down. This can be further enhanced by casting Catalyst on him (and did I mention he’s a potent Psyker, too?) to give him a 5+ save vs Wounds suffered. But it’s not just defence, oh no, Mr. Swarmlord brings the pain in combat as well. With a base of 7 attacks at Strength 8, hitting on a 2+, with an AP value of -3 and D6 damage a pop, the Swarmlord can lay low even Titanic units in a single round of combat. Truly a fearsome adversary. However, his ability that I have found to be most useful is Hive Commander, which allows a friendly unit to move in the Shooting phase. This is incredibly powerful for the sudden added mobility. For Hormagants, with their blisteringly quick Movement of 8″, this means a potential 16″ move before attempting a charge. Or he could simply use it on himself and move up to 18″…" -Warhammer Community website
TL;DR: FUCKING. TERRIFYING.
And this are not even ALL the rules. We can expect way more from our favourite little bug, if he can charge 30", and do a theoretical maximum of 42 wounds...in ONE round. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Schwarmführer is back!
YESSSS....HE HAS GROWN IN POWERRRR....MY HERALD WILL ONCCCEE AGAIN SSSSOLO FAIILLBADDON LIKE THEY DAYSSSS OF OLD!!!! WE ARE GROWING SSSSTRONGER!!!!
Gallery
-
The Swarmlord and a certain tactical genius team up. Can I get a "Hell yeah!", people?
