Tyranid /tgbrew modifications

Nids are awesome in fluff. Unfortunately that's not the case with crunch, since some of the mainstay models of the 4th ed army got either Robin Cruddance'd or raped by ward-powered shit. Even worse, tg does forget about making homebrew rule supplements to keep the game enjoyable and balanced

The following are additions or changes to the 5th edition Tyranid codex.

Well, then let's do it:

Toxin Sacs: A model equipped with this biomorph can reroll failed to wound tests at 4+ --- this would be good going against stronger creatures OR Toxin Sacs: A model equipped with toxin sacs can attempt to cause an additional wound for every melee attacks he hits with at 4+bane of multi-wound models.

Acid Maw: A tyranid with acid maw can incur an armor save penalty of one to enemies in close combat with the model. (IE a space marine with 3+ armor save has to roll 4+ instead) Acid maw grants the tyranid a +2 to armor penetration. optional: for 10 points the armor piercing acid can be channeled to any non-living weapon ranged biomorphs.

Army Changes

Will of the Hive Mind: All friendly Tyranid units under synapse count as having the Eternal Warrior special rule.

Instinctive Behaviour - Feed: A unit that fails its Instinctive Behaviour test must move towards the closest enemy unit if it chooses to move and the unit must attempt to charge the closest enemy unit if it is within range.

The Greatest Devourer: These changes may make this army Over Powered balanced. (See Ward, Mat p76)

Units

Carnifex: 120 points, WS 4, I 2

- Fleet

- The entire unit may replace one set of Scything Talons with Crushing Claws for 20 points each.

- The entire unit may replace one set of Scything Talons with an Acid Flakk Cannon for 25 points each.

- The entire unit may take Armored Shell for 30 points each.

- The entire unit may take Bio-plasma for 15 points each.

- The entire unit may take Regeneration for 15 points each.

- The entire unit may take Enhanced Senses for 20 points each.

- The entire unit may take Toxic Blood for 10 points each.

Deathleaper: A 5

- Dodge

- Feeder Tendrils

- Strengthened Flesh Hooks

Doom of Malan'tai: 160 points

- Alien Psyche

- Synaptic Instability

Genesetalers:

- The entire unit may take Flesh Hooks at 2 points per model.

Broodlord: BS 3

- May take Feeder Tendrils for 15 points.

Harpy: WS 4, A 4, Sv 3+

- Bonded Exoskeleton

- May replace Twin-linked Stranglethorn Cannon with Twin-linked Acid Flakk Cannon for 10 points.

- May take Enhanced Senses for 20 points.

- May take Toxic Blood for 10 points.

Hive Tyrant:

- May choose one of the following three upgrades.

1) May take any Thorax Swarm upgrade for 15 points

2) May take Armored Shell for 30 points

3) May take Wings for 30 points

- May replace one set of Scything Talons with Acid Flakk Cannon for 25 points.

- May take Enhanced Senses for 20 points.

- May take Toxic Blood for 10 points.

Lictors: A 4

- Dodge

- Feeder Tendrils

- Strengthened Flesh Hooks

Mawloc: A 5

Old One Eye: WS 4, I 2, LD 10

- Armored Shell

- "Dead"

- Fleet

- Frag Spines

- Old Adversary

Parasite of Mortrex: 140 points, T 5

Pyrovore: I 2, A 2

- Volatile

- Crippling Fumes

Rippers/Sky Slashers: WS 3

- No longer subject to the Mindless rule

Swarmlord:

- May choose one of the following three upgrades.

1) May take any Thorax Swarm upgrade for 15 points

2) May take Armored Shell for 30 points

3) May take Wings for 30 points

Tervigon:

- May take Toxic Blood for 10 points

Tyranid Prime:

- May take Wings for 20 points

Tyrannofex: I 2, A 4

- May replace Acid Spray for Shedderfiend Pods for 15 points.

- May take Enhanced Senses for 20 points

- May take Toxic Blood for 10 points.

Trygon:

- Alpha Ravener

- May take Toxic Blood for 10 points.

Trygon Prime:

- Alpha Ravener

- Enhanced Senses

- May take Toxic Blood for 10 points.

Ymargl Genestealers:

- The entire unit may take Toxin Sacs at 4 points per model.

- The entire unit may take Adrenal Glands at 4 points per model.

- One Ymargl Genestealer may be upgraded to a Ymargl Broodlord for +67 points.

Ymargl Broodlord: WS 7, BS 3, S 5, T 5, W 3, I 7, A 4, LD 10, Sv 3+

- Psyker Mastery Level 1 and has the psychic powers Hypnotic Gaze and Aura of Despair.

- Shares the same special rules as the Ymargl Genestealer brood it is part of (I.E. has the Alter Form, Dormant, Fleet, etc abilities).

Zoanthrope:

- Alien Psyche

Weapons and Biomorphs

Acid Flakk Cannon: 36" S7 AP4 Assault 4, Skyfire

Crushing Claws: +D3 A (no longer suffers an Initiative penalty)

Enhanced Senses: +1 to BS

Feeder Tendrils: A unit must declare use of Feeder Tendrils at the beginning of each Assault Phase. Models with Feeder Tendrils suffer a -1A modifier, but "Look out sir!" rolls may not be made against their attacks.

Fleshborer Hive: 12" S4 AP5 Assault 30, May be fired even after running; however, only at the closest enemy unit.

Flesh Hooks: Model counts as having Offensive Grenades

Heavy Venom Cannon: 36" S9 AP2 Assault 2

Rapid Regeneration: Old One Eye's lost wounds are regained on the roll of a 4+.

Rupture Cannon: 48" S10 AP2 Assault 2, Counts as AP1 if both shots hit.

Shredderfiend Pods: 60" S3 AP3 Assault 8, Shredder, Skyfire, Twin-linked, 2D6 for Armor Penetration.

Strengthened Flesh Hooks: 6" S6 AP- Assault 2, Rending, Model counts as having Offensive Grenades

Toxic Blood: The opponent must reroll successful Wounds from Poisoned weapons against models with Toxic Blood. This second roll is final, no rerolling rerolls.

Twin-linked Acid Flakk Cannon: 36" S7 AP4 Assault 4, Skyfire, Twin-linked

Twin-linked Deathspitter : 18" S5 AP5 Assault 6, Twin-linked

Twin-linked Heavy Venom Cannon: 36" S9 AP2 Assault 2, Twin-linked

Venom Cannon: 36" S6 AP3 Assault 2

Psychic Powers

Psychic Scream: All enemy units within 12" must take a LD test on 3D6 and suffer a wound for each point the test is failed by with no armor or cover saves allowed.

The Horror: The psyker is considered to be under the effects of The Horror until the beginning of the Tyranid player's next turn. Enemy units within 12" wishing to shoot or assault a unit under effects of The Horror must first pass a LD test. Units who fail to pass this test count as having their shots or charge wasted. Units that are Fearless or do not have a LD value are unaffected.

Leech Essence: D3 S- AP2 hits on one unit within 12". Unsaved wounds dealt by this ability are added to the psker's, up to its original original wound maximum. This ability always wounds on a 4+, can be used on friendly units, and has no effect on units without a Toughness value.

Special Rules

Alien Cunning: +1 to Reserve Rolls as long as the Swarmlord is alive. One friendly Troop choice may be chosen to Outflank. The player may choose to reroll which table edge Outflanking units arrive from, this second roll is final, no rerolling rerolls.

Alien Psyche: Each Zoanthrope may choose to reroll its psychic test if it was forced to roll it on more than 2D6, the second roll is final, no rerolling rerolls. Each Zoanthope may also choose to make the opponent reroll abilities that would otherwise nullify its psychic power (I.E. Deny The Witch), the second roll is final, no rerolling rerolls.

Alpha Ravener: Friendly Ravener Broods within 12" of a Trygon share its LD value. A Trygon may select a Ravener Brood in Reserves to accompany it when it arrives via Subterranean Assault. After the Trygon arrives successfully via Subterranean Assault, the accompanying Ravener Brood automatically arrives from Reserves within 6" of the Trygon, the unit may not move or charge on the turn it arrives.

Alpha Warrior: The Tyranid Prime may join and accompany a Warrior unit in a Mycetic Spore. A joined Warrior or Shrike unit shares the Prime's WS and BS until the Prime dies or leaves the unit.

Alter Form: The entire unit may choose +1S, +1A, +1T, Feeder Tendrils, or the Flesh Hooks upgrade at the beginning of every assault phase. The upgrade wears off at the end of the assault phase it was chosen on. The same upgrade may not be chosen in two consecutive assault phases.

Chameleonic Skin: Replaced with Ymargl Genestealer Dormant special rule.

Crippling Fluids: A unit that suffers any casualties from a Pyrovore's Volatile blast is at I1 until the end of the next player's turn. Friendly or allied units are unaffected by this rule if the Pyrovore was under synapse before being removed as a casualty.

Dodge: 4++ Invulnerable Save in Close Combat.

Implant Parasite: Your opponent must take a Toughness test for each model removed as a casualty because of Wounds inflicted by the Parasite of Mortrex. For each test failed, roll a D6. At the end of the Assault phase place a Ripper Swarm unit with a number of bases equal to the some total of all of the dice rolled such that all bases are within 6" of the Parasite of Mortrex. Ripper Swarms placed this way never count as Kill Points. Any bases that cannot be placed due to impassible terrain, enemy within 1" or because you have run out of models, are lost.

Indescribable Horror: Enemy units within 12" wishing to shoot or assault a unit with Indescribable Horror must first pass a LD test. Units who fail to pass this test count as having their shots or charge wasted. Units that are Fearless or do not have a LD value are unaffected. This ability does not work if the unit is already affected by The Horror.

"Dead": Once per game, place a marker where Old One Eye was removed as a casualty, at the beginning of each Friendly turn roll a D6, on the roll of a 4+ place Old One Eye within 6" of the marker with 1 Wound remaining and remove the marker. Old One Eye may regenerate, move, shoot, and assault as normal after being placed this way. If he cannot be placed or fails his "Dead" roll, the marker stays where it is and Old One Eye may attempt to come back on a later turn.

Pheromone Trail: +1 to Reserve Rolls as long as the Lictor unit is alive and friendly Tyranid units deepstriking within 6" do not roll for scatter.

Synaptic Instability: The Doom of Malan'tai automatically suffers a wound with no saves of any kind allowed when it successfully casts any spell other than Cataclysm. Immediately after the Doom of Malan'tai suffers any unsaved wound, roll a D6. On the roll of a 1, the Doom suffers an additional wound with no saves of any kind allowed. Should the Doom die from Synaptic Instability, place a large blast template centered over the Doom before removing it from play. All models under this template suffer a S5 AP3 hit.

"The Sarge is Acting Strangely...": Immediately after an enemy unit arrives from Outflanking, roll a D6, on the roll of a 4+ the opponent chooses one model to remove as a casualty, with no saves of any kind allowed, and the Tyranid player places D6 Ripper Swarms within 6" of the affected enemy unit. A unit of Ripper Swarms created by this ability never counts as a Kill Point.

The Unyielding Swarm: The unit may choose to sacrifice all of its attacks at the start of its initiative step in close combat. For every 15 models to sacrifice their attacks, you may choose one model in the unit to make a single attack with the following profile: S- AP- Haywire

Volatile: Should a Pyrovore die, place a large blast template centered over the Pyrovore before removing it from play as a casualty, all units under the template -except the Pyrovore's- suffer D3 S5 AP4 hits.

Army Builder Link

That's right, eight hours and two gallons of saffron tea later, one elegan/tg/entleman managed to fuck his way through the unknown labyrinthine depths of ABCreator just to get this homebrew accessible in Army Builder.

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?16znha5f5no71gg

To use these changes in Army Builder, simply download and place the ty5UniDat.dat file into your C:\ProgramData\Army Builder\data\AB40k5 folder and overwrite the file that was already there.

Should you ever choose to use the official rules again, launch Army Build, click Get Updates, and redownload the rules for Warhammer 40,000. There was probably a more elegant way to implement these changes, but I didn't know of it.

• Known Bugs

- Ymargl Broodlord may upgrade his Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands independent of the rest of the Ymargl Genestealer Brood. This is unintentional and I don't know how to fix it.

- Ymargl Broodlord should cost 90 points total, not 80. To be fixed later.

- Harpy's Twin-linked Heavy Venom Cannon weapon profile does not reflect the weapon as twin-linked. To be fixed later.

- Several dozen formatting issues (minor things like 0's at the end of added upgrades, I don't know how to fix this)

---more to come, 6th edition update just around the corner.

OMNOMNOMNOMNOM