2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Swarmlord

2023-06-07T01:53:06Z

2405:6E00:B33:4400:20F8:3234:B191:E5A6: /* List of deeds */

{{awesome}}
[[File:Swarmlord.jpeg|thumb|300px|Behold the Devourer of countless galaxies, destroyer of empires, ender of countless species, and the end of evolution. [[Skub|You now want to play Tyranids]].]]
'''The Swarmlord''', also known as Schwarmführer (due to his first leaked images coming from scans from a German [[White Dwarf]], also it sounds way cooler), and Gargamel (owing to how he fucked over [[Marneus Calgar|Papa Smurf]]), is one of the few [[Tyranid]] characters with a little bit of personality. He is as ancient as the Tyranids themselves, a veteran of conflicts across countless galaxies. Essentially the apex predator of the entire species, the Herald of the Hive Mind and granddaddy of all [[Hive Tyrant]]s, 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 on top of being a super-general, the Swarmlord is also a [[Khorne|close combat monster]] and [[Tzeentch|powerful psyker]], capable of facing off with [[Abaddon|the Despoiler]] himself, though with the advent of 8th edition he now has [[Roboute Guilliman|some]] [[Magnus the Red|stiff]] [[Mortarion|competition]] for who can mathematically whoop Abaddon’s sorry ass the hardest. Although it should be noted this is '''ONLY''' in [[crunch]] as, in [[fluff]], the Swarmlord has [[Bullshit|rarely managed to win a fight against serious opposition]] and is weaker than [[Marneus Calgar]] in a duel, meaning Abaddon is the stronger fighter in the actual narrative. Plus, it's pretty obvious that the big-name heroes will win almost every fight they get themselves into, while the Swarmlord's resurrection ability means [[Avatar of Khaine|the writers can kill him off as many times as they like]]. In addition to his huge size (which allows him to literally stomp and crush lesser enemies) and various psychic powers, he also wields four massive [[Tyranid_Bio-Weapons#Bonesabre|bone sabres]] which ripple with psychic energy capable of cutting through virtually anything with ease (this includes both adamantium and force fields).

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 happens to get blasted apart by 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. The latest Octarius book hints that there may actually be more than one Swarmlord body being controlled by the same consciousness at more than one location, simultaneously. It's possible that due to their psychic potency that they might not be able to be within a certain distance of each other (like, interstellar) without interfering with each other or perhaps the Hive Mind or Swarmlord's mind getting confused as to which body it is controlling. He's something of an Ensemble Darkhorse on /tg/, well-liked by 'Nid players who regard him as incredibly badass. And lest we forget, giving /tg/ as a whole something to smile about by shitting all over Calgar. Little victories.

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 or the Hive Mind wanted to put its best foot forward when facing an unknown enemy.
*Showed up on Macragge and kicked major testicle, outclassing [[Marneus Calgar]] in tactics, but only beating him in a fight because he ganged up on Marneus with his bodyguard. 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 <s>force-feeding</s> heroic sacrifice of their commander to the Swarmlord to buy some time. While the [[Ultramarines]] withdrew to space, the Swarmlord led his forces to the polar fortresses to omnomnom the First Company and [[Ultramar]] [[Planetary Defense Force|PDF]]. And he succeeded. Unfortunately, the space battle for Macragge hadn't gone so well, mainly because the <s>Imperial Fleet had the balls of steel</s> More mass and numbers the Ultrasmurfs lacked; while the Tyranids won the planet, they lost the war. The Swarmlord was killed during this battle, but its "consciousness" (as far as any Tyranid bioform can be called conscious) was reabsorbed through the Tyranid synaptic network to be reincarnated later.
*On Ichar IV Marneus and the Swarmlord had a rematch, this time with no minions getting in the way, and the Swarmlord lost outright, without even significantly injuring the Chapter Master. The Swarmlord, apparently, is just considerably weaker than Marneus as a fighter.
*It's possible that the The Great Beast, who lead [[Hive Fleet Kraken]]'s invasion on [[Craftworld Iyanden]] was the Swarmlord itself. The other option is that it was a normal Hive Tyrant with the now-defunct Armoured Carapace biomorph. 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 [[Cronesword|cursed spear.]]
*Showed leading [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] at the last years of M41, where it once planned and executed [[Indrick Boreale|multiple simultaneous and devastating attacks]] on the Hodur Sector, resulted in omnomnoming two dozens 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 [[Blood Ravens|stolen]] Genestealer project to redirect Leviathan into an [[Octarius War|Ork empire]].
*Now he's rumored to be in the [[Octarius War]], trying to gain ground against the [[Ork]]s. It seemed to be going well for a while, but then the [[Eldar]] went and purged the entire system of all life and after that Ghazgkhull himself showed up, hopped up on WAAAAGH energy and blessed by the direct intervention of [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] themselves, removing any semblance of a fair fight that might have existed. To make it even worse a [[World Eaters]] warband caught wind of all this and decided to join in. Within the year they had offered 8000 nid skulls to [[Khorne]]. This might not seem all that impressive... except for the fact that the ''smallest'' of these skulls was the size of a '''boulder'''. The [[Chaos Lord]] leading the warband, Vodha Bloodprice, managed to off a [[Hierophant]] with the the axe of a fallen [[Warboss]] and got promoted to [[Daemon Prince]] as a reward from the very pleased Khorne.
*Appeared to lead the invasion of Baal where, once again, it died in single combat against a tired and exhausted [[Dante]]. If you haven't noticed, Swarmy has a critical weakness against anybody with [[plot armor]] and through this lost most of the menace that comes with being the pinnacle of all Tyranid evolution. At least in this case though, it's offset somewhat by the fact that Dante is unambiguously [[awesome]], which takes some of the sting out for Tyranid players. Hell, it almost kills Dante, impaling him and popping up his secondary heart, damaging his spine and leaving him gravely poisoned before Dante evaporates its face with the Perdition Pistol at point blank. Dante only even survived due to the aid of the [[Sanguinor]] and the direct intervention of [[Sanguinius]] himself, who appeared in the ethereal plane to praise and revive Dante before returning him to the materium.
*In the latest step of the Swarmlord's nonstop fall down the ladder of success on Loqe II the Swarmlord engaged, and was killed, in single combat by a single, random Custodian after killing a mere two others.
*Won the [[Octarius War]] by killing the Overfiend of Octarius... In their second duel, the Swarmlord being killed in their first. Dammit, even when he wins, he loses.

==On the Tabletop==
[[File:Swarmlord Codex Tyranids.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The Swarmlord in its natural habitat: [[Doom|knee-deep in the dead]].]]
The Swarmlord was 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. While having only one wound more than a regular Hive Tyrant, he was more survivable in close combat due to a 4++ he got from parrying attacks with his swords. There were only a couple HQ models outside Apocalypse capable of killing the 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 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 [[Robin Cruddace|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 [[Tyranid Warrior|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 was forced to sit the edition out with no FAQ, Dataslate, Supplement, or Forge World book to throw him a bone. So ended a year and a half of true glory, replaced with bitter mediocrity and memories of godhood now lost.

And then 8th Edition happened.

=== 8th Edition===
In 8th Edition Swarmie is back with a vengeance. An even 300 points nets you a monstrous 6 attacks at WS2+ S8 AP-3 D3+1 mortal on 6+ to wound and an additional one at S8 AP0 DD3 thanks to the pincer tail; a tough T7 12 Wound 3+/4++ (3++ against melee) platform that can run at a frightening 9". The range on Synapse and Shadow in the Warp is increased to 18" and thanks to Hive Commander the Swarmlord can pick one friendly '''Hive Fleet''' unit within 6" and have them move instead of shooting. This can be the Swarmlord itself to run a frightening 18" before charging, a fun way to suddenly spring a nasty surprise on your opponent, which is increased by 2d6" if you use Onslaught. The Swarmlord has a fixed Warlord Trait: Alien Cunning. This allows it to [[Creed|redeploy at the start of the battle to exploit the battle plans of your opponent]]. The downside is that this is a fixed ability, meaning it's predictable and loses its surprise because it cannot have a different trait. The Swarmlord knows three psychic powers: Smite and two from the Hive Mind discipline. Don't forget that the Swarmlord can use two powers per turn:

* '''Dominion''' lets one friendly Tyranids unit within 36" both ignore Instinctive Behaviour and Morale tests for one turn. While useful it's also situational.
* '''Catalyst''' simply grants a 5+++ save against all wounds to one unit within 18". Extremely useful, since the Swarmlord will draw a LOT of fire.
* '''The Horror''' is pretty useful: an enemy unit with 24" of the user substracts 1 from all their hit rolls and Leadership tests. Not only does it protect you until the start of your next psychic phase (have fun shutting down enemy heavy weapons squads this way), any damage you do against infantry units will hurt even more.
* '''Onslaught''' is by far the best of the bunch: if used on itself the Hive Tyrant can move 9", advance D6", then use Hive Commander to move another 9", advance D6" and charge after that. This gives the Swarmlord an average threat radius of 32", allowing for a first-turn charge in whatever vulnerable position your opponent has. Do note that afterwards your opponent will likely Fall Back and blast your Swarmlord to bits, but it'd be hilarious if you manage to take out your opponent's HQ unit with such an attack.
* '''Paroxysm''' means that one enemy unit within 18" of yours is unable to fight until it's the last unit to have to do so until your next Psychic phase. This seems odd at first, but it means you can cripple the tactical effectiveness of this unit and assure it won't be able to overrun one of your units and charge another one until you're ready for them. Situational.
* '''Psychic Scream''' hits the nearest enemy unit within 18" with d3 Mortal Wounds, and if they're a psyker they have to roll 2d6. If this is higher than their Leadership, pick one of their psycic powers: they can no longer use it in that turn. This is a tremendous way to fuck over an enemy psyker, but because of how targeting works you're not very likely to hit a lot of psykers with this unless you fight Grey Knights or something. But even then, d3 Mortal Wounds is always nice.

So in short, Catalyst and Onslaught are the best picks. Something that makes the Swarmlord unique is that it does not have a fixed Hive Fleet trait: it can pick from any of the traits and as such has access to a couple of useful effects:

* '''Behemoth''' grants re-rolls on failed charge rolls, which is alright since the Swarmlord is meant for combat, however with Hive Commander the Swarmlord can easily auto-charge after coming out of a Tyrannocyte or even when footslogging across the board, especially if it successfully casts Onslaught on itself, making this less useful.
* '''Kraken''' lets you roll ''three'' dice when rolling to Advance and pick the best one, which is a massive boon if you have the Swarmlord run off by itself. It can also charge in the same turn as falling back.
* '''Leviathan''' grants a free 6+++ for everything within 6" of a Synapse creature, which is valuable as your opponent will often focus a lot of high damage weaponry into the Swarmlord to bring it down.
* '''Gorgon''' gives re-rolls of 1 on to wound rolls in combat, which will be useful if you send your Swarmlord to try and take out tanks, or just want more reliable damage output.
* '''Jormungandr''' grants the benefit of cover out in the open... unless the model advances. Which given how you'll be running the Swarmlord is going to mean jack.
* '''Hydra''' grants re-rolls on failed hit rolls in combat against units with fewer models than your own... which means nothing since the Swarmlord rides alone.
* '''Kronos''' gives a re-roll of 1s to hit when shooting, but since the Swarmlord cannot do that this won't help him.

In the end Kraken is favoured because of the significant speed boost it grants, however Leviathan's durability increase and Gorgon's rerolls can also be decent choices.

Despite all this the Swarmlord is more vulnerable than ever with the advent of multi-wound weapons. His old reliable meatshields, the [[Tyrant Guard]] have especially suffered because of this: now REDUCED from T6 to T5 in 8th in return for 1 extra wound (so 3 total) and still only 3+ armour a single [[Lascannon]] shot has a good chance at popping one of them. While they can switch any wounds dealt to their charge to themselves as Mortal Wounds on a 2+, their relatively weak frames mean that this will rapidly kill them and focussed [[plasma]] fire will really thin the herd, leaving the Swarmlord vulnerable.

Another note is that the Tyrant Guard move 7", 2" slower than the Swarmlord at his highest stats, and thus they require adrenal glands to keep up with the boss. On top of this being not perfectly reliable, the difference in speed means there's a good chance that either unit will be able to outrun the other, meaning that using both at the same time is difficult at best. Then there's the point cost: 3 of them cost 111 points bare. Two additional points for the Glands and Sacs are worth it, and the 2 points extra on top of that are useful for the Lash Whip & Bonesword for the AP-2 it grants. Skip the Crushing Claws: they're way too expensive. There's one additional point of interest: Tyrant Guard can now be taken in units of up to 6. This is expensive, since such a unit sets you back 234 points fully kitted out, but it's a fun novelty.

===Power Ratings===
At 15 points the Swarmlord is balanced and doesn't get any other options. Nothing else changes.

== Gallery ==

<gallery>
Image:TacticalSwarmlord.png|The Swarmlord and a certain [[Creed|tactical genius]] team up. [[Awesome|Can I get a "Hell yeah!", people?]]
Image:Senordelahorda.png|El Señor de la Horda y su corcel, [[Raveners|el Terror Rojo]].
Image:Swarmlord carnage.jpg|Pictured: the fine red mist that you become if you get too close to the Swarmlord.
Image:Swarmbaus.jpg|"Bullets? What bullets?"
</gallery>

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Dawn of War]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Tyranid]]

[[Category: Megafauna]]

{{Tyranids-Creatures}}

Hive Fleet

2023-06-07T01:49:05Z

2405:6E00:B33:4400:20F8:3234:B191:E5A6: /* In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 */

[[File:Dinny-nanja-bfgii-factions-tyranids.jpg|400px|right|thumb|OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!]]

{{Topquote|A hungry people listens not to reason, nor cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayers.|Seneca the Younger, ''De Brevitate Vitæ''}}

{{topquote|They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next. Nuke 'em. Let's nuke the bastards.| President Thomas J. Whittmore, Independence Day}}

A '''Hive Fleet''' is a swarm of [[Tyranid]] bio-ships that travel together. They roam through space, invading planets and consuming their biomass to reproduce.

== Origin ==

Nobody knows where the Tyranids come from, but it's definitely outside of the galaxy. The first major waves of Tyranids came from the galactic east ([[Ultramar]], the [[Tau]] Empire, etc.), but the latest invasions occurred in the galactic south. At first, they seemed to be occurring at random, as systems would just fall silent without anything happening to their neighbors, but then it became clear that [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] was attacking from below the galactic plane. Think of Leviathan as a really big, space Jaws, attacking and eating planets from below.

== Organization ==

Most of the mass of a Hive Fleet is in its Hive Ships, massive biological factories that take in biomass from conquered planets and turn it into more Tyranids. Each one contains one or more Norn Queens, who sift through the biomass looking for interesting traits and genes that they can graft into their "children", chosen based on the obstacles they faced. Over time, this directed mutation and evolution results in different hive fleets having very divergent variants of warrior organisms and distinct styles of invasion.

The Hive Ships are protected by various strains of cruisers and droneships. Razorfiend Krakens hunt enemy ships, while escort drones cluster around hive ships as a living protective screen.

The Hive Fleets are rounded out by a pair of ship classes that they use to identify targets and get there in a reasonable amount of time. They send Vanguard drones ahead of the fleet, loaded with [[Genestealer]]s, [[Lictor]]s, and other infiltrator organisms, to candidate systems. Infiltrators that find their way to planets with lots of biomass found cults or colonies whose psychic networks act as beacons in the [[Warp]] and attract the attention of the fleet that spawned them.

Once a destination is determined, the fleet has to get there before it starves to death (analagous to the fuel limitations of other fleets.) It does this by employing a ship called a "narvhal" which somehow harnesses the target planet's gravity to bend space-time into a "corridor", which allow the fleet to travel to this planet at faster-than-light speeds (not as fast as a Warp-capable ship, but certainly faster than drifting at sublight). Presumably, this employs some sort of incredibly sweet facial horn. This bending has the fortunate (for the 'Nids) side-effect of causing tectonic upheaval on the target planet, disrupting any defenses but also warning anyone who knows what they're looking for that the fleet is coming for them. Narvhals have delicate gravimetric senses which are easily overloaded by nearby planets and stars, so the corridor dissolves as the fleet approaches its destination, and the fleet makes its final approach at sublight speeds, spending years or even decades in real-space. The fleet may hibernate to cool down and evade detection, only waking up when they are too close to be stopped.

== Famous Hive Fleets ==

*[[Hive Fleet Behemoth|Behemoth]]
*[[Hive Fleet Kraken|Kraken]]
*[[Hive Fleet Leviathan|Leviathan]]
*[[Hive Fleet Gorgon|Gorgon]]
*[[Hive Fleet Hydra|Hydra]]
*[[Hive Fleet Jormungandr|Jormungandr]]
*[[Hive Fleet Kronos|Kronos]]
*[[Hive Fleet Tiamet|Tiamet]]

== Tabletop ==

[[Games Workshop]] used to publish experimental rules for [[Genestealer]] cults and [[Deep Strike|deep striking]] "Seedling Swarms", but from Fourth Edition onwards, Tyranids have been a strictly one-codex army. The only reason to choose one Hive Fleet over another is for the color scheme. Genestealer cults now have their own codex, but they aren't considered battle brothers to regular 'nids. Which makes sense, considering they end up getting eaten anyway.

8th edition changed this with the introduction of Hive Fleet Adaptations, the Tyranid version of Chapter Tactics and they're one of the best internally balanced yet.

== In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 ==

Tyranid Hive Fleets are one of the most dangerous close combat assault factions in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2. The combination of pyro-acid batteries, [[/d/|tentacles]] and sheer numbers make combatting a Tyranid risky in close combat. Unless you are an [[Ork]] or the [[Imperial Navy]], ramming a Hive Ship ain't the most productive of tactics. Moreover, some bio-forms have boarding tentacles that could quite literally, drown an entire crew in an unlimited supply of bug bodies until the vessel becomes a floating hulk. Tyranids are also extremely resistant to leadership checks, although the elimination of, let's say, a [[Hive Ship]] is enough for them to go feral.

To make matters worse, all Tyranids could regenerate damage over time, something only [[Necrons]] could mimic and they are all stealth initially until they get close due to the Shadow of the Warp masking their signatures. Unfortunately, this is where the advantages end. Like in the fluff, hive ships are god-fucking slow, other than the quick burst of speed at close range, the Hive Fleets are always at the mercy from long-ranged assaults. Moreover, they lack shields...[[Derp|sort of.]] Instead of shields, a hive ship could create swarms of lesser creatures that could quite literally eat the bullet. Whilst these swarms work splendidly against small attack craft, a large enough barrage could just bypass the swarm and hit the ship directly if not, incinerating the swarm in the process. The Tyranids are also incredibly short-ranged, tieing with the Orks on the faction that can't hit shit across a couple of dozen of kilometres.

Factions you do <u>NOT</u> want to fight against as a Tyranid player are the [[Fleets of Commorragh]] and the [[Necron Fleets]]. The former for being way too fast and agile to constantly keep out of range from the Nids, whilst also packing so many criticals and having one of the best defence/boarding troops, [[FATAL|that it can cause entire Hive Fleets to meet critical cardiac arrest;]] doesn't matter how many bio-ships you have, DEldar are some nasty business. The latter for being tough as fuck and having weapons that could quite literally bypass all armor and shields to get deep into the squishy bits, making bio-ships cry themselves to sleep as their entire protective swarms get vapourised by a single barrage of gauss and lightning attacks.

== See Also ==

* [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/List_of_Hive_Fleets Lexicanum's list of all canon Hive Fleets]
* [[Tyranid Hive Fleet Creation Tables]], a set of roll-tables for generating your own Hive Fleet
** [[Hive Fleet Nidhoggr]], a homebrewed fluff project by /tg/
** [[Hive Fleet Mi-go]], another brainchild of /tg/, this time generated from the tables

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Battlefleet Gothic]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Tyranid]]

[[Category: Hive Fleets]]

[[Category: Megafauna]]

[[Category: Ships]]

{{40k-Tyranid-Bioships}}

{{Tyranids-Creatures}}

{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}

Hive Fleet

2023-06-07T01:41:12Z

2405:6E00:B33:4400:20F8:3234:B191:E5A6:

[[File:Dinny-nanja-bfgii-factions-tyranids.jpg|400px|right|thumb|OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!]]

{{Topquote|A hungry people listens not to reason, nor cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayers.|Seneca the Younger, ''De Brevitate Vitæ''}}

{{topquote|They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next. Nuke 'em. Let's nuke the bastards.| President Thomas J. Whittmore, Independence Day}}

A '''Hive Fleet''' is a swarm of [[Tyranid]] bio-ships that travel together. They roam through space, invading planets and consuming their biomass to reproduce.

== Origin ==

Nobody knows where the Tyranids come from, but it's definitely outside of the galaxy. The first major waves of Tyranids came from the galactic east ([[Ultramar]], the [[Tau]] Empire, etc.), but the latest invasions occurred in the galactic south. At first, they seemed to be occurring at random, as systems would just fall silent without anything happening to their neighbors, but then it became clear that [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] was attacking from below the galactic plane. Think of Leviathan as a really big, space Jaws, attacking and eating planets from below.

== Organization ==

Most of the mass of a Hive Fleet is in its Hive Ships, massive biological factories that take in biomass from conquered planets and turn it into more Tyranids. Each one contains one or more Norn Queens, who sift through the biomass looking for interesting traits and genes that they can graft into their "children", chosen based on the obstacles they faced. Over time, this directed mutation and evolution results in different hive fleets having very divergent variants of warrior organisms and distinct styles of invasion.

The Hive Ships are protected by various strains of cruisers and droneships. Razorfiend Krakens hunt enemy ships, while escort drones cluster around hive ships as a living protective screen.

The Hive Fleets are rounded out by a pair of ship classes that they use to identify targets and get there in a reasonable amount of time. They send Vanguard drones ahead of the fleet, loaded with [[Genestealer]]s, [[Lictor]]s, and other infiltrator organisms, to candidate systems. Infiltrators that find their way to planets with lots of biomass found cults or colonies whose psychic networks act as beacons in the [[Warp]] and attract the attention of the fleet that spawned them.

Once a destination is determined, the fleet has to get there before it starves to death (analagous to the fuel limitations of other fleets.) It does this by employing a ship called a "narvhal" which somehow harnesses the target planet's gravity to bend space-time into a "corridor", which allow the fleet to travel to this planet at faster-than-light speeds (not as fast as a Warp-capable ship, but certainly faster than drifting at sublight). Presumably, this employs some sort of incredibly sweet facial horn. This bending has the fortunate (for the 'Nids) side-effect of causing tectonic upheaval on the target planet, disrupting any defenses but also warning anyone who knows what they're looking for that the fleet is coming for them. Narvhals have delicate gravimetric senses which are easily overloaded by nearby planets and stars, so the corridor dissolves as the fleet approaches its destination, and the fleet makes its final approach at sublight speeds, spending years or even decades in real-space. The fleet may hibernate to cool down and evade detection, only waking up when they are too close to be stopped.

== Famous Hive Fleets ==

*[[Hive Fleet Behemoth|Behemoth]]
*[[Hive Fleet Kraken|Kraken]]
*[[Hive Fleet Leviathan|Leviathan]]
*[[Hive Fleet Gorgon|Gorgon]]
*[[Hive Fleet Hydra|Hydra]]
*[[Hive Fleet Jormungandr|Jormungandr]]
*[[Hive Fleet Kronos|Kronos]]
*[[Hive Fleet Tiamet|Tiamet]]

== Tabletop ==

[[Games Workshop]] used to publish experimental rules for [[Genestealer]] cults and [[Deep Strike|deep striking]] "Seedling Swarms", but from Fourth Edition onwards, Tyranids have been a strictly one-codex army. The only reason to choose one Hive Fleet over another is for the color scheme. Genestealer cults now have their own codex, but they aren't considered battle brothers to regular 'nids. Which makes sense, considering they end up getting eaten anyway.

8th edition changed this with the introduction of Hive Fleet Adaptations, the Tyranid version of Chapter Tactics and they're one of the best internally balanced yet.

== In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 ==

Tyranid Hive Fleets are one of the most dangerous close combat assault factions in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2. The combination of pyro-acid batteries, [[/d/|tentacles]] and sheer numbers make combatting a Tyranid risky in close combat. Unless you are an [[Ork]] or the [[Imperial Navy]], ramming a Hive Ship ain't the most productive of tactics. Moreover, some bio-forms have boarding tentacles that could quite literally, drown an entire crew in an unlimited supply of bug bodies until the vessel becomes a floating hulk. Tyranids are also extremely resistant to leadership checks, although the elimination of, let's say, a [[Hive Ship]] is enough for them to go feral.

To make matters worse, all Tyranids could regenerate damage over time, something only [[Necrons]] could mimic and they are all stealth initially until they get close due to the Shadow of the Warp masking their signatures. Unfortunately, this is where the advantages end. Like in the fluff, hive ships are god-fucking slow, other than the quick burst of speed at close range, the Hive Fleets are always at the mercy from long-ranged assaults. Moreover, they lack shields...[[Derp|sort of.]] Instead of shields, a hive ship could create swarms of lesser creatures that could quite literally eat the bullet. Whilst these swarms work splendidly against small attack craft, a large enough barrage could just bypass the swarm and hit the ship directly if not, incinerating the swarm in the process. The Tyranids are also incredibly short-ranged, tieing with the Orks on the faction that can't hit shit across a couple of dozen of kilometres.

Factions you do <u>NOT</u> want to fight against as a Tyranid player are the [[Fleets of Commorragh]] and the [[Necron Fleets]]. The former for being way too fast and agile to constantly keep out of range from the Nids, whilst also packing so many criticals and having one of the best defence/boarding troops, [[FATAL|that it can cause entire Hive Fleets to meet critical cardiac arrest;]] doesn't matter how many bio-ships you have, DEldar are some nasty business. The latter for being tough as fuck and having weapons that could quite literally bypass all armor and shields to get deep into the fleshy bits, making bio-ships cry themselves to sleep as their entire protective swarms get vapourised by a single barrage of gauss and lightning attacks.

== See Also ==

* [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/List_of_Hive_Fleets Lexicanum's list of all canon Hive Fleets]
* [[Tyranid Hive Fleet Creation Tables]], a set of roll-tables for generating your own Hive Fleet
** [[Hive Fleet Nidhoggr]], a homebrewed fluff project by /tg/
** [[Hive Fleet Mi-go]], another brainchild of /tg/, this time generated from the tables

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Battlefleet Gothic]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Tyranid]]

[[Category: Hive Fleets]]

[[Category: Megafauna]]

[[Category: Ships]]

{{40k-Tyranid-Bioships}}

{{Tyranids-Creatures}}

{{Tyranids-HiveFleets}}