Stories in this codex are written by author Jonathan Green . Do you want to unleash a horde of terrifying monstrosities and chittering, bladed bugs to make that a reality? However, it combines very well with the second part, which boosts the AP of shots under half range, and that starts to get really interesting it means that the incidental firepower from Gaunts and Gargoyles is often going to be operating at AP-2, and opens up more play for AP0 stuff in this armour save economy. Can replace the scything talons for rending claws for 5 S6 ap-4 1d attacks. The Sisters new centrepiece character model, Vahl is given a lot of attention in the updated codex, and has been designed to synergise with whatever you stick in your Sisters of Battle army. Lore for the forces of the Hive Mind, and the various tendrils that have struck into known space. This beastie has theSYNAPSEkeyword, giving it sway over lesser bioforms like Gargoyles and making airborne swarms an altogether more tasty (and horrifying) prospect. GW is finally nearing the end ofits to-do list of 9th edition Warhammer 40k codexes. Also on the Psychic theme, if you just want to blast your opponent straight into the (or stop their plans to do the same to you) you have the Neurothropes Psychic Augmentation, boosting your casts and denies by 1, and also granting a 5+ against mortals. Its 184 pages contain 55 pages of lore;51 pages of main faction rules (including legion-specific rules, warlord traits, relics, and more); 19 pages of rules for the Crusade narrative mode, and 44 unit datasheets. There is a mild hit to your Forgeworld friends, in that this power now ignores wounds on a 6 for TITANIC units, but the fact that this hasnt been hit with a CORE limitation is huge. Yes, its the legendary Parasite of Mortrex! With the newly enhanced statlines of many monsters, Voracious Appetite is more welcome than ever full melee wound re-rolls for a monster for 1CP is a button youre going to slam again and again. If one of the followingcharactersgains aWarlordTrait, they must have the one shown below. A new friend next in the Parasite of Mortrex, a speedy, winged monster that provides you with Synapse and can sting enemy units with its ovipositor to infect them with parasites, turning off their ObSec, dealing them d3 Mortals in their Command Phase, and spawning you a Ripper Swarm if they take at least two wounds. This book was published for the first time in 1995, and is for the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40,000. And theres a lot of units to choose from. The stratagem here also has real uses Unparalleled Ferocity lets a non-CHARACTER INFANTRY unit Fight on death for a phase for either 1 or 2CP depending on whether theyre a small or medium gribbly. This is obviously fantastic if you want to take lots of monsters (you do), as it makes it harder for opponents to exploit your low model count to out-primary you, and harder to push you off key points when it really matters. Catalyst still provides access to a 5+ feel no pain mechanic for the target unit, but now has a casting range is Synaptic Link, which means you can potentially extend it far across your army where its needed most. Its basically an Orbital Bombardment that people will be able to avoid, which makes it a pretty hard sell to me. Harpy, 2 Heavy Venom Cannon, Dermic Symbiosis 195 Tyranids get a drop pod in the form of the Tyrannocyte, a beefy affair that stays mobile after landing, brings some guns of its own (though only at BS5+) and can either bring in a lot of small infantry, up to six medium infantry models, or one monster of 16W or less. HQ Much like theTau Empires mighty Stormsurge, this main gun can punch through an Imperial Knight in one go (with a bit of help from Lady Luck), while anything smaller is inevitably reduced to a twisted ruin. Primaris Kevin: As awesome as the Hive Fleet Adaptations are, none of them hold a candle to giving a 5++ and reducing incoming damage by 1. A few of the new rules came early, in the form of deliberate previews, and apparently leaked spoilers, including: The pre-order and full release dates for the Drukhari codex were originally announced in a Warhammer Communityarticleon Sunday, March 14 along withPiety and Pain, a double-army boxset featuring Drukhari and Sisters of Battle, whichwent to pre-order at the same time. Importantly, the first mode has an 18 range as well, so they dont get totally no-sold by Mirror Architect from Harlequins if you do that. Gunum: This is one of my big winners when we talk about changes in the book. Most uses of the Trygon probably do lean on those, so it doesnt seem super likely these will get there, but they are pretty cheap as a distraction. Warlocks everywhere are weeping. The first clue that the Tau Empire book was incoming came hidden ina Warhammer Community post at the end of October, Games Workshop revealed the Tau codex wouldrelease early next year. Toxicrenesare one of thegiant beast-breedsengineered by the Hive Fleets, specialised in biowarfare. Its exceedingly yucky, but brilliant stuff. Thats the old out the way, onto the new. Each breed ofSYNAPSEcreature in your army grants access to a different Synaptic Imperative think of it as a beast transmitting its specialised instincts across the rest of the Hive Minds command beacons. The Hive Fleet with a need for speed, 9th edition Kraken eschews its ability to fall back and charge (which you can thankfully access elsewhere) and gains a new lethality on the approach in the form of Questing Tendrils, bumping melee AP by 1 if a unit charges. The Guard are way more durable, going up to T6 and 4W, so its possible you can just have a shockcannon unit shooting in the open, but theyre also not cheap and not-CORE, so its really tough not to just spend the points on an additional Carnifex and change. Equally important, the relic now disallows rerolls to hit, which a lot of armies leverage to push tons of hits onto targets just by sheer numbers. For the basic Morale effect, this is a shorter radius than were used to from 8th Edition, so keeping big swarms of gaunts in range of Synapse units is sometimes going to take a bit more thought but is still extremely handy. Primaris Kevin: Im a big fan of this book. That book finally arrived in late January 2021. The Warhammer 40k Eldar codexwent to pre-order on February 26, 2022, and was up for sale the following week, on March 5. You can take units of these and deep strike them if you want, but given that pretty much every method of spawning these is now free, thats overwhelmingly how youll go about it. You can grab yourself a copy from theGW webstore now. Just one here, the Sporocyst, and it sits in the comfortable spot where it looks pretty cute and interesting, and does enough that itll be fun for casual play without doing anything wildly stupid to the competitive metagame. Its an immobile Fortification Monster that you can drop in on the board anywhere 12 from the opponents deployment zone, it has modest firepower but the same terrible BS5+ as the Tyrannocyte, and can spawn Mucolid Spores or Spore Mines. You can order it from the GW webstore now. Alex Evans Alex is atabletop RPG story seeker and dice hoarder, believes all things are political, and is tragically, hopelessly in love with Warhammer 40k. Bringing new life into the world is never easy unless youre aTervigon and the Parasites victims can suffer mortal wounds round after round as newborn Rippers gnaw their way out of enemy hosts. Neurothropes and Zoanthropes), one or the other will usually have a rule saying that if youve purchased them, then one unit of the other type can be included without taking a slot. Its slightly weaker than similar for every CP spent by your opponent-type abilities, but in a Matched Play game on the average its still going to hand you back a couple points over the course of a game which is not nothing. These rugged and adaptable beasties can support a whole host of biomorphs and weapons, such as stranglethorn talons, scything talons, and deathspitters. ++1x Venom Cannon This was a stand-alone book release from GWs specialist sister store, Forge World, to bring in-line a number of their special/limited edition miniatures with 9th Edition. Alongside the Custodians, the 9th edition Genestealer Cults codex also went up for pre-order on Saturday, January 8, 2022, andcame outon Saturday, January 15. Todays review focuses on the part of this book that are relevant to matched play. Hive Fleets are the Tyranid subfactions, granting a Hive Fleet Adaptation to your units, warlord traits, relics, stratagems and (for Tyranids) a free additional Psychic Power that all PSYKERS know for free. None of the others shine quite as much as those first two, but plenty of these are cheap and pretty decent. Surprisingly (but probably for the best for everyone else) the upgrades to melee have been a bit more restrained there are still boosts (the monstrous bonesword, in particular, goes to S+3 and AP-4), but the really big damage statlines of 2d3 and d3+3 are used pretty sparingly, and some options have gone down in damage. If one of your units charges, then after they have fought there are no enemies in engagement range (i.e. It still provides +1 to manifest psychic powers but it has lost the bonus power/deny and instead just grants access to knowing an additional power. For some reason the walking Hive Tyrant can carry a pair of stranglethorn cannons but its not allowed to carry both a stranglethorn cannon and a heavy venom cannon. Rules for constructing a Tyranid army, including new customisable Hive Fleet Adaptations. The biggest no-brainers on the list (or big-brainer for the latter maybe) are Dermic Symbiosis and Synaptic Enhancement. Being able to push out your Synaptic Link range without risking your more valuable bugs is super useful, and extra durability never hurts. The same cant be said of Crusher Stampede. You can make things even riskier for opposing Psykers with the relic to round stuff out, but handily its broader than just another tool for that. The Maw-Claws of Thyrax provides full wound rerolls without the spend for Voracious Appetite, as well as increasing the number of attacks each time you kill a model. -1 hit in melee, Unique weapon called Ravenor talons S:U Ap-2 1d and scything talons. The positioning criteria are also way harder than it appears on a first read it says you can start the Action if youre within 6 of the enemy deployment zone, but on completion the marker has to be placed Wholly Within their zone and within 1 of the performing unit, so functionally you have to make it right to the edge of their zone with at least one model. 5 Tyrant Guard, Adrenal Glands 215 The one benefit is that it can come up outside of 9 and go for some charges. If you like your Hive Tyranids shooty youve got plenty of choices too Pathogenesis provides a decent bump in shooting range and the ability to reroll one hit and one wound die, certainly not terrible if youre thinking of bombarding your opponent with heavy venom cannon shots. hide. A Flyrant can go up and immediately start controlling an Objective in No-Man's Land, and at T7 with a 3+/4++, not the easiest unit to simply remove. Probably not very good, as Rippers are mediocre, but flavourful and fun. What was previously an aura for Zoanthropes is not a bonus that applies to one model within Synaptic Link range.