6th Ed Tyranids: Houserule Rewrite

[Big_jon]

I like it

Me too

[silashand]

Obviously these would require a bit of playtesting, but overall I think they seem okay. I am concerned about going too far given the lack of point cost changes, but again, I think they seem well intended. I especially like the changes to Instinctive Behavior, the Hive Fleet Phenotypes and the revised Warlord Traits. For the Phenotypes you might consider adding a disadvantage to each since you aren't adjusting point costs and the whole army benefits. JMO though.

Frankly my group has considered doing this to all the codices for play amongst ourselves. Basically fixing the known issues with each book so that they are less egregious, e.g. reducing Serpent Shield to 36" range, changing dreadnoughts to all be the equivalent of the MC rules since it makes no sense to have two separate mechanisms, one of which almost no one takes, etc. I think your changes are a little more extensive for one specific army than we are interested in pursuing at this time, but if they seem fun then who knows.

For us it doesn't matter if the overall Internet community likes the idea or not. We are concerned only with what is fun for us and if someone external to us who will never play in our group doesn't like it, that's not our problem. We know the issues present in the current rules and there is a desire to address them to make the game fun for everyone who plays, not just those who are willing to buy three each of the new broken model.

Anyway, good luck on coming up with something that works for your group. I would be interested in reading about how these ideas pan out within your group and what, if any changes you had to make to balance them.

Synapse grants Eternal Warrior
Venomthropes are independent characters
Hormagaunts are 7 points, with the Beasts unit type
Genestealers are 16 points, with the Beasts unit type
Lictors have Stealth and Shrouded

Make those changes and I think the book is good to go.

For what it's worth I think the above would fix the most egregious problems with the book (though I would give the Pyrovore the Torrent rule because he's still garbage as it stands). As I noted above though, I do like the changes to Instinctive Behavior, the Hive Fleet Phenotypes and the revised Warlord Traits. I don't think any of those changes would imbalance the Bugs. To the contrary they might actually make them more fun to play.

Cheers, Gary

[Trygons1100]

Hmm I like the list in general, but it does sound a little overkill. I would like to see a bunch of small tweaks but would be satisfied with a few notable changes such as:
~Synapse - Also grants Synapse creature's Ld for the purpose of tests, assuming the unit is in range.
~Warlord Traits - Re-work 1 and 5 to make them useful, not amazing but have some kind of effect (I don't know how many games I've played where they've literally been unusable...)
~Genestealers - Something to let them run then charge, or somehow charge more often than usual, etc. (inspired by the fiction, but obviously up their pts or lower attacks to compensate)
~Exocrine - Increase range to 36" to be able to duke it out with the other artillery in the galaxy
~Haruspex - Something to make it more than just a hungry Carnifex, like keep the Rapacious Hunger rule throughout phases or FnP. Make the Grasping Tongue an ID precision shot on 6, or recover a wound if it works or something.
~Pyrovore - Change Flamespurt to Torrent already, sheesh. Also, give access to biomorph list (make them a centerpiece).
~Ripper/Sky-Slashers - Make them competitive by lowering pts or have some kind of gimmick like scarabs.
~Scything talons - Bring back the re-roll 1's to hit. Or re-roll misses for first round. Or if the unit charged. Just SOME kind of re-roll.

Not as small a list as I thought, but a general smattering of ideas. There's tons of tiny things (Hive Guard BS4, Bio-Artifact for EW Synapse, Drool Cannon is Torrent, Hormagaunts getting 3+ Sv and access to Skyfire weapons... Sorry, Ward rage there for a second). Either way, I'm not hating on the codex and will definitely keep working on strategies with what's in there.

Interesting ideas so far though, keep the ball rolling!

[Gleipnir]

All for using house rules for fun among friends.

Only thing I would say to this list though....

Less is more

[Ezaviel]

Indescribable Horror - Change to "Units within 12" of this model lose 'And They Shall Know No Fear'."

Taking away ATSK is pretty powerful, but it doesn't affect say fearless mobs, I'm thinking instead, "Units within 12" of this model are subject to fear tests regardless of Fearless and ATSK." Thoughts?

I think as a general rule, special rules which completely remove other peoples special rules are a bit silly.
"Oh yeah, these guys are fearless/know no fear. Except Hive Tyrants. They are scared of those." That would make this like, the only thing in existence that a Marine is scared of. Pretty sure there are things that are just as scary.

Lictors pg. 44
Add Predatory Reflexes, see above.
Remove Instinctive Behaviour (Lurk).
Add Killing Strike Special Rule - Rending on 5+.[/I]

I've lumped these two together as being vanguard organism's they are like chocolate and peanut butter. I think Predatory Reflexes might be a bit much in granting essentially assault grenades, and I am considering dropping the 5++ to a 6++. Lictors having IB seems incredibly stupid to me considering their designed purpose, and I like the improved Rend.

I dunno if a Lictor should be completely immune, but they should certainly be highly resistant. Maybe re-roll failed IB tests? Maybe rolls of Seek Cover count as Stalk?

[Pyredragon]

Thanks very much for the input so far guys! I won't be able to test this till Fri or Sat, our usual gameday but I will take some notes and let you guys know how it goes.

I am actually a bit leery about some of these. The bio-electric pulse and 5++ for stealers and lictors spring to mind. I don't feel that a points increase is largely required, yet again haven't tested, due to the large number of nerfs and point increases without any real net gain. As he stands the swarmlord does not feel worth 285pts for as little as he brings to the table.

To answer your question Confoo22 I am allowed to ally with myself, but it's a poor mans ally simply increasing my HQ x1, Troops x2, Elite x1 etc. It honestly doesn't feel fluffy to me that two fleets would work together as hive fleets have been known to attempt to consume each other resulting in epic struggles of dominance. Plus the limit of one phenotype per army period doesn't let me cherry pick, as often is the problem with allies.

So, while taking phenotype of behemoth and filling up on cheap mc's with phenotype leviathan as the ally and loading up on warriors would be effective, that is way too cheesey for my taste.

Again, thanks everyone for your input, and the links!

[Anggul]

What are people's thoughts on making Tervigons able to spawn say... 20 Termagants? No more, no less. There would need to be a limit on how many of them could 'disembark' per turn as it would be pretty ridiculous for 20 of them to hop out of the sack in the space of a turn, maybe say you can spawn two separate broods of 10. Suggestions on these numbers are welcome, 20 just seems like a balanced, reasonable number that would fit in the sack.

It seems a lot better than the current state where you often get either far more than could possibly be in there or crap out first turn with only a few spawned. This would make it more reliable and regular, meaning the game can't be swayed massively by how long it takes you to roll a double as it is now.

Oh, and screw Synaptic Backlash. Makes no sense and just encourages people to keep them away from the Termagants they're meant to stick with in the fluff.

[Robert Montjoy]

Fixing tervigons is something I've been going back and forth on with my own custom set. They just did too much in 5th, their FOC change mechanic felt too arbitrary, and they were too random with their spawning. I thought about making them continue spawning after doubles but not produce any gaunts on the turn they rolled the double, then I thought about letting them keep spawning but lose D3 wounds when doubles are rolled, and now I'm tinkering around with changing it entirely.

My current idea on that is splitting tervigons into a basic troop type and an HQ type, with only the HQ being able to spawn fleshborer gaunts from nothing and having synapse/psychic powers. The troop tervigons would basically be devouring and recycling the dead gaunts on the field into new gaunts, which shifts their role into much more of a support capacity and give the army something a little bit like the old "without number" rule. You wouldn't get an unpredictable number of "free" gaunts, but you'd be able to return the dead gaunts to the table a few at a time, including devourers or spinefists, etc. I'll have to run more tests with it, but it encourages the tyranid player to take a good balance between termagant units and tervigons without being forced to buy one unit to make the other available.

[Aaron Schmidt]

Haruspexes pg. 51
Remove from Rapacious Hunger "In the turn in which a Haruspex charges" I think it should work all the time, although it might not make that big of a difference depending on the enemy target.

The om nom nom machine becomes even more nommy, provided you're not trying to smash tanks and dreadies with it and eating infantry like it's supposed too. You should be scared of it getting to cc.

Melee Weapons
Add Note - Tyranids armed with 2 pairs of Tyranid Melee Weapons combine the bonuses to Strength (if any), best AP and Special Rules as well as those listed under Type. Like in 5th, need to work on wording. So for example a model with Crushing Claws and Scything Talons would be +1 Strength, AP2, Melee, Armourbane, Unwieldy and Re-roll all 1s to hit in close combat, and a model with Scything Talons and Rending Claws would be Strength User, AP5, Melee, Rending and Re-roll all 1s to hit in close combat.

Add to Scything Talons - Re-roll all 1s to hit in close combat. Probably make a new keyword under Type, need a good name...

I didn't see a reason to lose either of these to begin with, thus their back.

Add to Bio-Electric Pulse Weapons - Haywire Type Because Trygons and Trygon Primes are costly in points, and also one of my favorite models.

With this little upgrade that Trygon will do a little more than just be a fire magnet the turn it arrives.

Add to Drool Cannon - 2 profiles, chosen when fired:
Template, S6, AP4, Assault 1, or
12", S6, AP4, Assault 2, Armourbane

This one I'm torn on, on the one hand it makes a lot of sense for a creature dedicated for dealing with flyers to have a primary attack to deal with them, but isn't that what the tentaclids are for?

Biomorph Upgrades
Change Acid Maw to "All close combat attacks by a model with this biomorph use the following profile: S6, AP2, Melee"

Change Toxic Miasma to "All enemy units treat the area within 6" of this model as both difficult and dangerous terrain."

Add to Wings - In addition, the model may reroll all failed Grounding Tests.

Hey look at that, a pack of three pyrovores isn't a joke all of a sudden. This may be the only one I consider out these three, venomthropes already do a fine job at what they do, and there should be a fair chance of making my FMC's faceplant.

Bio-artefacts of the Tyranids
Personally I think this entire part needs renaming and a major overhaul, but GW insists on Relics and stuff... so...

The Maw-Claws of Thyrax - Add "Counts as a pair of Rending Claws when determining Synergistic Weapon Combinations" and "All of your units with Synapse Range of the bearer are also granted this Preferred Enemy rule."

The Norn Crown - Add "This model's Feel no Pain or Invulnerable Saves are improved by 1 step, to a maximum of 3+."

The Miasma Cannon - Add "Counts as a Heavy Venom Cannon when determining Synergistic Weapon Combinations, and may be fired as a Heavy Venom Cannon in addition to the Miasmic weapon profiles."

The Ymgarl Factor - Change to "At the start of your turn... The bonus gained lasts until the beginning of your next turn."
Add "In addition, choose a unit of Genestealers in the same detachment with this bio-artefact. This unit (Genestealers and Broodlord only) gains the same ability."

The Reaper of Obliterax - Add "Counts as Lash Whip and Bonesword when determining Synergistic Weapon Combinations", Change to AP2, and Life Drain on 5+.

These were simply overcosted garbage in my opinion.

- Haruspex needs AT LEAST WS4 A4 and a rule to move 12" per turn. WS3 A3 and 6" move is actually funny because of how bad it is.
- Re-rolls to hit for scything talons should be "Flurry" as in flurry of blows.
- Giving Haywire to Trygons makes their shooting incredibly deadly for vehicles.
- Drool Cannon could be S6 AP4 Fleshbane, Armorbane - reasoning is that most things you hit with the Drool will either be some troops (so woundng on 2s anyway) or a vehicle (in which case Fleshbane doesn't matter) and since acid melts things...
- Acid Maw was fine in the old book, literal waste of space in the new one. Either GW devs do not know anything about bite strength or they're just morons. I would do S+1 for bite strength (and AP2), similar to crushing claws sans armorbane and unwieldy. Smaller surface area=more PSI=chomp. PS. Pyrovores still aren't good. Now they're just decent. Still too slow.
- Norn Crown needs to go. All of the others are fine if they also all drop 10 points.

The new book... good god.

[daboarder]

why the haruspex wasn't mad a beast MC I'll never understand, I mean then it would have had a very unique and solid role in the book and been a good comparison to maulerfiends.