Tuesday 10 December 2013

More trouble at t' Tyranid rumour mill

The Tyranid rumour mill is in full flow with the imminent arrival of the new Codex, haven't we been here before? Yes indeed, when we thought it would be 'Nidvember'. You may recall I was swept up with the fever but it felt more like the flu in the end. I have to say time has not changed my symptoms. Initial rumours were positive - Termagants for 4pts [cool], Devourers for 4pts [cool] so my 10 man squad is going to save me 20pts, just think of the possibilities! Scratch that I can make the Devourers poisoned for 2pts, I'll take it and suddenly I'm hitting 15 and wounding 10 or 11 Marines with 3 or 4 marines dead, lets hope they're combat squaded! I suppose it's better than 2 or 3 without poison and I can still have a pop at Monstrous Creatures.


Spinefists seem to be pointless, still! But alongside the redundant Strangleweb, still at 10pts there seems to be a new template in town that looks worth taking, although its15pts!. Anyway, Hormies become Beasts, which might make them worth taking again and a Tyranid Prime can finally join a unit of Warriors in a Spore Pod if they're his 'retinue'!



But yet what's this we also have a rumour that suggests 'things without models, not in Codex' - theres no models for the Spore Pod, does that mean there will be no new model for this.

???
But there were 'Nidvember' rumours it was a dual model, also more recent rumours [this week] it would be a 'dataslate' as a full deep strike list so how does that fit with the Prime and his retinue in a pod? And yet the Harpy rumour still persists and there is no model currently for that in our Codex.

???
Even more dramatically - no Doom! If I'm honest I thought he would disappear, or be nerfed but what of the rumours saying a Doom model in a clamshell was in existence and others stating his rules would be the same. And Zoans without psychic shooting attacks as standard!? I know I like the randomness of Biomancy but still. Nevermind, without a pod to actually get them within range of anything they're pretty redundant anyway!



And to cap it all NO ACCESS TO BIOMANCY, just the powers we already have in our Codex that won't be changing - SERIOUSLY!


Every rumour coming out now just sucks, we've relied on Biomancy to make us competitive and it's taken away?! Gaunts for 4pts and Hormies as Beasts, whoopee. Tervigons can still be wiped out even with Iron Arm or Endurance, you're lucky if they survive the game. We adapted to what was considered a poorly produced Codex. We found ways to overcome our deficiencies, like the gribblies themselves. Without allies, without all the whistles and bells of other armies we had time on our side to perfect a few small lists that not only could stand against our opponents but with a bit of luck overcome them!


The only conclusion I can come to is whatever 'big bad' is in the works that will be the prime target and 'must have purchase' we're forced into getting to leave the other models unmolested. I hat this idea and I'm even less convinced of this 'team' approach we're hearing about the author. So the 'team' got on board to finally make this the Codex the nids deserved, well we all know how 'design by committee' works - it doesn't. Maybe having a team makes it easier for them to shift the blame should this be as disastrous as it's shaping up to be.

This is why I'm not feeling the excitement. All these rumours are just spoiling what should be a new dawn, although if they're true it may end up being not so much a Dawn of War as a Dawn of Meh!




2 comments:

  1. Don't you think this is a bit premature? I think we are seeing a lot of conflicting rumours with wish-listing mixed in and the result is pretty blurry and nonsensical. Remember how more than half of the Space Marine rumours did not make it in the final product?

    I still have hopes for an internally balanced codex that is competitive and fun to play. If Biomancy is going away, I am sure the codex is a lot easier to balance. We no longer need to hope for an Iron Arm or two to win a game.

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    1. Perhaps, but this rumour-mongering has been going on for months. It went quiet while all the Dark Elf stuff came out and now it's obviously back in force. I'm all for change it just seems we fought long and hard to actually make a poor Codex worthy these rumours suggest most of that will disappear. Balance will be great if the price is Biomancy it's just one thing, of many, that we've been SO reliant on to succed.

      Really I just need to see the Codex instead of the speculation, then I hope I'd be happier, but I can't give up the juicy gossip, I am an addict afterall ;)

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