'Nid Codex Review

[Lion El Jason]

Not much rules in here, if thats what you're after see the rumour thread!

The front cover has been available to view on the net for a while now. Its Alex Boyds' re-working of the T-Rex vs. Bus from "The Lost World" but this time with 'Nid vs Rhino.

Of note is Andy Chambers as a principle Author Credit...Goes to show how far in advance GW was working on this. The intro and why collect 'nids section is standard. Then we move on to the background and historyy section. I was quite disappointed with large sections of this being cut & pasted (Or very slightly re-worked) from the last codex and even the 2nd ed codex. Much of the text on Behemoth and Kracken is exact cut & paste or very familiar but once we get to new stuff its good high quality GW backstory. I dont want to ruin it by trying to re-tell any of it myself but reading the "Lost Hive Fleets", "The Hydra Effect" and other bits in that section really brings home the feel of the 'nids. Also the short stories are mostly excelent, as per usual these days I'm pleased to say.

The Army Special Rules are next and all are well presented and easy to follow except the biovore rules which I'm still involved in arguments over whether you get 3 or 9 templates from 3 biovores. The Changes to the bio weapons are mostly good, they make much more sense now, as do some of the close combat symbiotes (Though personally I dont like the boneswords rules or the idea of crushing claws). The dimise of the BS4 warp Blast on the tyrant is a shame but no big problem and the expanded hive power list is really cool.

The 2 pages of Biomorphs reminded me of the 2nd ed codex. Its a bit wierd that they didn't decide to reduce the T and W of the Tyrant and give it the options to increase them back up but no big loss. Tyrant Guard can still not have 2+ saves. A nice addition here was the "Common name" for the Tyrant: Overfiend -Homage to Andy C?
The rest of the army list is good, new stuff is cool! The only problem I found was that I'm not sure if the Genestealers have to have the same options or not (It specifically says for gaunts, rippers, hormagaunts but not for stealers and the stealer sprue hasn't got enough bits to give all the stealers most options (Eg the heads)
Also Gargoyles now have no options so all those people who used to have morphed winged gaunts with devourers, scything talons or whatever now have useless models.
Also the 'fex entry takes up 2 whole pages which is cool. It does have the most options in the codex.

This is my pet hate though. GW did it with the marine codex and screwed up again. The Summary needs to be on the last page so its easy to find.
Having it somewhere in the middle is no real use when you need to know how many wounds a lictor has in a hurry (Changed in new dex you see).

the whole colour section is good and I particularly liked the many colour scemes with gaunts painted for each and Victoria Lambs' Lictor in the showcase (Just a shame they didn't swap pages with the summary...)

This is an excelent codex, easily on par with the marine codex and if its a good indicator of things to come, I'll gladly buy all the upcoming codexes.

[Eversor]

I was quite disappointed with large sections of this being cut & pasted (Or very slightly re-worked) from the last codex and even the 2nd ed codex.

And that's bad? Second edition was background paradise...

<snip> reading the "Lost Hive Fleets", "The Hydra Effect" and other bits in that section really brings home the feel of the 'nids.

Cool to have some new bits though. As long as there's no revisionism

<snip> I'm still involved in arguments over whether you get 3 or 9 templates from 3 biovores.

Three, sir...

A nice addition here was the "Common name" for the Tyrant: Overfiend -Homage to Andy C?

Cool!

I also agree that the artwork and colour section are ace. From what I saw of the book (during my 10 minute read) it's very well edited and laid out. Can't wait 'til saturday when I get it...

[Hellebore]

Quick question:

How big is the nid dex? is it 64 or 80 pages. I am really hoping they are going to go the road of the fantasy army books and make each one 80, because the 48 page travesties that I have had to put up with for the last 6 years are beyond a joke.

80 pages good....64 pages ok.

hellebore

[Delicious Soy]

I think GW learned their lesson in 3rd ed (eventually). Small Codex = bad. THe newer ones aren't as in depth as the 2nd ed ones, but they are certainly condensed in term of information, which is good, pity they can't expand them.

[philbrad2]

Very sweet. Im getting a mental pic shouting '2nd ed Nid dex' - one of my favourite codices ever. Looks like the bugs are back with a bang. My worry was the codex wouldn't back up the squiffy new models, looks like it will. Bit disappointed about the Gargy's. I was planning to add a large brood of the sucka's to my revised force using plastic Gaunts don't think I'll bother

[New Cult King]

It's sounding good...

I'm looking forward to this one, and I hope it is 80 pages... big, chunky codexes are awesome

[Lion El Jason]

Its 64 pages but I never thought it needed to be longer.

Eversor: I said its three but there are people saying you fire three shots each making a barrage of three templates...
The background material from 2nd ed was great but I'd have thought someone would have re-written it.

[Odin]

Also Gargoyles now have no options so all those people who used to have morphed winged gaunts with devourers, scything talons or whatever now have useless models.

Is there not an option to give your termagants wings or something? No other way of making gargoyles with options?

The background material from 2nd ed was great but I'd have thought someone would have re-written it.

No need to re-invent the wheel. I'd rather they spent their effort working on new stuff than re-working stuff which was good enough in the first place.

[Scythe]

Also Gargoyles now have no options so all those people who used to have morphed winged gaunts with devourers, scything talons or whatever now have useless models.

I don't think there will be many of those, since pretty much every biomorphed gaunt with wings was a rip off (pts wise) compared to gargoyles.

[Mantus]

Is there not an option to give your termagants wings or something? No other way of making gargoyles with options?

No. The only movement enhancing upgrade gaunts can take is skuttlers (scout). They also have no options for talons or claws.

[boogle]

this sounds really good, i'm going to have to try and get my hands on this asap

[zealousheretic]

The background material from 2nd ed was great but I'd have thought someone would have re-written it.

I love the 2nd ed background. No need to rewrite it; it's fine as-is, and rewriting it risks someone screwing it up.

[Brimstone]

The Army Special Rules are next and all are well presented and easy to follow except the biovore rules which I'm still involved in arguments over whether you get 3 or 9 templates from 3 biovores.

I already tried that one.

The wording on page 28 makes it clear.

Each Biovore brood fires as many Spore Mines as there are Biovores in that brood

It's an excellent codex, I loved the return of the Zoats but not Squats.

[Mantus]

Bah! Why do so many people like tyranid fluff? What's so cool about it? The main characters of tyranid fluff are anyone but the tyranids themselves. Tyranids are just a mindless catalyst for a plotline. Which is just fine and peachy unless you want to build your own tyranid army.

[Lion El Jason]

No, I disagree...Read the bit on hydra effect and a report on how its likely that the fleets are just different tendrils of a massive uberfleet and stuff and it gives you loads of character for your own nid army.

[Hellebore]

64 pages eh? well I suppose that is better than 48 (but only by 16 pages ).

Seriously though, why are they still making smaller dexs? The fantasy army books are all 80 pages each- is it because younger people play 40k and can't read big books? It's not that I don't appreciate a 64 page codex, but when the marine one came out at 80 I though Eureka! we are finally getting 80 page codicies. But alas, it appears that an extra 16 pages is too much for even 4th ed codicies.

hellebore

[zealousheretic]

Bah! Why do so many people like tyranid fluff? What's so cool about it? The main characters of tyranid fluff are anyone but the tyranids themselves. Tyranids are just a mindless catalyst for a plotline. Which is just fine and peachy unless you want to build your own tyranid army.

I like the Tyranid fluff a great deal, and I've been playing them since 2nd Edition. I like the fact that Tyranids are different from the other races.

I guess the appeal, to me, is the force of nature aspect of the Tyranids. They're a predator of mind-boggling dimensions which is moving to new feeding grounds. While the Imperium and the other sentients in the galaxy try frantically to stop them, the Hive Mind probably regards them as nothing more than Prey. They've likely destroyed countless civilizations in order to feed and propagate, neither knowing nor caring what they've smashed. Should the Tyranids wipe out our galaxy as well, it will simply be another part of a growing wasteland they leave in their wake. Unless something destroys them, the Tyranids will be the end of all other lifeforms.

The facelessness makes that idea work. If the Hive Mind had some sort of hatred for the other races, then its actions would have a human logic to them, making the race as a whole less scary. Since the Hive Mind is ultimately motivated solely by animal instincts; the need to survive, to grow, to propagate, its actions seem more alien, more animalistic.

[cyndre]

Seriously though, why are they still making smaller dexs? The fantasy army books are all 80 pages each- is it because younger people play 40k and can't read big books? It's not that I don't appreciate a 64 page codex, but when the marine one came out at 80 I though Eureka! we are finally getting 80 page codicies. But alas, it appears that an extra 16 pages is too much for even 4th ed codicies.

My guess is that the FB universe is a lot more defined, because, in part on all the sourcebooks for WH roleplaying game.

[boogle]

they have a lot more storied background in them as well as their timeline isn't reallly moving forward that much

[philbrad2]

It's an excellent codex, I loved the return of the Zoats but not Squats.

Da ZOATs is back ....