Agent of The Swarm

 The number of 40k armies I have always wanted is vast. There are almost no 40k game factions that I have never truly wanted at any point. Unfortunately, I am not made of money, capitalism is still ruining lives and and GW keeps discontinuing all the models I want. This means that realistically most of those model armies will never reach the tabletop. 

But it doesn't mean I can't write about them. 

Most of those army projects already exist in lore form if not as concrete models, but since list talking is apparently what makes a blog popular it seemed like it might be an idea to document them for posterity. And since we are now in International Goth Month I thought I'd start with a selection of the spookiest collections of fiends and monsters I conceived of. Starting with a swarm of everyone's favourite space monsters in 40k. 

Note that since these are all armies that have yet to be put into model form, a lot of their unit and character names remain under construction. 

Hive Fleet Jabberwock - Militant's Tyranids 

My first contact with Aliens came when I was around 6 years old. I was at the local library looking over the comic books display there, and one of the titles on the shelf was a meaty looking book called Aliens: Female War. My 6 year old toxic masculinity programmed brain wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole 'Female War' part, but it did certainly like some good space aliens, and I was immediately drawn to the creepy insectoid head leering out of a sickly green cocoon. 

The art that changed how I thought about space monsters forever

Now, my parents of course stubbornly refused to actually issue the comic book for me, so for some time I only had the cover artwork to go on, but I was already running wild with the possibilities of black insectoid space monsters with big leering fang-lined maws. 

About a year later however one of the TV stations decided to air the director's cut (as God and James Cameron intended) of Aliens. This time I was somehow able to get my parents to relent, and they captured the thing on VHS, and I proceeded to watch the hell out of that video tape for many many years. Much to my parents' astonishment, the first time I watched it I slept soundly and reported the next morning that it had left me completely unfazed. Which was true save for the fact that my head was now racing with cool black insectoid space monsters and action heroes blasting them to kingdom come. 

A while later I was finally able to get my hands on the Female War comic and my love affair with the Alien franchise was sealed. 

Then when I was around 9 or so I also discovered Starcraft and proceeded to play the hell out of that for many many years. Oh and I also spent many Saturday mornings in between all that watching the Starship Troopers cartoon series. 

So I have a bit of a history with space bugs. 

This in turn meant I was gobsmacked by the Winged Hive Tyrant Forgeworld released for 3rd edition 40k, because the only thing cooler than an Alien Queen was an Alien Queen with an acid gun that could fly. This was my first real introduction to the Tyranids in 40k, and I have deeply loved the beautiful 2001 Tyranid model range ever since. 

If I were to ever come into enough of the 2001 Tyranid sculpts, however, the result would look something like this: 

Hive Fleet Jabberwock 

Colours: Charcoal greys and blacks, cold grey-white claws/teeth, vivid mustard-green ichor. Secreted resin bleeding into landscape on bases. 

Arriving in the wake of Hive Fleet Kraken, Hive Fleet Jabberwock is a particularly fiendish and horrifying swarm that specialises in perverting and corrupting the natural ecosystems of prey worlds, weaponising the very habitat of prey species against them. Extensive infiltration of local fauna and flora by vanguard spores begins long before the first Hive Ships enter the system, and natural water systems are heavily saturated with hypertrophic enzymes. Not only does this fatally undermine the defence efforts of the planet's inhabitants, it also ensures a particularly rich feast of biomass afterwards. 

Thus far Hive Fleet Jabberwock's main efforts have been halted by the Tau Empire, which scattered the main body of the Hive Fleet at the pivotal battle of Doran'cha. But not only has this scattered splinter fleets across the Eastern Fringe, observations of Tyranid activity indicate there may be additional waves of Hive Fleet Jabberwock that remain unaccounted for... 

HQ 

Hive Tyrant: Hive Tyrant with Scything Talons, Rending Claws, Flesh Hooks, Implant Attack, Catalyst and Warp Blast - 142 pts 

Tyrant Guard Brood: 3 Tyrant Guards with Flesh Hooks and Implant Attacks - 156 pts 

Hive Tyrant: Hive Tyrant with Venom Cannon, Scything Talons, Flesh Hooks, Implant Attack, Catalyst and Warp Field - 183 pts 

Tyrant Guard Brood: 3 Tyrant Guards with Flesh Hooks and Implant Attacks - 156 pts 

Elites 

Hunter Slayers: 3 Lictors - 240 pts

Warrior Brood: 1 Tyranid Warrior with Venom Cannon, Scything Talons, Flesh Hooks and Implant Attack, 2 Tyranid Warriors with Deathspitters, Scything Talons, Flesh Hooks and Implant Attacks, 6 Tyranid Warriors with Scything Talons, Rending Claws, Flesh Hooks and Implant Attacks - 337 pts 

Warrior Brood: 1 Tyranid Warrior with Venom Cannon, Scything Talons, Implant Attack and Extended Carapace, 2 Tyranid Warriors with Deathspitters, Scything Talons, Implant Attack and Extended Carapace, 6 Tyranid Warriors with Scything Talons, Rending Claws, Implant Attacks and Extended Carapace - 355 pts

Troops 

Devouring One Species: Leaping Gaunt with Adrenal Glands (Weapon Skill), Toxin Sacs, Implant Attack and Scything Talons - 14 pts 

Shredder Swarm Species: Ripper Swarm with Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands (Initiative) - 15 pts

Devouring One Brood: 2 Devouring Ones with Acid Blood, 30 Devouring Ones - 468 pts 

Devouring One Brood: 2 Devouring Ones with Acid Blood, 30 Devouring Ones - 468 pts 

Devouring One Brood: 2 Devouring Ones with Acid Blood, 30 Devouring Ones - 468 pts 

Devouring One Brood: 2 Devouring Ones with Acid Blood, 30 Devouring Ones - 468 pts 

Shredder Ripper Swarm: 10 Shredder Bases - 150 pts 

Shredder Ripper Swarm: 10 Shredder Bases - 150 pts 

Fast Attack 

Ravener Brood: 6 Raveners with Scything Talons and Rending Claws - 270 pts 

Ravener Brood: 6 Raveners with Scything Talons and Deathspitters - 294 pts 

Gargoyle Brood: 32 Gargoyles - 320 pts 

Heavy Support 

Torrasque Species: Carnifex with Adrenal Glands (Yes), Enhanced Senses, Toxin Sacs, Extended Carapace, Implant Attack, Venom Cannon and Scything Talons - 161 pts 

Torrasque: 1 Torrasque - 161 pts 

The Three Wise Ones: 1 Zoanthrope with Catalyst, 1 Zoanthrope with Warp Blast, 1 Zoanthrope with Synapse Creature - 142 pts

Biovore Brood: 3 Biovores with Frag Spore Mines, Poison Spore Mines and Bio-Acid Spore Mines - 234 pts

Spoils

Captive Girl: 1 10 year old girl encased in cocoon - 4 pts 

Weasely Executive: 1 sleazy executive obsessed with bringing the Tyranids into civilisation - 8 pts 

Metamorphic Chrysalis: 1 Metamorphic Cocoon with a psychic loved one - 6 pts

Infested Colony: 1 derelict colony infested with Tyranids - 20 pts

TOTAL: 5,200 pts

The list itself is fairly straightforward. It starts with two of the beautiful Alien Queen Hive Tyrants, my favourite Tyranid model. One has a set of rending claws to grasp and snatch away floor paneling and clutch at any small children that may be hiding underneath, and they're also pretty handy for ripping apart any robots that might get in their way, and can fire Warp Blasts so I have something to do in the shooting phase. The other has a venom cannon because it's just too iconic not to include one, and a Warp Field for some extra protection against the numerous heavy weapons that will probably be thrown at it. Both have Catalyst, the best psychic power the Tyranids have. 

Each Hive Tyrant of course has a personal brood of ultra-deadly and hyper cunning elite bodyguards to ward off harm and loom menacingly at the entrances if their charge is confronted with a fierce warrior mom with a combi-flamer. Like the other creatures in the list they also have Implant Attacks because of course all the creatures in this army have a proboscis-like tongue with a small maw on the end. 

The elites start naturally with a full 3 Lictors, the coolest Tyranid unit in the game - I mean come on, they turn invisible! Not INVISIBLE invisible like Stealthsuits of course, but it's the closest you can get without any technology. The only other Elites options Tyranids can normally get are Tyranid Warrior Broods, so I threw in two healthy sized broods, one with Flesh Hooks to spearhead the attack and one with Extended Carapace to resist being shot while they provide Synapse coverage. Both have a smattering of support weapons, partially for tactical flexibility but also because I do like having something to do in the shooting phase. 

The Troops are an interesting part. From the outset it was always going to be a sea of spiky clawed death. See, one of my most vivid memories of playing Brood War was looking out across the sprawling jungles of Aiur and beholding, through my omniscient Black Sheep Wall vantage point, a bunch of Zerglings rampaging through the western approach to the Warp Gate I was getting ready to blow up. The sight of little discrete packs of clawed space bugs splitting off to tear down various structures in their path has always stuck with me, and that is exactly the scene I want to recreate with this Tyranid army. 

Originally this was going to mean lots of Hormagaunts, but then I thought I might have some fun with Genetic Modification, and immediately pounced on the chance to create Hormagaunts with venomous claws, Adrenal Glands (mandatory on Gaunts with that name) and make my Implant Attacks completely ubiquitous across the army. Thus was born the Devouring One. 

Finding this whole Genetic Modification thing kind of fun, I then had a go at what I could do with Rippers and created the Shredder, an evolved Ripper with potent digestive toxins and adrenal glands to consume biological material even faster, which makes a lot of sense for a Hive Fleet that specialises in infesting planetary ecosystems, pumping them into reproductive overdrive and then feasting on the ripe juicy remains. 

Fast Attack is also fairly straightforward, with two nice sized broods of Raveners, one semi-shooty and one extra-rippy, and a flock of Gargoyles for rooting out hidden resistance and burning down shelters and settlements. 

Finally I went with one of everything on the Heavy Support menu, because all of the Tyranid Heavy Support units are awesome. I was going to use a regular Carnifex, but instead had to genetically engineer a new Carnifex species as a roundabout way of getting a regular Carnifex with an Implant Attack. 

And that's about it, what I would do if I had all the Tyranid models. If you wish to see this army brought to life at some point, you are welcome to donate any NIB or NOS 2001 Tyranid models to me free of shipping charge. 

Otherwise be sure to come back throughout International Goth Month for more ghoulish and spooky army lists.