Codex: Tyranids

Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition

by Games Workshop

The Tyranid hive fleets are rapacious alien swarms that flow from beyond the galactic fringe to devour all life. From their chitinous blades and parasitic guns to the vast hive ships that ferry them across the stars, everything about the Tyranids is organic. Like an endless insect swarm, their individual warrior organisms are given unified purpose by the imperatives of a vast and ineffable alien consciousness known as the Hive Mind.

This vast, ineffable, and predatory metasentience has but a single goal – to feed. Its fleets strip world after world of all biomass, leaving nothing in their wake. The smothering psychic shroud known as the Shadow in the Warp rolls before them, isolating each new prey world and sowing terror through its defenders before the invasion swarms descend. When the Tyranids attack they do so in unstoppable numbers, unleashing nightmarish bio-weapons upon their victims.

This expansive book is a must-have for those who play and collect the devouring forces of the Tyranids. It provides the rules to play a Tyranid army, and contains a mountain of background lore, so you can learn about the history of the Tyranids' unstoppable onslaught into the galaxy, the combat applications of their countless organic bio-weapons, and the divergences in evolution and behaviour between the tendrils of the innumerable hive fleets.

Inside this 128-page hardback book, you'll find:
– In-depth coverage on the vast, nearly-uncountable swarm, and the numerous conflicts the Hive Fleets have been involved in since the Imperium first encountered them. You'll also find information on the named Hive Fleets such as Leviathan, Behemoth, and Kronos
– Gruesome and detailed artwork that depicts everything from the lowliest Ripper to the most terrifying Hive Tyrant, each boasting chitinous armour and vicious fangs
– All the rules you need to play a Tyranid army, including 41 datasheets covering every size and shape of biomorph and bioweapon, as well as a number of rules for rare organisms, Hive Fleet adaptations, adaptive physiologies, spore seeding, synaptic imperatives, and Hive Mind disciplines
– All the rules you need to wage a Crusade campaign of narrative games in which your Hive Fleet devours planets, including new Agendas, Battle Traits, Requisitions, and Crusade Relics
– An 'Eavy Metal miniatures showcase full of wonderfully painted Tyranid miniatures

128 pages, Hardcover

Published April 16, 2022

About the author

Games Workshop Group PLC (often abbreviated as GW) is a British miniature wargaming manufacturing company. Games Workshop is best known as developer and publisher of the tabletop wargames Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

Reviews

[Luke Costin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I'm reviewing the 10th edition codex, there isn't really an entry for it on Goodreads yet

Feels weird reviewing a rulebook essentially... so weird I'm not including it on my Instagram for stuff I've finished

I don't play Nids so I can only review this from a lore perspective and unfortunately, it's a bit lacking. You get a general feel for the army and what they are like but coming from previous editions, the unit-specific lore is pretty barebones. Before you would have full pages explaining each of the tyranid organisms while now you just get a quick paragraph next to the rules from the model.
If you just want the latest rules this codex is essential but if you want to learn more about this army's background I'd suggest grabbing an older codex.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

[T R Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Codex: Tyranids continues with the lore/gallery/rules Codex layout of the 9th edition Warhammer 40,000 rules and includes a nice mix of old and new artwork. The lore section of the book has been rewritten and updated for this version of the book, including all the background of the faction, as well as sections for the major and minor sub-factions. Of particular interest for me was the in-universe report of a xenosavant on the Parasite of Mortrex (a creature returning to the game with its own model for this edition) that is both quite informative, and a little funny. The model gallery section of the book is pretty much the same as always, but I would have preferred to see some more examples from the minor Hive Fleets rather than the single model each that they got.

The rules section of the book is, as usual for this edition, is split into Open Play, Crusade, and Matched Play sections, followed by the unit datasheets. This is all pretty standard, but Tyranids unique style of sub-faction rules (that allow players to change some of their rules before a battle) and their Crusade rules (that allow a player to consume worlds, with the different stages enhancing different units) re a great way to integrate the lore into Narrative rules.