40k Age of Sigmar: Battle Traits (Imperium Astartes and Tyranids)

I've only got two armies left to go before I've got the basics out of the way (Dark Eldar and Necrons are both currently in the works), so I'd like to discuss what's next, and that's Allegiance Abilities.  I'm not going to add these to the Warscroll Compendiums until I've gotten a chance to test them because I think that an overpowered Battle Trait could easily get a lot more out of hand than a single warscroll.  But I would like to show off the two I'm currently working on.  I'm starting with Space Marines and Tyranids as I did way back when I began this project, mostly because those are the main armies my brother and I have, so it'll be easy to get some test games in.



I had already been thinking about the Battle Trait for Imperium Astartes because I knew that I wanted something that would make Fenryka and Sanguine Astartes interplay more effectively with vanilla marine units.  I had considered Warscroll Battalions as one method, but decided that a Battle Trait would be generally better.

It seems that specific sub-factions are (in AoS proper) going to have one pretty straightforward battle trait, and then one more involved one where you pick from a list or roll on a table.  I plan on following that formula as I delve into 40k Battle Traits.  For Space Marines (now Imperium Astartes) we have "And They Shall Know No Fear" as the straightforward trait, and "Chapter Tactics" as the more contrived trait.  Chapter Tactics lets you tailor your force to not only have a cool thematic ability, but also gain their founding legion's keyword (these keywords are subject to change) so that they can interact with chapter specific units.

I had a hard time deciding whether to make a Battle Trait for Tyranids, or make one for Hive Fleet and another for Broodspawn (why not both?!).  I settled on Tyranids because while I am at times reinventing each army's structure, I still want it to be very thoroughly recognizable since this is a fan project and I shouldn't drift too far from the source material.  So as I tackle Battle Traits, I will be sticking pretty closely to existing factions as opposed to exploring sub-factions.

As for the Tyranid Battle Trait, I decided to move Shadow in the Warp from a psychic power on the Hive Tyrant to being their straightforward trait.  I'm going to put Paroxysm on the Hive Tyrant now, and I think that this Shadow in the Warp, while perhaps not particularly fun, will be a better representation of that particular bit of fluff.  Their more contrived trait is something I've always thought would be a great representation of their fluff, which is having the ability to "evolve" to adapt to a specific opponent.  Kind of like list tailoring after you get to battle.  With "Boundless Evolution" your entire army gets a biomorph at the start of the second battle round.

I'm not sure how I feel yet about the designs for these or the design space in general, but I thought I'd share since that's what I've been working on.  If you have any thoughts about Battle Traits in general, I'd certainly be interested in hearing them.  In the mean-time, I'll probably revisit these in a few weeks once I get the chance to play with them some.