8th Edition 40k

I got to play in the local scene's inaugural 8th edition event this past weekend.  Overall, I am pretty happy with the new direction.  I thoroughly enjoyed both games I played, and the units were fun and thematic without having quite as much stuff-going-on as an Age of Sigmar warscroll (most units seem to have one special thing they do; although wargear adds in a bunch of extra stuff as well).


I played Tyranids at 1000 points and used the Battalion detachment.  Here are my thoughts on some of the specific units I used:

Flyrant: I kept charging things with this guy.  I had the same problem for quite a while with my Abhorrant Ghoul King.  The Hive Tyrant is really a buffer, not a fighty hero.

Genestealers: I brought a unit of 20 of these guys and they sure did tear stuff up.  I love their 5+ invulnerable save, especially when combined with Catalyst.

Lictor: The Lictor can only be fielded as a solo, not in threes like the good old days.  It's really better for adding an extra push to an existing combat, or picking off a lone hero or war machine crew or something.  Maybe it could be used to tie up a vehicle in combat and annoy it.  It took 3 turns to clear up some Ripper Swarms though, so I wasn't impressed with its killiness.

Mycetic Spore!: Oopse, I misspelled Tyrranocyte.  I rocked one of my old Mycetic Spores as a Tyrranocyte and it was a big pile of fun.  I'll be doing more of this for sure.  Also, you can now pack 20 Tyranid Warriors into one egg, or put a Hive Tyrant in it.  The possibilities are endless.

Biovores: I saved my favorite for last here.  I've always had a deep-seated love for Spore Mines, and though they are way way overpriced to purchase, the ones that Biovores create were extremely satisfying.  They made a really fun obnoxious screening unit, and if they survived, they got to be homing bombs, charging enemies and blowing up on them.

I also brought some Warriors, a Tyranid Prime, and some Rippers, but I have no particularly strong opinions about them.

I played against Chaos Marines in round 1, and I can attest that Maulerfiends (or "Maulerfriends" as she called them) are serious business.  We played the Patrol (I think that's what it was called) mission from the Narrative section of the new rulebook.  It was very thematic and fun.  We added objective markers because we decided that just killing each-other is lame.

In round 2 I played against other Tyranids and we played the Ambush mission.  One thing that I was very struck by in this game (and in the other as well really) was how zany deployment was.  We set up in our proper deployment areas, but after that all bets were off.  We were dropping stuff all over the battlefield.  I actually really liked the chaotic nature of it with Rippers burrowing out of the ground, Mycetic Spores falling out of the sky, Lictors popping out of the underbrush.

I will definitely be playing 40k this edition.  I was not a fan of 6th (or by extension 7th), but 8th seems like it will be really fun, and even if AoS is my primary game, 40k will be a nice palate cleanser now and again.