Tyranid Transports : The Emetifuge and Endogaunt

(Come on guys, the taxi's waiting!)

So, this week I'm presenting my first guest post, written by one of my oldest friends and gaming regulars. Currently they're both testing the patience of Waterdhavian nobility in the Tyranny of Dragons campaign and chittering defiantly in the face of my Astartes on Gevaudan.

This post deals with an interesting concept, that of transport options for Tyranids. This is something that, with the exception of Mycetic Spores / Tyrannocytes and the holes dug by Trygons, they lack on the tabletop in Warhammer 40k. They had better options back in the days of Epic, with Harridans able to get Gargoyles into combat range in relative safety and the Malefactor as a heavy troop transport. Inspired by our Gevaudan campaign my friend has decided to tackle that issue, and I'll hand you over to him to explain what he's come up with and the reasoning behind his decisions.

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In keeping with the established Warhammer 40K post theme of rounding out army composition and filling in holes with much-needed units; I'm here to add my two-cents regarding my preferred force, everyone's favourite space locusts - the Tyranids.

I'm *InfinityCircuit, likely better known here as Ferethos' player and source of trouble only slightly less frequently than Thrul. In this post I'll be outlining a couple of units that I feel the current Tyranid army list sorely needs - ground transports.

Though they can dish out a lot of damage when utilised properly Tyranids (especially the light infantry) continue to suffer from an extreme lack of survivability in the long term. Getting units across the lines of fire and into position to actually deal damage almost invariably ends up with them being blown to smithereens. On the flipside, the heavier units can take the punishment but take far too long to get into a position where they can be useful (I am looking at you, crushing claw Carnifex).

The Shield of Baal update gave us back the much needed mycetic spore (sorry, Tyrannocyte) with a few significant improvements. I feel this is definitely a step in the right direction which makes a lot of previously near-useless Tyranid units practical again, but it's not quite far enough for me. So, after a little prompting from the blog-lord, I've worked out house rules for a couple of Tyrannic ground transports intended as (incredibly) vague equivalents to the Rhino/Razorback and the Land Raider; the Endogaunt and the Emetifuge. If you feel these are up to code, balanced and useful please feel free to use them in your games.

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Endogaunt :  

"I say it isn't natural. Or it is at least grossly unfair. Something that large should simply not be permitted to move with such speed... You see it yes? Point your magnoculars over there Dupont... yes there you are, that's it. Mon dieu, did it just leap those trenches? Yes Lavoie I know, I SAW the thing, it was a rhe... never mind.

Look, it's sweeping round towards the command post. Not all that dangerous after all then; just another stupid beast... I don't care how fast the cursed thing is, it isn't getting us up on these walls..."

Audio recording recovered from remains identified as PDF Sgt. Reynard Travere following an early Tyrannic assault on Mirabeau spaceport, Gevaudan Primaris.

Distended and sinuous, the Endogaunt was first encountered by the PDF of Gevaudan Primaris and quickly earned a reputation for sowing terror and confusion amongst the rank and file. Deceptively fast for their size, these creatures typically carry small numbers of Tyranid assault organisms in their thoracic cavity, shielded by their distended outer ribcage. This monstrosity will typically bound across the field of battle in short order, often ignoring the enemy vanguard entirely to deposit its deadly cargo amongst the rearward lines.

Endogaunt (Fast Attack / Dedicated Transport) : 75pts

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	LD	SV
Endogaunt	3	2	5	5	4	3	2	8	4+

Unit Composition : 1 Endogaunt 
Unit Type : Monstrous Creature
Wargear : Two Pairs of Scything Talons
Special Rules : Bounding Leap, Fearless, Fleet, Instinctive Behaviour (Feed), Intra-Genus Symbiosis, Transport Beast

Options :

• May exchange one pair of Scything Talons for Rending Claws : 5pts
• May replace one set of Rending Claws with a Twin Linked Deathspitter : 5pts
• OR a Twin Linked Devourer with Brainleech Worms : 15pts
• May take items from the Biomorph list.

Intra Genus Symbiosis (Special Rule) : An Endogaunt transporting a unit of Hormagaunts or Termagants may be taken as a dedicated transport and does not occupy a slot on the force organisation chart.

Transport Beast (Special Rule) : An Endogaunt can carry a single unit with the Tyranids Faction and has a Transport Capacity of 10. Declare which unit is being carried during deployment.

Units disembarking from an Endogaunt are placed such that every model is wholly within 6" of the Endogaunt and none are within 1" of an enemy or within impassable terrain. Any model that cannot be placed is removed as a casualty. A unit cannot move or charge in the same turn it disembarks, but can shoot or run.

No unit can embark inside an Endogaunt for the rest of the game.

Design Notes :

Originally intended as an answer to the Rhino and similar basic transports, the Endogaunt was going to be pretty unimposing and single-purpose. After thinking it through it seemed more likely that any Tyranid transport creature would also be rounded out into a support role for its passengers so the thing was scaled into something resembling a monstrous hormagaunt.

I'm fairly happy with the final results and feel that keeping ranged capacity as an optional upgrade is a reasonable way of keeping the overall points cost down alongside the fact that units can't get back in after being deployed. That being said I'm still rather concerned that 75 points may be too cheap for the Endogaunt's stat block (the Tyrannocyte drop pod was used as a basis for comparison), so this is going to be pretty heavily play-tested.

Michael's Thoughts :

We did have a few niggles at first, mostly with balancing its survivability, but I think we've reached a really solid middle ground as if it was any more fragile it'd just disappear as soon as it comes under heavy small arms fire. The weapons and melee ability are kind of an afterthought, allowing it to contribute after it's cargo have dismounted, but they're not enough to make it a viable combat unit in its own right. To my mind that's exactly how a dedicated transport should operate.

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Emetifuge : 

"We thought the Screamer-Killers were bad, well apparently they weren't content to leave it at that.

We'd set up defensive positions. Barricades, what trenches we'd been able to dig out in the time we'd had before they fell on us... I'm not sure who had managed to requisition the artillery but Emperor bless them because we actually had a basilisk. I swear we were holding them off at first. Droves of them were going down. Even the big ones were having a hard time of it, they were!

Then this bloody great thing looms up out of the smoke and suddenly it's coming at us, twice as fast as I've seen any of the big ones move that's not in the air. Orders come through to focus fire on the thing 'shoot the big one' they say, as if we're not already pumping everything we have into it. It didn't even flinch when they emptied out the missile tubes. It just kept coming. Emperor preserve me what holes we did punch in it started closing up again right after. Then it hits our line and just sort of stops for a second; then we hear this noise like when the Commissar's had too much amasec, only a lot bigger and ten times as loud. All these holes open up around its neck and out of them the small ones with the big claws just come flying out right into the trench, they were all over us in a few seconds.

I saw another one further down the line just split open down the middle and drop a damned Screamer-Killer onto the 25th. Did you hear me? It was carrying one of them great big ones inside it like it was nothing!

We'd just about finished off the hunter killers when the big one started moving again, and it's belly was twice as big as it had been before it threw up the little buggers at us. Those holes on it's neck opened up again and that was it. I saw friends melt right before my eyes, right down to the bone in seconds... So yes, I ran. And so will you when they get here."

Final testimony of Pvt. Olivier Lyon of the Gevaudan PDF shortly before execution for desertion.

 
Hulking, yet spindle-limbed, Emetifuges are little more than heavily armoured receptors for the hive mind. Bred to act as interceptors and rapid response carriers, they transport lesser Tyranid organisms in their gaping abdominal cavity. Actually grown containing their charges from inception, an Emetifuge will actively hunt down its former passengers after battle in order to devour them and use the biomass to gestate a new brood for transport.

Having little to no intelligence of their own they are extensions of the will of the swarm and will plunge headlong into enemy fortifications to disgorge their passengers into the thickest of the fighting. Many would be heroes have assumed that the now-emaciated looking creature is of limited threat, only to have their armour and flesh alike, dissolved by a wave of concentrated acid.

Emetifuge (Heavy Support) : 250pts

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	LD	SV
Emetifuge	3	4	6	6	5	2	3	10	2+

Unit Composition : 1 Emetifuge

Unit Type : Monstrous Creature

Wargear : 2 Twin Linked Devourers with Brainleech Worms, Emetic Geyser

Special Rules : Hyperactive Metabolism, Locomotion, Peristaltic Motion, Shadow In The Warp, Synapse Creature, Transport Beast

Options : 

• May replace one Twin Linked Devourer with Crushing Claws : 15pts
• OR a Stranglethorn Cannon : 15pts
• OR a Heavy Venom Cannon : 20pts
• May time items from the Biomorphs list.

Dry Heave (Special Rule) : Despite the speed with which the Emetifuge generates acid, synthesising such volumes takes time. The Emetic Geyser can only be used from the turn after any transported units have disembarked. Furthermore, after firing the Emetic Geyser the controlling player must roll 1D6, on a roll of a 1 or 2 the creature's reserves have been temporarily expended and the Emetic Torrent cannot be fired on the following turn.

Emetic Geyser (Weapon) : Upon depositing its charges, the Emetifuge begins to rapidly synthesise a highly potent acid. When at capacity, the creature can discharge this substance with significant force, sloughing flesh from bone and corroding all but the hardiest armour.

Emetic Geyser : Range Template, Strength 4, AP 3, Special : Assault 1, Fleshbane, Torrent, Dry Heave.

Hyperactive Metabolism (Special Rule) : As a result of its overdeveloped digestive tract, should it come under attack an Emetifuge (intentionally or no) is capable of "repurposing" its passengers to effect limited battlefield triage. Once wounded, on the following turn the Emetifuge gains a Feel no Pain (5+) save. Whenever this save is made successfully, one randomly allocated model currently being transported suffers an automatic wound with no armour save allowed. The Feel no Pain save can only be made if the Emetifuge is currently transporting a unit.

Locomotion (Special Rule) : Capable of using all six limbs cohesively to build up to impressive speeds, the Emetifuge may move up to 12" during the movement phase. This movement prevents the creature from taking the time to properly bring its weapons to bear however; as such if the Emetifuge moved more than 6" in the preceding movement phase, it is only able to make snap shots with a single weapon in the shooting phase.

Peristaltic Motion (Special Rule) : Non-Monstrous Creature units disembarking from this unit may assault in the turn they do so, unless the Emetifuge arrived from reserve that turn or moved further than 6".

Transport Beast (Special Rule) : An Emetifuge can carry a single unit with the Tyranids Faction and has a Transport Capacity of 20 (Monstrous Creatures count as 20 models for the purposes of transport capacity). Declare which unit is being carried during deployment. An Emetifuge may transport the following units...

• Carnifex Brood.
• Genestealer Brood.
• Hormagaunt Brood.
• Ravener Brood.
• Ripper Brood.
• Termagant Brood.
• Tyranid Warrior Brood.

Units disembarking from an Emetifuge are placed within the forward 180 degree arc of the model. Place the unit such that every model is wholly within 6" of the Emetifuge and none are within 1" of an enemy or within impassable terrain. Any model that cannot be placed is removed as a casualty.

No unit can embark inside an Emetifuge for the rest of the game.

Design Notes : 

I used three core units as points of comparison for the Emetifuge - the Trygon Prime, the (almost useful) Tyrannofex and a personal favourite; the Land Raider Crusader. The basic armament is more or less intended to fulfil a similar anti-infantry role to the Crusader's standard layout, which was also intended as a counterpoint to the Endogaunt's melee support focus.

First and foremost my concern with this unit was survivability, the stat block is marginally less survivable than the Tyrannofex and generally less intimidating than the Trygon Prime in exchange for the transport capacity. Making the Emetifuge a synapse creature seemed more or less required - one problem with the Tyrannocyte for quick unit deployment is that it's very easy to end up with your gaunts or carnifexes pretty rapidly resorting to instinctive behaviour if you're not careful with your placement, so I wanted to include at least one thing that could actually provide synapse control for its contents (which is hopefully reflected in the points cost).

I am really quite pleased with the Emetic Torrent and its accompanying rules. The idea of this thing charging into the thick of it and dousing everything in a torrent of gastric acid amuses me more than it should.

Michael's Thoughts :  

So it's basically one of the big Tanker bugs from Starship Troopers, save that it's full of shrieking Tyranids and so long as it's got some biomass inside it can regenerate. Ouch.

Again I thematically like this unit, it's an interesting adaptation of the Hive Mind to armies that rely on overwhelming firepower to keep Tyranids at bay such as the Imperial Guard and Tau. Having transports that can shoulder their way through even the heaviest artillery fire to disgorge their cargo right in the midst of the enemy is both terrifying and logical. The unit's abilities and special rules are wonderfully organic, in both an aesthetic and thematic sense, fitting well with the feel of the Tyranids as a whole whilst simultaneously being pretty unique with regards to their current unit loadout.

I love both the rules for the Emetic Geyser and the Hyperactive Metabolism. In the first draft of the Emetifuge it had an Invulnerable save, which I immediately flagged as a problem. I can appreciate that these things are tough, but the Hyperactive Metabolism approach is just so much more fitting than a standard Invulnerable Save, and better balanced in that it's at the cost of damage to the unit being carried. Likewise whilst the Emetic Cannon is vicious when used against infantry the fact that it can't be used until the turn after the Emetifuge's cargo has disembarked is an excellent balancing factor, which simultanously forces enemies to choose between focussing their fire on the freshly disembarked Hormagaunts / Genstealers / Carnifexes or attempting to eliminate the monstrous creature that's about to melt their infantry. 

I also agree with InfinityCircuit with regards to making the Emetifuge a Synapse Creature, as leaving your broods unfocussed and uncontrolled in the middle of an enemy force is a pretty bad idea. There was some discussion with regards to this things transport capacity as well as it potentially being a Dedicated Transport, but we ended up with the above, with both of us pretty happy with the end result.

So, that's my first guest post and I thought it's given you some food for thought. I say food, I mean a nutrient rich slurry formed from the dissolved biomass of your own chittering disgorgings. Like a kebab.

Until Next Time

Happy Gaming

Michael