The Evolution of the Tyranid Warrior

In space, no one can hear you scream.

The recent tyranid release was met with a lot of skepticism and pessimism, with many claiming that its power level was not high enough for it to contend with most competitive lists (aka Tau and Eldar). And while the point costs of units went down almost across the board, very few major adjustments were made. One unit which many people were anxiously awaiting an update was the tyranid warriors. They saw a lot of use in 3rd edition when they were immune to instant death, but when they lost this in 4th, it was difficult to justify their point cost considering that a single krak rocket could kill one of the 3 wound horrors. Now that the dust has settled from the new tyranid release, it is clear that the warriors are still in the same predicament they have been in for years. You pay a premium to get a synapse spreading 3 wound body, but due to a low toughness and save they just are not durable.

Not all is lost however, even though the warriors did not receive a rules update, they did get a great redesign of their plastic kit! In fact, this was probably the most exciting aspect of the new tyranid release for me; finally Jes Goodwin’s excellent models have been updated with arms properly scaled for them (rather than resorting to the comically oversized carnifex arms).  Despite their limited use in competitive 40k play, I made sure to buy a box of them, remembering fondly working with the plastic models back in 2001 when they were originally released in the 3rd edition of 40K.

Not owning a huge number of tyranids, I thought it would be fun to start building a small tyranid force for use in Kill Teams, focusing mainly on tyranid warriors. The tyranid warriors have always been an iconic element of Warhammer 40,000, represented in several classic illustrations (I particularly remember those from the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40K; quite a few good ones are in the Codex Imperialis). Nothing in the tyranid range has achieved the wholly alien and bizarre look captured by the original plastic tyranid warriors . Their bipedal ant-like frames tower over their modern counterparts and their faces have a subtle, yet horrible, resemblance to a rat.

This got me thinking that it would be interesting to include tyranid warriors from all of the different tyranid eras in the kill team. Fortunately, I already had three of the plastic warriors from 1992’s Tyranid Attack boxed game, and after a brief jaunt on ebay I had a few of the metal 2nd edition versions. While I am still working on finishing all of the warriors in my collection, I thought people might like to see pictures of some of the different tyranid warrior variants released over the years (and see how they look side by side).

Plastic sprue of a tyranid warrior from Tyranid Attack. 

Of all of the warriors that I have worked on, I think I had the most fun working on the original plastic tyranid warriors from Tyranid Attack. For being released in the early 90s, the quality of the models is really impressive. Each one comes on a separate sprue with options to arm them with rending claws, bones swords or a Deathspitter. Also, the plastic used to cast the models is superb and cleans up remarkably similarly to the current Games Workshop plastics.

Plastic tyranid warrior from 1992’s Tyranid Attack boxed game. Oh the horror!

The metal 2nd edition tyranid warriors have a unique character of their own, but retain some of the interesting aspects of the earlier plastic ones, including the stinger-like abdomen. They take on a slightly more humorous tone, with comically large rending claws and a tendency to have their tongues sticking out playfully/mockingly. Additionally, they are posed a little awkwardly, with their guns held fully at arm's length. But I can’t help but love the look of their venom cannons (complete with the bayonet that would later find its way on the more modern plastic venom cannons, ha ha).

Metal tyranid warrior from the 2nd edition tyranids. Look at those massive bear-claw hands!

The newer tyranid warrior plastics are grounded a little more in reality than their predecessors, taking on a squatter build with a tail to aid in balancing. My favorite aspect of them are the carapace crests on their heads, as they remind me of the Xenomorph queen from Aliens (an obvious influence!).

Modern tyranid warrior. Their resemblance of xenomorphs has never been stronger!

The halls of lonely space stations are safe no longer!

With three warriors assembled, I need to assemble two or three more to be ready to play Kill Teams with them. While I was little concerned at first when building them, I think the three warriors look nice together, unified in their strangeness! Hopefully you all enjoyed the pictures of these monstrosities as much as I did building them!

- Adam Wier