Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 Tyranid Broodlord

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All Tyranids possess a common psychic bond, known as the "synapse." This bond enables the Tyranid swarms to think, perceive, and act as a single great super-organism, providing nearly seamless co-ordination and control within a Tyranid invasion force so numerous and extensive as to be completely uncontrollable otherwise. The first of a cult's vile children, a First Generation Hybrid or Maelignaci is as much of a monster as it looks. More reminiscent of a Genestealer than a Human, these foul creatures feature between five or six limbs, each one ending in sharp talons. These mutants often serve as Acolyte Hybrids. A few members of this generation possess psychic powers and become a Magus or Genestealer Primus. Other types of Fourth Generation Hybrids include Clamavi, Nexoses, Sancti, and Biophagi. M40 — Blood Angels Chapter boarded of unknown Space Hulk with Genestealers aboard - of all Chapter only 50 Space Marines survived. Each wave of the invasion unleashes a fresh menagerie of biological nightmares, perfectly designed to sow despoilment and death. In mere solar days, a once-thriving planet is scoured of every drop of organic matter.

The hybrids continue to breed and multiply among the population of the host species, eventually forming a Genestealer Cult. As the cult grows in numbers, it begins to spread its influence throughout the planet's political and social structure, placing its members in positions of power within the government and the military. A Genestealer ( Corporaptor hominis) is a bioform of the multispecies Tyranid race that was genetically designed by the Hive Mind for the infiltration of other intelligent species' settled worlds. Under the command of such creatures, the Tyranids operate in perfect unison, slaved to the psychic imperatives of a single communal intelligence. However, should these "synapse" creatures be slain, the link between individual creatures and the Hive Mind will be severed -- many of the lesser organisms will revert to their baser, animalistic behaviours. The bio-construct nature of the Tyranids makes them a terrible foe to face, for their armies contain a creature specialised for every conceivable facet of warfare, which can be altered and re-grown to suit a battle's needs in a short span of time.

Collecting Your Army

Unlike most Tyranid bio-ships, the Narvhal is almost completely defenceless, and possesses almost no bio-weaponry and only a very thin protective carapace. A cluster of monofilament spines on the Narvhal's bow allow it to take in a wide variety of sensory input, including a broad spectrum of gravimetric and electromagnetic signals. Vast swathes of the galaxy have already been stripped of life, and with every passing Terran year the hive fleets push deeper into regions of populated space. Even as the prey races direct their forces to repel these threats, still more Tyranid fleets approach from the intergalactic void and emerge from their aeons-long slumbers. Isolated broods of this Tyranid creature are typified by a blue-indigo coloration. Such beasts have been encountered not only on numerous Space Hulks, notably the Sin of Damnation, but also upon the moons of Ymgarl, once thought home to a tentacle-mawed variation of the xenoform. This strain is possibly specifically nomadic; bio-engineered purely to infect new hosts. To this end, the hive fleet creates an army with the express purpose of overcoming the prey world's defenders before it is stripped of every scrap of biomatter and devoured. A Genestealer hybrid of four or more generations of consistent Human parentage would pass for a baseline Human on cursory inspection, although a closer look would reveal bluish skin, sharp, pointed teeth and unsettling behaviors.

Once these abominations have eaten all they can, they slowly drag their bloated bodies towards digestive pools formed by the Capillary Towers. Rather than spewing the devoured biomass into the pools, the Rippers hurl themselves in, to be digested along with all that they devoured. Hive fleets travel at superluminal speed, though they never enter the Warp. Instead, by using the specialized psychic power of a selectively evolved Hive Ship called a Narvhal, they manipulate the gravity fields of star systems to achieve faster-than-light travel. However these characteristics may not be general across all Genestealers, as they are one of the most mutable Tyranid species and often exhibit a wide and varying range of different traits. It has been hypothesised that these traits manifest depending on the particular host species the infection discovers; this theory has been disregarded by some experts, citing that the traits are more likely different Genestealer subspecies altogether, which are separate from the host. [2c]Their secondary limbs are typically shaped like gnarled hands, allowing them to manipulate objects, climb and even operate simple devices such as touch-panels. The number of digits differs depending on the parent organism.

Along with their biomass, their memories, genetic innovations, and the gene patterns of all of the planet's native life forms are also absorbed. After the last vestiges of life have been absorbed, the Capillary Towers begin to absorb the planet's water systems. All of these liquids are transferred into the voidfaring organisms, some of which may grow dramatically in size as their storage vesicles expand to accommodate the newfound resources. Dominatrixs - The Dominatrixs are the Norn-Queen's link to the Tyranid ground forces. They are huge monsters, almost as large as a Bio-Titan and the stronger, more psychically-powerful female Hive Tyrant. They are symbiotically fused with a smaller (Warrior-sized) entity which acts as a psychic, synaptic link to the linked Norn-Queen aboard her ship. The Tyranid species is ultimately dedicated solely to its own survival, propagation and evolutionary advancement. The Tyranids collectively form a monstrous superorganism that travels across the universe in their great hive fleets of biomechanical Hive Ships, systematically consuming all other biomatter to enable their own rapid evolution and reproduction. To truly exploit the space detritus it inhabits, a Genestealer has great longevity and also the ability to endure long periods without nourishment. A Genestealer may also enter a torpid state at will, lowering its metabolic rate dramatically, therefore allowing them to survive long periods of inactivity and hardship until new prey enters their lair. They tend to choose ambulatory species of sufficient intellect to be space-capable, and hence spread their curse far and wide, and will usually target one whose population is dense enough to keep such a spread secret until it is too late for the infection to be overcome.

Recommended: Movement Trays for 60mm Bases

The Tyranids are a nomadic xenos species governed by a gestalt collective consciousness known as the Hive Mind. The species comprises many different genetically-engineered bioforms, of which the Genestealer is but one. It is unknown if the Shadow in the Warp is created deliberately by the hive fleets, or if it is simply a by-product of the Hive Mind's innate synaptic control. In any case, the Shadow in the Warp creates fear and panic wherever it falls, instilling a pervasive dread into the minds of a prey world's defenders, plunging entire planets into misery and despair.