Recent Content by Kraken

Username: Kraken
Character of Choice: Hive Fleet Kraken
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Game/Anime/Etc. the Character is from: Warhammer 40,000
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The Tyranids are a sinister intergalactic horror, a menace from beyond the stars that seeks to devour everything in its path. Tyranids travel in massive Hive Fleets, vast assemblies of organic space craft that drift through space, pausing only to plunder the biomass of each and every planetary system they encounter.

Tyranid armies are vast hordes of deadly alien creatures – from small, skittering creatures to massive monsters larger than even a battle tank. All are adapted perfectly for combat and each fulfils a specific role upon the battlefield. Diminutive brood creatures such as Termagants and Hormagaunts swarm forwards in great numbers, overwhelming the enemy with their symbiotic weapons or under an avalanche of razor-sharp chitinous claws and fangs. Larger beasts, such as Tyranid Warriors or even the towering Hive Tyrant, are more direct in their brutality, with the strength to tear a man limb from limb. The greatest among the Tyranids can smash through a rockcrete wall with a single blow from its mighty claws.

Unlike the other races of Warhammer 40,000, which fight for glory, honour, territorial gain or even the brutal entertainment of their Dark Gods, the Tyranids' sole motivation is to devour all in their path. They are devoid of emotion, utterly uncaring of the pain, suffering and devastation they leave in their wake - seeking only to scour a planet of its resources before pressing onwards to their next victim.
These then are the Tyranids, an implacable, relentless race of unfathomable alien creatures: voracious, uncaring killers who will not rest until they have harvested every last living thing.

The actions of the Tyranids are directed by a sinister alien intelligence known as the Hive Mind - an unfathomable alien intellect that binds the creatures within a Tyranid army to its will. The Hive Mind psychically fastens the Tyranids together, coordinating their actions - a single sentience that directs the masses.

Without the omnipresent Hive Mind, the creatures in a Tyranid horde revert to their basest instincts. The will of the Hive Mind is passed on through specific Tyranid creatures that share a synaptic link with lesser Tyranids nearby. While these synapse creatures live, any nearby Tyranids will fight on fearlessly, utterly determined to fulfil the will of the Hive Mind. Should this synapse presence disappear, however, the individual Tyranids will regress to their instinctual behaviour (typically hiding from danger, or charging headlong into it).

When the Tyranids attack, they invariably do so in colossal wave assaults - vast sweeping actions involving thousands of individual organisms thrown forward with singular purpose and ferocity. Even the most horrific casualties inflicted by enemy firepower will not deter these broods.

Termagants and Gargoyles both come armed with fleshborers, powerful short-ranged weapons capable of scything down lightly armoured enemies, and Hormagaunts have a high Initiative value of 5 and enough attacks to do some real damage in close combat. The Tyranid army not only boasts broods of diminutive creatures capable of swarming the enemy, but also a slew of powerful elite creatures that are a match for even the finest warriors in the galaxy. These include such creatures as Genestealers, Raveners and Tyranid Warriors - a fearsome selection of deadly foes.

Tyranid Warriors are one of the mainstays of the Hive Fleets. Not only are they skilled, strong and well armed. Genestealers are deadly close combat specialists able to tear through even the most skilled enemies in close combat. They are autonomous, and can rove ahead of the main army, even infiltrating behind enemy lines.

Raveners are as large and deadly as Tyranid Warriors and arrive into battle by burrowing beneath the foe, emerging amidst the enemy to cause maximum carnage. Raveners are specifically suited to fighting in close combat, although they can be adapted to carry ranged weapons, allowing them to wreak havoc from the turn they arrive.

The greatest of the creatures in a Tyranid horde are the towering behemoths whose raw strength and size enable them to smash through the armour of tanks and tear down bastions with ease. These are monsters such as the Carnifex, Trygon, Mawloc and Hive Tyrant, beasts so large and durable only a salvo of heavy weapons fire can be relied upon to take them down.

The Hive Tyrant is a powerful Tyranid creature with enormous physical prowess. Able to carry long-ranged weapons, and tear through infantry and vehicles alike in close combat, it is a versatile and deadly leader for your army. A Hive Tyrant is a Synapse Creature, and is also more than capable of taking on the best fighters in an enemy force.

Trygons and Mawlocs are similar in many ways. Both are gargantuan monstrous creatures that emerge amidst the enemy from below. Strong, deadly and well armed these creatures cause carnage wherever they appear.

Carnifexes are hulking brutes that can be likened to a walking tank. Massive, tough and very durable, they can soak up a preposterous amount of damage and still fight on. Their greatest advantage lies in their massive Strength in close combat (paired with the lethal long-range weapons they can bear), and the fact that they can crush vehicles and infantry alike with contemptuous ease.

Through the course of millennia of war the Tyranids have adapated all manner of creatures to fulfil specific roles on the battlefield - creatures such as the Biovore, which can hurl explosive Spore Mines far across the battlefield, the Hive Guard who fire lethal sentient spines capable of punching a hole in a battle tank, and the Zoanthrope, which channels massive quantities of Warp energy to unleash crackling bolts of coruscating power into the foe.