Well, as Ragnarok and I didn't exactly have the best timing for posting this idea (a week or so before the move) I thought I'd post the condensed, cleaned-up version for your consideration.
Tyranid Orbital Weaponry: Pyro-acid bombardment: Many tyranid ships carry large batteries of bio-artillery to use against enemy fleets. These monstrous guns do not fire conventional ammunition - They shoot Pyro-acid spores.
A distant relative of the Spore Mine, each Pyro-acid spore is a hollow chitin shell packed with a highly corrosive acid, and a brood of vicious but short-lived Tyranid creatures in womb-like sacs.
Upon impact, the gallons of acid will eat into the ship, accompanied by the thrashing claws of the brood, causing extensive damage before the creatures themselves succumb to the volatile liquid.
Occasionally, these massive cannons will be directed planetward, and gargantuan pyrocannon clusters will spasm and fire, bombarding the planet and leaving blistering pools of acid that later form the basis for the digestion pools that feed the fleet and allow the Tyranids to regain lost biomatter from the world's conquest.
Plot out a pyro-acid bombardment like any other orbital bombardment. The Pyro-acid spores use the small blast template and scatter only D6 inches, not 2D6. Each bombardment uses three templates, roll to scatter for each from the target point. Any model wholly or partially under the template suffers an AP6+AT6+ Disrupt, Ignore Cover hit. Note: the creation of permanent Acid Pools in-game was apparently seen as too complex, so it was scrapped. Perhaps it could be added as a suggested rule in the list?
Nightmare Spores: When Tyranids attack a planet, one of their main methods of assault is by pumping billions of spores into the atmosphere. these land on the planet and begin Tyranoforming the world while the defenders are still trying to save it. During the tyranid assault on Triplex Phall, 15 trillion tonnes of spores of various types are estimated to have been used
In the long term, the spores will turn the ground to a sludge of digested vegetable matter, and strange parasitic plants will develop over trees and buildings. In the short term, however, the effect is that the microscopic spores clog airways, jam weapons and generally add to the sense of a hopeless fight against the planet itself, some defenders have been known to rout just having seen the sky turn black with the tiny tyranid micro-organisms.
When the Nightmare spores are used, every enemy formation (including flyers) takes D3-1 Blast Markers. this can be reduced by 1 if the formation contains a unit with the Leader ability.
Mycetic reinforcements: Mycetic spores are not limited to the early stages of a planetary invasion. Although the initial transfer of forces leaves the Tyranid ships almost devoid of life, they still contain a considerable number of forces in hormone-induced stasis, ready to be aroused to repel boarding teams, should the prey-creatures be so audacious as to attempt it. Occasionally, however, a tyranid ship will receive the command to disgorge it's defenders onto the planet below via large banks of spore clusters on its underside. These spores will fall like deadly hail into the midst of the Tyranid ranks, smashing open to bolster the attack and hasten the slaughter. The sight of the Tyranid swarms swelling in size in a matter of minutes is more than many defenders can take, and they flee - usually into the waiting claws of the Brood.
When the Mycetic reinforcement "attack" is made, all Tyranid broods that contain a Synapse creature gains D6 creatures as if it had just spawned (they DO NOT gain an extra D6 if there is no enemy within 30cm). If a 6 is rolled, any single enemy formation within 30cm of that formation gains a Blast Marker (Tyranid player's choice if more than one formation is within 30cm)
Tyranid Hivefleet Support Droneship:200pts These small and fast vessels make up the bulk of most Hivefleets. they mount single, specialised weapon systems and are used as cannon fodder. One equipped to support an invasion force will be armed with massive vents for expelling necrotic spores or a huge distended body packed with Mycetic spores.
The droneship may take one of the following weapons/abilities for free: - Mycetic reinforcements - Nightmare spores In addition, it may have: - 0-5 Mycetic spores at 25 points each
Hiveship: 350points These massive floating behemoths form the nexus of the Tyranid fleet. each one is well over six kilometres long, and dwarf any of their equivelants. At the core of each one is a Norn Queen, a colossal organic gene sequencer and source of the Tyranid creatures that seek to infest and consume the galaxy. When a Hiveship chooses to lend its firepower to the battlefield, the effects are invariably devastating
The Hiveship may take two of the following weapons/abilities for free (duplicates may be taken): - Mycetic reinforcements - Nightmare spores - Pyro-acid bombardment In addition, it may have: - 0-10 Mycetic spores at 25 points each - up to one additional main weapon/ability at +100 points (troplicates may be taken)* The Hiveship is Slow and Steady (or whatever that rule's called)
*This is HIGHLY dubious, I put it in to represent the really HUGE ships that the Tyranids can bring to bear.
[Notes] I've kept the Tyranid orbital support in a strictly supporting role - the focus of the list is the Swarm, and I didn't want to detract from that, so the fleet is mostly centred on disruption of the enemy or augmentation of the swarm. The only directly damaging attack is the Pyro-acid bombardment, and I kept that deliberately weak, but high on BM-causing effects. Let the Imperium and the Eldar have their battlefield-shattering bombardments, we have the ability to rejuvenate the swarm with reinforcements and smash large enemy formations into dust.
The ships are expensive, but that's because they're versatile - and if you want to pay almost 500 points for a fully-decked Hiveship, then good for you, but remember it's damn near useless without any Synapse creatures left.
So, Ideas? Comments? remember, it may look nasty, but it isn't, it's just *weird*
EDIT: Big ol' Spellcheck.
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