[Farseer_Emlyn]

I found a 5th edition Tyranid playtest on Scribd that has been uploaded in the last 11 hours. I don't know enough about Tyranids to know if it might be legit or not. It looks very bare bones. I don't think I am allowed to post the link, though. If I am, let me know and I'll post it. Otherwise you'll have to check it out for yourself.

Cheers,
Em

[Xanzar]

Having looked at it, I'm mostly against it. Of course, even if it is true, it's still a playtest and likely to change.
Please don't read this post and think I've listed every change, the original document is the only source for all of the details. I've only stated my opinion on a few particular changes that peaked my interest.

Some good things I see:
Broodlord has fleet.
Rippers can claim objectives, and now they take "3 hits" from templates, but are otherwise immune to instant death. My mistake, rippers are still non-scoring.
Lictors have a price drop and can voluntarily deep strike, as well they don't take dangerous terrain while deep striking.
Hormagaunts are cheaper, as expected.
Genestealers are naturally infiltrators.
Spore Mines don't give Kill Points.
Spike rifles might make for some useful Gaunts for once.

A few bad things:
Wings are now a weapon-symbiote (except on Rippers.) "Good bye, dual TL-Devourers. Hello, one-armed winged Tyrant."
Warp Blast has been separated into two separate psychic abilities, and only the Zoanthrope gets the tank-busting one (which is now Str9, but is a lance weapon.)
All upgrade costs are now per brood, not per model. So to take advantage of cost you will need larger single squads. Note here: Warriors can still select different weapon-symbiotes per model. It's a rather confusing and non-standardized codex right now. Genestealers pay per brood for weapons, Warriors and Ravenors pay per model. Gaunts, Rippers, and Gargoyles all have free upgrades on all of their weapons. All biomorphs are per brood, that's things like Enhanced Senses, Toxin Sacs, etc.

A few neutral things:
Genestealers are elite slot. (I guess with the price drop on Hormagaunts, and Rippers claiming objectives, that it is better this way.)
Feeder Tendrils' Preferred Enemy is given to the equipped brood only.

Some of my thoughts:
Why do they even have Acid Maw and Toxin Sacs listed separately? They do the same thing as I read it "The Tyranids weapons gain Poison." vs "The Tyranids weapons, both close combat and ranged gain Poison." Every unit except Gaunts and Gargoyles have them listed together as an upgrade option. Does that mean that "claws" and "scything talons" aren't weapons anymore? I'm guessing this is a mistake and/or they haven't fully thought it out yet.

Look at Extended Carapace. Give it to a Carnifex and AP2 no longer prevents a save. So does that mean Feel No Pain (which is now given by regenerate) works against AP2 weaponry? It's like they are trying to create a reason to FAQ. I also simply don't like the mechanic.

On average, every brood can only select from 3-4 biomorph options. There's only 13 biomorphs to begin with. They really gutted customization, I think. Plus, with biomorph costs being per brood you are really penalized for taking small squads. Take for example the Genestealers, minimum elite squad is 96pts, toxin sacs is 65pts to give it to the brood, so that's ~68% cost upgrade! However if you take a full squad at 192pts it's ~34% cost upgrade (still too much, I think.)

[sionnach19]

Wow, very interesting... I would love a link, if it's permitted.

I had a feeling Nids might be up for the next Xeno codex, I like some of the changes Locke described but some of them seem kinda bleh. Guess we'll see how it all plays out over the next few months, but I'd love to see a new Nid dex come out by the end of this year.

My wallet, on the other hand.... :P

[Farseer_Emlyn]

Hmmm, it's gone. *sigh* I should have downloaded a copy.

Thanks for the review John. I'll keep looking for another copy.

[edit] Found it. I still probably shouldn't post a link though...I'll ask a mod.

[Xanzar]

Looking over it again, it mentioned something about a "destroyer hit" against Monstrous Creatures. Is that an apocalypse term?

[Arschbombe]

Somebody stop the merry-go-round. I want to get off. Nids as the next Xeno codex rewrite? Again? Already? What happened to the Dark Eldar? 6 months ago everyone was convinced they would be next.

[Scizor]

i'm getting really bad feelings from this.

and what the **** do the warriors loose the ability to use differ weapons and upgrades within the brood???

[Arschbombe]

Originally Posted by Scizor

and what the **** do the warriors loose the ability to use differ weapons and upgrades within the brood???

That's probably intended to prevent "nob biker syndrome" where you purposefully mix weapons to create a complex unit for wound allocation purposes.

[Xanzar]

I'm assuming Scizor was reading that from my post. I'll clarify in my original post, but Warrior brood are still allowed to choose different, independent weapon-symbiotes. Biomorphs are per brood, such as Toxin Sacs, Enhanced Senses, etc. Weapon-symbiotes are per model for Warriors and Ravenors but per brood for everyone else.

I never meant for my post to replace the document, I only wanted to state my opinion on certain changes I noticed. There are plenty more changes that I didn't mentioned, but for now I'll at least try to clean up what I did say just to make it clearer.

[Scizor]

alright, its fine in that case. but we just have to wait and see