Tyranids Von Ryan’s Leapers

[Captain Idaho]

You could take Lictors in units.

 

I mean, I like the models. As new Lictors sure?

[Lemondish]

41 minutes ago, Captain Idaho said:

Does the Tyranid Codex need that or other stuff?

Is this based on any sort of extensive knowledge or speculation on the 10th edition meta, or does it come from a theme preference?

 

I'm confused about the immediate negative hostile response to a new Xenos model lol

[Jscarlos18]

I like the model, cool to see their leader having the crest blade and curious as to why they also have three eyes like the deathleaper.

 

Weird they decided to use Von Ryan's Leapers instead of this sculpts being the updated Lictor but glad they brought bck a species of tyranid mentioned in passing.

 

Wonder if any other new tyranid also will be from the past. Iteresting that with this and the Screamer-Killer GW seems to be looking to bring back old metal designs back.

[acrozatarim]

If I had to hazard a guess, the reason these are Von Ryan's Leapers and not Lictors is because there will probably also be a new Lictor, and it will be bigger and scarier now.

[Bryan Blaire]

I mean, come on, there are like 97 varieties of Space Marine, couldn’t GW just have subsisted on producing the one kind?  What do all those additional Space Marine types actually do for the army…

 

Very cool that the ‘Nids are getting a new unit type in a previously limited design area, and nice that they are using older lore as the basis.  The models themselves are really interesting, and from the video, maybe that have a more limber wrapping attack method with them?

Edited April 10, 2023 by Bryan Blaire

[Lemondish]

8 minutes ago, acrozatarim said:

If I had to hazard a guess, the reason these are Von Ryan's Leapers and not Lictors is because there will probably also be a new Lictor, and it will be bigger and scarier now.

This is my theory as well.

[Captain Idaho]

4 minutes ago, Bryan Blaire said:

I mean, come on, there are like 97 varieties of Space Marine, couldn’t GW just have subsisted on producing the one kind?  What do all those additional Space Marine types actually do for the army…

 

 

Yeah but I don't approve of all those variations of Space Marines either. Whataboutery really - because they mismanage the Space Marines doesn't mean they are ok to do so with other factions.

[phandaal]

I would like to see the models in a different color scheme. For someone like me, whose brain is smooth like a precious antique cabochon, the details on their showcase models seem to blur together. Mainly around the center of the model.

[Scribe]

1 minute ago, phandaal said:

I would like to see the models in a different color scheme. For someone like me, whose brain is smooth like a precious antique cabochon, the details on their showcase models seem to blur together. Mainly around the center of the model.

 

I dont blame my smooth brain, I blame my old old old eyes. :D

 

That said, I'm here for more types of nids. Names fine, dont like the 'Von Ryan' then just call em leapers, as everyone will anyway.

[acrozatarim]

3 minutes ago, phandaal said:

I would like to see the models in a different color scheme. For someone like me, whose brain is smooth like a precious antique cabochon, the details on their showcase models seem to blur together. Mainly around the center of the model.

However smooth your precious cabochon brain may be, it nonetheless sparkles in the light.

[Bryan Blaire]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:30 PM, Captain Idaho said:

Yeah but I don't approve of all those variations of Space Marines either. Whataboutery really - because they mismanage the Space Marines doesn't mean they are ok to do so with other factions.

Whataboutery indeed, given your entire line of argumentation has amounted to “But what about the Lictor?”

 

So going by your logic, GW never needed to produce anything beyond a “Space Marine with a Missile Launcher” model - that can do anything - anti-infantry, anti-tank/monster, anti-flyer - there was never any need to design anything beyond that, the single model does everything in the design and play space.  Do you play with anything but that single type of model?

 

Any of our approval or disapproval of anything in the line doesn’t mean diddly.  GW doesn’t ‘mismanage’ any of their faction lines as far as they are concerned and they are 1000% okay to do whatever they want with them, seeing as they own the IP and produce the game and models.

 

Fact is, these are a unit with a name that’s old in the lore that GW is finally doing something with - it’s awesome that it’s from my old 3rd Edition ‘Nid Codex, that’s really outstanding considering how much flak they usually take for not using something old to base stuff on.  It’s also a niche that was occupied by a single unit in an army.  It’s fine that there might now be two or three units in that niche, it’s still not as overloaded as some armies.

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Bryan Blaire

[Marshal Valkenhayn]

I'm actually fond of this new naming convention for Nid units. It gives a sense of weight and history as to when each new varient was first scene, and while it doesn't need to be a thing for every unit, it doesn't really take anything away.

 

As for the use, I think these will be great to put a Lictor in charge of. It's a way to theme an army around jumpscare gribblies and gives Lictors a unit to join and hopefully boost the charge odds of when coming out of the shadows. Not a replacement, but a support.

[phandaal]

People getting offended over other people not liking what they like is the bread and butter of the Internet, but this is a bit extreme.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Tyriks
removed edited quote

[Filter]

2 hours ago, Ramell said:

Cute, baby lictors. 

That's exactly what they are being called in my playgroup.

[Dagoth Ur]

2 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

Nor disenguous.

Let's be charitable and say I'll take your word for it.

 

2 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

The models, thematically, are just Lictors. The article even says so:

 

 

They're just variant Lictors. Does the Tyranid Codex need that or other stuff?

All the article says is that they are ambush predators just like Lictors; I'm not really seeing anything about this being a variant organism of the same clade. Sure, they might visually reappropriate elements of the Deathleaper, but they're not Lictors. They may have - as per the article - a lot in common with them - but so do lobsters and crabs. They're Leapers - a tyranid bioform that, as others have pointed out, has existed as a distinct bioform for quite a while now in the background. That said, I don't really feel like this argument is gonna lead anywhere productive.

[AenarIT]

The models look great imho.
As for their "role" in the Tyranids roster, they look like a release equivalent to the Necrons Obsidian Destroyers. Did they really need yet another fast melee blender unit on top of Skorpekhs, Wraiths, ...? Maybe not, but they look cool so that's all good

[Halandaar]

1 hour ago, Captain Idaho said:

Yeah but I don't approve of all those variations of Space Marines either. Whataboutery really - because they mismanage the Space Marines doesn't mean they are ok to do so with other factions.

 

To go back to my Necrons comparison, the Ophydian Destroyers released in 9th definitely stepped on the toes of the existing Canoptek Wraiths* but that didn't stop them from also getting stuff like the Doomstalker which is obviously a completely different role (and the Reanimator, which despite its visual similarity to the Doomstalker is a different role again).

 

Even if these function like mini-Lictors (and that IS an if, because their stat profile may make them suited to a different kind of target and usage than Lictors), their existence doesn't mean that there won't be other new units filling different niches in the Tyranid range.

 

 

*I'm aware of the history and that the Ophydian Destroyers are a callback to what Wraiths looked like prior to the Canoptek Wraith kit, so obviously there are similarities because they are effectively the same idea executed in two different ways.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Halandaar

[Toxichobbit]

Can we just let people like or dislike the models? None of it should be personal, we all have different tastes.

 

I get what people are saying about Tyranid naming conventions. But honestly, Tyranid's don't really have naming conventions, beyond words that sound cool and alien.

 

A Carnifex was a Roman executioner.

A Lictor was a Roman bodyguard.

A Haruspex was a Roman oracle.

A Dactylis is a type of grass.

An Exocrine is a body fluid gland.

A Termagant is a badly tempered woman.

A Dominatrix is a BDSM woman. 

A Harridan is a bossy old woman.

A Heirophant was a Greek priest.

A Heirodule was a Greek slave.

A Harpy was a Greek mythical creature.

A Nautiloid was a prehistoric cephalopod. 

A Gargoyle is a medieval statue.

A Zoanthrope is a delusional person.

A Trygon is a stingray.

 

 

You get the point. The naming convention is all over the place. Throw in a load of made up names, many of which are variations of actual words they've used as names and you have a real mish-mash of a naming convention that isn't themed around anything. We just think it's  themed because we (or at least most of us) knew most of the words as Tyranid names, rather than what they actually mean.

Edited April 11, 2023 by WAR
removed comment that was then taken out of context

[sitnam]

11 minutes ago, AenarIT said:

The models look great imho.
As for their "role" in the Tyranids roster, they look like a release equivalent to the Necrons Obsidian Destroyers. Did they really need yet another fast melee blender unit on top of Skorpekhs, Wraiths, ...? Maybe not, but they look cool so that's all good

Shouldn’t that be all the justification we need? I’m sure the Doomsday Ark and Doom Scythe  do much of the same thing the Canoptek Doomstalker does. I don’t care though, the Doomstalker looks cool

[Crimson Longinus]

These models look good so I like them. I'm easy to please. 

[Mr Farson]

I always had it in my head that a von Ryan's leaper was a big ripper, nice to see its a big hormagaunt instead 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Halandaar]

8 minutes ago, Toxichobbit said:

Can we just let people like or dislike the models? None of it is personal, we all have different tastes.

 

I get what people are saying about Tyranid naming conventions. But honestly, Tyranid's don't really have naming conventions, beyond words that sound cool and alien.

 

A Carnifex was a Roman executioner.

A Lictor was a Roman bodyguard.

A Haruspex was a Roman oracle.

A Dactylis is a type of grass.

An Exocrine is a body fluid gland.

A Termagant is a badly tempered woman.

A Dominatrix is a BDSM woman. 

A Harridan is a bossy old woman.

A Heirophant was a Greek priest.

A Heirodule was a Greek slave.

A Harpy was a Greek mythical creature.

A Nautiloid was a prehistoric cephalopod. 

A Gargoyle is a medieval statue.

A Zoanthrope is a delusional person.

A Trygon is a stingray.

Old One Eye is a ... actually, ignore that one.

 

You get the point. The naming convention is all over the place. Throw in a load of made up names, many of which are variations of actual words they've used as names and you have a real mish-mash of a naming convention that isn't themed around anything. We just think it's  themed because we (or at least most of us) knew most of the words as Tyranid names, rather than what they actually mean.

 

This reminds me very much of an old thread where someone asked why Dark Eldar named a Pain Engine after a Night Lord, although obviously both of those things took their names from a figure in Greek Mythology.

 

I like to think that the names given to various Xenos things feel human/terran in nature for the same reason Von Ryan's Leapers works; because they've been named by various different Imperial cataloguers. They don't need to be consistent in theme because they've not all been named by the same people/groups with the same themes in mind.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Halandaar

[Guest Triszin]

2 hours ago, Mogger351 said:

Might help on the scale:

 

They look great.

 

 

I liked them more now, knowing they are hormagants.

 

Makes me think abadonned hormagants can become these if left alone.

 

I'd like to see the same for termagants, a weird gun creature

Edited April 10, 2023 by Triszin

[Petitioner's City]

2 hours ago, Mogger351 said:

Might help on the scale:

 

 

The upturned scything arms really make me think of the original metal hormagaunts too

 

 

[DeadFingers]

36 minutes ago, Triszin said:

I'd like to see the same for termagants, a weird gun creature

There is a "Mortagaunt" listed in the same chart of Tyranid species posted earlier in this thread. I think that now that the Leapers exist, these Mortagaunts and the Catachan Devil are the only species in that chart that have never had a model, at least if we count the Malefactors from Epic.

Edited April 10, 2023 by DeadFingers