Evan from FTGT is here with the scoop on all the Shield of Baal leaks today!
The Shield of Baal rules for Tyranids have been leaked (finally – been on the lookout since Monday) and there are a couple gems in there right off the bat. My two favorites are the Skytyrant Swarm and the Sporefield.
The former allows a Flying Hive Tyrant to be joined to two units of gargoyles for 20-60 ablative wounds to get him across the board. The other provides recycling Spore Mines and Mucolid Clusters.
Additionally to joining the units of Gargoyles, the Flyrant in the Skytyrant formation gains 6″ to his synapse range. To me, this pushes my close combat flyrant from a bit tough to pull off to a reality as, with 20+ added wounds, he should be making combat. Combined with trailing back to a Malanthrope or Venomthrope and the unit is tough to remove.
The Sporefield strikes my fancy in part because it is cheap, checking in at a bottom end of 90 points. The units in the formation recycle on a 4+ and can infiltrate, in addition to deep striking. The whole Ongoing Reserves and Deep Strike/Outflank thing is a little shady (though the Mawloc gets to DS out of Ongoing Reserves all the time – precedent). This formation essentially creates some strong board control and movement denial tactics. It also recycles 15 point units that have to be dealt with, forcing wasted fire.
With these two leaked formations, I’ve tweaked the list I was planning a bit to take advantage and came up with the following:
- CAD:
- Hive Tyrant: Wings, 2xTL Devourers, Electroshock Grubs
- Hive Tyrant: Wings, 2xTL Devourers, Electroshock Grubs
- Malanthrope
- 3 Rippers: Deep Strike
- 3 Rippers: Deep Strike
- Carnifex: 2xTL Devourers
- Carnifex: 2xTL Devourers
- Tyrannocyte
- Tyrannocyte
- SkyTyrant Formation:
- Hive Tyrant: Wings, Reaper of Obliterax, Scything Talons, Old Adversary
- 10 Gargoyles
- 10 Gargoyles
- Sporefield Formation:
- 6 Spore Mines
- 5 Spore Mines
- 5 Spore Mines
- Mucolid
- Mucolid
- Mucolid
The Sporefield infiltrates into the midfield and denies movement areas and threatens elements of the opposing army that wants to move forward. The SkyTyrants Swarm chains up to the Malanthrope holding things down in the back and moves into the midfield while the two regular flyrants do their thing, as do two dakkafexes dropping from the sky.
Personally, I’m pretty excited for what these formations bring. For the rest of the leaked images, including the Tyranid Detachment (+1 min troop, +1 Optional HQ, reroll Instinctive Behavior results – kind of meh in my opinion) and Warlord Traits (better and usable than the codex options), check out the thread on DakkaDakka or hit up Forge the Narrative for the rest of the leaks!
What about the new Tyranid Rules catches your eye?
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
