They're here!

   Well, I definitely made my son's day.  He came home from a late weekend to find the new xenos book on his chair.  His excitement was expressed with a lunge from his room, wearing a cheshire cat-grin, to thank me and dive into the rules.  It made my dad-heart warm...

  It did not, however, make my warlord's heart warm at all.  I've had an unreasonable fear of the 'nids since 2nd edition and have relished the fact that the army hasn't been ascendant in the power scale for some time.  That has changed.  The new codex has come out and the new rules are not nice.

  I even joked with my son that he'll finally have an army as powerful as my recent ones (Custodes, Tau, Eldar).  The worry is that it's not a joke.  I already have to pull my punches to ensure that we have somewhat of a game each time we play (which rarely works).  In this case, I have to consider which army to use against the Tyranids and whether it'll actually be enough.  As much as I love my Ultramarines, they're not great (a post on them later).  However, my Tau are absolutely broken and had to be retired for mental health reasons.  Custodes are great, Grey Knights are great, and Necrons don't suck- especially with Destroyer spam!  And my current army, the Eldar, are pretty powerful themselves.

  Tyranids are finally powerful.  Gants might have a role to play, the monsters have been buffed more than a M:tG deck, and the stacking rules give a ton of playstyle options.  So far, my son has the same approach that I do when it comes to first army builds- a little of this and a little of that.  It gives us a chance to try units out.  These newest codices make everything so good that even this approach isn't a guarantee of equal odds.

  The monsters are more powerful- tougher and more attacks.  The Genestealers became consistent if not nerfed (which they really aren't).  And psychic powers?  Oh boy...  My Eldar aren't really a psychic army, so that's gonna be a bit of a bugger.  That Maleceptor isn't going to be fun to play against, I'm thinking.  

  Plus, wings are now a thing in that book!  While the Shrikes (Warriors with wings) didn't make their expected appearance, a new model with wings and a couple of buffs to the flying creatures in the book make the fast, high-flying army a viable option!  I specifically mention this because my son just happened to include a horde of Gargoyles on top of the flyrant and other large wings.  Cool.  Cool cool cool.

  I'm excited that my son is going to get his dues with the army he started this hobby with.  He's finally got the same level of attention that my [insert army here] has enjoyed.  I'm less excited about the future butt-kickings I'm about to receive, but at least it's losing to 'new'.  The Tyranids have arrived.  They're here!

Happy Gaming!