Tyrants House Rules

[Advent_Child]

So our gaming group had three Tyranid players. The new codex dropped and all three gave up their ravenous ways. Mostly this wasn't an issue because one only had one model and is now just playing her boyfriends second army, another had space marines he already played half the time but the last player only has Tau to fall back on. The gaming group has a particular hatred for Tau because of some massive cheating on the part of a few players who are no longer in the group. So the group as a whole decided that they will house rules the Tyranids in order to keep the one person playing them.

This is where the problem lies. We aren't sure what we should change. Should we just use 5th edition? Should we allow BRB powers? Should we treat all 1-3 on the instinctive behavior role as a 4-5 instead? Should we give Spore Pods back to the units that had them in 5th? I was hoping we could have a nice discussion and come up with possible rules to SIMPLY update Tyranids to make them not so unplayable.

Ideas so far:

SYNAPSE

Synapse Node: 10pt upgrade to one model in a unit of 5 or more models. That one model provides synapse to his unit until he is removed from play.

Warrior Captain: Upgrade to bring a Warrior or Shrike to a unit of 5 or more models. The upgrade cost is the cost of the model. The Captain moves and runs at the same speed as the unit he is in.

Improved Synapse: Any roll for Instinctive Behavior of a 1-3 is instead treated as a 4-5 instead.


CLOSE COMBAT

Scything Talons given back reroll 1's to hit in close combat for a single pair. Reroll all failed to hit in close combat for two pair.


DEPLOYMEMT

Trygon Tunnel Squad: A unit in reserve can be allocated to be following behind a Trygon. It doesn't roll for reserves until the turn after the Trygon has come onto the table.

Spore Pod: each unit that could purchase a spore pod in the old book can continue to do so. Alternate 20? Pts Deep strike upgrade with same rules for scatter as a pod but no pod left on the table.


INDIVIDUAL

Hive Tyrant: 20?40? Pt upgrade for 2+ armor save.

Hive Guard: If remains stationary improves BS to 4. Can't charge same turn.

Genstealers: Have Hunter-Killer


*Stupid auto correct. If possible could a moderator change the title to Tyranid House Rules?*

[alshrive]

I personally disagree with your decision to disregard the current codex. It is not as easy to play I will agree, but the previous codex was designed for a previous set of rules. One of the challenges is finding what works when the meta changes. The Paradigm has shifted, shift with it.

[Advent_Child]

Where in my post did I say we were disregarding the new codex? I said we were going to use house rules and one of the examples I gave was to use the 5th edition codex. I'm actually more interested in how we could make the new codex more "User Friendly?" or so.

[Broodingman87]

I agree with Alshrive, It's time to leave Tervigon spam to the pages of history. Who knows Biomancy may come and you can have you broken Swarmlord deathstar again, afterall it wouldn't be the first time GW messed up and had to erata a brand new book (right Dark Angels). In the meantime remember the words of the Hivemind, Mate, Feed, Kill, Repeat.

[Advent_Child]

The player doesn't even have a single Tervigon. He has 6 Warriors, 60 Hormogaunts, 9 Raveners, a Carnifex, a Trygon, a flying Hive Tyrant, and a Doom modified Zoanthrope. I don't see why you guys have to post completely missing the point and not adding anything useful.

I'm simply trying to come up with a couple simple rules that are fair to everyone and let him continue using his models without being the playgroup's whipping boy. The entire playgroup has agreed to this. We don't need you to tell us not to do it. It is already being done. We are simply looking for more peoples thoughts so as to be as fair as possible. Please don't post if all you have to say is get over it and use the rules as written.

[alshrive]

Didn't miss the point at all I was simply voicing my opinion on the matter. Perhaps posting on an open forum is not for you if you are going to get dictatorial over the responses.

[kublade]

So our gaming group had three Tyranid players. The new codex dropped and all three gave up their ravenous ways. Mostly this wasn't an issue because one only had one model and is now just playing her boyfriends second army, another had space marines he already played half the time but the last player only has Tau to fall back on. The gaming group has a particular hatred for Tau because of some massive cheating on the part of a few players who are no longer in the group. So the group as a whole decided that they will house rules the Tyranids in order to keep the one person playing them.

This is where the problem lies. We aren't sure what we should change. Should we just use 5th edition? Should we allow BRB powers? Should we treat all 1-3 on the instinctive behavior role as a 4-5 instead? Should we give Spore Pods back to the units that had them in 5th? I was hoping we could have a nice discussion and come up with possible rules to SIMPLY update Tyranids to make them not so unplayable.

*Stupid auto correct. If possible could a moderator change the title to Tyranid House Rules?*

I understand the dilemma, and while some will say that's not cool and junk. Let's be honest, the new tyranid codex sucks, it sucks completely. There's no hidden treasure, there's just going to be "try harder". The new codex is a prime example of what copy/paste can do! It's pretty much 5th ed, with some 6th ed FAQ, some minor changes. Price drops are redundant as upgrades now cost more. Things like regen are now not worth taking. ( I preferred rolling all dice for 6s, rather than 1 die for a 4+, you'd be surprised how better it really is. ) Certain units that did not require point INCREASES were brought up by the 40s, Tyranid Prime for example. Warlord traits are extremely lackluster. Scything talons are now useless on MC's and that's always the MC base loadout. We lost our spore pods, we lost Doom, we lost BRB powers, and gained a copy/paste table of all the tyranid powers from 5th ed, with some adjustments (nerfs) to fit into 6th ed. Whoever really made this codex, hates Tyranids, GW, hates Tyranids. If you're a space marine player, guess what, GW is releasing a tyrannic war vet data slate so you can kill Tyranids more so than usual.

So the main point, it is a wise idea to keep your group capable of using tyranids. Honestly, I'm about ready to write a full codex that would balance, and solve several tyranid problems. As GW is unwilling to do so. It'd be more for the heck of it, but hell, I could show it to someone and they would agree it'd be 1000 times better than the book of nerfs we got now.

So do go on to find a way to make a balanced, fair tyranid house rules. I sure as hell would love to be able to balance my army at my local game store.

[Broodingman87]

Agreed, writing a rule is not as easy as busting open a rulebook and getting a sharpie. Changing one word has massive effects on balance. A anyone will tell you there is a group of wargamers that think a unit is no good if it isn't T9 EW with a 2+ re-rollable invulnerable save. So, I would worn to start but just changing one word of one rule and play testing it a lot. Eventually, you're writing your own codexes that are fun for everyone.

[Broodingman87]

Kublade you remember that's what they said about CSM, and Dark Dangels, and Tau, and Eldar, and Marines people complained that they took away Broadsides railguns, they thought the wave serpant was over priced for what it did, they complained that marines had no flavor. And once people started play testing and finding secret like mantle of the laughing god all the nay sayers looked foolish didn't they?

[Anakzar]

Well most of those units didn't get changed in bad ways... Unless they are all kitted out with scything talons? I know hormagants, trygons and raveners have scything talons and rerolls to hit are nice... I always liked to toss rending claws on the raveners so it was only reroll 1s for them anyhow. Hormagants was reroll 1s too. Now trygons lost the reroll all hits. But maybe run him as a mawloc instead, they basically look the same.

So I guess if it made a huge difference in games you have played put the old Scything talon rules back in and you are good there...

Personally that army list looks rather boring to begin with. That player needs some more variety, Biovores would be a good start. The exocrine looks really good also... Venomthropes got a good boost, atleast until they are FAQed... giving Shrouded to any unit that has one model within 6 inches(I think that will be FAQed and the BRB rule of any model in a unit that has shrouded gives it to the whole unit will not apply to Venomthropes)

Doom is gone but zoanthropes are still good and a bit cheaper plus doom didn't have synapse and he was a bit cheesy anyhow, tell him to buy 2 more zoanthropes and run a full squad instead of the doom.

Pods are gone... that was a big hit if he had used those, don't see them listed so guess adding them back would not help.

Tervigons took the biggest hit but he don't use them... Warrior prime also took a big hit in its cost but is otherwise unchanged but again your player does not use them...

So in short I think your player needs to suck it up and try the new codex... maybe add some of the better new models/ rules and he will stay competitive.

[kublade]

Kublade you remember that's what they said about CSM, and Dark Dangels, and Tau, and Eldar, and Marines people complained that they took away Broadsides railguns, they thought the wave serpant was over priced for what it did, they complained that marines had no flavor. And once people started play testing and finding secret like mantle of the laughing god all the nay sayers looked foolish didn't they?

While I do agree, the primary issue I have, is we have several units, that are not viable, they were not worth taking in 5th ed, they still aren't. GW didn't fix the main issues Tyranids had, and I certainly don't want us to be over-powered, I just want balance. I most definitely do not want to find out we have a combo just as bad as the Screamerstar. It's not balanced, it's not fun, I want to be able to be competitive, without being over-powered, and still have a good game with my opponent.

[Wolfshade]

I think a couple of points need to be made.

Firstly, GW does not hate Nids. Nids are important to them as a revenue stream, and conceptually as the only non-humanoid-like (2 arms 2 legs, head etc.) race in 40k. It is in GW's best interest to produce a balanced army so to generate sales in the new range, without being under costed which would have the long term job of driving players away as each new dex would be more ridiculous than the previous.

Secondly, it is a game and we play based on arbitary rules as laid down by GW. There is absoultely no problem with agreeing to play by different rules as long as everyone agrees in your group and says it fair.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth about how broken Doom was, and now there are complaints that it has been removed..

The trap that people fall into, not just with this codex, but with every new codex/ruleset, is to try and play the previous game. Yes, fundamentally, the flavour of an army will stay the same. Nids will remain a force that is obscene in close combat, however, how they get into combat, how lists are run, which upgrades to take/leave may shift. For instance, I cannot recall the last time I bothered to take power weapons on my DC in 6th.

It seems to me that GW are attempting to make the game slightly more complex by the strength of the armies coming out in the synergies that are created between units/characters/wargear rather than having some rather straightfoward "auto-include" unit.

[Broodingman87]

Yeah, I would agree he need more variety. I would argue that the Zoanthropes are better the Doom. My Doom wouldn't do anything but scatter way off course and eat a krak missile. And he doesn't need a pod Subterranean assault that Trygon and Hormagants. I thing this codex really punishes spammers. Also, for you Carnifex either make him Old One Eye look in Imperial armor for the Stonecrusher Carnifex, those will be more durable then regular Carnifex seeing as how you only have one.

[Rob Godin]

It's house rules - play what you like!
I've seen the new rules, and I aint touching that filth with a bargepole. My gaming buddies are all fine with me continuing with the previous codex.
I aint taking my nids to any tourney when I need the new rules, so everything is gravy :)

[Ang56]

As far as going back to 5th ed, I own like 8-9k pts in tyranid models thanks be to when apoc came out and GW briefly released amazingly priced apoc box sets. The 5th ed codex killed tyranids for me. They have gone relatively unplayed by me for a few years.

I was fairly disappointed with the changes when discussed in the forums prior to playing games. This weekend my gaming group has been playing a lot. I've played a little over a dozen games of varying size since friday afternoon with the new book. I've been winning around a third of my games and most of them I'm trying out a lot of different things since I haven't really found my stride with what I want to run. The stars had to be aligned correctly for me to win games against my same gaming group with the 5th ed codex (unless I fielded the like 1-2 viable lists that weren't fun to play more then once, and even then weren't that amazing since my group knew to counter them.)

I think the best thing you can do for the guys in your group is to encourage them to keep trying out different army lists and allow them to proxy whatever they want while they sort it out (for a little while anyways). I feel like I've been playing bugs a ton since release and I don't really know if I think the codex is junk or not, I haven't even landed on what i need to buy or how to remodel things. I will say I'm having more fun then I did with the last book. A lot of the units I liked from 2-3rd ed feel usable at their new pt costs again. And most of my games are going into T5-6 even coming down to VP's. I'm not getting tabled on T2-3 like I used to foot slogging across the field.

Anyways, I think the buffs aren't glaring like riptides etc. the ability to have carnifex's hit first when charging into units in cover with a bucket of AP2 with a price tag I can stomach, gaunts that got amazingly better this go around, reliable shrouding for 1-2 turns to help close the gap are pretty big deals.

[Tynskel]

The player doesn't even have a single Tervigon. He has 6 Warriors, 60 Hormogaunts, 9 Raveners, a Carnifex, a Trygon, a flying Hive Tyrant, and a Doom modified Zoanthrope. I don't see why you guys have to post completely missing the point and not adding anything useful.

I'm simply trying to come up with a couple simple rules that are fair to everyone and let him continue using his models without being the playgroup's whipping boy. The entire playgroup has agreed to this. We don't need you to tell us not to do it. It is already being done. We are simply looking for more peoples thoughts so as to be as fair as possible. Please don't post if all you have to say is get over it and use the rules as written.

Why don't you guys play with the new rules first...

[Ang56]

I agree with Tynskel, House rules are fine and can be really fun. But you said you want house rules to make the codex playable like it's not possible to compete with it as is.

Saying that I was pretty down on them after reading forums and even after reading the book. After playing games I'm starting to come around. Thinking up different lists for different opponents. Finding that I don't get tabled and my games are close, I'm even winning, I'm enjoying nids for the first time in like 5 years with this codex. You should play some games before deciding it's "unplayable".

regardless, without knowing the types of games you play, terrain, typical lists they face. suggestions from someone not a part of your group will likely not make a difference or break his list. allowing ST to retain the re-rolls would help with the units he has and not be all that risky of a first step. I think that's a pretty huge handicap to give though.

[Demonus]

If its just your friends, use the old 5th edition codex. No new stuff for you. If you use ANYTHING from the 6th edition one, you are stuck playing with the whole thing. Pretty simple.

[Nefarius Drapesh]

There was a question for a house rule or something similar to help the balance. In the specific example to help the tyranid players.
How about using more terrain/cover, including los blocking stuff. Pure shooting vs. pure melee imbalance often is just a case of the wrong battlefield.
You use random terrain deployment from the brb? Houserule: set a minimum amount of terrain pieces to place and a minimum size for what counts as a terrain piece (group smaller stuff to count as a single piece of terrain for deploying it).

[Nabterayl]

I agree with Tynskel that playing with the new codex before you throw up your hands seems like the more prudent call. If you want to house rule it ... well hey, it's your game, so of course that's fine. If you want help house ruling it, though, we're going to need better insight into what you object to in the new codex vis a vis the old. As I think is apparent by now, not everybody agrees that the new book is worthless, and even if we did, we wouldn't necessarily mean that in the same way that your group does. So what areas do you want to address with your house rules?

[Advent_Child]

We have played one 2000 point game with all his models. Doom acting as a venomthrope, one warrior as a prime and the trygon as a prime. Turn 2 all his synapse was dead he lost over half his units to instinctive behavior.

I think our biggest issues are that all the CC focused units just got worse. No rerolls and they fall out of synapse and eat themselves. And no spore pods mean every game basically comes down to foot slogging a shrouded synapse bubble blob down the field.

Some rules I was thinking were a 1-3 on synapse acted like a 4-5 at minimum on the feed table. Upgrading a unit that used to have spore pods with deep strike for 40 points with the old spore rules. Just no spore left on the table. Basically mishap free deep strikes for 40 points, and the reroll rules back for scything talons. So far that seems enough to keep our games fair and interesting while making him not just lose.

[Anakzar]

Sounds like you made a decision that works for you.

From looking at his list I think he went with too much CC stuff and not enough shooting. Since 6th Ed rules favor shooting heavy lists its going to be up-hill battle for those armies that are more close combat orientated. On the Plus side the new codex has a lot of nice shooting options that, while most are short/midrange, are also assault so can be carried forwards with the army.

This is not the same army as 5th and as such will have to be played differently, and you will have to buy some of the new kits to be competitive. I think they purposely nerfed the heck out of Primes and Tervigons so people would be forced to try some other builds... I think they got rid of the doom because it was a bit broken. Sadly I feel they dropped the pods just because they didn't have a model for it yet... that's just lame because with a bit of green stuff and some leftovers from other kits a good looking pod could be made.

[Broodingman87]

Wait, are you sure he's playing a 2000 point list? Ask him if his list looks like this...

Hive Tyrant 250
- Wings
- Hive Commander
- 2x TL-Dev
Tyranid Prime 130
- Deathspitter
5x Warrior 180
- Barbed Strangler
- Deathspitter
30x Hormaguants 210
- Adrenal Glands
30x Hormaguants 210
- Adrenal Glands
Venomthrope 45
9x Ravener 310
- Rending Claws
Trygon Prime 230
Carnifex 160
- Spine banks
- Adrenal Glands
- Bio-plasma
Total 1725

[Advent_Child]

We actually got him to start playing because he thought of his tyranid army as the Zerg. He didn't like the look of any shooting weapons. He has since somewhat gotten over that so he had plans to buy new models. The quality of the codex has simply kept him from doing so yet.

[Advent_Child]

Wait, are you sure he's playing a 2000 point list? Ask him if his list looks like this...

Hive Tyrant 250
- Wings
- Hive Commander
- 2x TL-Dev
Tyranid Prime 130
- Deathspitter
5x Warrior 180
- Barbed Strangler
- Deathspitter
30x Hormaguants 210
- Adrenal Glands
30x Hormaguants 210
- Adrenal Glands
Venomthrope 45
9x Ravener 310
- Rending Claws
Trygon Prime 230
Carnifex 160
- Spine banks
- Adrenal Glands
- Bio-plasma
Total 1725

He ran all the monstrous creatures with regenerate. His carnifex as a dakkafex. He put ymgarl on Trygon Prime to give it a 2+ save the turn it arrived from reserves and he added an aegis line across the board half and 2 vengeance weapon batteries with quad Icarus Lascannons to deal with the opponents stormtalon and storm raven. Oh and spinefists as well on the raveners. Otherwise yea it looks pretty close. Wait no adrenals on the gaunts.

[Broodingman87]

Yeah same here, I love the Zerg. Tyranids play nothing like the Zerg though. Try playing him again with a 1750 list. And If you want I can help write a Zerg codex from him. I'd make the Vemonthrope into a Zoanthrope and add a couple Devourers to make it a 1750 list.

[Broodingman87]

While Regen is a good choice. Ymgarl Factor is a waste on the Trygon has one mission to deepstrike and create a new deployment zone behind LOS blocking terrain for the Hormagaunts. It's a lot better on a Lash whip/ Bonesword Winged Tyrant. And tell him not to waste his time with fortification (unless you're house ruling it that he can fired them, Nids can't fire them anyway). These's a saying "boys before toys" he should be leaving that fortification behind anyway, Tyranids should deploy and leave. If his Tyrant and Fex can't deal with the flyer, he should really ignore it.

[Advent_Child]

While Regen is a good choice. Ymgarl Factor is a waste on the Trygon has one mission to deepstrike and create a new deployment zone behind LOS blocking terrain for the Hormagaunts. It's a lot better on a Lash whip/ Bonesword Winged Tyrant. And tell him not to waste his time with fortification (unless you're house ruling it that he can fired them, Nids can't fire them anyway). These's a saying "boys before toys" he should be leaving that fortification behind anyway, Tyranids should deploy and leave. If his Tyrant and Fex can't deal with the flyer, he should really ignore it.

The one problem is we have no Los blocking terrain. We have little pieces of styrofoam acting as little walls. I have been trying to invest in some new terrain however. And I will pass along all these notes. He's only played like 6 games so I'm sure he will appreciate the thoughts.

[Advent_Child]

You know now that you mention the Trygon tunnel that might be a good house rule. That reserves can be allocated to it so you don't even roll to have them come in before the trygon has made the tunnel.

[Tyrendian]

The one problem is we have no Los blocking terrain. We have little pieces of styrofoam acting as little walls. I have been trying to invest in some new terrain however. And I will pass along all these notes. He's only played like 6 games so I'm sure he will appreciate the thoughts.

...uh yeah that does kill Tyranids hard, especially with him not having too much variety in his army and the melee focus you mentioned... no wonder it wasn´t fun...
if in doubt, you can always spray a couple of beer/coke/whatever cans, glue them together on some kind of base, add a little colour and use it as a chemical silo... or, as an interim (very much so admittedly) just put down a few piles of books to act as buildings/rocks. You´ll notice your games becoming way more fun in general I´d say, not just for the nids...
all in all it seems to me that in your case it´s really not the book that´s to blame but a combination of pretty much everything else, from his list and collection to terrain...


You know now that you mention the Trygon tunnel that might be a good house rule. That reserves can be allocated to it so you don't even roll to have them come in before the trygon has made the tunnel.

now THERE´S an idea I really like... and it even makes sense, since the little bugs would have to follow the Trygon through its tunnel anyway... so how should they stroll onto the battlefield...

[The Madman]

The one problem is we have no Los blocking terrain. We have little pieces of styrofoam acting as little walls. I have been trying to invest in some new terrain however. And I will pass along all these notes. He's only played like 6 games so I'm sure he will appreciate the thoughts.

That's another thing, recent 40k has had a focus on terrain cluttered battlefields; without it infantry focused armies like Tyranids are wide open to dedicated gun lines like Tau and Imperial Guard. now if the nid players are really playing with just chest high walls between them and the opponent then its more the battlefield working against them then the book itself. I've yet to play the new book but if its what people say it is and just repeat of the last book with a few things missing then I think i'll do fine.

Never needed the spore pods.
Never used the doom.
And I've just bought a second Tervigon.

though now I'll never get to use the Parasite legitimately :(

I recommend invest in some terrain so its harder for the big guns to get a direct line across the map. 5-8 building sized pieces should do fine.

[Advent_Child]

That's another thing, recent 40k has had a focus on terrain cluttered battlefields; without it infantry focused armies like Tyranids are wide open to dedicated gun lines like Tau and Imperial Guard. now if the nid players are really playing with just chest high walls between them and the opponent then its more the battlefield working against them then the book itself. I've yet to play the new book but if its what people say it is and just repeat of the last book with a few things missing then I think i'll do fine.

Never needed the spore pods.
Never used the doom.
And I've just bought a second Tervigon.

though now I'll never get to use the Parasite legitimately :(

I recommend invest in some terrain so its harder for the big guns to get a direct line across the map. 5-8 building sized pieces should do fine.

As unfortunate as it is I think using new terrain that actually blocks line of sight would be a much harder sell than houseruling a codex. Stupid as that sounds the guy who holds the key to our shop is not big on terrain and in fact before I started there they weren't even using terrain correctly for cover. I'm gonna try though. I spent almost $400 on buildings and forests and stuff to try to get them to use.

[Broodingman87]

Then that guy that runs your group would not like Zone Mortalis. Actually to show case the power of the Tyranid you should got get a sheet of drafting paper. Draw some walls and a bunch of alternative paths and tell the players that cant shoot through walls. A 1000 point list and must take 1 HQ 1 Elite and 1 troop, no flyers no tanks no Trygon bases but MCs and walkers are allowed. If someone wants to play gunline a screamerfex will change their mind.

[Broodingman87]

And if that guy wants to be a dictator and make oil refinery out of plywood and Budweiser cans and start playing the other
Player in that. If you use to fighting in open fields that oil refinery will open up a whole new game to you. You'll find boring marine vs marine game challenging and exciting. Soon the guy in the field will be all alone with no one to play then you a tell him if he wants to have open kill zones and fight over field go play fantasy because we're marines and we fight over cities.

[Advent_Child]

Then that guy that runs your group would not like Zone Mortalis. Actually to show case the power of the Tyranid you should got get a sheet of drafting paper. Draw some walls and a bunch of alternative paths and tell the players that cant shoot through walls. A 1000 point list and must take 1 HQ 1 Elite and 1 troop, no flyers no tanks no Trygon bases but MCs and walkers are allowed. If someone wants to play gunline a screamerfex will change their mind.

What's Zone Mortalis? I haven't heard about it. And could you also clarify what a screamerfex is?

[Haighus]

That's another thing, recent 40k has had a focus on terrain cluttered battlefields; without it infantry focused armies like Tyranids are wide open to dedicated gun lines like Tau and Imperial Guard. now if the nid players are really playing with just chest high walls between them and the opponent then its more the battlefield working against them then the book itself.
This reminds me heavily of a certain passage from the Tactica Imperium:


Always endeavour to fight the enemy on your terms. If you are powerful at close quarters then engage in dense terrain where your advantage will prove greatest. If you are superior at long range then fight the battle at a distance. If you have greater numbers then attack along an extended front. Use reserves to break through when the enemy's overstretched lines collapse. If outnumbered then concentrate your forces so that the enemy can fight only your best troops. No-one ever won a battle who failed to take advantage of his enemy's weakness.
Of course, it may be an Imperial publication, but I'm sure xenos scum can benefit from it's wisdom too... ;)

[Haighus]

What's Zone Mortalis? I haven't heard about it. And could you also clarify what a screamerfex is?
Zones Mortalis is a (free) expansion to standard warhammer 40k with rules produced by FW and available in their downloads section on their website. It is basically extra rules for playing games in super dense terrain and confined spaces, like star ships, and generally uses smaller lists (mostly because building a large enough terrain collection or a purpose built Zone Mortalis board on a scale for big games is very time consuming).
A screamerfex is referring to a famous form of the Carnifex known as a Screamer killer by the soldiers of the Imperium, due to the noise made as it generates the bioplasma in it's mouth. Standard load-out is scything talons and bioplasma I believe. I may be wrong on that, but it is something similar. It hasn't been considered an optimal load-out for a Carnifex since 4th I don't think, but in Zones Mortalis, that thing is basically going to be fully intact when it hits a unit, and therefore have rather a lot of S9 AP2 attacks on the charge after gobbing plasma on your unit...

[Advent_Child]

I'm going to have to look into Zone Mortalis, maybe Cities of Death as well. I have an urban board coming and 9 buildings I can put on it.

[Haighus]

Zones Mortalis is really at one end of the spectrum though, it is best played with a board split into corridors, like inside a space ship with super restricted LoS. The biggest issue with it is the level of Terrain needed for it (although playing on a drawn out board can work- I've tried it using the Space Hulk board game tiles, worked pretty well).
Cities of death is a better fit for just stepping it up a bit, but the rules are a tad out dated now, being 2 editions behind.

[Broodingman87]

G
What's Zone Mortalis? I haven't heard about it. And could you also clarify what a screamerfex is?

The actual publication escapes me but it was released last year, but the reason you can't bring tanks and flyers is that you fight inside a ship. But it's an official GW mission.

The Screamerfex is a Carnifex build (the one in the list), it gets it's name from the fluff because it would let out this high pitch squeel when it used bio-plasma.

[Advent_Child]

Added some ideas to the initial post.

[Broodingman87]

A screamerfex is referring to a famous form of the Carnifex known as a Screamer killer by the soldiers of the Imperium, due to the noise made as it generates the bioplasma in it's mouth. Standard load-out is scything talons and bioplasma I believe. I may be wrong on that, but it is something similar. It hasn't been considered an optimal load-out for a Carnifex since 4th I don't think, but in Zones Mortalis, that thing is basically going to be fully intact when it hits a unit, and therefore have rather a lot of S9 AP2 attacks on the charge after gobbing plasma on your unit...

That is correct but now that the fex is going just before PF/TH and can be given Fleet, grenades and a plasma Cannon, I think we'll see the return of the Screemer. Of course, The Screamer competes with the Dakkafex but now they don't have to because Tyranids can mix wargear now.

Oh my god! In ZM a Screamer is just a murderer. One Screamer took down a shooting Terminator squad, a Captian, and 2 Tactical Squads before the ramaging beast was finally put down.

[Tyrendian]

Zone Mortalis:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/z/ZM6thUpdate.pdf

incredibly fun to play, especially when there are only blips on your auspex and you don´t know what unit those are... you basically just put numbered markers on the field, noting on your army list what unit is which number - and only when the enemy can draw LoS to said blip (i.e. when he comes around the corner right next to it... the more winding and cluttered the corridors the better!) does he know whether that´s a bunch of gants or a rampaging Carnifex!