Warhammer Anybody?

The hive fleets so far introduced by Games Workshop include Hive Fleet Behemoth, Hive Fleet Kraken, and Hive Fleet Leviathan. It is noted that these names are those ascribed to the Tyranid incursions by the scholars of the Imperium, rather than the Tyranid civilization themselves. There is no evidence shown in the fiction that Tyranids have language or civilization as understood by the protagonist civilizations native to the Milky Way. In many stories they communicate with a complex array of insectile clicking and buzzing noises, as well as reptilian war cries, growls and hisses^{[citation needed]}. Although this may be a theory or thought, Tyranids communicate via a strong synaptic link to the hive mind. The synaptic conductors use the link to press onwards the tyranids, communicating with them using telepathic abilities.

There have been three major hive fleets to date, Hive Fleet Kraken, Hive Fleet Leviathan and Hive Fleet Behemoth. There are many other Tyranid hive fleets that have been destroyed or are still emerging, such as Hive Fleet Jormungand, Colossus, Tiamet, Scarabus, Ouroboris, Reatherus and many more.

Genestealers were introduced in the 1980s with Space Hulk, and later featured in Space Crusade, along with the short-lived Genestealer Magus. The first recognizable incarnation of Tyranid warriors appeared in Advanced Space Crusade in 1990, featuring biological weaponry such as boneswords and deathspitters.^[3]

Tyranids were first mentioned under the heading Tyranids and the Hive Fleets in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, and were illustrated in a form not too different from that of Gaunts.^[2]

The first Tyranids used conventional, non-biological equipment such as lasguns and flak armor (although the rulebook stated that these represented organic equipment with similar capabilities).^[4] The principal unit available to the Tyranids was the Zoat, a centaur-like creature enslaved to fight on the behalf of their Tyranid masters.

Second Edition Warhammer 40,000, released in 1993, featured the Tyranids in the supplemental books Wargear and Codex Imperialis, and then later in their own devoted army Codex. An extensive model range was released, representing most of the units described in these publications. The army was, however, very different from the factions previously seen in the game.^[5]

The Tyranid player now had access to a range of unit types roughly equivalent to that of the other factions, including the Hive Tyrant, Termagants, Hormagaunts, the main adversary in Space Hulk Genestealers, Gargoyles previously seen in Epic 40,000, Tyranid Warriors, the Carnifex, Zoanthropes (a Tyranid psyker in addition to the Hive Tyrant), Lictors, and theBiovore.

Cover of the 3rd Edition Codex: Tyranids

The Tyranid supplement to Third Edition Warhammer 40,000, like most of the other supplements released at that time^{[citation needed]}, focused on revamping the rules for the various units while maintaining the overall structure of the army, so that veteran players would not find their older collections unusable or less useful in the new edition. It did however add some new units and tweak the behavior of others. A brand new model range, somewhat different from the older ones, was released to coincide with the new publication.^[6] New units included: the Tyrant Guard andRaveners.

The Third Edition Codex, as with a number of subsequent publications, included an army list which allowed far greater flexibility to the player than previous army lists, allowing extensive customization of units; at the time more so than any other available faction^{[original research?]}. Unit types noted as a 'Mutable Genus' in the main army list were permitted to be extensively modified by choosing from numerous options in the 'Custom Hive Fleet' section of the book. The options available bore a resemblance to the random equipment tables featured in Rogue Trader, but were no longer randomized.

The nature of the army list in Third Edition further cemented the Tyranid army's reputation for fielding vast numbers of models, allowing the player to overwhelm an opponent with weight of numbers. This was even more pronounced in the variant Seeding Swarm army list published in White Dwarf and later in Chapter Approved, which represented the initial stages of a massive Tyranid assault and even further emphasized the use of many expendable, 'cannon-fodder' type units.^[7] One of the more overlooked abilities is the new "without numbers" rule, which allowed for literally an unlimited number of gaunts in a single game, emphasizing the "cannon-fodder" trait of the Tyranids.^[8]

The release of the fourth edition codex added a new model range, new rules, and new units, most notably the Broodlord, and revamped units such as the Carnifex. This new codex also enables Tyranid players to field a grand total of eight large Tyranids to be fielded in a 1500 point battle, although the player would still have to field compulsory troops choices. With this concept Tyranid armies can now boast either the many troops and/or a just few powerful units.

A new Tyranid codex was released on January 16, 2010, written by Robin Cruddace. It included 15 new species of Tyranid, and legendary heroes like the Swarmlord, Old One Eye and the Doom of Malan'tai. In addition, some models saw a point cost reduction, which allowed certain Tyranid armies to field more units, though, notably, this was not the case for all Tyranid units, as several saw point increases in this edition.