I was; I get 1122 words without the Tunnelers rule (I didn't count headers).

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

So, I guess we're "good" there...  

/Still working on cleaning up the Special Rules...

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

*cracks whip*

Do stuff!  

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Just for reference since number of special rules compared to the French list was somehow spawned, I'm posting what each official list has(forgive any mistakes):

Nids: 5 special rules

Biel-Tan: 4 special rules (after the removal of Pulse and Spirit stones)
Siegemasters: 3
Feral Orks: 1
Space Marines: 2 (3 if you count drop pods)
IG: 1
Orks: 1
Black Legion: 5

And compared to a few of the other lists I have on hand:
AMTL 3.14: 0 (1 counting the warhead special rule)
DE: 4 (6 counting no garrison and lance)
Minervan: 2
Necron: 7(!)
Tau: 4

I don't have a nid army to try them out, so I'll refrain from commenting on how it plays, but having pulled it open and read through it thoroughly for the first time, here are my thoughts on how understandable it is and what might be done.

Swarms: Straightforward but wordy. Fairly simple to explain though.

Relentless, expendable: no problems at all, very straightforward.

Mobility: Pretty clear, but not as clearly presented as the Relentless. WE and AV moving through terrain seems awkward, and the LV seems slightly ambiguous. (what counts as normal terrain, if it only works for moving through, are they normally affected if they are just in terrain or must they take a test if terrain is dangerous to infantry but not vehicles?)Special effects seem odd. Wouldn't this only apply to WE and AV and only to the dangerous test, and do they have to take a dangerous test in these cases (lava flows or other special terrain) since they are said to never take it?

Spawning: mostly straightforward, but very complicated in that there is a lot of stuff to remember that modifies what you can spawn and how much can be spawned. It also reads that it doesn't matter the outcome of the rally or marshal rolls, it can still spawn. If they need to pass it successfully, the -1d3 for broken can go away. the -1d3 for being on a hold action I think I can understand better, but it still seems an odd caveat. Dom I understand is worth giving the bonus, and enemy within 30cm can be assumed to be killing off nids reducing the effectiveness of spawning.

As far as what you can do with the spawn points, the war engine option seems hopelessly idealistic given that even getting enough points to spawn a 2dc WE is going to require exceptional rolls. Even more so for 3dc WE. If this is meant to represent existing WE regenerating DC, I think it could use a bit of clarification. Because of that is spawning even needed for them?

Can spawning be simplified to say,

After a Synapse Swarm successfully marshals or rallies, it may attempt to spawn infantry and vehicle brood units. Each Synapse Swarm rolls 2D3 modifying the number of dice rolled using the list below.

Synapse Swarm contains a Dominatrix +1D3
Any unit of the swarm is within 30cm of the enemy -1D3

The total rolled is the number of points available to add dead Brood units to that specific swarm using these costs:

Infantry Unit 1 Spawning Point
Vehicle Unit 3 Spawning Points

All spawned units must be placed within 5cm of a Synapse creature from the swarm spawning them, joining the swarm even if they were not originally part of it. Spawned units may not be placed in the zone of control of enemy models or in impassable terrain. Excess spawn points are discarded.

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-Vaaish

I disagree. "Swarms" is anything but straightforward, as it completely breaks one of the main rules of Epic, fixed formations. Trying to explain the intricacies of this to an opponent during the 5 minute warmup is not going to go well.

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

"so they may change formations".

You really don't think a new opponent would say "huh? What do you mean change formations? How? Why?"

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

Okay so instead of "so they may change formations" go instead "in end phase brood units are controlled by synapse creature they are in range of. If in range of several tyranid player choose". That was hard. NOT!

You are making too big of a fuss about this. Also remember that this 5 minute thing is actually more important in friendly games. In tournament games you know you can run into tyranids before hand(you DID read tournament rules didn't you?) so if there are unfamiliar armies allowed you can do that readout at home at your leisure.

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www.tneva.net

From the other thread, moved here to try to keep on topic:


The question has been answered as to how it currently works, but there remain serious questions over whether it should work that way.

Chroma: I'm yet to hear from you on whether you think it makes sense that gargoyles/raveners who are bought with synapse vanish when the synapse dies, but those bought without synapse remain fine. Even Hena admitted this is a dichotomy...

Yes the rules are currently clear on the matter, but does that mean they're right?

Either gargoyles and raveners are smart enough to work without synapse or they're not, but currently they're both, like some bizarre Schrodingers Bug.

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

I don't have a problem with units changing formations, it does have precedent with WE picking up infantry to transport thereby changing the formation. I would only have a problem with it if it becomes unclear which unit is part of which formation.

I still think the section could be pared down and cleaned up to make it even more clear.

They work as "shields" for Dominatrix .

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-Vaaish

The only real issues that I have personally had is understanding the LV rule and how it works in cover situations.

Apart from that, I try and make sure an opponent has read the rules at least or we spend a good 10 mins going over the special rules before the game. Afterall, who goes into a tornament game (not a friendly as these issues can be resolved over several games in that case), that allows the Nids without knowing your enemy?

Just because it is different does not make it confusing or broken. It just means that you have to think differently which I believe is the main gripe for most people that have an issue with the rules. Yes the wording needs to be cleaned up, and maybe some units looked at, yet the mechanics are sound.

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Frogbear is responsible for...
Previous World Eaters
Previous Emperor's Children
Previous Death Guard
Previous Imperial Fists
Previous Chaos Squats

This is a bit of a brainstorm (probably should be listed elsewhere)but could the spawning system be simplified to a sort of pseudo-save roll for the whole formation/swarm and only effect broods(inc ravenors)?

e.g you have 8-12 termagants/hormagaunts/ravenors/gargoyles in the swarm with no save. your opponent does 7 casualties from shooting. you roll a d6 Swarm Save and you roll a 4. You get 4 termagants back.
You'd have a chance to get 6 back but you'd also have a chance to get 1 - them's the breaks when it comes to random dice rolling. It would still have the effect of "a rolling unstoppable swarming mass" but spawning would just happen immediately after shooting and it's one less end-phase roll to worry about... It also becomes one less thing for your opponent to be confused about as it's essentially a save roll and everyone knows how they function.