Product Review – Tyranid Invasion: Rising Leviathan II eBook

This weekend I purchased the new Tyranid eBook from Black Library, Tyranid Invasion: Rising Leviathan II. This book continues the story of the Tyranid consumption of Satys that started in the first volume. This time the Tyranids are scaling up their attack, and the true invasion is well underway. This eBook contains stories set on the doomed planet during this phase of consumption, as well as new Dataslates. The final section includes all of the units from Codex: Tyranids that can be purchased as one of these slates, along with their point costs and upgrades.

I enjoyed the first section of the book, which is unfortunately becoming a rarity in Warhammer writings. Too often the heroes become so large that they are caricatures of themselves, and it becomes an unbelievable parody that is nearly insulting to read. I’m looking at you, Draigo!

In this instance, though, that wasn’t the case. The story opens from the perspective of the Hive Mind, watching as the last of the prey retreat behind fortified walls or hold on in hopelessly circled positions. A small detachment of Blood Angels breaks through the orbital blockade and delivers Drop Pods to the planet below. Even though a significant space battle occurs, the Hive Mind pays it the same attention a predator would pay to biting insects. In the end, the Blood Angels are too few in number to affect the consumption.

The scene then cuts planetside, where the Blood Angels land in time to help the Catachans and the Aurora Marines drive off a Tyranid assault. Again we see this through the Hive Mind’s perspective, as it simply focuses on other, weaker prey and saves this hardened foe for later. Lictors stalk the Space Marines from the shadows as they continue their mission, and as groups of Astartes break off they are cut off and surrounded, then overwhelmed with superior numbers. The story ends with a massive bio-artillery barrage from Exocrines and Biovores, and the Space Marines rush to defeat this new foe as they begin to incur serious casualties.

We are then treated to several new Dataslates that represent this phase of the swarm; my favorite aspect of these is the ability to represent a truly endless swarm, as Hormgaunts, Termagants, and Gargoyles can be purchased in a way that allows destroyed units to return to play on a 4+. Combine this with a way to make Gargoyles Scoring models that cannot be contested!

This Dataslate brings something to the table for the thematic player and the tournament player as well. Tyranids as a faction have been augmented by the Skyblight Swarm, and the thematic player has been given another fun way to approach Tyranids in their games. I cannot wait to play an Endless Swarm over the coming weeks!