For ten thousand years, the seeker of arcane truths known as Ahriman has roamed the galaxy in a quest to acquire every artefact, every tome and every scroll that harbours eldritch powers
Barbgaunts are little more than living weapons, their bodies and biological cannons slaved to the will of a pulsating ganglio-parasite that piggybacks them into battle. Once there, they unleash volleys of chitinous barbs that detonate with the fury of violent muscle-spasms, transfixing nearby victims with a hail of jagged projectiles.
Biovores are living artillery pieces, swollen with the clutch of explosive Spore Mines that they nurture within their bodies. Upon anchoring itself to the ground with chitinous spurs, a Biovore undergoes violent spasms that expel its volatile offspring in high arcs as living ammunition. From there, the gas-bloated Spore Mines detonate in a shower of bone shards and acid rain, or else drift languidly down onto the battlefield, primed to explode whenever prey draws near.
The Tyranids are an all-consuming alien swarm from beyond the known galaxy. Driven by the vast and ineffable intellect of the Hive Mind, their tendrils drive into fresh systems with every passing hour. These single-minded metapredators cannot be reasoned with, bought off, or put to flight. They seek only to strip each new world they encounter, devouring every shred of biomass to feed the relentless advance of the hive fleets and leaving dead, airless husks in their wake.
The Thousand Sons advance into battle amidst gouts of kaleidoscopic warpflame and bolts of raw sorcery. The heart of these arcane armies is comprised of Rubricae – implacable warriors who level salvo after salvo against the foe, marching at the command of the mighty Sorcerers and diabolic Infernal Masters who rule their fractured Legion. Around them come shrieking herds of Tzaangor, mutant shock troops armed with cursed blades and dark sorcery.
The Tyranid hive fleets are rapacious alien swarms that flow from beyond the galactic fringe to devour all life. When the Tyranids attack they do so in unstoppable numbers, unleashing nightmarish bio-weapons upon their victims.
The Deathleaper is a rare and advanced development of the Lictor strain, perfectly evolved to act as a terror weapon. This apex Lictor possesses an instinctive understanding of how to spread fear through hostile forces and prey populations alike, using its skills in stealth, infiltration, and assassination to sow paranoia and dread before the hive fleet attacks en masse.
Genestealers are peerless predators, swift vanguard organisms armoured in chitinous plates and possessed of terrifying strength and agility. Their broods move far ahead of the Tyranid hive fleets, to seek out fresh feeding grounds and spread their insidious genetic infection amongst the defenders. When the invasion swarms finally descend, the Genestealers burst from hiding to begin the slaughter.
Hive Guard are heavily armoured gun-beasts bound to extremely powerful symbiotic bio-weapons. They are created to guard the Tyranid Hive Ships and capillary towers that stand sentinel over prey worlds, until such time as intruders come within range of their deadly weapons.
Hormagaunts are swarming shock troops, seeded onto prey worlds in their billions. As simple hunter-slayer organisms, spawned Hormagaunts can be left to rampage across battlefields and populations, wearing down defence lines and forcing the prey to expend lives and ammunition. Many formidable bastions have been buried in literal mountains of these chitinous horrors, driven by the will of a terrible synapse beast.
Infernal Masters forge pacts with daemonic entities, referred to in the lore of Prospero as tutelaries. Chanting jagged syllables and making promises of blood and souls, they unleash the powers of these malign familiars to engulf their foes in swarms of momentarily corporeal terrors, to divine whispers of the future, or to master the currents of the warp itself.
Lictors are a sinister adaptation of the Tyranid Warrior bioform, specialising in infiltration, scouting, and assassination. Hidden by their chameleonic skin, these vanguard beasts stalk their prey beyond the reach of the Hive Mind's synaptic web, leading the greater swarm to fresh targets with a potent pheromone trail. Lictors pick off their prey opportunistically, always looking for a chance to crack open an unwary skull and use their feeder tendrils to suck out the secrets within.