The Tyranids are alien predators invading the galaxy from the vast intergalactic void beyond its edges. Like swarming insects falling upon precious crops, they devour all before them – consuming life upon each world in their path, and leaving nothing but airless rocks in their wake. They are a threat to every sentient species in the galaxy, and their numbers are growing.
For ten thousand years, the Chaos Space Marines have waged near-constant war on the galaxy that cast them out. Once the defenders of humanity, the Heretic Astartes have pledged themselves to the Dark Gods. Led by maniacal leaders such as the fanatical Dark Apostle, bitter warbands of Chaos Space Marines roam the battlefield, armed with an array of vicious weapons. Barricades and defenders alike are torn asunder by the devastating heavy armaments wielded by Havocs – and the frenzied swipes of a lumbering Helbrute.
Each Norn Emissary is a purpose-bred beast, spawned by its Norn Queen to accomplish a specific and singular objective – be it hunting a strategically gifted commander, abducting a knowledgeable prey-being, or pursuing some other ineffable goal. These colossal heralds of the Hive Mind's agenda meld terrifying psionic potential with speed, intelligence, and monstrous strength, ensuring that a Norn Emissary is more than equal to its alien task.
Vashtorr is the Soul Forge King, a daemonic demigod of unrestrained invention and abominable artifice. When the Arkifane takes physical form, it is as a horror of pallid flesh stretched over infernal mechanisms, soaring to battle amidst a cloud of lightning and smog. Vashtorr deals destruction with every whirring step, unleashing techno gheist curses upon his foes even as he fashions enhancements for his indentured daemon engines from the raw stuff of realspace.
Heldrakes are winged Daemon Engines that plummet out of the skies like living comets, hurtling towards enemy aircraft and crashing claws-first into them from above.
The Forgefiend is a Chaos Space Marine Daemon Engine that was originally devised to sow death amongst enemy forces from afar.
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.
A Lord Discordant is a machine-obsessed heretic who scuttles across the battlefield atop a Helstalker mount, all the while exuding a palpable aura of anarchy. His mere presence short-circuits machinery not already riddled with daemonic entities – actuators and servos whir erratically, and targeting augurs simply cease to function. The Lord Discordant siphons off the pained spirit of dying vehicles, using the harvested energy to reinvigorate other Daemon Engines or releasing it as a screaming beam to infect the systems of other enemy vehicles. The most famous among the Lords Discordant, Vex Machinator, brought anarchy to the hivesprawls of Vigilus during the War of Nightmares.
The Venomthrope's whip-like tentacles drip with a multitude of alien poisons. Indeed, so potent are these toxins that it is believed that a Venomthrope's very touch means certain death.
Striding onto the battlefield like a demigod of war, the Despoiler scowls at the mortal chattel before him. He is an ender of worlds, a destroyer of hope, a bane unto the galaxy itself.
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.