As much as I
love the models there was always something that put me off Tyranids:
the lack of personality. This extends further than them just not
having names or even named characters in the traditional sense.
Because Tyranids of whatever size or intelligence are birthed by the
hive ships, perform the task they were made for and are then digested
by those same hive ships its unlikely that (storyline-wise) your Hive
Tyrant in one game represents the same Hive Tyrant in the next.
Essentially,
they're the one army where you aren't playing the hero in your own
story.
No matter
how debased or evil or mad the leader of any other army might be
they're still pursuing an agenda. Your Necron Lord wants to rebuild
what he sees as the one true civilisation of the galaxy. Abaddon the
Despoiler has a whole revenge drama going on even if his ultimate
objective is to throw the galaxy into eternal damnation. The
motivation might not be nice but it exists, there's a way that the
character sees themselves as in the right, no one sees themselves as
the villain of the piece, as the old writing maxim goes.
(Okay, maybe
the Night Lords.)
In a way
this very quality makes the Tyranids perfect for my purposes. I'll be
playing a lot of club games with this army as it grows and trying to
impose a storyline on that sort of environment is a nightmare. If I
can just handwave fighting Tau, Space Marines, Eldar and so on and so
on in rapid succession by saying its all different splinters of Hive
Fleet Jormungandr all the better.
It'll also
be interesting to see what sort of story my more regular opponents
come up with surrounding my actions. My friend Tom (a dedicated
Valhallan Guard player) and I have been trying to come up with a
storyline for us to play through for some time and the classic horde
vs. horde or Guard and 'Nids seems as good a story to tell as any.
And if I
eventually find myself with a yen to write some personalised stories
of the campaign I can always bring my Genestealer Cults into the mix.
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