Carnifex
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This article is about the the Tyranid species; for the Apothecary tool, see Carnifex (Tool). |
Carnifexes are hulking, powerful Tyranid creatures used as living battering rams. They are often armed with the most powerful Tyranid Bio-weapons, and are used in shock assaults, spaceship boarding actions, massed battles, and for battering through fortified positions and tank formations.[1b][14b]
Contents
Overview
Carnifexes excel at thunderous charges, where their immense chitin-armoured bulk is used to crush or smash through any opponent or obstacle. They are not as swift as other Tyranid creatures but their brute force more than makes up for this. A Carnifex's stampede takes time to build force as their incredible alien musculature strains to propel it forward. As it builds momentum and reaches top speed, the ground shakes with each stride of the monster and foes are scattered or trampled before it, and only fortress walls or Super Heavy Tanks have any chance of surviving the ferocious impact.[1b] Most Carnifex kills registered come from high energy attacks — lascannon, plasma and melta weapon strikes to critical locations. With hides at least as dense as ceramite[13a], Carnifexes can shrug off other small arms fire and even boltgun hits with minimal loss of function. Carnifexes are not very intelligent and in fact have little self-awareness. They will revert to unthinking rampages of destruction if not constantly supervised and guided by the Hive Mind.[1b] All Carnifex species seem well able to adapt to extremes of environments, from arctic cold to desert heat.[4a]
The Imperium's first recorded encounters with the Carnifex were in the battles against Hive Fleet Behemoth that lead up to the Battle for Macragge. As the Imperium tried to stop the Tyranids in space, Carnifexes were at the head of every boarding action.[1b] The strain of Carnifexes encountered became known as Screamer-Killers because of their terrible ululating shriek,[14a] caused by rasping plates in their esophagus that were used to energize a form of bio-plasma in their gut to shoot bio-plasmic bolts, and in some instances Screamer Killers were reported using an electrical field around their claws to build up an incandescent bio-plasma ball before launching it at a target over longer ranges.[4a] Despite the Hive Mind constantly adapting to new foes and theatres of war and produced increasingly complex organisms, the Carnifex has remained the standard heavy combatant. This is not just because of their toughness and combat effectiveness, but also because they are a relatively simple bio-design that doesn't require much resources to produce.[13a]
The Carnifex genus actually comprises many species displaying a wide variety of symbiotic weaponry such as the Heavy Venom Cannon, Stranglethorn Cannon, and Deathspitters.[2c] They also can sport a number of support Biomorphs including Adrenal Glands, Acid Maw, Chitin Thorns, Enhanced Senses, Spore Cysts, Toxin Sacs, and Tusks.[12]
Carnifex Arbylis is a sub-classification of extreme Carnifex variants that meld both pairs of upper limbs into complex ranged weapon symbiotes such as twin Venom Cannons.[2c] Most common of these is the "Venomspitter" Carnifex. Carnifex Arbylis generally have improved ocular acuity and excellent depth perception from multiple eyes, although specimens employing a kind of stereoscopic echo-location have also been found on night worlds.[4b]
Basic Info
| Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Record [3] | |||
| Designation | Carnifex | ||
| Common Title | Screamer-Killer | ||
| Species Name
(Sub-classification Names) |
Carnifex primus[2b] or Carnifex voracio[3]
(Carnifex arbylis,[2c] Carnifex bilius,[4b] Carnifex oprimo,[15] Carnifex ululare,[2c] Carnifex vorantii,[2c]) | ||
| Average Height | 4 m | ||
| Average Weight | 8-9 tonnes | ||
| First encountered | Tyran | ||
| Role | Heavy assault | ||
| Threat evaluation | Very high | ||
Species of Carnifex
There are many species in the Carnifex Genus:
Major Strains
- Carnifex Vorantii— Commonly called the “Thornback,” these creatures are living batteries of symbiote weaponry equipped with short- to medium-range ballistic parasites and living bomb projectors such as Deathspitters, Devourers, Stranglethorn Cannons, and Spine Banks[13b]. Several of the intimidating-looking thorns on this subspecies are in fact sensory organs for sniffing out prey. They are infantry hunters that seem to take pleasure in rooting out hiding men. Despite its lack of specialized melee limbs the Thornback is extremely dangerous at close quarters, where its speed and bulk allow it to easily impale incautious enemies.[4b]
- The Screamer-Killer is the most infamous adaptation – and the biggest. Named after the sinister howl emitted as it unleashes their Bio-plasma blasts, Screamer-Killers are unstoppable shock creatures.[11]
- Carnifex Oprimo[15]— A genus designed to assault enemy bunkers and urban combat, where it can smash enemy buildings and strongpoints. They are typically equipped with a mixture of Tail Mace, Stone Crusher, Wrecking Ball, and Crushing Claws.[6]
Rare strains
- Bile-beast
- Carnifex Bilius, commonly called “Bile-beasts,” have been converted into walking biological weapons factories. Their carapaces are pitted with bubbling spore cysts and their guts writhe with lethal pathogens and molecular acids that gout from dorsal vents. The combined attack of necrotizing spores and acids used by these beasts will fatally overwhelm most bio-chem defences in moments; more resistant enemies are crushed by the creatures’ crab-like claws and digested by its drooling, acidic maw."[4b][2c]
- Death Beetle
- Death Beetles wield Venom Cannons, but are designed to take advantage of nearly every biomorph the Tyranids have available. This includes having horned heads, Enhanced Senses, Acid Maws, Bonded Exoskeletons, Extended Carapaces, Reinforced Chitin, Thornbacks and Implant Attacks. As a result of this, Death Beetles are large enough to loom over a Land Raider, take on any role in a battle and are also hard to kill. Even if they do die though, there is a chance that a slain Death Beetle will simply get back up and start attacking again. However despite their many strengths, Death Beetles are rarely encountered when compared to the other variants of the Carnifex.[8b]
- Razorfex
- Razorfexes are a variety of particularly well-armed Carnifex equipped with a Bio-plasma screech, similarly to a Screamer-Killer, with Heavier Chitin Plating, Flesh Hooks and Adrenal Glands, as well as a pair or Scything Talons and an enormous set of Rending Claws.[9c]
- Scuttle-Basher
- Scuttle-Bashers are single mindedly focused on destroying every piece of enemy armour there is on a battlefield. They have Reinforced Chitin, which makes the Scuttle-Bashers hard to put down, once they begin charging at their foes. When they come in reach of an enemy, the Scuttle-Bashers' Tusks and Scything Talons can easily pierce the armour of a Land Raider.[8a]
- Shovel-Tusker
- Shovel-tuskers are equipped with Toxin Sacs, a fused and thickened carapace, and their eponymous Tusks, as well as a Tail Mace, Scything Talons, and Crushing Claws. But they are best known and feared by the Astra Militarum's tank crews for their ability to charge and flip over a vehicle.[2c]
- Strangle Seeder
- Strangle Seeders are specially designed to shred packed formations of lightly armoured infantry squads, with their Twin-linked Barbed Stranglers. They also have Enhanced Senses and Spore Cysts to aid them in the amount of damage they can inflict.[8b]
- Terrorbore
- Terrorbores are designed to slaughter even the toughest infantry in wholesale quantities and wield two Twin-Linked Devourers to mow down their foes with. They are also equipped with Spine Banks, which adds to the amount of firepower the Terrorbores can unleash.[8a]
- Toxic-Lasher
- Toxic-Lashers are equipped with two Lash Whips, an Implant Attack and can also emit a Toxic Miasma.[8a]
- Tusked Shrieker
- Tusked Shriekers are equipped with multiple Scything Talons, Tusks and horned heads, which allows them to rip through vehicles and anything else in their path. These lumbering creatures charge full-tilt at their foes and often target elite infantry squads. Even having the higher ground is not enough to defend against Tusked Shriekers, as they can easily scale heights in order get in reach of their enemies.[8b]
- Venomspitter
- A Carnifex beast capable of launching hyper-velocity crystalline shards of pure poison that can knock out a tank or easily kill a warrior in power armour.[4b][2c]
Notable Individual Carnifexes
- Old One Eye - a unique Carnifex with the ability to regenerate itself from mortal wounds.[1c][9b]
Images
Carnifex[16c]
Carnifex with hardened scales[16a]
Carnifex Screamer-Killer[16b]
Miniatures
Screamer-Killer miniature (1st Edition - 1992)[10]
Carnifex miniature (3rd Edition - 2001)[9a]
Carnifex Miniature (4th Edition - 2005)[2d]
Screamer-Killer miniature (10th Edition - 2023)[11]
Death Beetle miniature[8b]
Scuttle-Basher miniature[8a]
Strangle Seeder miniature[8b]
Terrorbore miniature[8a]
Toxic-Lasher miniature[8a]
Tusked Shrieker miniature[8b]
See also
Sources
- 1: Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition):
- 2: Codex: Tyranids (4th Edition):
- 3: Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion Project, pg. 100
- 4: Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos:
- 5: Forge World (last accessed 11 June 2015)
- 6: Imperial Armour - Apocalypse Second Edition, pg. 74
- 7: Warhammer Community Codex: Tyranids Preview – Units (last accessed 9 January 2018)
- 8: Games Workshop: Carnifex Conversions by Ty Finocchiaro (archived from the original 15 June 2006, last accessed 13 December 2024)
- 8a: Page 1 (archived from the original 13 June 2006, last accessed 13 December 2024)
- 8b: Page 2 (archived from the original June 24, 2006, last accessed 13 December 2024)
- 9: Codex: Tyranids (3rd Edition):
- 10: White Dwarf 146 (UK), pg. 58
- 11: Warhammer Community : Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan – What’s In The Box? (29/04/23) (last accessed 29 April 2023)
- 12: Codex: Tyranids (9th Edition), pg. 113
- 13: Codex: Tyranids (8th Edition):
- 14: Codex: Tyranids (2nd Edition):
- 15: Imperial Armour Volume Four - Second Edition: The Anphelion Project, pg. 93
- 16: Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000 - for details see Carnifex/Sources
- 17: Apocalypse War Zone: Valedor, pg. 23
