The Tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken were also the antagonists in Games Workshop's first ever worldwide campaign, the Battle for Ichar IV. The Tyranids have made appearances in a number of spin-off games and computer games including the 1993 board game Doom of the Eldar that focused on their invasion of the Craftworld Iyanden. The Tyranids have been a part of the Warhammer 40,000 universe since the 1st Edition of the game and have received rules in every edition since.

The latter is offset by the fact that the presence of said creatures makes the rest of the army fearless, and the former rarely comes into play as the standard Tyranid strategy is to roll over the enemy like a tsunami. The Tyranids' two main weaknesses are comparatively few ranged units, as well as the reliance on a few synapse creatures to keep the swarm together. They also contain units of specialist creatures able to infiltrate or move quickly in order to keep the enemy occupied in close combat while the rest of the army closes in, and the biomorph system allows units to be upgraded to deal with specific targets rather effectively. The tabletop Tyranid army is a mix of swarms of highly-expendable critters able to swamp even Imperial Guard or Ork forces, backed up by lumbering monstrous creatures capable of tossing tanks around with their tusks or blowing up heads with psychic powers. The pessimistic take is that they are running from something worse. The optimistic take on the Tyranids is that they are moving on our galaxy after cleansing one or more other galaxies of life.

and these are likely just the vanguard of more Tyranid swarms still en route to the galaxy. Three Hive Fleets have been encountered thus far: Hive Fleet Behemoth nearly overran the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge and killed their entire 1st Company Hive Fleet Kraken all but wiped out the Eldar of craftworld Iyanden and Hive Fleet Leviathan is currently rampaging through an Ork empire, as well as threatening the Blood Angels' homeworld of Baal.

They implant their DNA in victims, turning their children into Genestealer/human hybrids who will eventually form a cult on their homeworld that undermines the planet's defenses while psychically summoning the swarm. Of particular note are the specialized Tyranids known as Genestealers. While the classic Tyranid strategy is to overwhelm their foes with weight of numbers, the swarms have also been seen to ambush armored columns in narrow passages that turned tanks into helpless sitting targets, employ burrowing organisms to launch surprise attacks behind enemy lines, or use winged creatures to sow discord and confusion. Though the individual creatures in the Hive Fleets are little more than beasts, Tyranids are controlled via synapse creatures by the race's Hive Mind, which is extremely intelligent.

Tyranids 8th edition tactics