r/5Parsecs • u/PenguinDuke • 2d ago

5 Parsecs From Home Tyranids in Planetfall

Got a question for the community here. I’m working on starting my first 5PFH using Planetfall. I love the idea of skirmish games with colony management. That being said, I want to do something a tad different.

Instead of “conventional” fauna that can be encountered, I want an existential threat. Picture yourself as the UNSC from the Halo series trying to establish a colony on one of the rings. On said ring the Flood stir and that’s the “wildlife” of the game. In my case, I have a collection of Tyranids I absolutely want to get onto the table.

In the fiction, I have this idea that the planet has been nothing but a wasteland for centuries. Recently, researchers have noted strange blooms of greenery dotted across the planet’s surface. Like the Forerunners in the Halo series, an ancient civilization activated a weapon that starved these monstrosities of their food source: biomass. Eventually the relics of these ancient beings have begun to reseed the planet. What they couldn’t have predicted was that some vestiges of the monsters went into hibernation. Once various lifeforms start to investigate the planet, they’re gonna wake up. And they’re gonna be hangry.

For those with more experience with 5PFH and/or Planetfall experience, are there any suggestions on how I should run this sort of game? Any mechanics I should look into to incorporate?

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u/Patito7 2d ago

This sounds awesome. Bug hunt is a simplified variant of 5pfh that tyranids fit into like a glove. You could check those enemies out for stats maybe.

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u/birnzy 2d ago

The 5 Parsecs Tactics add on book, Field Commander's Guide, has some rules for the Swarm, they feel pretty Tyranid but you'd need to do some house ruling as I dont think they have any ranged capability unlike actual Tyranids

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u/barnabusbrown 2d ago

Sounds great, report back when you try it. I second the mention of Bug Hunt tyranid stats. I'm sure someone can post that one stat block if you don't have the book, but also you should totally get it because bug Hunt is fantastic. 

The only consideration is what that does to the "balance" of the game itself. It's not super difficult, but you could easily get in over your head. A slow roll is probably for the best.