T-609, diagnosis only: no ledger output changed. Data: docs/lab/ledger/tyranids.json at e0a01c4 (inputs frozen at eb3590a, hash 30f0056e6103, BSData 374f505; node tools/ledger-inputs.js --verify: 26 match). Traces: node tools/scratch/killaudit.js army | warriors | hg <units> | gs <units> | cells <form> <units> | nochar <forms> | onetarget <forms> (inside the frozen inputs' realm, β 6) and node tools/scratch/killaudit-page.js share | whatif | synapse (the page's maths on the saved benchmarks). Rules checked on Wahapedia's 11th-edition pages (datasheets and core rules), in our words. Kill is enemy points per 100 points of the form, one turn; "raw" is the engine's number before the page's lands, scarcity and multipliers.
In short
| Unit | Kill | Rank | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-Weapons | right: loadout legal, every weapon's dice match a hand calculation | 12th of 52 (A) at the joint four-list benchmark, against reviewers' C, C, B | modelling gaps, no bug: Synapse's ×2.18 multiplies their whole Value; 47% of their page Kill is 15 melee attacks per 60 points; half their Kill is lone characters |
| Genestealers | right: hand calculation matches, Vanguard Predator's hit re-roll and the Broodlord's Devastating Wounds counted | 32nd (B) at the joint benchmark, 26th at the defaults | modelling gaps, no bug: they lack the Synapse multiplier that 16 of the 31 units above them get; Vanguard Onslaught's advance-and-charge is measured (lands 0.93 against 0.84) but erased by the lands clamp at any scale ≥ 1.07; the wound re-roll on objectives isn't counted |
| Hive Guard (control) | right: shockcannon into a Defiler by hand gives the engine's cell exactly | 27th (B) at the joint benchmark | right |
There is no factor of three in Kill. On the page the Hive Guard's Kill line is the higher one (259 against 199 per 100 at the joint benchmark; 241 against 167 at the defaults), because role scarcity lifts anti-tank (×1.79) and trims the Warriors (×0.95). What puts the Warriors 15 places above the Hive Guard is Synapse: the joint benchmark sets its multiplier at 2.18 on the total, so the Warriors' Kill contributes 4 × 199 × 2.18 = 1,734 to Value against the Hive Guard's 4 × 259 = 1,037. With that one multiplier at 1, the Warriors fall to 22nd and the Hive Guard rise to 19th.
How Kill is made (tools/ledger.js kill)
The typical army is the top-quarter field scaled to 2,000 points: 630 datasheet-sizes, each a fraction of a unit (copies 0.02 to 0.15), so each holds a sliver of wounds (0.1 to 2 wounds). The form fires every gun, then fights with every charge landing, through allocate.js's kernel at β 6: each group spreads its fire by σ ∝ R × (v ÷ v\*)^6 over the army, a target it would overkill saturates and the rest spills to the next best. Points per wound are the unit's points over its wounds. Kill is the points removed, per 100 points of the form. The page then multiplies melee by the form's lands (× the lands scale, clamped at 1), the whole Kill by role scarcity (the form's factor ÷ the army's median 0.361) and the rule multipliers, and Value by the army-wide ones.
1. Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-Weapons
The loadout is legal. Auto-equip's ×3 is one barbed strangler, one deathspitter, one venom cannon and three sets of claws (60 points); ×6 is two of each gun (120 points). The 11th-edition datasheet lets any number of models swap their devourer for a deathspitter or spinefists, and, per 3 models, one model take a barbed strangler and, separately, one take a venom cannon: two limits, not one shared. BSData's limits read the same (BSD.limitAt: barbed strangler 1 at 3 models and 2 at 6, venom cannon likewise, the others up to every model), and the Prime may take any of the five. Points 60 and 120 at the snapshot (unchanged on Wahapedia today).
Each weapon alone into the typical army (×3, Assimilation Swarm, β 6, per 100 points of the unit):
| Group | Kill alone | Its best slices |
|---|---|---|
| Barbed strangler | 44.0 | Swooping Hawks 7.6, Benefictus 2.8, Scourges 2.3, a Painboy 1.5 |
| Deathspitter | 23.1 | Benefictus 2.2, Scourges 1.9, a Painboy 1.3, a Technomancer 1.2 |
| Venom cannon | 35.5 | a Technomancer 4.5, Pteraxii 2.7, a Plasmancer 1.2 |
| Claws (every charge landing) | 130.0 | Wolf Scouts 5.5, Acolyte Hybrids 5.2, Swooping Hawks 5.0, a Technomancer 4.6 |
| Together | ranged 97.3, melee 111.2 | the groups share their best slices, so the sum is less than the parts |
By class: characters 104.4, elite infantry 54.7, chaff 40.3, the rest 9.4 (per 100). In Subterranean Assault (re-roll hit 1s), the form the page ranks: ranged 111.4, melee 124.8, characters 117.4 (50%).
By hand, one weapon into one target (an Intercessor Squad of 5: Toughness 4, 3+ save, 2 wounds, 8.0 points a wound):
| Weapon | Hand | Engine's cell |
|---|---|---|
| Claws (5 attacks, hit 3+, S5, AP −1, D1) | 2/3 hit × 2/3 wound × 1/2 failed 4+ save = 0.222 wounds an attack; 15 attacks = 3.33 wounds = 26.7 points | e 0.222, 26.7 points |
| Deathspitter (3 shots, hit 4+, S5, AP −1, D1) | 1/2 × 2/3 × 1/2 = 0.167; 3 shots = 0.50 wounds = 4.0 points | e 0.167, 4.0 |
| Venom cannon (D3 shots + 1 for Blast, hit 4+, S9, AP −2, D2) | 1/2 × 5/6 × 2/3 = 0.278 unsaved, each a whole model (2 wounds) = 0.556; 3 shots = 1.67 wounds = 13.3 points | e 0.556, 13.3 |
| Barbed strangler (D6+1 shots + 1, hit 4+, S6, AP −1, D1) | 1/2 × 2/3 × 1/2 = 0.167; 5.5 shots = 0.92 wounds = 7.3 points | e 0.167, 7.3 |
Into this one target the ×3 removes 24.7 points shooting and 26.7 fighting (85 per 100 with every charge landing); the Hive Guard ×3 (three shockcannons) remove 21.3 and 8.0 (37 per 100). Into a Defiler the order flips: the Warriors' three guns remove 0.94 wounds (17.0 points, 28 per 100; by hand the venom cannon 0.444, the strangler 0.375 wounding on 5+, the deathspitter 0.125 on 6+, as the engine), the Hive Guard 90 points (112 per 100). The engine has both right; the typical army holds enough soft, expensive-per-wound slices that ideal targeting gives the two near the same ranged Kill (97 to 111 against 101 to 115) and the Warriors' 15 melee attacks add 111 to 125 more (35 to 39 for the Hive Guard).
Plausibility. The number is "each gun at its best targets across the whole meta". Two things in it favour the Warriors more than the reviewers would:
- Lone characters: 50% of their Kill (the typical army's 160 character entries hold 321 points, 16%, at 17.8 points a wound against the army's 12.2). Taking characters out of the targets (the rest scaled back to 2,000) cuts the Warriors' Kill 13 to 15% and the Hive Guard's 5 to 10% (section 4).
- One unit against the whole meta: a single 60-point unit skims the richest slices; per 100 points Kill falls with size (×3 208.5, ×6 180.8 at Assimilation Swarm), so the smallest squad always wins. Against one whole unit met as the field fields them (points-weighted average target, kill capped at the unit), the ×3 removes 41.5 shooting and 48.6 fighting per 100, the Hive Guard ×6 52.0 and 11.5: the kernel multiplies the Warriors' by 2.6 to 2.7 and the Hive Guard's by 2.2.
Why they rank high. At the joint four-list benchmark (tools/ledger-benchmarks/2026-10-03-joint-four-lists.json: Kill weight 4, lands ×1.5, Synapse ×2.18): melee lands 0.524 × 1.5 = 0.79, so the page's Kill is (111.4 + 124.8 × 0.79) × 0.95 = 198.9, of which melee is 93.1; then × 2.18 for Synapse on the whole Value (the Warriors have the SYNAPSE keyword; the Hive Guard don't). Their Value is 2,024 against the Hive Guard's 1,145.
Verdict: Kill right; the rank is modelling gaps. The decisive one is Synapse as a multiplier on the whole Value (fix A); the characters (T-605, fix B) and Kill measured alone (fix D) add about 10% each against the Hive Guard.
2. Genestealers
Their best solo form is ×10 in Invasion Fleet (Hyper-Aggression) at the page defaults, the T-602 benchmark and the joint one; never Vanguard Onslaught.
- Vanguard Onslaught's advance-and-charge is read. tools/charge-tyranids.json gives the ×10 a turn-one charge of 0.80 in Vanguard Onslaught (Questing Tendrils, for VANGUARD INVADER) against 0.55 elsewhere (both from Scouts at 14.6"), lands 0.931 against 0.845; the rule is marked measured, with no multiplier.
- At the defaults it loses on role scarcity: Vanguard Onslaught's page melee is 166.3 × 0.931 × 1.005 = 155.6; Hyper-Aggression's 164.8 × 0.845 × 1.196 = 166.5. Lethal Hits against MONSTER and VEHICLE moves about 15 points per 100 into vehicles and monsters (classes few Tyranids kill well), lifting the scarcity factor from 0.362 to 0.431 though the raw melee drops 1%. (A drop from a rule that only adds: at finite β, a better second-choice target draws a larger share of fire while still worse than the best. A property of soft targeting, not a bug.)
- At the benchmarks the clamp erases it: with the lands scale at 1.32 or 1.5, 0.931 and 0.845 both become 1. Any scale above 1 ÷ 0.931 = 1.074 makes Vanguard Onslaught worth nothing to the best charger in the army (fix C).
Their melee, by hand (40 attacks, hit 2+ re-rolling 1s: 35/36; S4, AP −2, D1):
| Target | Hand | Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Intercessors (T4, 3+, W2) | 0.972 × 1/2 × 2/3 = 0.324 an attack; 12.96 wounds = 103.7 points | e 0.324, 103.7 |
| Termagants (T3, 5+, W1) | 0.972 × 2/3 × 1 = 0.648; 25.9 wounds | e 0.648 |
| Allarus Custodians (T7, 2+, 4++, W4) | 0.972 × 1/3 × 1/2 = 0.162; 6.5 wounds = 89.4 points | e 0.162, 89.4 |
Raw melee 166.3 per 100 (×10), 181.3 (×5); 38 to 41% into lone characters (11 to 12% less without them).
- Abilities: Vanguard Predator's hit re-roll is in (unitfx.json). Its wound re-roll needs the target within range of an objective, a condition the engine counts as not met: it adds 1/6 to the wounds whenever it applies, so about +8% Kill if half their fights are on objectives (fix E). The 11th-edition datasheet gives their claws no Lethal Hits or other weapon ability. The 5+ invulnerable save is Soak (219.7 shooting, 149.5 fighting per 100), not Kill.
- The Broodlord joined. Vicious Insight (leaderfx.json) gives the squad Devastating Wounds: into Intercessors 0.972 × (1/6 + 2/6 × 2/3) = 0.378 an attack (+17%, engine 0.378); into a 5+ save at AP −2 nothing (no save to skip); into Allarus 0.243 (+50%). The squad's melee alone rises from 232.8 to 255.3 points (+9.7%). The joined ×10 (220 points) removes 149.2 per 100 = 328 points, against 232.8 + 93.3 = 326 for the two apart: the Devastating Wounds land in the same soft slices the Broodlord's own claws take, so the pair adds 2 points. Per 100 the joined form is lower (149 against 166), because the Broodlord's own 117 per 100 (73% of it lone characters) is below the squad's. His Hypnotic Gaze (−1 to hit for the unit he picks in the fight) is a chosen-target condition, counted as not met: Soak, not Kill. He has no mortal wounds outside attacks.
- Why 32nd. Their Kill line at the joint benchmark (197.1) is above the median unit's (168.6). They fall because 16 of the 31 units above them have SYNAPSE and get × 2.18 on their whole Value and they don't, and Soak is weighted 0.1. With Synapse at 1 they are 24th.
Verdict: Kill right; the rank is modelling gaps (A, C, E), and the characters (B) cut them about as much as the median.
3. Hive Guard, the control
Shockcannon (2 shots, hit 3+, S7, AP −1, D3, Anti-Vehicle 2+) into a Defiler (T11, 3+, 5++, 18 wounds, 18.0 points a wound): 2/3 hit × 5/6 wound (critical on 2+) × 1/2 (the 4+ save after AP −1; the 5++ is worse) = 0.278 unsaved, × 3 damage = 0.833 wounds an attack. Engine: u 0.278, e 0.833. Three Hive Guard, 6 shots: 5.0 wounds = 90.0 points (112 per 100). Into a Riptide (T9, 2+, 4++, 14 wounds) 2/3 × 5/6 × 1/3 = 0.185 unsaved; 14 wounds take 5 hits of 3, so 0.185 × 14 ÷ 5 = 0.519 (engine 0.519). Into Intercessors 0.444 (engine 0.444). The kernel's ranged 107.8 per 100 (×3, three shockcannons) sits just under the Defiler's 112: the Defiler slices hold 1.6 wounds, and the fire spills to vehicles a little less rich. Characters are 27 to 41% of their Kill. Verdict: right.
4. The fixes (none built; cards to write)
| Fix | Measured or expected effect | |
|---|---|---|
| A | Synapse measured, not a multiplier on the whole Value (design/ledger.md 4.2 left army-wide rules as multipliers "for now"). A multiplier pays Synapse in proportion to the carrier's own Kill and Soak; Synapse's worth is its coverage of the rest of the list, and a list has several sources, so its worth is the marginal one. | Multiplier at 1, joint benchmark: Warriors 12th → 22nd, Broodlord 15th → 30th, Hive Guard 27th → 19th, Genestealers 32nd → 24th; Auspex ρ 0.61 → 0.51 before any refit (the fit leans on it). T-602 benchmark: Warriors 19th → 27th, Hive Guard 17th → 12th. A flat credit per form is no fix: matching the multiplier's mean gain puts the Warriors ×3 first (the cheapest Synapse body; ρ 0.50). |
| B | T-605: joined characters inside their bodyguards' target, Precision aside (11th-edition core rules: an attached unit is one target, resolved at the bodyguards' Toughness). | Median 55% of every unit's raw Kill goes into lone characters (16% of the army's points). Characters removed altogether (an upper bound: folded in, they raise their bodyguards' points a wound): Warriors −13 to −15%, Hive Guard −5 to −10%, Genestealers −11 to −12%, Broodlord −22%, Lictor −26%, Swarmlord −19%, Hormagaunts −8%, Tyrannofex −7%. |
| C | The lands scale on the odds, never clamped: lands' = 1 − (1 − lands)^scale in place of min(1, lands × scale). | At ×1.5 Genestealers 0.982 (Vanguard Onslaught) against 0.939, the Warriors and Hive Guard 0.67 instead of 0.79. Ranks move one or two places (joint: Warriors 12th → 11th, Hive Guard 27th → 22nd, Genestealers 32nd → 33rd); it restores the order among good chargers rather than lifting the Genestealers. |
| D | Kill measured at the margin, not alone: the rest of a typical Tyranid list fires first (or the meta is scaled to the form's share), so a unit can't skim the richest slices. | Per-100 Kill falls with size today (Warriors ×3 208 → ×6 181, Genestealers ×5 181 → ×10 166, Hive Guard ×3 145 → ×6 135). Kernel against one whole target met as the field fields it: ×2.6–2.7 Warriors, ×2.2 Hive Guard, ×2.4–3.0 Genestealers, ×1.9 Broodlord, ×2.0 Hormagaunts and Lictor. Expected to trim generalists 10 to 20% against specialists; needs its own test before a firm size. |
| E | Conditions with a share: Vanguard Predator's wound re-roll on objectives, and the Broodlord's Hypnotic Gaze in the joined form's fight Soak. | Genestealers' Kill +16.7% × the share of fights on objectives (+8% at half); the joined form's fight Soak up by the −1 to hit on the unit it fights. |
No bug was found in Kill: the loadouts are legal, the points right, every cell checked by hand matches the engine, and saturation holds (no class gives more than the army holds). A ranks first: it alone moves these units by 8 to 15 places and carries 0.10 of the Auspex ρ, so a fix should be refitted before its ρ is compared.