Leviathan
From Lexicanum
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Hive Fleet Leviathan was the third major Tyranid Hive Fleet to invade the galaxy. In 997.M41 Leviathan made its presence felt. Where the previous two incursions have been made along the Eastern Fringe, Leviathan attacked up through the galactic plane, striking deep into Segmentum Tempestus.
They reached within 15000 light years of Holy Terra itself. One of the planets that was overrun and destroyed was the valuable forge world Gryphonne IV.
Leviathan moved in a manner much unlike the other previous Hive Fleets, attacking down the eastern rim in a two pronged attack, parallel to each other. The worlds in the path of each prong were quickly overrun, and only those which were of particular value to the Tyranids were absorbed. With this strategy, the Tyranids were free to take the planets lying between the prongs at their leisure. This meant that any force was hard pressed to predict what the Tyranids would do, and only when a sacrificial strategy was implemented, did the Tyranids falter. Wherever the Tyranids attacked, the defenders would fight them to the last man. Then, at the moment of defeat, the planet would be subjected to exterminatus, stripping the planet of most of its biomass. This strategy, though extreme, proved effective. This had the effect of weakening the Tyranids, as they would be denied both the world and the resources spent to claim it. This worked for a while, and the Tyranids were eventually stopped. Whether a world is allowed to be consumed by Tyranids or exterminated at the last moment, the Imperium is also damaged by the destruction of its worlds, and it is predicted the Imperium could not withstand the use of this strategy against a future Hive Fleet on the scale of Leviathan or Behemoth - and humanity has yet to see even the full vanguard of the Tyranid threat.
It seems that humanity will have to find new ways of dealing with this.
