What, wrong cult? No matter, just another set of crazies hell bent on preparing the world for their overlords eventual arrival. Are you sure I have the wrong cult?
Genestealer Cult baby! I was never really one who held much credence with this army, not really knowing much about them. However, after reading this book I have fallen in love with them. Now I'll be straight with you and say that I still don't give their actual story a whole lot of validity, but I'm not here to talk about that. Rules, that's what you came here for and so I will deliver...
First things first, this is not going to be an easy army to play. They are very fragile, most of their army consisting of Infantry, and most of them only have a 5+ save and T3, however, they can hit really, really, hard. This is where their movement shenanigans come in handy. Which is where we begin.
The Cult Ambush rule is used in the deployment phase and consists of 2 ways to deploy your units when deploying your army, in ambush or underground. Underground is simple, only infantry and bike units can deploy underground and it's basically "deep strike". You show up at the end of a movement phase 9" away from an enemy unit. When deploying in ambush, instead of placing the unit on the table, you place a coin sized token called a Cult Ambush Marker (provided with the codex) anywhere wholly in your deployment zone. If the unit is a transport, you mush declare if there are any units embarked inside of it. Each unit being deployed via ambush will have an ambush marker so when you are done you will have a deployment zone with dozens of these little red tokens.
Revealing your army is the kicker and will be critical to your game plan. This is essentially a second chance to either succeed at, or fuck up, your deployment as you replace all of the markers with units that were put into ambush. You do not, at any point, have to record which unit corresponds to which marker, you get to determine that when you place the unit on the table, not the marker. You start by placing one model from the unit within 1" of the marker, then place the rest of the models from that unit within 6" of the first model.
What is the point of this? Well it lets you adjust your deployment depending on your opponent's. I've run into several cases where I've deployed a unit, only to have my opponent deploy a counter unit across the table from it. That's not an issue now because you get to see where your opponent's entire army is before you put models on the table. On top of that, if your opponent takes the first turn, you get to also see where he is moving everything before you put stuff on the table. This sort of goes both ways as your opponent can sort of dictate where you put your stuff. For example, if the north side of the table has quite a few objectives, he could move a lot of his anti infantry firepower to that location, dissuading you from putting your objective holders there. Your opponent also can't move any of his models to within 9" of any of your markers.
We are not done with deployment though, as there are a bunch of stratagems that work in tandem with your fancy deployment rules which jack the shenanigans up to 11. First up is Meticulous Uprising which allows you to move up to 3 of your markers up to 12", keeping it in your deployment zone and more than 9" from an enemy model. So if he has first turn and uses something like the Dark Matter Crystal to move a unit of his into your deploy zone, you can move something towards it, or away form it.
You can also put up blank markers with Scanner Decoys which allows you to place 3 extra markers. This really helps protect your back field from things like the Dark Matter Crystal. You can only use it once, so there's no flooding the table with red dots.
Next up is They Came From Below which allows you to remove 3 of those markers and place 3 units in "deep strike". Now, it has been clarified that markers on the table count toward the number of units and power level that counts as on the table for purposes of reserves. So you can exceed half your units and power level with this stratagem.
Lying in Wait is one that you use when you bring in a unit from reserves and it allows you to set up a unit within 3" of an enemy unit, instead of the normal 9", but you can't charge. This is perfectly fine if you are bringing in 20 Acolytes all armed with hand flamers. You can use them to clear out your opponent's screening units so when you bring in your real scary units turn 3 they have an open pathway.
Finally, The Perfect Ambush allows you to move D6" OR shoot with a unit that you have just brought in from reserves. This one is pretty expensive at 3CP, but it can get your Purestrain Genestealers or Abberants that much closer to lay that smack down.
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| Hand signals are an important part of every ambush |
Lets talk army building, starting with the Patriarch. Take one. Every time. Just for the fact he makes everyone within 6" of him fearless, and of course for the +1 to hit he gives to Genestealers. He is nearly a Daemon Prince for 125 points, with more and better attacks, better buffs, and better spells. Now, you don't have to limit yourself to just one, but you can only take one per detachment. That way one can sit back and protect your back lines while keeping your infantry from running away, and the other can lead the Genestealers on their way to the Perfect Ambush. I don't have to go into how good Genestealers are, you've know that for a long time now.
The Magus and Primus are nice little secondary characters who basically take the good parts of a Patricarh and split them to 2 models. The Magus can cast a spell and the Primus buffs units with a +1 to hit in combat. The nice thing is that the Primus' ability is not limited to Genestealers.
To take a quick detour, lets go to a quick combo using the Primus, Abominant, and a unit of Aberrants. The Primus gives everyone +1 to hit, making the power picks hit on 2's and the power hammers hit on 3's again. The Abominant, not only being devastating on his own, he turns unmodified hit rolls of 6 into 2 hits for nearby Aberrant units(that would include himself). Power picks being S5 AP-2 and D3 damage, while power hammers are Sx2 AP-3 and 3 damage, and the improvised heavy weapon is Sx2 AP-1 and 2 damage but it makes 2 hit rolls for each attack, this is some serious damage output. So you have all those units as part of the Bladed Cog and use the Overthrow the Oppressors stratagem which means, for each hit roll of a 6, counts as 2 hits, and each hot roll of a 5 or 6 generates an additional hit roll, which will count as 2 hits if they are 6's. Math time:
Lets take a look at a unit of 10 Aberrants, 2 of them will be upgraded to Hypermorphs with heavy improvised weapons, the other 8 will split between hammers and picks. So that will be 8 hammer attacks hitting on 3's, 8 pick attacks hitting on 2's, and 12 improvised weapon attacks hitting on 2's. 5's and 6's generate extra hit rolls for the picks and improvised weapons, while generating extra hit rolls on 6's for the hammers.
That will be, approximately, 16 improvised weapon attacks with 3 bonus hits, 11 pick attacks with 2 bonus hits, 9 hammer attacks with 1 bonus hits, and 5 rending claw attacks with 1 bonus hit resulting in 2 and a half dead generic vehicles, or a dead knight (as long as it doesn't have a 2+ or invul in combat). That's just the Aberrants. Alternatively you can forgo the bonus attack stratagem for one that simple allows you to attack a second time for 3CP. That requires you to be the Twisted Helix Cult instead which gives you +1 to your S characteristic, so if you are going heavy into melee, that might be a good one.
Now, you are looking at nearly 400 points all said and done to pull this off, not to mention a handful of CP, particularly the 3 to ensure that charge.
Moving onto something new, the Jackal Alphus, that's the biker dude with the sniper rifle. If combat isn't your thing then this is the guy for you as he can give friendly units within 6" of him +1 to hit an enemy unit of your choice (visible and within 36" of the Alphus) at the start of each shooting phase (each enemy unit can only be chosen once per phase). With a 14" move and a -1 to hit it in the shooting phase, this model is a steal at 70 points.
Here is a neat combo, have a big unit of something that shoots belonging to the Hivecult cult. With that shooty unit next to the Alphus, have the Alphus target unit X with his ability, and have the Alphus shoot it. There is a pretty good chance he will deal a wound, at which point you use the Chilling Efficiency stratagem so that any one who targets unit X also gets a +1 to hit and the Extra Explosives stratagem. So, any unit that targets unit X, and is within 6" of the Alphus, will have a +2 to hit. We are not quite done though because if you also have a Kelermorph in that bundle of death, and he also kills a model, then you will be able to re-roll 1's to hit. And we are still not done because if you also have a Primus nearby, he can use his Meticulous Planner ability to allow unit within 6" re-roll wound rolls of 1 against a unit of your choice.
Ok, this is the biggest and craziest combo I think I've ever seen in this game, so lets take a look at a couple of units that you would like to use in this death ball of bullets and explosions and see what kind of damage we can actually accomplish. First, a unit of Jackals, at least 5 have to have demo charges and 5 more with grenade launchers. Then a unit of 20 Neophytes with Seismic Cannons and grenade launchers.
So, math says that should be 44 dead Guardsmen, 26 dead Marines, 3 dead Rhinos, and 23 wounds on a Knight. WARNING: This is assuming that all of these wounds went onto the same unit! As some of the abilities target a specific enemy unit, they obviously can't apply to multiple enemy units and expect the same results.
Now that whole schmozel will cost you 450 points, and is 23 PL for the purposes of tactical reserves, if you wish to put the whole cluster in tactical reserves. This will also cost at lease 2CP for the 2 strats, and a possible 2CP more if you wish to use Lying in Wait to pull it off. The nice thing is that you don't have to reserve everything, the Bikes are quick enough to get into position and the Alphus gets a +1 to hit from himself so it basically ignores the -1 for moving and shooting heavy weapons. The grenade launchers allow you to trail the bikers back to be within 6" of the Alphus, and most of the other units don't need to be closer than 9".
I mentioned the Kelermorph in the above combo, but I didn't really elaborate on his rules, which are pretty incredible. First off, he has 3 pistols, each pistol is 2 shots, S4, AP-1, and 2D. He hits on 2+ and for each hit he gets to make another attack, so it is not unreasonable for this guy to rack up 12 hits each shooting phase. On top of that he can target characters even if they are not the closest model. Lying in Wait lets him get inside that deep strike bubble, as players typically plan out for the 9" bubble, this allows that single model to get inside the lines and pick of a potentially critical character. While the Perfect Ambush allows him to shoot twice! That means there is a really good chance of him acing any character he points his guns at.
There are a score of elite slot characters, the Clamavus can deal out some mortal wounds in the shooting phase and give nearby units +1 Ld and +1 to advance and charge rolls. Locus is a nifty bodyguard type character that hands out a -1Ld to enemy units. Now if you also think about allying in some normal Tyranids, they have a power called The Horror that inflicts another -1 Ld. I mention this because of the GSC psychic power called Mental Onslaught which forces a contest of wills between the caster and a single target model within 12". You each roll a D6 and add the Ld characteristic, if you roll higher then you deal a mortal wound and roll off again. You keep rolling off until you either tie, lose, or the model dies. With your Patriarch at Ld 11, and that enemy Knight at Ld 7, you would have to roll a 1 or 2 AND your opponent would have to then roll a 5+ or 6 (respectively) to tie and end the effect. This is by no means an EASY combo to pull off, but with those numbers there is a pretty good chance of doing some serious damage.
All those combos seem absolutely deadly, and they are, but they require one very important fact, that your opponent's screens have been destroyed. That's where we run into a little bit of trouble. I think that you will have to ally in some aspect of either Tyranids and/or Astra Militarum in order to wipe out those screens early enough for you to get those deadly combos in the right spot. There are plenty of options available though, Kraken Genestealers can wipe out nearly any screen. You also have access to Tank Commanders with punisher cannons, Vultures with punisher cannons, Wyverns, Basilisks, etc etc.
So, aside from all those combos, there are a ton of other rules that I haven't covered yet and I'm not going to get to them all but here are a couple that perked my interest.. The cult creed Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor is a popular one as it gives a +1 to charges on the turn that the unit is deployed on the table. It also gives you access to A Plan Generations in the Making, which lets you stop an opponent's stratagem. We all know and love Agents of Vect and this different only in that you can only use it once per game while it costs 3CP opposed to Vect's 4CP and no limit. The Bladed Cog cult creed gives a +1 to their Invulnerable save or gives them a 6++ AND allows infantry to ignore the penalty for moving and shooting heavy weapons.
Before I close out this post I would like to call back to an issue in my previous post about game balance because the Cult Creeds only affect Infantry and Bikers EXCLUDING genestealers, so the Patriarch and Purestrains. This is a pretty limiting factor considering that one of your strongest units is the Genestealers. I feel this change is partly why players ally in Tyranids with a Kraken-Swarmlord-Genestealer bomb instead of taking genestealers from this book. Anyway, this book has a ton of potential and I highly expect it to do well in the upcoming tournament scene. In fact Stephen Fore just came in second at Adepticon with a pure GSC list full of Acolytes and Metamorphs in a Deliverance Broodsurge specialist detachment and bikers with demo-charges in a Brigade.
As always I look forward to hearing your opinions and reading your comments so feel free to let me know what you think. Tell me if I missed something or just plain old got something wrong.
Until next time, keep them dice rollin.
So this post has once again been sponsored by...
So the Maxximus Hobby Experience is over, but I have to make a mention of it, especially after having seen the make/paint and take tables. Which were busy all weekend.
I want you to take a good look at the people at those tables. We have grandchildren and grandparents, mothers, daughters, boys, and men. This is the future of the hobby. Bringing in new people of every spectrum of society and getting them interested in gaming and hobbying.
This also happens once a month at Maxx Collectibles. Check out the link to the Facebook page to see when he is doing his next one because they are 100% free to attend. All of the hobby tools, paints, and models that you will need are all provided and you can take the model home with you at the end of the session. He very regularly has 10 people attend these things in his shop, right by the front door, every month.
If you are already an experienced hobbyist he does games too. Leagues of Kill Team, Guildball, Blood Bowl, Warhammer 40k, Infinity, events for Shadespire, Magic the Gathering, Adeptus Mechanicus, Zombicide are all things that are on the horizon right now.
And if you are just a collector of toys, action figures, or comic books, he's got them in spades. So if you live in Winnipeg Manitoba or the surrounding area, I highly suggest that you, at the VERY least, go and have a look at the shop, you will find something that interests you.
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