Cultist Questions

[Warmammer]

My question is how do people run their cultist to be competitive?

 

What sizes?

 

Autoguns or ccw?

 

Shotgun or pistol?

 

Marks?

[Rayray]

On average- 30 cultists, no marks, autoguns with 3 flamers. Usually i have 3 units, and have them march behind rhinos(spammed) for sheer firepower and to take objectives. If i take no rhinos, the simply march foreward bubble wrapping terminaters, csm, etc. They also have been useful for providing hiding spaces and cover for warp talons.

[pivich]

50 pts objective campers

[Kol Saresk]

On average- 30 cultists, no marks, autoguns with 3 flamers. Usually i have 3 units, and have them march behind rhinos(spammed) for sheer firepower and to take objectives. If i take no rhinos, the simply march foreward bubble wrapping terminaters, csm, etc. They also have been useful for providing hiding spaces and cover for warp talons.

They provide mobile cover for Warp Talons you say... Interesting......

[Rayray]

i didn't say mobile. between terrain and cultists, getting them to the opponent(unless you fight a pure back of the board gunline) is quite a bit easier. I had to hear from my raven guard opponent for three weeks over how retardedly "cheesy" the tactic and unit was.

[Kol Saresk]

Fair enough. By mobile I just meant that you can move the Cultists from place to place, not use as cover on the go.

[Rayray]

It was quite the scenario. the warp talons chewed through a tac squad in cover, and the cultists used their autoguns to dakka dakka jihad on a devastator unit.

[nurglez]

I have 2 squads of cultists, each one is 10 strong with a flamer. I use them alongside my 2 squads of 7 plague marines to capture objectives and provide distractions, I keep them at 10 man so I can borrow a rhino with them in some games (though if the rhino blows up... ouch for the poor cultists inside heh).

[AekoldHelbrass]

The only usage I found for cultists - retinue for Khârn, 20 to 30 man sized, without any upgrades, or 35 with Apostle, without any upgrades. Unless there is Fearless character they will most probably run very fast, and with autoguns or marks they are quite expensive, it would be better to get another squad of 15 than upgrade them with anything.

 

They are useful for Khârn because he makes them fearless and he is a beast in CC, they are just cannon fodder.

And with Apostle you will get about 100 attacks from charge with re-rolls to hit, excellent against elite units.

[Vesper]

I gladly pay for autoguns. Never useless and pretty cheap.

[Nehekhare]

autoguns [...] pretty cheap.

well it costs the minimum pt, but then the cultist is just as much as a guardsman - with worse armor and special rules.

[Zhukov]

autoguns [...] pretty cheap.

well it costs the minimum pt, but then the cultist is just as much as a guardsman - with worse armor and special rules.

But the question is if it's worth it for cultists or not. The fact that it makes them as expensive as guardsmen is pretty irrelevant in itself. I understand your feeling though, but taking 4 point cultists just so they're cheaper than Guardsmen is kind of trying to fool yourself no?

[Nehekhare]

guard allies are plain better, they're just not battle brothers.

[Rayray]

autoguns [...] pretty cheap.

well it costs the minimum pt, but then the cultist is just as much as a guardsman - with worse armor and special rules.

They are an inbuilt point-balancing unit to free up other expensive choices without taking up portions of your allied detachment. So why not take cultists.....and then some guard?

[Nehekhare]

So why not take cultists.....and then some guard?

why that?

[Sception]

I like cultists in large, near max squads with flamers escorting characters. This works as a delivery method for some of the infantry speed melee characters (Khârn, for instance). Works especially well with slaaneshii steed lords, giving you an outflanking, scoring blob with a pretty nasty overwatch.

 

Or I like them as min sized squads deployed in cover or in reserve, intended to squat on backfield objectives.

 

I few the rifles as optional on both types of squad. You can take it or leave it on small size objective campers. On the larger character escorts it beefs up your overwatch slightly. Neither gain that much from them, but you don't pay all that much, either.

 

 

I don't like large cultist squads without HQs attached. Their leadership is too low for that. Unless they're zombies, of course. If you're running Typhus, than multiple max squads of zombies are a must - as they're basically the reason you took typhus in the first place, and go a long way towards offsetting his excessive points cost.

 

 

Allied guard are generally better, but cultists leave ally slots open for daemons, so if you want Marine, Human, and Daemonic elements all in the same army, cultists are there for you.

[Rayray]

So why not take cultists.....and then some guard?

why that?

Don't really understand what you're asking as thats a vague question, but personally i don't take allied guard, so cultists are the shizzle in my army.

[VoteForPedro]

autoguns [...] pretty cheap.

well it costs the minimum pt, but then the cultist is just as much as a guardsman - with worse armor and special rules.

 

But, as Rayray said, the points cost is an internal balance - Guardsman may be better but at that point you are having to spend a larger minimum outlay for your backfield objective holders which changes the compositiion of your army entirely.

 

A 1500 force with 50 or 60 points spent on Cultists can use them to reserve, come on and then go to ground. Taking IG allies will cost you at least the points of a Primaris Psyker/ Vet Squad and that's a good deal more than your Cultists squad. It's more likely you'll want a CCS and then a min size platoon (PCS, 2 Infantry Squads, probably with special and heavy weapons) and you're not getting much change from 200 points for that at a minimum. Sure, they will hold objectives much better than Cultists and contribute more to the game but that's 150 points you could be spending on your primary detachment.

[Kol Saresk]

@VoteForPedro: I think this sums most of the more competitive players on the Chaos Codex.

http://www.wobblymodelsyndrome.com/uploads/3/3/4/2/3342427/6804506_orig.jpg?1

[VoteForPedro]

@Kol_Saresk

 

Hah, top stuff!

[Nehekhare]

that's 150 points you could be spending on your primary detachment.

propably better spent.

 

The ally problem may be solved by dropping csm and allying guard with daemons ;)

 

@rayray: the question was why take cultists AND guardsmen in the same army? doesn't make sense to me.

[Brother Ambroz]

A 1500 force with 50 or 60 points spent on Cultists can use them to reserve, come on and then go to ground. Taking IG allies will cost you at least the points of a Primaris Psyker/ Vet Squad and that's a good deal more than your Cultists squad. It's more likely you'll want a CCS and then a min size platoon (PCS, 2 Infantry Squads, probably with special and heavy weapons) and you're not getting much change from 200 points for that at a minimum. Sure, they will hold objectives much better than Cultists and contribute more to the game but that's 150 points you could be spending on your primary detachment.

 

Why would you take Infantry squads/PCS over Vet squads? I always use a Primaris psyker/Vet squad with my CSM. They put out alot of plasma shots along with another flyer. Cultists are essentially the same as a infantry squad except they're missing a few things.

[Rayray]

that's 150 points you could be spending on your primary detachment.

propably better spent.

The ally problem may be solved by dropping csm and allying guard with daemons

@rayray: the question was why take cultists AND guardsmen in the same army? doesn't make sense to me.

Cheap expendables to shield heavy weapon platoons and guard tanks.

Our ideas are going to be very different considering the probable difference in our gaming groups.

[*Furyou Miko]

Why would you take Infantry squads/PCS over Vet squads? I always use a Primaris psyker/Vet squad with my CSM. They put out alot of plasma shots along with another flyer. Cultists are essentially the same as a infantry squad except they're missing a few things.

 

If they're Elysians and can take Valkyries as dedicated transports. :D

[derpasaurus]

i've been thinking about cultists, mostly about how many to get. i figure i'll start with 20, maybe 30. throw them out front and make them a killy HQ delivery system or something. i like the idea of late game objective holders, too. my army is geared to shoot/punch people off of objectives more than to hold them, so that tactic would be a welcome change for me.

 

there are so many ways to use those little buggers...