Troop choices

[Sawtooth]

I'm hoping to get some dialogue going about various Genestealer Cult units. I'm an IG player transitioning into a cult army, so my expertise with many of the units is not so great. So here are my thoughts on our two Troops choices, although there are probably more questions than answers in my input.

Neophytes:

I inevitably compare these to Guardsman squads, though I'm not sure that's really fair. No orders or commissar support, but different weapon and transport options and potential ambushing. I love that they can take two special weapons and two mining weapons. The heavy weapon team seems less useful. For the actual weapon choices I'm a bit clueless. Flamers and mining lasers both seem useful, but everything else is very strange to me. Especially webbers, I can't quite figure out if I like them or not. The shotgun option is interesting, though I'm not sure how well they perform right now. Also important to remember, they all have pistols which Guardsmen do not.

With how shooty they are, I feel the Goliath truck is a better option than the Chimera because of the open top. On the other side, ambushing a 20 man unit also seems a reasonable option, since with a ranged loadout bad ambush rolls still leave them within striking range of many targets. Not sure if sending a Magus or Iconward with them is a good idea, but a Patriarch or Primus seems like a waste.

Acolytes:

I love these but am unsure what numbers and setup work best. Two mining tools per 5 models is potentially very nasty, though expensive. I've seen great love for the drill for good reason, but I haven't heard much about the cutter and saw. I'm also unsure about the bonesword and/or lash whip on the leader. I like the idea of putting these in a Chimera, as there's room for a couple characters if needed and the lasgun arrays are better on the approach than pistols out of a Goliath (unless you're going for some insane hand flamer bombardment). I'm considering two minimum squads in a Chimera with maybe an Iconward to minimize drop numbers. I've also considered a Magus here though I'm not sure if it's the best spot, and I don't know if Spiritual Leader functions inside a transport.

For an ambushing squad I'm really uncertain what size squad is best, though I'm tempted to go larger. A Primus with such a squad seems like a good idea, to help with the ambush and to max the use of their mining tools.


So that's all I've got. I'm still transitioning into the army so my opinions are dubious, but I hope to get the ball rolling for input and ideas.

[Zujara]

For a battalion I have been running:

20 Neophytes with Autoguns, 2 Grenade Launchers and 2 Mining Lasers in ambush. Nice to ambush in cover and shoot, and last game I played they rolled a 6 and were a nuisance in the enemy's back lines assaulting tanks to keep them from shooting. Iconward might be decent here but haven't tried it yet.

 

10 Neophytes with Shotguns, 2 Flamers in a double Heavy Flamer Chimera. Only taken it a couple times but it has done better than I had expected it to so far. Done decent at roasting smaller units and eating overwatch for my Purestrains.

 

5 Acolytes with 2 Demolition Charges in a Goliath Rockgrinder that has Incinerator and Demolition Charges. Doesn't always do a lot, but it's fun so I keep using it. I just love crashing the Rockgrinder into things!

[Sawtooth]

Good input. I honestly hadn't thought about giving demo charges to acolytes before.

[Sircyn]

I've only had one game so my experience is limited.

 

I ran two units of 10x Neophytes with 2x Grenade Launcher and Mining Laser in a 50pp game against Sisters of Battle. I found that their guns did okay at chipping away transport vehicles and while in cover they could take the odd pot shot from afar. As soon as the enemy got into range to focus on them they evaporated, I felt like I needed the extra bodies.

 

My problem with them is that for ten neophytes I could bring 40 conscripts, which may be less of a problem in points games. I know they do different things but, such a huge disparity in bodies is significant.

 

I ran a blob of 20 acolytes with two saws and two drills, accompanied by a Prime. They rolled a 5 for their ambush and demolished his celestians and cannoness in one very messy round of combat. However they got deleted by one battle sister squad and one veteran squad in retaliation. They're so fragile it's petrifying. I liked having the big unit to soak up overwatch, twin flamer squads can really punish T3 5+ save units. The drills and saws were great at messing up power armoured characters, however I envisage their forte is vehicles. I'm painting up some demo charge and rock cutter dudes to try them out in my next game.

 

I want to try Zujaras point of using a sacrificial unit with a chimera to eat up the worst of overwatch fire so my killers can get into combat unmolested. I also need to put more thought into timing my combats and the positioning of units, in the last edition I'd have won my first game but I was totally blind sided by a battle sister squad bolt pistoling my genestealers to death at point blank range with an act of faith then turning around and shooting my acolytes into red mist, who foolishly thought the sisters locked in combat. 

 

Next game I will try the acolytes in ten man units with two or three special weapons and ambush them with the sole intent of hunting tanks.

[Aothaine]

Another important part here is that we all need to relearn what our opponents can do. I suggest watching battle reports on youtube with your free time. Also, check the forums for the factions your having the most trouble with and see what they are complaining about having a difficult time with.

 

Sisters are going to be tough to deal with for the cult. Your best bet is going to be playing the ranged game against them. Only assault their units that are focused on long-ranged firepower, Exorcist and Dominions if I remember correctly. Sisters are mainly a short-ranged focused army with lots of flamers and meltas with the occasional heavy bolter dominion squad or Exorcist in the backlines. 

 

I would play on the backline initially and setup objects as close to your backline as possible. Force the sisters to move forward, which they will already be doing. But you want to pull them away from their long-ranged support so you can then backline it and force them into a tough decision of protecting their support or just all-in you with their main force. The cult can pull this off better than nearly any other faction as they have access to IG as brood brothers so you can grab up the elite IG command squad with melta/plasma goodness.

[Sircyn]

Thanks for the advice! I love the idea of stretching out the enemy force to isolate their backfield. 

 

For an 80 PP game I'm going to bring a Brood Brother detachment, some 40 odd conscripts with commissar and a commander to screen a couple of earthshaker carriages. This should add some more "come hither" to my neophyte groups with the intent of making them a convincing target for my opponent to barrel towards. The rest of my points will go into more genestealers and rearranging my ambush.

 

I have converted up some cult scions using the lovely plastic bits, so I'm keen to try them grav chuting in with a bunch of ambushing gribblies to clean up their back field.

 

I've noticed that the neophytes cost quite a bit, perhaps too much to just leave them as a mediocre long range support unit. So I may consider giving them flamers and trying to make them more aggressive. Although in my heart of hearts I know that I should be ditching them for the superior brood brother options.