New at GSC, starting at 500pts

[Orpheus108]

Greeting All,

 

Ive started looking at biulding a GSC army, startimg at 500pts and working up to 2000pts.

 

Ive never played GSC, only in Kill Team. Ive got a starter box of guard to convert as brood brothers, magus, neophyte hybrids, metamorphs, acolyte hybrids, sanctus, locus, Biophagus.

 

Wanting to get some sentinals, more leman russ (2).

 

My questions are:

 

Wheres a good starting base for 500pts?

Is the goliath truck, ridgerunner and rackal alphus good for the list and brood coven good to get?

 

Thanks

[Rogue]

Hello - welcome to the Cult.

 

A good starting base. Definitely troops, for objective purposes. Neophytes can be good objective-sitters, and will be slightly more accurate with a Jackal Alphus nearby (who also happens to be our second cheapest HQ option, which is handy at 500 points). I like squads of 10, all autoguns and maybe mining lasers for the backfield, or 10 with shotguns and flamers to drop in via lying in wait to mess up T3 units.

 

Alternatively, acolytes are good for going and taking ground, and are better supported by either a Primus (to enhance combat) or an Iconward (because he's cheap). squads or five are cheap, but 10s have much more combat punch - 5s tend to kill some, then get wiped out by return attacks; 10 seem to get the job done more reliably. You could go for a full 20, but that's 160 points plus any upgrades, which is a big commitment at 500 points, and really reduces table coverage.

 

So let's say you go for 10 neophytes with mining lasers at the back, 10 more with shotguns up front, 10 acolytes (with rock saws) as a strike unit and a Primus to enhance the two forward units. You're over 300 points already. Then you're into toys. A goliath would work, as could ridgerunners. Putting either the shotguns or the acolytes in the goliath increases survivability a bit, and gives mobility - acolytes coming out of a goliath get 3" disembark, move, advance and charge (with a stratagem); couple that with the Helix creed (my favourite), and they can go anywhere from 14" to 29", and average over 20".

 

if you wanted to go more extreme, you could throw in a Patriarch as a second HQ and go all in on punching the enemy to death - he'll blend most things without a decent invulnerable save. Or be mean and take a Russ, which is a tough tank to deal with at that size of game. I currently like giving them three heavy flamers, and moving up the table like a mobile bunker.

 

the Brood Coven set is potentially worthwhile, although you already have a Magus, so ebay might be a better option for the other two. Unless you mean the stratagem, in which case always Yes, especially if you have all three on the table (which won't happen at 500 points) - it allows you to power up the Patriarch, drop Alien Majesty on the Primus, and get a free trait for the Magus - the bonus CPs one for Four-Armed Emperor is good, as is the general one that allows nearby units to heroically intervene, which can come as a surprise to anyone thinking that the Magus is an easier target.

 

Anyway, rambling. I hope that helps a bit.

 

Let us know how you get on.

[Orpheus108]

Cheers Rogue,

 

Was looking at Twisted Helix, like the idea and background of them.

 

The Biophagus, Kelermorph and Sanctus worth slotting in at or at least 1 of the them along with the magus?

 

The Alpha Jackel is next on the buy list. The Leman Russ idea is great, flamers and was thinking the Punisher Russ, love the idea of the amount of dice and just the cool factor is great too.

 

But ill post a few results from battles with lists for feedback

Edited March 2, 2021 by Orpheus108

[ThePenitentOne]

I like the Biophagus + Aberrant combo; those work really well together, so you may want to wait until you have Aberrants to field him. He's very Twisted Helix appropriate too.

 

The Kellermorph needs to be close enough for pistol shots, which leaves him vulnerable, so if you've got a group of hybrids that can shield him, he could work. I'm not very familiar with the Sanctus, so I'm not sure whether or not he'd be a better fit than the Keller.

[Rogue]

As Penitent says, the Biophagus is really there to buff aberrants, and does play nicely into the Helix narrative if that's your thing.

 

I've only recently acquired a Kellermorph, so I'm theorising rather than speaking from experience, but one of my plans is to drop him in with 10 shotgun neophytes to shoot up backfield objective holders. Another is to send him on fairly suicidal missions to snipe out key characters or small squads on his own. In a small game, that's risky but potentially very rewarding.

 

And the Sanctus has a reputation as a psyker-killer. I feel like you see less of them at 500 points, but coupled up with a Magus, you have the chance to establish psychic dominance early in the game (especially as the Sanctus can shoot twice as he comes in by utilising his free Perfect Ambush). 

 

Broadly, the Kellermorph wants to get up close-ish (within 12"), and unload a lot of shots (up to 12 if you get lucky). The Sanctus prefers to keep his distance and pick off psykers and then characters (you can hit people with his knife instead, but no-one seems to rate that option at all). He's more specialised than the Kellermorph, but gets rapidly more powerful ina psyker-rich environment, such as against Grey Knights, Thousand Sons or Eldar. I'd probably opt for the Kellermorph is I was going for more of a take-all-comers list.

[Orpheus108]

I like the idea of the Biophagus + Aberrants, running them up to smash what ever they can.

 

Units of 10 with shotguns sounds fun. So later on in bigger games of 1500 to 2000, is the fragdrill used at all?

[Rogue]

I've never used it. Can't speak for anyone else.

 

With my competitive head on, it doesn't feel like it does enough to include it over another 10 acolytes. And with my hobby head on, £40 for a single piece of scenery is low on my priority list.

 

How's your cult going so far? Anything painted?

[Xenith]

Keeping half an eye on GSC threads as I love the models, and played against them recently the playstyle seems fun.

 

 

So let's say you go for 10 neophytes with mining lasers at the back, 10 more with shotguns up front, 10 acolytes (with rock saws) as a strike unit and a Primus to enhance the two forward units. You're over 300 points already. Then you're into toys. A goliath would work, as could ridgerunners....

 

if you wanted to go more extreme, you could throw in a Patriarch as a second HQ and go all in on punching the enemy to death - he'll blend most things without a decent invulnerable save. Or be mean and take a Russ, which is a tough tank to deal with at that size of game. I currently like giving them three heavy flamers, and moving up the table like a mobile bunker.

 

 

That seems like a great start to an army - 10 long range at the back, 10 shotties up front, 10 of a hammer unit + a Big Thing. Switching up Big Thing in 500pt games also seems like a greta way to have variety while keeping a small army. 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Xenith

[Orpheus108]

Rogue, ive got 2 of 10 undercoated amd ready to paint in a big batch

[Rogue]

I'm looking forward to seeing them. 

 

On the subject of shotgun-armed neophytes, I've just finished the second half of this squad:

 

 

If you can get them within 6", everything hits at S4. Having proxied the squad with a few autoguns, Lying in Wait serves them well - in an ideal world, then can even drop in within 3" of an objective, put 2 flamers, 7 assault 2 shotguns and a bolt pistol into the defenders, and then be ten objective secured bodies causing problems. Against Ad Mech, it can clear small backfield objective holders away completely. Alternatively, they can also come in into cover or out of sight, deploy scramblers or pick up half of linebreaker, and then put pressure on anything in the area. 

 

I've not yet tried them with my new kellermorph, but I'm hopeful that the two will work well together - the neophytes can screen the kellermorph, and the kellermorph can give them rerolls of 1 to hit in return. Plus with two units dropping in, that's linebreaker again. 

 

At 500 points, the two units combined would be 170ish points, so around a third of the force, but with the potential to be a relatively shooty and flexible option that opens up multiple secondaries (Engage would be another, for example).