Hivecult painted but wants to expand. Looking for Advice.

[Captain Durante]

Hello Everyone,

 

I finally finished painting everything I had and want to expand my army. I know meta wise everyone always talks about Princes and Helix. But I've never been a meta chaser. I've liked the lore of the cult since 3rd edition but they never had much options as an army. I'm into the lore and painting more than playing but hoping to do more gaming now. I took a long break playing around the start of 5th I think. And and was so happy to discover an army was created for them. I was a long time collector of marines and Imperial Guard. which is why the narrative of the Hivecult caught my eye. To start, I got the combat patrol, The Broodcoven Set for HQ options some Purestrains, and other character units that caught my eye.

 

What I have:

Patriarch

Magus

Primus

 

20 Neophytes usually used in the same way as that 20-man flash article.

10 Acolytes

 

10 Purstraines

5 Aberrants

Nexos

Kelermorph mainly for Kill Team as of now

Locus for Kill Team

 

1 Goliath Rockgrinder

 

Before I start picking a choosing individual sets I wanted to see if it made sense to get another Combat Patrol or now Boarding Party or not.

 

After Getting a few games in I know I need more troops and firepower. (too many characters and need more core)

So was thinking of adding a Goliath truck and two 5-man squads of Acolytes. but I am looking for opinions and wondering if anyone had specifics insight to playing as Hivecult. For fire power power I was sure. Thinking about some Ridgerunners and another squad of backline neophytes with autoguns and heavy weapons, can use brood brothers in the meantime with mortars. But neophytes have more synergy with the cults abilities. 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Captain Durante

[Ulfast]

In a GSC army it´s never wrong to every month buy and paint some kind of troops. We always need them :) So right now that would be my chose if I had your army. Also, great looking army, looks awsome!

[Rogue]

Units of 10 neophytes in a truck make for a good (and mobile) firebase, and Crossfire will hel pto counter-act the -1 to hit if you move the heavy weapons around.

 

Also, don't ignore the Hivecult's combat strengths. You can use the fire disciple stratagem to get in close with acolytes, drop a Crossfire marker for a CP, and then switch off overwatch or trigger a fight last somewhere that your opponent might not have expected. In a similar vein, the Talisman relic on the Patriarch can be really nasty - combined with the Patriarch's own abilities, it means that 6s to wound become completely unsaveable, and 5s are pretty unlikely. Given that the Patriarch can choose to fish for 5s and 6s on the wound roll when necessary, enemy characters that rely on an invulnerable save suddenly become very vulnerable indeed.

 

As Ulfast says, you can't have too many troops (especially neophytes right now, it seems, and they work well in Hivecult). And maybe a sniper sanctus (although he's another character) for more Crossfire goodness.

 

You have a nice looking army there - the colour-scheme on the locus is great, and there's a lot of neat details on the rockgrinder.

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Rogue

[Captain Durante]

Thank you for the comments. It helps. I've been enjoying the Hive Cult so far. Still learning to play the army. I've done 3 official games with them at this point. 

vs Custodes: Victory Point Win. My opponent. ran his Custodes in larger squads than he should have. So my numbers allowed me to swarm the board's objectives. 

vs World Eaters: Loss. Beat me handedly. I needed more troops and to be a lot more shooty.

vs DeathSkull Orks: Loss. I felt this was close but could possibly have been saved if I had more troop options on the table Too many Characters hurt me but it was still a fun match. Had a quick and decent lead in points through turn two. But the loss of two troops at the end spelled doom. But the Kellermorph in the end of turn 5 was my last surviving unit but managed to draw blood from the Ork Warboss in his heroic demise.

 

I decided to get the Boarding patrol and a Goliath Truck next instead of the combat patrol.  Will probably get another Neophyte squad after I finish these but until then I'll use Brood Brothers for back board control and shooting until more neophytes come. After the last couple of games I really wanted to be able to field two 5 man squads and a 10 squad of Acolytes. Also both sets came with Aberrants so that didn't change. And The aberrants performed well against the Custodes and would have done well against the Ork setup I faced, if I would have used them, but live and learn. Plus this gets me an Abominant which I wasn't planning to get but the unexpected success of the aberrants made me interested in trying it out. I will try to convert the extra Kelermorph into a Reductus Saboteur. Another Character but Easier to convert than that Magus in the Combat Patrol.

I didn't think about the talisman on the Patriarch. That's sounds interesting. I give it a try in my next match.

[Ulfast]

Sounds like several intersting battles. Troops is really good to have many off. Becuase our troops dies if only a small wind hit them. So have a few extra never hurts. both in larger och smaller squads sizes. 

[Captain Durante]

Added some new members to the Hivecult. Having fun with 10th got first battle in last week tied in Victory Points vs an Ork player. Going to have another match tomorrow. 

[Captain Durante]

This is a Reductus Saboteur conversion. I used the extra Kelermorph model I got in the boarding action box as the base. And other spare acolyte bits. Really happy with how it turned out.

[Captain Durante]

This my Abominant. Named him “Slothy” Fratelli.  Nice booster for the Aberrants

[Rogue]

That reductus conversion is brilliant.

[Captain Durante]

Now what I have:
Patriarch

Magus

Primus

 

20 Neophytes

20 Acolytes

 

10 Purstraines

10 Aberrants

 

Abominant

Clamavus

Nexos

Reductus Saboteur 

Kelermorph

Locus

 

1 Goliath Rockgrinder

1 Goliath Truck

Thinking about adding another 10 Neophytes and some Jackals. On paper the Jackals seem more useful than Ridge Runners. Advise is welcome

Edited June 28, 2023 by Captain Durante

[Captain Durante]

Finished the Clamavus conversion. Used the Magus from the Broodmind pack as the base for it. Then plastic tubing and wire. The floating terminal was made from the control panel of a Rockgrinder and part of the barrel assembly from a Helhound.

[Captain Durante]

Primed for paint. Wasn’t planning on getting one originally but the extra model was very suitable for it.

[TrawlingCleaner]

Amazing paintjobs and very rad conversions, I had no idea how you made headphones that small out of plasticard!

[Captain Durante]

Finished the Clamavus conversion. Also, had my first crusade battle with 10th. Happy to report it was a victory vs the Black Templars. Very fitting with the lore. We rolled and ended up with Insurgency. I chose the roll of Attacker. So I could arm the explosive. Great game No one had a clear advantage. He was good at killing units but the the cult reinforcements kept coming back. We gave everything we had on round five. But He didn’t have enough units left to have good board control. The cult claimed/primed 2 more objectives on the final turn.

[Captain Durante]

One highlight of the match being able to finally use all my Reductus Sabateur explosives. He even finished off the last two marines in a crusader squad trying to contest trying contest a disarmed objective my acolytes were moving toward. They finished their move within 12” of my sabateur and subsequently were blown up by the Reductus mine.

[Captain Durante]

Army Composition for Match
GSC:

Primus

Nexos

Reductus Sabateur

Abominant

10-man Neophyte squad

10-man Neophyte squad

5-man Acolyte squad

5-man Acolyte squad

5-man Aberrant squad

Goliath Rockgrinder

Goliath Truck

 

Black Templars

Marshal

Lieutenant

10-man Crusader squad

10-man Crusader squad

5-man scout sniper squad

5-man Infiltrator squad

Tech Marine

Redemptor Dreadnaught with Maxro Plasma Incinerator

 

[Captain Durante]

Genestealer Cults vs Dark Angels
Mission: Scattered Supplies

 

With the Tyrannic War raging on, supply lines are becoming ever more important. A Solblade led by the Dark Angels went on mission to retrieve all supplies from an imperial outpost planet before it was to be cutoff from the Imperium by the spreading shadow in the warp. However, unbeknownst to the Solblade battle group, the outpost had been infiltrated by a cell of GSC. The Hivecult has been spreading it’s influence in the sector and had made plans to secure the supplies for their own brothers fighting against the imperial machine. The Dark Angels, discovering the system in disarray and supplies about to be stolen, made planetfall to bring swift justice to these pirates.  The Hivecult, in control of the planet’s monitoring network, tracked the Dark Angels transition from the warp to real space and made ready to defend, with traps already having been laid during their infiltration.

The Dark Angels quickly began recovering the supplies early in the engagement. Securing half of them in the opening round.  However, they discovered too late the true nature of these pirates. After the initial push into no man’s land, Xenos-tainted mutants began to emerge from behind the Dark Angels lines. Mordacai Black, Primus of this Hivecult genesect led the assault behind the enemy lines. The Dark Angels were caught in the crossfire.

 

To their credit the Dark Angels fought fiercely and slaughtered the first wave seeking to trap them and blowing up  a war machine before it could be brought into combat. Even forcing Mordacai to retreat from the battle to wounds suffered in the 3rd round. However, this was not without a price. The Dark Angel left flank was decimated and their Librarian fell in battle to the combined gunfire by Mordecai’s men after being drawn into the open by a blade of Acolytes emerging to do battle. The Center contingent of Sternguard led by their Lieutenant managed to clear out Mordecai’s men and secure the captured supplies back into their deployment zone.

At this time the Battle for the rest of the supplies was about to begin.  The Dark Angels Ballistus Dreadnaught had a supply cache in tow and was providing covering fire for the Strikemaster and terminator guard as they marched toward a third cache of supplies that was still unclaimed by the start of round 4. The “Blessed Sons” (aberrants) led by the “Chosen One” Sloth had finally made their way to confront this threat after securing their own supply cache.  At the same time more Hivecult reinforcements began to appear near this last objective and behind enemy lines.

 

The battle near the objective became bloody. The Terminators,  Strikemaster and Dreadnought. Killed the Acolytes that had assaulted them out of Rig 0514 and nearly destroyed the truck too. But the delay allowed the Blessed Ones to close the gap and charge and the reinforcements picked up the objective behind them.

 

“Hey You Guys!” - Sloth Fratelli to the Strikemaster and his Guard.

 

The Charge of the blessed ones killed the Terminator bodyguard of the Strikemaster by the end of round 4. Round 5 came on.  Not much changed around the battlefield. The acolytes secured the supplies behind their lines. A few deaths here and there but the bloody melee continued. In a last ditch effort to secure the supplies for the Solblade. the Strikemaster feigned a retreat only to double back and charge the Abberants. Seeing his master’s in danger the Ballistus Dreadnought charged in as well gun’s blazing. However, this was not a day for Heros. Both the Strikemaster and Dreadnought fell to the mutated alien horrors. Leaving behind the supplies previously captured in the blood soaked earth.

 

And at that the battle ended. The Hivecult had secured two Supply caches including one that had been brought back to their lines to the Dark Angels one that had been secured behind their lines.

 

GSC Hivecult 35 VP (Victor)
Dark Angels 20 VP

Finally got my second battle in for the crusade. Had to take 2 and a half weeks off and away for personal reasons.

[Rogue]

Always nice to read about a Cult victory, especially on what looks like a pretty shooting-friendly battlefield.

 

Sounds like the aberrants had a good game. How are you getting on with them?

[Captain Durante]

Actually loving the aberrants. Their survivability is pretty incredible now. They have survived every 10th edition battle played but one so far. The one they died on was against very Veteran Player who probably saw the damage potential. And focused everything he had on them on the turn he got enough units within 12 inches to avoid the Shadow Stratagem. He managed to get them off the table but the focus on them meant other units were protected and allowed me to take two more of his units off the table my next turn.

 

I mount them in a Rockgrinder at the start of battle to try to get them into the thick quick and give them some protection. They are also often the target of One with the Shadows.

 

Luck was on my side on that last game though too. The Dreadnought failed all three saves he was forced to make against the hits from my Abominant. This did enough Damage to take him off the table before the Aberrants even added their hits.

 

Going to add a second squad of Aberrants to my Crusade force at the next Supply Limit Increase.

[Captain Durante]

Just painted up and added a gang of Jackals to the Hivecult. Played them in two battles but they were outshined by the Aberrants. 1st against space marines and 2nd against Eldar(Got to say though. Those Wraithguard are pretty tough) Still trying to figure out the best way to use them. Even so, they do bring another dynamic to the army I didn't have before.

[Rogue]

They look great - I love the little details like the headlamps, and the slightly battered and weathered gear on the back. Very nice.

[Captain Durante]

Thank you. I should be able to battle some Custodies next week. So I’ll be able to test them out again. Still fighting in the Tyrannic Crusades at my gaming shop. Thinking about doing a thread on the Crusade based on narrative battle reports.

[Captain Durante]

About to start a 6-Game Campaign VS Ynnari on an Ice World. Just finished this Kasrkin Sergeant that will be part of the Brood Brothers participating in the final Onslaught battle of the Campaign.

[Rogue]

Very nice. And a good choice of head too.

[terminator ultra]

On 7/12/2023 at 12:27 AM, Captain Durante said:

 

stop bothering me I'm trying to put on some mucic guys!