Wh40k 10th Edition Faction Focus: Genestealer Cults

[Rain]

This is probably the most thematic and interesting army rule that they have shown so far. Seems like it could be really strong, but with counterplay as the opponent has a movement phase to try to remove the markers. Good job GW (probably)

[Emperor Ming]

Free reinforcements..... not a fan of these type of rules

 

If there is no deepstrike %/turn restriction in the mission deck, then this all looks rather crazy

 

 

[sitnam]

1 hour ago, Xenith said:

By the time the Tyranid fleets arrive, it's too late for the GSC's - the patriarch gets reabsorbed into the fleet, his psychic control over the cultists is broken and they realise what they have done...but too late to prevent themselves being eaten

Exceptions do exist:

-It isn't unknown for members of a cult to get off-worls to propagate the cult anew.

-The Cult of the Void Brood travel alongside a hivefleet in stolen freighters.

-The Creed of Tiamet is sending out missionaries who then lead pilgrims to the Tiamet protected world of Ziaphoria.

 

So there is room to play with, lorewise

[AnvilofFenris]

Still got to get my head fully around the army rule, but seems interesting and still gives GSC some of their flexibility without being too complicated. Have to say I’m a little disappointed that shotguns have gone the way of the dodo, all neophyte weapons now using the auto gun stat line. I quite liked having a shorter range, higher strength option, though I guess with bolt rifles being merged, it was bound to happen, and there’s not much room to combine the profiles without it ending up over powered. Overall, optimistic 

[Toxichobbit]

Agreed on the shotguns. Leader pistols too - the web pistol was fun. But, trying to be positive it does open up modelling possibilities. More than most factions having GSC units with a mix of basic weapons feels thematic, and as they're a generic weapon profile you can throw in some lasguns too for a real disorganised rabble feel. 

[AnvilofFenris]

16 minutes ago, Toxichobbit said:

Agreed on the shotguns. Leader pistols too - the web pistol was fun. But, trying to be positive it does open up modelling possibilities. More than most factions having GSC units with a mix of basic weapons feels thematic, and as they're a generic weapon profile you can throw in some lasguns too for a real disorganised rabble feel. 

I just wish I’d known before I finished my Orlock gang conversions and struggled to get enough spare auto guns!

[Urauloth]

Overall this looks great. Another faction that seems like it'd be fun to play and to play against, as well as having mechanics that reflect the lore nicely.

[Squark]

1 hour ago, Emperor Ming said:

Free reinforcements..... not a fan of these type of rules

 

If there is no deepstrike %/turn restriction in the mission deck, then this all looks rather crazy

 

 

Given that this will be built into the Genestealer Cults, the price will definitely be accounted for in the price of the base unit, so "free" seems like a misnomer.

[Mjasghar]

So if you can’t place a token on the units destruction you can’t save that token to place later?

also means it benefits almost dead units to suicide charge or indeed suicide charge in general 

[acrozatarim]

Seems like a solid mechanic to make GSC feel like a horde army coming at you in wave after wave, without actually needing to buy enormous numbers of models.

[Arkhanist]

32 minutes ago, Mjasghar said:

So if you can’t place a token on the units destruction you can’t save that token to place later?

also means it benefits almost dead units to suicide charge or indeed suicide charge in general 

 

And given the cult members are entirely suborned to the will of the Patriarch, and sacrificial melee units has been a bit of thing before... making a virtue out throwing themselves at the nearest enemy seems fluffy to me!

[ZeroWolf]

2 hours ago, sitnam said:

Exceptions do exist:

-It isn't unknown for members of a cult to get off-worls to propagate the cult anew.

-The Cult of the Void Brood travel alongside a hivefleet in stolen freighters.

-The Creed of Tiamet is sending out missionaries who then lead pilgrims to the Tiamet protected world of Ziaphoria.

 

So there is room to play with, lorewise

By the by, where can I find the Tiamet lore to read through or was it snippets in a codex?

[sitnam]

8 minutes ago, ZeroWolf said:

By the by, where can I find the Tiamet lore to read through or was it snippets in a codex?

Codex snippets. I didn't even know about it, I just found out about it while trying to remember the name of the Cult of the Voidbrood

[Zoatibix]

While I like the thematic feel of the ‘endless horde’ I hope that GSC units will be able to do something worthwhile on the tabletop. It’s cool to regenerate models but if they can’t contest Objectives or get casually brushed aside then I’m just re racking the shooting gallery for my opponent.

[ThePenitentOne]

1 hour ago, ZeroWolf said:

By the by, where can I find the Tiamet lore to read through or was it snippets in a codex?

It's given some mention in the Blood of Baal Psychic Awakening campaign book if I remember correctly- may have appeared elsewhere too, but this was where I read it. Not a lot of detail though- they kept it pretty vague.

[Squark]

1 hour ago, Zoatibix said:

While I like the thematic feel of the ‘endless horde’ I hope that GSC units will be able to do something worthwhile on the tabletop. It’s cool to regenerate models but if they can’t contest Objectives or get casually brushed aside then I’m just re racking the shooting gallery for my opponent.

Units that have Cult Ambush but aren't batteline will likely be more efficient since they only respawn half the time, and the way the ability is worded leaves the door open for certain units to go without Cult Ambush (perhaps certain units are rare enough in lore that it doesn't make sense for them to respawn).

[OttoVonAwesome]

So lemme get this straight, they auto respawn basic cultists and anything else on a 4 and cultists also generate extra vp for just doing thier job and respawn 3-6 guys a turn too and have stronger and more useful weapons than guardsmen. Cool I don't see this army becoming top of the meta with an absurd win rate at all. Taking the first turn is gonna be a huge advantage for them.

[Tokugawa]

5 hours ago, acrozatarim said:

Seems like a solid mechanic to make GSC feel like a horde army coming at you in wave after wave, without actually needing to buy enormous numbers of models.

If this could reduce the invest of a new gsc player then it is a nice move! However, a starting list(e.g. 2000pts) is still need to filled, and gsc is already the most(or second most) difficult/expensive to collect faction. 

[Squark]

1 hour ago, OttoVonAwesome said:

So lemme get this straight, they auto respawn basic cultists and anything else on a 4 and cultists also generate extra vp for just doing thier job and respawn 3-6 guys a turn too and have stronger and more useful weapons than guardsmen. Cool I don't see this army becoming top of the meta with an absurd win rate at all. Taking the first turn is gonna be a huge advantage for them.

They generate command points, not victory points. We also don't know what the point cost of the neophytes is compared to, say, guardsmen.

[Azekai]

5 hours ago, Zoatibix said:

While I like the thematic feel of the ‘endless horde’ I hope that GSC units will be able to do something worthwhile on the tabletop. It’s cool to regenerate models but if they can’t contest Objectives or get casually brushed aside then I’m just re racking the shooting gallery for my opponent.

This is why I don’t think the ability is unbalanced. The hordes may not be able to accomplish much, other than die usefully. Still nice to hold or contest objectives but hardly the ‘I win’ button some seem to think it is.

[Dr. Clock]

58 minutes ago, Azekai said:

The hordes may not be able to accomplish much, other than die usefully.

Hilariously though, Neophytes are in some ways better equipped than Guard at the squad level: Quad grenade / quad seismic is no small amount of firepower. Gotta get a bit close but if you do, look out. Just happy that grenade launchers are a decent option tbh.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor

[sitnam]

3 hours ago, OttoVonAwesome said:

So lemme get this straight, they auto respawn basic cultists and anything else on a 4 and cultists also generate extra vp for just doing thier job and respawn 3-6 guys a turn too and have stronger and more useful weapons than guardsmen. Cool I don't see this army becoming top of the meta with an absurd win rate at all. Taking the first turn is gonna be a huge advantage for them.

It's pretty funny to see some.players bemoaning these rules as weak, with others complaining about how strong they are

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

14 minutes ago, sitnam said:

It's pretty funny to see some.players bemoaning these rules as weak, with others complaining about how strong they are

Probably means they are balanced lol.  When no one is happy that's how you know

[OttoVonAwesome]

31 minutes ago, sitnam said:

It's pretty funny to see some.players bemoaning these rules as weak, with others complaining about how strong they are

Not complaining just noticing that in the hands of a good player they will be extremely strong. Strong enough to get me painting the giant bag of GSC and Necromunda gangers with gsc heads Ive had laying around my pile of shame for a few years. The bag of tricks they are gonna have in the full list I'm sure is gonna be very impressive

[sitnam]

32 minutes ago, OttoVonAwesome said:

Not complaining just noticing that in the hands of a good player they will be extremely strong. Strong enough to get me painting the giant bag of GSC and Necromunda gangers with gsc heads Ive had laying around my pile of shame for a few years. The bag of tricks they are gonna have in the full list I'm sure is gonna be very impressive

My bad, wasnt trying to imply anything negative. I just sound your response an interesting contrast to others in the threads