Building a GSC force (for a newbie friend)

[Lord_Ikka]

Hey all worshippers of the Star Children and the Four-Armed Emperor. Recently one of my friends got interested in 40k and in GSC specifically. He bought the old combat patrol and preordered the new one and the codex. I'll be helping him build all of his models, as he has paints but lacks the other modeling supplies (which I have, and I really enjoy building). Since I'm mainly an Imperial player (Knights, Inquisition, SM), I have a distinct lack of knowledge about GSC and what are decent loadouts for his units. If I could get some advice on what to build his various stuff as/what to arm them with, that would be a great help.

 

His initial force, when it all shows up:

1 Magnus

1 Jackal Alphus

5 Aberrants

4 Jackals/1 Wolfquad

20 Neophyte Hybrids

15 Acolyte Hybrids/Metamorphs

1 Ridgerunner

1 Rockgrinder/Goliath Truck

 

I think the real question is what special/heavy weapons to give the Neophytes, what heavy weapons to put on the vehicles, and what to do with the hybrids?

[brother_b]

My advice would be wait until we see the new codex which will drop soon and it sounds like

he may have preordered through a game store.

 

Then we can assess the weapons and potential good load outs or combos.

[Captain Durante]

I was going to say a few things but brother_b is right. Probably best to wait. We don’t really know what other small changes may occur. But those combat patrols are great choices for a new GSC player to start with they contain plenty of Backbone units. Maybe not for all the new detachment types but it’s a good start. I was a stalwart imperial player myself, Imperial guard, space marines until I received the Genestealer kiss. Now I’m all in with the brood.

[Lord_Ikka]

Sounds good. He's coming over Tuesday to start building the first combat patrol, so I'll probably just have him build some of the Neophyte regular guys, the aberrants, and work on the Rockgrinder (planning on magnetizing that one anyway). We'll wait to put on the leader/special/heavy weapons until after the codex comes out.

 

I thought it was a good set of boxes to start- gives a wide variety of units for him to play with and doesn't have so many of the same models that he'll get bored painting them. 

[Rogue]

As brother_b says, give it a week till you see the new codex. That said, rules change faster than models, so going with things you like the look of is also a valid option.

 

Magnetising is worthwhile, I think. It'll allow you to run a single Goliath as a truck or rockgrinder, and with all the weapon options. Similarly, you can do the same with the ridgerunner and wolf quad weapons.

 

It's also worth thinking about doubling up acolytes and metamorphs - metamorphs look great, but they're still similar enough to acolytes that you can use them as such, especially if there's a couple of mining weapons or demo-charges in there to make it clear what the unit is.

 

I look forward to seeing what you come up with :)

[Rogue]

Math-hammer might not be your thing, but this links to a breakdown of the different neophyte weapon options, with acolytes and metamorphs elsewhere on the site.

 

https://redbrotherhood.wixsite.com/cult/post/neophytes

 

[ Scratch that - looks like datasheet changes make a lot of that less relevant or plain  out of date. ]

Edited June 8 by Rogue
The codex changes are bigger than I thought they'd be.

[brother_b]

Yeah big changes all around a lot to unpack.

 

Im not sure which detachment I’ll try but definitely the old index one and xenocongregation or whatever that one is. I’ll also take a look at the aberrant/Genestealer focus one but that would mean having to build or scratchbuild another abominant or biophagus or two.

[Dr. Clock]

Honestly I'm probably swinging for Broodsurge first because I love a good core of purestrains in theory, but they haven't quite worked in 10th yet. I can't run more than 1 unit of aberrants, but the Biophagus slotting in to give the army rule to Acolytes and Hypermorphs means I can have half my army getting the +1 to charge and attacks on charge, which really just makes for much more reliable disruption from those charging deep-strike mobs paired with MSU stealers.

 

Xenocongregation could also work, but I think Broodsurge just edges it for my collection.

 

In answer to OP's specific Qs:

 

Neophytes: now locked to contents of box. So undoubtedly for me that's mining+seismic+grenade+flamer for everyone, but some people will like webbers over flamers. The seismic meta is dead, and I'm glad it is because I like lasers too and hopefully this means we keep the good points drop.

 

Heavy weapons on vehicles: I'm mostly certain this doesn't matter; I built my pair of runners with mining lasers for tankhunting and that's what I'm sticking to. Rockgrinders - doesn't matter; I built one clearance and one seismic and they are lots of fun, but I would probably start with the basic truck to cart/protect 10 neos in early game, or use as assault stage for Acolytes. My collection is 2 rockgrinders + 1 truck so far... May get a second truck one day if I want to build over to Outlanders, but the transport capacity of 10+ would be the selling point at this point in the collection for me.

 

Acolytes: Now you have to choose demos + flamers (shooting) or heavy mining tools (drill/saw/cutter) or metamorphs (gribbly!). So with 15 to start you can't go too far wrong with 1x5 of each, or to pick the style your buddy is most interested in and do 10 brick of one style and 5 of something else. Plan for Acolytes generally to be a big part of this army's growth: most builds I'd imagine will have like 30 or more acolytes at the end of the day, and 40 is no stretch. This as well as low points generally will tend to explode the expense of this army, so your new friend should definitely know that going in...

 

Characters: It's a problem your friend will run into quick: good lists will have lots of these and they are quite expensive indeed. I get around it somewhat by using my Magus as an Iconward because the magus is kinda just bad. I've also converted a few other characters by kitbashing a box of Necromunda Delaque with acolytes arms to get convincing Sanctus, Iconward and kelermorph. Delaque specialists kit is also where I'd go for Biophagus conversions and the Spektor could even work as an Abominant I guess? Anyway - just a word to the wise that a single necromunda kit can get you 3-5 unique character minis for WAY less money than buying the actual character minis, which I would not buy on their own if you don't LOVE them.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Rogue]

eBay has been a good source of acolytes for me. If you're not too picky, you can get a fair number of bodies for not too much.

[Tawnis]

The Rockgrinder / Truck comes with a three extra standing models to put in the back. If you leave the truck empty, or build the heavy version, you can have a few extra models to allow some weapon swaps for your units. 

The Acolytes / Metamophs seem to be getting an overhaul this codex, I'd advise not building them unit we've got the book. 

 

As for what weapon options to use. Personally I find that we're really light on anti-tank, so I tend to favour mass mining lasers and demo charges. That being said, putting a mortar on the Ridgerunner to side out of LOS and toss out buffs (assuming it will still do that in the new dex) is a good option too. 

[Captain Durante]

Agreed with Tawnis. Except I like to keep the standing model by the control panel on the upper level but the those 2 extra models per truck allow you to build some special/heavy alternates. One of those standing models is easy to turn into an icon bearer with just a single arm swap. But this trick also let me build and extra webber cultist and a Heavy stubber cultist for use in Kill Team since I was mainly using Seismics or Lasers for 40k. Also the magnetizing the weapons for the Rockgrinder was easy enough. Shouldn't be too difficult.

[Rogue]

You can magnetise the whole thing - the rockgrinder itself can be magnetised to the front, and all the weapon options, including the standard truck autocannons, can be swapped around too.