Friday, April 21, 2017

Genestealer Cults in Shadow War - Armageddon


We're going to be doing our second day of games using the new Shadow War supplement this weekend. My cult has gone through three games and advanced a little, while one of my hapless fighters was killed.
I actually got my dudes painted for this week, with some extras. One thing I am noticing especially about the GSC is that you want extra models in case you buy new weapons - ie. with your heavies you want extra grenade launcher guys, webber guys, mining laser, etc. I actually didn't paint a mining laser or seismic cannon yet, but will likely knock those guys out after I do some Dawn of War 3 beta!


I think for your starting one thousand credits, you will mostly have autogun guys. Definitely pick up three heavies, even if they're just using an autogun or a shotgun. I would also recommend a harness clip for those guys so they can be elevated and not fall. I focused on having as many bodies as I could.

I painted two grenade launchers, a webber, and a heavy stubber to start. I didn't use the heavy stubber in my first three games and I think it really showed. It has long range and can put out a lot of shots, something I was really missing as my guys moved upfield against a ton of Tau and Ork fire.


One of the things I was definitely worried about when we started was just not having enough firepower. My dudes mostly have autoguns, which isn't gonna get through armor on marines, skitaari, etc. However, I think by purchasing one fighter after every match (if you don't rearm) you can really expand your team to have a lot of guys and overwhelm the enemy with firepower.

You also have the ability to get a webber. It is very short range, but if you hit the enemy, they're automatically webbed. One thing I've worried about is a terminator or solitaire just running through all my guys. A webber will knock them down and if they fail a strength check (S+D6 has to be 8 or greater) then they take a wound and flail around. My guys can run up and attack them in HTH and likely take them out.

One of the mistakes I made since I made all my guys for regular 40k was not making shotgun guys. With the ability to hide well and move up you can get within shotgun range and hopefully the shotgun's ability to deny cover will help you hit better with your BS3 guys.


The faction distinguishes itself mostly in higher initiative and the cool pre-game ability to hide all your guys. This is really powerful especially against high-powered shooting kill teams like Tau, Skitaari, etc. You can hide from them turn one, and move four inches and stay hidden, if you have good terrain.

So far my advances have been mostly shooting for my heavies - one of them has re-roll missed shooting attacks and he can also re-roll ammo checks. My leader has +1W. I could have taken an extra toughness, but the difference between T3 and T4 to me doesn't seem worth it for one model. +1W means he's not take down just from one shot unless it's a big gun.


I think one of the next things I'll try to get is +1 initiative for my leader - GSC fighters within 12" can use his initiative to stand up early, so a five is pretty great for that. You also want to keep fighters within 12" because they can use his leadership to not run away. I gave my leader a power maul and a pistol, but really I don't want him close combat yet. When you're fighting seriously high WS and powerful weapon dudes like marines or harlequins or whatever you're probably just going to lose and die.


When it comes to special operatives, I think there really only is one choice. The acolyte and hybrid have some cool equipment, but they pale in comparison to what a genestealer can do. They can charge 18", they have a 5+ invulnerable save, and they have WS6 with three attack (four I believe with two claws). They also can't be pinned. Your cult is basically covering fire for these dudes.

That's my rambling for now. We're playing a six week campaign, so I'm interested to see where my Cult will end up by the end of it. I painted 15 dudes so I hope I don't have to paint more =)

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