Tuesday, June 27, 2017

A Tale of Four Warlords: Genestealer Cult Army Lists


If you've been a fan of Games Workshop games for any period of time you'll likely recall the 'Tale of Four Warlords' articles in White Dwarf. Players choose an army and show progress from building, painting, and playing a force. They provide their thoughts on how it goes and show lots of photos. We're planning on doing that here with three of us for the new edition of 40k. We aren't necessarily starting new armies, but we're expanding our current forces to include some more options and have fun!
What a Tale of Four Warlords Looks Like in White Dwarf
I've shown my Genestealer Cult models before, as I painted some for the Shadow War Armageddon League we had, but I am further expanding that into a full fledged force now. I purchased a bunch of models and put them together when they came out, but really haven't done much since as I got overwhelmed. This is a chance to take all that stuff and paint it for some great tabletop games!

The first batch of painted cultists
I wanted to give myself some milestones before I started so I put together three lists - 50 Power Level, 75 Power Level, and 100 Power Level. I think we'll probably be using Power Level to start out, at least, because its really easy and lots of people would like to try it out. It is nice, in particular, because for some reason Genestealer Cult stuff became a lot more expensive, points wise, and so the models I have with hand flamers etc. don't need to be re-done and removed because their points aren't good.

Power Levels are also just a ton easier.

I put together a 50 Power Level list and I can currently use it without having to paint anything. It is easier, since I already have a ton of genestealers painted for my Tyranids. 50 Power Level is fairly basic, with just a few units and some characters to back them up. With this list I hope to get a good cult ambush with my genestealers and patriach, while the neophytes and magus hold the line. The aberrants ride in the rockgrinder and move out to take an objective or hit a hard target.

Patrol Detachment (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [50 PL, 1040pts]

HQ 

Father Larsa - Patriarch [7 PL, 150pts]

Magister Balventius - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

Troops

Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 154pts] Cult Icon
  • 15x Neophyte Hybrid 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Mining Laser 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Seismic Cannon 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher 
  • Neophyte Leader Autopistol, Power Maul 

Elites

Aberrants [7 PL, 164pts]
  • Aberrant w/ Power Hammer x4
Purestrain Genestealers [16 PL, 360pts] 20x Purestrain Genestealer

Heavy Support

Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 139pts] Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Seismic Cannon, Heavy Stubber 
  

For my 75 point list I chose to take what I already had and add in a troop unit - some acolytes. These are the guys with the hand flamers that went from five points to eight, and with an additional cost increase on the base acolyte, made them unusable. I'm painting one of each heavy weapon so I can try them out and see which one I like.

So for this 75 PL list I have to paint those ten acolytes plus a sentinel (one of my favorite models that GW has ever made), and a Leman Russ tank. While the Leman Russ tank in regular points is pretty expensive, its nice for power levels to not have to worry about magnetizing etc. to take things off or put them on. So to finish that 75 PL list I need to paint a tank, ten acolytes, and a walker.

In general, the acolytes will be trying to ambush and provide some support for the genestealers, while the Leman Russ has been added for some battleline durability and anti-tank / monster firepower. The sentinel is again another AT vehicle.

Patrol Detachment (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [74 PL, 1457pts]

HQ

Father Larsa - Patriarch [7 PL, 150pts]

Magister Balventius - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

Troops

Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 195pts]
  • 4x Acolyte Hybrid 
  • 3x Acolyte Hybrid (Hand Flamer) 
  • Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Drill 
  • Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw 
  • Acolyte Leader Lash Whip and Bonesword 
Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 154pts] Cult Icon
  • 15x Neophyte Hybrid 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Mining Laser 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Seismic Cannon 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher 
  • Neophyte Leader Autopistol, Power Maul 

Elites

Aberrants [7 PL, 164pts]
  • Aberrant w/ Power Hammer x4 
Purestrain Genestealers [16 PL, 360pts] 20x Purestrain Genestealer

Fast Attack

Cult Armoured Sentinel w/ Lascannon [3 PL, 60pts]

Heavy Support

Cult Leman Russ [11 PL, 162pts] Vanquisher Battle Cannon, Lascannon, Hunter-Killer Missile, Heavy Stubber, 2 Multi-Melta

Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 139pts] Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Seismic Cannon, Heavy Stubber   


For the final bump up to 100 Power Level, I'm looking at painting two more sentinels, a goliath truck transport, and another magus. I already have my primus painted, so I'm good there. I want to take a second to talk about how cool the new detachments are.

I'll be honest, I don't really want to paint 60 acolytes or neophytes at this time. Purestrain genestealers, while not only being the hardest hitters and most durable troops I have, also use more points / power levels. So I chose the detachment that allows you to have more Elite choices and fewer Troops choices. I also wanted to support my guys with another magus to throw out some Smites and support spells, so I chose to take just a command detachment that requires three HQ choices and nothing else, and I get a bonus CP for it!

I really wanted to try maybe another Leman Russ tank in this list but it just didn't fit - especially since the first detachment only allows two heavy choices. I did take another unit of genestealers which will hit really hard, hopefully from ambush. The Primus will likely be attached to them so they can re-roll their cult ambush roll.

The acolytes will likely roll in the goliath truck here, while the additional lascannon sentinel will provide AT firepower. The scout sentinel is pretty cool because it can scout up the board and throw down a heavy flamer somewhere - hopefully helping the ambushers  get off a charge by taking out some chaff.

You'll notice that all my characters are named - I'm planning on doing up a quick backstory for each one as it's been pretty fun to do that for some of my Tyranid characters, like the Crimson Overseer.

Vanguard Detachment +1CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [88 PL, 1840pts]

HQ

Father Larsa - Patriarch [7 PL, 150pts]

Troops

Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 188pts] Cult Icon
  • 4x Acolyte Hybrid 
  • 3x Acolyte Hybrid (Hand Flamer) 
  • Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw 
  • Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Cutter 
  • Acolyte Leader Lash Whip and Bonesword 
Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 141pts] Cult Icon
  • 15x Neophyte Hybrid 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Mining Laser 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Seismic Cannon 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher 
  • Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher 
  • Neophyte Leader Power Maul, Autopistol 

Elites


Aberrants [7 PL, 164pts]
  • Aberrant x4 w/ Power Hammer 
Purestrain Genestealers [12 PL, 270pts] 15x Purestrain Genestealer
Purestrain Genestealers [12 PL, 270pts] 15x Purestrain Genestealer

Fast Attack

Cult Armoured Sentinels [6 PL, 120pts]
  • Cult Armoured Sentinel Lascannon 
  • Cult Armoured Sentinel Lascannon 
Cult Scout Sentinels [2 PL, 54pts]
  • Cult Scout Sentinel Heavy Flamer 

Heavy Support

Cult Leman Russ [11 PL, 225pts] 
2x Multi-melta, Heavy Stubber, Lascannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon
 
Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 139pts] 
Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Seismic Cannon, Heavy Stubber

Dedicated Transports

Goliath Truck [5 PL, 119pts] 
Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Stubber, Twin Autocannon

Supreme Command Detachment +1CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [12 PL, 222pts]

HQ

Chairman Zell - Primus [4 PL, 76pts] Bonesword

Magister Balventius - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

The Witch Yamima - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

Created with BattleScribe

Please keep your eyes on the blog for my next article where I'll be discussing each character in my force and their background.

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