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I've tried them as broodlord delivery systems (min size brood) for the psychic powers - they end up as a single broodlord (sometimes wounded) sitting in cover far enough away from the enemy that he's uselss except to toss Endurance on some gants or an MC that did make it up there.
I've tried them in large broods (15+broodlord) to try and punch into the enemy lines but they get shot up and overwatched on the assault maybe killing 3-5 models.
I'm running them with the rest of my army so they're supported, but there's no chance for them to make it up there.
Infiltrating? Unsupported, guaranteed to be shot till they're gone.
Outflanking? Same issue.

What am I doing wrong? Not rolling saves good enough? That's a possibility, but not really a useful critique.
Not having enough LoS blocking terrain? Definitely possible if not probable... though that'd make me sad.

Help please - I'd rather not relegate my 50ish stealers to the army case.

rigeld2 wrote:
I've tried them as broodlord delivery systems (min size brood) for the psychic powers - they end up as a single broodlord (sometimes wounded) sitting in cover far enough away from the enemy that he's uselss except to toss Endurance on some gants or an MC that did make it up there.
I've tried them in large broods (15+broodlord) to try and punch into the enemy lines but they get shot up and overwatched on the assault maybe killing 3-5 models.
I'm running them with the rest of my army so they're supported, but there's no chance for them to make it up there.
Infiltrating? Unsupported, guaranteed to be shot till they're gone.
Outflanking? Same issue.

What am I doing wrong? Not rolling saves good enough? That's a possibility, but not really a useful critique.
Not having enough LoS blocking terrain? Definitely possible if not probable... though that'd make me sad.

Help please - I'd rather not relegate my 50ish stealers to the army case.

You aren't doing anything wrong. In an edition where shooting is king, and bolt weapons are stronger then ever using a unit that's melee only that's vulnerable to bolt weapons just doesn't work.

Convert them to ymgarls and go with other troops, genestealers are dead in their current incarnation in 6th.

Agreed, ymgarl will be the only way to field stealers now. outflank is pointless. and infiltrate means they shoot you sooner. Shame

They're just a little too expensive for what they do, and have no grenades, that's all.

Sadly our bugs for the most part got hosed by the new edition. We need either a FAQ or just a new Dex before we're able to truly field a scary fleet again. Sorry man :(

I've been running into the same problem too. I have managed to get them into CC twice since 6th came out. Once with SW and once with CSM. Both times they ended up getting wiped out but tied up the enemy unit for several turns. Against the SW, I would have wiped out a unit of Grey Hunters but before I could kill the last two, a group of thunderwolf cav joined the fight. Against the CSM, I tied up a unit of regular CSM supported by a sorc and was doing well until my Broodlord's head exploded after rolling double 1's and lost his last wound to perils. They are still great in CC but getting them their is the hard part.

Until we get an update, I'll probably only use them rarely.

I don't think tyranids are dead at all. You have the ability to field a wide array of psykers, and you can field some flying monsterous creatures. You have all the fixings for a very viable army. Not to mention you can run the CARNISTAR!!!!!!! Just something my friends and I came up with last edition for 'ard boys before that got shot down and a new edition came out. Originally we were going to do a 2500 point list of 3 squads of 3 carnify with 2 twin-linked devourers each, and just have that be your block of an army moving forward. Throw in a few tervigons and a few venomhropes , and a few other just harassment units and there you go. Now you can run just one squad of three carnify and have them each kitted out with 2 twin-linked devourer's and have a tyranid prime in the unit so you can look out sir all the shots to the various carnify and never kill the unit without having to just plant alot of fire power on that unit.
But back to the question at hand, how to use genestealers, have you ever thought about using them as crowd control? I mean as a counter attack unit. Like if your opponent is going to come at you and is going to attack say like your zoanthropes, have your genestealers back there to stop them from doing that. Or just use them an ymgralskjshgkdgha genestealers.

Infiltrating? Unsupported, guaranteed to be shot till they're gone.

Thats probably the issue. 6ed forces them to have some sort of support, whether its spawned gants assaulting their target first (and thus denying overwatch on the stealers themselves) or a trygon or other threats making target priority harder. They needed catalyst in 5ed to be credible in assault and that hasn't really changed either imo (now having endurance as an option though helps I suppose).

I am not using infiltrate to setup 2nd turn assaults much anymore either. Barring targets of opportunity, usually I use infiltrate to find the best terrain and avenue of approach for mid/late game until they can hit the enemy lines simul with some other unit. The issue really being both overwatch and multi-assualt nerf.

Well, look, inflitrating Genestealers can work, but you kinda have to go big or go home on that. Because if you just have one unit of stealers, that's a big target.

On the other hand, stealers are expensive, so if you take 3 or so units of them, that's a lot of points. And if the enemy is particularly good at shooting you before you get to them, that's an auto-lose.

I've had good luck in doubles tournaments with my buddy infiltrating his stealers while I DS in mordrak right behind them first turn. Rock and a hard place kind of strategy. Bu that's a special case.

I put a tyranid prime in front of them. Gives them a 3+ save and t5 to protect them. I also usually screen them with gargs/termagaunts and use them more as a counter punch than an infiltrating unit, works pretty well so far.

They're still devastating in CC against pretty much everything, and the broodlord can be truly scary with the right equipment, they just cant do it solo anymore, so give them backup and a screen and you'll be good to go

20 Genies with a tricked out Broodlord in a Swarm Lord list. Sell out for invisibility on the Swarmy, and the 66% of time you get it, stack it with Catalyst or Endurance and turn those 20 Genies into an unstoppable force.

Also, if Overwatch is a problem at all you're probably positioning your assault poorly. If the Broodlord is out front the turn you assault (as he should be), you shouldn't be suffering more then a wound or so on the Broodlord against most targets. Another strong suggestion others have pointed out is combined assaults with Gargs/Gaunts to take the Overwatch fire for you.

ShadarLogoth wrote:
20 Genies with a tricked out Broodlord in a Swarm Lord list. Sell out for invisibility on the Swarmy, and the 66% of time you get it, stack it with Catalyst or Endurance and turn those 20 Genies into an unstoppable force.

Also, if Overwatch is a problem at all you're probably positioning your assault poorly. If the Broodlord is out front the turn you assault (as he should be), you shouldn't be suffering more then a wound or so on the Broodlord against most targets. Another strong suggestion others have pointed out is combined assaults with Gargs/Gaunts to take the Overwatch fire for you.

The thing is, a 20 genestealer brick has a problem with overkill. They'll slaughter whatever they get the charge on assuming they somehow manage to get there, then promptly get shot to pieces because they killed all of their enemies before they could swing back. Hormagaunts on the other hand, have gotten somewhat better with the new fearless rules, and even kitted out hormies are still cheaper than Genestealers by a wide margin. If you're really hankering for melee in your troops section, go with Hormagaunts, and when you go with Hormagaunts, use a whole fething lot of them.

The brood will have to suffer a round of shooting somewhere before they get to assault. Positioning may reduce this to some extent but they are still going to get shot - and with a large footprint it should be possible for most opponents to maneuvre so not all shots can be targetted at the Broodlord (unless they want to of course), so sticking him out front is not going to work. Also, if you did, a bunch of AP4 shooting (like autocannons) will result in you not trying that twice ... Cover saves are generally going to be 5+ and so one less than they got in 5th.

Overwatch from small units is fine, but stealers are supposed to put on stacks of wounds and so are supposed to take on blob squads, terminators, grey hunters and the like. Rapid fire weapons and flamers against that armour save on top of an earlier round of shooting is going to cost them dear I fear.

As an anti-mech unit, coming on from reserve they may have some use where the opponent has rear armour 10 or 11 - but less so against transports with shooty stuff inside.

As an anti-infantry unit then they are maybe a counter-assault unit at best as they need to be shielded for 3 turns and if so then you can't take a large brood as the footprint will be too large.

then promptly get shot to pieces because they killed all of their enemies before they could swing back.

That's the idea with Invisibility+FNP, it makes it highly unlikely you'll get "shot to pieces" by anything. Plus, with 20 Genies you have more then enough foot print to multi assault.

the brood will have to suffer a round of shooting somewhere before they get to assault. Positioning may reduce this to some extent but they are still going to get shot - and with a large footprint it should be possible for most opponents to maneuvre so not all shots can be targetted at the Broodlord (unless they want to of course), so sticking him out front is not going to work. Also, if you did, a bunch of AP4 shooting (like autocannons) will result in you not trying that twice ... Cover saves are generally going to be 5+ and so one less than they got in 5th.

You can keep the Broodlord half a base back and surrounded from you apex and only move him out from the turn your planning on assaulting though.

A few things about stealers in 6th.

1) They are not good for attacking blobs of troops. They will die badly. Best ratio is no more then 2 attacks per stealer left after the stealers strike. Its hard to figure out, but figure out how many troops you are going to kill and then figure out how many will be left. Wieght of numbers will shread stealer units as thier save sucks.

2) Overkill is bad. Its hard finding the right balance of killing enough troops in HtH so you don't lose to many stealers, but you never want to wipe out a unit after a charge. It will pretty much mean your stealers will get shot to death on your opponent's turn. Learning how to do challanges properly helps a lot.

3) Stealers are not a vanguard unit. They don't have the armor or the numbers to be a vanguard unit. They are usually best when they assualt turn 3 or 4. Let the smaller disposable units tie up the units you are worried about and then make your move.

4) Go to Ground. Stealers are not fearless if they are not in synapse. If you infilitrate make sure you do so in cover with as much blocking LOS as possible. Then while waiting to make your move just go to ground for the better cover save. Most people will not charge stealers in cover (for good reason) and you can tie up some of thier shooting while they ignore the rest of your army.

People tend to just run stealers up the board as fast as they can, sort of like big hormagaunts. Not the best way to use them as they are much better as a second wave unit, in some cases I don't even infitrate I just run them right behind a hormaguant screen. Use them as a killing blow against units already tied up in combat or diminished units.

something i came across in the rulebook if you go to ground in area terrain you get plus 2 to your cover 3 up cover saves granted you cant assault but its still a bullet magnet because people are scared of them 3+ cover will live through about anything other then flamers in which case you got a whole different issue

 Gloomfang wrote:

4) Go to Ground. Stealers are not fearless if they are not in synapse. If you infilitrate make sure you do so in cover with as much blocking LOS as possible. Then while waiting to make your move just go to ground for the better cover save. Most people will not charge stealers in cover (for good reason) and you can tie up some of thier shooting while they ignore the rest of your army.

Broodlords can continue using their psychic powers as normal while Gone to Ground as well.