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I always hated that GW dropped Genestealer Cults (okay, the limos were ridiculous) but hey, we can work together to bring it back in some way! I just want to ask you all if you want to help in making a Genestealer Cult Dex. I'll start off with an idea for FOC and cultist stats:

HQ
Patriarchs
Magus

Elites
Purestrains
Gene-Marines (Space Marines infected by the Genestealer gene seed.

Troops
Cultists
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
4 3 3 3 1 4 2 8 5+

Fast Attack
Jet-pack equipped cultists

Heavy Support
vehicles (main vehicle would be an APC, to replace the limos)

 darthnatus wrote:
I always hated that GW dropped Genestealer Cults (okay, the limos were ridiculous) but hey, we can work together to bring it back in some way! I just want to ask you all if you want to help in making a Genestealer Cult Dex. I'll start off with an idea for FOC and cultist stats:

HQ
Patriarchs
Magus

Elites
Purestrains
Gene-Marines (Space Marines infected by the Genestealer gene seed.

Troops
Cultists
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
4 3 3 3 1 4 2 8 5+

Fast Attack
Jet-pack equipped cultists

Heavy Support
vehicles (main vehicle would be an APC, to replace the limos)

Jet-pack equipped Cultists.. Sounds cool but pricey, especially for something with such a low armour save, and something that is usually used as just a meatshield.. In stead, have as an upgrade for them (a leader maybe) have a psyker with a teleportation power and okay-ish leadership? It'd let you move long distances, swap out powers for stuff in biomancy etc., and also give you an edge over C:CSM Cultists
EDIT: As for this APC, wouldn't they just use Chimeras? I'm sure the obliging PDF leaders would give up some of their military vehicles to their leaders for protection...

Why would they have all of these things when IG doesn't have them? That doesn't make any sense for a cult to have equipment and technology that is beyond what the Imperium has.

What are you talking about having better tech than IG?

And yeah, for APC I was thinking Chimera. They really just need a transport with a decent gun but obviously IG quality at the most, not a Rhino or a Land Raider or anything.

I was also thinking about something like the Skaven's ability to convert enemy units into basic units. I feel like it would make for a good ability for a nice pricey Patriarch!


I was also thinking about something like the Skaven's ability to convert enemy units into basic units. I feel like it would make for a good ability for a nice pricey Patriarch!

Why not better make a Genestealer cult supplement for the IG?

 Tyran wrote:
Why not better make a Genestealer cult supplement for the IG?

Because Genestealer Cults have nothing to do with IG! They can be in any race, any society. There were orkstealer cults for example!

 darthnatus wrote:
What are you talking about having better tech than IG?

"Jet-pack equipped cultists"

Right about there.

Oh haha that, I couldn't think of much when I though that up.

What about... Bikes and buggies?

 darthnatus wrote:
Oh haha that, I couldn't think of much when I though that up.

What about... Bikes and buggies?

Think about another kind of cultist, Chaos cultists.

These are not people with access to gear. Their weapons are pretty much the crappest weapons that they could hide away until their uprising. The bottom line is that they don't just happen to have APCs and technology laying around, much less the ability to use it. They are not going to have bikes and buggies, where would they even GET them?

 curran12 wrote:

 darthnatus wrote:
Oh haha that, I couldn't think of much when I though that up.

What about... Bikes and buggies?

Think about another kind of cultist, Chaos cultists.

These are not people with access to gear. Their weapons are pretty much the crappest weapons that they could hide away until their uprising. The bottom line is that they don't just happen to have APCs and technology laying around, much less the ability to use it. They are not going to have bikes and buggies, where would they even GET them?

You're forgetting that Genestealer Cults often infiltrate the upper echelons of society, so yes, they are going to have bikes and buggies, contacts within the PDF, which grants them access to Imperial Guard technology.. The original Genestealer Cults had Limousines for god sake...

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

You're forgetting that Genestealer Cults often infiltrate the upper echelons of society, so yes, they are going to have bikes and buggies, contacts within the PDF, which grants them access to Imperial Guard technology.. The original Genestealer Cults had Limousines for god sake...

As do Chaos cults, do you see them rocking out the big technology?

 curran12 wrote:

 darthnatus wrote:
Oh haha that, I couldn't think of much when I though that up.

What about... Bikes and buggies?

Think about another kind of cultist, Chaos cultists.

These are not people with access to gear. Their weapons are pretty much the crappest weapons that they could hide away until their uprising. The bottom line is that they don't just happen to have APCs and technology laying around, much less the ability to use it. They are not going to have bikes and buggies, where would they even GET them?

So seems like you're saying go for an almost full-bio army? Well then what about a faster variant of normal cultists? Or even just allowing purestrains to be used in that slot. Or if we could have them go a more ork-like route and have rag-tag vehicles (when you think about it, all races can be affected by the genestealer 'virus' so it wouldn't be too farfetched that something with enough tech knowledge to build ork quality vehicles would be affected)

 darthnatus wrote:

So seems like you're saying go for an almost full-bio army? Well then what about a faster variant of normal cultists? Or even just allowing purestrains to be used in that slot. Or if we could have them go a more ork-like route and have rag-tag vehicles (when you think about it, all races can be affected by the genestealer 'virus' so it wouldn't be too farfetched that something with enough tech knowledge to build ork quality vehicles would be affected)

Cultists should be utter and complete chaff. To go off of the Chaos use of them, they ain't there to take objectives, the cultists are there to do one thing in the fluff, and that thing is to soak up bullets meant for more important things.

I think in this kind of setting, you run bare minimum stats, match the Chaos Cultist or a Guardsman, 6+ armor, maybe 2 attacks and give them some kind of synapse rule that gives them fearless if they are near a command bug.

Hmmm...
So how about this:
Genestealer Cultists
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
3 3 3 3 1 3 2 6 6+
Wargear: chitin/flak armor/improvised armor/etc, claws and teeth (can upgrade for different cc weapons, autopistol (can take upgrades for better weapons, but can't get anything better than say a lasgun)
Special rules: Instinctive behavior - feed

 darthnatus wrote:
Hmmm...
So how about this:
Genestealer Cultists
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
3 3 3 3 1 3 2 6 6+
Wargear: chitin/flak armor/improvised armor/etc, claws and teeth (can upgrade for different cc weapons, autopistol (can take upgrades for better weapons, but can't get anything better than say a lasgun)
Special rules: Instinctive behavior - feed

Why not give them better I4 and WS4 to represent the Genestealer blood in them?

Now that I thing of it, there are several categories of Genestealer cultists; there are the normal humans, and there are the hybrids (which are divided in generations).
Better idea, keep the standard cultist with normal human stats, and in the upgrades section give the options to improve the stats (WS, S, T , I and/or A) (and even the possibility of buying rending claws) to represent the hybrids.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And discard instinctive behavior, they definitively aren't mindless.

So this then:
Genestealer Cultists:
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
3 3 3 3 1 3 2 6 6+
Wargear: improvised armor, cc weapons, autopistol (but can upgrade)

Genestealer Hybrids (as upgrade to cultists or their own group?)
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
4 3 3 3 1 4 2 6 5+
Wargear: Reinforced chitin armor, claws and teeth (can be upgraded to take rending claws), autopistol (can't be taken with rending claws)

Purestrain are just normal genestealers, elite choice or troop choice

Bike Cultists
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
3 3 3 3 1 3 2 6 5+
wargear: flak-equivalent armor, autopistol (upgrade to lasgun), flak/krak grenades (I can't remember exactly what they do atm so I'm not sure which is more reasonable)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, what do you guys think about having infected space marines as an elite choice?

 darthnatus wrote:

 Tyran wrote:
Why not better make a Genestealer cult supplement for the IG?

Because Genestealer Cults have nothing to do with IG! They can be in any race, any society. There were orkstealer cults for example!

And are you going to include orkstealers, eldarstealers, and taustealers in this "Codex"?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for Space Marines, I'm not sure. But they can be infected, that is a fact.

Probably not eldarstealers as they wouldn't bring much to the table with basestats, but yes those others would be. Orks would be Str 4 T 4 A 1 (all other stats same as normal hybrids/cultists) and cost slightly more, tau cultists (taustealers would be too physically weak to be worth anything imo) would have higher WS and lower BS/Str/T than normal cultists and would cost either a point less or the same cost (would have better range weapons).

Then again I could have eldarstealers be fast attack variants, possibly giving them some eldar tech. But it seems like it would be too divergent from the rest of the army.

Okay cool so Gene-Mehreens is a possibility (I'd say elites choice), and massive maybe: assault gene-mehreens.

Eldar are substantially faster (better initiative) then humans.

The problem is that all forms of Eldar society can find and crush a genestealer cult very quickly.

I see this "Codex" as being Combat Brothers with Tyranids and Allies of Convenience with Orks, Eldar, Tau, Dark Eldar and IG.

I would think DEldar would be too busy being dirty disgusting xeno heretics to notice their friends growing extra limbs and chitin.

 Kain wrote:
Eldar are substantially faster (better initiative) then humans.

The problem is that all forms of Eldar society can find and crush a genestealer cult very quickly.

Yeah, but that also applies to Orks and Tau (and Space Marines), so if we discard them we are left with Humans, then it would be better to simply make it a IG supplement.

 Tyran wrote:
I see this "Codex" as being Combat Brothers with Tyranids and Allies of Convenience with Orks, Eldar, Tau, Dark Eldar and IG.

They wouldn't be Battle bros with 'Nids, only allies of convenience since unlike in the olden days 'Nids don't take in other species into their army. They just eat the biomass, so genestealer cults would be right on the line between being full 'nids and being a different species.

 Tyran wrote:

 Kain wrote:
Eldar are substantially faster (better initiative) then humans.

The problem is that all forms of Eldar society can find and crush a genestealer cult very quickly.

Yeah, but that also applies to Orks and Tau (and Space Marines), so if we discard them we are left with Humans, then it would be better to simply make it a IG supplement.

Not anywhere near as well as the Eldar.

I doubt a Genestealer infestation of any size could take root in a Craftworld or even Commorragh or an Exodite world, and anyone who thinks Genestealers can infiltrate the Harlequins is a little loopy.

However, Genestealers demonstrably infiltrated both the Orks and the Tau. Though the Kroot can sniff out Stealers from a mile away.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Kroot and Tau society aren't mixed so Tau infestations could be fairly common and go unnoticed long enough to do a lot of damage.

 Kain wrote:

 Tyran wrote:

 Kain wrote:
Eldar are substantially faster (better initiative) then humans.

The problem is that all forms of Eldar society can find and crush a genestealer cult very quickly.

Yeah, but that also applies to Orks and Tau (and Space Marines), so if we discard them we are left with Humans, then it would be better to simply make it a IG supplement.

Not anywhere near as well as the Eldar.

I doubt a Genestealer infestation of any size could take root in a Craftworld or even Commorragh or an Exodite world, and anyone who thinks Genestealers can infiltrate the Harlequins is a little loopy.

However, Genestealers demonstrably infiltrated both the Orks and the Tau. Though the Kroot can sniff out Stealers from a mile away.

When they infiltrated the Tau?

And there had been cases of Genestealers infestations in Eldar societies, but just that like with the Orkstealers, the infestations are eventually discovered and crushed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 darthnatus wrote:

 Tyran wrote:
I see this "Codex" as being Combat Brothers with Tyranids and Allies of Convenience with Orks, Eldar, Tau, Dark Eldar and IG.

They wouldn't be Battle bros with 'Nids, only allies of convenience since unlike in the olden days 'Nids don't take in other species into their army. They just eat the biomass, so genestealer cults would be right on the line between being full 'nids and being a different species.

They would be Battle Brothers because the Hive Mind has control over the Cults. The cultists even let themselves be eaten by their own will.

 Tyran wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 Tyran wrote:

 Kain wrote:
Eldar are substantially faster (better initiative) then humans.

The problem is that all forms of Eldar society can find and crush a genestealer cult very quickly.

Yeah, but that also applies to Orks and Tau (and Space Marines), so if we discard them we are left with Humans, then it would be better to simply make it a IG supplement.

Not anywhere near as well as the Eldar.

I doubt a Genestealer infestation of any size could take root in a Craftworld or even Commorragh or an Exodite world, and anyone who thinks Genestealers can infiltrate the Harlequins is a little loopy.

However, Genestealers demonstrably infiltrated both the Orks and the Tau. Though the Kroot can sniff out Stealers from a mile away.

When they infiltrated the Tau?

And there had been cases of Genestealers infestations in Eldar societies, but just that like with the Orkstealers, the infestations are eventually discovered and crushed.

Hive Fleet Gorgon and that one splinter of Hive Fleet Kraken both found their marks didn't they?

And also, I'm fairly certain that a species as highly psychic and so reliant on empathy and low level telepathy for communication (as per path of the Eldar, Eldar conversation is as much reliant on empathy as it is words and body language) across the entire species would almost immediately locate an infestation.

However, the Craftworld itself may be something of a beacon due to it's high concentration of psykers.

 Kain wrote:

 Tyran wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 Tyran wrote:

 Kain wrote:
Eldar are substantially faster (better initiative) then humans.

The problem is that all forms of Eldar society can find and crush a genestealer cult very quickly.

Yeah, but that also applies to Orks and Tau (and Space Marines), so if we discard them we are left with Humans, then it would be better to simply make it a IG supplement.

Not anywhere near as well as the Eldar.

I doubt a Genestealer infestation of any size could take root in a Craftworld or even Commorragh or an Exodite world, and anyone who thinks Genestealers can infiltrate the Harlequins is a little loopy.

However, Genestealers demonstrably infiltrated both the Orks and the Tau. Though the Kroot can sniff out Stealers from a mile away.

When they infiltrated the Tau?

And there had been cases of Genestealers infestations in Eldar societies, but just that like with the Orkstealers, the infestations are eventually discovered and crushed.

Hive Fleet Gorgon and that one splinter of Hive Fleet Kraken both found their marks didn't they?

And also, I'm fairly certain that a species as highly psychic and so reliant on empathy and low level telepathy for communication (as per path of the Eldar, Eldar conversation is as much reliant on empathy as it is words and body language) across the entire species would almost immediately locate an infestation.

However, the Craftworld itself may be something of a beacon due to it's high concentration of psykers.

And what makes you think that the movement of the Hive Fleets is completely dependent of Genestealers Cults?

And while Eldar do detect the infestation very quickly, so do the Orks (probably even faster than the Eldar); and that detection isn't instantaneous, usually it takes a few generations before the Eldar find and crush the Cult.

 curran12 wrote:

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

You're forgetting that Genestealer Cults often infiltrate the upper echelons of society, so yes, they are going to have bikes and buggies, contacts within the PDF, which grants them access to Imperial Guard technology.. The original Genestealer Cults had Limousines for god sake...

As do Chaos cults, do you see them rocking out the big technology?

No because there's no Chaos Cult army list, aside from the Renegades and Heretics, which DO have access to all Imperial Guard military equipment.
*bows*
Thank you

You also have to remember that chaos cultists stay hidden from non-cultists and so do Genestealer cultists and blood brothers (IG-quality soldiers).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You also have to remember that chaos cultists stay hidden from non-cultists and so do Genestealer cultists and blood brothers (IG-quality soldiers).