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Hi there guys wondering if anyone can clear things up for me, looking at running the Helcult formation (fearless cultists and 1x Helbrute) and/or the Mayhem Pack (3x Deepstriking Helbrutes)
Hearing conflicting views on whether the cultists would be objective secured though? To my eyes it looks like it doesn't but would like to hear if anyone has concrete answer. If there not OS I probably wouldn't run them tbh I need another objective holding unit to add to the army list I'm working on.

Also can anyone vouch for the effectiveness of deep-striking helbrutes? sorry at work and don't have my rulebook to hand, trying to work out how tactically deepstriking/shooting/assaulting would work with the mandatory 'crazed' roll. I like the sound of this but wary of reserves coming in late and not getting mileage from the units. I hear the word 'double tap' when reading up on this particular formation but not sure what this means.

Alternatively I could shell out on another Helbrute (currently have 4) and do the Murderpack, seems like a great buff getting to choose the crazed results but again I've never ran a vehicle squadron so not sure on tactics etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, trying to give my army a more competitive edge with the models I currently own.
Many thanks, Ash

Hellcultists are not objective secured.

Deep striking hellbrutes are kinda mediocre. Prefer oblitorators.

Troops don't just get ObSec. You only get ObSec if the detachment gives you ObSec (which CADs do) so no the cultists won't have OS in that formation.

I can't vouch for deep striking Helbrutes. It helps with their main problem of being to slow to get where they need to (which is in punching range) but deep strike is unreliable and having to roll on the crazed table can easily back fire.

The Murderpack on its own is lackluster because it Helbrutes are too slow. But in Forge World's IA13 there is a Legacy called Maelstrom Raider that gives a vehicle Outflank so you can give it to a Helbrute in the Squadron and outflank the entire unit

Brilliant thanks guys, ok thats the Helcult ditched for this list then, shame you dont get OS but hey ho. I may still run this tbh with a shooty Helbrute and 2 low model count cultist squads, one giving the helbrute a meatshield for longevity.

I can see how deepstriking would help mobility and get those punishing meltas/power weapons up close to the enemy, sounds like a good deathstar unit at 100 pts a pop for the dreads. I guess I'd want to try and get them 12" to a big threat unit meaning they will always be useful when crazed?
My thinking is immobilised means I cant assault but the fire frenzy means I can fire off double melta shots?
the rage result would help my assault
and then the final result would mean not running towards nearest enemy because of the 12" proximity and I'd get rage and fleet for the assault?

helcult is fun since it gives your helbrute a 3+ invuln at the cost of a single cultist (oh noes!), and when the helbrute dies, the cultists get zealot (?)


3 helbrute formation is neat, never played it all to much

I like the 5 helbrute formation. it's deadly, you get to pick your crazed result, and it looks cool on the tabletop.

The major advantage of the helcult isn't even the survivability of the helbrute, it's fearless on the cultists.

large mobs of cultists are good tar pit units and great for camping objectives (if your giant mob covers the 3" area around an objective, having obsec doesn't really matter). The problem with them is it is too easy to make them run off that objective or sweep them.

Making them fearless easily lets 35 cultists tie up a melee unit many times their points. It lets them blob up an objective that either requires a high amount of fire from your opponent to clear or them just letting you have it, and all that fire isn't going into your killy stuff. Plus the large blobs running up the table give cover saves to all the stuff behind it.

My brother was trying to make cultists work for a while. Now he either always uses typhus to make them zombies (and goes with his nurgle theme), or uses the helcult.

The deep striking formation is not great, since you come in turn 2 at the earliest and can't charge, but unfortunately, 1/3 of the time that you do come in, you can't shoot either due to the crazed table. CSM also have no scatter mitigation, so you're going to lose some of those brutes, have an opponent place them or just have them scatter out of range annoyingly often.

I was routinely dispointed with their performance to the point that I've dropped them from my list.

The murderpack can have some decent results, and there's some interesting interactions with making the lead one your warlord since he becomes a character. 5 infiltrating helbrutes are no joke! It's a lot of points tied up in fragile AV12 walkers though, so it's not a sure thing with stuff like fragons, scatbikes, Tau missile spam, mass haywire and the like floating around.

The one time I brought the helcult, the helbrute still exploded turn 2 and the culists got mowed down by bolters before they could get anywhere since my opponent didn't want fearless cultists anywhere near him.

I've tried deepstriking and murderpack.

Murderpack did unexpectedly good when buffed with sorc's psy powers. Won against a double-smashfether list and flyrant + spore-pod MC list.

Deepstriking brutes lost horrible to ig vet spam. They seem to be mediocre as they're unreliable. Three times, in fact. First, they need to come out of reserves, than they need to land and than they need to roll something not-harmful on a crazed table. And than it's just a single walker close to you with a few attacks and not real protection.