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The army looks interesting to me, and I really like the idea of making a cult of hybrid warriors, but I was wondering about a couple things with it.

How viable is it to make an army with no genestealers, no Patriarchs, no purebloods, just the hybrids. I want to make it like a bunch of miners and gang members, fighting it out with cheap gear, improvised weaponry, and poor armor, I am a fan of theme, and it sounds like a lot of fun to me to make, and I have inspiration to work with it, that mostly ties back into a Dark Heresy campaign I ran a while back.

How important is that random deployment method thing they get? I really don't like the sound of it, I am not a huge fan of LOL SUPRAR RANDUMB stuff in my games, some is fine, but this just sounds insane, does it kill the army if this goes badly? Like, none of my units got to move up the board or anything like that? I don't want that to be a crutch.

It's actually a pretty fun army. It can be random but just grab the subterranean swarm formation and you get a good amount of rolls on the cult ambush table so it's not as random as you would think. Plus, a warlord trait is to choose your ambush result for the warlord and his unit so you get that 1/3 games as long as your army is bound. The hybrids are great and have a ton of weapons options. I think as long as you have a decent amount of squads, someone will roll 6's and you'll do fine.

I would recommend the insurrection detachment because it gives you shrouded turn 1, which helps no matter how you roll on the cult ambush table.

Keep in mind that 2/3rds of the options on the cult ambush table are some form of infiltrate with benefits. It's not too random because of that.

As mentioned it is not really all that random and there are good uses for every result on the chart even if it's just to hold an objective for a turn and return back to the shadows. One of the great things about return to the shadows is there is no stipulation about pinned or falling back so if a unit needs to go to ground to survive some fire and is nearly wiped or is down to one guy falling back he can return to shadows and come back with some friends (if using the super formation)

A Genestealer Cult without Genestealers?

Lance845 wrote:Keep in mind that 2/3rds of the options on the cult ambush table are some form of infiltrate with benefits. It's not too random because of that.

luke1705 wrote:It's actually a pretty fun army. It can be random but just grab the subterranean swarm formation and you get a good amount of rolls on the cult ambush table so it's not as random as you would think. Plus, a warlord trait is to choose your ambush result for the warlord and his unit so you get that 1/3 games as long as your army is bound. The hybrids are great and have a ton of weapons options. I think as long as you have a decent amount of squads, someone will roll 6's and you'll do fine.

I would recommend the insurrection detachment because it gives you shrouded turn 1, which helps no matter how you roll on the cult ambush table.

That sounds like it would be very helpful, deploy up the board in cover, retreat to get back casualties later on to keep the squads fullish later on.

Gobbla wrote:A Genestealer Cult without Genestealers?

Yes, the Purestrain don't interest me, if I wanted to use them, I would be playing Nids

Lance845 wrote:Keep in mind that 2/3rds of the options on the cult ambush table are some form of infiltrate with benefits. It's not too random because of that.

That's the impression I'm getting from people, it's coming out as a more interesting mechanic than I originally assumed, I thought it might be a bit of a crutch for the army, which is what worried me.

Timeshadow wrote:As mentioned it is not really all that random and there are good uses for every result on the chart even if it's just to hold an objective for a turn and return back to the shadows. One of the great things about return to the shadows is there is no stipulation about pinned or falling back so if a unit needs to go to ground to survive some fire and is nearly wiped or is down to one guy falling back he can return to shadows and come back with some friends (if using the super formation)

I tend to not run super formations/detachments, I play in a very casual meta, but that sounds like it could be really awesome, I think I might try it out, a friend of mine has a small force of them using old Nid stuff and cultists, so I might ask him if I can give them a shot one week.

 FakeBritishPerson wrote:

Gobbla wrote:A Genestealer Cult without Genestealers?

Yes, the Purestrain don't interest me, if I wanted to use them, I would be playing Nids

They're much better, and more fun than Nid versions. Much hardier too. They make a great surprise when paired with a Patriarch and charge in on a 6 from Cult Ambush.

 FakeBritishPerson wrote:


How viable is it to make an army with no genestealers, no Patriarchs, no purebloods, just the hybrids. I want to make it like a bunch of miners and gang members, fighting it out with cheap gear, improvised weaponry, and poor armor, I am a fan of theme, and it sounds like a lot of fun to me to make, and I have inspiration to work with it, that mostly ties back into a Dark Heresy campaign I ran a while back.

It's certainly feasible, in theory, but bear in mind that you're essentially eliminating all the high-points-cost stuff. Including options and upgrades, hybrids are going to average out at somewhere in the region of 10 points per model. Which means you'll end up need in a lot of them.

Sure. How I would set up that army is probably with a mix-n-match of any of these 4 formations.

1) Doting Throng: Magus plus 3 units of neophytes/hybrids mixed any way you like. The unit joined by the magus gets permanent Hatred, and he gets to re-roll all failed blessing spells cast on units from the formation. I would include at least one unit of hybrids to benefit from the melee buffs, but I've run this with a blob of shotgun neophytes and melee upgrades to hilarious results. Alternatively, a CAD gives some good benefits comparable to this formation, you could bring the same stuff and get obsec which is good too.

2) Demolition Claw: 2 Rockgrinders, 2 Hybrids. Best way to bring Rockgrinders and also a great place to bring Goliaths (as dedicated transports) Because the whole kit and caboodle gets Tank Hunter, which is just awesome when applied to the autocannons, seismic cannons, and all the hybrids too. This is a great formation if you're not a fan of Cult Ambush.

3) Subterranean Uprising: for when you want a little Cult Ambush, but not super LOLRANDOM. Probably the best standalone formation the Cult has. a primus, metamorphs, acolyte hybrids, and optional Aberrants, and everything gets Infiltrate and roll 2 pick 1 on Cult Ambush.

4) Deliverance Broodsurge: 2+ units of Neophytes in Goliaths. They gain the ability to disembark if the vehicle went up to 12" if they take a dangerous terrain test, which is both hilarious and grants them crazy mobility. Don't like Cult Ambush but want some mobility? Bring this formation!

 FakeBritishPerson wrote:

Gobbla wrote:A Genestealer Cult without Genestealers?

Yes, the Purestrain don't interest me, if I wanted to use them, I would be playing Nids

Oh, really? You know, young'un, genestealers were around in 40K before Tyranids had a codex to call their own. In fact, my first army was GSC. It "borrowed" Genestealers from Space Hulk. Hybrids, too. It was glorious! Then, I added Tyranids when they got an army list. I played Genestealer Cult if I wanted to play nids.

Genestealer Cult was urbane, sophisticated, and blinged out with a fat cat Patriarch and even a limo. Tyranids were like inter-Galactic hillbillies. Backwards, drooling, inarticulate rubes adverse to technology, unable to get along with the rest of the Galaxy's more advanced races, lacking in social graces, and always spoiling for a fight.. Yes, some Purestrain Genestealers went along to get along. But, after a time, the Cult said "So long suckers," and went back to making huge profits mining asteroids and such.

And, now, 20+ years later, the Genestealer Cult has a spectacular return! And, here you are turning up your nose to "nid-ish" Stealers. No, Sir! This cannot stand unchallenged! Patriarch's don't cry, but they do still have (inhuman) feelings.

If you're not adverse to the use of a few vehicles, you could probably make a pretty cool list out of the GC super formation: Neophyte cavalcade offers you the opportunity to include the least mutated members of the cult. You could probably scratch up some conversions from chaos autogun cultists to give the rag-tag appearance and convert the vehicles to look a bit ramshackle. Subterranean uprising then looks like the most promising formation as Acolytes/hybrids seem to be powerful assault units. They're already gaining benefits of reserve manipulation from the super detachment, and re-rolls on their Cult Ambush to limit their randomness. Unfortunately, the army will probably cost a kidney or two without some conversions because acolytes are a horde army which cost £5 for a <10 point model...