Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
First, I like Odrankts army list. So I'll go with that.
Then to suggest some general ideas about playing cult.
We are a glass cannon army. We do a lot of damage in assault, so it is important to get our killing units there. Most units will only kill one thing before they are destroyed or badly damaged, so choose valuable targets.
Genestealers are very good at killing infantry.
Aberrants with hammers are very good at killing heavy tanks, monsters and knights.
Acolytes with rock saws is pretty good at both.
Leman Russ are good at shooting. They are pretty much the only thing in our army that can reliably kill stuff with shooting. If you have both several Leman Russ and several transports they are likely to survive and do a lot of damage during a game.
Scout Sentinels are good to make sure noone deep strikes to close to us. (They almost always die during enemy turn one or two, and that's allright)
We lack the staying power to hold objectives, so we need to either bring allies or be clever with positoning and ambubshes. It can be a bit unforgiving, so don't be too hard on yourself if you loose a lot of games in the beginning.
Our psychic powers are pretty good.
A very good way to deliver assault units is to ambush together with a primus and use the Meticulous Uprising stratageme. They are very likely (91%) to get a 5 or a 6 on the ambush table.
Another good way is of course in a transport.
Overwatch fire can hurt really bad. So large assault units is usually better than minimum size. You can soak up overwatch by first assaulting with neophytes or transports. The Mass Hypnosis psychic power is _really_ good.
For Odrankts list, I'd probably do something like this:
- acolytes and primus goes in rockgrinder. They should try to kill the enemies best unit.
- everyone else is deployed in cult ambush. (This means there will only really be one target for your enemy during their first shooting phase, hopefully they will not have enough anti armour weapons to destroy your rockgrinder)
- The magus and one unit of acolytes comes in together on the turn when the acolytes are going to assault (probably turn 2) to use Mass Hypnosis on the acolytes target unit.
Good luck, and let us know how it worked out for you!
First, I like Odrankts army list. So I'll go with that.
Then to suggest some general ideas about playing cult.
We are a glass cannon army. We do a lot of damage in assault, so it is important to get our killing units there. Most units will only kill one thing before they are destroyed or badly damaged, so choose valuable targets.
Genestealers are very good at killing infantry.
Aberrants with hammers are very good at killing heavy tanks, monsters and knights.
Acolytes with rock saws is pretty good at both.
Leman Russ are good at shooting. They are pretty much the only thing in our army that can reliably kill stuff with shooting. If you have both several Leman Russ and several transports they are likely to survive and do a lot of damage during a game.
Scout Sentinels are good to make sure noone deep strikes to close to us. (They almost always die during enemy turn one or two, and that's allright)
We lack the staying power to hold objectives, so we need to either bring allies or be clever with positoning and ambubshes. It can be a bit unforgiving, so don't be too hard on yourself if you loose a lot of games in the beginning.
Our psychic powers are pretty good.
A very good way to deliver assault units is to ambush together with a primus and use the Meticulous Uprising stratageme. They are very likely (91%) to get a 5 or a 6 on the ambush table.
Another good way is of course in a transport.
Overwatch fire can hurt really bad. So large assault units is usually better than minimum size. You can soak up overwatch by first assaulting with neophytes or transports. The Mass Hypnosis psychic power is _really_ good.
For Odrankts list, I'd probably do something like this:
- acolytes and primus goes in rockgrinder. They should try to kill the enemies best unit.
- everyone else is deployed in cult ambush. (This means there will only really be one target for your enemy during their first shooting phase, hopefully they will not have enough anti armour weapons to destroy your rockgrinder)
- The magus and one unit of acolytes comes in together on the turn when the acolytes are going to assault (probably turn 2) to use Mass Hypnosis on the acolytes target unit.
Good luck, and let us know how it worked out for you!
Yeah, I forgot to beef up my post (currently moving house, got side tracked )
I agree with Mellon 100%. We are very good and handy at Melee with various strong weapons but suck at defending. 5+ save across the board makes us pretty squishy.
If I was to play this list I would mostly play like Mellon but with a slight variation.
-Acolythes w/ Primus in the Rockgrinder to make use of both the Rockgrinders Demo charges (note, to access the Grinders Demo charges you need a model in yours troops unit hold one e.g. the Demo charged Acolyte). And, to protect the Acolytes from being before doing damage.
- Magus drops with Neophytes unit to 1) act as a meat-shield for the Magus and 2) cast Mass Hypnosis on the enemy unit your Acolytes w/ Primus are charging.
- Normal deploy the Neophytes just so your Rockgrinder isn't the only target and then when things start turning your way you can use 1 Command point to out those Neophytes into Cult Ambush and re-deploy via Cult Ambush the next turn e.g. deploy them as normal thenback1, take them off the table turn 3 and Re-deploy them turn 4. So just your army is up-close-n-personal.
Good luck my friend, keep us updated with how everything went.
I have a hard time justifying Neophytes when allied broodbrother infantry are cheaper and can take orders. I like the mining weapons if you are going to ambush but you've got to put something on the table to start. I also get it you want to run a full GSC which is fine.
I ran this list last week against an AM opponent who ran Conscripts, Pask and a Punisher Gatling Tank.
It went much better than I expected. We played a 2v2, a Necron friend and I against Space Wolves and Tau.
I used 2 units of neophytes like you said, and 1 unit of acolytes.
One of the 2 units of neophytes was used as a screen for my friend's Triarch stalker, and they did an amazing job dodging all the bullets with the numerous 5 and 6s I rolled (lucky me!). At the same time, I managed to stretch them in a single line to capture 2 objectives and score 3 victory points, so those dudes are defo the MVPs of the game.
The other unit of neophytes was cult ambushed with the primus in a corner of the table to try and capture another objective, but I rolled a 4, then re-rolled for a 3, so I could not send them where I wanted. They then proceeded to shoot and kill a unit of 5 fire warriors, and deal a few wounds to the ethereal warlord, before they got wiped out by a counter-charge of the enemy Space Wolf, but I think they did a pretty good job in the end.
I did mess up one big thing though: the Space Wolf sent some cavalry to kill the Triarch Stalker, so I decide to intercept them with my Rockgrinder containing the acolytes. I waited outside of the cavalry's range, disembarked and charged with my acolytes on the next turn, which wasn't a great idea... They did not inflict any wounds on the cavalry and got murdered right after, while the rockgrinder remained in the back (yeah, I know...).
Next time I'll keep the little dudes in the rockgrinder until it explodes!
All in all, I really enjoyed this first game, and I'm probably gonna play another one in the next weeks!
Thanks everyone for the good advice! (And bringing a Battalion instead of a Patrol was the best idea by far!)
Well, I did feel like I was lacking some powerful units to deal with the tough enemy units like the cavalry (with 3++ shields). Do we have anything that packs a punch and inflict mortal wounds? XD
Best way to deal with 3++ is to over load them with dice. Out of 10 dice 3-4 should fail which is at least 2 models. Best units for mass attacks is Genestealers. They can also be buffed to 100 S5 -1 D d1 attacks hitting on 2s so they usually eat through most things.
Only way to get Mortal wounds us through an Acolyte carrying a Rock drill. When it does successful damage you get to MW on a 2+, 3+ etc.
Also, you should have charged those Calvary with the Rockgrinder, then emptied out the Acolytes the next turn. Would have definitely killed those Space Wolves.
)
