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Anybody else think it is weird that the Broodlord and the Patriarch both have the brood telepathy special rule and that rule is written in EXACTLY the same way for both models on their datasheets except that the Broodlord's only affects <hive fleet> genestealers but the Patriarch's affects <cult> <genestealers>? So the patriarch buffs genestealers AND himself (because it affects units with the <genestealer> key word, which the Patriarch has) but the Broodlord only affects Genestealers called Genestealers (which the broodlord is not) so long as they also have an appropriate <hive fleet> keyword. Surely this has to be an error? Yet they have released numerous Tyranid FAQ codex erratas and FAQs and never fixed it?

Maybe the Cult one is the error? Email them and it may get covered in the washup FAQ.

Possibly intentional, because Broodlords and Patriarchs are subtly similar but different species.

Broodlords are a distinct sub-species to Genestealers- a leader class created by the Hive Mind. Patriarchs OTOH are evolved Genestealers.

And yet they both have the <genestealer> keyword, so clearly they are <genestealers> the only thing stopping the broodlord from buffing himself is because his rule doesn't apply to the key word <genestealer> but (presumably, otherwise he would buff noting) the unit name Genestealer. I simply can;t fathom the logic if it is indeed a deliberate decision?

Email the Faq guys.

Try keep it concise and clear.

They do seem to use some information gathered that way.

I don't think we can say for sure it's an error.

A lot of people assume that the Broodlord and the Patriarch are the same creature under different names. Looking at pictures, I can see how people think that. But if you look more closely there are differences. The Broodlord is actually quite a bit bigger, and the Patriarch has that exposed brain more like a Zoanthrope than a Broodlord.

I believe they are intended to be quite distinct creatures, who also perform very different roles for the fleet.

Maybe it is an error, but maybe it's intentional either for balance or to show that a Broodlord is even further from a standard Genestealer.

Does it really matter? I mean, +1 to hit when you're all ready WS2+ is for the most part functionally useless.

It could be an error, but IIRC the Cults and Tyranids are not so closely connected in the fluff. To the Hybrids and Purestrains of a Cult their Patriarch is a living ancestor who's treated with reverence and has a telepathic mind-link to his brood, whereas the Broodlord is a weird alien thingy. To a Hive Fleet, however, a Broodlord is a functional form spawned to lead their shock troops in battle, while the Patriarch is just a fat Genestealer waiting to be reassimilated. 8th Edition made this separation more explicit, I believe.

Ergo, Patriarch mind powers affect Genestealers who are his genetic descendants (Purestrains) but not Genestealers who are spawned directly from a Hive Fleet, and vice versa for the Broodlord. Their power is the same, hence the identical wording, but their targets are different.

Or, y'know, I could be giving GW too much credit and it's just an oversight. Also plausible.