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I think autoguns will always be the safest modelling choice, and the strength of shotguns will depend on the universal rules given in the dex. It's also likely something you won't bother with for minimum size troops, and more of a specialised squad.

 SHUPPET wrote:
I think autoguns will always be the safest modelling choice, and the strength of shotguns will depend on the universal rules given in the dex. It's also likely something you won't bother with for minimum size troops, and more of a specialised squad.

Fair point I guess. I'm rather fond of the idea of shotguns, but the autoguns are indeed the safer choice in the end. At least until we get a codex and know what's actually coming for us.

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:
I think autoguns will always be the safest modelling choice, and the strength of shotguns will depend on the universal rules given in the dex. It's also likely something you won't bother with for minimum size troops, and more of a specialised squad.

Fair point I guess. I'm rather fond of the idea of shotguns, but the autoguns are indeed the safer choice in the end. At least until we get a codex and know what's actually coming for us.

I think at the very least have a staple of 30 autogun cultists for a battalion and then branch out to as many shotties as you want

I'm not at a stage where I can main GSC though I just use them as a detachment so maybe it's different if you solo GSC

 SHUPPET wrote:

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:
I think autoguns will always be the safest modelling choice, and the strength of shotguns will depend on the universal rules given in the dex. It's also likely something you won't bother with for minimum size troops, and more of a specialised squad.

Fair point I guess. I'm rather fond of the idea of shotguns, but the autoguns are indeed the safer choice in the end. At least until we get a codex and know what's actually coming for us.

I think at the very least have a staple of 30 autogun cultists for a battalion and then branch out to as many shotties as you want

I'm not at a stage where I can main GSC though I just use them as a detachment so maybe it's different if you solo GSC

I'm still in the early stages of painting and building. I've only got an Abominant and Iconward done, and have a Rockgrinder next in the queue with 2 boxes of Hybrids (going to make one a unit of two saws the other a unit of two drills) and a box of Neophytes (the non-IG ones) somewhere behind that sitting with the rest of the Tooth and Claw box.

So it's a solid start, but a long way to go too.

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:
I think autoguns will always be the safest modelling choice, and the strength of shotguns will depend on the universal rules given in the dex. It's also likely something you won't bother with for minimum size troops, and more of a specialised squad.

Fair point I guess. I'm rather fond of the idea of shotguns, but the autoguns are indeed the safer choice in the end. At least until we get a codex and know what's actually coming for us.

I think at the very least have a staple of 30 autogun cultists for a battalion and then branch out to as many shotties as you want

I'm not at a stage where I can main GSC though I just use them as a detachment so maybe it's different if you solo GSC

I'm still in the early stages of painting and building. I've only got an Abominant and Iconward done, and have a Rockgrinder next in the queue with 2 boxes of Hybrids (going to make one a unit of two saws the other a unit of two drills) and a box of Neophytes (the non-IG ones) somewhere behind that sitting with the rest of the Tooth and Claw box.

So it's a solid start, but a long way to go too.

Nice man! early stages for myself too. I'd love to run a Nid-less GSC army but we'll get there in time, hopefully the dex will support it.

 SHUPPET wrote:

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 SHUPPET wrote:
I think autoguns will always be the safest modelling choice, and the strength of shotguns will depend on the universal rules given in the dex. It's also likely something you won't bother with for minimum size troops, and more of a specialised squad.

Fair point I guess. I'm rather fond of the idea of shotguns, but the autoguns are indeed the safer choice in the end. At least until we get a codex and know what's actually coming for us.

I think at the very least have a staple of 30 autogun cultists for a battalion and then branch out to as many shotties as you want

I'm not at a stage where I can main GSC though I just use them as a detachment so maybe it's different if you solo GSC

I'm still in the early stages of painting and building. I've only got an Abominant and Iconward done, and have a Rockgrinder next in the queue with 2 boxes of Hybrids (going to make one a unit of two saws the other a unit of two drills) and a box of Neophytes (the non-IG ones) somewhere behind that sitting with the rest of the Tooth and Claw box.

So it's a solid start, but a long way to go too.

Nice man! early stages for myself too. I'd love to run a Nid-less GSC army but we'll get there in time, hopefully the dex will support it.

Purestrains are the only true Nids I'm looking at running in the near future at least.

I'm building more towards the PDF/GSC uprising aspect, so in the long run I'll likely fall suspect to that sweet siren call of the Guard (though screw Cadian colors, I'm painting them to match the colors of the GSC itself instead).

Yea I have a 20 man shotgun unit but keep in mind I also have 100 neophytes total. I batch painted all the base colors and washes a week ago and took this week off lol. It was a bit of a large bite to take but that is my painting style, I either paint an army in massive chunks or I spend ages on single characters lol.

Shotgun neophytes I built with the skitarii ranger upper body so the entire unit have dusters on. I built it with 18 shotguns and 2 flamers with a pick and banner. I definitely won't make another unit like it any time soon, but that unit hasn't performed poorly for me as of yet and I am currently practicing against my brothers T'au for a tournament mostly. If they do well against massed s5 shooting I know they are solid.

But to back Shuppet, you generally want to stick with autoguns in my experience since you can take advantage of the longer range a lot more often then you can the short range strength of the shotgun. I like my shotgun guys for two very important reasons, 1 . they look friggen boss but 2. they fill the very important need for getting into my opponents back field (or elsewhere) and applying pressure in a very focused way. Sometimes you need to clean sweep an objective, or tie down the enemy and thats when this unit come in handy, I was going to use a unit in this fashion every game anyway so I figured I would arm them a bit more specialized.

I will also say I am playing pure GSC, I own a huge Catachan army and have no interest in mixing in Guard, if I want to play guard I will just play my guard army lol. My brother has a massive Nid army, so for freshness sake I am trying to go as pure as I can. I also like the mining/construction aesthetic the most, so I find my army would clash quite a bit. I built my Chimeras to look more like a retrofit bulldozer or hauler and my scout sentinels were cut down too. I'll have to get a photo of everything when it is further along, to date I have 80 acolytes and 100 neophytes all at a very clean tabletop standard with everything else either base primed or further along. This army can definitely become a horde fast. I have so many acolytes because they were 8 ppm in 7th lol.

Question of the day: Genestealers: 32mm or 25mm for best results? I know that they generally look better on the 32mm (and stand better) but with the original being the wobblier 25mm slotta base I'm curious which people are running more of.

Arguably the 25mm is better for pushing them all into melee range, but the 32mm allows the unit stronger board control and screening.

 ClockworkZion wrote:
Question of the day: Genestealers: 32mm or 25mm for best results? I know that they generally look better on the 32mm (and stand better) but with the original being the wobblier 25mm slotta base I'm curious which people are running more of.

Arguably the 25mm is better for pushing them all into melee range, but the 32mm allows the unit stronger board control and screening.

Great question. I think you've identified what both do best yourself.

I choose 25mm because I want to get maximum amount of Stealers into combat, and have maximum control in that aspect. But 32mm has it's own set of benefits and is arguably better for the right player. That's not really an answer I know.



25mm isn't just for the original btw, it's for every single Genestealer release ever except for the guys in DW Overkill, I believe. Even Tooth & Claw went back to 25mm. But it doesn't really make a difference I think since it released in 32mm in one set so you can't really be turned away for going with it. I imagine most people will have 25mm bases for this reason alone, but we can always upgrade them if needed.

Thinking on it some more I guess the other advantage of 32mm is it makes it easier to wrap target units/models to prevent them getting away, and to hit multiple units when charging due to your larger footprint.

I'm considering it mostly for the stability and aesthetics, but I wanted to pick people's brains if there was a major problem with running the 32mm instead.

If anyone complains, ask them to show you in the FAQ where their army was specifically mentioned and they as a player were apologized to and promised better in the future

"...We have also removed the exemption [Tactical Reserves] that Genestealer Cults had in the previous beta version of this rule – rest assured this has been
taken into account for Codex: Genestealer Cults, which is currently in development..."

25mm also makes it a little easier to squeeze in an ambushing unit in a limited space. But since the arms gets in the way the difference is not that big.

I went ahead an cut the tabs on the slot stealers and based them on 32's because they look much better, don't get nearly as tangled up in eachother, and most importantly because it is inevitable that they switch to 32's. It's idiotic to have Acolytes and abbs on 32's and purestrains on 25's but thats just my neuroticism with army aesthetics.

Ultimately I've decided to use Guardsmen as my Autogun Cultists and make Shotgun cultists out of the Neophyte models proper.

This gives me more out of every box and lets me get a more mixed look to my army (which is something I rather like as a whole).

In other news, considering the melee abilites of the Rockgrinder I'm thinking it's perfect for supporting MSU units who want to get into melee (Abberants and Alcolytes namely). I know that means they can't have someone else ride with them, but I am finding more and more that putting too many eggs in one basket seems to end up with the basket getting wrecked and the eggs getting smashed so I want to spread my threats around a bit.

On a different note: special weapons in shotgun squads, are they worth bothering with?

I visited a friend of mine over the weekend. Got four games in against his Orks. We tried out all the leaked rules for the Greenskins, as well as proxying the new vehicles. In the end it was a draw with me winning and losing 2 games respectively.

However, I tried ambushing in 20 Neophytes with 2x Seismic Cannons and 2x GLs, alongside either a Primus or the Iconward. The former provided me with a nice 5 on the ambush table, which translated into 10 dead Boys and 3 dead Bikers. In another game they took the last few wounds off of two of the buggies and killed a bunch of Stormboys.

I am actually quite surprised how well they performed. And with the Iconward (and ambushing into cover) they also survived till the next round so that I could return them to the shadows to strike elsewhere.

Still think the mining weapons should really be assault weapons. Or cheaper. And/Or hopefully we might get something to buff our shooting! Seriously, it felt bad being out-gunned by fu*king Orks! Bad Moons + Dakka Dakka means they generate extra shots on 6s AND re-roll 1s ARMYWIDE.

First whisperings of rumors from our codex! The Warlord Traits seem to have been leaked.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2018/10/40k-breaking-the-first-genestealer-cult-rumors-arrive.html

#6 is obviously stronger than the others, I'm not sure why that wouldn't be an auto-pick every time.

ajax_xaja wrote:
First whisperings of rumors from our codex! The Warlord Traits seem to have been leaked.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2018/10/40k-breaking-the-first-genestealer-cult-rumors-arrive.html

#6 is obviously stronger than the others, I'm not sure why that wouldn't be an auto-pick every time.

#6 is great, but we don't know how good the table will be or how else we can manipulate it.

#5 is a fearless+ bubble, also pretty good.
I also think #3 might be alright for a Patriarch or something.

These look good, and yes 6 is great but does anyone else see our "Wall crawler" being our solution to bubble wrap. It's not like "Fly" where it only effects the movement phase it just gives us blanket ignore characters and terrain for movement purposes.

Which gives rise to the question of the 10" high building/2" charge from top to bottom again. We may have the new Smash Capitan.

Focus of Adoration looks good for a blob style army, Wall Creeper definitinely feels like a Patriarch focused option (guess we could call it the Patrician's choice?), Born Survivor isn't bad for any combat focused HQ option and could make the Abominant even harder to kill, Alien Majesty definitely feels like another one that's good for a blob (albiet a more gunline focused one), and Ambush Leader feels like it's made for a Primus to bounce on and off the table escorting units in ambush.

So who else is looking forward/dreading what our 6 psychic powers will be and if our current 3 will stay as is?


Just thinking alien majesty will be great for a Magus and 2-3 blobs of 20 neophytes. Fearless 20 strong blobs with built in deny the witch that are objective secured seems pretty nice to me.

Timeshadow wrote:
So who else is looking forward/dreading what our 6 psychic powers will be and if our current 3 will stay as is?


Just thinking alien majesty will be great for a Magus and 2-3 blobs of 20 neophytes. Fearless 20 strong blobs with built in deny the witch that are objective secured seems pretty nice to me.

I don't see our current three changing to be honest. I do see us getting something offensive as we lack mortal wound output when compared to other armies.

 ClockworkZion wrote:
Ultimately I've decided to use Guardsmen as my Autogun Cultists and make Shotgun cultists out of the Neophyte models proper.

This gives me more out of every box and lets me get a more mixed look to my army (which is something I rather like as a whole).

In other news, considering the melee abilites of the Rockgrinder I'm thinking it's perfect for supporting MSU units who want to get into melee (Abberants and Alcolytes namely). I know that means they can't have someone else ride with them, but I am finding more and more that putting too many eggs in one basket seems to end up with the basket getting wrecked and the eggs getting smashed so I want to spread my threats around a bit.

On a different note: special weapons in shotgun squads, are they worth bothering with?

I've been haveing great success with a 20 strong blob of 10 shotguns and 10 lazguns. When they deepstrike in the 10 shotguns are up front and laz in back. This makes it easier to get the shotguns in that 6" sweet spot wile the laz can still double tap with rapid fire. All for only 100pts total :-)

Timeshadow wrote:

 ClockworkZion wrote:
Ultimately I've decided to use Guardsmen as my Autogun Cultists and make Shotgun cultists out of the Neophyte models proper.

This gives me more out of every box and lets me get a more mixed look to my army (which is something I rather like as a whole).

In other news, considering the melee abilites of the Rockgrinder I'm thinking it's perfect for supporting MSU units who want to get into melee (Abberants and Alcolytes namely). I know that means they can't have someone else ride with them, but I am finding more and more that putting too many eggs in one basket seems to end up with the basket getting wrecked and the eggs getting smashed so I want to spread my threats around a bit.

On a different note: special weapons in shotgun squads, are they worth bothering with?

I've been haveing great success with a 20 strong blob of 10 shotguns and 10 lazguns. When they deepstrike in the 10 shotguns are up front and laz in back. This makes it easier to get the shotguns in that 6" sweet spot wile the laz can still double tap with rapid fire. All for only 100pts total :-)

That sounds pretty awesome actually. It justifies having some Grenade Launchers in the squad as well since they'd be shooting from further back anyways.

I'd considered it and if I have pts to spare Grenade launchers are a consideration but a squad of 20 dudes ambushing in the opps face with a little primus magic is golden GL or not

Timeshadow wrote:
I'd considered it and if I have pts to spare Grenade launchers are a consideration but a squad of 20 dudes ambushing in the opps face with a little primus magic is golden GL or not

Oh, I don't doubt it, I was just thinking of meshing the two Neophyte squads I've got together to form an ambushing blob, and the IG half of it has 2 GLs mixed in. I plan on doing some more Neophyte squads as I need some rear army support for objectives and the like, but those will be GL/Seismic Cannons in a blob of 10 models.

My big concern is making sure I've got the tools for vehicles and MCs, and I'm torn between mixing in some Lascannons (via Sentinels and LRBT) or running Autocannons and relying on the weight of fire instead.

Me back in August concerning Abominant:

 SHUPPET wrote:

 Strat_N8 wrote:

Fueli wrote:I like them. Don't know if there's any kind of utility to be had with pure beatstick hq, but we'll see. At least the model is cool.

If it has a low enough wound threshold to "hide" behind other models it could have a lot of utility, especially if it is swinging at S10+ (dare I dream S14?) with that Sledge Hammer.

Give him a jump pack GW!

GW today:

"Your Warlord can move across models and Terrain as if they are not there."

Thank you based GW

 SHUPPET wrote:
Me back in August concerning Abominant:

 SHUPPET wrote:

 Strat_N8 wrote:

Fueli wrote:I like them. Don't know if there's any kind of utility to be had with pure beatstick hq, but we'll see. At least the model is cool.

If it has a low enough wound threshold to "hide" behind other models it could have a lot of utility, especially if it is swinging at S10+ (dare I dream S14?) with that Sledge Hammer.

Give him a jump pack GW!

GW today:

"Your Warlord can move across models and Terrain as if they are not there."

Thank you based GW

10:1 if that's from the playtester documents they'll change it to only work in the Movement phase.

Alright, guys. I've been looking to get into GSC for a long time, and I just sold a Deathwatch army and have some money to blow.

For context, I have a full AM infantry army (enough for a brigade and a little more) and currently very little Tyranid models.

I know the codex isn't out yet, but are there any safe bets? The tooth and claw GSC half is about $70 on eBay, and I'm thinking 2-3 of those is an amazing start.

Any tips/ideas?

 Cephalobeard wrote:
Alright, guys. I've been looking to get into GSC for a long time, and I just sold a Deathwatch army and have some money to blow.

For context, I have a full AM infantry army (enough for a brigade and a little more) and currently very little Tyranid models.

I know the codex isn't out yet, but are there any safe bets? The tooth and claw GSC half is about $70 on eBay, and I'm thinking 2-3 of those is an amazing start.

Any tips/ideas?

Tooth and Claw is good investment towards a Brigade right out of the box, and since you have IG you can go pretty ham with Brood Brothers to bring the toys the Cult can't access on it's own. That said, troops and Genestealers are always safe bets since the army is built around them and you'll want them in there anyways.

Personally I'm building a bit of everything as I go, but part of that is just to get more mileage out of the boxes since the Hybrid box only gives you 1 of each mining tool with 5 models but you can currently take more than that.

 Cephalobeard wrote:
Alright, guys. I've been looking to get into GSC for a long time, and I just sold a Deathwatch army and have some money to blow.

For context, I have a full AM infantry army (enough for a brigade and a little more) and currently very little Tyranid models.

I know the codex isn't out yet, but are there any safe bets? The tooth and claw GSC half is about $70 on eBay, and I'm thinking 2-3 of those is an amazing start.

Any tips/ideas?

It depends, do you want to play guard with some GSC or are you looking at pure GSC? It makes a huge difference. If your leaning on your guard army then you can get whatever you want as a second detachment very easily.

In my own case I have ~15k of guard and I really didn't want to play it with GSC because why wouldn't I just play IG at that point. But that's just me. So I collected a full army of GSC and honestly it was pretty expensive. Buying acolytes sucks hard since they only come 5 to a kit.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 Cephalobeard wrote:
Alright, guys. I've been looking to get into GSC for a long time, and I just sold a Deathwatch army and have some money to blow.

For context, I have a full AM infantry army (enough for a brigade and a little more) and currently very little Tyranid models.

I know the codex isn't out yet, but are there any safe bets? The tooth and claw GSC half is about $70 on eBay, and I'm thinking 2-3 of those is an amazing start.

Any tips/ideas?

Tooth and Claw is good investment towards a Brigade right out of the box, and since you have IG you can go pretty ham with Brood Brothers to bring the toys the Cult can't access on it's own. That said, troops and Genestealers are always safe bets since the army is built around them and you'll want them in there anyways.

Personally I'm building a bit of everything as I go, but part of that is just to get more mileage out of the boxes since the Hybrid box only gives you 1 of each mining tool with 5 models but you can currently take more than that.

Tooth and Claw is a nice deal on ebay for sure but it isn't anywhere close to a start to a brigade. It's contents give you a vanguard plus an HQ if your building metamorphs which isn't a great idea.

One tooth and claw will get you ~500 points on the table which isn't awful but it's using the units that are higher priced right now keep in mind. It also has zero neos. I am betting 10:1 acolytes drop to ~8 ppm as well. You can always run your guardsmen as neophytes though. I bought 100 neopytes in the end because my IG are all 2nd edition catachans and they really don't fit the cult aesthetic lol.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The new stratagems look like money if they are true. Sabotage is my favorite. Auto detonating a knight in their lines is a game changer but even blowing a tank near their support characters can have good results. It pairs well with a few tactic. You can use the auto ambush WLT on an abomanant and abberants and go wreck something then detonate it lol. If the abomanant dies just 1cp him back to life. You could also use acolytes with 8 rock saws and the mining strat to double their attacks!

I don't want to get to hyped though, these could be rampant BS.

Also, the WLT that regens a character could make an abomanat almost unkillable lol. The fearless bubble is also awesome since it saves you ~100 points on a banner in place of a patriarch.

I hope we get our book before the new year!