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Hey folks, I’m really strongly considering getting into these guys, mainly because they look so cool, but also they seem like good fun to play. The learning curve seems pretty steep for them, but I don’t mind that as long as, once I do learn them, they can be competent enough to score fun and close games.

So, what’s the faction like in 9th edition? Is it the kind of faction that has a specific way to cheese in order to do okay with it? Or can you make a bunch of different fun lists and fair okay with the right tactics?

Finally, I play against marines a lot, specifically Space Wolves and Ultramarines. I have read from a few places that Space Marines utterly flattened these poor little duders during 8th, is that the same in 9th or will I be able to have an alright time?

I mainly ask because it’s a very expensive army, money wise, so I’d like to know that the large investment won’t end in horrific loss after horrific loss just due to being a bad army. I don’t care about winning, just as long as it’s close and fun.

Thanks for reading

GSC have not been updated yet so you never know, they might be decent once they get a new codex. Right now? Against Space Marines? You will lose most games unless your opponent gives you a handicap.

GSC units are grossly over priced in points right now and they suffer dearly for it. They most success I have gotten out of them is running a lot of Jackals because they are resilient when compared to other GSC units and fast as hell which makes them great for playing the objective game.

GSC are a glass cannon army that has trouble with the cannon part currently because no matter what you do your opponent gets at least one turn of shooting at you, typically, before you can even do some wok. Due to this and the fact that they are as tough as tissue paper you end up in a scenario where you ambush and get shot off the table before you can pull of the charge.

GSC are currently surprising the competitive scene by being mediocre instead of absolute rock bottom terrible like people were predicting after their points costs first dropped.

most of that seems to be on the achilles Ridgerunner being a good cheap little guy, and hand flamer acolyte squads being pretty solid.

Just like before, GSC are playing the game on Expert-Mode. They are the true "jack of all trades" army in that they aren't the worst at anything, but they're far away from the best either. They have bad shooting, are one of the weakest close combat armies of those that are considered close combat armies, and while they can horde they can't put nearly as many bodies into it. But what they DO have that's better than almost anyone is the ability to be places.

Since 9th edition is primarily about board control, that ability to simple "be places" is rather phenomenal. I ran them at a small event yesterday. Went 2-1; 100 to 9, 31 to 95, and 95 to 48 respectively. First opponent was Eldar with a lot of deep strike, and I almost zoned out the whole board. Second opponent was Ad-mech, and I couldn't stand to his firepower by any means (but I made mistakes and so scored as low as I did, could likely have scored 20 more points at least had I played better), and my last opponent was Custodes and I tabled him by just never giving him a good target, so all my stuff that could actually kill him never died, meanwhile he was always scrambling to just break even with me on objectives.

the_scotsman wrote:
GSC are currently surprising the competitive scene by being mediocre instead of absolute rock bottom terrible like people were predicting after their points costs first dropped.

most of that seems to be on the achilles Ridgerunner being a good cheap little guy, and hand flamer acolyte squads being pretty solid.

This basically.

Acolytes are a decent unit - but do you want to buy, assemble and paint 60-120 of them? Its also a bit one dimensional, and they could be badly hit in any future codex/chapter approved.

If not you are into other units which is clearly not as good as the bulk of things in the Marine Codex. But again there is a major difference between "someone playing Marines" and "someone who really knows the game playing a list composed just of the good stuff."

With Nurgle's presence preventing battles, my Genestealer Cult is biding its time and putting a few more generations in making plans.

I don't know I would flesh out an army list too much if I didn't want to redesign it down the road with a new codex or even the next Chapter Approved happens. There's been so much deck chair moving (read: units rising to the top and drop to the bottom) with the faction back in 8th that I don't know if GW even knows what they want GSC to be like. I think it is entirely possible GW may alter/remove blip and deep strike mechanics from GSC for 9th.

Right now Acolytes and Ridgerunners seem to do okay to well. I figure Acolytes will continue to do okay, but may get a switcharoo on the best rock weapon at some point. Hand flamers probably not changing much. I am not so sure about the Ridgerunner as it seems like the current better GSC unit on the fast moving carousel of GSC that once had Aberrants and Jackals in that spot. I also suspect the Goliath will at least be okay for a while. All of this is just a gut feeling with nothing to back it up though.

All-in-all, I feel like GSC may be the faction in the most flux unless GW finally makes Ynnari, for lack of a better word, 'real' faction.

Tyel wrote:

the_scotsman wrote:
GSC are currently surprising the competitive scene by being mediocre instead of absolute rock bottom terrible like people were predicting after their points costs first dropped.

most of that seems to be on the achilles Ridgerunner being a good cheap little guy, and hand flamer acolyte squads being pretty solid.

This basically.

Acolytes are a decent unit - but do you want to buy, assemble and paint 60-120 of them? Its also a bit one dimensional, and they could be badly hit in any future codex/chapter approved.

If not you are into other units which is clearly not as good as the bulk of things in the Marine Codex. But again there is a major difference between "someone playing Marines" and "someone who really knows the game playing a list composed just of the good stuff."

Acolytes have been consistently decent and presumably selling very well for longer than people expected. I fully expect the new 'dex will nerf them into uselessness so people go out and buy more Neophytes instead.

Thanks for all the replies guys!
I think it sounds like I’m gonna have to wait for their next book. I may get a couple of units in the meantime to paint up cos they look neat, but I’ll hold off getting a full force until I know how they’re handling them in 9th.

 Tiberius501 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies guys!
I think it sounds like I’m gonna have to wait for their next book. I may get a couple of units in the meantime to paint up cos they look neat, but I’ll hold off getting a full force until I know how they’re handling them in 9th.

Or even better, play a different game rather than rewarding GW for writing gak rules for the faction you want to play.