It lets you get around the tactical reserves limits. Units pulled by this aren’t counted towards that, so it allows you to end up with considerably more than half your models in deep strike. Seasoned Enforcers: INFANTRY ignore the heavy weapon move/shoot. The less good half of Bladed Cog without anything near as good for the other half. C If you do decide to take one, remember that he has an aura of -1 to cast for enemies (which is nice, but you do need to remember it and tell your opponent) and that he, himself, has the Aberrant keyword, so if you need him to use his buff stratagem on himself (or double fight if he’s TWISTED HELIX) he can, though that’s very much a last resort as he usually won’t do enough with it to justify the cost. Troops Acolyte Hybrids

Power – Undying Vigour – WC6: Give a BLADED COG unit within 12″ a 5+++ until your next psychic phase. The TGG power is also the best of the bunch, and combos extremely well with bike spam, helping them blow tougher targets to bits with their shotguns. It’s also great in soup builds, being a big help to Hive Guard when comboed with Tyranids. The Clamavus is a cheap, squishy character whose main purpose is his buff aura, which gives +1Ld and +1″ to advances and charges for units within 6″. He also stops enemies deep striking within 12″ of him, and does a MW to enemy units within 6″ on a roll of a 6 at the start of your shooting phase. Basically though, what this guy brings is the +1″ charge aura. Given that this army relies on its big alpha strikes landing, this guy is fantastic, and you’ll see at least one in every list, often more than one if there are melee alpha units from more than one CULT. He also turns up in the Bladed Cog Neophyte spam build, often carrying the Single Minded Obsession trait, as his wound re-rolls aren’t melee only, so you can nominate one big target with Single Minded Obsession and another with his built-in ability, upping your efficiency against both. Acolyte IconwardBasically, he’s very one dimensional, but worth including. The main decision you need to make is which turn to throw him down – make sure it’s either your key turn where everything has to go right or you’re very confident of wrapping and trapping a unit so he’s still around the next turn. Sanctus Twas Space Marines that killed the beast. Optimised, top-end Iron Hands, Fists and Raven Guard builds were all a complete nightmare for this army to deal with, and really any Marines gave them a tough run. The firepower that the devastating artillery or plane builds could bring to bear could literally wipe GSC armies off the table in a few turns, while Centurions with Long-Ranged Marksmen were a pain too. The “classic” GSC psyker is a lot less impressive than the Patriarch and is actually fairly steeply priced for what they are (a one-cast psyker that can buy familiars to boost to two with naff combat stats). However, at least one still turns up in most lists. The only unique thing on their datasheet is that they grant all cult units within 6″ a deny in your opponent’s psychic phase – nice against some armies, but often not super impressive. Why do they show up so often then? Well, they’ve got a good few uses: To create a competitive Genestealer Cult army list, it’s all about synergies. From the relentless Purestrain Genestealers to the resilient Aberrants, each unit plays a crucial role. Don’t forget the versatile Neophyte Hybrids and Acolyte Hybrids, ideal for securing objectives and unleashing destruction.

All of that’s pretty cool, and you’d potentially buy these just as deep striking murder machines at the cost, but the extremely key thing they have on top of that is a 6″ aura within which all and BROOD BROTHERS units auto-pass morale. This helps make large Acolyte units even better than they already are, since you often want to take them in large numbers and they’re individually fragile. Most armies aim to include a Patriarch tagged with whatever CULT their Acolyte bombs are for this reason, and it’s also vital if you’re running a bike spam build. Clandestine Goals – 1CP: In a Maelstrom game, you can keep your cards hidden. If you’re playing Maelstrom and aren’t already playing a mission where they’re hidden for everyone, this is almost certainly worth spending a point on. B Units included in Brood Brothers detachment must have the keyword (so no more Scions), which gets replaced with BROOD BROTHERS, and they get a special regimental doctrine of +2 to leadership and the Unquestioning Loyalty ability for INFANTRY. You also cannot include any Warlord Traits or Relics in one of these detachments, and they’re walled off from taking Tank Aces by the wording on that ability. If the Neophyte Hybrids are the core of the army then the Patriarch is its alpha predator. This alien vector for genetic infection is a demigod to its followers, and when the Day of Ascension arrives, they’re at the forefront of the fighting.

While the old Crossfire ability is no longer an army rule, there are still benefits to doubling up your units and catching unfortunate enemies in a Coordinated Trap . Innate Fighters: Probably one of the closest to being OK – on the first round of combat your units re-roll hits of 1. That’s…fine but now Aberrants are dead most of your key units that benefit from Creeds can take an icon, and you’d rather pay the 50-odd points across the army and take a better choice. C+

Kelermorphs are prolific users of the Lying in Wait stratagem, and the need to screen for a potential 3″ deep strike against a single-model unit that can pop a vital character can give enemy armies absolute fits, the mere threat of this forcing them to move way more slowly than they’d like. Alternatively, if your opponent doesn’t think carefully enough about the prospect, bringing one of these in with Telepathic Summons on turn one can pop a character they forgot to screen properly (although be aware you can’t combine this with Lying in Wait, as that has been errated to specifically only work with units deploying from the underground). They Came From Below…– 1CP: Already discussed – lets you pull three units from Ambush into deep strike. Even after all its nerfs, still something you will use almost every game for many lists. A At your second box you can and should run the army as a battalion for the CP gain. After the third box you can and should run a second battalion. Genestealer Cults spent a good portion of 2019 as arguably the best army in the game, putting up top finishes everywhere and being the boogeyman used to scare new tournament players to sleep.What rules do you need to understand when playing Genestealer Cults? The unique rules of Genestealer Cults provide a different gaming experience from other factions, making it crucial if you’re entering the world of Genestealer Cults. Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor (or 4AE as it’s often abbreviated on army lists) could theoretically be argued to be the “best” cult in the sense that the vast majority of army lists include at least some units tagged with it, although as ever with GSC things aren’t quite what they seem. Cult Creed – Devoted Zealots: Re-roll hits for units that charged, were charged or heroically intervened this turn.

Prepared Ambush– 1CP: A unit of Neophyte Hybrids that set up on the battlefield this battle round makes their autoguns assault 2 instead of rapid fire 1. The ceiling here is wildly low, and even in perfect circumstances with a 20 model full squad (which you don’t take) this is adding 16 BS4+ autogun shots. This needed to give rapid fire 2 instead. C Warlord Trait – Inscrutable Cunning: One re-roll per battle that you can use on a hit, wound or saving roll for a FOUR ARMED EMPEROR unit. In addition, gain d3 extra command points at the start of the game. HQ: Acolyte Iconward – Field Commander – Augur of the Insurgent, Relic – Icon of the Cult Ascendent Wings here. I have been asked to take the wheel and come up with a starter list recommendation that tries as hard as possible not to be completely unreasonable to buy into – we can understand that the advice of buy six start collecting boxes might sound a little extreme. In addition, Genestealer Cults currently lean very hard into 8th’s version of army construction for successful lists, and it’s likely 9th is going to change them a lot, so going all-in on what’s currently good might not work out. I’m happy that what I’ve put together below should remain a decent foundation going forward – all the stuff you end up with is good. I’m afraid I am still going to ask you to buy three start collectings, but Kevin assures me that three is a smaller number than six, and in this case that’s better. Agile Outriders: BIKERS ignore move/shoot for heavy weapons, and advance/shoot penalties for assault weapons. See previous, s/Bladed Cog/Rusted Claw. COppressors Bane: Upgrades one Kelemorph gun (or an autopistol, but you’re taking it on a Kelermorph) to be 3 shots, AP-2 and re-roll wounds against CHARACTERS. A hefty buff, and even better than it used to be thanks to getting the Keler over the line of being a real threat to most Marine characters. B+ Choices: The internal balance of this book looks fantastic, with the vast majority of units having a role to play, most of the cults looking viable, and plenty of ways you can tweak and tune your list. This unit is quietly very interesting, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them sneak into the odd list. Aberrants