Throw off your shackles, faithful citizens – it’s time for another Faction Focus. Today, we’re rising to glory with the champions of the downtrodden – the Genestealer Cults.
Heroes of the Uprising
While the bulk of the Genestealer Cults is made up of numberless acolytes and hybrids that seclude themselves among a city’s populace, it’s their heroes that sweep the hive with acts of heroic sabotage and assassination. All who stand against the will of the people shall be felled by the blades and bullets of the Heroes of the Uprising.
KILLER REPUTATION
What passes for folk heroism amongst the deviants of the Genestealer Cults is part broodmind compulsion and unwilling worship, and part these champions’ ability to commit deeds of great and terrible violence against any who stand in the way of the cult.
Friendly KELERMORPH/LOCUS/REDUCTUS SABOTEUR/SANCTUS models have KILLER.
Friendly KILLER models’ attacks can:
Re-roll hit rolls of 1.
Re-roll wound rolls of 1.
As befits their clandestine nature, Killer models are some of the stealthiest in the roster – and this makes them perfect assassins to be aimed squarely at your enemy’s valuable units. The detachment rule makes them highly reliable combatants with a bunch of re-rolls, and they get even better from there.
Both the Sanctus and Locus operatives make use of poisons to bring down tough targets. By upgrading them to Gene-tailored Toxins, you can even butcher Terminators with a single well-placed strike.
GENE-TAILORED TOXINS
Years of experimentation and stolen biodata have gone into the fabrication of these unique and horrible toxins,which are now used to coat the weapons of the cult’s favoured champions.
LOCUS/SANCTUS model only. This model’s attacks have +1 D.
The example these honoured champions set to the masses cannot be understated, and they know well how inspiring a display of vigilante justice can be. Living up to Legend is a stratagem that’s perfect for rallying the cowering populace, and all it takes is a jumped-up enemy ‘hero’ losing their head.
LIVING UP TO LEGEND (1CP)
HEROES OF THE UPRISING STRATAGEM
Few sights are more inspiring to the downtrodden yet fanatical masses of the Genestealer Cult than seeing their folk heroes striking down their oppressors.
WHEN: Your Shooting phase or the Fight phase, when a friendly KILLER unit has attacked, if those attacks destroyed an enemy unit or an enemy CHARACTER model.
TARGET: That KILLER unit.
EFFECT: Each visible friendly battle-shocked GENESTEALER CULTS unit within 12" of your unit is no longer battle-shocked.
Purestrain Broodswarm
The Patriarch’s chosen children may look like xenos monsters, but they’re actually the benevolent angels of the Four-armed Emperor, and they’re here to help you fight back against those who yank your yoke. Their divine agility helps them appear wherever they are most needed, whether to protect the masses or to strike down a hated foe.
ENEMY WITHIN
Genestealers on the hunt combine malevolent cunning and inhuman agility to strike and fade again and again, until their prey are reduced to panicked disarray.
At the end of your opponent’s Fight phase, friendly unengaged PURESTRAIN GENESTEALER units can be placed in strategic reserves.
This detachment has the PURESTRAIN tag and cannot be taken with another PURESTRAIN detachment.
As premier close combat troops, Purestrain Genestealers need to advance quickly and avoid fire in equal measure, and dropping into strategic reserves accomplishes both tasks at once. From there, they can leap at enemy flanks and dice up their vulnerable troops, only to do it all again in the opponent’s next Fight phase.
Genestealers are some of the biggest hitters in the Genestealer Cults Codex, but it wouldn’t hurt to make them even more deadly. Up to three units can be given the Mark of the Star Children, increasing their combat potential and ensuring that they hang around long enough to make use of it.
MARK OF THE STAR CHILDREN (Upgrade)
Spontaneous biomorphs amongst this brood of Purestrains render them bigger, stronger, and mark them out as surely being the chosen of the Star Children themselves.
PURESTRAIN GENESTEALERS unit only. This unit has:
+1 T.
4+ Sv.
This unit’s melee attacks have +1 S.
Hiding in ruins and leaping out at unsuspecting victims doesn’t come without risk, and enemy units getting too close can spell the end of your ambush in a hail of gunfire. Luckily, Genestealers can act as the Crawling Horror, and sink into the shadows so perfectly the enemy won’t know there’s even a target to shoot at.
CRAWLING HORROR (1CP)
PURESTRAIN BROODSWARM STRATAGEM
Genestealers can constrict themselves into grotesquely narrow spaces, can crawl across vertical surfaces and hang from ceilings in utter silence, and are rarely seen by their prey before it is altogether too late.
WHEN: Start of your opponent’s Movement phase.
TARGET: One friendly PURESTRAIN GENESTEALERS unit.
EFFECT: Your unit has -6" detection range until the end of the turn.
Xenocult Masses
We’ve seen loads of the elites so far, but the background of any good Genestealer Cults uprising is the massed hordes of hybrids that carry the Patriarch's gift ever deeper into the hive. These Neophyte Hybrids form into Hordes of the Faithful that swell with every passing moment – so quickly in fact that they can replenish battlefield casualties long before the guns have stopped firing.
HORDES OF THE FAITHFUL
More and yet more Neophytes surge from tunnel mouths, mine entrances and derelict fortifications, drowning the foe in a tide of fanatical killers.
In your Command phase, if a friendly NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS unit is within a terrain area, that unit heals 3 wounds.
This detachment has the HOSTS tag and cannot be taken with another HOSTS detachment.
Since your hybrids are handily only one Wound apiece, you’ll be bringing back 1-3 whole squad members in each of your Command phases – and as it happens whenever you’re in a terrain area, it’s the perfect way to shore up a unit contesting an objective.
Much like the Purestrain Genestealers above, Neophytes are masters at lurking in cover for the opportune moment. Unlike their clearly xenos kin, however, Neophyte Hybrids are human-looking enough that they can make use of Devious Disguises to hide themselves at all times.
DEVIOUS DISGUISES (Upgrade)
Whether it be stolen uniforms, ad-hoc camouflage or even some chameleonic xenomutation, these Neophytes are able to blend into their surroundings.
NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS unit only. This unit has -3" detection range.
Their ability to melt away into cover makes hybrids a surprisingly durable unit, even if they’re ultimately spotted by enemy shooters. As long as they stay safely within their terrain areas, they’ll stand up to weapons that would otherwise blow holes in their chests.
SLUNK FROM THE UNDERBELLY (1CP)
XENOCULT MASSES STRATAGEM
Used to being downtrodden, to creeping secretively through the shadows and hiding from authority, these Neophyte Hybrids are almost preternaturally skilled at making use of battlefield cover.
WHEN: Your opponent’s Shooting phase, when an enemy unit targets a friendly NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS unit with every model within a terrain area.
TARGET: That NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS unit.
EFFECT: Ranged attacks that target your unit have -1 AP until that unit has attacked.
Each of the detachments here is just 1 DP, so can be combined with many of the interesting options in Codex: Genestealer Cults. For some really effective infantry, combine Xenocult Masses with the Brood Brother Auxilia to field tough-as-boots Hybrids alongside disciplined soldiers, or add your favourite sneaky heroes to an Outlander Claw detachment so they can kill while your bikes capture objectives.
What do you mean this lot are monsters? They’ve been the absolute picture of goodness! We guess you want something a little less downright evil next time, so we’re taking our long-overdue foray into the mystical forces of the Aeldari.
