Genestealer Cults: Relics, Psykers & Wargear
We are continuing Genestealer Cults coverage all week. Today offer a glimpse of the Cult’s weapons, psychic powers and relics.
Ok, let’s get started… As with our earlier coverage, we aren’t here to spoil entire rules sections, so we will be offering up a small example of items and talk a bit about what is in the codex.
ALL HAIL THE FOUR ARMED EMPEROR!
Wargear
Yes! Web weapons return to the tabletop after a long absense. The key to the weapons is the “Cocooned” special rule. It’s not exactly like grav for infantry, but it’s getting there. This is going to be hell for those pricy S:3 infantry in AP3 or worse armor. I’m looking at you Aspect Warriors, Scions and Sororitas! A lot of the cult’s other wargear is described in the earlier White Dwarf minidex for the Genestealer cult that came out with Deathwatch Overkill. Still there are some surprises in there with nasty repurposed mining equipment for both melee and shooting. Unfortunately a lot of that stuff is heavy or unweildy. If only there was some way around that… Which leads us straight into…
Psychic Powers
Now that is a generically useful power. I can see a lot of deathstars getting a hypnotic neutering with this one. The other powers include a standard set of witchfire direct attacks, some hivemind-like abilities to increase the stats, and movement abilities of friendly units – including one that hands out Relentless and Fleet (which will make some cult weapons much deadlier)! There are nasty powers to de-buff enemy stats, or temporarily take control of enemy units. Rounding out the powers is a daemon summoning-like power that generates new units onto the table (teleported in from nearby areas according to fluff) with variable unit sizes based on how many warp charges you expend.
Relics
The relics are a mixed bag as we have come to expect from most codexes. This example will keep your units in the fight within a very large radius of the relic-bearer. Most of the others are weapons of various types. More interesting are the strange fluff descriptions that attribute some of these relics to the distant Tyranid Hivefleets extending their psychic will and alien intelligence to their distant Cults spread across the Imperium.
The codex is almost here, so pick it up to get the full intel on everything the Cult is bring to lay low the Imperium.
Codex: Genestealer Cults $50
Vile chanting fills the air, marked by blood-chilling shrieks of alien beasts – the xenos creed shall rise! Thousands of cultist voices are raised in prayer to their Patriarch, a living god from beyond the stars. Shadows in the distance become a seething tide, a living wave of hybrid creatures that boils out from dank and slimy lairs. Vehicles modified with whatever weapons can be cobbled together careen around the horde’s flanks, delivering yet more terror. Sinister, charismatic leaders cast dominion over their enemies as well as their underlings. The Cult has long-prepared for this day of reckoning, and its swollen ranks will surely conquer the world.
This 104-page, full-colour hardback Codex features a wealth of gaming content:
– comprehensive information on the Genestealer Cults, the gruesome and frankly unsettling story of their rise from a single organism to unstoppable, planet-devouring insurrection;
– rules for Genestealer Cults miniatures, the scavenged weapons they use to slaughter their victims, and army-building lists allowing for Hybrid and Brood Brother cultists drawn from the Astra Militarum;
– formations that make use of both the Genestealer Cults and Astra Militarum ranges, with notes on the wargear that Genestealer Cults scavenge and use for their own sinister ends;
– 6 new Tactical Objectives and the complete Broodmind Discipline: new Psychic Powers used by Magi and Patriarchs;
– the Cult Ambush rule: dependent on a dice roll, Genestealer Cults units can set up anywhere on the table, deploy and charge in the same turn, and burst from their hidden lairs to surprise and engulf the enemies of the Cult;
– a showcase of beautifully-painted Citadel miniatures, presenting the colours and icons of the Cults that lurk below.
~Have fun folks, and check back all week for more Genestealer Cults reviews and more.
