40K Meta Hot or Not: Genestealer Cult VS Chaos Marines
Good or Bad Design? Chaos Space Marines (CSMs) and Genestealer Cult (GSCs) has the conventional wisdom spinning in circles. Let’s explain why GSC is the newest red hot bandwagon, and why CSMs are a lot more dangerous than many think.
Genestealer Cult – The Bandwagon?
A lot of people jumped right onto the GSC bus, and I don’t have anything against this faction – at first glance, the Cult seems overpowered, but in reality, they are anything but in my honest opinion. Keep in my mind this discussion is centered on competitive play using matched gameplay.
First, if you play ITC Missions GSC bleeds secondary points… always select Butcher’s Bill, Head Hunter and Reaper – you’ll still secure all 12 points every time. ITC Missions are very popular for competitive play, especially tournaments. Pretty much always scoring all your secondary points is a big deal and a significant weakness for GSC with no way to get around it. The Cult is shiny new and very CP hungry as well.
Second GSC much like Orks is an ultimate glass cannon… they come out of the gate strong then start to fade away and continue to do so throughout the rest of the game. Things like Imperial Assassins and Infiltrators counter them in a big way popping their squishy characters and pushing them back outside of reliable assault range.
Third, the Cult has some serious problems dealing with armor. Sure you can always soup in some Brood Brothers and Tyranids but is this the right call? A new FAQ is right on the horizon, and as much as GW likes to give, they love to take away much more so. The blips seem good at first, but all you have to do is just counter deploy centrally against them to force the issue… it’s not like GSC is going to drop their heavy hitters in the backfield – they can’t afford to do so.
Now let’s talk about psychic powers and GSC has them in spades. Again there are lots of strong counters. It’s so simple to stop Mind Control, just make sure you have other units within 1″ of your heavy hitters to stop it dead in tracks… you don’t even need to waste a CP rerolling a die to deny. Mental Onslaught is obscene… come on GW nerf this ASAP!
About those Chaos Marines
I could go on about the Cult but let’s switch gears and discuss CSM now as a counterpoint. CSM still have their cultists, still one of the ultimate screens in the game. Sure Acolytes look a lot better on paper, but it’s a lot more points when you start juicing them up, and they die just as easy. I like the new rules for Obliterators, and if you play Black Legion, they can now benefit from multiple Marks now. The Lord Discordant is shaping up to be a monster – just watch. There are already tactics out there to debuff the GS Cult and how to buff the new CSMs. I think the old CSM have longer legs than most are seeing out of the gate.
So that’s all for now and like I said above I have no beef with the new GS Cult, just telling it like it is.
Do you think GS Cult or CSMs will be in a better position in the game six months from now?
