Warhammer 40K: Join The GSC Pauper Princes
In the current meta of 40k, you can still play against the grain and have a decent chance. Meet the GSC Pauper Princes!
Ever since the new GSC Codex was released I have been having a blast putting my Cult on the table. If it was in a 47 person RTT or just in some practice games with buddies from my ITC team I find myself having a blast win or lose.
It’s a rough time competitive 40k is currently experiencing, with Custodes and Tau cleaning up almost every single event regardless of size. The GSC offer so many different options during list building and all the way through until the very last turn of a game, that I can’t have a bad time playing this army. Some players have found success in running Twisted Helix while others have gravitated to the Custom Cults. But I have found my taste runs in a different direction.
Pauper Princes Basics
The Pauper Princes offer great benefits right out of the gate with their Cult Creed giving +1 to hit during the first round of combat as well as the ability to ignore modifiers on Combat Attrition tests. Getting +1 to hit really pushes the melee power of Cult units. Acolytes with Rock Cutters are an excellent example. That pesky -1 to hit for the best Custodes killing weapon in the GSC Codex is a thing of the past with Pauper Princes. You can accomplish this with the Industrial Affinity Custom Trait as well, but Industrial Affinity does not give +1 to hit to the Acolytes other attacks.
These basic claw attacks really get taken up a notch with Pauper Princes. With a unit of 10 Acolytes, assuming the unit has 4 Industrial Weapons of some kind, the unit gets 19 basic claw attacks. Hitting on 2s instead of 3s in the first round of combat means roughly 3 extra attacks hitting without any buffs, and it means with re-rolling 1s virtually all of your claw attacks are hitting. Throwing Might From Beyond on a unit of Acolytes skews the math even harder with 25 claw attacks hitting on 2s!
The second part of this Cult Creed is much less attractive, but it is far from useless. Don’t forget about it! GSC are fragile enough so only losing extra models to Attrition Tests on 1s can sometimes make a difference in getting to bring back D3 Acolytes with an Iconward or losing an entire unit.
All Hail The Relic!
I can already sense the fingers of the Twisted Helix cheerleaders typing. Yes, +1 Move and Strength, along with not being able to be wounded on 1s or 2s, is an extremely strong Cult Trait. To be honest if I were choosing solely based on the Cult Trait I would pick Twisted Helix no questions asked, but there is a certain Relic that comes along with my sweet Pauper Princes that gives them a serious edge over the other Cults in the Codex. The Reliquary of Saint Tenndarc gives the bearer an Aura Ability that pushes out a 5+ Invulnerable Save to Core models within 6 inches. That means Acolytes, Neophytes, Jackals, and even Metamorphs go from having garbage armor to a 33% chance to live against anything in the game!
Now this Relic would be good if it did what it said on the Pauper Princes Cult Creed page, but there are a few GSC shenanigans that can turn this Relic up to 11. Taking a Nexos allows a nearby Primus to pick a unit on the table during the Command Phase to count as within the Primus’ aura range. This allows the Relic of St. Tenndarc to be pushed anywhere on the table, and not restrict the benefits of the Relic to a small bubble around a single Objective. By taking the Cranial Inlay Relic on the Nexos you can increase this aura granting ability to two units on the table. If that doesn’t sound worth a Relic slot the Inlay also gives you CP farming on a 5+. I even go a step further in my GSC lists and give my Primus the Alien Majesty Warlord Trait to extend his Aura ranges out to 9 inches. I have found the combination of a 9 inch bubble of 5+ Invulnerable Saves around the Primus, along with pushing this Aura out to 2 other units (usually units holding my second home Objective) has kept my GSC alive much longer than my opponents plan for.
Warlords & Psykers
The Warlord Trait for the Princes has also won me over after some testing. Xenoprofet can be a huge resiliency boost for your Patriarch with a little prior planning. As a proper GSC player you know prior plans made many generations in the making are the most effective. By keeping a squad of 10 Neophytes around your Patriarch with this Warlord Trait your Patriarch will be able to pass wounds off automatically to models within 6 inches AFTER any failed 4+ invulnerable saves made by the Patriarch. As long as you keep 10 cheap bodies around your Patriarch he doesn’t have 7 Wounds anymore, he has 17. A savvy opponent will know to shoot or kill any Neophytes surrounding your Warlord first, so keep them hidden. This will force your opponent into close combat range to deal with your Patriarch’s minions. Then you can give them another of the Pauper Prince’s surprises.
The free psychic power every Pauper Princes psyker knows, in addition to any of their powers picked from the Codex, is Last Gasp. This is a Blessing that lets you roll a dice for each Pauper Princes model killed in close combat and do a mortal wound to the attacker on a 5+. There is a cap of 5 mortal wounds, but if I can do 5 mortal wounds to an opponent’s melee threat by losing some Neophytes I’ll take the trade. This power won’t always be one that you are casting, but when your opponent pushes into the Objective your Patriarch is holding having exploding Neophyte or Acolyte bodies can make a huge difference. Your opponent wants to clear the chaff around your Patriarch to get around Unquestioning Loyalty, so make them take some mortal wounds before you attack them with rending claws.
All THIS could have a 5++ AND do mortals when they die!
Subverting the Meta
With the menace of Tau, and soon the Craftworlds, out of line of sight shooting the 5+ Invulnerable Save that can be thrown out all over the battlefield is a priceless force multiplier for the GSC. The Pauper Princes also give enhanced melee ability for the Custodes matchup getting those Rock Cutters back to hitting on 3s while also ensuring the maximum amount of claw attacks get to roll to wound. I truly believe GSC is an excellent book that is on par in power level with the top contenders right now, but they are not a simple army to learn or play. This is an extremely fragile army that plays like a Swiss Army Knife. We have all the tools for the job, but it is up to the GSC player to know what the right tool for the job is. I think Pauper Princes just makes selecting those right tools a little easier.
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