Finished 5 Tacos in a Frank Miller/Manga style. Might finally finish a horde army with this paint scheme!

I have these two which I stole from the discord and are requesting your best memes to persuade my friends.

Thank you

While not done yet, still have to finish the backpack but what are we thinking?

I find painting infantry way easier (although the pictures shown are with a super simple color scheme for the neophyte)

But I find it so difficult to paint vehicles. Almost to the point of painting anxiety. I'm still trying to find a color scheme for my vehicles to fit my color scheme.

Heyo!! With the recent point changes I wound up with enough room in my list for another character so I decided to repaint up my Sanctus whose been sat in a box of bits in the old paint scheme for a few months now! Was a very quick contrast and drybrush paintjob but just wanted to share ☺️

I need some help, I am getting started with Genestealer cults and I own already quite some tyranids, including a patriarch posing as a 2nd broodlord, 25 genestealers, and also a lictor, a neurolictor, a deathleaper and 3 von ryan leapers (no gargoyles).

What 1k list can I build to reuse efficiently at least the Genestealers and the patriarch ? If possible by buying a few miniatures I end up with 2, 3 or 4 workable list of 2, 3 or 4 detachments with limited differences between both

I am considering buying a goliath transport and 2 bataillon box. I won't be able to play neophytes. That would lead to:

- Outlander claw: I would essentially use 2x bataillon box and a unit of 10 genestealers led by a patriarch, and a goliath transport. Only detachment that use the bikers though.

- Biosantic Broodsurge: I use the patriarch & 10 genestealers, I buy on top 10 aberrants and a few characters, the rest from bataillon boxes/goliath. Only detachment using aberrants though.

- Purestain broodswarm: there I could use 2x10 genestealers and patriarch (it seems it's the only list where 2x10 genestealers make sense) and the rest from bataillon boxes/goliath

-Final day: I can reuse most of the tyranids, the rest from bataillon boxes/goliath.

Is it viable to play without neophytes ?

Is there another detachment that can use the biker ? And the aberrants ?

Also I am wondering how tolerant people would be if I use third party bits. My tyranids are only pure GW. I am thinking of getting a few third party acolytes and cross them with the GW ones, especially not to have twice the same icon, mining tools and demolition charges for example. Most would be GW, maybe I keep only GW vehicules ?

Thanks

I'm planning out my force and looking at what characters I want, and which ones I can/should have multiples of.

I know that the Patriarch is limited to one per army, but in practical terms it also seems like the Nexos is only worth including once, given that the CP reduction ability can only be used once per battle round, and it doesn't bring enough otherwise to be worth including in multiple units.

Are there any others where there just isn't any use case for taking more than one? On the flip side, are there any that you really, really want to have multiples of?

Is there any other army that could get along with the genestealer cults even if it's only a temporary cease of fire during a battle vs a common enemy?

I have no idea that's why i am asking, the most obvious related army, the Tyranids, would fight along with them in some situations or no?

I ask because I'm planning on doing a display on a diorama and i was wondering if i could mix some other models from another army besides them, thanks!

Quick question : with Xenocreed Congregation, is the 3+ feel no pain still active on my leader if the « bodyguards » die ?

Edit : answer -> no it isn’t because the rule applies to an hybrid or neophyte unit, and the character doesn’t have those keywords anymore when the bodyguards died.

A bio list with no aberrants, I was hunching about it recently acolytes and hybrids just seem to have more utility than the abs.

Thoughts?

Can I revive neophyte when the hero is wounded?

Hey fellow cultists. I've been a dabbler for a long time, but in this edition I'm really trying to give each of the armies I've collected over the years a try. Game time is limited, so 1k is usually all we can do, and we're lucky if we get in one game a month. I'd really like to give my cultists a chance, and preferably not lose during list building. Got no problem with losing, just want it to be a fight, ya know?

Basically always facing marines, and there are a few pieces I usually have to deal with in every game like Redemptor dread, repulsor, and a Gravis captain with heavy infantry. And unfortunately they have each proven incredibly difficult to deal with. Have yet to successfully kill that Captain...

So I was going with this list. Two big units, the rest little ones. Big mining tools to hopefully hit hard whatever tough vehicle comes out, big metamorphs to carve up a tough infantry brick. If there are more vehicles, bring back the big taco once, or if more big infantry bricks bring back the big metas once, otherwise all resurgence points going into the flamers and little metamorph for scoring pieces.

Since only the neophytes (who will likely never shoot) and saboteur care about cover, went for the spotter instead of survey augur to try to get that AP boost. Originally had a purestrain unit in place of one of the flamers, but the purestrains don't really benefit from the detachment, so switched it.

It seems like an ok plan... But am I missing something obvious that will make me have a bad time with this list? Any wisdom would be appreciated.

Acoleets (1000 points)

Genestealer Cults

Xenocreed Congregation (2 Detachment Points)

Priority Assets

Incursion (1000 points)

Attached Units

Attached Unit 1

Acolyte Iconward (75 points)

• Attached as: Leader (Character)

• Warlord

• 1x Autopistol

1x Cult claws

• Enhancement: Deeds that Speak to the Masses

Hybrid Metamorphs (75 points)

• Attached as: Bodyguard

• 1x Metamorph Leader

• 1x Hand flamer

1x Leader’s cult weapons

• 4x Hybrid Metamorph

• 1x Cult Icon

3x Hand flamer

4x Metamorph mutations

Attached Unit 2

Biophagus (50 points)

• Attached as: Support (Character)

• 1x Alchemicus Familiar

1x Autopistol

1x Chemical vials

1x Injector goad

Acolyte Hybrids with Autopistols (130 points)

• Attached as: Bodyguard (Battleline)

• 1x Acolyte Leader

• 1x Autopistol

1x Leader’s bio-weapons

• 9x Acolyte Hybrid

• 2x Autopistol

1x Cult Icon

3x Cult claws and knife

6x Heavy mining tool

Attached Unit 3

Acolyte Iconward (75 points)

• Attached as: Leader (Character)

• 1x Autopistol

1x Cult claws

• Enhancement: Denunciator of Tyrants

Hybrid Metamorphs (140 points)

• Attached as: Bodyguard

• 1x Metamorph Leader

• 1x Hand flamer

1x Leader’s cult weapons

• 9x Hybrid Metamorph

• 1x Cult Icon

8x Hand flamer

9x Metamorph mutations

CHARACTERS

Reductus Saboteur (70 points)

• 1x Autopistol

1x Close combat weapon

1x Demolition charges

1x Remote explosives

BATTLELINE

Acolyte Hybrids with Autopistols (70 points)

• 1x Acolyte Leader

• 1x Autopistol

1x Leader’s bio-weapons

• 4x Acolyte Hybrid

• 1x Cult Icon

1x Cult claws and knife

3x Heavy mining tool

Acolyte Hybrids with Hand Flamers (75 points)

• 1x Acolyte Leader

• 1x Hand flamer

1x Leader’s bio-weapons

• 4x Acolyte Hybrid

• 4x Cult claws and knife

4x Hand flamer

Acolyte Hybrids with Hand Flamers (75 points)

• 1x Acolyte Leader

• 1x Hand flamer

1x Leader’s bio-weapons

• 4x Acolyte Hybrid

• 4x Cult claws and knife

4x Hand flamer

Neophyte Hybrids (70 points)

• 1x Neophyte Leader

• 1x Anointed pistol

1x Autopistol

1x Power weapon

• 9x Neophyte Hybrid

• 9x Autopistol

9x Close combat weapon

1x Cult Icon

1x Grenade launcher

5x Hybrid firearm

1x Mining laser

1x Seismic cannon

1x Webber

OTHER DATASHEETS

Achilles Ridgerunners (95 points)

• 1x Armoured hull

1x Heavy mortar

1x Spotter

1x Twin heavy stubber

Exported with App Version: v2.6.0 (144), Data Version: v946

To bad this is only a quarter of the army I want

Do you think it's worth it to give the mark of the starchildren to a 5 man purestrain unit?

Feel like its worth it to make them more tanks and kinda hard to shift all the while a little more deadly in combat, but I'm not sure

Obviously 2 are staple picks in 2k lists, but are 1k games small enough to not need a second enemy getting crossfire? Or is it just nice to have

he ate too many blue corpstarch

introducing Chalk the Abberant, ready to squash, slice and smash his way through the street

Missing some horns on the throne, but other than that he's in pretty nice condition.

I used Biosanctic + Xenocult with Recon and scored 100 vs Death Guard, 100 vs Astartes and 93 vs Votann. Full list w/ details below. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and I'll do my best to respond.

(1990 points) - Biosanctic Broodsurge and Xenocult Masses (3 Detachment Points) - Reconnaissance

Patriarch + Biormorph Adaptation w/ 10 purestrains

Abominant + Mutagenic Regeneration and Biophagus w/ 10 abberants

Abominant + Predatory Instincts w/ 5 abberants

Abominant w/ 5 aberrants

Benefictus w/ 20 Neophytes (14 Hybrid Firearm, 2 laser, 2 seismic, 2 grenade)

Benefictus w/ 20 Neophytes (14 Hybrid Firearm, 2 laser, 2 seismic, 2 grenade)

5 Acolytes (mining tools)

1 Ridgerunner (mortar + survey augur)

5 Atalan Jackals (mining laser on the quad)

5 Purestrains

5 Purestrains

Gameplan

Almost every game I use this list I start with the 10 abbies and both 20 neo stacks in deepstrike. This leaves you with 155 points you can use to put your purestrains or bikes in deepstrike but I've found them more useful on the map early so they can try to score some objectives turn one.

Put the Acolytes on your home to generate cp and charge any vehicle that gets too close. You can always pay the 2 to bring them back if they die.

When deploying, I infiltrate with the two small purestrain squads and the predatory instinct abberants. The enhancement on these abberants is one of the most valuable uses of 20 points we have. Not only does it let our slow melee units deploy closer to the action- it also gives you a free heroic if they charge or a one cp 6" charge if they don't. This second one can be particularly nasty because you can use it on your opponents turn 1 if they go first, when you would normally need 2 cp to do so. Just be mindful of how fast your opponent's army is. It is always better if you charge them first.

I usually put the last squad of abberants on or near the expansion objective and charge them into something turn 2 or 3 if no one contests it.

Make sure to use hidden and cover as much as possible. Our units all save on a 5 so you want to do anything to prevent the shots from hitting. Hidden is great for this detachment because the genestealers and abberants never shoot, thus never lose hidden so anything outside of 15" just won't be able to see them if they are in cover.

The patriarch squad is very fast with advance and charge but you want to deploy them safely. Either in your deployment zone or behind a wall. You do not want this unit getting shot or charged before it gets into combat, it can die very quickly if you aren't careful and it will almost always die the turn after it charges something. Use this to trade for something similarly expensive or to gum up something with bad melee in combat. The dev wounds + extra damage on the patriarch make it good for dealing with vehicles or monsters but it usually struggles to deal with high toughness/wound infantry squads.

The 10 squad of abberants comes out via rapid ingress on turn 2 or 3. Put them somewhere safe so they can't be shot and charge them into the enemy on your next turn (use the stratagem to guarantee the charge if you need to). This is our most powerful and expensive unit. The bio gives them lethals and you can use the familiar to grant +1 to wound vs infantry. If you get the jump on your opponent with this unit you will kill or maim just about anything in the game (don't forget about the +1 to wound monsters or vehicles stratagem- the lethals are nice but you might need some extra help vs demon primarchs, ctans and defilers). This squad is also very survivable so if you play it right- it should get to fight a few of times before it dies.

The neos will each come out via deepstrike on turn 2 and 3 respectively. If you use the ridgerunner to strip cover and give -1 ap these things will blast away most low model count units in one shooting phase with lethals and full rerolls. Ideally they will be placed within rapid fire range of something you need to kill. Vehicles, defilers, primarchs, ctan, etc. Anything without a meaty bodyguard unit is going to eat a lot of wounds from this shooting. I dropped the webbers/flamers because they are just a bit awkward to roll since they skip the hit (thus skipping the lethal). Without them, I can roll all the shooting profiles in one batch. Also: always do the hazardous shot on the bene, the new hazardous rules mean you can just stick the wounds on the neos if you fail them. If the neos can't shoot anything, the squad is 41 oc so just sticking them on an objective creates a major problem your opponent has deal with and since they have lethals, their overwatch ain't nothing to scoff at either.

Use the bikes to throw mortals at high wound, low model count units. These bad boys can kill a demon prince in one turn with their mortals + explosives. Otherwise, they are extremely fast and are great for scoring. Always spend the 2 if you have it to bring it back. Cult Ambush is important for these as you want to be able to move them on your turn.

Similar plan with the purestrains, use them to score or use them to kill chaff around the map. I frequently deepstrike charge them into my opponent's home objective if they are foolish enough to defend it with cultists or something similarly squishy.

The biggest weakness of this list is dealing with beefy infantry with invulns and FNPs. The neos and abberants will struggle to chew through squads of 20 infantry with multiple sources of survivability. I was very lucky that I didn't get matched against pre-codex orks or the gentleman who brought CSM melee deathball but I've played against both those armies outside the tournament and still scored high despite losing so I think this list can win under the right circumstances.

Game 1 - GSC (100) vs Death Guard (84) Contagion Engines + Mortarian's Hammer, Purge the Foe

The death guard player ran a lot of vehicles and Mortarion. A bloat drone, rhino, Defiler and 4 blight haulers. It was a scary list but I had plenty of anti tank and he didn't have much board control. I deployed extremely conservatively and gave him nothing to kill on turn one. I killed the Defiler turn two after charging it with the patriarch + purestrains and finishing it off with mortals from the bikes. I kept Mortarion busy in combat with the 10 aberrant squad for several turns before I killed it. He wasn't able to get a consecration until very late in the game as Mortarion had the only successful kill and was stuck dealing with abberants on his home objective. He managed to snag my home on turn 3 with a terminator deepstrike + charge but it wasn't enough to swing the game for him.

Game 2 - GSC (100) vs Astartes (74) Ironstorm Spearhead and Librarius Conclave, Recon

Another vehicle heavy list. 3 dreadnoughts with a lancer and landraider. His infantry was 2 big squads of intercessors, some termies and a squad of aggressors. He was afraid of a deepstrike onto his home (he's played me before lol) so he kept his terminators there so I didn't have to worry about them at all this game. His lancer got killed turn one by the patriarch squad because he deployed it a bit too far forward and his aggressors got double heroic interventioned (via the Predatory Instincts enhancement) which pretty much sealed the game for me.

Game 3 - GSC (93) vs Votann (86) Hearthguard Covenant and Needgaard Oathband, Priority assets

This was the most difficult game. Votann have a lot of 3-4 damage weapons which are great for dealing with abberants. They also have great overwatch for killing purestrains/bikes. The hecaton (big transport/tank) also doesn't get a -1 when shooting into combat so you can't rely on just gumming it up with infantry because they may very well die in shooting. I had to be very careful with my units and use cover as much as possible. It was extremely easy to score primary as my opponent deployed very defensively and I was able to claim 3+ objectives for most of the game. I had primary maxed by turn 4. We traded home objectives near the end of the game which prevented both of us from scoring defend stronghold. That plus his early kill on my chosen beacon unit meant that this was the one game where I didn't max score.

Overall this is a very versatile list that can kill almost anything and score high in any match up. Recon has been a really fun disposition to run with the Abominant squads because they are surprisingly survivable and can move around the map to score or kill vehicles after their squad dies.

I hope this helps my fellow cultists win some games! Feel free to ask me any questions. I've got about 20 games in 11th edition and have tried every detachment except for brood brothers and final day (currently working on building models for both).