Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Genestealer Cults (section)

==Tactics==

===Cult Ambush and You===

While the idea of getting a Turn 1 charge with your Patriarch and a pile of Purestrain Genestealers is insanely good on paper, in practice, the Cult Ambush table is not reliable enough [42% chance for warlord trait + reroll + rolling actually that 6] for you to really base your entire strategy around a few key units getting the results you want. There are definitely methods to give you more control, like the Ambush Leader warlord trait or the Subterranean Uprising, but Cult Ambush lacks the precision and reliability of things like Space Marine drop pods. You can't rely on the bulk of your army coming in exactly where you want them to, because a few crummy rolls can have parts of your force coming in from your friendly table edge, or the wrong side of the board. If you aren't smart and careful about how you use Cult Ambush, you'll end up scattering your army piecemeal and your T3 5+ dudes are going to get smeared. 

Cult Ambush really shines in two big places. The first is getting hordes of dudes into the fight. Both of your basic troops can be taken in squads up to 20, but common wisdom for most armies would advise against it, as you can't fit 20 dudes in a transport. Footslogging hordes in the current state of the game is just asking to have your loyal goons be re-purposed as fleshy confetti the first time a Thunderfire Cannon sneezes in your general direction, and most horde armies have to spend a turn or two getting into position before they can really start being effective. Cult Ambush solves the transport issues that these blobs struggle with, allowing you to teleport into rapid fire range in deployment. Naturally, Neophytes take the best advantage of this, as they can immediately be useful without having to roll a 6. Acolytes can also present a nice [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|'''DISTRACTION CARNIFEX''']], with a barebones squad of 20 costing a bit more than a Leman Russ. Even if they don't get the Turn 1 charge, you can often deploy them in such a way that your opponent will need to deal with them or risk losing some of his shiny toys.

The second place Cult Ambush rocks is helping to make badly mangled squads useful. After your hordes take a vigorous pounding, they can Return to the Shadows for some soothing balms and a cigarette before returning to the fray. Use these mangled squads to grab an objective, or to help gang up on a key enemy unit elsewhere on the board, or to leave your opponent impotently stomping on his hat as the flank he was crushing suddenly disappears and reappears to reinforce the other side of the board.

If you're playing with the Cult Insurrection Detachment (and why wouldn't you?) this becomes even more useful as you can return ''any'' d6 models to the unit. This means that if your power weapon wielding sergeant got killed in a challenge or your heavy/special weapons were sniped out of the unit by cheeky ratlings, you can return them to the unit and redeploy their firepower elsewhere. This helps your horde of gribblies stay useful over the course of the game, where a lot of other units would stay neutered.

All in all, it's a powerful tool, but it's better utilized opportunistically rather than as a key element of your tactical planning.

===Dealing with Air===

There are many great things about Genestealer Cults. Their anti-infantry is pretty great, especially in close combat. Their Troops can turn most tanks to jelly and even against Super Heavies (20 Purestrain with the Patriarch will almost without fail kill a Knight before it gets to strike back, even 10 have a good chance) they will stand up reasonably well. What they lack is dedicated anti-air and when I say lack I mean THE ONLY thing they have to counter air is Flakk missiles, not exactly something to be depended on. Now don't panic because there is a way out. Thanks to their AoC Astra Militarum they have access to Hydras. Now I know, they can't shoot at the ground particularly well but at 70 points you can put a full squadron into a 1500 list and not really notice the cost. Yes you have to pay for the HQ and Troop tax but that is still only a fifth of your over all costs. Even 2 Hydras will handle a single flyer most of the time and seeing as how cheap most of the GC army is you can still overwhelm your opponent with Rending attacks. Depends on your meta but if you are stuggling to deal with pesky flyers, take a good look at Hydras. Also with the Detachment your opponent has to -1 to his reserve rolls to the flyers may not even turn up.

Tyranid Flyrants provide a cheaper option for anti-air largely because they occupy an HQ slot rather than Heavy Support. That said, a full unit of Hydras is 20 points cheaper and puts out the same number of Twin Linked shots with 1 higher strength and AP4 compared to the Devourer Flyrants. On top of that, you get 3 Heavy Bolters that you can snap shoot at AV10 or 11 fliers, or fire against ground targets at full BS. It just depends on where you want to get your Anti Air from and whether or not you have more use for Tyranid units or Astra Militarium units.

That said, if you're having major trouble with enemy aircraft it's definitely worth considering the Emperor's Wrath Artillery Company. While a bit pricey, it unlocks some major firepower for a GSC list, including Manticores, Basilisks, Hydras, and Wyverns. Furthermore, these units can accept orders from a Company Command squad, meaning that your Hydras can Ignore Cover on a successful leadership test. If you've got use for a Manticore and a Basilisk or Wyvern in your GSC army, it's definitely worth considering allying in the Wrath company, as nothing clears the skies quite like 3 Hydras with Ignore Cover.

===Summoning===

One of the big advantages of this army is the sheer volume of models you can summon in. With a dedicated summoning list it's not unreasonable to be summoning in 40 Neophytes a turn, or any combination of the other awesome choices. With all the upgrades for these summoned units being free, you can spam a STUPID number of dedicated units kitted out to do exactly what you need them to, and with a reasonable chance of showing up within 9 inches of WHERE you need them to (again, no scatter). This would take a dedicated list, but it certainly isn't impossible or even improbable if you dump enough points into it. The nice side of this is that, if you can keep your Magus out of line of sight and buried in a unit with lots of ablative wounds, you can summon in nearly two Leman Russes worth of points of neophytes a turn, potentially breaking even on your investment in the psykers required on turn one, and that's before we get into the more expensive unit options.

Allying in a CAD with a pair of Magi can do a lot to up your summoning oomph and increase the number of chances you get to roll the right power. Plus, you can stick them with a squad of Neophytes for cheap, ablative wounds and use them to camp objectives, as they're some of the only Objective Secured you have access to. Between a core Cult Insurrection getting shit done and the summoned dudes replacing lost squads or bringing in new tools you have a lot of flexibility and versatility for a serious list. A good GSC summoning list can leave your opponent fighting 3k points of cults in an 1850 game and even Daemons of Tzeench start to blush at the sheer volume of bodies you can dump onto the board. Just don't try to run this list with a time limit or if you want to stay friends with your opponent.

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(7E)]]

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