Genestealer Cult - to be updated as progess is made

[batty]

Hey everyone,

I have a really old Genestealer cult army I'm thinking of working on, has anyone here used them?

What's their current state in 4th edition 40k? I found an article on GW's website about using the Imperial Guard list, but this wouldn't allow for taking actual Genestealers in the army.

I've come across a chapter approved list for 40k's 3rd edition online, would this be legal to use in 4th edition 40k (there's some blurb about armies being backwards compatible)?

Also, it's always interesting to see other people's work or just hear their experiences, does anyone have any experience with the cult they want to share or any pictures of their cults ?

[IBBoard]

Sounds like an interesting army - I remember them in 40K 2nd (possibly 1st?). The Patriarch wasn't as impressive as the other units (he was big, but the model never looked great) but I did like the general idea of the generations varying how 'Stealer-ish a model was.

Can't say I've ever seen one on the battle field though, although that might just be me not having played as much as I've read

As for rules, 3rd Edition and 4th Edition should be pretty much compatible. Unless GW has released some 4th Ed version then 3rd Ed rules are still valid. The 3rd Ed Codexes are still valid for all of the races who haven't had an upgrade

[batty]

Wow, awesome, I'm already warming to the army list, so being able to use it legally is really good news! There's one unit, brood brothers bikers, that are 10 points per unit it'll be a lot of fun if I ever make enough to get those into the game!

...all this talk of the cult is making me reminisce about using the army back in second edition...

I'll never forget this one battle I had against an Imperial Guard player. They had absolutely no idea that Genestealer cult even existed, and it took a while to convince him that they were a legal army...

Once I did, the battle was great - transporting my Genestealers in a Rhino (something no longer possible), destroying his Leman Russ with my own, using my brood brothers as cannon fodder whilst the Patriarch advanced behind them... it was as though I was playing as an enhanced version of his Imperial Guard!

Once my Stealers got to the enemy's deployment zone via the Rhino, it was all over pretty quickly.

Of course, all of this was completely unbalanced, but very satisfying after working so hard to create a unique army. The person I was playing didn't see it that way

Now that I'm busting out the old cult again, I'm gonna have to try making some pimped out limos to add the army lol.

... oddly, now Genestealers are allowed to ride around in limos when taken as bodyguard, but not Rhinos...

[IBBoard]

Limos? Not exactly something I would have expected from GW.

Hopefully we can see some pics once you're done And you're welcome to create a conversion article and submit it to the site if you want.

[batty]

Yeah, I was really surprised to find limos in the army as well! They're pretty awful in game, but they've got to be had in the army just because they're so distinctive.

A lot of the cult force represents civilians taking up arms against the Imperium - other units include civilian trucks and bikes. I'm a little unsure what civilian vehicles (especially limos!) look like in 40,000, but it'll be interesting trying to find out!

I'll definitely include pictures when I'm done, but it won't likely be for a while (I'm still getting the hang of painting and modelling basics after years of absence!).

I can already tell fixing up and remaking my cult will be an excellent way for me to get back into 40k. When I've done a bit more with the limos, bikes and trucks, I'll submit some conversion tutorials

[batty]

Not really an update on my work, but I found pictures of someone else's awesome Genestealer cult army online!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alariccantonain/tags/genestealer/

Woo, I think it'll take a while before I match that painting standard . Still, my cult will look completely different, I don't like the idea of making a 'copy cult' when the background dictates that each should be so individual.

In other news, I got so excited thinking about the concept of cult limos (sad, but true) that I made a mock up "proof of concept" limo out of card... I'll post pics up as soon as they're done and once I've got a final model built and painted, I'll write a little article on how to make them.

I think one of my next tasks is going to be trying to put together an initiates squad... I'm hoping to go for a "Human shield" type squad and want to mimic ordinary (and very lightly armed) civilians.

Does anyone know of a particularly good set of models to use (that are cheap, as they'll be a lot of them - 4 points per model!) as civilians? Plastics would probably be ideal, or anything cheap that'll work. Might even consider non-citadel if it's a lot cheaper money wise....

Alternatively, someone out there want to help finance my cult? lol

[IBBoard]

Nice army - a little to much scenery on their bases for my taste though.

One very simple thing you could do to make your army different is use a lighter colour scheme. Personally, I prefer the 'Stealers that are more grey-blue and pink rather than that dark blue and deep pink-red.

Can't wait to see the Limo, it should be interesting. I guess most things are possible since there's such a variety of planets. A Hive limo would be much different to an Agri-world limo (if they even have them!), for example.

The closest thing I can think of for civilians at the moment is some Warhammer Empire or Brettonian Men at Arms. They'd need a little converting (assuming Initiates have ranged weapons) but they might work. There may be some 40K civilian models, but if there are then they're probably metal and quite expensive.

My only other idea at the moment would be Chaos Cultists, as they're fairly un-armed. They're not entirely civilian like, and they'll need a bit of work to make them look like 'Stealer cultists instead of Chaos, but it might work. Can't remember whether GW released plastics of them.