By Robert Kaye and Michael Deaton
This article is used to allow you to convert almost any army to genestealer worship. The original list printed in the 2nd edition Tyranid codex focused solely on a standard imperial guard army that had been subverted in this way, and later developments in the citadel journal expanded the type of cults formed, but only to different types of human genestealer cults on hive worlds and medieval worlds. This doesn't seem that fluffy given that the genestealers are programmed to corrupt the military structure as well as other organisations with authority such as the church and the government rather than just low-ranking soldiers and gang members, so we've decided to both update the old rules and expand the range of armies that can be infected to cover all potential victims. For modelling purposes, mixing crypt ghoul parts with the parts used for your troops is an easy and impressive way to represent genestealer hybrids, particularly if a few genestealer parts are added as well.
1 Inorganic Armies & Using These Rules with Chaos Armies
2 HQ Units in a Genestealer Cult
1 Inorganic Armies & Using These Rules with Chaos Armies
The following armies may not use these rules to form a genestealer cult: Tyranids, Chaos Daemons, 13th Company, Necrons, Legion of the Damned and the Death Company.
Chaos Space Marines and Lost and the Damned may use the list but in a very limited capacity, since the mark of chaos overrides any control that a genestealer egg might have, and daemons & daemonkin cannot be implanted.
2 HQ Units in a Genestealer Cult
All models in the genestealer cult army count as tyranids when within range of synapse, but not when outside synapse range.
HQ choices with psychic powers (sometimes referred to as a Magus) may replace 1 of their powers with The Horror, Catalyst, Psychic Scream or The Shadow In The Warp for free, Warp Blast for +10pts or Warp Field for +25pts. In addition the Magus counts as being a Synapse Creature.
All HQ choices, including the Patriarch and Magus, count as being of deep religious significance to all models on the tabletop, and therefore the following effects apply if one of them is killed:
All units (apart from beasts, monstrous creatures, vehicles, genestealers and lictors) must take a morale check, even if normally Fearless. Models that are Fearless are treated as Stubborn instead, and all other units' Ld is reduced by 1 for this test. Whether they pass or fail these units count as having the preferred enemy ability against whoever killed the HQ unit from that point onwards.
Genestealer cult armies gain the following entries on the force organisation chart:
HQ: 0-1 Patriarch
Elites: Genestealer Brood, 0-1 Lictors
Troops: Genestealer Hybrids
Same as Broodlord from codex tyranids (p36) except that:
The Broodlord may purchase up to 2 of the hive mind powers listed on p35 for the same points cost. The Horror may be purchased instead of one of these powers, costing 5pts.
Bodyguard: The Patriarch is an independent character and does not have to be accompanied by a bodyguard. However, if it is not attached to a squad then at the beginning of the movement phase the nearest friendly squad must attempt to form squad coherency with the Patriarch. No additional movement is gained for this. If the patriarch is in close combat the friendly squad must join that close combat too.
Godhead: If the Patriarch dies then the subsequent morale check has a -2 Ld modifier, and the units that take the morale test gain both Preferred Enemy and Furious Charge against the Patriarch's killer.
Same as codex tyranids (p39)
Same as codex tyranids (p38)
Any Troops choice with an Ld of 6 or more can upgrade to become Genestealer Hybrids if it increases its points cost by the following:
Original Points Cost Per Model: 1-7pts 8-13pts 14pts+
Upgrade Cost Per Model: +2pts +3pts +4pts
The unit then gains +1 WS, +1 Initiative & +1 Ld (to a maximum of 10) but has its BS reduced by 1.
The unit may exchange its weapons for 2 close combat weapons for free or rending claws (counts as 2 close combat weapons with the Rending ability) for the same cost as the hybrid upgrade. A model with rending claws may not be armed with any other weapons.
Apart from genestealer parts, crypt ghouls are superb as a source of hybrid body parts to use for conversions.
Due to the army's allegiance changing to that of the tyranids, they have no problem hiring mercenaries. Therefore armies turned to genestealer worship may hire kroot mercenaries (and any other mercenaries) even if they were previously unable to do so. If using allied units from other armies and turning them to genestealer worship (such as witch hunter allies being used with an imperial guard army) please refer to their notes in the glossary to avoid accidentally taking units that are banned and to see what alterations have been made to them as a result of their new allegiance. It is recommended that you do not take allied units and use these rules at the same time unless the opponent is familiar with the genestealer cult without the use of allies as the combination of allies and these rules can make the game a little complicated.
When fighting in a campaign, the army's allegiance is the same as that of the tyranids when determining which side it fights on.
To represent the difficulty in gathering large equipment and vehicles, all vehicles and monstrous creatures count as Heavy Support choices, and all units with a transport count as Fast Attack choices. In addition to this some units may not be taken due to being inorganic.
Daemonhunters: Daemonhosts, Grey Knights (all types, including vehicles)
Chaos Space Marines & Lost and the Damned: Chaos Spawn, Daemon Packs, units with a mark of chaos, Chaos Dreadnoughts, Defilers, Obliterators, Possessed Space Marines, vehicles with the daemonic possession upgrade, and units with icons of chaos apart from personal icons.
Blood Angels: Death Company, Dreadnoughts, Furioso Dreadnoughts and Venerable Dreadnoughts.
Space Wolves: Wulfen, Dreadnoughts and Venerable Dreadnoughts.
Space Marines: Dreadnoughts, Venerable Dreadnoughts and Ironclad Dreadnoughts.
Eldar: Avatar, Wraithguard, Wraithlord
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