I didn't choose the (Genestealer) Cult Lyfe ... the (Genestealer) Cult Lyfe chose me!Alright, so aside from writing I've been hobbying pretty steadily. I have my urban/insurgent Astra Militarum force ... but when Genestealer Cults (hereafter refered to as GSC) were announced I knew I had to steer my Astra Militarum in a more "Tyranidy" direction! OK so according to 1d4chan (a fantastic source for 40k tactica ... and one of my go-to resources for when I'm trying to figure out an army build...) here is a little bit about the GSC. Courtesy 1d4Chan... Why play the GSC?Genestealer Cults are an army for when you want to play a "horde" of lots of cheap disposable infantry, yet still have a realistic chance of winning games. Genestealer Cultists have a very small selection of units, but there is relatively little overlap in unit roles. Their rank-and-file melee is capable of shredding many units to pieces and won't instantly die the moment they end up in combat with a lightly armored Walker, and they can strategically redeploy their infantry units over the scope of two turns, giving them defense against having individual units "stranded" and not contributing to the fight. Add in a fairly solid Psychic Discipline with a mix of utility and a nasty debuff Primaris, and two assassination-denial rules, and you have a functionally complete army with the means to cover most of your bases. Being Allies of Convenience with Tyranids and Imperial Guard rounds out your selection of tools. While most builds will gravitate towards "horde"/ambush playstyles, the Cultists can also do a passable "armored company" of Neophytes with looted Guard tanks, while their Goliath mining vehicles and melee troops allow you to alternately run a "Witness Me" War Boy army. The relative simplicity of the codex belies an unusual depth of builds available to the aspiring Cult leader. In short, the army is flexible and fairly forgiving of mistakes, giving you the option to spam summon in units that may have been wiped off the table, and with arguably the most mobility out of any army out there, being near or on the level of jetbike spam or Dark Eldar, you're going to be getting your guys where they need to be. Over the course of two turns, you can redeploy to within 9 inches of anywhere on the table on average with NO scatter, and sometimes as close as 3 inches away. Sure a bad roll on the ambush chart can ruin your day, but that's why you've got lots of units. You aren't playing Grey Knights, when you've got a fifteen infantry units on the board, and you're summoning in more every turn, there's no way they are all going to roll a 1 or 2 on the chart. Don't expect a 6 on the chart, but definitely be comfortable building a strategy around at least a decent number (66% on Average) of your units rolling a 3 or higher on the chart. Pros and Cons of the CultPros
My Cult: AKA How I decided on a Nurgle GSC.Just to preface this ... the GSC lore in the codex is pretty neato. My Cult--as you can probably guess from the section header--is a Nurgle themed cult. Now, you may be like most of the other people I have told about my next modelling venture and say "Matt, you can't have a nurgle GSC... that doesn't make sense." Enter stage right: Cult Tenebrous (which can be found in the GSC codex ... and in a lore excerpt online) "The Cult Tenebrous is a Genestealer Cult now devoted to Nurgle. At some point the Cult found itself becoming the infested, rather than the infesters, when their bulk lander was swallowed by a Warp storm that strands them on the outskirts of Nurgle’s Garden. The cult discovers the true meaning of parasitism and horror. Eventually, the Grandfather of Plagues allows them to emerge into realspace once more, horrifically changed and ready to serve their new master’s sickly agendas.[1]" Courtesy: Lexicanum So ... there you have it folks. A nurgle-themed GSC is totally fluff! Cult ReniaOK so I first had to figure out a paintscheme for my cult. Since I wanted them to mesh with my Astra Militarum force I figured it made the most sense to use them to base the colorscheme off of! For the GSC vehicles I picked matching colors to my guard army. For the cultists themselves I am basing them off my Scions which is a semi-inverted colorscheme from my normal guardsmen. Check it out below. So that sort of gives you an idea of the color palette--for infantry. For the vehicles I'm basing it off Straken Green again ... using The Heedless (the centerpiece for my Renia Liberation Front army) as the influence. So I have constructed my Cult. I can post the list on another posting. But I'm sure you're curious as to how the first Cultist truck turned out! What does a nurgle-themed GSC truck look like? This: Conclusion:So there is a little teaser of how my cult will shape up. Would any of you be interested in seeing progress pictures of the Nurglification process? I'd be happy to show the stages this above vehicle went through. Have you played--or fought--GSC yet? If so, what do you think? So far my cult is 3 for 3. Won twice against Space Wolves and once against Legion of the Damned/Space Marines at 1,850 points. I've really enjoyed them so far from both a modeling and gameplay standpoint! Super fluffy and very fun to play. They don't crumple up to fire as much as I expected--but I've been lucky with rolls I guess... I'll also post my army list if anyone is curious! Connect:Connect with me on Twitter, or if you like SciFi (odds are if you're reading this you do...) check out my short stories I have up on Kindle! The Jax Jensen Trilogy. Some of my earlier stuff, but only a couple bucks (free with Kindle Unlimited!). I have some new stuff in the works and I assure you my writing has improved!
Links below to get in contact with me ... but be sure to leave any comments or questions you have and I'll get back to you! Twitter: @MattTaylor1776 Facebook Page: Here Amazon Author Page: Here Jax Jensen Trilogy: Here Thanks for taking the time to check this all out! I look forward to sharing more of my hobbying with you! -Matt
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Well, one of my favorite board games ever is Betrayal at the House on the Hill. You can see what I said about it here. Long story short, Betrayal places you and your friends in a haunted house. Players take turns exploring the mansion, each player laying down a new room. There are events, items, and omens. Every time you get an open you make a "haunt" roll, where if you roll a number equal to or lower than the number of omens among all players -the haunt starts. One of the players usually becomes a traitor and suddenly its 3-4 v 1. It's a hell of a lot of fun! The game comes with 50 different scenarios, making nearly every play through unique. Well, I was overjoyed when I saw the news of the forthcoming expansion! "Widow's Walk". Betrayal at the House on the Hill: Widow's Walk Widow's Walk brings a plethora of new features to the game according to Avalon Hill. Is it safe to say that Avalon is the name of the hill the Betrayal house is on?! The house on the hill has a wicked reputation. Those who dare to darken its door often leave steeped in madness and despair—if they leave at all. Now the horror reaches new heights with Widow’s Walk—the first-ever expansion for the critically acclaimed board game Betrayal at House on the Hill. The house is expanded with the addition of 20 new rooms, including the roof, a previously unexplored floor. Also in its halls you will find new monsters, items, omens, events, and 50 brand-new haunts, penned by lead developer Mike Selinker’s all-star cast of contributors from the world of gaming and entertainment. In Widow’s Walk, terror and panic are taken to a whole new level. Enter if you dare. Exit if you can. So, from what I can see, it seems pretty exciting for an expansion. -20 new rooms -50 new haunts -Addition of the house's roof. -"a previously unexplored floor" (what might this be? basement's basement?) -76 tokens List of contributors to the expansion (pretty impressive list from the game world):
If you'd like me to do a stream or video of Betrayal, I'd be happy to get one made with my gaming group. Do you have any experience with Betrayal or another great game? Let me know about it in the comments or on twitter (@MattTaylor1776) If you like streams check my friends and I out here as we play through Outlast. Check out TableTop below to see Betrayal! |
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I post on this blog rather sporadically as some of you may have noticed! As I balance out writing with "the day job" I will do my best to post more consistently. Thank you for your support and feedback! Archives
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