Starting Cults, need some quick advice!

[Halollet]

I got Tooth and Claw as well as well as the kill team starter for Cults. I have a big Nid collection and guard, but the only tank I have is a HellHammer. Go big or go home. But lots of dudes.

So just wondering about quite a few things. And I know the logical thing would be to wait for the codex, but I'm impatient.  Plus with the rules included in Tooth and Claw, I doubt they're going to change that much. Rules were probably lifted from the codex right? So...

1. Aberrants; the hammers seem to hold them back quite a bit in the way of attacks, but would adding two in in a squad of 5 still be worth it just got that wounding bonus?  The improvised weapon also seems really good. 6 attacks at STR 10 and 2 damage? Yes please. So does that sound good?

2. Is there any point in taking Metamorphs over acolytes?  Acolytes are troops and have awesome melee weapons while Metamorphs have... An extra attack? They seem to squishy to pour points into. Am I missing something?

3. For neophytes. They seem like a guard player's dream come true. Two special weapons, an array of heavy weapons, and up to 20 dudes in a squad? Oh my!  So fire support units would be like two grenade launchers with auto cannon?  Ambush would have sesimic cannons/mining lasers?  Any general tips or hints with these guys?

4. For the iconward, would it be at least a fun tactic to ambush him with 2 units of 20 neophytes with flamers and icons? Give him the relic as well to make them an annoying lump of dangerous dudes?

5. What should I get next? I'm guessing figure out a Magus for sure right? What about just running broodlords as patriachs? How are primus? Should I get the hq box? Maybe another toothache claw to fill out the acolytes, aberrants and get another Abominant because those guys seem pretty dangerous.

6. Would it be worth bringing my HellHammer for some first turn fire power?

7. What from nids compliments GSC?

Thanks!

[kazetanade]

1. Habberrants are a specialist tool. Pickarrants are a generalist tool. Pickarrants can do pretty well against a target the Habberrants want to go at, such as a Knight, but they're not going to kill it off. By my measure, a Pickarrant squad with 2 Morphs with Improv and Might From Beyond will take a Knight down to 10W left or less. In this case it depends what you want them to do, but if you're not expecting to see a Knight or multiple Knights, a fully Habberrant squad is overkill. Really overkill.

2. Metamorphs have issues right now. They're really not worth it right now. Since you got that new box, I'd actually spend time to build them into the special Heavy Weapons rather than into Metamorphs.

3. We've had a number of different ways to run Neophytes. There was a guy having early 8th ed success with Neophytes in 10, put them in our Trukk, run them up in the Trukk and with flamer shotgun or something else close ranged, no heavies, I think. We also have had the Nick Rose list of 20 Neophytes barebones just clogging up people's deployment zones with 80 or 100 of them held Fearless by a Patriarch. I personally run mine previously with a mortar for ITC Reaper reasons, but would otherwise run it with Grenade Launchers and no Heavy guns unless I was testing them out. The heavy weapons arent actually in a great place for the most part. As a fire base support, they're just so much weaker than pure IG that.... ugh.

4. For the iconward, do whatever you want. He's not the best only because of the aura affecting Models and not Units. I read somewhere on the board about them being used as a cheap HQ tag-along for a small Neophyte squad, making them harder to shift off an objective. The Iconward with special banner doesnt make Neophytes into particularly strong combatants so I think the 20 man idea is a bit of a waste.

5. Patriarchs are very similar in look to the new Broodlord moulds. If you have those, you can use them as Pattys. You should definitely pick up the HQ triple pack for 1 Magus, 1 Primus, 1 Patriarch. The Primus is good because he lets you bring in 1 kill squad unit with him, with a strategem you can get 3 dice for CA, and rerolls on them to get the desired 6. It's not guaranteed, but it's pretty hard to not get a 5 when you have 3 dice reroll 3. It's what makes your Habberrants or Pickarrants scare the living stuffings out of your enemies. He also gives them a +1 to Hit, so Pickarrants hitting on 2+ wounding on 3+ or 4+. The GSC spells are really good, Mass Hypno and Might from Beyond are key to letting any of your kill units survive the Overwatch, and completely destroy the enemy. Mind Control is... complete troll. I would get another Tooth and Claw set just to fill out the Abberrant squad, they are easily the best thing we have. Sadly, I have more than 10 of each so it's a super waste for me just for the Hybrid Improvs... Acolytes have been used by some, because of previously them having the flexibility of being between Purestrains and Habberrants in terms of damage output and working on both target types. But with the new Pickarrants in play, I think Acolytes are a real time waster and they're pretty much just collector's kits. The Patriarch is a decent damage dealer, but be aware that he suffers the same problems as the Broodlord - melee and squishy. If they charge something that can hit back that they cant kill, you're going to lose the model. Against tanks, they'll score something like 6.5W on average, or something like that. If you've got hordes and hordes of GSC you'll need him to keep the army together though.

6. Some previous tournament lists have had shadowswords in that position. It was primarily Flyrant spam lists though, and hardly any GSC...

7. Sadly, almost anything GSC can do, Nids can do better. You'd need a very specialized strategy to make GSC work better than their Nids counterparts. The same holds true for GSC vs IG; when IG can deliver a harder and more resillient melee alphastrike, you know there are serious issues abound. Luckily, Abberrants are no longer outshone by Bullgryns, they're about the same; Bullgryns are more survivable, but Abberrants output way better. It's a fair trade off.