New to Warhammer - Which Cult

[popekheris]

Hey all! I'm looking at getting into the hobby and was having a tough time figuring out which faction to go. Then I found out I can play Genestealer Cults and put Carnifexes next to Leman Russes, and I was sold. Unfortunately, that's about as far as my army building has gotten so far. Thematically, I like the Twisted Helix a lot, but playstyle-wise I am wondering if a shooty-er army with Hivecult would complement my Carnifexes and Tank Commanders + HWT w/ Mortars better. I do like Ridgerunners, and it looks like they were improved with the rules changes in 9E, which would give me another reason to go Hivecult.

Any tips or ideas for which Cult/style of play I should lean into for my Genestealers?

[hivefleetkerrigan]

Paint your cult however you want and then call them whatever cult you want. You have to decide per game but don't need to decide what cult to run for all eternity.

Strategy wise, twisted helix could give you a nice melee punch with acolytes or abberants. You could also run blades cog (my favorite - I even have kitbashed models!) As they give you more durability and can spec into either melee or shooting.

[kazetanade]

most effective build right now is with Bladed Cog for lots of Neophytes carrying lasers, + Ridgerunners in Bladed Cog or HiveCult. For good reason too.

If you're looking to really push into that MC/Vehicle territory, I'd stick with LRs and Tyranofexes and Exocrenes, with one or two units of Ridgerunners - you'll run out of points and it's running in the theme. Not sure if that's a particularly good army build by the by, but it'll have some impressive presence when setting up.

[popekheris]

Ooooh, nice! And yeah, I am open to toying around and trying different Cults, I was just wondering as to a good place to start. I haven't started looking too deep into the rules and point values yet, but based on what I have seen I drafted up a quick list for what I think I would enjoy (units only, I haven't decided on the equipment yet). Would something like this be runnable?

Hivecult GSC Battalion Detachment
Jackal Alphus + Magus + Acolyte Iconward

10 Neophytes
10 Neophytes
10 Neophytes
10 Acolytes
2-3 Ridgerunners

Tyranid Spearhead Detachment
Old One-Eye
3 carnifexes

Brood Brother Spearhead Detachment
2 Tank Commanders
3x3 IG HWTs w/ mortars

[No One]

Neos want to be bladed cog so they can move and shoot mining lasers.

[wound]

I agree with No One Bladed cog all deepstrike with mining lasers.

[popekheris]

With that kind of general list, would you keep everything else the same in the GSC Battalion then (i.e. HQ choices, neophyte/acolyte balance)? Just change from Hivecult to Bladed Cog? The more I look into the cults, the more I realize I like all of them, so swapping cults isn't a huge deal.

[No One]

You definitely don't want more detachments...But yeah, you want an alphus for ridgerunners and neos: it's a waste to have 2 for that few (possibly a waste to have 2 different at all). Acos are fine as BC, but you sort of want PA for delivery, so you only really want one: they do have a solid damage stratagem though.

Ideally another unit of neos (4 seems a good spot for them). Iconward doesn't really do anything, would recommend dropping for some other stuff. Possibly some troops for your other dets to give an extra CP. Mortar HWT are probably in the same boat (and maybe fexes as well), but if you want to run them they'll probably do something.

[popekheris]

I wasn't sure on the Iconward, so thanks for answering that. I'm not that attached to the Mortars, but I thought it would be nice to have indirect fire available. Is it not that valuable to have? Either way, I am open to having some more Brood Brothers. Maybe some Ratling Snipers or something.

[No One]

The problem is that mortars are mediocre firepower, and the meta's focused on med/heavy targets. e.g. Into intercessors, all those mortars kill a bit over 1 guy. You take ~4 turns to kill the squad. And that just doesn't matter. I think just dropping them, picking up an infantry squad for a patrol, and then excess points for another neo squad/rippers if possible would work better.