From Tyranids to GSC

[trashcan01]

Hey there everone! I'm a total newcomer in the waters of GSC, and I've been playing Tyranids since 7ed.

Recently I've purchased the Patriarch miniature, which I plan to play as another Broodlord in my Tyranids.... once Genestealers become good (10ed).

The model is amazing, and I really appreciate the models of both Tyranids and GSC. And it got me thinking about branching out and to start collecting the Cult. The fluff is amazing, as it is with most of the 40k lore. From the mechanical perspective, GSC has a reputation to be very punishing to mistakes and rewarding of good play. But I honestly have no idea... it seems challenging to move away from Tyranids since they are an army that does a lot each phase (except for Morale, but who cares cuz we basically skip that one, right?).

I imagine that GSC are a whole different lot from Tyranids, and I'm curious to hear what were your first impressions and what are your current impressions of the faction, from the collectors (financial), mechanical and gamewise, as well as hobby point of view (painting, conversions etc.). Do you have any regrets about picking up GSC after Nids? 

[hivefleetkerrigan]

Oct 8, 2022 13:00:09 GMT trashcan01 said:

Hey there everone! I'm a total newcomer in the waters of GSC, and I've been playing Tyranids since 7ed.

Recently I've purchased the Patriarch miniature, which I plan to play as another Broodlord in my Tyranids.... once Genestealers become good (10ed).

The model is amazing, and I really appreciate the models of both Tyranids and GSC. And it got me thinking about branching out and to start collecting the Cult. The fluff is amazing, as it is with most of the 40k lore. From the mechanical perspective, GSC has a reputation to be very punishing to mistakes and rewarding of good play. But I honestly have no idea... it seems challenging to move away from Tyranids since they are an army that does a lot each phase (except for Morale, but who cares cuz we basically skip that one, right?).

I imagine that GSC are a whole different lot from Tyranids, and I'm curious to hear what were your first impressions and what are your current impressions of the faction, from the collectors (financial), mechanical and gamewise, as well as hobby point of view (painting, conversions etc.). Do you have any regrets about picking up GSC after Nids? 

My first impressions of GSC we're in 8es index, so I'm not sure they're applicable.

Collections/financial:
GSC has a lot of great looking units but is expensive to own and run. GSC has lots of characters who all give out different buffs or who have different effects. If you get into GSC for the army you'll eventually want one of each character. The only troops they have are neophytes and acolytes who are both cheap points wise so you'll want a swarm of them. However, acolytes cost a lot money wise. I think it's about I'd recommend getting a combat patrol box (or two) and maybe one of the old start collecting boxes. I can see the argument for a shadow throne box as you'll get neophytes and a brood coven, but the deal was better for custodes players than GSC players.
All of the above being said, the models look awesome and have lots of details that can be painted.

Gameplay:
GSCs excels at two phases: shooting and melee. We have great psychic powers but can only take 2 casters per detachment.

GSCs mechanics are really fun. You can basically deep strike any unit and come in at 8" and charge OR come in at 6" but only shoot. If you don't deep strike, you can put down ambush tokens when deploying your units. These tokens are removed at the start of your movement phase if you go first or at the end of your movement phase if you go second. This way, you can counter deploy to your opponent. GSC also has the ability to use it's character buffs immediately if the character is appearing on the board for the first time, so a primus can show up and hand out the reroll buff.

GSC has the crossfire mechanic. It requires careful positioning to gain all the benefits (+1 to hit and +1 wound). It makes the games feel fun and dynamic and allows you to focus down on hard to kill threats.

GSC does have a lot of characters each with different buffs, so it can be a lot to keep track of.

The current cons to GSC is that it's a very fragile army. I've found recently that I either get my save or do not, barely anything in between.

Hobby:
GSC has a lot of details on the models, so you can either paint them to a high detail level or gloss over certain areas to go faster. The models are fun to paint and look great.

For conversions, GSC is great! You can bring in ad mech bits for bladed cog, nid bits if you want more corrupted (purified? sanctified?) models, or guard bits. You could also grab votan, tau, ork, or eldar. I have seen some lore on some chaos corrupted GSC, so using chaos bits or cultists would work too. I've also seen others use necromunda models and bits. However you want to flavor your cult or specific units and modes, you can do so! (Shameless self promotion of blades cog kitbashes here: thetyranidhive.proboards.com/thread/57402/cult-bladed-cog-kitbash)

As a cheaper alternative, to characters, you can kitbash your own.

Conclusions:
For me, GSC is fun to play and collect, but is expensive and time consuming.
My only real regret in picking them up is space. I'm basically limited to nids, GSC, and custodes. I don't think I have any extra room at this time and am basically out of storage space for my nids (with more backlogs to go through for them).

[infornography]

GSC is one of the BEST factions for kitbash and conversions. Necromunda stuff is particularly good for it because they like hanging out in similar places and a lot of 40k players wouldn't recognize much of the necromunda stuff so it makes your army really seem unique.

I will +1 the comment about them being EXPENSIVE though. A horde army with boxes of 5 at a time and 12 characters (though 3 come in one box so that is nice at least...)? GW was feeling particularly greedy when they set up the boxes for GSC. Picking up the big boxes is a good way to save a little, but they mostly give you tons of neophytes which are the one unit in the army that comes in reasonable quantities.

Tyranids for most of the time I've played have been 40k hard mode (not so much recently but, eh). GSC feels like a logical result of that philosophy. They are extremely difficult to play right and extremely punishing if you play wrong, but when the plan comes together it is sweet.

I would never recommend GSC to a newbie 40k player, but for a veteran who has suffered through some of our worst years, sure! Especially if that veteran is interested in fun kitbashing opportunities.

[trashcan01]

Hey you two! Thank you very much for responding!

Truth being told, I don't expect to find myself investing in GSC anytime soon. I've checked the contents of the boxes and I'm not very motivated to get one.
I'll probably see if I can land a decent deal on Ebay or something. GSC is not on the top of their game at the moment, and maybe I find something good that way.

I'll be going through the archives of GSC part of the forum to assemble some sort of 500pts army and go from there.
*GSC Lurk mode on*

[niiai]

GSC is nice and all. But you probably wanne take an army in a spesific direction. Leann into abberants, Neophytes, bikers or psyker etc. It is up to you.

Yiu can also kitbash some acolyte arms on neophyte bodies.