Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Genestealer Cults (section)

==Why Play Genestealer Cults?==

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. 

Some other reasons to play Genestealer Cults:

'''Pros'''
*You loved Fury Road and want an army of War Boys.
*You like Genestealers.
*You like Tanks.
*You like Genestealers ''in'' Tanks.
*You've got the models from the late '80s and have long been itching to use them again!
*You want to play whack-a-mole as the moles. And the moles are armed with machine guns.
*You like the idea of playing a mobile horde army that can deploy and redeploy whenever and wherever they want.
*You think that deployment zones are stupid, and like being able to pop up wherever you want. Go ahead, put all the objectives on one half of the board if you can, if you get to pick sides you're sitting on a bunch of objectives and your opponent is sitting high and dry. If you don't, slap on your trollface and just deploy over there anyway. (Do be careful though because if you take the Cult Insurrection detachment you aren't going to be objective secured and if you don't most units won't be able to deploy through Cult Ambush, although with the proliferation of formations in game-play today there's a good chance your opponent won't be objective secured anyway).
*Your basic troops are rarely useless. Neophytes might struggle to damage some targets, but they're cheap as chips and their special and heavy weapons can pack a whallop. Acolytes, on the other hand, combine a high volume of attacks plus rending. This means that they're a danger to everything from Terminators to Wraithknights. The only thing they struggle with is Land Raiders and the like, as they aren't strong enough on their own to punch through. That is somewhat alleviated by their effective but costly mining equipment.
*You're a Tyranid player who has been waiting for a workable allied force for decades. The Cults bring a lot to the table for a 'Nid army.
*You've always wanted to field a Catachan or Ork Kommando army that played like they're described in the fluff. The conversion and modeling opportunities for this army are fantastic! 

'''Cons'''
*Your HQs do not have many options, being limited to [[Chapterhouse_Studios|the options GW gives you]]. Your Cult Magus always has a Force Staff and Laspistol, your Primus always has a Force Sword and Needle Pistol, etc. In fact, it's debatable why this codex even has an Armory Page, since the HQs only have access to Relics, and everything else is only an option for Cult Neophytes.
*You have a lot of money to spare - it costs £25/$40/€33 for an unupgraded 50 point troops unit. Remember, you only have two kidneys.
**This is somewhat alleviated by the fact that you can fairly reliably get 16 Neophytes, 12 Acolytes, and the Characters for (usually) about half the cost of the Deathwatch: Overkill box. That said, the expensive single kits are the only place to get the other upgrades, so you're gonna have to buy at least a couple.
*Your dudes have no durability to speak of. The whole army is T3 with 5+ armor, for the most part. Flamethrowers and basic infantry weapons wreck your shit.
*You're gonna have a bad time in kill point games. If your enemy is allowed to castle up, you have very few tools for actually threatening them. You also have a hell of a time dealing with Deathstars. The army is designed to pick apart an enemy army piece by piece, but if your enemy is one solid block of dudes you're going to have a hard time carving them up.
*Fliers are going to give you fits. Your ranged anti-armor is already kind of lacking, and very few fliers are going to politely land next to your dudes so you can cut the pilot out of the cockpit with a cement saw. Or use missile launchers on Sentinels, its the only reliable anti-air weapon.
*Your shooting is decent, but most of your ability to tackle tough targets comes from melee. That said, the satisfaction of watching an Imperial Knight go down to a bunch of miners armed with power tools is second to none. Just be prepared for massive casualties.
*<s>Allying with 'Nids or Imperial Guard fucks with your Cult Ambush abilities, as they technically count as "enemy models" for the purposes of ambushing or returning to the shadows.</s> Woo, the FAQ clarified that allies don't fuck with your Ambushing!