Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Genestealer Cults (section)

==={{W40Kkeyword|The Hivecult}}===
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In the grim Darkness of the far future, salvation is won through [[dakka|firepower]].

The Hivecult is a very militant faction, chiefly comprised of soldiers and gangers. While most would suffice with merely rabble and zealots, this creed believes that warriors contribute the most to the cause. This inevitably results in their members also infiltrating PDF and Guardsman regiments so that they could gift the cult with tanks.

On the tabletop, the Hivecult just won't stop shooting - Falling Back, Advancing, and performing Actions will all fail to stop them from shooting.

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;Cult Creed - ''Disciplined Militants'': Units can shoot after Falling Back with a -1 to hit, perform actions after Falling Back or Advancing, and shoot while performing actions without the action failing. 
:*The falling back and shooting is least useful on vehicles, as even without this they can still shoot, just only at what they're engaged with.
:*The net benefit here gives you the best Neophytes from an actions perspective of any Cult, although the Rusted Claw/Custom ability shoot after moving or advancing at no penalty means you don't have the best Neophytes from an offensive perspective.
:*This should be the cult you pick if you plan on taking a secondary that requires actions, like Raise the Banners.
;Warlord Trait - ''Hivelord'' (Aura): Friendly {{W40kKeyword|Hivecult Core}} units within 6" that score unmodified 6s to hit with guns score an additional hit, which is like +1 to hit but better because it works properly in more situations, like Overwatch.
:*A Primus's aura of re-rolling 1s to hit has no particular synergy with this simply because both effects apply the same way onto a unit without any interaction with each other, but while this will work fine on a Jackal Alphus, bear in mind +1 to hit has a bigger effect the worse the BS of the unit, so the benefit of functionally +2 to hit total from a Crossfire token (from the Alphus's shooting) has diminishing returns, whereas the Primus will scale linearly: a BS4+ unit has accuracy 18/36 base, 21/36 (*7/6) near a Primus, 24/36 (+1/6) with a Crossfire token or this aura, 28/36 near a Primus and with this aura or a Crossfire token, 30/36 with a Crossfire token and this aura, and 35/36 with a Crossfire token, this aura, and a Primus.
;Relics - ''Vockor's Talisman'': A 5+ to wound with a melee weapon ignores all saves - put this on a Patriarch so you can re-roll even successful wounds to fish for 5+ and enjoy your 5/9 chance to deal a wound that bypasses invulns.  A Vockor's Talisman Patriarch trying to murder a T4-5 Sv2+/4++ target by fishing for 5+ will deal a bit more than 1.34 damage per swing, getting you 8.06 damage total (9.4 with the Biomorph Adaptation Warlord Trait).
:*Because this relic ignores all saves, not just invuls, this is one of the few things in the game that cuts straight through daemon saves, something basically only the Grey Knights Warlord Trait Daemon-Slayer can achieve. Putting your Patriarch, (because who else would you give this to?) on the same league as a [[Grey Knights|genetically augmented paladin warrior dedicated to hunting the neverborn]] in the daemon killing department, except your ability is more versatile.
;Stratagem - ''Fire Discipline'' (1 CP): When a {{W40kKeyword|Hivecult Crossfire}} unit is about to shoot, you can boop this button to apply a crossfire marker to any enemy unit (in time for the friendly unit to benefit from it), but your shooting unit can only target the marked enemy unit when it shoots until the end of the phase.
;Psychic Power - ''Synaptic Blast'' (Witchfire, WC 5): Pick the closest visible enemy unit within 18" of the psyker. Roll a d6, adding +2 for each friendly {{W40kKeyword|Hivecult Core}} unit within 6" of the psyker. If this roll is less than the target's Movement stat, they suffer d3 mortal wounds, but it maxes out if you roll equal or above.
:*Interestingly, this negligibly beats Smite even without any +2s against M6, dealing 1.81 mortals instead of Smite's 1.79.  If you add on enough bonuses for the spell to just automatically deal 3 mortals, you'll basically end up with the Thousand Sons spell Doombolt, which is WC 6 (but they get +1 to all casts from their faction bonus) and just deals 3 mortal wounds.  You don't have a great way to avoid being Thousand Sons but worse, but you ''can'' make an excellent mortal wounds inflicter by taking an Unwilling Orb Magus (or Patriarch) with Psionic Blast, Mental Onslaught, Smite, and this, as well as MSU Neophytes or Acolytes so you have abundant sources of +2 to Synaptic Blast.  Then, always cast your best two spells: Mental Onslaught if and only if the target is W1 (and has 4 or more models), Synaptic Blast provided you will beat the target's M on at least a 5+, Psionic Blast if the target is Ld9 or less, and then Smite, in more or less that order (or you can do the math out if you want more granularity - this is intended as a rule of thumb).
'''Tactics'''
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