Grimdark Future/Tactics/Machine Cult
Why play Machine Cults?
The machine cults house some of the most unique shooting among all of Grimdark Future, equipped with rules unavailable to other armies. Combined with Regeneration
Pros
- Plenty of units get Regeneration
- Your heroes can actually interact with your troops
- Lots of shooting with special rules
Cons
- Your forces are average in defense
- Your troops are rather costly
- Those special rules on the guns tend to lack anything for heavy armor.
Special Rules
- Canticles: Similar to the HDF commanders and their equivalents. Upon activation, this hero and their unit gains one of the following boosts (+3" movement, +1 AP to either melee or shooting, -1 to get hit in melee).
- EMP: Rending +1. It now triggers on a nat 5+.
- Phosphor: The P in P-Pistols/Carbines. Lets you ignore cover, which is handy because your guns are rather short-ranged.
- Radiation: The R in R-Pistols/Carbines. If an enemy hit by this weapon rolls a 1 on their defense, they eat an additional wound. Not a bad gift, but absolutely not something to rely on.
- Taser: Poison+1. On a nat 6 to hit, each hit is multiplied by 4.
Psychic Spells
- Lock-On (4+): Friendly unit within 12" adds +1 AP to their shooting. Pretty handy for your troops.
- Solar Beam (4+): One enemy unit within 12" takes an AP 2 hit.
- Iron Body (5+): Friendly unit within 12" can resurrect a model (at 1 wound if they have Tough) or restore a Tough wound. This is scary good because nobody else can do something like this.
- Srapnel (5+): Two enemy units within 6" take 3 AP 2 hits each. Pretty good punch.
- Corroded Metal (6+): One enemy unit within 12" takes a -2 penalty to their next defense roll. This is absolutely cruel when focused at the right targets. Do note that this won't help with triggering Radiation though.
- Machine Terror (6+): Enemy unit within 12" take 8 hits. See that horde of grunts? Now you don't. See that tank? It's probably now weak enough to clean up in another turn.
Unit Analysis
Heroes
- Machine Priest: A tank among your heroes, stacked with both a 2+ defense and Regeneration. He's costly, but you get access to both Psychic powers (as well as being able to upgrade to Psychic 2) as well as Canticles and the power to repair nearby units. This combined with the rather impressive axe-halberd and guns available mean that you can make this guy in a pretty broad variety of ways so you can help bolster your ranks.
- Machine Deacon: A budget machine priest. While largely unchanged in terms of wargear (They're trapped at Psychic 1 if they go there), they suffer more defensively. Gone is Regeneration and their defense is now nerfed to a 4+, making them no better than the rank and file.
- Cult Alpha: A solo version of the Cult Rangers (you can tell because this guy has Strider). They have access to the oustiks and melee weapons the unit normally gets (including EMP and taser swords and R-pistols) as well as the choice to buy Canticles. The shooting is the selling point for the Cult units, so you likely won't benefit too much from the melee AP boost.
- Sect Chief: This guy is your genuine beatstick, taken from the Sect Stalkers. They're not the fastest, but they've got a dangerous weapons and won't go away anytime soon. Aside from any of the weapons available to the Stalkers and Infiltrators (including an additional metal spike for an EMP hit), you've also got access to Canticles. This is more worthwhile since the chief is better inclined for melee and has guns that can appreciate a boost to AP.
Infantry
- Cult Vanguard: Your cheapest troops are quite versed in their shooting repertoire. Alongside their R-carbines, they also have rifles (their free alternative if you want long-range but don't care about cover), and one model can pick up some more interesting guns like the EMP rifle (with a heavy variant for Deadly 3) and the Uranium Rifle for sniping. These guys are best suited at short to mid-range with their guns, mostly because of the range of your guns and you lack any means to ignore terrain without those R-carbines.
- Cult Rangers: Add 25 points to the vanguard and you get Strider and no access to the R-carbines. That's okay, you're already bypassing terrain. This also means that you might have a better use for the uranium carbine, as you're at a fairly long range by default.
- Shock Priests: Absolutely naked, but they have Regeneration. They are pretty much depend on getting the charge since they have both Furious and Impact 1. By default, they only have their AP 2 shock staves and no shooting, but you can instead buy taser gauntlets that give shooting, but lack any AP, instead relying on Taser. If you can protect them, they can prove particularly deadly with Canticles.
- Sect Stalkers: They're a fair bit deadlier with a 3+ quality and Regeneration gives some additional protection. They are also melee-only, so they need that Furious and are helped out immensely by Strider. Their weapons have both Poison and Rending, which can add to be pretty devastating. However, you can instead give double sonic blades, replacing Poison with AP 1. One guy can also make an attack with EMP, which makes them even more dangerous.
- Sect Infiltrators: These sect warriors lack Furious, but have Scout and Stealth. These are the shooty versions, with some decent firing rates but nothing too special while still having some decent melee weapons.
- Sky Stalkers: Jetpack warriors with P-throwers giving good shooting and Furious for their CCWs. You can improve their charge game by buying cluster grenades for Impact. If you're looking for better shooting, you're stuck with the blaster carbines, which lack any special rules but have double the range. You can also grant one model a taser sword, but you're sacrificing the P-thrower for a blaster SMG without Phosphor.
- Raider Cavalry: Your bikers are very much pistoleers, bathing enemies with Phosphor. You can give two of them P-blaster carbines and get all the bikes P-breath for even more phosphor blasting. Your only longer-ranged option is the carbine, but it's not Phosphor. Only one model can go more melee, going either with the free revolver+saber for AP 1 or the P-blaser pistol+energy sword.
- Breacher Cyborgs: Slow, plodding brutes with Tough 3 and 2+ defense. This guy's got the contortion cannon, which has Deadly 3 AP 3 for shattering heroes or punching holes in tanks. Your alternatives for guns are the EMP cannon for breaking heroes and elite infantry or the heavy EMP cannon for the best of both worlds. In melee, you can buy upgrades for those three claw attacks, granting either EMP or AP 2. You should beware that these guys aren't really artillery, so mobs will annoy them.
- Destroyer Cyborgs: Come stock with gravity cannons with a bunch of rending hits. You can buy a heavy plasma canon for Blast, something the breachers can't. The destroyers can also mount an additional P-rifle or flamethrower, giving some additional close-quarters combat.
Vehicles
- Attack Vehicle: Quite a dangerous tool with that heavy mining laser and two heavy machine guns. The heavy mortar grants better range, but it's at the cost of range. You can also buy upgrades between the Flare Gun (Lets a unit within 6" move 6" during activation), Spotter (Friendly unit within 6" adds +6" to the range of their guns) or Survey Vehicle. These turn the attack vehicle into way more than just that - it's a major multiplier to a force built around it.
- Light APC: Your dedicated Transport is a bit less powerful with only two heavy flamethrowers. Thankfully, you can grab hunter missiles and either a storm rifle or light machinegun for extra shooting.
- Grinder Truck: Comes with a light machinegun and heavy incinerator (a slightly longer-range heavy flamethrower) on a light APC with half the transport space and Impact 9 for flattening mobs. If the incinerator doesn't cut it, then you can buy a heavy mining laser or earthquake cannon.
- Mining Truck: What you get when you have a light APC with a light machine gun and a twin autocannon to cover shooting. While your shooting is trapped to this loadout, it's sufficient to cover whatever you run into - so long as they don't rush you.
- Battle Tank: Finally, something with meat. Toting Tough 12 and a nova cannon to flatten mobs, this is a tank worth the combat potential. This cannon can also be replaced with a broad variety of weapons. On top of that and the auxiliary heavy flamethrower, you can also buy a matching pair of guns for additional pain (heavy flamethrowers, heavy machine guns, plasma cannons or heavy fusion cannons).
- Light Walker: This is not something worth taking to melee. Even though it has fear, it only has a measly single stomp attack. Instead, take it because it has a rather decent list of heavy weapons, complemented by a purchase of Scout and Stealth.
Army Building
Starter Armies
General Advice
Tactics
Grimdark Future Tactics Articles | |
---|---|
General: | General Tactics |
Alien Hives: | Alien Hives - Soul-Snatcher Cults |
Aliens: | Dwarf Guilds - Eternal Dynasty - Jackals - Orc Marauders Robot Legions - Saurian Starhost - TAO Coalition |
Battle Brothers: | Battle Brothers - Custodian Brothers - Prime Brothers |
Elves: | Dark Elf Raiders - Elven Jesters - High Elf Fleets |
Havoc: | Havoc Brothers - Machine Cult Defilers - Wormhole Daemons |
Humans: | Battle Sisters - Feudal Guard - Gangs of Hive City Human Defense Force - Human Inquisition - Infected Colonies Machine Cult - Titan Lords - Rebel Guerillas |
Ratmen: | Ratmen Clans - Vile Rattus Cult |