Getting Started With Genestealer Cults Tactics

Today we are talking about Genestealer cults tactics! If you’re interested in starting a Genestealer cult army you will learn everything you need to know below! We will talk a little bit about who the Genestealer Cults are, what their playstyle entails and end with a solid 1,000 pt army list.

Who Are The Genestealer cults?

Genestealer cults are an army of Malformed human/Tyranid hybrids that dwell in the dark depths on man’s domain. In the beginning, a Genestealer will infiltrate a host population and infect their genetic code with some of their own. One of the effects this will have on the host will be altering their very perception of reality itself. Instead of seeing the Genestealer as a leering alien monster the population will see a beautiful creature worthy of worship.

Next, these infected hosts will go out and seek more hosts for their genestealer master. As time goes on their population grows, and as the members of the cult have children stuff starts getting weird. Within the first generation of children, hideous mutations begin to appear, making them look like a hideous blend of human and genestealer. Over time their population will grow and pursue positions of power in their host world. Waiting patiently for their time to rise up and claim the world in fire and death.

Next, the entire cult will rise up and attempt to overthrow their worlds’ imperial rulers. After having planned generations in advance, suddenly loyalist’s vehicles and munitions go missing or are sabotaged. Entire regiments of imperial guardsmen turn on their masters. Next, a wave of alien horrors will spill out from every dark mine, sewer, and manufactorum.

As such, they are a diverse army with some unique units, and the ability to appear anywhere with some of the best deployment tricks in the entire game. They have access to the majority of Astra Militarums units and can ally with Tyranids. This means you have a ton of options with how you build them! However, for today’s article I will show you how to make a pure genestealer cult list.

The List

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids – Genestealer Cults) [32 PL, 654pts, 8CP] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle-forged CP [3CP]

Cult Creed: The Twisted Helix

Detachment CP [5CP]

+ HQ +

Magus [5 PL, 92pts]: Familiar

Primus [4 PL, 75pts]: Bonesword, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Bio-alchemist

+ Troops +

Brood Brothers Infantry Squad [3 PL, 49pts]: Brood Brothers Leader

. 7x Brood Brother

. Brood Brothers Weapons Team: Mortar

Brood Brothers Infantry Squad [3 PL, 49pts]: Brood Brothers Leader

. 7x Brood Brother

. Brood Brothers Weapons Team: Mortar

Brood Brothers Infantry Squad [3 PL, 49pts]: Brood Brothers Leader

. 7x Brood Brother

. Brood Brothers Weapons Team: Mortar

+ Elites +

Aberrants [14 PL, 340pts]

. 4x Aberrant (Hammer): 4x Heavy Power Hammer

. 4x Aberrant (Pick): 4x Power Pick

. 2x Aberrant Hypermorph (Improvised): 2x Heavy Improvised Weapon

++ Outrider Detachment +1CP (Tyranids – Genestealer Cults) [20 PL, 343pts, 1CP] ++

+ Configuration +

Cult Creed

. Other: Agile Outriders, Munitions Experts

Detachment CP [1CP]

+ HQ +

Jackal Alphus [4 PL, 70pts]: Oppressor’s Bane

+ Fast Attack +

Atalan Jackals [6 PL, 133pts]

. 4x Atalan Jackal: Demolition Charge, Shotgun

. 2x Atalan Jackal: Cultist Knife, Shotgun

. Atalan Jackal: Grenade Launcher, Shotgun

. Atalan Leader: Demolition Charge, Shotgun

2. Atalan Jackals [5 PL, 70pts]

. 3x Atalan Jackal: Cultist Knife, Shotgun

. 1x Atalan Leader: Grenade Launcher, Shotgun

. Atalan Wolfquad: Mining Laser

3. Atalan Jackals [5 PL, 70pts]

. 3x Atalan Jackal: Cultist Knife, Shotgun

. 1x Atalan Leader: Grenade Launcher, Shotgun

. Atalan Wolfquad: Mining Laser

++ Total: [52 PL, 9CP, 997pts] ++

Gene Stealer Army Breakdown

First, we have our twisted helix detachment, which has a Magus, a Primus, 10 Abberants and 3 squads of brood brothers. The main purpose of this detachment is to allow us to put everyone except the brood brothers into deepstrike

The Magus and Primus are there to support our Aberrants. The Magus can use psychic powers to turn off our opponent’s overwatching abilities. Additionally, he can use the twisted helix special psychic power to give the Abberants +1 to wound. This will make our Abberants even scarier in close combat. Plus, with the twisted helix’s special stratagem, we can have them fight, twice. Which would give us a ton of high strength attacks that can rip an imperial knight in half!

Jackals and Grenades Galore

The second part of our list is going to be our Outrider detachment, which will actually have a custom cult creed. The first thing you may notice is that we have a whole bunch of jackals. This is because our custom traits are going to be agile outriders and munitions experts which will give us some unique bonuses. Agile outriders will allow us to ignore move and shoot penalties and, munition experts give the detachment + 1 strength to all its grenades.

This will work great with our demolition charges! Meaning our demolition charges will be strength 9, and even our regular grenades on the rest of our jackals will be pumped up to strength 4. Also, for one command point, we can make our squad with demo charges throw all five of them at once. As a result, we get a total of five D6 shots at strength 9 doing d3 damage!

Meanwhile, the Jackal Alpha can use his ability to give +1 to hit against the target we are throwing demo charges at, allowing us to hit our target reliably. We also have a bunch more Jackals that can move up the board and hold objectives / blow up stuff. Honestly, they’re just really awesome units with great staying power, good movement values, and a surprin=ding amount of firepower.

The wrap on Genestealer Cult Armies

When you combine everything above you get an army that is incredibly quick, surprisingly durable, and can do a ton of damage. Our army has the ability to move up the board incredibly quickly. While on turn two our aberrants can drop down and kill pretty much anything in the game.



There you have It! This army is a blast to play and is very powerful, and what more could you want from an army list? We also have some fantastic articles here and here on Genestealer Cults tactics.

Also, If you’d like a breakdown of the advanced tactics and strategies for Genestealer cults including a 2,000 point army list and tons more, consider becoming a Nights at the Game Table Member today! Click on this link to learn more.

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