The day is finally here. The day of the Genestealer Cults ascension! After one (obviously planned) delay this new Codex is in my hot little hands, and I am extremely happy with my initial impression of the new GSC. That’s as far as I will go into my overall thoughts on the Codex, along with how it ranks in the competitive meta, because there are so many excellent content creators out there giving hot takes while reading straight out of the Codex. Instead, over the next few weeks, I will be posting articles focusing in on very specific areas of the new GSC Codex. This is an extremely complex book, and any in depth overview of the entire Codex could be contained in its very own separate book. For this first article I decided to look at one of the weakest areas of the new GSC (bad news first is always a good policy) in the Secondary Objectives.
Just like the rest of the loyal Cult followers I clicked onto YouTube videos reviewing the new GSC book to find some extremely exciting Stratagems, Cult Creed changes, Relics, and unit datasheet changes. The only time I lost even a little bit of my glee while watching these videos was when the faction specific Secondaries were read to me in the sultry tones of my preferred YouTube celebrity.
Broodswarm:
Broodswarm scores 1 point for each of the following conditions: the GSC player has more models in their own deployment zone than their opponent, more models in neither players deployment zone, more models in their opponent’s deployment zone, and a bonus point if all three of these requirements are met.
This would be such a good Secondary if it didn’t compete for a spot with Engage, Stranglehold, or Behind Enemy Lines. Even taking into consideration that the new Engage will require you to have a unit with at least three models in it to hold a quarter of the table, Engage On All Fronts is still an extremely reliable Secondary for an army that can pull units off the table and put them back on it at will. The same goes for Behind Enemy Lines which now is even easier since ALL off our units can come in 6 inches away from enemy models when being setup from Underground. There are some games where you will pick this Secondary over the more traditional Engage, Stranglehold, and Behind Enemy Lines though.
Against low model count armies like Knights or Custodes this can be an excellent choice. Stranglehold is a poor choice into both of these match ups since they both have extremely tough Objective Secured units that are extremely hard to remove from Objectives without getting your squishy little cultists punched back into the underground. Broodswarm will be especially effective in missions where the Objectives are all close to each players deployment zone. In these missions there is little incentive to strike out across the board to claim the majority of the Objectives to score Stranglehold or to place units all over the battlefield for Engage. Remembering that GSC have access to this Secondary in these specific scenarios could mean you score a solid 10 to12 points instead of 8 or 9 from a more traditional Engage or Stranglehold.
Ambush:
When I first saw this Secondary previewed I was pumped. It looked like we had finally gotten a Secondary outside of the Battlefield Supremacy and Shadow Operations categories that could be taken every single game, but then I got the actual Codex in my hands. I read how this Secondary actually scores, and I was much less excited. Originally I thought this Secondary gave me points each time a GSC unit killed something with a Crossfire Marker, killed something that was exposed, and scored points each time a unit coming out of Reserves killed a unit. That last bullet point got me. This Secondary only scores points from a unit being deployed from a blip or from Underground which are specifically NOT Reserves as written in the rulebook. Since deploying from Ambush or Underground can only happen turns 1, 2, or 3 the scoring cap on this Secondary is very limited.
Now am I not saying this is a Secondary I will never take. There are going to be some match ups where no other good option presents itself (especially since in my current list I am only taking 1 psyker so that category is dead to me), and Ambush is a perfectly respectable third Secondary choice. It will take some prior planning to ensure that a GSC player can score the maximum amount of points possible though.
The first bullet of killing a unit with a Crossfire Marker on it should happen every turn of the game. Placing Crossfire markers with this Codex is extremely easy, and the Secondary does not specify that the enemy unit only needs to be killed in the Shooting Phase. The second and third bullets of this Secondary are where the planning needs to take place.
Killing a unit in the TURN one of your units was deployed from a blip can only be scored if the GSC player goes first based on the current wording of the Secondary. It specifically states you score one point if any enemy units were destroyed during the turn, not Battle Round, the GSC unit was set up from Ambush.
Scoring Breakdown for Ambush:
Turn 1: 1pt Crossfire unit killed, 1pt if going first for getting a kill with a unit deployed from a blip
Turn 2: 1pt Crossfire unit killed, 1pt killing a unit with a GSC unit set up from Underground, 1 pt if a killed unit was Exposed
Turn 3: 1pt Crossfire unit killed, 1pt killing a unit with a GSC unit set up from Underground, 1 pt if a killed unit was Exposed
Turn 4: 1pt Crossfire unit killed, 1pt if the unit was Exposed
Turn 5: 1pt Crossfire unit killed, 1pt if the unit was Exposed
Above is the maximum potential points from the Ambush Secondary. As you can see getting the maximum 12 points will be extremely tough in most games, and this Secondary could easily score anywhere from 5-7 points on the low side.
Sabotage Critical Location:
I’m not even going to waste time writing about this Secondary. I will only say if anyone out there pulls this off with a decent score you are a hero and a champion of the Cults.
NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE THIS SECONDARY.
You have been warned.
Overall the GSC book got some weak Secondary choices, but I think that is fine when we take into account the total package this book provides. The Cults are extremely good at performing the generic Secondaries from the Battlefield Supremacy and Shadow Operations categories, and picking a solid third choice will be what separates the top table GSC players from the ones who pick Sabotage Critical Locations.