Today, I'm going to continue a trend that we started on Warpstone Flux with the release of Betrayal at Calth. We're going to see if we can build an army list for Horus Heresy 30k from the components contained inside the Deathwatch Overkill board game! Given there there are so few marines, and that they already come with data sheets to cover their use, I wanted to specifically focus on the Genestealer faction.
Arguably the optimum faction to represent the Genestealer Cult in 30k is the Imperialis Militia and Cults army list presented in Horus Heresy Book V: Tempest. Although the Solar Auxilia could be used, I think the Cults army is designed for this kind of force.
Let's first do a head count of Deathwatch Overkill though. The boxed set contains the following miniatures:
1 Genestealer Primus;
1 Genestealer Patriarch;
1 Genestealer Magus and two Familiars;
2 Purestrain Genestealers;
4 Aberrants;
28 Genestealer Hybrids.
From this, we're not going to make a high points level force, but let's see what we can do.
Firstly, we want a Force Commander. To characterise our force, we want to take some Provenances that will resonate with the Genestealer Cult. I think for this, I cannot go past Abhuman Helots (which provides a bonus to toughness, at the expense of initiative) and Tainted Flesh (to provide fear, feel no pain, as well as access to Mutant Spawn -- these will be the Aberrants). The only problem here is the Tainted Flesh. Although I really want to get Mutant Spawn, the fact that we would have to take heaps of Inducted Levy squads makes this a non-starter if we only have one lot of the Deathwatch Overkill Genestealers. Equally, I also want access to Rogue Psykers so we can use the Magus. That means we have to take either Cult Horde or Tainted Flesh. So, we're effectively stuck with one of these. Of these two, Tainted Flesh seems a lot more appropriate, so we will live with this one.
We will represent the Force Commander with the Genestealer Patriarch. Its either him, or the Primus to be honest. We can use the Primus as a squad commander instead, and then take some other squads. Either way, we are looking at buying additional squads from Cadians (or similar) regardless. The only way around this would be to take an army that's just got Abhuman Helots and therein take Grenadiers. We'll look at the separately in the second half of this post.
First Army List:
Force Commander, power weapon (replacing pistol), infra-visor, carapace armour, iron halo, planetary overlord rule; Provenances: Abhuman Helots plus Tainted Flesh (175 points).
The options here have been selected to represent the patriarch. They're all "counts as" in this context rather than WYSIWYG.
Rogue Psyker, Alpha Psyker (60 points).
This one will represent the Magus.
Inducted Level Squad, lascarbines, discipline collars, frag grenades, vexilla, Custodian with hand flamer (90 points).
Sadly, this squad is 20 strong. It will therefore fill up with the vast majority of the hybrids. And we need yet another one of these squads to meet the minimum number of troops.
Inducted Level Squad, lascarbines, discipline collars, frag grenades, vexilla, Custodian with hand flamer (90 points).
We will need to purchase at least 12 other squad members to complete this squad (8 hybrids, plus maybe a box of cadians, the Primus could be thrown in here as the Custodian to take the number down again, and possible the familiars as well?).
Mutant Spawn (85 points).
One squad of 3 spawn. Perhaps this is 2 aberrants plus 1 purestrain?
Mutant Spawn (85 points).
Another purestrain plus 2 aberrants! Obviously we could put these two squads together, but there's no reason to do that.
TOTAL COST = 585 points.
Suitable for an ally perhaps, but little else in 30k!
Alternative Army List:
Force Commander, power weapon (replacing pistol), infra-visor, carapace armour, iron halo, planetary overlord rule; Provenances: Abhuman Helots (140 points).
Again, this will be represented by the Patriarch.
Platoon Command Cadre, Commander with Melta Bombs, Refractor Field, Plasma Pistol, Bodyguards with close combat weapons, 1 extra body guard all with carapace armour (65 points).
These squad members will be represented by the Primus (Commander), Magus (Vox or Standard Bearer); A hybrid as the other out of the Vox or Standard bearer; Purestrains and Familiars as Body Guards.
We now have 27 hybrids and 4 aberrants left. We could use them as follows:
3 Grenadier Squads, Sergeant with Melta Bombs, Power Weapon, 1 Vexilla, Bolt Guns, 2 Melta Guns (145 points)
These will be represented by the Hybrids and Aberrants. One of these 3 squads will take an extra member, for an extra 5 points, making for a total of 440 points.
TOTAL COST = 645 points.
These two army lists are just suggestions of course. And they need a lot of "Counts As" permissions. But I kind of like them. They're not uber effective, so don't expect to win games or tournaments with them. Just enjoy them for what they are: a way to represent Genestealer cults on the battlefields of the Great Crusade potentially!
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