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Genestealer Cults Preview: The Achilles Ridgerunner

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Last week, we treated you to a glimpse of the exciting future that awaits the Genestealer Cults in the form of a preview of a brand-new character, the Biophagus. Today. we’ve got another sneak preview for you, and it’s an absolute belter – the Achilles Ridgerunner!

What are Achilles Ridgerunners?

Achilles Ridgerunners are traditionally employed by mining guilds and geological surveyors as exploration vehicles. Their pilots range into hazardous frontier environments to scan for promising resource deposits and communicate their location back to base.

Although not specifically designed for military use, like so many of the utilitarian machines favoured by the Genestealer Cults, these rugged vehicles have proven remarkably effective as outriders and scout vehicles.

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The heavy mining lasers mounted on the Achilles Ridgerunners are typically used to unearth rich seams of valuable minerals and rare metals, but these powerful beams can just as easily be utilised to sear through the armoured hulls of vehicles or other high-value targets of choice. As is their practice, the warriors of the Genestealer Cults have learned to supplement this fearsome weapon with additional firepower in the form of heavy stubbers.

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Outriders of the Insurrection

On the battlefield, Achilles Ridgerunners act as excellent vanguard strike vehicles, able to put the enemy on the back foot right from the start with their Scout Vehicle ability:

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The vehicle is armed with a pair of heavy stubbers, but its primary armament of heavy mining laser can be switched out for a missile launcher or even a heavy mortar.

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Each Achilles Ridgerunner also has repurposed surveying equipment as standard, the default option being flare launchers, which offer a handy mix of self-preservation and a burst of speed for a nearby unit of Cult Bikers.

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Instead of flare launchers, you can customise your Ridgerunners with a survey augur that robs the enemy of cover, or a spotter who increases the range of the vehicle’s ranged weapons.

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If you like the idea of driving around in a rugged off-road vehicle alongside a swarm of bikers, all the while blasting targets into slag with an industrial-grade laser (or your explosive delivery system of choice), don’t worry – you won’t have long to wait. After all, Ascension Day is almost upon us, and the Genestealer Cults will soon be getting their clawed hands on all manner of cool new units like the Achilles Ridgerunner.

Until then, why not kickstart your collection with a bang with some Genestealer Cults Neophytes and Acolyte Hybrids, or reinforce your existing host with a Genestealer Cults Leman Russ for some hefty fire support?

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6 minutes ago, Brother Glacius said:

Love the models. Really like the direction they are going with for GSC. I also like how even the smaller vehicles in 8th are survivable past a single hit. Makes them worthwhile for the first time in ages. This army is going to drain my wallet.

Land Speeders still fold like silk handkerchiefs, being T5 / 3+ / W6 and they Explode! 

But, for the most part, I’m quite happy with the way this edition treats light vehicles.

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14 minutes ago, Sgt. Rock said:

Y'know, I'm not huge on most of the GSC stuff, but their vehicles are real winners for me. I might have to give them some consideration down the road...

I want to pick up a Goliath (or two), some Servohaulers, and maybe some of these new Ridgerunners and demilitarize them. Turning them back into civilian vehicles, they’d make great terrain for Kill Team or Cityfight.

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3 hours ago, Ish said:

I want to pick up a Goliath (or two), some Servohaulers, and maybe some of these new Ridgerunners and demilitarize them. Turning them back into civilian vehicles, they’d make great terrain for Kill Team or Cityfight.

I'm planning on making the weapons and crew on mine removable, so I can just use them as Terrain for KT or Necromunda or whatever.

More generally, this release just keeps looking better and better. Can't wait to get my hands on them, even tho I already have way too many projects going already.

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Genestealer Cults: Rules Preview – Part 1

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The Day of Ascension is almost upon us – Codex: Genestealer Cults is up for pre-order this Saturday! To celebrate, we’ll be taking a look at some of the amazing new content in the codex over the course of the coming week – be sure to check back regularly for your daily dose of Genestealer Cults goodness.

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But before we go any further, we’ve got some insights from the brains behind Codex: Genestealer Cults.

There are a number of advantages to being a hypnotically indoctrinated army of alien hybrids. Let’s take a look at their army-wide abilities.

Unquestioning Loyalty

The Genestealer Cults have always had some iconic and powerful Characters, and this upcoming release more than doubles the choices available to you. As of this weekend, you will have a huge choice of new characters to field, each providing useful bonuses and abilities to augment your army. Where this army has the edge over other factions that benefit from a large cast of supporting Characters (such as the Astra Militarum or Harlequins) is that the Genestealer Cults Characters are very difficult to eliminate while surrounded by their loyal kin.

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Essentially, each time one of your Characters fails a saving throw or suffers a mortal wound, and is within 3″ of a friendly Genestealer Cults unit with the Unquestioning Loyalty ability, you can roll a dice. On a roll of 4+, a model from the nearby unit is slain but your Character remains unharmed! This is a huge advantage* for lightly armoured characters who may otherwise be prime targets for enemy sniper units. Should your precious Character suffer a few wounds despite this, it’s nothing that the Hyber-metabolism Stratagem can’t fix!

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Cult Ambush

This ability is at the very heart of everything it means to field the Genestealer Cults in battle. It represents the culmination of all the cult’s cunning machinations and careful planning that has led them to this battlefield. Cult Ambush gives you all the tools you need to start every battle on the front foot** – if you can maintain the momentum, victory will surely be yours.

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The ability takes two forms according to how you choose to set up your units, so let’s take a quick look at each.

Setting Up Underground: During deployment, you can set up Infantry and Bike units with the Cult Ambush ability underground. At the end of any of your Movement phases, some or all of these units can emerge anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9″ from enemy models. The freedom you’ll have to suddenly strike your opponent’s forces in great force from any direction will cause mayhem with their battleplans.

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Setting Up in Ambush: Were you wondering what those 28 ‘blip’ counters that come with the codex were for? They are, in fact, Cult Ambush markers designed to help you play horrible mind games with your opponent as you set up!

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Instead of setting up a unit underground or on the battlefield, you can choose to place an ambush marker anywhere within your deployment zone. You can place a marker for each unit you choose to set up an ambush – even Transports and larger Vehicles such as a Cult Leman Russ can be set up in this manner! The crucial detail here is that you don’t need to assign which units are represented by each ambush marker – you can decide that later. There is also a sneaky Stratagem that enables you to place additional ambush markers to further confound your opponent.

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If you have the first turn, you reveal all of your ambush markers at the start of your first Movement phase. If your opponent goes first, you instead reveal all of your ambush markers at the end of their first Movement phase, and they cannot move anywhere within 9″ of any ambush markers beforehand.

These markers are revealed one at a time – each time you do so, you select one unit from your army that you set up in ambush, then set up one model from that unit within 1″ of that ambush marker, followed by any other models in the unit. All units set up in this manner must be wholly within your deployment zone – that is, unless you further mess with your opponent by changing the nature of your ambush.

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Through cunning use of Cult Ambush, you can effortlessly deny a flanking manoeuvre, pull back from a charge threat, or force mismatches on your opponent once they have committed their forces to battle. Alternatively, you can press your early advantage, assailing your opponent with coordinated attacks and savaging their forces from the outset with a large horde of Purestrain Genestealers thanks to this utterly devastating Stratagem.

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It’s fair to say that the Genestealer Cults have the ability to play in a manner quite unlike any other Warhammer 40,000 faction. If you’re looking to pre-ordering your codex – or a Limited Edition or Special Edition of the book – you can do so from this Saturday!

* Somewhat less of an advantage for the unfortunate (in)human shield.
** Or claw, depending on hybrid generation.

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3 minutes ago, Kelharis said:

I wonder how deployment works for the 9" rule. Can I infiltrate deploy within 9" of an ambush token? If I can, and I go first, am I prevented from moving at all that turn, since I'm already violating the 9" cant move into zone?

Hopefully, this is addressed in more detail in the final book than in the marketing preview. I would guess we’ll probably just treat the “blip” as if it was an enemy unit...

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1 hour ago, Ish said:

Oh, please, like anyone in the Games Workshop fandom has ever let “logic” and “reason” stop them from complaining about something GW did (or did not) do.

The blip is removed at the end of the opponent's First Movement phase or at the end of the GSC turn... This is going to definitely be my second faction after orks

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