The Chaos Genestealer Cult Was Always a Thing (Part 1 - the beginning)

Picture this: it’s 1990. Wee Dai, the 14-year-old lad has been collecting Games Workshop’s monthly publication White Dwarf magazine for a bit now and casts his eyes across a brand new army that he never conceived could exist – The Genestealer Cult. Mesmerised is a small way to put it, though I’d already committed to both my first 40K love (My sorely missed and now completely currently unloved by GW) Squat army and my Nurgle obsession, so always planned to make a Cult army in the future, yet never did. The army lists (There were two, regular Cult and Chaos Cult) ended up in the 2^nd Rogue Trader expansion, Compilation.

Fast forward 20-something years and GW has really gone and fleshed out the whole idea of what the Genestealer Cult is and their model range is phenomenal. Of course I was suckered in by firstly picking up Warhammer 40K: Kill Team core set which included some of the tasty new Genestealer Cult sculpts. This in turn got my creative juices flowing and so my mind when back to that 14-year-old dream of starting my own Chaos Cult, just like in the White Dwarf. Now, the current Codex doesn’t allow for Chaos versions of a Genestealer Cult, but rules and revamped fluff be damned, I’m doing it anyhow cos they’re MY models.

The original Chaos Cult as featured in White Dwarf that got this all started. I'm planning to stay true to the same colour scheme as best as I can where it's practical. No Limo's though as I'm trying to do this project on the cheap, but there WILL be some transport options for a more modern take.

Close ups of some of the Aulde Cult. There are direct translations to the new entries int he current codex. Sadly though, those cool Beastmen and the Rogue Psyker aren't going to be featured.

So here’s the start of my take on the Chaos Genestealer Cult. It’ll loosely be based off this list from the Compendium:

As you can see there's not a tonne of entries to have to work toward and some of it will need to be switched out for figures I own in my existing collection cos like I said, I'm not in the position to spend out on stuff right now (Unless I can do so on some cheeky Ebay auction or other). The one thing I DO plan to buy are a box of those new plastic Flesh Hounds, but they'll just be added to a unit of Purestrain Genestealers using the same stats for sake of ease. I'm not about to play in tournaments with this army, it's just a "for fun" project that will be used in a campaign a friend and I are planning for next year.

The overall look of the force is also inspired by the art in the old Warhammer 40K Compendium, this image especially grabbed my attention as a lad, just as it does now. Evocative of what horror the Cult and especially a Chaos Cult can bring to any battlefield!

Looks like utter bloody pandemonium eh? That's how like my Chaos. :)

You have seen in my last post, the first two entries of my list, my Magos and the army's Standard Bearer, the Acolyte Iconward - these two are the inspirational figureheads of the Cult. The Magos is a powerful Psyker and the Iconward buffs nearby units greatly.

Next up I assembled a small 5-man unit of Acolyte Hybrids, 4 armed with hand flamers and the last with a Heavy Rock Saw. Coming in from ambush, this small squad will pack a punch and should be able to deal with most light to medium targets with ease. These will represent the 1st and 2nd Generation Hybrids in my force.

Next up is another venerable leader, my Primus. Where the Magos is a mistress of intrigue and manipulation, the Primus is the martial mastermind behind the Cult. Whilst the official sculpt for the Primus is by no means a bad sculpt, I already had a plan for making my own once GW released their special Imperial Guard character, Severina Raine. I wanted my army to have a martial background (More appropriate for worshipers of Khorne I think.) so felt a Primus who was a former Imperial Guard Commissar sounded way cooler!

The finished model is basically just Raine with Khorne trophy poles, a Bloodletter (Lesser Daemon) sword in place of her regular saber and a Hybrid's arm carved up a bit and glued to the underside of her left arm. The rules show a Primus as wielding a Needle Pistol, but I really like the sculpt-standard bolt pistol she comes with so I'm leaving that alone. I think she makes for quite a cool and dynamic looking character and am excited to get paint on her over all the models I've previewed for this project thus far.

Still lots to go though as I have units of Brood Brother Infantry (Traitor Imperial Guard) and Weapon Teams, their transport vehicles, some Neophyte Hybrids (3rd and 4th Generation) and one more character to add.

Watch this space!