This section of Codex:
Genestealer Cults lists wargear (including
Melee Weapons,
Ranged Weapons,
Special Issue Wargear,
Sacred Relics of the Cult,
Cult Psychic Powers,
Broodmind Discipline and
Cult Vehicle Equipment) used by Genestealer Cults, along with the rules for using them in your games of Warhammer 40,000.
Profiles for the following melee weapons can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
| Grown from the Patriarch’s osseous throne, boneswords are sentient weapons that thirst for the psychic energies of the cults’ adversaries. |
Life Drain:
Any
To Wound roll of 6 made with this weapon has the
Instant Death special rule.
| The hydraulic shears of heavy rock cutters were designed to free trapped mine workers from industrial accidents. When the cult rises up, however, their irresistible grip is used not to save, but to kill. |
Snip:
When a model suffers one or more unsaved Wounds from this weapon, it must pass a separate
Toughness test for each Wound suffered or be removed from play.
| The heavy rock drill is modified by the hybrids so it can be carried into battle as a weapon. Its triple grinders can turn even the stoutest enemy champion to gory gobbets of flesh. |
Pulverise:
When a model with a heavy rock drill makes its close combat attacks, it can instead make a single pulverise attack. If it does so, roll
To Hit as normal, but resolve the attack at Strength 10 AP1.
| The blades of the heavy rock saw are designed to cut through dense boulders of ore - when the time of war comes, they slice through the hulls of enemy vehicles as easily as a butcher slices through meat. |
| Favoured hybrids may be blessed with this symbiotic pairing of bio-weapons, making them even more lethal at close quarters. |
Lash:
A model equipped with a weapon with this special rule has a +3 bonus to its Initiative during the
Fight sub-phase.
Life Drain:
Any
To Wound roll of 6 made with this weapon has the
Instant Death special rule.
| Metamorph Hybrids bristle with bio-weaponry. The obscenely strong Metamorph claws can mangle flesh and armour in a single spasming grasp. The whips borne by these creatures are cords of muscle that thrash about at frightening speeds, whereas Metamorph talons are long, razor-edged claws of serrated chitin. |
Crush:
A model equipped with a Metamorph claw has a +2 bonus to its Strength during the
Fight sub-phase.
Lash:
A model equipped with a weapon with this special rule has a +3 bonus to its Initiative during the
Fight sub-phase.
Scythe:
A model equipped with a Metamorph talon has a +1 bonus to its Weapon Skill during the
Fight sub-phase. A model equipped with two Metamorph talons has a +2 bonus to its Weapon Skill during the Fight sub-phase instead.
| The claws of a Patriarch are so impossibly sharp that they can tear effortlessly through steel and ceramite, as well as flesh and bone. |
| Aberrants use these weapons on those they can catch, each swing crushing torsos and breaking spines in a burst of disruptive energy. |
| Power picks are simple enough in design. They bear a low-quality disruption field powerful enough to shatter ceramite like glass. |
| The tips of these claws can tear through armour as if it were clay. |
| Scything talons are long, razor-edged claws of serrated chitin. |
| Range |
S |
AP |
Type |
| - |
User |
6 |
Melee |
Profiles for the following ranged weapons can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
| The clearance incinerator is a massive, multi-chambered heavy flamer able to turn a landslide to molten slurry. |
| Improvised from powerful explosives taken from mining operations, the demolition charges can even tear open a battle tank. |
| Grenade launchers can fire a range of deadly rounds. |
Leman Russ Turret Weapons
| Leman Russ are extremely versatile battle tanks, able to mount a variety of lethal ordnance in their primary turret. |
| When their range limiters are short-circuited, the mining lasers of guilds make powerful weapons. |
|
Range |
S |
AP |
Type |
| Mining laser |
24" |
9 |
2 |
Heavy 1 |
| Heavy mining laser |
36" |
9 |
2 |
Heavy 1 |
| Mortar barrages can swiftly slaughter tightly packed enemy infantry formations. |
| The needle pistol is a status symbol as well as a weapon. It fires a tiny dart coated in a number of virulent poisons - its stinging shot may feel like a pinprick, but its toxins can stop a charging Ork dead in its tracks. |
| The distinctive pronged muzzle of a seismic cannon sends out pulsed bow waves of sonic force that can shiver a basilica wall into rubble, or turn the internal organs of living targets to mush. |
A shot from a seismic weapon has a different profile depending on how far the target is from the firer. Use the weapon’s first profile if the closest model in the target unit is less than 12” away, and use the second if the target is more than 12” away. If it is not clear which profile to use, the controlling player chooses.
Resonance:
To Wound rolls and
Armour Penetration rolls of 6 made with a weapon this special rule are always resolved at AP1.
| Web weapons are popular amongst the gangs of the Imperium, for they can be set to entrap prized victims. In times of war, the wide-muzzled Andreloid pattern webber is favoured - the tough, sticky strands it hurls at its targets constrict on contact with air, throttling or suffocating those trapped in their cloying embrace. |
Cocooned:
The AP value of a Wound caused by this weapon is equal to the current Strength characteristic of the model it was allocated to.
For example, if a Wound from a web weapon was allocated to a Space Marine (Strength 4) that wound is resolved at AP4. Against vehicles, or models with a Strength of 7 or more, this weapon is AP-.
| Created from scavenged detonators and low-end demolition gear, the short-fused blasting charges used by Genestealer Cultists can be hurled into the enemy ranks to sow death and disruption ahead of a concerted assault. |
Blasting charges follow the rules for
assault grenades, as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.
| The power of the cult’s icon is not to be underestimated. Symbolising the faith of the cultists that bear that same symbol upon their flesh, its presence focusses the aggression of the devoted to a razor edge. |
All models in a unit with the cult icon have +1 Weapon Skill whilst the bearer is alive.
| Though small, the hissing familiars attracted to the side of the Patriarch and the Magus are swift, vicious, and eerily strong. |
In close combat, a model with a Genestealer familiar makes two additional Strength 4 AP- attacks with the
Rending special rule. A Genestealer familiar is represented by a separate miniature that always remains as close as possible to its master. The model itself is purely decorative, and is ignored for game purposes - just move it to one side if it gets in the way. Remove the familiar once its master has been slain.
| The sight of a cult’s banner flying in the hot breeze of war stirs the soul of the Patriarch’s chosen. Such rapture can send the devoted throng into a frenzy of contempt for the unblessed adversary. |
Friendly units that have the Genestealer Cult Faction and are within 12” of a model equipped with a sacred cult banner have the
Furious Charge special rule.
| The tubes of a toxin injector coat a Primus’ claws in deadly poisons - a mere scratch from such a talon can quickly prove fatal. |
If a model with a toxin injector fights using his rending claws, those attacks have the
Poisoned special rule.
Sacred Relics of the Cult
The strange artefacts held sacred by the Genestealer Cults all have some measure of alien power imbued in them by the gestalt Broodmind of their bearers. Only one of each of the following relics may be chosen per army.
A model may replace his ranged or
Melee weapon with one of the following:
1 Magus only.
2 Acolyte Iconward only. Replaces sacred cult banner.
3 Primus only. Replaces bonesword.
Dagger of Swift Sacrifice
| Those who work to hinder or reveal the cult are killed in long and painful ritual sacrifices to better appease the Patriarch, often using a weaponised form of the cult’s symbol. The Dagger of Swift Sacrifice was devised not for a protracted kill, however, but a near- instantaneous one, the toxin-crystals upon its blade potent enough to kill even a Clawed Fiend with a single scratch. |
When it makes its close combat attacks, a model with the Dagger of Swift Sacrifice can instead make a single attack,
rolling To Hit as normal, using the following profile:
Icon of the Cult Ascendant
| Cast in blood-blessed platinum, its wyrmforms polished to a high sheen, the Icon of the Cult Ascendant has been bathed in the psychic energies of the Broodmind. The relic adorned the back of the Great Patriarch’s throne for many centuries, soaking up his sheer otherness until it imbued every mote of metal and scrap of oiled cloth. As the time of war comes to pass, the icon is detached from its resting place with the greatest of care and given to the cult’s foremost Iconward. Those who fight in its shadow find the power of the Broodmind thrilling through their veins. |
Friendly units that have the Genestealer Cult Faction and are within 12” of a model equipped with the Icon of the Cult Ascendant have the
Furious Charge special rule and can re-roll failed
Morale,
Pinning and
Fear tests. In addition, models in the same unit as the Icon of the Cult Ascendant have +1 Attack whilst the bearer is alive.
| The Brotherhood of Distant Stars whispers of the Scourge - a void- cold sentience that moves from weapon to weapon, aiding the wielder as he lays low the fool and the unbeliever. Whether it inhabits the blade of an Acolyte Iconward or the bonesword of a Primus is of little import - whosoever threatens the wielder will find their life sapping from a mortal wound as soon as they raise their blade. |
If the bearer is involved in a
challenge, their opponent must pass a
Toughness test before any attacks are made. If the test is failed, that model immediately suffers a Wound with no saves of any kind allowed, and a -1 penalty to both their Initiative and Attacks (to a minimum of 1) until the end of the phase. The Scourge of Distant Stars has no effect on
vehicles.
Staff of the Subterran Master
| Capped by a sculpture of a Tyranid godform, the Staff of the Subterran Master resonates with animalistic power. Its strange psychic allure gives the wielder the ability to cause the very vermin of the land to rise up - poisonous worms, biting spiders, milliasaurs and plague rats boil from cracks in the ground to assail the enemy even as the cult streams through the streets. |
Instead of shooting normally, the bearer can use the Staff of the Subterran Master to make a shooting attack with the following profile:
| The sentience within the Sword of the Void’s Eye is far more intelligent than its wielder, for within it lies a portion of the Hive Mind. The bio-fleet descending upon the host planet uses the eyes of the sword to spy on the populace and sample the thoughts of those whose blood it tastes. When laid at rest it will slither out a thin tongue that curls and twists in the dust, analysing the dead skin cells of the populace and gleaning vital bio-secrets for the invasion to come. |
Bio-sentience:
The bearer can re-roll all
To Hit and
To Wound rolls of 1 when attacking with this weapon.
Life Drain:
Any
To Wound roll of 6 made with this weapon has the
Instant Death special rule.
| The most favoured of cults are visited by the Crouchling a skittering familiar that talks in a high, reedy voice. Though small and weak of limb, the Crouchling is a powerful psychic presence, able to cast hypnotic spells and visit mind-wracking hallucinations upon those who earn its master’s ire. |
In close combat, a model accompanied by the Crouchling makes two additional Strength 4 AP- attacks with the
Rending special rule. In addition, the bearer can
generate one additional psychic power at the start of the game.
The Crouchling is represented by a separate miniature that always remains as close as possible to its master. The model itself is purely decorative, and is ignored for game purposes - just move it to one side if it gets in the way. Remove the Crouchling once its master has been slain.
The Patriarch and Magus of a Genestealer Cult are potent psykers, able to use their formidable powers to bend others to their will. This mental dominance not only ensures that the gestalt consciousness of the cult’s masses serves as one, but can also be channelled to crush those that would oppose their plans before they reach fruition.
(Primaris Power)
| The psyker’s eyes glow strangely as he casts his gaze across his chosen victims, his mental dominion putting them into a trance-like state so the cult can take them apart at leisure. |
Warp Сharge:
1
Mass Hypnosis is a
malediction that targets a single enemy unit within 24”. Whilst this power is in effect, the target’s Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Initiative and Attacks are all reduced by 1, to a minimum of 1.
1
| The unknowable power of the cult’s gestalt soul flows into the psyker’s chosen instruments, spurring them into a religious frenzy that sees them attack with hyperactive speed. |
Warp Сharge:
1
Psychic Stimulus is a
blessing that targets a single friendly unit within 24” that is not
locked in combat. Whilst the power is in effect, the target unit has the
Relentless and
Fleet special rules. In addition, the target can charge even if it
Ran during its preceding
Shooting phase.
2
| The psyker focusses the alien hatred of his kind into a blaze of pallid energies. Where his gaze falls, the enemy are consumed - the last thing they hear is a shrill screech of triumph. |
Warp Сharge:
1
Psionic Blast is a
witchfire power with the following profile:
3
| An alien strength lurks in every being that carries the Genestealer Curse. With a low whisper that rises to a scream, the psyker amplifies this hidden might, and his followers are swollen with empowering energy born of the void itself. |
Warp Сharge:
1
Might from Beyond is a
blessing that targets a friendly unit within 24”. Whilst this power is in effect, all models in the target unit add 1 to their Strength characteristic and gain the
Rage special rule.
4
| The psyker, well used to forcing his will upon those who would resist him, intensifies his hypnotic power to such a degree it can cause a victim’s brain to swell to bursting point inside his skull. |
Warp Сharge:
2
Mental Onslaught is a
focussed witchfire power with a range of 24”. Both the
Psyker and the target model roll a dice and add their respective Leadership values. If the scores are drawn, the target model suffers a -3 penalty to its Initiative until the end of the following turn. If the Psyker’s score is higher, the target also suffers a number of Wounds equal to the difference between the two scores. No
armour or
cover saves are allowed against Wounds caused by Mental Onslaught.
5
| Palsied fingers twitch and facial muscles spasm as the psyker’s chosen mark is taken over completely. Relegated to a mere passenger within his own body, he is forced to witness his own traitorous actions as he opens fire upon his trusted comrades. |
Warp Сharge:
2
Mind Control is a
focussed witchfire power that targets a single non-vehicle unit within 24” that is not
locked in combat. The target immediately makes a shooting attack exactly as if it were one of your own models. The model cannot make an attack that would cause it to hit itself or its own unit in any way. After resolving the shooting attack, the mind-controlled model immediately reverts to the
owning player’s control.
6
| With a keening cry the psyker draws his kindred from the hidden places of the world. The summons, heard in the soul as much as the senses, awakens a dormant brood that has lain long in hibernation, patiently awaiting their master’s call to war. |
Warp Сharge:
2 or 3
Each time this psychic power is used, choose whether it will have a
Warp Charge cost of 2 or 3. The choice must be made before the
Psychic test is taken. Telepathic Summons is a
conjuration that creates a
single unit; if
manifested at Warp Charge 2 it creates one of the following units (your choice):
5
Acolyte Hybrids, 5
Hybrid Metamorphs or 10
Neophyte Hybrids. If manifested at Warp Charge 3 it instead creates one of the following units (your choice): 10 Acolyte Hybrids, 10 Hybrid Metamorphs, 4
Aberrants, 8
Purestrain Genestealers or 20 Neophyte Hybrids. In any case, these units can be equipped with any upgrades listed on their datasheet, but they cannot include any extra models or take a
Dedicated Transport. These units always arrive using the
Cult Ambush special rule instead of arriving via
Deep Strike.
Profiles for the following cult vehicle equipment can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
Cache of Demolition Charges
| Some Cult vehicles have caches of explosives, smuggled in hidden compartments or under stretched tarpaulins, which can be hurled into the fray at need. The risk of these devices detonating should the vehicle sustain a solid hit is as nothing to the devoted crew. |
In the
Shooting phase, one model embarked upon a
vehicle equipped with demolition charges can choose to throw one instead of firing its normal weapon, using the profile shown below:
However, each time a vehicle equipped with demolition charges suffers a
penetrating hit, roll a dice. On the roll of a 1, the vehicle suffers a further Strength 8 AP2 hit after any initial damage has been resolved.
| The giant, jutting plough of the drilldozer blade makes the Goliath Rockgrinder an unstoppable force. Grinding forward with the power of high-octane engines behind it, its whirring cutter arrays can tear apart living prey in a squall of spraying blood. |
A
vehicle with a drilldozer blade automatically passes
Dangerous Terrain tests.
When a vehicle with a drilldozer blade
Rams an enemy vehicle, add an extra D6 to the Strength of the hit. If the Ram causes a
penetrating hit, add 1 to the result on the
vehicle damage table.
When a vehicle with a drilldozer blade performs a
Tank Shock, each enemy unit that the vehicle reaches must take an
Initiative test before taking a
Morale check. If the Initiative test is passed the unit avoids the whirring cutters, but if it is failed the unit immediately suffers D3 Strength 10 AP2 hits. If an enemy unit makes a
Death or Glory attack on a vehicle with a drilldozer and fails to stop the vehicle, the unit suffers an additional D3 Strength 10 AP2 hits in addition to the damage they normally suffer for the failed attack. Hits from a drilldozer blade are
Randomly Allocated.
