Genestealer Cults: Xenocult Masses Detachment Guide (11th Edition)

Of the nine, this is the one we recommend a new Genestealer Cults player takes first, for three reasons that compound.

It uses the models you will buy first. Neophyte Hybrids are the faction's cheap Battleline infantry and the bulk of any entry purchase. A detachment whose rule, all three stratagems and one of its two enhancements name NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS is a detachment you can field on day one.

It is the cheapest faction in the faction to lose. Neophyte Hybrids cost 3 Resurgence points for ten models and 6 for twenty, which is the lowest price on the army rule's cost table. A Xenocult Masses list can afford to lose squads all game, and the army rule brings them back at full strength.

It teaches the right habit. The detachment rule pays you for standing in terrain on objectives. That is exactly what wins games of 11th edition, and it is exactly what a new player with a horde army is most tempted not to do.

The honest limitation: it does nothing for anything that is not a Neophyte Hybrids unit. Your Aberrants, Genestealers, characters and vehicles get nothing from this detachment at all. That is fine at 1 DP, and it is why this detachment is nearly always half of an army rather than all of one.

Three stratagems, all 1 CP, all restricted to NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS, and two of the three have a terrain condition that is stricter than it looks.

Eyes of the Cult fires at the start of your Shooting phase, targets one Neophyte Hybrids unit within a terrain area, and gives enemy units within that terrain area +6 inch detection range. Note the shape: it does not help your unit shoot. It makes the enemy easier for your whole army to see. Spend it before the shooting that matters, not during it, and spend it when the enemy is packed into one ruin rather than spread across three.

Fanatical Hail fires when a Neophyte Hybrids unit is selected to shoot: select one enemy unit, and your unit's ranged attacks against it can re-roll hit rolls. Full re-rolls, not re-rolls of 1. On a twenty-model Neophyte block that is the single largest damage swing available to this detachment, and it has no terrain condition at all.

Slunk from the Underbelly fires in your opponent's Shooting phase when an enemy targets a Neophyte Hybrids unit with every model within a terrain area, and gives ranged attacks against your unit -1 Armour Penetration until that unit has attacked. The every model condition is the thing players get wrong: one model hanging out of the ruin turns the stratagem off entirely. Deploy the squad wholly inside the terrain footprint or do not budget for this stratagem.

Two enhancements at 15 points each, and like Purestrain Broodswarm's pair, one is a unit upgrade and one is a character enhancement.

Devious Disguises (15 pts) is an Upgrade, NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS unit only, giving that unit -3 inch detection range. It is the cheapest way in the faction to make a large infantry block harder to see, and it stacks with the cover this detachment already wants you standing in.

Inspired to Greatness (15 pts) is MAGUS or PRIMUS model only and lets that unit's attacks re-roll damage rolls. Re-rolling damage is unusual and its value depends entirely on what the unit is carrying: it is worth a great deal on variable-damage special weapons and almost nothing on a block of flat-damage autoguns. Put it on the character leading the squad that carries your special weapons.

Neophyte Hybrids, in blocks, standing in ruins. The detachment rule, all three stratagems and the Devious Disguises upgrade name them and nothing else.

Magus. One of the two legal Inspired to Greatness carriers, and worth noting for a second reason: if you pair into Xenocreed Congregation, a Magus leading a hybrid squad unlocks that detachment's Feel No Pain 3+ clause.

Primus. The other Inspired to Greatness carrier. Its Cult Demagogue ability was rewritten in this pack: while it is leading a unit, each time a model in that unit makes an attack, you can add 1 to the Hit roll. That stacks directly with Fanatical Hail's re-rolls, and it is a much larger effect than the old wording.

We link no box for any of them. Our catalog holds no Genestealer Cults single-unit box at all.

Pairing. At 1 DP this pairs with all five 2 DP detachments for exactly 3 DP, and with either other 1 DP detachment. The most cohesive is Xenocreed Congregation, covered on its own page, because both detachments buff the same hybrid infantry from opposite directions. The one thing you cannot do is pair it with Host of Ascension, which carries the same HOSTS tag, although at 4 DP that pairing is out of budget at Strike Force anyway.