A New Breed: Genestealers and Broodlord

Genestealers. Good ol' Genestealers. Once, they were some of the most terrifying close combat troops in the entire game; while they no longer hold that title, they are still plenty dangerous and are excellent for wiping out elite troops like Space Marines. They took some small nerfs in the new codex (no more widespread availability of Preferred Enemy or grenades), but they are significantly cheaper and have a few new tricks- they also get Infiltrate for free, which is a huge boon.

At the same time, they are very fragile (and make no mistake, this is not a change- that 4+ save wasn't helping them much before), so it takes more than "place 15 'Stealers on table, win" to use them effectively.


First off, let's get a few things out of the way: 'Stealer Shock is not a particularly good army. It's not unplayable, but it isn't very effective, either. Second, outflanking with them is a trap; you NEED the reroll to board edge to be effective (a 33% chance to do nothing even after you've made your reserves roll is bad, m'kay?), and the only way to get that is the Swarmlord- at which point you're looking at even more complications. So maybe you can make it work in 2000pts or higher, but it's going to be a real juggling act.

With that out of the way, what are Genestealers good at? Close combat, duh, but more specifically than that they are excellent for taking down 2+ and 3+ save troops, ideally out of cover. (Note that 2+/3++ guys are a bit too much for them, so you're better off throwing something expendable at those instead.) With Fleet and Infiltrate, they are practically guaranteed a turn 2 charge if the opponent does anything. T4 gives them reasonable survivability, but 5+ save means you need to be hanging out in cover all the time. Like, ALL the time.

What are they bad at? Killing vehicles. Transports are the bane of Genestealers, protecting their tasty occupants from getting charged and driving away when they get close. They also have a strong dislike for Dreadnoughts, who can tear through a squad of them with little fear of being hurt. So if you want to use 'Stealers, it is imperative that you make sure the rest of your list is capable of dealing with the tanks so that they can focus on doing what they do best. Yes, it is possible to destroy tanks with Rending, but doing so leaves you clumped up right next to the enemy, which will cause a lot of casualties from the explosion and/or ensuing blasts/templates.

So the first thing we need to look at is "What units support our Genestealers well?" Genestealers are a very aggressive unit- this is NOT the just same thing as saying they are a melee unit. Genestealers put your opponent on a very short clock to deal with them, which means they usually draw the majority of the fire early in the game. If you want to use them effectively, pick other aggressive units that will make the opponent have some tough decisions about what to kill. This tends to push a list further towards being melee-oriented, but as noted above, it's very, very important not to neglect shooting units to take down vehicles as well. As always, Hive Guard are an excellent option here, but Lictors can be used to put the enemy in an awkward position as well (since they have reasonable shooting and excellent melee), and Harpies are similarly fast and add some very accurate suppression. Tyrannofexes and Hive Tyrants (with or without wings) can add some more melee support and shooting as well as bringing other benefits to the list. Trygons really add to the "in your face" attitude, as do Raveners and Shrikes. Lastly, Hormagaunts and Gargoyles give you some good expendable units to throw at targets while still retaining speed.

When it comes to upgrades for Genestealers, there aren't really a lot of choices to make. Toxin Sacs are a must- you should absolutely never, under any circumstances, fail to take them. A reroll to wound against virtually everything, combined with Rending, is absolutely golden, because it significantly boosts your number of rending hits. Against MCs, the 4+ to wound combined with excellent WS, I, A, and (and, of course, Rending) is genuinely frightening to them. In short, it is a rare type of beast that does not fear Toxin Sacs, and at 3pts/head they are quite a deal. Scything Talons, in comparison, are rather trashy and can safely be ignored- Rending is where you do most of your damage, so increasing your number of hits is not nearly so useful as upping your percentage of rends.

The big question is "Should I take a Broodlord?" Unfortunately, it's not an easy one to answer. The straight, simple answer might be "no," because three more Genestealers (which is slightly more than what he costs) will perform worlds better than him and bring more survivability to boot. However, there are a couple things that the Broodlord does well- first off, he is an excellent character assassin. While normal 'Stealers will chop up all but the toughest of characters, a Broodlord will utterly neuter them with his ability to shut down a single model (also handy against Power Fists.) He also can take Talons for cheap (worth it if you have 2pts free) and Implant Attack, which makes his Rending hits kill automatically- yes, ICs, Nobz, MCs, etc, all hate this guy. He also brings some utility against a Dreadnought, always at least glancing them (and usually penetrating) when he Rends- don't go so far as to think that this makes them "good" against Dreads, though. His other power, which gives -1 to Ld checks, is far less useful; it tilts combat resolution slightly in your favor and can make Orders and a few other tricks a bit harder for the enemy, but is hardly a standout. So should you take him? Well would you rather be better at killing things in general (then ignore him) or more resilient to Flamers and characters (take the 'Lord)? Also, do you have enough MCs to deal with Dreadnoughts? If not, going for the 'Lord is a decent pick.

We'll finish things off with a pair of lists here.

1750 Tyranids
1 Hive Tyrant (Wings, HVC, Old Adversary)
2 Lictors
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
9 Genestealers (Toxin)
9 Genestealers (Toxin)
8 Genestealers (Toxin)
8 Genestealers (Toxin)
20 Gargoyles
1 Harpy (HVC)
1 Harpy (HVC)

Wait, I said 'Stealer Shock was dead, didn't I? Indeed, and this is something altogether different. With four reasonable-sized units you stand a reasonable chance of hiding one of them out of LOS to aim for a first turn charge. Three flying MCs with a Gargoyle screen and five suppression/AT platforms give you a pretty good chance of getting in close to cause some havoc- against most armies, you will be charging with nearly everything on the second turn, third at the latest. Against foot armies... well, you'll crush them pretty badly, since they have no possible way to escape you. You could easily drop the Tyrant for a Prime or two to hang with the Hive Guard and save some points, not to mention increasing the rather low Synapse count. Fortunately, you are mostly independent of it, but scoring objectives may be a bit tough. Aim to take the ones on your opponent's side and keep them from having a chance to go after yours.

1750 Tyranids
1 Tyranid Prime (LW/BS, Toxin)
1 Tyranid Prime (LW/BS, Toxin)
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
3 Zoanthrope
20 Hormagaunts
10 Termagants
1 Tervigon (Cluster, Onslaught)
8 Genestealers (Toxin)
8 Genestealers (Toxin)
5 Raveners
1 Trygon (Adrenal)
1 Trygon (Adrenal)

A little bit hodge-podge, but there's some method behind the madness. Everything intends to move forward every turn- Onslaught lets you push the Guard or Zoeys into range if things are close. We have several different melee threats for different purposes- Raveners and Hormagaunts for hordes, Trygons and 'Stealers for MEQs. We don't bother with AG/TS on the Tervigon because we really don't want to be sending it (or its babies) into fights- while the rest of the army applies pressure, they stick back and quietly take our side of the board. Raveners are also for tying up backline assets and could be replaced by a Harpy (for suppression) or Shrikes (for anti-MEQ choppy.)