The TRUE Origins of the Genestealer Cults | Building Warhammer Armies
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- čas přidán 13. 06. 2024
- Tracing the development history of one of the most insidious factions in the 40k universe!
The Genestealer has been present in Warhammer 40,0004 since the very beginning, but it has evolved and changed over time. Space Hulk made them into the best bad guy in the galaxy, whilst Advanced Space Crusade put them in league with the Tyranids, and then with Jes Goodwin’s hybrid Citadel Miniatures and White Dwarf’s incredible series of articles the Genestealer Cults emerged as an insidious Lovecraftian threat to the Imperium. Alas, they disappeared into the shadows for the better part of 20 years before making an incredible return in more recent years thanks to Deathwatch Overkill and a brand new Codex.
Building Warhammer Armies: Genestealer Cults
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References, Sources, and Links:
[More QA with Rick Priestley / Reddit / Baron Bifford]
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[Codex: Genestealer Cults - Developer Showcase / Facebook]
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[The Stuff of Legends - Citadel Miniatures Archive]
solegends.com/citrt2/index.htm
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Is this a good time to talk to you about the four armed emperor and what the starchildren can do for you?
The more likely place for the limousine to reappear is in necromunda ash wastes now that there are dedicated genestealers models for that game
That would be fantastic
Modern Necromunda has been very cool with re-animating some of the more obscure and out-there elements of early 40k. I wouldn't put re-interpreting the GSC Limousine for the Ash Wastes or Hive Secundus beyond them, and I'm all here for it.
I don’t understand how Ichar IV was 29 years ago. That would make me 40 years old.
Equally as baffled!!
i gave the Crimson Fists quite a few defeats with my cult in that one.
Ikr?
Oh god don’t even
I seem to be 45 now. Can confirm that Ichar IV was only a couple years ago.
The limousine was one of the coolest things I'd seen when I saw it in White Dwarf. I didn't realise it was scratch-built at the time
Currently building my first genestealer army, but I remember first encountering them in the Citadel Journal 3rd edition list. I remember how strongly the accompanying text emphasised that this is a really difficult army to use and that you'll basically get slaughtered most of the time and I thought that this was a really big signifier that this was a proper grown-up army to play, not a beginner friendly super easy one like space marines. That emphasis on doing it because it's fun and fluffy rather than because it's good for winning games always really stuck with me
I’d like to see a dev history for Thousand Sons. They are pretty unique in the setting in both look and flavor.
Since I first picked up 40K in the Rogue Trader days, I have never given up the obvious idea that the game is not really a Sci-fi game but a "Fantasy game, dialed up to 11, and set in Space." In that little (or big) bit of head-canon, the Genestealer Cults are a sort of Space Vampire Covens.
Yes. When I explain it I always explain the Patriarch as a Dracula type vampire hiding out in the sewers and caves.
God, I never thought of them that way, although I'm not keen on Vampire armies, I think I'll stick with the Xenomorph view of them #fingersinearseyesclosednahnahnah....
That's a great description!!
Hey Jordan, a lot of the Genestealer hybrids and prominently the Patriarchs were were sculpted by the infamous Bob Olley.
Why infamous?
@@Blacknight8850Bob’s work is very distinctive, there’s a consensus that you either love or hate his faces in particular. I of course love them!
@@Blacknight8850Because he is more than famous.
"Deathwatch Overkill" is a brilliantly well designed skirmish game that kinda went completly under the radar as everyone seem to got the box just for the models.
Also: Adding a bike to drive over the hanging gantries of the mining colony is one of the most bad ass things GW ever put into a game! 😎
Perhaps another interesting project to take on would be the history of the Harlequins as one of the oldest armies in 40k, there were Harlequins before there were Craftworld Eldar proper (WD 127 UK) for that matter. From WD 105-106-107 (UK) RT debut of 1988 to 2E CJ 17 and 3E CJ 39 and 44 army lists and an entire range of cool Jes Goodwin minis, not to mention an entire roster of units lost to time, yet to make a return still such as the Mimes, Master Mime, Great Harlequin, Shadowseer Acolytes, Benathai, Harlequins Wraithlord, characters being able to take jetbikes and perhaps one of the quirkiest RT Harlies rules, the vehicle looting tables aka the properly Harlequinised Land Raiders and whatnot. Venom originally used to be a Harlequins Heavy Support and Transport choice back in 3rd Edition experimental dex of Gav Thorpe before 5th Edition made it a Dark Eldar and Eldar Corsairs vehicle to begin with.
I still have all of the original Genestealer Cult figures, including both Patriarchs, the terrible running one and the fantastic one on the throne. The new/current ones looks great. I was thinking of raising up the cult once again and sallying forth to battle.
Really like the "Origins" series. *thumps*
I think you're really onto something here.. This was very entertaining! I really like how you mix some faction lore in with our real world 'lore'! Can't wait for another one of these! : )
Great video! As someone who struggled through the years trying to use Genesteaer cults, this was a great highlight to those times. I still have Space Hulk and ASC. Great games.
I have all that late 80s and early to mid 90s stuff upstairs, my Cult Army was the only army I wouldn't sell on eBay all those years ago, I still have Conversion Beam Projectors on a couple too, hilarious as they are smaller than bolt guns on Marines these days.
Such a good army, and it led to my seocnd favourite army the Tyranids and my mates and I had plenty of campaign-style games against his Guard armies as I rampaged across the field with the swarm and a rake of the old crab-like Screamer Killers.
The Stealers were still the #1 unit for me though, along with their Hybrids. Maybe I'll get back in to 40K some day....
Truly brilliant.....
Genestealers were my first 40k army. After getting Titanicus i got Space Hulk and the running Patriarch mini, i even painted up my 2nd Titanicus legio as taken over by Genestealers, then met a kid at my new school with the 40k rulebook, got the Compilation book and my Genestealer Invasion Force hit the 40k table, followed by a Cult that i played a ton of games with. Advanced Space Crusade got me a few Tyrnaids so by the Codex i was playing both GSC and Tyranids and sadly had to make do with Tyranids for many editions. Even though i mainly play Mechanicus and Knights these days i snapped up Overkill as soon as it came out and have a new GSC army. The nostalgia in this video is of course massive for me as you can expect.
I simply love this channel! Dusting off my old Space Hulk and finding you is what got me back into the hobby some months ago. I was obsessed with GSC as a kid, but they were absolutely nowhere to be found around here back in the day. So I kitbashed my own with some Necromunda Goliath gangers, holy hell they were ugly haha
I wanted always to start a Genstealer army back in the 90s after i saw the models in a Citadel catalogue. It was not possible to get this minis here in Germany anyway.
I loved this mix of Alien, Giger style and the Dune clothes. Thats what I'm missing in your video. The link to the 80s Dune movie. GW took an amount of inspirations from this flick. Look at the imperator opening scene and at the Harkonnen and than at the old patiarch and the psy guy.
10:39 I believe the Coven Limousine also took inspiration from The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The extant male descendants of the original Captain Marsh would go to and forth their place of business in an opulent "Curtained motor car" to avoid being seen as his appearance was otherworldly.
A bonus like for cat
You are doing the Emperors work.
As a demon player we need a demons history. It will be interesting because you get to talk about lots of GW games. Fantasy, 40k, expansion in AoS. I think it would be wild
Macrocosm produce a great range of 'Malignancy' miniatures that hark back to the early Genestealer cult models.
Free Booters looks like it would be a lot of fun with Gorka Morka.
I accidentally got into GSC by buying the original GSC Combat Patrol box, exclusively because it was the best bargain, models for dollar. I ended up becoming a real fan of the army and its lore.
Me to. The original combat patrol was by far the best deal in the CP sets. And there was a fair few that were good.
The history of the Inquisition as an army would be cool too, from 1988 RT RoC: StD Ordo Malleus army list as the inner circle of the Inquisition to 3rd Edition Daemonhunters, Witch Hunters and the promised but scrapped Alien Hunters.
when I worked for workshop 2022- 2008. i remember a genestealer cult list for necromunder also there was a large figure or two made for inquisitor. so that would have fit in-between the journal and the overkill box
GW website during 4th Edition also had an article by Tim Huckleberry as to how to proxy the Brood Brothers and/or Genestealer Cults as the Imperial Guard using the Doctrines rules of the 3.5E IG dex.
The Doctor Who reboot hints at Davros creating the Tyranids, in the creation of the Nightmate Child during the War In Heaven (YES, Doctor Who also has at least one of these). The Cult of Skarro and the human-dalek hybrid are the first genestealee cult.
Three thumbs 👍 👍 👍 up for the voices in my head ! 🐛 shadow in the warp
My vote, Harlequin Land Raider. To modern sensibilities that just seems nuts
Great shout!
nice vid. Going on my memory Grabber Slashers were a type of squig, which you could have Squig swarms in the proto tyranid Rogue trader army, along with Brood brothers, and the old names for modern things like Screamer killers and Hunter-Killers (termagants). Also There was some weird large metal tyranid in the rogue trader era. A picture of the model is tucked away in the original book somewhere, on all fours, and zoat like. they were not widely available though. Also there were the advanced space crusade genestealer hybrids etc
Nice video!
As a 2nd edition player who's recently returned to look at the new games, your video did make 2 things clear to me that I hadn't really noticed before.
1. The genestealer cult list pics from recent editions I've seen seem to be rather lacking in...well....genestealers!
2. Why aren't there still lists and models for the hybrid factions? I've never realised it before but it makes total sense for there to be genestealer and chaos cults in all the 40k factions, not just the human ones - in fact they'd probably be more interesting in the long run. Imagine an Ork shokk attack gun with a chaos or genestealer spin, teleporting genestealer genetic material or demons inside the bodies of their defensless hosts!
We have some Genestealer Cults content for Necromunda coming out. Excited for it! Will have to use your affiliate link! 😊
I really enjoyed this - thank you! 😊
how are u still just at 18k? this is fantastic
Elric contributed a lot to different alignment systems. The idea of the three-point cosmic poles of Law, Chaos and Balance in eternal struggle. D&D would also pick up this idea before GW started to work on Warhammer.
WFRP had an alignment system. Not a 3x3 alignemnt system but a linear string from Chaos to Balance to Law with additional stops in between them. Characters could move one step at a time along the line in one direction or another.
Early WFRP toyed with the idea of gods of Law and referenced them as present in the greater cosmos but so alien that only small cults to them exist in the Old World as people prefer their own, good ol' Manaan or Ulric to those weirdos. This was before the two chaos books, they had two chaos gods written up with about as much information as the gods of Law and only a promise to expand on them.
Angels of Death on Warhammer+ is worth a mention if you are a fan of the Genestealer Cults.
I collect some cultists and their national anthem is David Bowie’s Star Man.
I wonder if the 1974 film, "It's Alive" influenced the theme of human parents loving their monstrous, hybrid children?
Love this idea for a series. Looking forward to more videos.
Ah yes, Genestealer Cults. The most 40k that has ever 40k-ed!
The cat makes all of these videos.
Also great summary for a great faction.
I agree! Jordan needs to give credit where credit is due.. the opening line should be 'I'm Jordan, this is Martha, and together we are Jordan Sorcery'!
Great job; I'd like to see a similar treatment of the Eldar (hope i spelt that right).
That original plastic genestaler sculpt was a work of genius, a 3 part model and to me atleast a step forward in quality and the best thing was despite all those flailing arms you could place them in base to base contact! A brilliant design and a perfect balance of form and function.
Excellent job on this Jordan
I learned a lot too. For me it was that one Ymgarl Genestealer image and then the codex with the Goliath in it appeared out of nowhere. I had no idea there was so much stuff in the meantime.
Thank you for this - I love Genestealers, and I think were the first ‘faction’ I truly played, way back when with original Space Hulk. Since returning to the hobby, I’ve been slowly returning to the graces of the Four-Armed Emperor.
Would love to see one of these on the Harlequins.
100%. Space Hulk was the game that hooked me and got me in to 40K big style. My 8 year old asked me just yesterday if we could play it again, still 1st edition rolling around in my games cupboard.
I made the 3D Spacehulk for Games Day '97 and relished doing it because of my love of the game, truly great times, scary to think that's nearly 30 years ago..... 😮😮😮
Cracking trip down memory lane Jordan thank you
0:40 - Good job, CZcams’s closed captions!
25:35 - Yeah, he sounds great, I'd like to shake him by the three-fingered hand!
I've thought for some time that there was a lot of commonality between Genestealer Cults and Shadowrun's Insect Spirit cults, especially the Universal Brotherhood. Listening to that original description of the cults sounded so much like the UB that I figured I'd poke around a bit. Some of this is surely convergent evolution from a common source (Innsmouth) but White Dwarf 114 came out in 1989 and The Universal Brotherhood supplement for Shadowrun was published in 1990. That's pretty tight. And given that all these game communities were much more intermixed in the the 80s and 90s, I'm fairly confident that UB is at least partially influence by the GC. (And then, of course, the later use of the term "Brotherhood" by GC suggests at least mild influence back the other way as well.)
Also, no I know why so many third party miniatures makers offer "grim dark limos". I'd always wondered about that.
Had a full 1e SpaceHulk, Expansions and Campaigns Book (White Dwarf article collection)
now have an intterest in GSC, Termies, Grey Knights and claustrophobic action for some reason..! (40k 10e "Space Hulk" by other means :) )
Need to build the Deathwing Knights I got recently as well, so maybe time for a 32/40mm base Space Hulk reboot :)
Also not sure why I'm thinking this, but 40k needs Cats !
Cat Cults ! (must include teleport)
I think it was Codex Tyranids that was the final nail in the coffin for me with 40K. I'd gotten into it in 1990 with armies of Space Marines and Genestealers. But by 1995, the lore moving in a direction I didn't like, and they kept messing with army lists. What had already felt like a bit of an arms race, where every time GW focused on a new army, it suddenly got new, game breaking stuff, became an endless cycle of escalation I didn't want to stay on. I think the actual final straw for me was the Lictor. I refused to buy one for my army, because it was just straight-up unfair (I'm assuming, not well playtested). I gather it was later nerfed, but for me, the damage was done, and so was I.
That said, I still love those early days of the Genestealers. And those early hybrid sculpts. If I ever actually run the 40K roleplaying campaign I've had floating around in the back of my brain since about 1992, Rogue Trader era Genestealer cults will almost certainly play a major role.
Tim Huckleberry was one of my favorite GW guys. He was very active in the burgeoning online community in the 90s.
Sadly, the new codex doesn’t have limos & gone are the days of the Citadel Journal.
Great vid Jordan, full of useful info once again. There is a company out there that makes "Cultist Limos" but i can't remember who!
I need to say this thumbnail is amazing xD
ok I'll watch the vid now
It’s just a trick of the light, no need to call the inquisition!
Great job!
Another great video
Pretty sure that a customised and pimped Ork dragster would be a good cult limo.
I was literally watching a documentary on the making of “Alien” & “Aliens” as the notification for this video popped onto my phone-screen. Ah serendipity & coincidences. 😱😎😊
Excellent video. Genestealers are my favourite part of WH40K world. You touched on this already but you could do a whole episode about my favourite army - Tyranids :)
Tim Huckleberry would be a great person to interview. He went on to work on 40k RPGs for Fantasy Flight games. I've also seen him post in various Warhammer Facebook groups, so hes still about in the scene.
Love when you do old GCS and Space Hulk. 😊
Genestealers will always be the most terrifying occupants of Space Hulks for me.
From the Genestealer! Surprise attack card in Space Crusade through Space Hulk itself were hordes of the blighters are taking out Terminators in close combat with ease.
The Cult aspect / lore is a great addition, but even to this day the "infestation" aspect has never been realised as well in any game as in that Space Hulk mission where you need to Cleanse & Burn your own infected / low life sign emiting Battle Brothers that have moved away from the main group and are no longer replying to comms...
That new Necromunda expansion does look promising, however.
Fantastic video, hope we get another limo one day!
Ah, my second edition Tyranids army with it's brood brothers and (somehow) Plague Marine allies... 🤩
I so wanted a limousine but never got round to kit bashing one 😢
I'm still amazed how often these insidious guys come creeping back to 40K (but I'm still not selling my Patriarch original!!)
You can’t keep a good Genestealer cult down!
I'll soon try the 2nd edition with a friend, I'm gonna try a genestealer cult using my imperial guard and tyranid models ^^
Another excellent video! Thank you! It may have been asked on another video, but I was curious what the massively thick Warhammer book is on the shelf laying down over your left shoulder with the cloth bookmarks coming out of it? It looks huge and unfamiliar to me. Thank you again for all the work you put into these deep dives!
That’s the limited release of Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition. It’s on deck for research!
WD 135 (UK) had Zodgog's Brood conversion guide and RT rules for the Green Brood aka Ork Genestealer Hybrids.
Surprised that you missed the 2nd Ed box Codex Army Lists booklet. That contained both Tyranid and Cult army lists.
Man these guys sound cool! I really didn't have any awareness of the Cults until now, but I can see how they might be....tempting...
The four armed emperor can offer a great many rewards to the curious…
GSC lore is so cool. You can build and paint the army in so many unique ways and it still feels like they work on a lore level. They're so much fun
super cool ! That would be a super series of video !
Great video!
I remember that Limo. I wanted to build one, as I was trying to get models for a Cult army gathered. But, as for many of us in our youth, funds were hard to come by. And the suggested /43rd scale metal die cast car I wanted was even harder to find back then. Eventually I sold off my Genestealer stuff. I kept only a few of those metal miniatures Jes Goodwin sculpted. Ah, such dreams! ❤😅
Great video with only a teeny tiny nitpick - it's pronounced 'Gee-ger', not 'Guy-ger'.
But that's enough pedantry from me. Keep up the great work!
The lack of coven limos in the modern game is still a crime 🤣
"Because You Asked;"
Armorcast vehicle line, (currently "Armorcast Terraform Terrain LTD.")
Pre-Battle Fleet Gothic ships, (i.e. Space Fleet.)
Mighty Fortress (The Rogue Trader stuff at the back of the book.)
I'll let you know when I think of anything else.
Absolutely loved this, great stuff Jordan.
Cheers Stu!
What about the Chaos worshipping Genestealer cult? I got that as a birthday present back in the very early nineties - didn't just contain metal hybrids, pure strain but also a load of repurposed "Imperial Army" metal figs, Khorne Fleshhounds and Bloodletters! Oh and a load of WFB Beastmen. I was expecting a load of plastic Imperial guard (like they used in WD) and so was very surpirsed to get this odd collection of guardsman I never knew existed - Including a couple of women!
That Grabber Slasher picture - is an ork, ork DNA used by the tyranids, so not a grabber slasher :)
THANKS Jordan ! ❤
Yep, origin is nice, the faction is pretty complex and interesting. But new 10 edition codex shows that GW don't know how to PLAY with GC.
What is their signature mechanic? Well, with EACH new edition they change it, change how units interact in codex with each other, change strategy vision and priorities of the faction. These changes raise some questions that will remain unanswered.
Buy minis, don't think about rules, yeah....
I am already subscribed but like with one of my 3 arms rather than the 4 you mentioned
I hope I wasn’t the only kid back in the 1990’s who played soundtrack of “Aliens” by James Horner during games of “Space Hulk”, whistling the motion-tracker sound effects with every move of a blip & quoting the survivors of Hadley’s Hope with every shot fired…
…though on retrospect the last may not be appropriate, considering The Emperor’s Marines knew *no* fear, and the USMC marines most certainly *panicked* with “they came out of the %#*damn walls!”
I used to deploy my 40k Genestealer Invasion Force and Genestealer Cult to the track The Forge from the album Love Vs Gravity for the sense of impending doom. Was especially amazing one day in 2nd ed when i used ultimate power to cast The Gate and poured my 40 purestrains into the Blood Angels deployment zone.
Now i'm making a lifesize Servo Skull which will have a speaker in it to play the Mechanicus game OST while playing Mechanicus vs Necron Kill Team games on the Pariah Nexus board so the soundtrack urge remains strong.
Forgeworld should do Limousines with separate Cukt Icons and be usable buy Genestealer Cultists and Chaos Cultists
Exodites! And in particular why GW is scared to unleash the coolest 40k faction onto the tabletop!
I forgot witch edition it was but probably the second edition you could have an alliance between chaos cult that could deployed minotaurs and genestealer cult;
Hi Jordan really enjoyed that vid thank you. I would like to see a vid of your thoughts on the origin ofnthe chaos androids from space crusade. They fight along side the dreadnought on the cover of the space crusade expansion mission dreadnought and I love to hear where the idea of the dreadnoughts from space crusade come from. Links to chaos etc. They seem to almost be made by the imperium with the same weaponary so are they from a tainted factory? Cheers again
Chaos GSC 😮, need.
I did not agree with the focus on first company terminators and genestealers in Space Hulk. I liked the ideas people toyed with of introducing more factions. Letting orks, eldar corsairs, guard/armsmen and regular marines fight it out in corridors.
Terminators against genestealers creates a very good asymmetric gameplay though. The small number of terminators using their firepower to hold down lanes of approach as the faster, more numerous stealers try to outflank them or simply clog a hallway with bodies.
It would be a fun challenge to make hybrids out of Eldar or Tau.
I’m wondering if you have done anymore The TRUE Origins videos ?
Jordan, your bowl is breathing.
That’s just my cold Gagh
⚙️⚙️⚙️⚙️ Admech please in case you are accepting submissions for future episodes!!
I still have a dream of making a full Cult army the old way - really play up that evangelistic parody, limos, conspicuous excess... maybe one day!
Ye best be paintin' the rest o' yer piratical giants, matey! Tis the only way to go. We needs our Grand Reveals! Arr... 🏴☠️🦜
Aaaah, _Freebooterz_ . Now that is some classic RT madness. Hear me out: Chaos Ork Genestealer cult.
Do da boiz!
Happy fathers day
Martha Sorcery!
Zoats, what was their deal?