The Rise of the Cult: A 2019 event

Hello reader!

For years the cult has been in waiting, assembled and grey. Stored in boxes in the depths of the hobby room, languishing from abuse from index points costs, beta reserve rules, and a general lack of time on my part. Now is the time to strike! I am calling 2019 #thecultrises and I'm hoping you will come along with me on this journey.

Firstly let's talk about objectives for this year long journey:

1. Competitive - The ultimate goal of this journey is to test my mettle as a competitive player. Many times I have stopped short of going full competitive in army composition. I am going to try to push through that invisible wall in go full on competitive with one caveat - the army is primary GSC, the option to bring Tyranids or Astra Militarum is always there and will be done to make the army better but I want to avoid a situation where I have a "Guard army with a few Genestealers." I know it's a slippery slope and may also feel like stopping short of going full competitive but I am hoping we can navigate that together throughout the year.

The acolytes are some of my favorite GSC units. I hope they rock in the new codex!

2. Army appearance - Even though I am hoping to go full competitive, I want my army to look good. I am fresh off the high of making it to the second round of paint judging at the Renegade Open GT last November and finishing with a 42/50 paint score with a combination of the Druhkari models that our own FTGT Evan painted for me and my Ulthwe Craftworlders and display board. I want to put my absolute best effort in to painting and display to see if I can take a serious shot at best painted, this time with 100% of models painted by me.

Here is a WIP of my first Aberrant. 

3. Display Board- The journey for best appearance isn't just the models in your army, it's also your display board. I want to dial that up to eleven this year as well. To start the process, I built on my display board from my 2018 Renegade Open army:

These tired Imperial Streets have seen more than one Xenos invasion

I only have the conceptual plans for this which I will share with you all as the year goes on. It will involve up to three levels and some Easter eggs. Stay tuned!

The streets are empty now but there is already a manhole cover removed... hmm.

So let's talk about the roadmap for this year long adventure with Genestealer Cult. The plan is for two GTs in 2019, first the The Spring Conflagration in May and culminating with the Renegade Open GT in November, and hopefully a minimum of six RTTs in the greater Minnesota area.

In order to get this army painted to the best of my ability, I need to consistently paint all through the year instead of some kind of sleep murdering blitz a month before the event. With that in mind, expect a new update from me next week; my first marker is to have a unit of Aberrants due on 1/14.

If all else fails, smash it with a power sledgehammer!

The journey has already begun, and looking to hit the ground running on the codex releases. I hope you all will follow along with me as I navigate the cult codex and models. Please feel free to drop any suggestions on how to improve paint or improve army lists once we get to  that point.