Warhammer 40,000 10th edition has gutted me. My poor Adeptus Mechanicus are dead, or at least lying face down in a pool of blood and engine oil, slowly bleeding out. I’m glad that the community of Ad Mech players is using the harsh nerfs as a means to embrace the cool models of the range, convert their own dudes, and write fun narrative lists to play their way, but I’m gutted we’re barely viable as a competitive force.
Adeptus Mechanicus and Death Guard suffer from many of the same issues in 10th. Both armies have been nerfed into the ground, but players are more aggrieved that all the flavour has been stripped from their forces. The narrative of the 41st Millennium is a big reason why many players are involved at all, and it’s a huge reason why they choose the armies they do. I play Ad Mech because of the weird technological innovations they create, and the freedom to convert even stranger models to represent those far-future innovations. The rules used to reflect this, but now we just kinda irradiate the battlefield for some reason? Maybe this will become apparent in the forthcoming Belisarius Cawl versus Fabius Bile novel, Genefather, but at the moment it’s an illogical ruleset from a narrative point of view, and a poor quality one from a competitive one.
The same goes for Death Guard, who are suddenly a lot squishier than they have ever been. The points system punishes players because models are played in squads of ten but bought in sevens, and any pustulent decay present in the rules has been cleansed and sanitised for some reason. At least the Mechanicus should be getting a Codex soon that could fix some of their problems.
If the Ad Mech and Death Guard are the losers of 10th edition, Genestealer Cults is the winner and it’s largely thanks to the Nexos. The Tyranid-adjacent army have a range of models that are a mixed bag – I personally love the mining vibes of the drills and Goliath, plus the dirt bikers are perfect conversion fodder for Kill Teams or Inquisitorial warbands. What you need to know about the lore is that these are regular dudes just going about their lives in the Hive Cities of the 41st Millennium when they suddenly become infected. Part zombie plague, part religious fanaticism, the Tyranids get their foot in the door of the Imperium’s cities by infecting and propagandising through blue collar workforces such as these.
Some units are further along their transitions to full-blooded xenos than others. Aberrants barely resemble their human selves as the Patriarchs and Magi call them up from the sewers to begin their Trojan invasion from within. It’s a great narrative hook for the army, and perfectly represented on the tabletop.
Genestealer Cult players can place tokens, known colloquially as blips thanks to Space Hulk, on the battlefield in their deployment phase. Their units, and new units when their units are destroyed, can appear from these points so long as there are no enemy units within a certain distance of the token. These reinforcements represent the Tyranids’ invading forces, with more warriors emerging from the shadows to overwhelm the city’s defenders, be they Space Marines, Eldar, or Orks.
Enter the Nexos. This figure is special for a few reasons, the first being that the hologram he pores over is the game’s least subtle Easter Egg. The 3D map shows Warhammer World in Nottingham, and this grisly fella is clearly planning an invasion of Warhammer HQ. But his role on the battlefield perfectly fits to sculpt. He can reposition your blips, taking them out of range of enemies so that your reinforcements can arrive unimpeded. It’s the perfect rule for a model standing over a tactical map, and fits the narrative of the Genestealer Cult army perfectly. The Nexos embodies everything that Games Workshop got right with the army in 10th edition, marrying lore and gameplay into one neat package.
I bought a couple of Genestealer Cults units when they were released. My Goliath may have been repurposed by a kunnin’ group of Orks, but I can see a small force of covert operatives led by a Nexos and one of those sniper-bikers being my route into 10th edition battles. It’s just a shame the same care wasn’t taken with every army.