40K – Stealers of the Gene
Time to look at my Take on the Genestealers which is the background and information for my own Coven.
Coming from one of the Moons of Ymgarl, The Genestealer is a creature which has spread throughout space and is threatening to become a threat to the galaxy as it grows and tries to take over. The reason for this is it’s almost unique method of reproduction.
This is the origin which was originally in the Rogue trader book. It was later removed and had an ‘unknown origin’.
While the Genestealers themselves are not good or evil, they will do whatever it takes to protect the brood and their species, if it means working with the Imperium or against it. However, some of the hybrids will have a struggle between the ‘stealer side and the natural of the host species, while this does not typically lead to inactively, a Human-hybrid will be more likely to ally with another human against a foe, as long as it does not endanger the brood.
Mixture of original Rogue trader with 1.5 Genestealer cult information really.
It is not known how it passes such a strong mental connection to it’s hosts and brood, but it is believed it is due to passing on it’s telepathic abilities where the brood is able to keep in contact with each other over a limited distance.
pretty much 1.5 stuff again.
When moving to a new planet, the Genestealer will attempt to create a Coven, a secret group able to take control of the planet. The first Genestealer will become a Patriarch, a Genestealer who growers larger and larger and infects the first collection of hosts.
The Patriarch is revered as the father of the brood and is an unquestioned leader. Once a purestrain has infected a host with it’s genetic material via a small egg like capsule., the host starts to degrade as it’s body is used to morph and feed the unborn fetal Genestealer. When it has grown enough, it bursts out of what is left of the husk of the host as a first generation Hybrid. This Hybrid can reproduce sexually or in some cases, can also infect a host much like a purestrain and either way, the born genestealer is a second generation. Each generation appears more human less of the Genestealer material comes to the surface of the host and more is passed on as a recessive gene. This goes on for four generations, until, despite the fourth generation appearing the most human, produce a purestrain. While the purestrains live along time, they are not immortal and when a planet has been completely taken over, they need to move on to another planet in order to get new material to keep the species alive. Every so often though, a hybrid or purestrain will move to another location without a coven, and they set up a new brood. The first purestrain becomes the new patriarch.
Ah, I get to really flesh stuff out a bit more. a mixture of Rogue trader and 1.5 but decided to add some of the original ‘egg-morphing’ which is how the Alien in ‘Alien’ reproduced in the first film, and was removed in the second film though later they kinda tried to say both were possible. I prefer the egg-morph as it completes the cycle as shown in the first film (the main egg-morph scene was deleted from the film though, but appears as a deleted scene and in original spin-offs like the novelisation). Though I never fully liked how the face hugger was… odd in the life cycle.. as it’s a completely different creature and that is a little weird. Also, I’ve tried to explain while each generation of stealer-hybrid appears more and more human yet then produces a purestrain.. the watering down of the genes makes sense but when producing a purestrain? weird..
Sometimes, the ‘egg’ may burst out of the host before its had a chance to fully mature. These lead to a small creature which are incapable of breeding until they have fully matured, which can only be done by attaching itself to a creature and digesting it for material.
Yay! I’ve added a new Genestealer. Well, based a bit on the ‘immature Genestealer’ from the 1.5 stuff, I’ve decided to add Face Huggers. Now, I said above how I didn’t like the original lifecycle in Alien. I’ll explain. In the film and material, You have an ‘Egg’ like shell which is designed to be able to sit for years on it’s own without needing to breath or eat or anything. When it detects life, it opens up and a small ‘face hugger’ bursts out of it and attachs itself onto a host. It thrusts a ‘tube’ info the host and infects them with an alien fetus. Once it has confirmed a visible child, the hugger dies and drops off the host. When the fetus has grown strong enough and the host is no-longer able to provide a strong cocoon for it, it bursts out and goes into hiding until it matures. It then tries to create a hive by infecting people and turning them into new ‘eggs’, this people can be alive or dead. When finished, the person has turned into a new egg which awaits for a new host to complete the cycle. This isn’t that good a life cycle as it’s pretty infective.. I mean, 1 Alien can create tons of eggs but each egg needs 1 host to create a new alien? kinda okay but doesn’t quite work. The Genestealers take a different approach, slightly inspired by the second film but not quite as iffy, where a stealer can create another stealer. They also introduce the idea of hybrids more (kinda third Alien film thing, but that wasn’t out at the time, though the spin-off from the second film did alot of hybrid stuff). I’ve decided to say that ‘Face hugger’ and the immure Alien are in fact, the same thing. (I can’t remember his name but the baby Alien wasn’t a Giger design. They got someone else to do it but matched in with the design soo well). For my Genestealers, the morphed ‘Egg’ produces either a grown Genestealer, OR if it bursts out of the host too early, it is the Immature genestealer, which starts off in a face hugger like design (I’ll use some ‘Face Hugger’ minis I got for them) which can grow. This is technically taken from the 1.5 rules which I’ll use. This rules say that a Genestealer can implant and egg capsule instead of doing damage when it attacks. The Egg will then hatch in any subsequent turn on a role of a 6 with a D6 turn. the Immature genestealer cannot breed but is otherwises like the Parent. When it has killed and eaten three human-sized creatures (1 full turn to eat each) it’ll then become a full mature genestealer. So I why not mix the two bits? sounds fun to me. I’ll have to give some rules for the Immature genestealers abit later. In theory, each of the ‘3’ stages as it grows would need a different mini and the players will have to decide if something like a gretchen count as half a human-sized creature or what but.. there you go. There is then the one problem. And that is Game play. If I have the immature Genestealer added like it’s being described, how does it enter the game? is it in the game from the start? well, the start bit makes no sense. So lets work out what the rules would be for it’s entry into the game. It’s stated to be if it bursts out of the host too early, it’s immature. The original genestealer 1.5 rules say that after the egg has been inserted, roll a D6 every turn, if it’s a 6, then it’s a new genestealer. But lets say this, if it’s a 5 its a immature Genestealer. As they require 3 turns to feed up enough to grow (as per original rules) then, without wasting too many turns, what about if it’s a 6 on the first 2 turns, it’s immature. So it’ll be an immature Genestealer on 5 or 6 on turns 1 or 2 after implanting, or if it’s a 5 at any time, it’s an Immature Genestealer. Sound good? Lets stat it (I could say it’s only immature if born within 3 turns, and each turn takes 1 turn of the eating. So an immature one born turn 1, has to eat 3, one born turn 2 needs 2, turn 3 need 1, 4 is always fully mature.. but I’m not sure as that would start to say you are really gonna need atleast 6 turns in the game.. possible but.. not sure. Answers on a post card please.. Or comments below..) And that was a big block of text… anyway.. Stats
| Name | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Int | Cl | WP |
| Immature Genestealer | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
The Immature Genestealer is a small scuttering version of a Genestealer. It has been unable to grow far enough in it’s host and was forced to abandon it before much of it’s genetic material was converted into it’s makeup. An Immature Genestealer is always a purestrain when fully matured.
It is unable to reproduce. After it has defeated and opponent, It may take a turn to eat it (taking one full turn). After it has eaten three human-sized creatures, it is replaced with a Purestrain Genestealer.
After an Egg has been implanted by a Genestealer implanting attack, on a D6 roll of 5, the Immature Genestealer bursts out of the host, killing it and spawning an Immature Genestealer on the Genestealer players side. On a 6, if it’s on the first 2 turns after implanting, the same effect applies, else on a 6 at any other time, the Host dies and a Purestrain Genestealer is spawned.
As the Brood grows with Hybrids, the Patriarch’s status becomes more that of a religious deity, with one of the fourth Generation hybrids acting as his High Priest. This Hight Priest is known as the Magus and acts as a figure head for the Coven, able to move in public and with his enhanced charism, able to spread the broods influence over the planet, often bring in new Initiates to the Coven, mostly people who are then used as hosts for new Genestealers.
Among the early stages of a Genestealer Coven, relations and friends of hosts may often feel a connection to host and it’s offspring. This are motivated by a heighten sense of family a long with a devout worship of the Patriarch’s status, making these ‘Brood Brothers’ the most fanatical members of the Coven.
This is basically the normal Brood Brothers.as well as the Magus. Pretty much no change from 1.5
Setting out a army band, I’ll mostly use the 1.5 rules given a coven of 300 points which gives you:
- 1 Purestrain Patriarch
- 1 Magus
- D6 purestrain Genestealers
- D6 Hybrid Initiates
Added to this you can add up to 3 Coven Limousines at no points cost. You can then add Extras for extra points, using Coven rules, So Brood Brothers, Rogue Psykers, Beastmen, Mutants, Mutant bombs and Summoned Daemons as well as Chaos Spawn, Familiers and Vehicles (including horses and horse-like beasts) are fine.
This I’m calling this a coven, it doesn’t really have the Chaos connection (so more of a cult) I like the term coven better. Another reason is while I’m aiming for it to be a coven, I feel story wise, if the Patriarch made a deal with Chaos which mutated the brood, it would kinda go against the ‘purity’ of the race. Sure, they have hybrids but these always end with the ultimate goal of a purestrain yet the technically, via the coven rules, the purestrains aren’t pure as they have Chaos Attributes which can lead to mutations. I’ve decided that they CAN ally with Chaos in the coven nature BUT when this is done, somehow the purestrains themselves have no direct chaos influence as they try to keep themselves pure to preserve the race, so only Hybrid Initiates and other ‘followers’ are subjected to Chaos influence. What Chaos gets out of this deal? the ways of Chaos are confusing at best. If course, this is debatable with the Alien reference.. How much the Alien takes from the Host is… up to HUGE debate in the first film case. But this isn’t a direct “Lets Put Alien into 40K”.
So.. I rolled up a coven which I’ll be working on (slowly of course…)
I got my Patriarch & Magus. I rolled … 1 Purestrain Genestealer.. ugh.. oh well. I then rolled up 5 Hybrids, 1 of them was first Generation, 3 of them were Second Generation, and 1 Fourth Generation. I then added 1 band of Brood Brothers. These are to be Slaanesh ones, so that’s 6 figures for 40 points. this puts it to only 340 points so far but that’s fine for a start. Oh, and I’ll also have to paint up some spare Genestealers (atleast 1) and my new Immature Genestealers.