Machine Cult Firefight Tactics

Machine Cult

Setting:	Grimdark Future
Games:	Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future: Firefight
Species:	Human/Cyborg
Version:	v2.50

Note: as v2.50 is in constant development the following might not be accurate.

Why play Machine Cults

The machine cults house some of the most unique shooting among all of Grimdark Future, equipped with rules unavailable to other armies.

Pros

Plenty of units get Regeneration
Your heroes can actually interact with your troops
Lots of shooting with special rules

Cons

Your forces are average in defense
Your troops are rather costly
Those special rules on the guns tend to lack anything for heavy armor.

Special Rules

Canticles: Similar to the HDF commanders and their equivalents. Upon activation, this hero and their unit gains one of the following boosts (+3" movement, +1 AP to either melee or shooting, -1 to get hit in melee).

EMP: Rending +1. It now triggers on a nat 5+.

Phosphor: The P in P-Pistols/Carbines. Lets you ignore cover, which is handy because your guns are rather short-ranged.

Radiation: The R in R-Pistols/Carbines. If an enemy hit by this weapon rolls a 1 on their defense, they eat an additional wound. Not a bad gift, but absolutely not something to rely on.

Taser: Poison+1. On a nat 6 to hit, each hit is multiplied by 4.

Psychic Spells

Lock-On (4+): Friendly unit within 12" adds +1 AP to their shooting. Pretty handy for your troops.
Solar Beam (4+): One enemy unit within 12" takes an AP 2 hit.
Iron Body (5+): Friendly unit within 12" can resurrect a model (at 1 wound if they have Tough) or restore a Tough wound. This is scary good because nobody else can do something like this.
Shrapnel (5+): Two enemy units within 6" take 3 AP 2 hits each. Pretty good punch.
Corroded Metal (6+): One enemy unit within 12" takes a -2 penalty to their next defense roll. This is absolutely cruel when focused at the right targets. Do note that this won't help with triggering Radiation though.
Machine Terror (6+): Enemy unit within 12" take 8 hits. See that horde of grunts? Now you don't. See that tank? It's probably now weak enough to clean up in another turn.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Machine Priest: A tank among your heroes, stacked with both a 2+ defense and Regeneration. He's costly, but you get access to both Psychic powers (as well as being able to upgrade to Psychic 2) as well as Canticles and the power to repair nearby units on a super-easy 2+. This combined with the rather impressive axe-halberd and guns available mean that you can make this guy in a pretty broad variety of ways so you can help bolster your ranks.
- Shooting: As mentioned, you have two different slots for guns. One is limited to either the P-carbine for some anti-cover firepower or the heavy pistol for more rapid-fire. The other gives more ranged fire, with the rail gun and combustion blaster to pop heroes, the trans cannon for rapid fire, and the death ray for minor artillery.

Machine Deacon: A budget machine priest. While largely unchanged in terms of wargear (They're trapped at Psychic 1 if they go there), they suffer more defensively. Gone is Regeneration and their defense is now nerfed to a 4+, making them no better than the rank and file.

Cult Alpha: A solo version of the Cult Rangers (you can tell because this guy has Strider). They have access to the pistols and melee weapons the unit normally gets (including EMP and taser swords and R-pistols) as well as the choice to buy Canticles. The shooting is the selling point for the Cult units, so you likely won't benefit too much from the melee AP boost.

Sect Chief: This guy is your genuine beatstick, taken from the Sect Stalkers. They're not the fastest, but they've got a dangerous weapons and won't go away anytime soon. Aside from any of the weapons available to the Stalkers and Infiltrators (including an additional metal spike for an EMP hit), you've also got access to Canticles. This is more worthwhile since the chief is better inclined for melee and has guns that can appreciate a boost to AP.

Infantry

Cult Vanguard: Your cheapest troops are quite versed in their shooting repertoire. Alongside their R-carbines, they also have rifles (their free alternative if you want long-range but don't care about cover), as well as more interesting guns like the EMP rifle (with a heavy variant for Deadly 3) and the Uranium Rifle for sniping. These guys are best suited at short to mid-range with their guns, mostly because of the range of your guns and you lack any means to ignore terrain without those R-carbines.

Cult Ranger: Add 5 points to the vanguard and you get Strider and no access to the R-carbines. That's okay, you're already bypassing terrain. This also means that you might have a better use for the uranium carbine, as you're at a fairly long range by default.

Shock Priest: Absolutely naked, but they have Regeneration. They are pretty much depend on getting the charge since they have both Furious and Impact 1. By default, they only have their AP 2 shock staves and no shooting, but you can instead buy taser gauntlets that give shooting, but lack any AP, instead relying on Taser. If you can protect them, they can prove particularly deadly with Canticles.

Sect Stalker: They're a fair bit deadlier with a 3+ quality and Regeneration gives some additional protection. They are also melee-only, so they need that Furious and are helped out immensely by Strider. Their weapons have both Poison and Rending, which can add to be pretty devastating. However, you can instead give double sonic blades, replacing Poison with AP 1, as well as buying an attack with EMP, which makes them even more dangerous.

Sect Infiltrator: These sect warriors lack Furious, but have Scout and Stealth. These are the shooty versions, with some decent firing rates but nothing too special while still having some decent melee weapons.

Sky Stalker: Jetpack warrior with P-throwers giving good shooting and Furious for their CCWs. You can improve their charge game by buying cluster grenades for Impact. If you're looking for better shooting, you're stuck with the blaster carbines, which lack any special rules but have double the range. You can also grant one model a taser sword, but you're sacrificing the P-thrower for a blaster SMG without Phosphor.

Raider Cavalry: Your bikers are very much pistoliers, bathing enemies with Phosphor. You can replace those guns with either carbines or P-blaster carbines and get all the bikes P-breath for even more phosphor blasting. Your only longer-ranged option is the carbine, but it's not Phosphor. You can also go more for melee, going either with the free revolver+saber for AP 1 or the P-blaser pistol+energy sword.

Breacher Cyborg: A slow, plodding brute with Tough 3 and 2+ defense. This guy's got the contortion cannon, which has Deadly 3 AP 3 for shattering heroes or punching holes in tanks. Your alternatives for guns are the EMP cannon for breaking heroes and elite infantry or the heavy EMP cannon for ending them even faster. In melee, you can buy upgrades for those three claw attacks, granting either EMP or AP 2. You should beware that these guys aren't really artillery, so mobs will annoy them.

Destroyer Cyborg: Come stock with gravity cannons with a bunch of rending hits. You can buy a heavy plasma cannon for Blast, something the breachers can't. The destroyers can also mount an additional P-rifle or flamethrower, giving some additional close-quarters combat.

Machine Cult Firefight Tactics

Contents

Why play Machine Cults

Pros

Cons

Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

Navigation menu

Machine Cult Firefight Tactics

Why play Machine Cults

Pros

Cons

Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

Navigation menu

Search