Appreciate the guide, mr. Welly. Gotta say I'm pretty heartbroken about how Malstrain turned out. I really hoped for a flavorful and flexible gang full of optional mutations, third arms, all that good stuff. Basically Genestealer Cults but with a decidedly more Necromundy flair. I agree with your final assessment. Much as I love the Malstrain Genestealers, I can't see myself falling in love with them as characters :(.
Yeah on the one side I'm happy with more content and an extra gang too. On the other side I'm not in a hurry to play them and will probably still prefer normal gsc as I love aberrants so much
Nice overview, as always:) Basically the selling points of Malstrain corruption are: Do you want a Malstrain Coalescence and Malstrain Genestealers Brutes in your gang? My first 'instinct' would be to Malstrain corrupt Palanite enforcers: make the Captain a psycher, get a Coalescence as his 'creepy second-in-command' (especially with the 0-2 limit on Enforcer sergeants), a bunch of Malstrain Genestealers as the melee muscle, regular enforcers with Bolters as the 'elite-ish' fire support and Brood scum for cheap bodies to run around screening or doing objectives; same logic for corrupting Van Saars, Squats and/or Ash Nomads (basically gangs that may lack a bit of melee punch or have rather expensive basic gangers). Keep up the good work and cheers! :)
@@stevenprimrose8677 True, but with Gene-smithing+Stimmers Goliaths can already do 'melee punch' better than Malstrain Gene-stealer brutes and can get more benefits from Chaos or 'Pure GSC' corruptions.
I need to know one say this and one say that but can you tell me can the malstrain corruption gang be played out side secundus in a normal underhive game against other gang's
@@stevenprimrose8677 Malstrain Corrupted gang = YES, it can be played outside Hive Secundus; Malstrain Gene-stealer gang = NO, meant only for Secundus campaigns.
@@janklevaivancic4263 thank you I know out of two gang's one can't leave and now sorted am thinking what to have in my corruption gang to with gene-stealer as soon as my rip go's up
I'm glad they made it clear that regular GSC still exist separate from the Malstrain. I was hoping they'd take the opportunity to update the regular GSC to make them a bit more fleshed out and fix some glaring problems (hello 1w champions!) but maybe they'll get around to that eventually.
Surely hypnotic gaze IS line of sight - seems sensible to assume that to me esp if the pervasive horror one acts more like an aura bubble. Feels more fluffy at any rate. Amazing review as always! Can’t tell u how helpful these all are!!!
Here's an idea for a cool narrative campaign campaign : Underhell (the one in the Hive Secundus) , player gang is led by the Hermaphage of the purestrains trying to hunt down its malstrain counterpart .
Do the tyramites have to stay a certain distance to the Malstrains in the way pets usually have to? Or are they their own 'man', able to run around the battlefield by themself ?
Tyramites are an exotic beast that attaches to broodscum buuuuut Necromunda is made for homebrew stuff so who cares? Just have fun with them the way you want to!!
@Gary-gq2le no they aren't. That's only for the 2 player underhells campaign my guy. Otherwise you buy them for your champions as wargear pets (Convalescence and genestealers) broodscum are gangers and don't get pets
It's a bit disappointing that we dont have access to aberrants. I'm wondering if you could unofficially do a Malstrain corrupted Genestealer gang. Might be one for you to test 😅. Im thinking of the conversion potential tbh.
Malstrain is great, but I feels like its one sided to Spyre Hunters. Its seems to be like they are too brutal with those two activations. And also a gigantic downside to malstrain, that they can perform any great in Ash Waste campaign, while Spyre are just supreme everywhere. Hope to see some variety to ma Malstrain gang, I really like the miniatures
Youll find that you start with likely only 3 spyres in gang and they will trounced by more than a few gangs and some being kind of a hard counter if playing more competative and less narrative. They don't have a way to deal with getting caught on fire. But of course it as alway dependent on your group, how you play and your board.
@@charlesjohnson9275I see now. I examinated them a bit more and now I see this as at the very beginning of the campaign they are like unstoppable force of 3/4 models, but the further the campaign goes, the less powerful they are. They will be eventually overpowered by core gangs, since they will have max of 6 immortal models even tho they have double activation. I wonder how phaton flash is working on them. And yes, Cawdor seems to be their greatest enemy (luckily we have one Cawdor player 😂). Also a bit weird move form GW for Malstrain forces. They ONLY can be played in the scenarios of this campaign. So you'll never see them in Ash Wastes without Home Rules
@@charlesjohnson9275 and absolutely forgot to say, that Alpha is monstrous! Best close combat miniature in Necromunda so far. His two unique skills are something else. 1st. In order to charge you, enemy must pass a Willpower test, if fail, gain insanity. 2nd. He can disappear from game table for double action and later on apper once again as if it was infiltration
As written everything except malstrain gangs... as an arbitrator I'd allow malstrain gangs in any campaign anyway. However, the underhells campaign is the best one so far I reckon anyway
A question that came up in our group, can they be aligned with the secundan incursion side or do the have to be aligned with the malstrain in the underhells campaign?
@@Veqtorthe gang will become outlaws, there being bombarded by a warped psychic signal produced by the malstrain, the normal genestealers don’t even like them so there not gonna be able to talk much about it!! Iv just finished reading the books it helps to read 😂 a malstrain gang is basically a gang that died but also are reborn in the underhells
Qlthough i loge the malstrain aesthetic snd the base list looks certainly interesting i am rather dissapointed in the corrupted gang list. Unlike regular genestealers corruption there isnt really any corruption happenjng kntk your gang there is no juves popping up with three hands its just giving you more different bodies from the malstrain list and onto your gang. Also i would prefer taking 0-3 genestealers as a ganger option similar to how aberrants were a 0-1 ganger option
Help me out! So roaming horrors and corrupted gangs are pretty straight forward but how in the underhell do Malgangs work in a campaign?! As far as I can tell you can only play them in a skirmish as the alternative of potentially gaining territory boons like vehicles/ammo jacks/lookouts etc and fighting against roaming horrors for kill points seems ridiculous ??! I get that corrupted gangs will fight horrors and each other but the Malstrain ARE the Malstrain if u see what I mean. Am I being dense?
As a trad GSC multi skirmish game guy, not for lack of models though, just not into full 40k anymore, although apparently great in 10th ed though. As a cover all gang / army but mainly in Necromunda and less so Killteam, Im annoyed that my gang has been knocked down another peg even though i always like playing them as scrappy underdogs. Second favourite non BIG house gang is also my Outcast gang, damn. But i have acquired most the trad gangs too by box proxy and dont play too competitively if and when at all currently. I guess ill just break out/ make the best Venators and see whos laughing. Just sucks my two favourite lore heavy gangs have become second fiddle even when starting at a big disadvantage.
Appreciate the guide, mr. Welly. Gotta say I'm pretty heartbroken about how Malstrain turned out. I really hoped for a flavorful and flexible gang full of optional mutations, third arms, all that good stuff. Basically Genestealer Cults but with a decidedly more Necromundy flair. I agree with your final assessment. Much as I love the Malstrain Genestealers, I can't see myself falling in love with them as characters :(.
Yeah on the one side I'm happy with more content and an extra gang too. On the other side I'm not in a hurry to play them and will probably still prefer normal gsc as I love aberrants so much
Would love to see a malstrain gang vs gsc gang battle report, that’s an awesome idea!
I'm on it eventually
Nice overview, as always:)
Basically the selling points of Malstrain corruption are: Do you want a Malstrain Coalescence and Malstrain Genestealers Brutes in your gang?
My first 'instinct' would be to Malstrain corrupt Palanite enforcers: make the Captain a psycher, get a Coalescence as his 'creepy second-in-command' (especially with the 0-2 limit on Enforcer sergeants), a bunch of Malstrain Genestealers as the melee muscle, regular enforcers with Bolters as the 'elite-ish' fire support and Brood scum for cheap bodies to run around screening or doing objectives; same logic for corrupting Van Saars, Squats and/or Ash Nomads (basically gangs that may lack a bit of melee punch or have rather expensive basic gangers).
Keep up the good work and cheers! :)
a goliath leader wood be better he be a tank if you take his t4 to t6 give him a save of 4 so he wont just be good as a psycher plus a heavy hitter
@@stevenprimrose8677 True, but with Gene-smithing+Stimmers Goliaths can already do 'melee punch' better than Malstrain Gene-stealer brutes and can get more benefits from Chaos or 'Pure GSC' corruptions.
I need to know one say this and one say that but can you tell me can the malstrain corruption gang be played out side secundus in a normal underhive game against other gang's
@@stevenprimrose8677 Malstrain Corrupted gang = YES, it can be played outside Hive Secundus;
Malstrain Gene-stealer gang = NO, meant only for Secundus campaigns.
@@janklevaivancic4263 thank you I know out of two gang's one can't leave and now sorted am thinking what to have in my corruption gang to with gene-stealer as soon as my rip go's up
This small series is great man you done half the book for me now i can just sit back and paint instead of reading
Thanks mate
I'm glad they made it clear that regular GSC still exist separate from the Malstrain. I was hoping they'd take the opportunity to update the regular GSC to make them a bit more fleshed out and fix some glaring problems (hello 1w champions!) but maybe they'll get around to that eventually.
Yea same with chaos helots they need an update
Surely hypnotic gaze IS line of sight - seems sensible to assume that to me esp if the pervasive horror one acts more like an aura bubble. Feels more fluffy at any rate. Amazing review as always! Can’t tell u how helpful these all are!!!
Yeah I'd certainly say so at least! Cheers for watching!
Here's an idea for a cool narrative campaign campaign : Underhell (the one in the Hive Secundus) , player gang is led by the Hermaphage of the purestrains trying to hunt down its malstrain counterpart .
i really hope a few more malstrain kits will come out, i really love the look.
Apart from the Convalescence and biologus hermiatus I can't see much else honestly, but you never know
@@wellywoodwargaming maybe after those two another upgrade sprue for hive scum for malstrain brood bros, with extra spindly bits or growths
Hail all
Is there specific language stating gangs cannot be both Malstrain Corrupted and Genestealer Infected?
Well the lore kinda dictates it a little
Do the tyramites have to stay a certain distance to the Malstrains in the way pets usually have to? Or are they their own 'man', able to run around the battlefield by themself ?
Tyramites are an exotic beast that attaches to broodscum buuuuut Necromunda is made for homebrew stuff so who cares? Just have fun with them the way you want to!!
@Gary-gq2le no they aren't. That's only for the 2 player underhells campaign my guy. Otherwise you buy them for your champions as wargear pets (Convalescence and genestealers) broodscum are gangers and don't get pets
It's a bit disappointing that we dont have access to aberrants. I'm wondering if you could unofficially do a Malstrain corrupted
Genestealer gang. Might be one for you to test 😅. Im thinking of the conversion potential tbh.
I mean if they had aberrants then that makes gsc less appealing. I like the differences between the two
Malstrain is great, but I feels like its one sided to Spyre Hunters. Its seems to be like they are too brutal with those two activations. And also a gigantic downside to malstrain, that they can perform any great in Ash Waste campaign, while Spyre are just supreme everywhere. Hope to see some variety to ma Malstrain gang, I really like the miniatures
Youll find that you start with likely only 3 spyres in gang and they will trounced by more than a few gangs and some being kind of a hard counter if playing more competative and less narrative.
They don't have a way to deal with getting caught on fire.
But of course it as alway dependent on your group, how you play and your board.
@@charlesjohnson9275I see now. I examinated them a bit more and now I see this as at the very beginning of the campaign they are like unstoppable force of 3/4 models, but the further the campaign goes, the less powerful they are. They will be eventually overpowered by core gangs, since they will have max of 6 immortal models even tho they have double activation. I wonder how phaton flash is working on them. And yes, Cawdor seems to be their greatest enemy (luckily we have one Cawdor player 😂).
Also a bit weird move form GW for Malstrain forces. They ONLY can be played in the scenarios of this campaign. So you'll never see them in Ash Wastes without Home Rules
@@charlesjohnson9275 and absolutely forgot to say, that Alpha is monstrous! Best close combat miniature in Necromunda so far. His two unique skills are something else.
1st. In order to charge you, enemy must pass a Willpower test, if fail, gain insanity.
2nd. He can disappear from game table for double action and later on apper once again as if it was infiltration
I think any arbitrator will let malstrain gangs play any campaign personally, I mean why wouldn't you?
Yeah the anti charge thing is useful and he's definitely fairly scary but he's no Gorshiv Hammerfist or Piscean Spektor 😁
So which gangs are NOT restricted to Hive Secundus campaigns?
As written everything except malstrain gangs... as an arbitrator I'd allow malstrain gangs in any campaign anyway. However, the underhells campaign is the best one so far I reckon anyway
A question that came up in our group, can they be aligned with the secundan incursion side or do the have to be aligned with the malstrain in the underhells campaign?
You mean a malstrain corrupted incursion gang? Raw that's not a thing unfortunately
@@wellywoodwargaming i mean if you can be a say, malstrain corrupted orlock gang fighting on the side of the side of the archeo-hunters...?
@@Veqtorthe gang will become outlaws, there being bombarded by a warped psychic signal produced by the malstrain, the normal genestealers don’t even like them so there not gonna be able to talk much about it!! Iv just finished reading the books it helps to read 😂 a malstrain gang is basically a gang that died but also are reborn in the underhells
Any mention of the malstrain alpha?
Will do him in my agents and Dramatis Personae series soon
Oh brilliant. Thank you
Can a non specialist take armour?
Qlthough i loge the malstrain aesthetic snd the base list looks certainly interesting i am rather dissapointed in the corrupted gang list.
Unlike regular genestealers corruption there isnt really any corruption happenjng kntk your gang there is no juves popping up with three hands its just giving you more different bodies from the malstrain list and onto your gang.
Also i would prefer taking 0-3 genestealers as a ganger option similar to how aberrants were a 0-1 ganger option
Help me out! So roaming horrors and corrupted gangs are pretty straight forward but how in the underhell do Malgangs work in a campaign?! As far as I can tell you can only play them in a skirmish as the alternative of potentially gaining territory boons like vehicles/ammo jacks/lookouts etc and fighting against roaming horrors for kill points seems ridiculous ??! I get that corrupted gangs will fight horrors and each other but the Malstrain ARE the Malstrain if u see what I mean. Am I being dense?
Seems they are played like a Malstrain ALLIGNED gang ? So I need to stick some scum on bikes or something for the incursion phases?! 💁🏻♂️
House greim outcast's. From the Ashgrad garrison. Is my starting squad/gang. Any advice or a run down. Would be nice.
As a trad GSC multi skirmish game guy, not for lack of models though, just not into full 40k anymore, although apparently great in 10th ed though. As a cover all gang / army but mainly in Necromunda and less so Killteam, Im annoyed that my gang has been knocked down another peg even though i always like playing them as scrappy underdogs. Second favourite non BIG house gang is also my Outcast gang, damn. But i have acquired most the trad gangs too by box proxy and dont play too competitively if and when at all currently. I guess ill just break out/ make the best Venators and see whos laughing. Just sucks my two favourite lore heavy gangs have become second fiddle even when starting at a big disadvantage.
I need to convince the Arbitrator to allow me to obtain purestrains more frequently or easily with or without favours or im just cool cannon fodder.
Just play maximum aberrants for the lolz bro
@@wellywoodwargaming No im not a fan of that much cheese this side of xmas. ha