We’re all excitedly anticipating the Day of Ascension knowing that Codex: Genestealer Cults is on its way early next year, as any proper adherent of the many-armed Emperor should. This new Codex is packed full of new background and superb rules, but it’s also a glorious gallery of genestealer art, from classic pieces to gorgeous, full-colour new scenes.
Though they’re only recently – in the galactic sense – a fully fleshed-out army, Genestealer Cultists have been around since the earliest days of Warhammer 40,000.
We dug through the archives, and returned with a whole host of pictures under each of our many arms, all of which feature a bunch of bald folks leering out at us, the viewer, with a myriad of over-the-top expressions.
As every good cultist knows, every sect operates under the supervision of a Purestrain Genestealer Patriarch. These days, you know them as gigantic super-predators, but back in the day they were… more regal, more refined, and somewhat chunkier, preferring to delegate the killing to their underlings.
Compare that to the Patriarchs of now, below. They’ve had something of a glow-up in recent years. What are they being fed?*
Some of the earliest art hammers home how stylish these punks are. You can almost hear them throwing off the shackles of Imperial fashion– two arms are lame, grandad! Bald heads rock! I won’t clean my hab-bloc!
Cults were more haphazard then, worse at networking, and just cobbled together whatever gear they could find, but honestly, it’s hard not to respect their style. Look at all the weird stuff they’ve got. Is that a Chaos symbol? Wait… Is that a car? Can Genestealers drive?**
There’s one true constant in all the Genestealer Cults art we found, which is that it is all full of people just yelling. Really giving it some aural welly.
Below is a bonafide classic piece of Cult art, and perhaps also the genesis of the modern-day ribbed mining suits. As you can see, they’re pretty much all shouting, mostly at the unpleasantly organic walls of the pipe they’re in.
Given how unstable life is in the Imperium, it's reassuring to find that the Genestealer Cults maintain the time-honoured tradition of being bald and screaming all the way into the present day. Here they are fighting some Howling Griffons in an effective counter-purge.
In the latest codex, the art has evolved. We can now compare how a cult looks to onlookers against how it sees itself. Here’s a Magus holding a sermon, and an excellent piece of propaganda. Bald-and-screaming count: two for two.
In the end, though, a Cult exists for one reason – to bring about Ascension Day. Want to find out what happens when the great gods descend from the sky to wrap everyone in their loving embrace? You just might if you shave your head and make a hullabaloo! Hurrah!
While we await Codex: Genestealer Cults, we’re off to find some hair clippers and do some vocal warmups.
We’re looking forward to bringing you some more sneak peeks at the Codex here on the Warhammer Community site, and make sure to sign up for the Warhammer Newsletter so you don’t miss a thing! In the meantime, head over to the Warhammer Community Twitter page and show us your favourite Genestealer Cults images and miniatures.
* It’s people. They’re being fed people.
** Four-armed drive. We had to say it.