There are no named characters for the Genestealer cults, and with a little consideration, this makes sense. Among the cultists, while many notable characters may arise, ultimately, all cultists meet the same end, never destined to leave their planet and conquer the stars. Should they fail, then they are purged from the Human record as Heretics, Mutants, and Xeno-abomination. Should they succeed, any knowledge of the individual is consumed, like everything else on the planet, by the descending Hive Fleet. 

So then it falls to the Patriarchs, the Tyranid founders of these cults. And while they are certainly named by their cult followers, they have no recognisable name of their own, being just another part of the all-encompassing Hive Mind. Whether a Patriarch can be a prolific starter of these cults is unknown, but certainly, if that is the case, any past knowledge of success or Tyranid victories are not passed on to the next cult. And so every Patriarch is viewed as a new and unique saviour. Should there be a figure of notoriety among the Patriarchs’ number, it would never be known to any but the Hive Mind itself. What is known, however, is that each Patriarch is the ultimate authority of any Cult, revered as a living demi-god by the cult, and no cultist would ever act in any way other than deference and submission should the Patriarch take to the field. 

So with the Patriarch established as the Supreme Commander of the Cults, let’s take a look at our new Supreme Commander in detail. At 80pts, Ghosar comes in at the cheapest of all the current supreme commanders, but despite that, he has very potent stats. With 380 Wounds backed with Fear, he’s suitably durable, and with 105 Psychic and 126 Melee at max level with Inspiring Presence, he can be a potent damage dealer. But in reality, his actual attack stats are going to be much, much higher.

Psychic abomination; alpha predator; parasitic demigod – the Patriarch is all of these things and worse. They are the source of the bio corruption that spawns each Genestealer Cult cell. Moreover, when the Day of Ascension comes, they are the cult’s deadliest killer, prowling the shadows of embattled worlds to rip and slay.

Ascension Day

Thanks to his special rule: Ascension Day, each wave of Tyranid cards is going to be more and more potent, ending in a crescendo as the Patriarch finally reveals itself to deliver the final blow. 

“Each time a friendly card with a cost of 10 or less is destroyed, add a token of that card to your deck.” 

This means that the smallest cards all effectively have endless as an additional trait, but are placed into your deck. These tokens are traitless, but carry the same stats as the original cards and so you have a large amount of potential fodder to throw into the fight. That in itself is potent, but coupled with the second part of the rule, it is absolutely devastating.

Each time a friendly card is deployed, increase the base attack of all your cards (excluding those in play) by 10%.

This means that every card in your hand or in your deck increases their attack power each time a card is played. Coupled with the ability to generate extra cards, it is possible to get Ghosar overdoubled in attack stats by the time he hits the field. However, the fact that it doesn’t affect cards in play means careful attention needs to be paid to the order in which you play your cards. Hold your big cards off for too long, and your massively boosted cards may be arriving too late to make a difference. Additionally, there’s an element of luck involved, as your deck swells with new cultists, the control of what you draw and when can be quite limited.
It’s worth noting that this buff does get applied to any created tokens, since they are placed in the deck, so while these tokens may not have any traits, their stats can be boosted far beyond the original card.

Overall, this means playing with Ghosar requires a careful balance between dealing with your most powerful cards and overwhelming the enemy with pure numbers. Playing against them gives you the feeling of the end-game boss, facing waves of increasingly more deadly foes until the final leader appears with devastating consequences. 

May you throw off the shackles of oppression in the name of the Four-Armed Emperor!