The Rift Wardens

My Genestealer Cult is no more. It has been sold in order to take the girlfriend on weekend away next year to Nottingham (not for any personal reason I can think of...). Not that I was winning much with the Cult anyway. I had lost a lot of enjoyment from them in recent months. Probably the reason why my blog sort fizzled away.

 Instead I have purchased a sizable Primaris army for next to nothing from a friend and repainting them as my own chapter, the Rift Wardens - an Imperial Fists successor. The chapter is purely Primaris and fleet based. The Rift Wardens patrol the Imperial side of the Cicatrix Maledictum, responding to reports of incursions.

So far played three games with them under the new SM codex. Beat a combined Chaos Daemons army (you can read that battle report below this post) and a friends Aeldari Corsairs. Only army to beat me so far, and it was very close, was Hive Fleet Leviathan.

I can't paint very well. It's been thirty two years since I started 40K and it's not a skill I have nor do I have the patience for it. So, with that in mind firstly forgive me for my lack of painting skills (they are still very much works in progress too), and secondly, the lens on my camera phone is smashed so they aren't great quality pictures.

Chapter Master Aureilus, who wields the Crusader's Blade (Burning Blade relic). 

 

Reclusiarch Mordred. 

Uther, Master of Sanctity/Chief Librarian. 

The paint jobs on the infantry look better in person. My camera doesn't do them any justice at all. 

Although I am building the third company, the transfer sheets I have only have the II icon, so all my dreadnoughts must have been loaned out to the 3rd for the duration of their battles. 

I had thought about a silver and purple colour scheme for space marines when 8th edition first dropped but as I was focused on Death Guard at the time I didn't bother pursuing it. After giving Death Guard and Genestealer Cults ago - I think GSC were just a throwback one the army I had under Rogue Trader in the 80's - I have felt drawn to the space marines again. After three games I am enjoying playing them again after becoming disinterested with space marines in the early days of 7th edition.

The only problem I have now is getting 2000 points painted before the 2nd of November, when eight of us are going up to Nottingham for a weekend of gaming. And here's me with little silver paint left!! Help! Wish me luck.

Terror from the Rift

Rift Wardens (Imperial Fists) vs Daemons of Nurgle, Khorne and Tzeentch.
Points: 1500
Mission: Dominate and Destroy.
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil.

The first proper game for my new primaris space marine chapter, the Rift Wardens, pitted them against my friend Gary's chaos daemons army. He was playing a nice combination of Nurgle and Tzeentch.

After setting up the six objectives, they were quite heavily stacked to one end of the table. Thankfully we were playing Hammer and Anvil deployment and I got to choose which end I wanted. Naturally I picked the side with three easily accessible objectives. I set up as a traditional gunline so that the daemons had to come at me across the table.

I let my opponent have the first turn so that his forces had to run towards their doom and into my bolter fire. With no other choice, that is exactly what he did. Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds leading the charge while the Plaguebearers followed up slowly at the back. Gary had a couple Tzeentch chariots held back and his Horrors were still waiting in the Warp.

Over the first couple turns of the game, I was happily mowing down his Flesh Hounds and Bloodletters. Most lost enough casualties that in the morale phase the rest vanished back into the Warp. He passed one roll with a double one and managed to bring the unit back up again but they didn't last long. After the Flesh Hounds died, the right flank was in the hands of Karanak and once my Chapter Master and his Aggressor bodyguards got into combat, the mighty hound of Khorne was no more. This left Skulltaker, his warlord, as the remaining character.

Gary then found a spot in my back lines to deploy his horrors and they popped into existence, and starting pouring eldritch flame into my lines. Thankfully they didn't do well and I didn't lose many but it did mean that I had to turn one Intersessor unit to focus fire on them. In return I dropped my three man Inceptor squad into his deployment zone, where they gunned down the unit holding the objective there. They didn't last long themselves as Gary turned a Chariot around and over two rounds cut them down.

By turn 4 though the Bloodletters had been decimated, one chariot was in ruins and all Gary had coming at me was a handful of Plaguebearers and Skulltaker. The Plaguebearers died a death at the cannon and fist of my Redemptor Dreadnought and in an amazing roll of the dice, my Librarian charged into Skulltaker and took his head before he could fight back.

Turn 5 and the game ended with me in a clear victory.... 20 points to Gary's 11. Probably the best outcome that I have ever had in a game of 40K. A very good game and one where I was pleased that a reasonably static gunline was still viable for marines. I definitely prefer playing Primaris over regular marines.

In the past I would have had serious difficulty with Daemons but it shows how in the right mission with the right deployment, even someone as casual as I can do well. I look forward to the rematch.

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At the moment I only have a single static list until I get my army painted and then new options added. Here is what I presently have fielded:


++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Space Marines) [76 PL, -4CP, 1,483pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

**Chapter Selection**: Imperial Fists, Imperial Fists Successor, Inheritors of the Primarch

+ HQ [11 PL, -2CP, 206pts] +

Chapter Master in Gravis Armor [6 PL, -2CP, 108pts]: Boltstorm gauntlet [12pts], Iron Resolve, Master-crafted power sword [6pts], Stratagem: Chapter Master [-2CP], The Burning Blade, Warlord

Primaris Librarian [5 PL, 98pts]: 2) Might of Heroes, 3) Null Zone, Force sword [8pts]

+ Troops [25 PL, -2CP, 425pts] +

Intercessor Squad [5 PL, 85pts]: Bolt rifle
4x Intercessor [68pts]
Intercessor Sergeant [17pts]

Intercessor Squad [10 PL, 170pts]: Bolt rifle
9x Intercessor [153pts]
Intercessor Sergeant [17pts]

Intercessor Squad [10 PL, -2CP, 170pts]: Bolt rifle, Veteran Intercessors [-2CP]
9x Intercessor [153pts]
Intercessor Sergeant [17pts]

+ Elites [17 PL, 394pts] +

Aggressor Squad [5 PL, 111pts]: 2x Aggressor [42pts], Aggressor Sergeant [21pts]
Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets/Fragstorm Grenade Launcher [48pts]

Dreadnought [5 PL, 120pts]: Missile launcher [20pts], Twin lascannon [40pts]

Redemptor Dreadnought [7 PL, 163pts]: 2x Fragstorm Grenade Launchers [8pts], Heavy flamer [14pts], Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon [30pts], Icarus Rocket Pod [6pts]

+ Fast Attack [7 PL, 123pts] +

Inceptor Squad [7 PL, 123pts]: Assault bolter x2 [48pts], 2x Inceptor [50pts], Inceptor Sergeant [25pts]

+ Heavy Support [16 PL, 335pts] +

Hellblaster Squad [16 PL, 335pts]: Plasma incinerator [150pts]
9x Hellblaster [162pts]
Hellblaster Sergeant [23pts]: Plasma pistol [5pts]

OPtv - battle report

My friends over at OPtv have a new battle report up using the new supplements for Raven Guard and White Scars. Give it a watch and if you like their content, please consider subscribing.

Drop Site Alpha - Thule Ultima Narrative Battle 2

Points: 2000.
Mission: Retrieval Mission.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.

Finally got the second game played a few weeks ago with my friend Joel. This time we picked a basic mission from the rule book and went for it with a slightly bigger point game. Joel's army was essentially the same but with a few extra marines and bikes, while I upped some squad sizes and included a couple fortifications to round out the points.

It was quite a brutal game. Where as last time Joel was learning the rules, this time he had a much better grasp of things and it showed. His army was a lot faster going forward this time and I found myself stuck in the usual defensive posture that games with my Genestealer Cult tend to devolve into. The Dark Angels swept across my opponent's side of the table throwing out a lot of firepower although I did manage to awesome shots with both leman russ tanks that eventually brought one down but the other kept flying although crippled.

The Dark Angel bike squads supported by an apothecary were the real bane of my game this time around. Every time I managed to drop one of them, he brought it back on one wound. The marines were in my lines turn 2 and there was little I could do about it. When his terminators arrived I knew I was in trouble. Where Joel was winning initially in the shooting phase he soon started crushing me in combat. Even my genestealers and patriarch were brutally pummeled.

The game ended turn 3 and I hadn't even made it out of my deployment zone really before I was utterly devastated. I had barely any models left and I had to call it. Good game but considering Joel's new arrival into these rules I expected to have a better go of it.

OPtv Battle #3

The Souless March - Vigilus

Points: 1000.
Mission: No Mercy.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.

An unexpected enemy has manifested in the deep deserts of Vigilus - the Necrons of the Mephrit Dynasty. The machines march forward and towards the holdings of the expanding Cult. It was a major engagement considering the forces arrayed against the Cult elsewhere on Vigilus at the time. It would see the Genestealer Cult forces decimated completely and several Cult outposts likewise destroyed within a few days. The Necron forces then faded back into the night leaving flayed bodies and burning wreckage, and a mystery for those who find the remains.

This past week our local club has had several new members brought to us. One new player was Sean and we had a cool game. Sean brought his Necrons to the table and I bought my Genestealer Cult. This was only his fourth game ever so we went for a basic kill mission. I set up first and decided to let my opponent have the first turn. I've not played Necrons with my Cult so while I expected to get hammered, I figured going second would perhaps be more helpful and I could see what Shaun did before I decided finally what unit was which ambush blip.

The Necrons advanced forwards across the table. His immortals claiming cover inside a ruin, while the lychguard marched into the central ruin which oddly halted their advance. At this point I revealed my units, and the machines opened fire. I lost an entire unit of brood brothers and my vehicles both lost a few wounds.

My turn and I drove the rockgrinder towards the immortals but they had inflicted significant damage and weakened it. I was just hoping to get in there and use the appropriate stratagem to detonate the cache of explosives onboard. Most of my fire went into Sean's annihilation barge and although it didn't explode this turn, it would not survive the second. Sure enough, the necrons destroyed my rockgrinder, while it did nothing on the charge. The cache detonated killing a handful models from the immortals and warriors, and knocking two wounds from his lord.

The next couple of turns were quite brutal. The necron shooting was incredible and I lost my leman russ battle tank but not before it destroyed a unity of scarabs and wounded the advancing nightbringer. I used the laying in wait stratagem to bring the hybrids in three inches from the immortals but the hand flamers did nothing, and the immortals then burnt them to the ground. Very ineffective but I didn't really have a better target. On my left flank I brought in my genestealers and patriarch. The idea being to charge into the necron warriors and cryptek but both failed their charges and took heavy casualties from the overwatch.

Sean then used veil of night to shift his lord and immortals closer to my genestealers. Their incoming fire dropped more genestealers though and that flank was beginning to crumble. In return I was able to smite a couple models but again things did not go well, and the souless machines gunned down my unit and the patriarch. Warlord kill went to my opponent.

Turn 5 and all I had left was my primus and one understrengh brood brothers squad. Despite being brave and charging in, the primus died horribly. At this point we agreed that victory was in the hands of the Necrons. Sean won this game 9 victory points to my 2.

---

This was just the sort of game that I enjoy. Just the sort of game that Warhammer should be as. There were no twinky lists or aggressive play. This was a straight casual fun game. A big thank you to my opponent for that.

I think that I could have done better but my dice were, as usual, not playing ball. I may have focused too much on the wrong targets but in hindsight, if the dice rolled well, I wouldn't be saying that. I really needed to get the genestealers into combat but it was not to be.

Hopefully we'll get a rematch again soon.
---

OPtv Battle #2

My friends over at OPtv have posted up a new battle report. I haven't had chance to watch all of this yet but it is on my watch list. Should be a interesting match up.

WIP - Rift Wardens Dreadnought

I've been getting that itch again to go back to playing Space Marines. I'm not giving up on the Genestealer Cult but I need something I'll find easier to play and to stop me getting bored with the same painting/gaming. Ever since 8th edition dropped I've pondered the idea of a Primaris chapter and I have finally taken the plunge!

The Rift Wardens are an Imperial Fists successor chapter. They are a fleet based chapter tasked with patrolling the Imperium side of the Cicatrix Maledictum and responding to any threats discovered.

I picked up the snap-fit Redemptor Dreadnought last payday and I'm working on him now. May I please present fallen brother Atticus.

Even back when I first started thinking about a Primaris chapter when 8th dropped, I had the mental image of a silver and purple colour scheme. As I remember Rogue Trader clearly and back then every powerfist was red (so were plasma weapons) so the dreadnoughts fist gets to share that colour. I just need to decide on some highlight colours for the purple.

The base is blue sand. I picked up some blue play sand from work a few weeks ago before we wrapped up our summer garden range. I thought it would look nice to be something more alien than the traditional proper orange sand. I picked up some stones as well for other model's bases too.

A good friend of mine who is collecting the figure magazine (I forget the name of it) has given me some intercessors, reivers, a chaplain, two characters (one for my chapter master and one for captain), and some aggressors to help found my new chapter.

Luna Assault - Thule Ultima narrative battle 1

Points: 1500.
Mission: Only War.
Deployment: Dawn of War.

Thule Ultima is a shield world protecting the approach to Holy Terra from the horrors of the Warp that spill forth from the ruins of Cadia. Garrisoned by over a dozen full regiments of the Astra Militarum. Thule Ultima stands as the greatest bulwark against the advance of Abaddon and his legions of chaos space marines.

Recently agents of the Ordos Xenos seized control of a rogue trader vessel suspected of engaging in illegal activities with alien species. On board they found a nest of genestealers and cultists. Records indicated that the ship had come from Thule Ultima, and psychic interrogation of the ship's crew revealed that the shield world had fallen to a genestealer cult calling itself The Cult of the Faithful. 

Aware that the Dark Angel battle barge - the Spear of Truth - was returning from a conflict in the Hera system, the Ordos Xenos asked them to investigate. The space marines translated in system and made for Solaris, the moon of Thule Ultima. A small strike force was deployed to catch the cult unaware and prevent them raising the alarm.

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This game started off simply as a means of crossing the Dark Angels off my list of armies I wanted to play against. I only know of two people who play Dark Angels, my nephew and my friend Joel. Joel hasn't played a game of 8th edition to my knowledge so it seemed like a good way to bring back into the hobby.

After our match I had the idea of getting some more games in with him and his Dark Angels, and the idea of a narrative campaign separate the club's Vigilus games seemed like a fun way to do it. Hopefully it will make for some interesting battle reports.

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The introductory mission seemed like a good way to get Joel back into the game easily and I quite enjoy the simplicity of it. We set up the four objectives up in a roughly T shape centrally, and then Joel decided on the classic Dawn of War deployment. Joel set most of his army up on the right flank of the table with some deathwing terminators and a terminator librarian in deep strike aboard his battle barge.  What worried me most though was his flyer, which I had no real defence against. Most of my army was deployed as blips which was unexpected by my opponent. My patriarch, primus, hybrids and genestealers waited in reserve, deep in the tunnels beneath the lunar surface.

We then rolled for the actual mission and it was the Relic special. The objective on my left flank turned out to be the one we needed - presumably the communications console to warn the surface. Joel had nothing deployed near it and I was going to have to use some stratagems if I wanted to ensure it remained safely in cult hands. Joel then infiltrated some scouts into a ruin across from the objective. All very sneaky.

I had the first turn. On my left flank I moved my rockgrinder forward towards his scouts. Next turn I wanted to burn them down with my clearance incinerator. One unit of brood brothers advanced behind it. The idea being to get them onto the objective as quickly as possible. My magus moved that way as well but only because I didn't really have a plan for what to do with him. Nothing else moved and I kept focused on the approaching ravenwing bikers.

First shot of the game and my second brood brother squad managed to take some wounds off of Joel's Nephilim jetfigher with their lascannon, although I used the free re-roll the mission gave me to increase the damage from 2 to 3. A good shot but I would have liked more. The cult leman russ tank got a good number of battle cannon shots into one biker squad dealing a good amount of damage and turning my opponent's ire upon it. My Astra Militarum leman russ executioner however did the opposite and I'm not even sure now that it inflicted any wounds.

On Joel's first turn he zoomed the two bike squads forwards, and even restored one to the living with his apothecary. He brought the nephilim swooping forward so that it was the facing the brood brother squad I had advanced towards the objective. His shooting decimated that squad, killing them to a man. The bike squads opened fire with their plasma weapons into my cult leman russ and although the recently restored battle brother blew himself up, they destroyed my tank with ease.

Turn two and my neophyte hybrids used a stratagem to vanish back into the tunnels. I decided to keep everything else on my right flank to occupy the Ravenwing bikers and the predator tank that Joel had hidden up on his corner of the table. I also used a statagem to have my acolyte hybrids pop up right next to Joel's scouts and burn most of them down with hand flamers. I managed to drop a couple more bikers and knock some wounds off of the nephilim as well, but I was having a hard time hitting that as it flew past.

Joel's turn two was fairly simple too. The Ravenwing bikers sped forward spitting fire into my troops and the executioner. A well placed high damage shot from his predator destroyed my executioner, which was disappointing as I had hopes for that taking out the rest of his Ravenwing.

Turn 3 and I dropped in my neophyte hybrids almost on top of the objective. I made sure they were close enough to be able to snag it if needed but within range of the surviving scouts. My primus scrambled up from the tunnels next to the objective so at least it was mine for the time being. Across the table I brought in my patriarch and his genestealers. The hope being to get into combat and tear through a few. I turned the rockgrinder towards a 5 man tactical squad that was inching forward up the table. The shooting phase saw my neophytes drop the last scouts and the rockgrinder dropped all but a couple of the tactical squad. Come the assault phase, I lost two or three genestealers to the bikers and then failed the charges of both the 'stealers and the patriarch.

Joel's turn 3 and down came his reinforcements - a 5 man deathwing terminator squad and a teminator librarian. Both came down on my left flank just able to deploy beyond the objective and my primus. He attempted to smite my primus but inflicted only a single wound. Unfortunately due to deathwing assault and an excellent shooting phase, the terminators decimated both my primus and the neophytes but it meant that no one held the objective.


And there we had to end the match as the venue was closing at the end of the evening. Although had the game continued Joel would have won because of his terminators, as they would have walked forward and pressed the off button. We both agreed however, that calling his first 8th edition game a draw was a fair and reasonable outcome given that neither of us held the objective at the end. We both had fun and I think joel learned a lot about the new edition.

After a long and hard fought battle, the Dark Angels had lost the element of surprise and the alarm had been sent to Thule Ultima. The Cult of the Faithful began to arm itself and prepare to the face the wrath of the space marines!

Dark Angels: 0.
Genestealer Cult 0.

OPTV battle 1

Some friends at our club have started their own 40K battle report youtube channel. This is their first one. Unfortunately it looks like Youtube messed up the formatting a little but hopefully the next one will be better quality.

Battle of Blood River - Vigilus

The battle of Blood River was an engagement fought between the the Genestealer Cult and a force of Khorne Daemons. The Cult was marching forth to engage the forces of the Imperium when they were set upon a sudden manifestation of daemons. The daemonic incursion cut off and surrounded the Cult, leaving them fighting for their lives.

1750 points.

Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Chaos Daemons (Khorne).

Mission: Scorched Earth.

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil.

Battle Zone: None.

This battle was played as game #2 of our day event a couple months ago. With that in mind my memory maybe a little rusty so please bear with me.

This game was against Jon's impressive khorne daemons army. I had been looking forward to this game as I don't get to face off against daemons all that often. We rolled off for deployment and faced each other across the table old skool style. From what I recall Jon set up about half of his army in battle lines across from me and ready to march into battle.

The game was soon down to combat regardless of the mission. Despite blasting many of the infernal horrors into dust Jon kept bringing a few back and deepstriking those he had in reserve. I didn;t do too badly to start with as even my cultists were able to take many down with massed firepower and the fortifications did me well too. But once they reached my lines things changed for the worse.

Once again my forces proved incapable of handling a dedicated assault based army. We did end up with an awkward situation where we did have a small but friendly argument as to how something worked and in the end we went with Jon's interpretation (although I still think I'm right :p ). It did't matter though as it wasn't a situation that would have changed the outcome of the game.

The game went quite quickly but with an expected outcome and I believe that Jon's daemons were very through in tabling my forces. They even tore down my fortifications in close combat.

I wish I could remember more of the details as it was a good fun game. It was probably the game out of the three that day that I had better chance at winning but it wasn't in my favour. My dice that day were fairly pants.

Victory to the khornate daemons.

Summer Update

I have been fairly quiet again lately unfortunately. Real life issues and training for a new promotion at work have kept me quite busy. I haven't even had much opportunity for painting lately. I'm hoping that as the summer progresses I can get back to painting and catching up on my battle reports.

Bloodbath - Vigilus

Having sustained numerous losses since the war on Vigilus began, the cult needed to secure at least a small victory to ensure their survival. A weapons depot in the wastelands was picked as a target as it was expected to be lightly defended while the major battles took place elsewhere. The cult made it's way through the badlands only to find that their expectations were very wrong. A detachment of Custodes lay in wait, having expected just such an attack from one of the Imperium's many foes on Vigilus.

1750 points.
Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Adeptus Custodes.
Mission: The Scouring.
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil.
Battle Zone: None.

This was a battle that took place as part of a small day's gaming back in April and not part of the club's ongoing narrative campaign. The details will be sketchy but hopefully you'll get the idea of how the game went.

The first game of the day was against my friend Dan who had brought his Adeptus Custodes army to the table. I have only defeated Custodes once and back then I was playing Death Guard with Mortarion. I was going to do the best that I could here but without sounding too negative, I was fully expecting to get wiped out with my poor cult.

The six objectives were set up fairly evenly across the table and we rolled Hammer and Anvil deployment, which at the time I thought was going to be good for me. I figured as most of Dan's army was walking across the table I might be able to do something before he got too close to me. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way as you have probably expected.

Dan's forces started walking up the table, snatching claim on objectives as they went along. Knowing that I didn't want to get into assault too soon, I elected to stay put and pour as much small arms fire into his troops as they came forward. In theory I should have been able to whittle a few of them down but as is always the case with me, my dice didn't want to play. It wasn't his troops that were the problem though. Dan had brought a venerable contemptor dreadnought, some vertus preator jetbikes and a caladius grav tank. He was able to put a lot of firepower into me before I could do much damage back.

From what I recall, I did managed to strip a few wounds and kill a handful of his troops, but I couldn't do much more than that before he was in my lines with the jetbikes. With some of my cult tied up, the rest of his army had little to slow their advance up the lines. Nothing I had stopped him. I think the game got to turn 4 before he had annihilated me.

It was a good game but considering deployment was more in my favour than Dan's I felt I should have been more effective with my shooting. It wasn't a failing in target priority but just a mixture of bad dice rolls and a tougher army than mine.

The Drona Steppes - Vigilus

The battle of the Drona Steppes followed the Imperial attack on Mount Drona. The Black Templars, led by High Marshal Helbrecht and Grimaldus, a counter attack against the cultists pouring from the tunnels beneath the local industrial buildings. Although outnumbered, the space marines fought through to the heart of the Cult in the region.

1500 points.
Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Space Marines (Black Templars).
Mission: Strategic Gambit.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.
Battle Zone: None.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jamie challenged me to a game and brought along his Black Templars space marines. I was really pleased by this as I didn't think we had anyone at the club who played this specific chapter. To make things even better for me, Jamie included both Helbrecht and Grimaldus in his list.

At this time I had not had an opportunity to play any of the missions from Chapter Approved 2018 so Jamie picked one that he thought sounded good. We rolled Search and Destroy as our deployment which I thought considering the amount of LOS blocking terrain would actually do me good. Unfortunately the Space Marines got the first turn and I was extremely surprised at how quickly they got around the cover to be able to get some shots off at me. Once again I really found myself locked into my own deployment zone. Unless the dice gods were with me I would fighting to just hold my position.

As the first few turns progressed, the Templars charged down my right flank and assaulted the rockgrinder trundling towards them. They did some damage but the sturdy construction managed to absorb more wounds than the odds would have allowed. It didn't stop them bringing it down soon after though and although I used a stratagem to detonate the bombs on board it only succeeded in killing one marine.

On my left flank the main body of the space marine force was advancing forwards under cover of fire from a land raider crusader. That beast of a tank was decimating my brood brothers like they were nothing. Where the Templars charged my poor forces were cut down with ease.

Once I had the opportunity to bring in some reinforcements I figured I could at least do some damage even if the game was in the hands of a superior opponent. The genestealers, patriarch and primus clawed their way out of the sands behind his marines on the left flank although in an awkward position, and using a stratagem I popped up my hybrids 4 inches behind Helbrect, with their hand flamers pointed directly at him.

Molten premotheium poured from the hand flamers at the leader of the Black Templars. I rolled 21 wounds and even though Helbrecht has a 2+ armour save I expected to do something. Instead he passed every single one. In retaliation the mighty space marine commander sliced them down in assault. The genestealers did not fair much better. I charged but I could not make much in the way of saves and a handful fell on the way in. I did well in cut down a few marines but their attacks back decimated the genestealers and then the space marines turned all their firepower onto the remaining primus and patriarch.

Victory to the Black Templars.

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It was a good game but I don't think I really got to explore the mission as I was too busy fending off brutal assaults. This was another game where my dice let me down so many times while my opponent's dice were working entirely in their favour. It's hard to do anything when the game is against you like that. Even so, it was really good to play against Black Templars again - the last time was under 4th edition!

The Drona Conflict - Vigilus

The Drona conflict was a military campaign fought by the Imperium against the uprising Genestealer Cults. It took place around the industrial sites at the base of Mount Drona. 
The Imperium initially launched a series of artillery attacks against the Cult's fortified positions before sending in a large tank formation.

1300 points.

Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Astra Militarum (Catachan).

Mission: Cleanse and Capture.

Deployment: Dawn of War.

Battle Zone: None. 

I this battle faced the might of Charlie and .. well, at the time I wasn't sure what he was going to be bringing to the tabletop. In the end I was surprised by a rather unusual Catachan tank detachment. Not at all what I was expecting.

Deployment was along the long sides of the table facing one another. I let Charlie have the first turn as I wanted to know where he was looking to move his horde of tanks and I wasn't 100% confident on where I had placed my blip tokens. I had deployed my vengeance weapon platforms on either side of my side of the table to cover whichever way Charlie came at me but he was focused on one side of the table only. Charlie did put firepower into one of my weapon platforms reducing it down a little bit. I lost a handful of models as well but not as badly as I first feared.

On my turn I was able to take out one hellhound by a mixture of shooting and ramming it with my rockgrinder. A few wounds where taken off a couple of his tanks but I didn't have the means to much more than that. This turn I wasn't in a position to move forwards either which didn't help. Like most of my recent games I have been forced to remain locked largely in my own deployment zone.

The next couple turns were largely the same with Charlie blasting my weapon platforms into dust and just burning out my troops from their positions. When I did bring my hybrids and genestealers in I was able to finally do something. The hybrids just drew fire but the genestealers and patriarch tore through a couple of tanks before they inevitably went down to massed firepower.

I think by turn 4 I had been decimated to the point of not being able to continue so the survivours fled back into the sewers and I conceded the match.

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First off, apologies for the shortness of this report. It was three weeks ago and I've just had chance to sit down and try to recall it. Had two other games since then and things are a bit fuzzy.

It was a good game and gave me the opportunity to see how I would or wouldn't handle a mechanized list. I guess I knew that I couldn't handle it but the fun came from seeing how well I could do it. I just could not do enough damage nor could I get out of my deployment zone to do anything else.

I'd really like to play a proper Catachan list. One more infantry based though as Charlie's list to me, wasn't all that fluffy. But as everyone else around here plays Cadian regiment I was happy.

---

Friendly grumbles about GSC

I'm really not having a lot of luck with my Genestealer Cult. It is to be expected though. I'm used to how MEQ armies play, due to finances I only have what I have, and I really need to get my head around how they play. However, I really would have thought that I'd have won one game already since the codex dropped a few weeks ago.

I keep reading about how great GSC are and how they can do all manner of twinky stuff but I'm just not seeing it.

I use Brood Brother squads as my default troop options as I want the heavy weapons - one with lascannon to deal with tanks and one with heavy bolter to mow down the infantry. The problem is that they don't have great saves and are easy to gun down with massed firepower. They never last long.

Genestealers and Acolyte Hybrids are my pop up units but neither are very good. The Genestealers pop up, charge and can usually decimate a unit but then everyone around them turns about and they get cut down by that massed firepower again. Likewise, I tend to use the stratagem that lets a unit pop up 3'' from the enemy with the Acolyte Hybrids so they can pour their hand flamers into them. But I only have five Hybrids and four of them have hand flamers. They do something, and then, they too become targets for enemy fire.

It gets really frustrating that I cannot get this army to deploy and act as a functional force. Obviously I need more units (thanks to my generous club mates, I do now have a Baneblade and Lemun Russ ready to go, and a Atalan Jackels box and Ridgerunner waiting to be built) but until such time as my financial situation improves this is what I am lumbered with.

I feel that I need more infantry but then I am concerned that I'll end up being very static and I want an army that will move about the table capturing objectives and doing something. Genestealers just don't seem worth the effort for what they are and how easily they die. I remember Genestealers being horrendous in previous editions (for Tyranids admittedly) but for GSC they seem like a one shot pony that dies after doing what you wanted it to.

To show you how badly I am doing a few weeks back I played against a CSM army that was two daemon princes, three chaos cultist squads and two summoned daemons (one unit of bloodletters and one unit of pink horrors)... and they tabled me basically. This was an opposing list that I should have just hammered into pink mist and I didn't. We had a great game but boy is it getting frustrating.

I'm throwing this out to you, my audience, what can you suggest that I do to increase my chances of actually winning a game or coming closer to it?

The Vigilus campaign update

Our club's Vigilus campaign is going along nice and happy (if you call ducking incoming artillery happy). We're just about this week to complete the third round of the campaign and as I have been lax in posting up since the first round here is where we stand as of today.

We've made two small changes since it started. As the campaign is going to be running for a couple of years at least we have decided that players can play whichever faction they want each game to prevent boredom and it keep it interesting. We've also decided that rather than reward for just playing the suggested scenarios each round, that the 16/6 victory points will apply regardless of which mission is played.

Total Control:

326 campaign points - Imperium.
142 campaign points - Orks.
100 campaign points - Drukhari.
97 campaign points - Tyranids.
43 campaign points - Aeldari.
36 campaign points - Chaos.
22 campaign points - Tau Empire
22 campaign points - Necrons.

Round 3 (March 4th to April 1st).
Unwilling to sit back and watch their plans for Vigilus to come to naught, the Genestealer Cult rises up across the surface of the planet. Espionage and acts of terrorism force the Hivesprawls to close their borders and look to their own defences.

By the end of the third month the Imperium was in a much superior position than it had been in since the start of the conflict. The arrival of Aeldari forces and the approach of a Tyranid fleet assaulting the outer worlds however, have given the Imperial commanders pause for concern.

110 points: Imperium.
32 points: Aeldari.
24 points: Tyranids.
22 points: Necrons.
16 points: Chaos
12 points: Drukhari.
6 points: Orks.


Round 2 (February 4th to March 4th 2019):
Orks and other Xenos forces fall upon the vital supply convoys that run between the great hive cities, stealing resources and slaves. The Astra Militarum respond swiftly, engaging in running tank battles.
Meanwhile the Drukhari take the chaos of the sudden war to engage in slave raids and to sow confusion among the various combatants.

By the end of the second month the Imperium had begun to seriously fight back, seizing victory in a number of key sectors. The Ork and Drukhari menace were the biggest threats that the planetary defenders had to deal with and their numbers were growing. At the close of the month, rumours began to emerge about sightings of Aeldari forces in the wastelands, and it would lead the defenders to worry whether they were unexpected allies or another opponent to be slain.

1st place: Imperium.
2nd place: Orks and Drukhari
3rd place: Tyranids.
4th place: Tau
5th place: Chaos.
6th place: Aeldari.

Round 1 (January 7th to February 4th 2019):
In round 1, the mighty Ork forces make planetfall on Vigilus and immediately begin to assault the nearest hive cities. The Imperial defenders fall to political infighting in their futile attempts to organize a hasty defence.

By the end of the first month, the Imperial forces had turned their in-fighting around and were concentrating all firepower upon the alien aggressors arrayed before them. The Orks had secured a number of vital locations, constructed scrap towns and seized vital supply points. The emerging Genestealer Cult, Drukhari raiders and Chaos presences were for the moment largely ignored and underestimated however.

1st place:  Imperium.
2nd place: Orks.
3rd place: Tyranids.
4th place: Drukhari.
5th place: Chaos and Tau Empire.

Convoy Ambush - Vigilus

Imperial strategy was at present winning them the war for Vigilus. Their enemies although many had been forced into defensive positions. Even so, they suffered frequent and devastating assaults by Orks and Drukhari, and with the Genestealer Cults rising from the shadows, it was decided that the various hive city leaders should be brought together and protected. The Genestealer Cult had expected and prepared for just such a move...

1300 points.
Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Space Marines (Salamanders).
Mission: Behead the Viper.
Deployment: Special.
Battle Zone: None. 

I had not played against Alex and his Salamanders for probably the better part of a year so a rematch was long overdue. Back then I was playing Death Guard and this time around I knew I was going to get a pasting. Alex wanted to play Behead the Viper from the first Vigilus book and we agreed it made sense for my Genestealer Cult to be the attacking force looking to capture and infect some high ranking politicians.

I pretty much had what I had but I did make one small error which was to not read exactly how things set up and I included my vengeance weapon platforms but we agreed that they should be set up as part of the terrain so Alex knew where they where. Didn't really make too much difference though to the game.

Alex set up his forces at opposite corners of the board. One lot of marines guarding the entrance to the hive city and the other escorting a rhino with the dignitaries on board. I tried to set up using the blips as normal but it didn't really help with this mission if I'm honest. He knew where things were going to be and was prepared for them.

In fact it went really badly for me as his primaris marines just burnt down one brood brothers squad and shortly after, the second. I was able to swiftly immobilize the rhino meaning he couldn't get it to safety so I had high hopes even with the casualties. Alex barely had to move his marines as everything I had was in range of something and he even burnt down the two vengeance platforms with a mixture of heavy weapons and plasma incinerators.

When my reserves arrived they didn't do much. The hybrids popped up a few inches from his scouts using a stratgem and flamed all but one down, which then died in combat. But return fire decimated that unit. The genestealers didn't fare much better. They did their job taking down a lot of primaris marines and two characters, and were closest to the disabled rhino but their weakness to massed firepower reduced them all down.

The game ended turn 4 if I remember right with my army tabled once again. It was a fun game even though I think my army was absolutely terrible this game. Only the genestealers and the patriarch did anything worthwhile. Alex's army was really good and more than capable of stopping me.

Unexpected Assault - Vigilus

To start with, the Genestealer Cult began to work on the assumption that the various warring factions would not notice their presence, or at the very least, be more occupied with their more "traditional" enemies to worry about a few minor uprisings which could be left to the local Arbites to deal with. With this in mind, the Cult went about it's usual sabotage attempts away from the front lines and it was here that they came into conflict with a foe totally unexpected. Somehow, a small force of chaos cultists had made planet fall under the confusion of battle, led by a pair of mighty daemon princes associated with the Word Bearers legion of traitor marines. These two forces clashed in the hinterlands beyond the hive cities while both sides were hunting down stragglers and isolated enemy units.

1000 points.
Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Chaos Space Marines (Word Bearers).
Mission: No Mercy.
Deployment: Dawn of War.
Battle Zone: None.

I haven't played against Marko for a good while now so we were overdue for a match. I figured a nice small game was in order and so we went for one of the rule book missions over a campaign round one. I also wanted to learn a bit more about my new codex so this made sense too.

Marko decided to play a Word Bearers army although what he actually brought to the table was more a mass of cultists, possessed, a pair of daemon princes and two large blocks of summonable daemons. Not really what I would have called a Word Bearers army but hey, it was different so good to face.

The first couple of turns went really quickly. Marko had summoned his daemons - bloodletters and horrors, and used those as his main shock troops - while the cultists basically sat back and did very little. I began by moving up my rockgrinder towards the bloodletters in hopes of burning a number of them down and then running a few over. This didn't really work as I rolled low on the flamer and once in combat, I was being whittled away far too nicely by the daemons. In the end I was forced to use a stratagem to auto detonate the rockgrinder which did thankfully sent a number of bloodletters back to the Warp.

Meanwhile on the left flank, the horrors were pouring psychic warpfire into my troops and completely obliterated one unit in a single shooting phase! In retaliation I popped up my hybrids behind his lines and tried to flame down a load of cultists but only about 3 actually died. As happens in every game lately, the hybrids then died to massed firepower.

Eventually Marko claimed the center of the table and was able to slowly take down my new cult Leman Russ tank, which also did very little this game. The one time it managed to do any damage, Marko managed to get them back with a stratagem and drop them behind my lines.

The game was eventually a bloodbath as my genestealers appeared and tore his army to shreds. The Patriarch charged and slew one daemon prince and the primus took down the second before dealing with the possessed with ease. The remaining bloodletters were taken down by the genestealers before they too died to cultist fire.

By turn 5 I had next to nothing left and Marko was on nearly twice as many victory points as I was. He swiftly took down what I had left with massed small arms fire. Not much I could do.

---

So other than Marko's strange choice of playing a CSM list that was pretty much empty of chaos space marines... this was a good game. It went to show that you can have just as much fun with a basic 1000 point game as one with 2000 points or more.

I think I would have preferred to face a full CSM Word Bearers list as I would like to face more fluffy specific lists so hopefully next time I can convince him to do so.

---

Outpost 772 - Vigilus

This battle was a skirmish between the invading Ork forces and a small gathering of Genestealer Cultists. The Orks had mobilized and begun a major assault upon the megasprawls of Vigilus. One such target would finally bring the Genestealer Cults out into the open - that of mining outpost 772. The Cult could no longer wait out the war in the shadows, but had been forced to rise up and combat the invaders.

1300 points.
Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Orks (Evil Sunz).
Mission: Special.
Deployment: Special.
Battle Zone: None.

This game was my first go at using 40K's Dawn of War cards. The game was supposed to be a regular battle against friend Multch but in the end we decided to try out the strange randomness of these cards. We ended up with a mission resembling The Relic and the deployment was an odd opposed T-shape, with one player (myself) taking a 24'' block on one short edge and my opponent slab in from the far end. This gave the Orks a close start to the objective at the center but there was no way that I was going to survive that deployment.

I had the first turn and while most of my forces stayed put, I advanced one brood brother squad up my right flank in hopes of getting to the objective, while the rockgrinder trundled forward on my left flank to clear some space with the flamer. I didn't get much shooting done but I was able to burn down and shoot out a unit of grots who were being used, with a stratagem, as meat shields.

On the Orks first turn Multch performed his usual trick of acting Da Jump, to teleport a huge block of boyz into my back lines. His main force snatched the objective and then over the next few turns, much to both our surprise, he moved those boyz into my own deployment zone. Those greenskins weren't go to give up on a good fight. The orks didn't have a great shooting phase although they did tend to target the rockgrinder (which kept making those sturdy construction rolls) and the vengeance weapon platforms, although they didn't take too much damage.

Turn two, and I was on the defensive far sooner than I had expected to be, although I should have expected Da Jump if I'm honest. On my right flank the brood brothers moved up so that I had a good line of sight to the enemy weirdboy. A hail of heavy bolter and lasgun fire swiftly brought him down before he could do anything else unnatural. Elsewhere my shooting continued to follow my usual path, with hardly any damage inflicted. I also managed to pop up the hybrid squad from hidden tunnels and using their hand flamers, burn down a few orks. Also, as usual, they get gunned down right afterwards!

As the game progressed I found my poor cult being surrounded with no way out. Orks may not be the best shots but sheer weight of firepower was swiftly dropping my forces. The weapon platforms soon went bang and Multch brought his one and only deffkopter on along my right flank, where with a mixture of rocket fire and assault, it took down the heavy bolter team with ease.

I soon saw a chance to seize victory. Because the Dawn of War cards are different to regular missions, I saw an opportunity to grab the relic and run, because nothing in the cards says that the model with the relic has to stay on the table. If my plan worked, I could get the Primus onto the relic and then retreat into the shadows with a stratagem. Unfortunately although the genestealers got into combat with the orks, both the Patriarch and Primus failed their charges and before I could get in the following turn, Multch moved his big tank (I forget what it was called) in the way to deny me my victory, and he then proceeded to gun down the last of my forces.

---

A very good game and it was nice to play the Dawn of War cards, although I think I do prefer the regular missions. I had a hard time dealing with the Orks and I think horde armies are going to be a problem for the Genestealer Cult. I don't think the army has much that can handle that. Even Genestealers, although awesome if they get the charge die far too easily once their target has been brought down. It was good practice for the next time I have to face them.

---

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [61 PL, 7CP, 1040pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Battle-forged CP [3CP]

Cult Creed: The Twisted Helix

Detachment CP [5CP]

Gametype: Matched

Insurrectionists

Stratagem: Broodcoven [-1CP]

Use Beta Rules

+ HQ +

Magus [5 PL, 92pts]: Broodcoven Magus, Familiar, Power: Mind Control, Warlord Trait: Shadow Stalker

Patriarch [8 PL, 137pts]: Elixir of the Prime Specimen, Familiar, Power: Might From Beyond, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Biomorph Adaptation

Primus [4 PL, 75pts]: Bonesword, Broodcoven Primus, Warlord Trait: Alien Majesty

+ Troops +

Acolyte Hybrids [3 PL, 66pts]: Cult Icon
3x Acolyte Hybrid (Hand Flamer): 3x Hand Flamer
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Hand Flamer, Heavy Rock Cutter
Acolyte Leader: Lash Whip and Bonesword

Brood Brothers Infantry Squad [5 PL, 72pts]: Brood Brothers Leader
6x Brood Brother
Brood Brother (Grenade): Grenade Launcher
Brood Brother (Vox-caster): Cult Vox-caster
Brood Brothers Weapons Team: Lascannon

Brood Brothers Infantry Squad [5 PL, 63pts]: Brood Brothers Leader
6x Brood Brother
Brood Brother (Flamer): Flamer
Brood Brother (Vox-caster): Cult Vox-caster
Brood Brothers Weapons Team: Heavy Bolter

+ Elites +

Purestrain Genestealers [16 PL, 240pts]: 16x Purestrain Genestealer

+ Heavy Support +

Cult Leman Russ [9 PL, 175pts]: 2x Heavy Bolter, Battle Cannon, Dozer Blade, Heavy Bolter, Storm Bolter

Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 120pts]: Cache of Demolition Charges, Clearance Incinerator, Heavy Stubber

++ Fortification Network (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [12 PL, 200pts] ++

+ Fortification +

Vengeance Weapon Batteries [12 PL, 200pts]
Vengeance Weapon Battery: Punisher Gatling Cannon
Vengeance Weapon Battery: Punisher Gatling Cannon

Battle for Bulkan Ridge - Vigilus

The Bulkan Ridge campaign was waged by Imperial forces in an attempt to regain territory captured by the xenos forces assaulting Vigilus. The actual battle for Bulkan Ridge was led by a small force of space marines from the Blood Ravens chapter. Where they came expecting Orks they instead found themselves facing another gathering of Genestealer Cultists.

1300 points.
Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Space Marines (Blood Ravens).
Mission: Retrieval Mission.
Deployment: Search & Destroy.
Battle Zone: None.

This is my first game with the new Genestealer Cult codex. When my opponent for the evening had to cancel, Jamie stepped up to be my first victim. Among his list of armies I noticed he had a Blood Ravens force. As I had never expected to get the chance to play against I jumped at the chance. Jamie was playing his space marines with the Ultramarines chapter tactics as being the most generic.

We decided that rather than play one of the narrative missions for round 2 of our Vigilus campaign, we would play a regular mission from the rule book. We rolled the Search & Destroy deployment and Jamie picked his corner of the table. With such a small area to deployment I felt that the blip tokens style deployment for my new codex was rather unhelpful. I had the option to take the first turn but I decided not to and handed that honour to my opponent. I think this was a surprise for Jamie and he said he wasn't sure how to handle that. There was no special reason for my decision other than I wanted to see what his space marines would do and not to put myself too much in the line of fire.

The first turn was relatively quick. Jamie did move a his units out a little bit as he was concerned for my ability to pop up near his lines. As he couldn't see much of my units, his heavy weapon fire was directed at my bastion and the vengeance weapon batteries, knocking some wounds off of those. I held one objective and was close enough to attempt to grab a second one with a brood brother squad. This ultimately led to a show down with a hidden group of scouts, who did not survive long with my enhanced genetic modifications (Twisted Helix cult trait).

The Blood Ravens then dispatched a dreadnought down my right flank which caused me no end of trouble. I just could not inflict enough damage to it. In the end I had to ram my rockgrinder into it and use a stratagem to detonate the cache of explosives on board but all it did was inflict a single mortal wound. I also second a second stratagem to have my hybrids clamber from the desert sands 3 inches away from one small squad of Blood Ravens and open fire with hand flamers - figured I'd see how that tactic worked - and I did drop two of the space marines but in return they gunned down my hybrids with ease.

As I wanted to keep Jamie's marines away, I brought my genestealers, patriarch and primus in on my left flank close to my deployment zone. They were very effective in dispatching terminators, a tactical squad and sternguard. The new codex has certainly boosted by patriarch something impressive. Unfortunately in doing so, I lost the genestealer screen and soon the Patriarch followed, but he had done his job in decimating a lot of the Blood Raven infantry.

Jamie had focused a lot of his firepower on my fortifications and they were soon taken down. By turn four I had been decimated despite how well the genestealers performed/ I was left with the Magus and Patriarch, after my remaining brood brothers squad were burnt alive by the Blood Raven's land speeder. At this point I really don't think I could have done anything so I happily conceded.

---

This was a very good and enjoyable game. As my first game under the new Genestealer Cults codex, it was much better than what I had experienced using the old Index rules. However, I am finding at first look, that at present I am going to have a hard time dealing with certain armies but I still have a lot to learn with the new codex so maybe next time I'll do better.

---


++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [52 PL, 7CP, 865pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot [7CP] +

Cult Creed: The Twisted Helix

Stratagem: Broodcoven [-1CP]


+ HQ [17 PL, 304pts] +

Magus [5 PL, 92pts]: Broodcoven Magus, Familiar [12pts], Power: Mind Control, Warlord Trait: Shadow Stalker

Patriarch [8 PL, 137pts]: Elixir of the Prime Specimen, Familiar [12pts], Power: Might From Beyond, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Biomorph Adaptation

Primus [4 PL, 75pts]: Bonesword [3pts], Broodcoven Primus, Warlord Trait: Alien Majesty

+ Troops [13 PL, 201pts] +

Acolyte Hybrids [3 PL, 66pts]: Cult Icon [10pts]
3x Acolyte Hybrid (Hand Flamer) [24pts]: 3x Hand Flamer [3pts]
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) [20pts]: Hand Flamer [1pts], Heavy Rock Cutter [12pts]
Acolyte Leader [12pts]: Lash Whip and Bonesword [5pts]

Brood Brothers Infantry Squad [5 PL, 72pts]: Brood Brothers Leader [4pts]
6x Brood Brother [24pts]
Brood Brother (Grenade) [7pts]: Grenade Launcher [3pts]
Brood Brother (Vox-caster) [9pts]: Cult Vox-caster [5pts]
Brood Brothers Weapons Team [28pts]: Lascannon [20pts]

Brood Brothers Infantry Squad [5 PL, 63pts]: Brood Brothers Leader [4pts]
6x Brood Brother [24pts]
Brood Brother (Flamer) [10pts]: Flamer [6pts]
Brood Brother (Vox-caster) [9pts]: Cult Vox-caster [5pts]
Brood Brothers Weapons Team [16pts]: Heavy Bolter [8pts]

+ Elites [16 PL, 240pts] +

Purestrain Genestealers [16 PL, 240pts]: 16x Purestrain Genestealer [240pts]

+ Heavy Support [6 PL, 120pts] +

Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 120pts]: Cache of Demolition Charges [10pts], Clearance Incinerator [30pts], Heavy Stubber [2pts]

++ Fortification Network (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [22 PL, 422pts] ++

+ Fortification [22 PL, 422pts] +

Imperial Bastion [10 PL, 222pts]: 4x Heavy bolter [32pts], Quad-gun [30pts]

Vengeance Weapon Batteries [12 PL, 200pts]
Vengeance Weapon Battery [100pts]: Punisher Gatling Cannon [20pts]
Vengeance Weapon Battery [100pts]: Punisher Gatling Cannon [20pts]

Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

The Ethics and Morality of List Tailoring

When our local war gaming club came to be in the last years of 4th edition we played our games with the knowledge of the mission we would be playing and which codex each player would be using. The idea was that players would tailor their lists to the mission and to what they expected to face from their opponent. It meant that games weren't always the same fixed lists week after week and it made them more interesting. It also helped our local FLGS because players would go out and make new purchases just for the games and opponents they had the following week.

At the time it made sense for us to do this. The problem was that some players were a lot more competitive than others, and some had more disposable income and were able to purchase exactly what they needed to best the opponents. Over time we slowly stopped playing like this but we still, even now, have a couple players who always ask what their opponent will be playing next club night for the purpose of list building. Most of us prefer not to ask unless someone wants to play against a specific army.

Is it right for players to list tailor against their opponent? In my opinion it is fine if both players consent to it. It's their game after all. The problem comes from when one player knows exactly what another player can bring to the table and builds their list specifically to counter that. Obviously this is an unfair way of playing and smacks a little bit of a WAAC (win at all costs) mentality. After all, why else would you do it? You can't do it at a tournament, so why would you do it in a friendly game?

I'd like to know your experiences and thoughts on this? Outside of a tournament would you engage in list tailoring? If you regularly play the same opponent do you find that you do it unconsciously?

Battle for Outpost 41 - Vigilus

The Battle for Outpost 41 was an engagement early in the Vigilus conflict and one of the first for the resident Genestealer Cult. Mining Colony 41 was protected by a defensive formation around which the miners and their families lived. When Drukhari raiders attacked, the cult was forced to reveal itself in an attempt to save their "family" from the attacking xenos. The attack lasted a mere four hours before the Drukhari retreated with their captured slaves.


1300 points.
Genestealer Cult vs Drukhari (Cult of the Red Grief).
Mission: Hold Your Gains.
Battle Zone: None.

This is the last game for me before the release of the new Genestealer Cults codex. My friend Dan had challenged me a few weeks ago so last night we prepared for battle! We choose the Hold Your Gains mission from the Vigilus campaign and I decided that again, I should be the defender. Once I have the new codex and some new toys, I'll change that and will start to try a more aggressive approach.

I set up my fortifications in the center of the table and had a third person set up the remainder of the terrain around the table. My neophytes and magus deployed, one squad in the bastion and the other on the ground around the bastion. Everything else remained in the shadows. I had wanted to try not using them this way but the mission required it and even if not, I don't think they would have lasted had they been forced to deploy on the table.

The mission gave the Drukhari the first turn and Dan sped his forces forward and although his shooting was rather unlucky he did manage to destroy one of my vengeance batteries almost straight off the bat. My turn was all too brief with the groundside hybrid squad trying to get into some cover and a lot of shooting that didn't do an awful lot. I believe one jetbike was taken out but that was it.

Once Dan's forces had moved closer, they continued to blast away at my troops and at the bastion, but the fortification was holding up well despite the continuous assault of powerful firepower. My groundbased neophytes were cut down by a unit of hellions and for some reason Dan ignored my Magus who was able to slink away and cause psychic damage over the next few turns. He had the opportunity to deal with psychic potential and he didn't take it.

Dan used his jetbikes to surround the remaining vengeance platform trying to take it down, and one of his wytch HQ's came from a Raider to assault the Bastion. She did a lot better than his shooting had done. Turn two saw my genestealer blob arrive  and as has been the case in recent games, I've had to use the re-roll from the stratgem and the Primus to get them to appear where I need them. In this case they came up near the jetbikes, and thanks to the roll, they were able to walk forwards to get closer to the enemy. That was probably the high point of this game, as the genestealers and patriarch tore through both jetbike squads. One was left alive to fall back from combat. Dan replied by deploying his wytch squads and charging them into the genestealer block and another into the bastion. It seemed he was desperate to bring that fortification down.

Turn three and I got the hybrid squad in where I wanted them. I placed them 9'' from the forces assaulting my bastion and charged them in. Although the squad was cut down by the wytches, they in turn had lost enough that they were killed by battleshock. The genestealer squad went down to just the patriarch and primus, and they didn't last long.

Turn four and Dan took out the remaining weapon platform and the bastion. He had tabled me but it was a great game and for once I felt that the Cult had actually been able to put up a fight against the forces attacking them.

---

Hold Your Gains is an example of how narrative missions can be a little one sided, but that is how they are meant to be played. I don't think I would have done well being the attacker anyway. At least not using the Index for my army. I think once the new codex is in my sweaty claws it will be time to start playing the regular missions for a while to get my head around how the army is going to be played from now on.

---


+++ GSC (Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition) +++

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [63 PL, 8CP, 877pts] ++

+ HQ +

Magus [5 PL, 85pts]: Familiar, Power: Mind Control

Patriarch [8 PL, 162pts]: Familiar, Power: Might From Beyond, Warlord

Primus [4 PL, 76pts]: Bonesword

+ Troops +

Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 115pts]: Cult Icon
. . 3x Acolyte Hybrid
. . Acolyte Hybrid (Hand Flamer): Hand Flamer
. . Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw
. . Acolyte Leader: Lash Whip and Bonesword

Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 104pts]: Cult Icon
. . 8x Neophyte Hybrid (Lasgun)
. . Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Grenade Launcher
. . Neophyte Leader: Bolt Pistol, Chainsword
. . Neophyte Weapons Team: Lascannon

Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 95pts]: Cult Icon
. . 8x Neophyte Hybrid (Lasgun)
. . Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Flamer
. . Neophyte Leader: Bolt Pistol, Chainsword
. . Neophyte Weapons Team: Heavy Bolter

+ Elites +

Purestrain Genestealers [16 PL, 240pts]: 16x Purestrain Genestealer, 16x Purestrain Talons

++ Fortification Network (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [22 PL, 422pts] ++

+ Fortification +

Imperial Bastion [10 PL, 222pts]: 4x Heavy bolter, Quad-gun

Vengeance Weapon Batteries [12 PL, 200pts]
. . Vengeance Weapon Battery: Punisher Gatling Cannon
. . Vengeance Weapon Battery: Punisher Gatling Cannon

++ Total: [85 PL, 8CP, 1299pts] ++

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