Data Recovery - Vigilus

Vital data regarding the war is sent in scriptorum canisters from the Vigilus’s moon. This ancient
technology has degraded over the millennia and there is no way to predict exactly where the canisters will
land on the planet. With the increase in alien aggression a small force of planetary defence forces is dispatched to recover them before the enemy but find a task force of Genestealer Cult awaiting to also recover the cannisters. How long have they been doing this?

1300 points.

Genestealer Cult vs Astra Militarum (Cadian and Militarum Tempestus).

Mission: Data Revovery.

Battle Zone: None.

This week's club game was another narrative match. This time against my friend Landon and his Astra Militarum forces. We had agreed on Data Recovery and he had asked if he could be the attacker as recent games he had always been the defender. I think most missions are more thematic if the Genestealer Cult is the defender for the moment in the campaign so I was happy to agree. I got the first the turn but in hindsight maybe having gone second might have done me better in the end.

The first couple turns were very quick for us as no one really moved. We were waiting for the canisters to drop. Thankfully for me the first one came down close to my lines. Knowing I had some forces hiding in the shadows I was content to wait. I think I got one shot off with a lascannon and it did nothing. Landon got a leman russ and his valkyrie in this turn.

Third turn and things started to move. A second canister came down on top the first and my hybrid squad clawed it's way out of the mud to grab a hold of it. My firepower was spent trying to drop the enemy flyer but it was hard going and the more cult didn't do well. Meanwhile Landon't manticore was throwing everything it had at my defence turrets. The first went up in a ball of flame on this turn.

Once again I did badly, come turn 4. I just don't have the firepower to deal with what Landon brought to the table. His tanks were kept largely out of sight from my lascannon team and I could not hit this flyer, or if I did at best I knocked a couple wounds off. Turn 4 say the third canister fall and it was to my left flank but in a position where Landon was able to eventually grab it with a punisher cannon leman russ and a squad of guardsmen. His main leman russ was very good at decimating my hybrids. Thankfully this turn I received the aid of my genestealer unit, primus and patriarch. Once again I dislike how the random table works and where you can put a unit. In order to try and protect what objectives I had, I was forced to drop the whole blob right in the line of fire. It was not a move I wanted to do but I had to try and scare Landon away from my objectives.

Turn 5 and I was forced to drive the remaining hybrid at his leman russ who managed to kill him with overwatch. Boo! Knowing that Landon would swing his Valkyrie around and grab my pile, of what was now 3, objectives I was forced once more to make a tough decision. It was foolish but I was in a desperate straight and had to do something. The big squad split. The genestealers moved to gather the canisters, while the Primus and Patriarch ran at the guardsmen before them. The guardsmen didn't stand a chance and the primus consolidated into the leman russ. I didn't expect to do anything other than hold it up in combat long enough for me to win the game.

Come his turn, Landon was whittling away my genestealers. I could not make those invulnerable saves and it was painful. He dropped off the units in the Valkyrie and gunned down a load more. In a surprise move, he withdrew his leman russ out of combat with my primus but towards my lines! I had not even considered that he would do that.

Turn 6 and I had lost. One objective at the centre of the table wasn't claimed at all. The one to my left was in Imperial hands, and because of the mission rules, the three piled up in the mud at the feet of my genestealers, didn't count as I couldn't have any enemy models within range of it. Landon won by holding just one canister.

---

This was a really good game. No competitive elements to spoil it. Just a pair of good fun casual armies and a rather trying mission. Landon had much more maneuverability than I did and was capable of heavier firepower. I couldn't match that and was forced into a defensive game yet again. Had the game ended turn 5 though I think I would have won as I'm not sure he had any models within range to contest the three canisters. Next time!

---

+++ 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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Discovered! - Vigilus

With the Ork menace now firmly entrenched on the surface, elements of the Planetary Defence Forces began to patrol the weaker edges of the hives. One such patrol stumbled upon a Cult outpost and recognizing Xenos taint, began a purging of the area. 

With the PDF closing in, the Cult swiftly dug in and prepared to repel the attacking force. To start with they did well but once the enemy closed the distance things took a turn for the worse.

Second game with the Genestealer Cult and my second in the club narrative. This time I faced Elliot and his Astra Militarum - although I had expected to face his Adeptus Custodes so this was an interesting development.

We had already agreed on playing the Patrol mission and rolled for who took what role. Elliot was the attacker which did make more narrative sense. I picked my corner and set up the bastion and both neophyte squads. Everything else sat in reserve or in the shadows. Elliots deployment was a chimera with bullgryns and a squad of tempestus guardsmen.

I had the first turn and there was little to do. Everything was out of range of my weapons so the heavy bolter squad advanced into the cover of a nearby ruin giving them a line of fire down one street where I knew the enemy would have to advance. On his turn Elliot moved the chimera into a position where we both agreed it would have cover. Turn one was over without a single shot being fired!

As the game progressed things swiftly went in Elliot's favour. I failed to get any reinforcements turn two and my shooting knocked a single wound from the chimera. On his turn almost all of his reinforcements arrived, including a vulture gunship! A small unit of tempestus scions dropped down in a ruin across from my heavy bolter team and a culexis assassin appeared in a ruin across from my bastion. I lost quite a few models from his shooting and the resulting battle shock. It was not looking good.

Turn three and at last help arrived for the besieged cult. The genestealers, patriarch and primus popped up from the shadows. The first roll would have let Elliot choose the two table edges where I might appear and I didn't trust him not to put me across the table or at the far end from my forces so I had the primus re-roll. This time I got to choose the table edges and it was a hard decision. So much of what he had had come in was bunched together so that I was forced to basically appear almost in my own lines. Perhaps I would have been better off taking the first roll. My shooting was terrible and I think I took a wound off the Vulture and killed a scion. My dice were not in my favour this game.

Elliot got the rest of his forces on the table and my genestealers found themselves staring down a leman russ executioner! Said executioner and wyvern then decimated over half the genestealers. At this point I knew the game was lost. I had little to know way of doing much to him now. This turn also saw the bullgryns climb out of the chimera and take out the last of the heavy bolter team.

Turn four and I got some revenge. My hybrid squad popped up from the shadows close to the culexis and my magos arrived just a little too late to help out. Smites flew and I did manage a couple wounds but the genestealers managed to dispatch the bullgryns while the patriarch, who now sat atop a ruined tower, attempted to leap at the Vulture. I had a cool narrative in my mind of it leaping onto the cockpick and ripping the pilot out. Instead he took seven wounds from the punisher cannons in overwatch. The hybrids managed to, mainly through the heavy rock saw take two wounds from the assassin but then died to it's counter attack.

It was at this point that I accepted defeated and gave an epic handshake to my opponent. Elliot's list was well played and just not what I am currently capable of dealing with. It was frustrating at times but a good evening's gaming.

I think the mission wasn't great for me either. I need to decide when my units pop out of the shadows and Patrol forces you to roll to see if they turn up. That hurt but would it have helped me if those units had come in earlier? Probably not. I think Elliot's guardsmen would have just killed me all the sooner.

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

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) ++

+ HQ +

Magus: Familiar, Power: Mind Control
. . Categories: HQ, Character, Faction: Genestealer Cults, Faction: Tyranids, Infantry, Psyker, Genestealer

Patriarch: Familiar, Power: Might From Beyond, Warlord
. . Categories: Faction: Tyranids, Faction: Genestealer Cults, Character, HQ, Psyker, Infantry, Genestealer, Warlord

Primus: Bonesword
. . Categories: HQ, Faction: Genestealer Cults, Faction: Tyranids, Infantry, Character

+ Troops +

Acolyte Hybrids: Cult Icon
. . Categories: Troops, Faction: Genestealer Cults, Faction: Tyranids, Infantry
. . 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: Cult Icon
. . Categories: Troops, Faction: Genestealer Cults, Faction: Tyranids, Infantry
. . 8x Neophyte Hybrid (Lasgun)
. . Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Grenade Launcher
. . Neophyte Leader: Bolt Pistol, Chainsword
. . Neophyte Weapons Team: Lascannon

Neophyte Hybrids: Cult Icon
. . Categories: Troops, Faction: Genestealer Cults, Faction: Tyranids, Infantry
. . 8x Neophyte Hybrid (Lasgun)
. . Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Flamer
. . Neophyte Leader: Bolt Pistol, Chainsword
. . Neophyte Weapons Team: Heavy Bolter

+ Elites +

Purestrain Genestealers: 16x Purestrain Genestealer, 16x Purestrain Talons
. . Categories: Elites, Faction: Tyranids, Faction: Genestealer Cults, Genestealer, Infantry

++ Fortification Network (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) ++

+ Fortification +

Imperial Bastion: 4x Heavy bolter, Quad-gun
. . Categories: Fortification, Faction: Unaligned, Building, Vehicle, Transport

++ Total: [73 PL, 1099pts] ++

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