The Cult's First Battle

So, for the first time in a long time I was at the non-club last night (which now seems to be a proper club with presidents treasurers and everything….none of which I have anything to do with I'm happy to say!), and played my first game with the Cult. A learning experience. But first, hobby update….

I have 20 Neophytes, 5 metamorphs and 5 Genestealers to finish (they are all “base coated and washed”) and then I’m done. God it’s been a slog, but nearly there. But onto my game.

Genestealer Cult Progress Report

Good grief but there are a lot of bodies in a Genestealer Cult army.

I’m trying to get my new army ready for a tournament at the end of November (ITC Scottish Open). I’ve completed 20 Metamorphs, and 10 Acolytes to a reasonable table top standard, and I’ve got another 15 Acolytes and 20 Neophytes to a basic “base coat and wash” standard. But I’ve still got 20 Genestealers, 20 Acolytes , 20 Neophytes a Patriarch, 2 Primi and 2 Magi that are grey plastic! At least they’re all built.

Genestealer Cult

Well ……. this hasn’t happened for a while. I find myself enthused by a new faction – Genestealers Cults (GSC).

The play style, and in particular the Cult Ambush rule has really taken my fancy. I’ve spent the last week pouring over the codex and reading everything I can online about GSC and I’m pretty sure I want to start this army. I wanted to run a horde, taking maximum advantage of the Cult Ambush  rule. The list I’m moving towards is a Cult Insurrection Detachment with a Brood Cycle formation, a Subterranean Uprising formation, and a GSC Combined Arms Detachment. Something like

So How Good are Frag Cannons?

I've pretty much nailed down my Raven Guard list, at least the first version of it. Its Core is a Talon Strike Force, with a Shadowstrike Kill Team auxiliary. I've gone for the Debi Company, rather than the Pinion for the Ob Sec.

In the Demi Company I'll run 3 tac squads in Pods with Melta/combi-melta, and a dev squad with 4 Grav Cannons. A captain in Cataphracti armour will tag along to give the Grav Cannons Slow and Purposeful. The Kill Team is 2 units of 5 bolter scouts, and 3 units of 7 Vanguard Vets with assorted Power weapons.

The unknown is the make up of the Aquilla Kill Team I want to take along.

Raven Guard List - Post FAQ

If you look back a few posts you’ll see I took a Raven Guard list to LVO and DM3. Both lists were based on a Talon Strike Force, with a Battle Demi Company and Shadowstrike Kill Team. The heavy lifters in both lists were 3 tooled up Vanguard Squads. This relied on the Vanguard’s ability to come in from reserve, any turn I chose (including turn one), and assault out of deep strike. The lists differed in the Vanguard’s delivery mechanism.

The key is landing the Vanguard without scatter so they don’t mishap and are in guaranteed charge range. As part of the formation, you need to take 2-4 units of scouts. If the Vanguard deep strike within 9” of 2 of scout units, they don’t scatter. In the LVO list I had 4 units of scouts in Land Speeders Storms. I infiltrated them, scouted them into position, and deep struck off the LSS’s hulls. However, the problem was, if I wasn’t going first, the scouts needed to survive a turn of fire before I could bring in the Vanguard. Given how fragile Scouts are (even in Land Speeders Storms), first turn was pretty important.

Drop Pod Battle Company

I’ve always enjoyed playing drop pod armies. There’s something dramatic about deploying nothing, and then swamping the board with pods. It can also be pretty tactical. Picking your targets and pod placement is crucial. However they have one major drawback.  Once you’re down and out your pod, the army if pretty static.

Back From the Dead

Yet again, rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated!!

After a dramatic start to the year (3 tournaments in 3 months Caledonian Uprising, LVO and Dark MIllenium 3), I hadn’t played a game of 40k until this weekend!! Real life has conspired against me, and the hobby has been on the back burner for some months – even to the extent that all my models, paints etc are packed away to the garage.

However, things have improved, and I’m getting back to playing with my toys again. Breaking news is I’m going to the LVO again in 2017. After this year I know I don’t want to sight see in Vegas (horrible place), and my hope that I would recover from jet lag by getting there early was plain silly. So next year it will be a flying visit – I fly in on the Thursday and out on the Monday. My gaming buddy isn’t joining me this year (he’s just back from the ETC, and feels that a trip to Vegas might just be a little OTT), but my brother is. So I’m going to fly half way around the world for 9 games of 40k, and to spend some time with my brother (who I only see a few times a year because he lives in the US). Sounds good to me!! 

But anyway, I played in a one day 20 man  RTT on Saturday. … and that’s really what this post’s about.