We're Cult in a Trap: Mantis Warriors vs Genestealer Cults

 

The Genestealer Cult army is ready - better unleash it!

++Approaching target coordinates. Auspices clear, zero activity. Is this site confirmed as hostile, Brother Captain?++

Nampo sat on the throne of the Millstone of Guilt, his handsome features as composed as ever. The battle barge's command deck was lit only by the dull green glow of data monitors and the crimson glare of weapon interfaces. During planetary operations, the ship's energies were focussed on monitoring the troops on the ground. There was no power spare for lighting. 

"The coordinates are a report from PDF reconnaissance, Uda," he replied, honouring the Lieutenant with his given name. "It's as reliable as anything we have from them."

++It's another ghost town. We are wasting our time here.++

"Check it as with all the others, Brother," Nampo said. It was good to be on campaign once again, after so long in the warp. The planetary governor of this planet, Gloamhalt, had been more concerned with the disappearance of mining materials than his missing populace, but Nampo knew the signs. Gloamhalt was riddled with dissidents, perhaps dangerously close to rebellion. Left unchecked, the planet would revolt. But if he could force the rebel element to act now, before their plans were ready, he could at least bring them to light and bring other Imperial agents to bear on the problem. 

++Mofobuki reporting. Bioform trace returning positive at 897/747. Multiple contacts, spacing suggests military formation.++

Nampo sat back in the throne and nodded to himself. There they were, at last. "Form up on Gempachi, all squads. Sweep and clear the settlement. Burn them out, brothers." 

Mant of Brothers

Pootle's got the Mantis Warriors under his command tonight - 2000 points worth of the lemon-and-limes!

I came up with two potential lists and, after discussing with Kraken, went with the one without Captain Nampo, for to develop the narrative plot in the background.

My warlord today will be a Primaris Chaplain, with Mantra of Strength (boosting himself) and Canticle of Hate (to boost charges). He is a Master of Sanctity (so can chant two litanies) and has the Imperium's Sword  and the Benediction of Fury relic, all of which should make him pretty handy in melee.

He's supported by a Terminator Chief Librarian lopp with Veil of Time, Might of Heroes and Null Zone. I spend a couple more CPs to give him a Neural Shroud (+1 to Deny The Witch out to 24") and the Psychic Mastery trait (+1 to cast psychic powers).

The third HQ is a Primaris Lieutenant with Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle.

Troops are a couple of units of Assault Intercessors, a unit of Intercessors and two Tactical Squads. All upgrades are based on the specific options Kraken has so they're all WYSIWYG.

Plenty of Elites: a unit of Bladeguard Vets, two Company Veterans (filling up points at the end), a Judiciar, Relic Terminator squad and a couple of units of Scouts.

Fast Attack are a unit of five Bikers plus an embedded Attack Bike, some Bolter Inceptors and a Land Speeder Typhoon.

Lastly, but actually first on the team sheet, are a Land Raider (I flipped a coin and went with the Redeemer variant) and Vindicator (completely inappropriate for the opposition, but great fun).

Mantis Warriors Arks of Omen Detachment, 2000 points, 2 CPs

• HQ - Primaris Chaplain. Warlord with Imperium's Sword trait and Benediction of Fury relic. Master of Santity with Litany of Hate, Mantra of Strength and Canticle of Hate
• HQ - Terminator Librarian. Chief Librarian with Veil of Time, Might of Heroes and Null Zone. Neural Shroud relic and Psychic Mastery trait.
• HQ - Primaris Lieutenant with Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle
• Troops - 5 Intercessors with Auto Bolt Rifles
• Troops - 5 Assault Intercessors, Sarge has Plasma Pistol and Power Sword
• Troops - 5 Assault Intercessors, Sarge has Power Fist and Bolt Pistol
• Troops - 5 Tactical Marines, Lightning Claw and Plasma Pistol for Sarge, Missile Launcher
• Troops - 5 Tactical Marines, Power Fist and Plasma Pistol for Sarge, Melta
• Elites - 5 Sniper Scouts, Missile Launcher, Chainsword for Sarge
• Elites - 5 Bolter Scouts, Power Sword for Sarge, Heavy Bolter
• Elites - 5 Relic Terminators, one paired Lightning Claws, Heavy Flamer, Sarge has Chainfist and Volkite Gun
• Elites - Judiciar
• Elites - 3 Bladeguard
• Elites - 2 Company Veterans, one with Lightning Claws, one with Power Sword &Storm Shield
• Fast Attack - Typhoon Land Speeder with Heavy Bolter
• Fast Attack - Biker Squad, 3 x Chainsword and bolt pistol, one with a Melta, Attack Bike with Multimelta
• Heavy Support - Land Raider Redeemer with Multimelta
• Heavy Support - Vindicator with Dozer Blade and Storm Bolter

Cog Wild

It took me a year and a bit to assemble and paint 2000 points worth of Genestealer Cults, but this is really the first time I'm trying to use them in a fight this size. It's daunting - they aren't a simple army to run. There's lots to keep track of. Where they all deploy not least!

Bladed Cog is the cult I'm trying out. Extra range on my guns, a 6+ invuln for all those squishy troops and a free reroll to wound per unit per phase seems pretty tasty to me. There's also a nice strat to stick extra bionics on a unit, and I pick the Atalan Jackals. 

As with my collection, the focus here is on massive waves of crappy infantry with a few melee blenders hiding amongst them. These are backed up by the fast vehicles and bikers and a wide range of esoteric support characters. Between them, they can dish pain out pretty much wherever they want - but by gum, will it take some concentration to make it all work! There's a huge web of complicated command phase interactions, auras and one-off rules at work here. Or not at work, depending on how awake I'll be mid-game. 

Bladed Cog Arks of Omen Detachment (Troops) - 2000 Points, 3 CPs

• HQ - Patriarch, Warlord with the Shadow Stalker trait, Psychic Stimulus and Might From Beyond powers
• HQ - Magus and familiar, Brood Hypnosis and Psionic Blast powers
• HQ - Primus
• Free Slot - Jackal Alphus, The Gift From Beyond relic sniper rifle
• Free Slot - Sanctus with Sniper Rifle
• Free Slot - Nexos
• Troops - 20 Neophyte Hybrids with shotguns, a Webber, a Grenade Launcher, a Seismic Cannon and a Heavy Stubber, Leader has a Power Pick and Web Pistol, Icon, Lying In Wait
• Troops - 20 Neophyte Hybrids with Autoguns, 2 Mining Lasers, a Grenade Launcher and a Flamer, Leader has a Power Maul and Autopistol, Icon
• Troops - 20 Neophyte Hybrids with Autoguns, a Seismic Cannon and a Heavy Stubber, a Webber and a Flamer, Icon, Leader has an Autogun and an Autopistol
• Troops - 11 Acolyte Hybrids, Icon, Leader has a lash whip, one each of Demo Charges, Rock Drill, Shears and Cutter
• Elites - Kelermorph with From Every Angle 
• Elites - 10 Purestrain Genestealers with Our Time is Nigh
• Elites - 10 Purestrain Genestealers with A Trap Sprung
• Elites - 5 Abberants
• Elites - Reductus Saboteur
• Fast Attack - Achilles Ridgerunner with Mining Laser and Flare Launcher
• Fast Attack - 5 Atalan Jackals, Leader has demo charges and power weapon, Wolfquad has a Mining Laser, Xenoform Bionics strat
• Heavy Support - Goliath Rockgrinder with Heavy Seismic Cannon and Demolitions Cache

Mission and Terrain

Pootle's playing via Skype, I'm wrestling with a complicated army. Let's keep this simple - 5 objectives, one in each long edge deployment zone, three along the middle. From turn two onwards, the Primary Objective is the usual one, 5 points for holding one, two and more. 

A big 6x4' board with tons of my shiny Archon scenery one it - Dungeons and Lasers metal decking with Rampart City Ruins on them, plus some D&L swampy trees on the scratch built marshes for good measure. It's an apparently abandoned mining outpost, complete with an ominously sealed mine shaft in the centre, Pitch Black style. 

Deployment

Pootle defends, picking the more open side behind the taller ruins. That leaves me with the nice tall sniper tower! Excellent!

I don't do much at this point, obviously, other than scatter out blips in a sort of pattern. Pootle is half relieved (he can't overthink his counter-deployment because he has no idea what I'm up to). The other half is... less calm?

I decide to mostly focus on the right, where I'm somewhat shielded from sniper fire by the buildings. The Land Raider and Vindicator pretty much have to go down the central avenue. The Bikes start behind them with the Lt and Intercessors to their left.

I forward-deploy both units of Scouts (the Snipers only very slightly forwards to let them shoot at stuff). 

When it comes down to it, I get the first turn (rats!), so deploy in short order. 

Genestealer Cults Turn 1 

The fast attack stuff goes on my left flank with the Sanctus, the Primus and Nexos back a pack of Autogun Neophytes and ten Genestealers in the middle, then the Primarch, Acolytes, Saboteur and Magus take the right. 

The blip I put in the tower early, which made Pootle twitchy, proves to be a red herring - I use the Kelermorph's From Every Angle plan to move this blip (and him) into reserves, along with the Abberants (in the truck), the Shotgun Neophytes and the other ten Genestealers. 

My plan, broadly, is to keep lurking this turn. I'm not going to be charging any of those Scout squads, that's too obvious a bait. Maybe shooting will deal with them? 

Swarm them!

But it's not all hanging back - the Neophytes all start moving up, ready to bring guns to bear next time, and the Atalan group all head forward down my left flank, threatening the objective but not reaching it. The Acolytes on the opposite flank advance through the swamps, and although I didn't realise it at the time, reach the objective there with their long, scaly toes. 

And the Kelermorph pops back up, again with his upgraded planning, to ambush the Intercessors. Which goes quite well! He shoots four of them down immediately, thanks mostly to some terrible armour rolls from Pootle. 

Alas, the Scouts might be in cover, but it doesn't help any of them. The squad in the middle meet a bunch of psychic powers from the Magus, which wipes them out. And between the terrible sniping guns of the Alphus and Sanctus, the other squad take enough casualties that the Ridgerunner manages to finish them off. There's even a rather clutch mining laser shot from some of the Neophytes that takes six wounds off the Land Raider. 

That seems a pretty solid start for a turn in which I wasn't really in range for anything meaty! I celebrate by planting some bombs on my rear objective, thanks to the Booby Traps strat. 

Mantis Warriors Turn 1

I start by running the lone Intercessor Sarge towards the Kelermorph. There's a chance I can shoot and then punch him to death as he's fairly squishy (T3, 4 wounds and a 5++), however I fluff the shooting, only causing a single wound. I hope I can finish the job in combat... 

The Bladeguard and Inceptors head towards the Atalan Jackals, with the latter pouring their bolter fire into the Ridgerunner, knocking a fair number of wounds off and enabling the Land Speeder to finish the job with its missiles.

The Chaplain and Judiciar follow the Assault Intercessors towards the Atalans as well.

The Land Raider and Vindicator trundle forwards, with the Bikers surging level with them to their left. All train their guns on the Neophyte Hybrids directly in front of them. I don't know much about the GSC, but I know I need to kill these units completely as otherwise they'll summon the cult and come back again. However, my poor dice rolls continue and I leave three alive.

Benefitting from the +2" to charge rolls, the Assault Intercessors and the Chaplain pile into the Atalan Jackals, though the Judiciar and Bladeguard fail. Between them, they make short work of the bikes, and the Intercessors then consolidate into the Jackal Alphus (I'm intending to tie him up so he can't snipe my characters). This surprises Kraken a bit, but I remembered that the Canticle of Hate not only gives +2" to charges, but allows an additional +3" for Pile-ins and Consolidations.

My poor Intercessor Sergeant suffers a wound to overwatch when charging the Kelermorph and then can't do any damage with his fists and then (oh, the indignity) dies to the Kelermorph's punches back. Even more disturbing is that Kraken plays a strat to have the Kelermorph disappear back underground at the end of the Fight phase.

Not a great first turn, but at least I've caused some damage and I look to be in charge of my right flank.

Genestealer Cults Turn 2

Right - turn two means the rest of my ambushers can get back in. Clobbering time! But first I get ten victory points for being on two objectives (home and, just, my righthand objective).

I Summon the Cult and restore some of the battered Neophyte Squad, which then moves up towards the middle objective, backed by the other squad, the Genestealers and the Primus and Magus. The Nexos gives the Bikers a Crossfire Token. The Acolytes head for the Bikers along with the Patriarch, and the Saboteur stacks her own bombs on top of the Booby Trapped objective. Get that off me now, marines!

Now the Marines have moved forwards a bit, the trap can be sprung - the Shotgun Neophytes pop up right behind the Assault Intercessors in the middle, with the Rockgrinder next to them (and lining up the Vindicator). The Kelermorph reappears, hoping to repeat his ganking on the Tactical Squad guarding the objective at the back. And the other Purestrain Squad appears behind the Bikers, flexing their talons and hissing.

The Alphus runs off, obviously, and very nearly dies in the process. 

That's because I remember a White Scar strat that enables my squad to each make one attack on a retreating enemy. There is a (small) chance that the five attacks could scrape off the Alphus's four wounds, but it's not to be and he survives on one wound. That was worth a shot though and rather surprised Kraken.

She's still alive, at least, and if she and the Sanctus don't quite manage to tag team the Chaplain, they make a pretty good start, leaving him on a single wound. 

I'm lucky to survive this - it takes a CP reroll on his invuln save.

The Magus and Patriarch throw some powers around - Mass Hypnosis on the Bikers, Psychic Stimulus on the Acolytes, and a couple more wounds Blasted off the Land Raider. 

Then the shooting phase starts, and lasts for what seems like hours. Honestly, all those different weapon profiles - what a hassle! 

I can't complain, though. Hit from behind, the Vindicator takes hits from the Rockgrinder, lighting it up with Crossfire. The Shotgunners use Massed Firearms to take a bite out of the Assault Intercessors and the Vindicator again, then the Reductus triggers some remote bombs to trigger crossfire on the Land Raider. 

That's important for two reasons - first, I need a Crossfire marker on it if I want to charge those flamethrowers safely. It also helps the rest of the cult shoot the crap out of it, and they actually do this well enough that those mining lasers finish it off with a box cars for damage! 

Then it explodes. 

I knew if I painted a wrecked Land Raider, I'd end up needing one.

Bits and bodies go everywhere - half my Purestrains, several Neophytes and Acolytes. But I can afford them. Pootle can't afford the entire Lieutenant, about half the Vindicator, one and a half Assault Intercessors, two Bikes and then two of the Relic Terminators as they emerge from the wreckage of the hull. The survivors are left with the rotten option of staggering towards either of the Purestrain squads, so opt for the smaller one by the middle objective. 

That promptly charges them and wipes them out, but the rest of the melee isn't so effective. First, the other Purestrains and the Patriarch both refuse to charge the Bikers. The Acolytes make it in, but don't make the impact I was hoping for, taking off one biker and wounding another. Nerfed with Hypnosis, though, the Bikers fluff their returns entirely. 

The Rockgrinder hits the Vindicator, but not quite as hard as I was hoping, leaving it alive on a couple of wounds. 

Pretty good, all in all, but Pootle still has plenty of hitting power left at his disposal, and I'm wide open to whatever he hits me with now. Can I weather the return strike?

Mantis Warriors Turn 2 

The survival of the Chaplain means that I'm on two objectives so I draw level with Kraken on 10VPs. 

I decide to clear up my right-hand flank first, so the Chaplain sprints towards the Nexos (unfortunately his advance roll wasn't enough to get him within 12" of the enemy in the centre and I thought it was worth killing something). He does end up rolling boxcars for his charge (oh, for one more inch on his advance!) and, predictably, smashes the Nexos into the ground.

Next the Assault Intercessors get a good advance up to the Sanctus and proceed to murder her with ease too.

The Land Speeder swoops in to hold the right-hand objective after the Chaplain abandons it and aims its weaponry at the Jackal Alphus. I'm really tempted to split fire as I could really do with aiming the missiles elsewhere, but decide to make sure...and proceed to kill the sniper with just the Heavy Bolter. Oh well!

The last piece of clearing out snipers is the Kelermorph, and the Tactical Squad don't even need to charge him as one well-placed Meltagun shot does for him. Dodge that!

In the centre, the Libby casts Null Zone so the Genestealers lose their invuln. He Smites three away and prepares to charge the last two! Unfortunately, in the charge phase, Kraken finds a strat to let the Acolyte Hybrids heroically intervene 6" (more on that below). The Librarian heroically dispatches the Stealers, but is brought down by all the heavy-duty can openers that the Acolytes are carrying.

The Inceptors fly over to hover near the big unit of Neophytes who are threatening to overrun my home objective, and I run the Judiciar, Bladeguard Vets, surviving Assault Intercessor Sarge and the Company Vets over to deal with them. 

Again, I'm well aware that I could really do with finishing the lot of them this turn, but my successful shooting means that the Bladeguard fail their charge, and, of course, I proceed to leave three alive who will recover again next turn...aaaargh!!

I spend my last CP on one of the (two) strats that allows the Bikers to fall back and shoot, and there's a lone Patriarch right there. I aim a Multimelta and Meltagun at him and get one through his armour. I need a 5 or 6 to kill him at this range, but roll a 1. Of course I do! In fairness, I only realised when writing this up that originally I had equipped the Attack Bike with a Heavy Bolter as that's what's modelled and I was going WYSIWYG, but in the heat of battle I forgot and switched it. 

The Bikers then charge into the Stealers. Kraken keeps asking me if I'm sure I want to do that as he has told me that they're Hypnotised and will fight last, but I manage to not understand (logically Kraken must have hypnotised me) and drive them in. Surprisingly the Stealers only manage to kill two of them, but there are still five left after the combined Bolter fire and my melee attacks.

Genestealer Cults Turn 3

Still lots to aim for out there, and I need to do some mopping up if I'm going to keep a good lead. Which is beginning to happen, at least - that intervention on the middle objective puts me well ahead with another fifteen VPs. 

The Acolytes head off towards the incoming Bladeguard, hoping to meet with their newly arrived Abberant pals. What's left of my Neophyte squads summon reinforements and shamble about - the big pack take up guard duty on the middle, the smaller one advance on the swamp objective and the shotgunners head nervously towards Pootle's home objective.

The Magus avenges the Nexos by smiting the Chaplain off and out. The Bikers vanish under the claws of the Patriarch and his brood, the Vindicator gets Rockgrinded and the Bladeguard eat a twin charge of mutants, getting mulched before they can take a swing. The Acolytes pile into the Tactical Squad in the building, but that proves a mistake - they lose five of their number to the angry marines and their Sergeant's lightning claw.

But all in all, it's a good turn. Pootle has taken a battering, and his last few squads seem pretty far out. All is not lost yet, however...

Mantis Warriors Turn 3 

I do get 10VPs at the start of the turn, but I can see that my cards are not only marked but torn, scratched and bled upon. However, if I can retake the centre maybe Kraken will roll nothing but ones and I can win (it's not as unlikely as you'd think).

The Assault Intercessors wipe the Sanctus's blood off their swords and leap off the roof to run towards the action (Kraken has completely pulled me out of position with those bloody snipers).

The troops around the Rockgrinder all fall back so the Tactical Marines (who are also racing back towards the action) can aim a Melta shot into the vehicle (to no avail) and then they charge back in. The Judiciar goes first and easily knocks the last couple of wounds off the machine...

...which then explodes. Not randomly, this is a strat that Kraken has been saving. The explosion kills the remaining Assault Intercessor Sarge and the Company Vet. 

The Land Speeder throws everything its got at the Neophytes in the middle, and then the Inceptors launch themselves into combat after emptying their magazines into the horde. Unfortunately there are still five left standing, so with that I call the game as (a) it's getting really late; and (b) I can't see how I can do anything about the Aberrants and Patriarch to reclaim the centre so Kraken is going to continue to rack up 15VPs to my 10.

Result: 25-20, victory to the Cult

Locker Room

Three hours is what the rulebook reckons a 2000 point game should take. Add in a bit extra for Skype complexity and maybe (just maybe) a few more minutes for Pootle, whose exemplary thoroughness lends itself to a slower playstyle. Our three and a half turns took four and a half hours. But the real cause of that?

It was me, this time! That new army, with its vast lists of industrial weapons, grenades, strats, command phase auras and everything else, really took a very long time to play through. My second turn easily ran at ninety minutes, I reckon. 

Maybe it's an extreme example, but it certainly exemplifies the problems of 9th ed. 

Not that it wasn't fun! The Cults are a great army to use and (Pootle gamely says, at least) fun to fight. You're always cleaning them off the board and feeling like you're making progress. It felt like a razor's edge for me, wobbling either side of causing enough damage to balance the losses you inevitably take in droves. 

Absolutely, I really enjoyed that. Although I took a clobbering in turn 2 I didn't feel out of the game (because I wasn't) and it probably came down to a few close calls. 

I also realise now that I cheated a bit...

Ah, good old hindsight. Never lets you down.

That strat that let me shunt the Acolytes into the Librarian, Fanatical Devotion, only works if there's an endangered character in range to help out, not a mere pair of Genestealers. I was running off notes I'd copied out of a codex, rather than the codex itself, and hadn't managed to write that proviso in. So wouldn't have been drawing ahead at the start of turn three, the middle objective would still have been in play and I'd have had to get rid of the Librarian rather than rushing the Bladeguard. 

Well, I technically cheated by magically swapping a Heavy Bolter for a Multimelta to try to snipe your Patriarch. If I'd pulled that off it might possibly have swung things my way. Equally, if I'd succeeded in any of my three attempts to wipe out a full unit of Neophytes (a different unit each turn) then things could well have gone my way. Instead, you still had all three units in play at the end of the game. 

Would have changed everything? Well, probably not (he says desperately riding his poor grasp of the rules) - Pootle's reserves were out of position, and I reckon I'd still have overrun the middle before he could stop me. But it would have made it a lot closer, with the chance of a draw being much more likely. So let's call it that, instead!

No, I think that it's clearly a win for you, and the main reason for that wasn't poor dicerolls but good old fashioned tactical nous: your use of the three snipers really worked as I felt I had to deal with them but it pulled enough units out of position that meant you could defeat the rest of my army in pieces. 

In any case, it was great to see the whole army out. I have played a narrative game against them (which was also fun) but this felt more like a "normal" game. Thank you again for hosting - as always I really wish I could see your fantastic terrain up close and in person (I get so much from the pics in this report that I can't get from the camera in the game itself).

Back to the narrative...

++Perimeter breach. Brother Shousha is down. We hold them back by our will alone.++

++Mofobuki. The central point is seething with these vermin. Multiple assaults converging on your position, Temoda. Prepare to fall back, covering fire arashi pattern commences on your mark.++

++Hachiro. I stand alone, brothers. Ba and Tsume have been avenged.++

++Raishu is with you, honored Judiciar. We rush upon them with steel and fury.++

"No, Raishu, you must retreat. There are too many. Our work here is done for now. Do not give them the gift of  your demise." Nampo stared into the holoscreen, the flickering dots and vectors casting greenish shadows across his face. "You have unmasked their villainy for all to see. We shall have vengeance ere long."

++We obey, Brother Captain. Disengaging.++

Red crosses marked the casualties. More than half the recon force, Nampo reckoned. A heavy price to drive out the cult, and one the Marines on board the Millstone would struggle to afford. But at least their allies across this Imperial Sector would at last see their danger, and divert the full might of the sector's Militarum forces to protect Gloamhalt and its valuable ore supply.

Anyone close enough to the Captain would have suspected him of hiding a tiny smile as he watched the rout of the Mantis Warriors. But of course, nobody was.