Quick UM Batrep vs. Genestealer Cult

[Prot]

I don't have a ton of time but I thought relating to the 'competitive' thread I made that I would do a super quick batrep.

I had been experimenting with Guilliman and got torn apart pretty badly. I don't seem to do well with any army that revolves around one model doing a lot of heavy lifting.

After some failures I went back to what I considered a very average list. Basically it was:

Calgar

Primaris LT (Galthamar Relic + WL Trait Indomnitus Crusaders)

TIgurius

10 Intercessors

5 Infiltrators

6 Sniper scouts

Landraider

3 Cents (2 las/Grav)

Repulsor

3 flame Aggressors

Apothecary

Ancient (Relic banner)

The GSC would be a horde of hidden Acolytes, Aberrants, etc supported by Mortar teams, snipers, bikers, etc. The one unusual thing was the lack of Genesteralers. But it still had a truckload of bodies.

This is my turn 2, on the left side. You get the idea of the deployment. I won first turn, and gave it to the GSC.

This is a shot showing the other side. I'm using the Landraider and Repulsor to keep a condensed, but substantial footprint to give myself a shot at being able to score, while retaining a tight area where GSC can come from.

Just up above (in the ruins) is the Infiltrator squad. They were very useful in this game purely for their anti-infiltrate bubble of 12".

We were playing ITC mission 1 and the ruins could not be seen through on the first level. This made a nice area for the GSC to advance up the table starting at the ruins just above, and to the left of the Repulsor.

I didn't bite on what I call 'the sucker wave'. I kept fairly compact but you know with GSC that stuff is gonna die. So the perimeter held by my Intercessors was annihilated by GSC BUT I did do an Auspex Scan + Scions of Guilliman to kill about 6 guys. (Not sure it was worth it)

I got hit pretty bad on the vehicles. Once the Intercessors were wiped (they never got to fire much aside from Auspex and felt like a waste of 180(?) points).

This happens though and once the flank fell I knew where the rest would be coming from and then on top of it the bikes came in out of nowhwere and used their satchel bombs to hit the Landraider.

Somehow I survive this with 3 wounds. But that turn of bombing, I passed about 6 saves of 5+ on the Landraider.

At the same time my Repulsor is hit hard with a squad, and I have to get out before it blows... somehow the Repulsor lives with 1 wound!

I back out the Repulsor, disembark everything from it first, and then the Landraider contents (Centurions) empty out. The dual lascannons don't do a heck of a lot but I consolidate what I can to within 6" of Calgar for a push back.

The UM's do a lot of damage. The beta bolter nipples on the Cents do some serious work to the bikes. The Aggressors JUST flame enough of a massive squad to kill it but there's still so much left.

Both of my Repulsor/LR do a lot more damage than they should have. I was hitting on 5's with rerolls, and now my Celuxus was in and I have screwed up some of his psychics. He does get off some mind control power on the Repulsor and unloads it all on my Centurions. Funny thing is without Calgar reroll bubble my Cents take one unsaved wound from the entire Repulsor weaponry unloading on them... on 5's to hit.

After all the shooting is done the UM's have to finish the Acolyte squad off in close combat.

This gives the GSC another wave to send in and they kill all the aggressors and the Lieutenant with ease.

We're both down to nearly nothing. In the meantime I've been harrassing stuff with my Culexus but he's doing little else. The Infiltrators have been going after GSC remnant units sitting on objectives, but they really don't kill much with zero AP bolters and combat blades.

I'm taking a slow, annoying pounding from 3 mortar teams throughout the game. I actually use Lascannons from my damaged tanks to take a squad out, and sprinkle other fire power into GSC squads to simply get "Kill More" or simply fill in kills for ITC purposes.

We are extremely tight on scoring our secondaries and I'm very lucky to have two, even if neutered tannks.

I take a risky move with Calgar, but I did calculate for it...

What I mean by that is this janky charge Calgar committed.

Calgar was a good 6" away and I premeasured that if I rolled high enough, then Calgar could sit just under an inch away from the GSC HQ and not suffer Heroic intervention from the mega thick necked Abbhorant next to him.

I rolled a really high charge number allowing Calgar to sit there.

It turned out to be inconsequential as I could not kill his HQ, and he would not kill me either. (Halfing wounds was huge).

The next turn he would attack first, and his Abhorrant (?) connected with one, unsaved hammer to Calgar's head. Calgar had 4 wounds left. The Abborant rolled a 6, halved to 3, leaving Calgar with 1 wound. Calgar would kill him and the Patriarch on the bottom of the turn. So we called it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Conclusion:

I went back to a list I used with decent success before trying to make Guilliman work. It doesn't feel strong on paper, but I seem to have a very good record with it.

I got super lucky to not lose both tanks on T2. With the Repulsor on 1 wound for so long, and the LR at 3, it probably made the difference just because Calgar made them better.

The GSC is always super hard to play against. You never get the feeling that you can move... or breathe. Every game feels like a bad cut scene from Pitch Black.

I skipped some stuff to keep it short but a big deal I skipped over was how bad his Snipers were, including the Kellermorph (?) . He rolled unusually bad this game. I am used to losing a few characters to that combo alone.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Beautifully painted army Prot I love the freehand on the LR.

 

Very interesting list and exciting batrep - thanks for sharing. Which unit(s) was your MVP. What did you select for your secondaries ?

[Prot]

Thanks a lot. The free hand is kind of so-so but it was done a while ago. :)
 

The MVP is hard...at first I was going to say the Centurions because wow did they mow down that jackal biker unit after they almost took down the landraider. Actually may be it is the Centurions. They mowed down a squad squad too. 

 

It's the nipple bolts though. This opponent was full of infantry of course so lots of opportunity.

 

But my choice should be the Repulsor only because with 1 wound left and a H.O.G. on it next to Calgar it protected my character flank. Both vehicles should have died T2. In staying around they protected my character base from perfect ambush a bit better. (combined with the 5 Infiltrators).

 

My Secondaries were: Marked for Death (character kills) and Recon (quarters) and the one where you pick up to 4 squads with Powerlevel 7+. I maxed out on all but Marked For Death.  It was an extremely close game. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I always pick Reaper, Head Hunter and Butcher’s Bill versus GSC... I think I’ve always maxed out so far.

 

I’m currently running assault cents with meltaguns and Hurricane bolters... they are great versus Abberants and yeah the chest guns rock.

[Prot]

I picked those secondaries for the game or two after this using my Custodes ( as you know) and I only realized they changed the wording to every 20 models from a squad of 20 models. Big difference and I forgot that changed because of people taking squads of 19 models.

 

I don’t think this army is very good. It might be the worst out of all my considerations but it would get me out if the ‘nasty’ side of the room quicker this year if you know what I mean.