Rogue

I'm currently playing in a summer league at my FLGS - 1000 points, factions are locked, lists aren't. Round one was an absolute bust. I took a chopped-down version of my Xenocreed list - two big units of Metamorphs in trucks, several small units of Acolytes, a Ridgerunner, a Reductus, that sort of thing. They went headfirst into a bunch of T6 marines and pretty much bounced off. Then got shot to pieces. So for round two, I wanted to try something completely different, and ended up with this: Xenocult + Broodswarm Patriarch, 10 genestealers (star children) Reductus 2×5 Acolytes, mining tools 2×5 Acolytes, hand flamers 2×20 Neophytes (one with disguises) Ridgerunner (mortar, auger) The general idea is that the stealers are a significant combat threat - infiltrate, S5, T5, advance and charge, devastating wounds. They plan to engage early and often, tying up (or removing) key enemy units. Then the neophytes sit on objectives, shooting if targets present themselves, but mostly holding the ground so that other units (like the Reductus) can complete Priority Assets actions. And getting back 7-9 neophytes every turn is kinda handy too, as is the reroll-all-hits stratagem. So, the game... My opponent was playing Alpha Legion as Deceptors, disposed as Disruptors, and was able to infiltrate multiple units. He ended up with cultists on my left, backed up by a predator; five marines and two spawn in the middle; five marines on my right, supported by five chosen and a Lord in a rhino; and two obliterators and another lord in reserve. I parked Acolytes on my home objective (my left), with the Stealers in cover ahead of them; Neophytes in cover in the middle, with the Ridgerunner; and the other Neophytes, Acolytes and the Reductus in cover on the right. Both units of hand flamers were in reserve. I went first. TURN 1 On the left, my Genestealers moved up and blended the ten cultists hiding in the objective ruins. The Neophytes in the centre stayed hidden, and on the right, everyone pushed forwards into the objective ruins - there was a risk that the heretic marines on that side would charge me in their turn, but I was hopeful that the Neophytes would tarpit them if they did. On my left, the Stealers took fire from the predator and the marines in the centre, taking five casualties. On the right, the other marines, spawn, and the rhino crept forward, but the marines stepped on the Reductus' mines and lost two. TURN TWO The Neophytes in the centre pressed forward, while the ones on the right ascended the ruins - between them they killed the spawn, and two of the central marines. The surviving Stealers moved across, charged the marines in the centre, and wiped them out. On the right, the Acolytes charged the other marines and shredded them with mining tools. At this point, I'm feeling pretty good - he's down to the predator and the loaded rhino, with two units in reserve, and I still have almost everything (and just scored four secondaries to boot). In return, the predator removes the rest of the Genestealers (but leaves the Patriarch alive on three wounds). On the right, the rhino tank shocks into the Acolytes (who'd just killed the marine in melee) and wipes out all five. Ouch. Obliterators drop in behind my home objective, don't shoot, but then fluff the charge and just stand there. TURN THREE It takes both units on Neophytes to crack the rhino open, exposing the Chosen unit and the Lord, but I have nothing to go into them, and they're danger-close to my right flank troops. Meanwhile, the Patriarch charges the predator, bringing it down to four wounds. Lacking options, the Acolytes on my home charged the Obliterators, and killed one with mining tools. And elsewhere on the left, hand flamers dropped into the expansion objectives (where the cultists were massacred in turn one). The predator pulled back, and finished off the Patriarch (allowing me to put the Stealers into Ambush). The last Obliterator finished off the Acolytes in combat. On the right, the Chosen went into the flank Neophytes, and killed 19 of them - fortunately, the icon survived. The second Lord dropped in behind my units on the right, but failed his charge. TURN FOUR The sole survivor of the righthand Neophytes was joined by nine friends, then immediately lost five falling back from the Chosen. But it made space for the Stealers to deep strike in, charge the Chosen, and wipe them and the Lord off the map. The ridgerunner, Reductus and the last unit of handflamers took down the other Lord (helped by his failed Dark Pact roll in the previous turn). At this point, the Chaos Marines had been reduced to a damaged predator and an obliterator. Both fired on the central Neophytes (with the Predator damaging itself via Pacts in the process). TURN FIVE The overworked Genestealers headed back to the centre, charged the predator and finished it off. The Obliterator defiantly clung on to my home objective a moment longer, then teleported away - the sole survivor of the Alpha Legion force. DEBRIEF The Genestealers were the absolute MVPs here - they netted the cultists, marines, Chosen and Lord, and the damaged predator. Strength 5 was great, letting me wound marines on 3s; and the Toughness 5, 4+ save really boosted my resilience into bolters and havoc launchers. The unit got to rampage back and forth across the board, and the psychological impact of bringing them back, after my opponent had spend two turns whittling them down was pretty big - at that point, with most of his units dead, he just didn't have the resources to deal with them again. That said, the Neophytes did good work too. They let me control the middle of the board, and the righthand expansion for most of the game (even if the centre was more about the threat, rather than piling on to it directly). And being able to bring so many back was fun (for me, at least), and meant I could afford to expose the units a bit more than I might have otherwise - as long as the icon was in terrain, I was getting back all or most of my casualties each turn. And I was pretty pleased with my layered approach on the right. The Neophytes were effectively a screen protecting the Acolytes (who could counter-charge if necessary) and the Reductus (who could happily fire indirect, set off mines, and chuck grenades in a pinch). My right flank felt pretty secure early on, and only really fell apart once the Chosen arrived, ran over the acolyte and diced the neophytes; but by then, I had a huge lead in points. In short, the Genestealers were deadly, the Neophytes were surprisingly resilient, and the rest of the list got things done and picked up points. It'll definitely get another outing in round three.

Thanks for the opinions, everyone. I don't think there's a definite answer here, and I agree it probably needs some sort of official FAQ to settle it, but it's helpful to know that I'm not the only one who thinks the rule is incomplete as written.

Looks fun. I do like Biosanctic, although I don't play it well - I inevitably over-commit early, kill a bunch of stuff and then get wiped out. I'm currently part of a small 1k league, as we all get used to 11th - factions are locked, but lists aren't, and here's what I'm trying in round 2: Xenocult/Purestrains Patriarch with 10 genestealers (+1S/+1T) Reductus 20 neophytes with disguises 20 neophytes (without disguises) 5 acolytes, mining tools 5 acolytes, mining tools 5 acolytes, hand-flamers 5 acolytes, hand-flamers Ridgerunner, mortar and auger I'm planning to flood one flank (and maybe the middle) with all the neophytes, the reductus and one of the mining tool acolytes, letting me control an objective for priority assets purposes. The other mining tool unit holds home with the ridgerunner, and the hand-flamers drop in as and when. No idea if it'll work, but I'm looking forward to trying two of the new detachments for the first time.

So, Cult Ambush is back, pretty much. (A curious glitch in the way characters work now is that if a unit dies but the attached character survives, the unit isn't destroyed and so the regular guys can't come back until the character is dead too.) Plus point drops, and a disposition change. Anyone particulately excited about anything, or are we all still getting used to 11th in general, so changes are just getting lost in all the noise?

That's very cool :) It works really well on the aberrant holding the hammer over his head, where you can see the yellow chest. And the truck has come out great - I like the way the lines of the body look completely knocked out of shape, and the battered effect on the fuel tank and the roller-door above it.

Just chipping in to add that Central objectives only refers to the one or two objectives right in the middle of the table, and not to all of the objectives across the centre-line (give or take) of the board. We got that wrong in our first game.

But why, though? What's the rule I'm missing here? Rule 01.04 says that when measuring, you go base to base. Rule 11.02 says you roll 2d6 to determine a maximum distance for your charge move. Rule 11.04 says you must select an enemy unit within the maximum distance. So if I roll a 9, I have enough movement to get underneath the enemy model, but not enough to cover the base to base distance (which in this example was 9.5"). That means I'd fail the 'Before moving" criterion in 11.04, and couldn't make the charge. What allows me to ignore that check, and just move across to be within engagement range?

I have to end the move in engagement range, yes. But in order to be eligible to make a charge move, the target unit has to be within the maximum distance I rolled - that's the bit I'm unsure about. If we measure the elevated unit to be 13.1" away (measuring along the ground, then vertically), I can't declare that unit as a charge target because it's more than 12" away. But if we measure in a direct line, base-to-base (diagonally upwards), the bases are just 9.5" apart, in which case I can make a charge if I roll at least a 10. If I can make a charge, I agree that I only need to move forward 8" or so, and can then fight upwards.

Here's the scenario: - my opponent has a model on a 5" high platform. - I deep strike in a unit 8.1 inches away horizontally, on the ground floor. - I want my unit to charge his model. My question is: can I make that charge? Do I measure the charge distance as 8.1 + 5 (for a total of 13.1, so the charge would never be possible)? Or do I measure a diagonal line from base to base (which is a touch over 9.5"), in which case a 10" charge makes it? Or a third option we both missed. If anyone could set us straight, or point to the relevant rule, I'd appreciate it.

Interesting. I've deleted the app (I thought I had earlier, but I'd just removed it from the home-screen) and as soon as I came back into the site via Chrome, I saw this pop-up again: I don't know if you can do anything about it, but that's what I saw previously. I thought I'd read something about B&C having a app version, but it must have been for some other forum.

In 10th, if you killed the squad, any attached characters became separate units. In 11th, the character and the squad are a single unit - if you kill the squad, the character remains part of the same unit (meaning that any 'while this character is leading a unit' rules still apply, as the character is effectively leading themselves). That screen shot seems to be using the old, 10th edition wording about separating. It wouldn't be the first updating error that's been made.

Hello. I recently downloaded the B&C app. Today, when I tried to open it, I got a full-screen message saying that it needed the Chrome app to open. I have Chrome, but the app didn't open. When I went online to access the site normally, I got the same pop-up message about needing the Chrome app. At this point, I was unable to open the app, and unable to open the website. I deleted the app, but that didn't solve the website issue. I restarted my phone (Samsung S20, Android, Chrome), and can now access the website normally. I've not tried reinstalling the app. Thanks.

Very cool. Always enjoy a classic genestealer colour scheme.

It's early doors, but the updated appeals me that my 1500 Xenocreed list has gone up 30 points. And that purestrain enhancement comes in at 30 points, so something would have to be dropped to fit that in. Currently wondering if I can fit enhanced stealers into a biosanctic list...

That's some really lovely shading/highlighting where the fabric rests on the legs of the big walker.