Battle Report - Genestealer Cult vs Necrons

Hello!

Another report, this time it's Genestealer Cult vs regular opponent (lockdown not withstanding) John's Necrons. We played this game a little while ago (obviously) so this one is going to be a bit vague. It was a matched play, 2000 point game, Four Pillars.

I took a Cult of the Four Armed Emperor battalion, made up of a whole bunch of units without the cult creed or the most optimal choices! Really this is an army intended to be allies for the Tyranids and used for more narrative games, but I thought it'd be nice to give 'em a run. I'm led to believe GSC are in a bit of a bad spot these days, but we'll have to see. For my secondaries I took Engage On All Fronts, Assassinate and While We Stand We Fight - which would be the three Leman Russes and the toughest part of the list. I spent a CP to give all my HQs a warlord trait, which I got back from Inscrutable Cunning. I also can't remember which psychic powers I took, except that the Patriarch had Mind Control.

Four Armed Emperor Battalion

HQ: Patriarch (Amulet of the Voidwyrm, Shadowstalker), Magus (Inscrutable Cunning, two familiars), Primus (Alien Majesty)  

Troops: 10 Brood Brothers (flamer, grenade launcher), 10 Neophytes (2 flamers, shotguns), 10 Neophytes (2 grenade launchers, 2 mining lasers), 10 Neophytes (grenade launcher, webber, mining laser, seismic cannon), 10 Acolytes (4 demolition charges), 10 Acolytes (2 rock saws, rock cutter, rock drill, icon) 

Elites: 20 Purestrain Genestealers, Kelermorph 

Heavy Support: Leman Russ (Exterminator autocannon, lascannon), Leman Russ (Battlecannon, heavy bolter), Leman Russ (Vanquisher cannon, lascannon, 2 multimeltas) 

Transports: Chimera (multilaser, heavy bolter, heavy stubber)

John took Novokh again, with a core of warrior blobs, a load of Lychguard, and some character support. This time the destroyers were swapped out for a couple of new Canoptek Doomstalkers, though one new Destroyer got added in - the Hexmark. Again, I'm a bit hazy on the details (and the secondaries!), but the list was something like this:

Novokh Battalion

HQ: Overlord on Command Barge (Phaeron), 4x Crypteks of various flavours with two Cryptothralls.

Troops: 2x 20 Warriors, 2x 5 Tesla Immortals

Elites: 10 Lychguard, Hexmark Destroyer

Fast Attack: 5 Scarab Swarms 

Heavy Support: 2x Doomstalker

Deployment. We rolled off and I got first turn, then I deployed for real...

The Cult moved out, into three quarters and onto two of the objectives (not making the third with an advance roll that I chose not to reroll since I assumed those neophytes would be dead soon). The Russes lined up their shots around the ruins to shoot at one of the Doomstalkers, and the battlecannon into one of the 20 warrior blobs. It was largely disappointing. But I was still waiting for the turn two half my army arrival thing.

Turn one for the Necrons, and it was pretty brutal. Warriors got into position to hold one objective and face off the Neophytes near the other. The Doomstalkers didn't totally go off, but combined with mass warrior firepower the Leman Russes took a bit of a battering. The Chimera and it's squad were removed. Then the Lychguard, who veiled across the table to a spot I didn't screen out, charged through the ruin to finish off the Vanquisher. It was looking a bit ropey.

Turn two, aka third deployment. My reserves popped in, the Demo squad arrived danger close to a Doomstalker, the saw unit came in behind the overlord and warrior blob, supported by the Primus and the Purestrains had The Perfect Ambush near the Lychguard, with the Patriarch in tow. The Kelermorph remained in waiting, alongside a Neophyte unit that went into hiding.

Demo charges combined with the Exterminator took out one of the Doomstalkers, which exploded, wounding all of the nearby characters, getting the Kelermorph excited from his hiding place.

Then the all important charge phase - the Purestrains just about got into the Lychguard, but the Acolytes with the saws failed, which was a big blow - they were going to die next turn for sure. To add insult to injury, the genestealers bounced, rolling poorly to leave half the Lychguard in the middle of my lines - and they killed the Magus, who got caught up in their consolidation.

Necron turn two and the screw is turned. The warriors moved onto the third objective, clearing off the Neophytes. Shooting elsewhere killed off the Acolytes (standard) and cut through the genestealers after the Lychguard fell back. Melee from the overlord finished off the Exterminator. This didn't leave me with much to work with.

Turn 3 - Not much to play for, but the Kelermorph was still available. Sadly the characters were mostly screened out so I dropped him in to take on the warriors and sit in a quarter...

But who is this...

The Hexmark Destroyer jumped out of hyperspace for a showdown! The Hexmark got the draw, and opened fire, but the Kelermorph survived.

In the psychic phase the Patriarch could just see the Hexmark, so he cast Mind Control, forcing the Hexmark to shoot the warriors. This meant the Hexmark had shot twice in MY turn, before my shooting phase!

Elsewhere the Primus got some revenge for his Acolytes by killing four of the Immortals, the Patriarch finished off the Lychguard and the hiding Neophtes popped up behind enemy lines and engaged the Doomstalker. It was actually quite a strong turn for the GSC, but probably too little, too late, after the failure on turn 2.

For turn 3 the Necrons were mopping up. The command protocol chosen allowed them to fall back and shoot, so the Warriors fell back and cut down the Genestealers. The rear forces removed the sneaky Neophytes, and the Primus and Kelermorph were gunned down.

That left not much to fight with, the Patriarch and the battlecannon Russ pretty much the only units of note. To that end the Overlord charged in, duelling the Patriarch in epic combat, eventually slaying the beast.

With that it was about time to call the game. I decided in the last few turns I'd hide the Russ to get a token 5 points for While We Stand We Fight, and the Necrons killed everything else and held all the field. I don't think we counted the score, but it was an emphatic win for the 'crons.

That didn't go well! I think the list I took was pretty poor, but ultimately GSC seem to rely heavily on your turn 2 charges going off (Acolytes failed me) and the combats being successful (Purestrains failed me.) In addition, I had a lot of points tied up in the Leman Russes, which are not very reliable without orders or regiment traits, meaning they also failed me.

What did work, kind of, was the sneaky units popping up in quarters to get points and hold objectives. I think I might get some use out of the cult as allies for the Tyranids, just to provide some extra board control/objective grabbing potential. I might add some more Cult after their Codex comes out however, they might get some big changes so I don't think it's really worth any major purchases before that. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little report, not a tight game but it had it's fun moments - I think one of the strengths of 8th and 9th is that the game allows for lots of amusing events to occur, regardless of who is winning. Stay safe out there.