1750pts battle report - Genestealer Cult & Iron Hands v Death Guard & Ad Mech - game 1

Double Trouble 3 and Alex From the Fang's doubles tournament replacing Blog Wars. 875pts with random pairings but all match-ups are Battle Brothers. Once again my recollection is pretty hazy so for the most part enjoy the pictures, the commentary will be secondary ;)

I'm running my Genestealer Cult for the first time ever. I've got a Patriarch and 12 Genestealers, a Primus, 4 Abberants [2 picks & 2 hammers], 10 Acolytes, 11 Neophytes [with Grenade Launcher], 10 Neophytes [with Grenade Launcher] and my 2 Scout Sentinels [with Heavy Flamers and Chainswords].

I'm paired with John Purves and his Iron Hands - 2 Redemptor Dreads, 2 Venerable Dreads and 2 Techmarines to keep them healthy. The opposite side was Dave Irving [who I played at DT2] with Ad-Mech and Matty Longmore [who I played with at DT2] running Death Guard. Here was our table setup with some pretty decent terrain thanks to Element Games North West Gaming Centre.

I set up the Patriarch and Purestrains in ambush, the Primus and Aberrants also hiding together and the Acolytes too. This left me with the two squads of Neophytes to screen objectives and board control while John had his Venerable Dreadnoughts sit on our objectives and Redemptors prepare to push forward. Lastly my Sentinels prepared to Scout forwards to capture the objective behind the rock outcrop.

Unfortunately Dave and Matty got to do their Scout move first and the Dragoons captured the first objective before the game had even begun. They were going first but we stole the initiative though! The Sentinels went in for the kill, but their Heavy Flamers were ineffective.

Their Sentinel Chainswords even more so. Seriously they are not worth the 2 points, why do the Sentinels only have 1 attack? Surely 2 or 3 for something that size? Anyway, they did nothing and one of them was struck down but he blew up causing a Mortal Wound on the Dragoon and the remaining Sentinel. By the close of turn 1 we'd only managed to capture 2 objectives, and our other shooting had been pretty ineffective. 

In return Dave and Matty managed to blast one Redemptor to pieces with massed fire from the Kastellans and Kataphrons, plus the Blight Hauler.

The Dragoons continued to attack the last Sentinel and killed it, again it exploded in a ball of flames. I was beginning to think the Cult had jury-rigged it to blow up [that would be a cool stratagem, apparently Nurgle has something similar]. DG & AdMec turn one score 3 VPs.

My ambushes turn 2, the Aberrants and Primus arrive 9"+D6", getting a 4 so only 5" away from the Poxwalkers holding an objective 

I was struggling to fit the Genestealers in, with them coming in alongside the Dragoons but still 9" away.

Acolytes also appeared behind enemy lines, pincer manoeuvre for the Poxwalkers but out of range of Skitarii who get to overwatch things from reserve within 12"! I charged both my units in. As you can see the Poxwalkers had two lines double stacked but the Aberrants in particular were in luck as I got to employ Nick Nanavanti's consolidate tactics because you can see that they were quite spaced apart, with room for their bases to slip through, get past that first line and attack the back line, getting closer to the objective.

Five Poxwalkers remained at the end, which was when I found out the Primus buffed those Cult units within 6", something I would not forget afterwards but would have possibly made a difference in wiping out this unit. However, we scored 4 VPs this turn, with the Redemptor holding the other objective.

Unfortunately he was left exposed to the Blighthauler and was destroyed, together with support fir from half of one of the Kastellans, their robotic gaze swinging round to add 1.5 robot's worth of shooting at my Genestealers.

The Stealers were wiped out, serves them right for not making their charges on the Dragoons. The melee in the top was interrupted with the Poxwalkers killing a few Acolytes and replenishing their numbers. I would subsequently wipe them out and send the remaining Acolytes after the Skitarii Snipers in the hills and the Aberrants toward the last Kastellan, I think his twin destroyed by the Venerable Dreadnought. The Primus had to stay behind to hold the objective, meaning he couldn't give his buff. I think John used the last CP to reroll and kill the Kastellan which meant when my Aberrants go 4 for a 5" charge they had no options but to remain stranded and suffer destruction from the shooting of the Kastellan.

I'd retreated my Neophytes back to hold one objective while the others held the one the last Venerable Dreadnought had been shot off. Unfortunately Typhus made a 10" charge, he killed a lot of them but they held on for 2 turns I think, thanks to some lucky morale rolls. The Blighthauler, having wiped out the remaining Techmarines then went for the other Neopyhtes.

With the Aberrants gone, the Acolytes exposed after killing the Skitarii and the Primus on his own it did not take much for the Kastellan to eradicate the threat in their own deployment zone.

Typhus's Terminator bodyguards finally caught up to him and their foul infections spread through the Neophytes wiping them out too and finally capturing the objective.

This left us tabled and Dave and Matty in control of the centre of the board. Typhus had been a little overzealous, I think Dave forgot the game ends immediately meaning they lost the chance to hold the objectives for longer and score more points, unless he did know in which case he was playing fluffy instead of trying to rack up points for the overall win. 

But the game ended and somehow we'd actually won on VPs 13 to 12. Obviously we lost on Blood Points, I'm not even sure how many we killed, I forgot to take a picture of my scoresheet. Either way it was a good game, John had to take a lot of shooting while I sat off the board and sadly did not weather the firepower as well as Iron Hands are renowned for.

John, Matty, 40kaddict, David

Still, good game, great people, everything Double Trouble stands for.

If you're interested in any more of my Battle Reports, point your cogitators here: www.40kaddict.uk/p/battle-reports.html

'nids part 257 - Genestealer Cult for Double Trouble 3

It's Double Trouble 3 tomorrow and I thought I'd get my army all sorted and while I was at it take a  few pics on their display board. I might take a few other bits and pieces to make it look a little more interesting.

Acolytes and Magus, obviously not intested in the flyers of the Imperium.

Aberrants and a unit of Neophytes. The second unit of coverted cultist Neophytes are behind.

12 Purestrains for maximum slashiness and a Patriarch.

And lastly my two Scout Sentinels with Flamers.

I'll be cult Ambushing the Patriarch with the Stealers and Magus with either the Acolytes or Aberrants, can't work out which would be best but with 8 units I can only deploy 4 in reserve, that is until they make you use Power Levels to define your reserve - if I was interested in Power Levels I wouldn't be doing Matched Play. So if anyone knows if I'm better off with Aberrants or Acolytes. I think the Aberrants might be better because otherwise they'll be shot to pieces hoofing it across the board but I actually think the 10 Acolytes might be more effective if they manage to close on arrival...

Imperial Knight - Warglaives in manufactorum pt.7 Highlights and damage

Not immediately apparent but the updates of note in these pictures are the highlights on the chevrons [yellow and black], followed by all the rivets being picked out in Bonewhite. All weapons are now washed ready for weathering.

And the faceplates have all been moved on, in particular I picked out the forehead with bonewhite here,

and a stripe on this guy.

This echoes the Cerastus Lancer who has a Bonewhite crest [you can see where I painted that here].

Not sure why I took so many pics the same but the Bonewhite application is interesting as it does not feature much as a House Raven accent colour but I'm employing it to tie in with my Deathwing/Dark Angels and obviously the Tyranids [not that a connection between the Knights and 'nids needs to be made]. But this isn't just House Raven, it's House Corvus - an offshoot of House Raven so a slightly adapted heraldry explains the difference

Battle damage next and unlike my Predator and Drop Pods the damage has not been sponged on. Both Imperial Knights had damage painted on and I've done the same here to keep the aesthetic. Chips of Rhinox Hide, edged with my 1st level Red Planet BASE! highlight colour with some additional 2nd level spots for more depth.

Weapons were also damaged and I was able to complete all the chipping over 2 or 3 nights.

All that's left now is finishing off the verdigris, some damage on the debris [sponge damage this time]. Glow effects everywhere and varnishing.

Really coming together now, just in time for the hype train and the World Record attempt at GW Manchester.

Imperial Knight - Warglaives in manufactorum pt.6 WHAT?! Decals already...!

First of note I've applied a highlight to the Vermilion which here looks quite pink. It is in fact the exact same first level highlight I add to my Red Planet BASE! so does have an orange tint to it but even so. Secondly I did some rough highlights on the chevrons - I mean REALLY rough, I think I was rushing but I don't know if I'll fix it as I think the battle damage will obscure it and potentially mitigate the 'pinkness' on the Vermilion [so no glazes to make it redder]. Lastly - gloss varnish on all the panels ready for decals.

That includes spats.

And there we go, Metallica Forgeworld names mirrored on the carapace. Raven heraldry on the access hatch, Raven symbol on the left shoulder, ident number on the right [would have preferred this in white but they actually blend better in black].

Rear of shoulder pads have the Mechanicum cog symbols. Interestingly the cogs with the square ends fit in the round bottom edge strip.

Spats with Mechanicum cog and small Raven symbol.

Mechanicum identifying symbol.

The other spats.

A coat of Lahmian Medium over all the decals and glossy surfaces seals everything together. The end result is almost indistinguishable... except for the fact there is no way I could ever freehand these to this quality and the heraldry on the cockpit is such fine detail it's almost a different scale altogether. Nevermind, it looks really good and the decals are so good I couldn't not use them.

And if I stick to solely decals on my Knights it 'contains' the oddity compared to my freehand everywhere else. And to held blend everything I've added some Strong Tone wash over the decals just to tone them down a bit. Also started picking out the debris on the base.

The weapons have fallen behind a bit, I still need to wash them but once they're up to speed some extra highlights, tidying up and then it's battle damage [must remember 'less is more'], Verdigris and lastly glow effects. The speed at which this is coming together is unbelievable. Just thinking back to that period where I physically refused to go any further and then suddenly I'm almost on the home stretch. Really pleased with the progress because it wasn't long ago I was focused on the Hierophant and these have come together so quick. I may well get my 'Big 3' complete at this stage with just two months left of the Hobby Season!

Imperial Knight - Warglaives in manufactorum pt.5 Flank speed!

The Warglaives continue apace! First up I added the yellow for the chevron stripes. I might have made an error here as I think with the Cerastus I did the black on the orange and then highlighted each yellow stripe separately, nevermind.

Spats were also done.

Then came the wash... on boy. I think you can see a certain 'matting' on the paint job. I used the Valejo Sepia wash I bought and although it's not Seraphim Sepia bad there's definitely a potential to go very wrong here.

Thankfully I knew it was salvageable as there are a lot more layers to go on.

There isn't quite the crusty powder deposits in the recesses but an Army Painter Soft Tone wash would not have done this. While the shading on the metallics is particularly heavy, I need to decided if I'll add some further highlights. I'm not sure if it's worth it as the Verdigris will cover a lot of it up...

In case you hadn't noticed I also glued on the shoulder pads, which I came to regret later on trying to fit the shoulder joints on underneath [note to self do the shoulder joints first]. I also painted the back of the pads black to match the House Raven scheme.

The following night I reapply some Vermillion to help mitigate the Valejo wash effect, which worked really well. I then pencilled in the chevrons, using a cable tie for consistent width.

And yet somehow the above Warglaive has 5 black stripes, while the one below has only 4. I've no idea how that happened as they still look evenly spaced. Anyway, this one matches the pattern on the Cerastus, while the one above mirrors it. Should I get a third it will have V-shaped chevrons down the middle of the carapace.

While I was at it I striped the chainblades.

And next step some highlights and prepare for decals. I can't believe how quick these have suddenly progressed. At this stage I still didn't know the release date of the Codex [obviously we know the date now] but I was suddenly very confident of completing them in time for the Record attempt.