Today we have a treat for the many people who have been asking for an Imperial Guard battle report, as the Astra Militarum battle the Genestealer Cult across the surface of an ice planet.

This was the first tabletop playtest for both me and my opponent (I’ve had 3 vassal games of 8th prior to this), and a terrific chance to try out the new rules in what would prove to be a fast-paced, hyper violent game of 40k.

Infantry, Monstrous Creatures, Tanks, Artillery, Mutants, Psykers, Heroes and Cavalry – this game has got it all.

Dean (No One) Langford’s Genestealer Cult

HQ

Flyrant (2x Deathspitter, MRC, Pincer) 191

Flyrant (2x Deathspitter, MRC, Pincer) 191

TROOPS

10 Termagants 40

10 Termagants 40

10 Termagants 40

FAST

10 Gargoyles 60

10 Gargoyles 60

10 Gargoyles 60

HQ

Patty 150

Primus 76

TROOPS

14 Acolytes 154

14 Acolytes 154

13 Acolytes 143

13 Acolytes 143

Matt-Shadowlord’s Imperial Guard

HQ

Straken (Skywalker)

Primaris Psyker (Obi Wan) Smite, Psykic Barrier

Company Commander (Vader)

ELITE

Veterans Autocannon 3 Plasma

Astropath (Astromech, downgraded to laspistol), Gaze

Harker

Commissar Bolter

TROOP

5 Militarum Tempestus Scions 2x Plasma

5 Militarum Tempestus Scions 2x Plasma

30x Conscripts

30x Conscripts

FAST

6 Rough Riders Hunting Lances

6 Rough Riders Hunting Lances

HEAVY

Leman Russ Punisher 3 HB SB 2

Manticore HB

Manticore HB

Wyvern HB

Heavy Weapons – Mortars

Wyvern HB

A brief look at the armies

Detachments: This is only 1,500 points, but both armies are battleforged with 2 Detachments; the Guard have a Battalion and a Spearhead, while the GSC have two Battalions.

Command Points: That gives the GSC 9 Command Points to play with, and Guard 7.

Deployment Drops: GCS 14 (inc 6 reserve). Guard 19 (inc 2 reserve).

There will be a ridiculous amount of models on the table for 1500pts – well over 200. Both feature a lot of expendable models; for the Guard this is in the form of screens of 60 conscripts, and for the GCS it is hordes of offensive chaff units.

Yes, you did see two units of Rough Riders! It’s 8th Edition, baby!

HAMMER AND ANVIL

The calm before the storm. Four objectives placed (marked in 3+pink), and deployment will be Hammer and Anvil. Unlike most Tyrannid forces, acolyte-heavy GSC like this deployment because of their Acolytes’ unique deployment rules. On a poor roll their opponent may pick 2 edges for them to come on from, but with H&A there should only ever be 1 bad edge.

Deployment

The Guard deploy to thwart the acolytes; the conscripts spreading out and trailing backwards may look odd, but he point is that there is no where in their deployment area that will allow a unit to come on and be more than 9″ from a enemy model.

Notes: The Leman Russ is subbing for a Punisher until my new cannon arrives, and the two upper tanks are filling in for Wyverns. The only other thing to explain is the snowtroopers and CCS Vader – I had to mix my two Hoth Themed armies together just to get enough models for this game!

Straken and the Astropath droid just behind a huge line of conscripts, with Rough Riders prepared to counter-charge.

The other end of the line is held by a Primaris Psyker and another unit of Rough Riders.

GSC deployment is almost all right on the front line, with a couple of units holding their objectives. The large force of Acolytes are kept in reserve.

Flyrants start back from the front line. Powers chosen include Mass Hypnosis and Horror (now negative 1 to hit)

Drone view of deployment, the moment before battle begins. Keep in mind about 70 models are coming in from reserve.

GSC have a clear advantage in deployment drops, so get to choose to go first. The Guard decide not to attempt to seize, as it will be a better test of the force if they don’t get to shoot first.

TURN 1

All but the two rearguard GSC units hurl themselves forward at full speed.

The Acolytes come on from reserve with remarkably lucky rolls – three of the four units score a 6, meaning they can come in where-ever they want, and move to make it to 3″ away from the Guard units.

That is a game-changer, because it means the front lines will be thrown together in combat before they get to even fire once.

Note the small gap between the ends of these Conscript units. I left the gap on purpose to make it easier to tell one set of 30 men apart from the other, but will change that to a better method in future. My wily opponent Dean noticed it left just enough space for him to declare a multiple charge on the right Conscripts and units behind them, without having to declare one on the left conscripts who were itching for some Overwatching.

This is how we learn 😀

GSC psykic powers were all successful, but the Primaris Psyker and Astropath managed to block Mass Hypnosis and Horror.

The Flyrants murdered 9 Conscripts with shooting attacks, and total GSC shooting left 18 Conscripts and one Rough Rider dead, thinning the ranks before the charge.

And what a charge it was! Overwatch fire of 36 shots left 1 Acolyte dead (flashlights for the win!). Straken had been positioned for a Heroic Intervention, so leapt in to combat to help turn the tide of battle.

In the north, the Acolyte charge came in without the inconvenience of overwatch, pulling the Primaris Psyker into the same combat.

Striking first on the charge, the GSC killed the entire Southern conscript unit. Every single man was slain, fulfilling my prediction that they wouldn’t be required to make a leadership test.

Rather than contributing one attack to each man, Straken was left standing alone, but did managed to scalp 3 enemies in return.

The GSC Consolidation move of 3″ got them into combat with the central rough riders. Combat was over, so they couldn’t strike them, but this would rob the RRs of their Lance charge bonus. If the GSC hadn’t managed to bring 3 units in on 6s the conscripts wouldn’t have been wiped out, but one shouldn’t leave these things to luck: the lesson there is that counter-charge units need to be more than 4″ behind the unit in front.

Guard Turn 1

Strategic Withdrawal: The Rough Riders abandoned combat, meaning they’d not be able to do anything useful this turn. The northern Conscripts did so too, but with an officer rushing in to range would at least be able to be ordered to shoot this turn.

Straken left the combat, and head backwards while a veteran squad went forward to provide him with a screen; the idea here being that if they were charged he could do another Heroic Intervention.

Psykers both failed (I had wanted to put Protection +1 armour on the rough riders and to cast Smite. The astropath is unusually bad at casting smite, but you get what you pay for).

The Wyverns and Mortars thinned the weaker bugs somewhat, but the Punisher’s 33 shots (20PC+9HB+4SB) did the most work there. The two manticores underperformed but did manage to put some damage onto Warlord Flyrant.

Veterans fired supercharged plasma using Harker for to reroll 1s and still managed to cook one of the squad. They also had an Order allowing them to reroll 1s to wound, and between this and the autocannon, the Warlord Flyrant was now getting degraded, and with only 2 wounds remaining was slowing down dramatically.

Combat was restricted to just the northern Rough Riders, who put their chainswords to good use.

With gratifying results.

TURN 2

Enraged by the lasguns and explosions, the GSC forces leapt forward.

The GSC lines are bolstered by Gargoyles and more acolytes, as the Flyrants also make it in to combat range.

Shooting attacks killed some more guardsmen and a Rough Rider, and took 1 Hull off the Punisher after it made some lucky saves.

One of the Manticores was hit with Horror (-1 BS).

CHARGE! In come the forces of the GSC. 42 lasgun overwatch shots from the north Conscripts reduced another Acoloyte to a sunburned husk, but everything else made it in safely. The Punisher was chosen by the Flyrant as its target. It managed to cause another 7 wounds on the tank, reducing it to 4 Hull points in the blink of an eye.

I burned 2 CP to give the rough riders a chance to strike first, letting them get the jump on the Gargoyles and keeping them in the game.

Meanwhile in the north, the Conscripts would lose about 20 models, although the Rough Riders did get to do a little damage in return, cutting down 5 models.

Guard Turn 2

A lot of Guard infantry models are now dead, but the same can be said for the GSC. The Punisher withdraws from combat (and with no orders available, will basically have to sit the turn out). The Rough Riders and surviving Conscripts do stay in combat however, so they will get to swing at the enemy this turn.

Guard shooting starts with the Veterans and a Manticore finishing off the wounded Flyrant. Mortars and Wyverns deplete some of the enemy’s small bugs, but the BS5 manticore can only manage to put one wound in the other Flyrant.

Guard make just one new charge – the Commissar throws himself into combat, judging that there will soon be no men for him to keep on the table anyway! Combat in the north sees the Commissar and Rough riders take some enemy out, but Acolytes murder all the remaining conscripts.

TURN 3

GSC shooting was badly depleted by now, but the models still in the fight. The remaining flyrant moved up to charge into a Manticore, and soon afterwards cast Horror on its comrade to reduce its BS. Combat saw this Manticore very badly damaged but not destroyed, while in the north all Rough Riders were slain.

Guard turn 3

Straken moved back to prepare to charge the Flyrant (desperate times – but he does also have a Monster hunter reroll-rule). The surviving central Rough Riders moved north – this would be their finest hour, they would finally get a proper charge off and use their Power Lances!

At the end of the Guard movement phase, 2 squads of Storm troopers dropped in to the GSC backfield, and lit up the defenders with overcharged plasma and hotshot lasguns, taking them out. With artillery raining down on the nearby units, this would end the GSC’s hold on one of their two obectives.

At the same time, the Flyrant in the south was killed by Veterans and a BS5 Manticore, thus bringing to an end the GSC’s most serious threat to the Guard objectives. The combats in the centre left several Acolytes dead, but they cut down all the remaining Rough Riders in return.

The overview just before the end of turn 3:

The GSC now had a depleted unit of acolytes (top) and a hiding unit of Termagants on an objective (top right), while the Guard had all their tanks, the Veterans, Straken, Stormtroopers and some other characters remaining on the board.

As the club was about to close and the result now a forgone conclusion we decided to call it there.

The anticipated result was:

GSC: First Blood + One Objective = 4

Guard: Warlord + Three Objectives + Line breaker = 11

Some MVPs

Acolytes are great value for the points, and their deployment rules will make them excellent vs backfield units. Most Elite armies will be able to fend them off better than this battle report demonstrated, but then most elite armies won’t be able to clog up their deployment options nearly as well.

Rough Riders are awesome. They’re not to be taken too seriously as they remain T3 5+ but they do have 2 wounds and by Guard standards are decent in a fight. The new lance rules that make them work in every combat as long as they charge weren’t shown to full effect here (blame Dean for that), but they really are a fun unit to use.

The Flyrants are excellent. Fast moving combat casters with good ranged weapons, they offer a lot for their points

Manticores and Wyverns share credit in providing Guard with reasonably consistent long ranged damage output. they fill different roles, but both do the job well.

Stormtroopers may come at a higher price (more three times more per model than conscripts, before adding toys) but they offer something different to Guard; a way to get to get behind enemy lines when needed.

Conclusions

I added some notes on things that could have been done better while doing the battle report, but this was very much a learning game for both of us.

We had to look a few things up and probably made a few mistakes even so, but the most important thing I can say is that I had more fun playing this game of 8th than I have had playing 40k for years.

Looking forward to the new rules on Saturday!