Dealing with Aberrants

[ServoBadger]

I'm doing a narrative campaign against a friend's Genestealer Cult and although the games have been close so far, I'm having real trouble countering his Aberrants. They arrive from ambush, he plays a stratagem to move them closer for an easy charge, and whatever they attack just gets battered to bits by street signs.

 

I can usually get rid of them by the end of the game, but so far they've been a hammer for my opponent to remove whatever I have that's causing him the most trouble.

 

Any suggestions?

[L30n1d4s]

I think Auspex Scan may be your best friend here... even with -1 to hit, a squad of DW Vets with 9 SBs (assuming one Vanguard in there for Fall Back and Shoot abilities) using Hellfire Ammo and the anti-Elites Mission Tactic gives you an average of 20 hits, 19-20 wounds, 12-13 Unsaved Wounds, 8-9 Dmg after Bestial Vigor saves, and 4-5 dead Aberrants... that's about half their squad before they even get to swing.

 

Alternatively, a more expensive solution, a 6 man squad of Aggressors that hasn't moved can Intercept with an average of 108 shots, 54 hits, 42 wounds (with the anti-Elites Mission Tactic and +1 to Wound Strat), 18-19 dmg inflicted after all saving throw types are used, and 9-10 dead Abberants before they can attempt the charge.

[Vel'Cona]

Alternatively, a more expensive solution, a 6 man squad of Aggressors that hasn't moved can Intercept with an average of 108 shots, 54 hits, 42 wounds (with the anti-Elites Mission Tactic and +1 to Wound Strat), 18-19 dmg inflicted after all saving throw types are used, and 9-10 dead Abberants before they can attempt the charge.

 

That's pretty brutal.  It's very tough for them to screen/zone due to the range on Aggressors, though be aware that they may try to bait you with other units prior to the big one coming in.

[Mr4Minutes]

My friend plays a competitive list GSC, so very similar to the top ITC GSC players, and he’s very good with it.

 

My opinion is pure DeathWatch can not compete with GSC. We’re far to elite an army and don’t have enough units on the board to win their trade war.

 

Allying in Guard can help. Guardsmen screens and wyverns to hit out of LoS.

 

Auspex scan is a good option, but if your opponent uses the “Vect” strat followed by ignore overwatch psychic power they’re going to wipe that squad.

 

The Rocksaw unit is another painful one. Usually 16 rocksaw attacks that hit on 2s rerolling, wounding on 2s rerolling ap-4 D2. Anything that unit touches dies.

 

If it’s just abhorrents that are giving you trouble though I recommend vehicles. Repulsors can be good against them as I’ve found they struggle against the T8 and most of their attacks are ap-1 so you’ll get a save. And you can’t be wrapped.

 

Again I find DeathWatch watch against a good gsc player to be a really hard match up. Gsc have so many tools and we lack the screen to keep them back and the bodies to absorb the losses.

 

Oh, always play second if you can. Force them reveal early so you can react to them rather then giving them the chance to react to you.

[GrinNfool]

Would to some extent echo Mr4.  GSC are an incredibly powerful army... borderline broken if they are being fielded in comp style armies... however you are doing narrative so assuming his list is narrative and not comp you should be able to have a chance, it just means you have to build you list a little more hard core than he does, since you are the weaker army. 

 

On the aberrant thing, auspex is your best bet, just make sure you save it for when he brings them in, most GSC players think they are clever and try to bait it.  There isn't anything you can truly do to stop an aberrant charge though since we don't have access to the new anti ds troops, they are going to get it off since even a 3 on the roll is a virtual garuntee assuming they are doing the vigilus thing. 

 

General anti GSC suggestions though... GSC in my experience has trouble dealing with Primaris and bikers(t5) generally, they dont have a lot of 2 damage stuff unless they are going heavy guard, so you could possibly leverage that.  I have recently run the 4x aggressor 1 inceptor 5 auto intercessor squad in a few matches vs GSC and that seems to cause them quite a bit of grief, so you could consider that.

[Prot]

I do play against extremely strong GSC lists frequently. I probably win 75% of them, but it's purely from practice.

 

The overwatch thing with Aggressors... it rarely works for me. I've had it happen a few times, and I just never seem to get any real work done.

 

For me if my opponent is only playing one muscle beach squad, I bait it out.  A LOT of beating GSC is just in how you play your army as a whole. For example.... never, ever go first if you have the option. Going first I decrease my chances of winning considerably. 

 

Also always remember two things: They usually do get to hit you first, so be prepared to set up a 'trade'. There's ways of doing this. Assume what they hit is gone.  Part 2 is remembering the damage reduction. Shooting high strength, high damage is usually a bad idea. Sacrifice a unit, retreat, and unload gobs of low-mid level shooty at them. 

 

They hate transports. Some people think transports (rhino's/razors) are dead, but that's just not true. If they have to go through a rhino first, they hate that. If they avoid the Rhino, learn to Rhino block like the old days. 

 

Most of the GSC units do fold like a cheap tent. Just muscle beach can withstand more than the other squads. Their Psychic is also tremendously powerful. Focus on ways to shut it down, or diminish it. 

 

GSC really is a glass hammer. You have to set up 'trades' early in the game, and be very tight with your deployment. Measure out everything. Be understanding that they can get in, and shoot flamer teams or explosive teams, but you MUST kill them in return. It's all about the trade offs. Just don't spread out. You have to work against your instincts to grab objectives. Wait. You trade in scoring early for winning the end game against these guys. It's not easy, but it's very doable.

[Jerethdatiger]

Drop pods just litter the field with them everything you can deploy from them do block his spawn in points. Or as said before vehicles but take flyers storm ravens storm eagles will do nicely for stopping charges