Red Brotherhood

[Rogue]

At the risk of becoming 'guy who only posts about his games when he wins', here's another report on a game I won - 100-20. Yeah, it went well. It's the first time I've maxed out my score, and it felt like one of those games where pretty much everything clicked. it's also the first time since I started using the Tabletop Battles app when I've won going second (first in four attempts).

 

Red Brotherhood : 1000 points

• Patriarch, Preternatural Speed, Unwilling Orb
• Magus
• 10 Acolytes, 4 rock drills, A Trap Sprung (underground)
• 10 Acolytes, 4 rock drills, Our Time is Nigh
• 10 Neophytes, shotguns
• Nexos, Cranial Inlay
• 10 Metamorphs
• 10 Genestealers, They Came from Below
• Rockgrinder, clearance incinerator

Alpha Legion

• Chaos Lord
• Executioner
• Chaos Chaplain, can't be hit or wounded on 1-3, relic mace
• 5 Marines
• 5 Marines
• 5 Marines
• 5 Marines, chainswords
• 5 Terminators, relic causing perils on all doubles

[As you may have already noted, I'm not very familiar with the Alpha Legion or Chaos Marines in general. in fairness, I was expecting to play against Orks until 5 minutes before we started setting up. Lots of his units had a Tzeench thing allowing them to ignore the first wound inflicted on them each phase.]

 

We deployed in opposite quarters, with a 6" exclusion zone around the centre of the board. There were three pieces of obscuring terrain (in the middle, and in either deployment zone), with dense terrain and barricades in the other quadrants. The mission was Priority Target - hold one, hold more, hold objectives at the end of turn five. The Alpha Legion went first.

 

[I've recently been messing around with the Myriad Cults (rather than the Helix), so in this game I'm running with Toxin Agents (6s to hit auto-wound); Synaptic Resonance (reroll 1s and 2s on psychic tests); and Industrial Affinity (no negative modifiers on industrial weapons)]

 

Turn One : 0-0

 

The Legion made a cautious advance, spreading out to their left, with Terminators holding the centre and Marines covering the home objective and one in no-man's land. The Executioner headed off to the right on his own, hoping to harass the Cult flank. The Cult deployed cautiously too, backing off from their blips to maximise Legion charges - the Genestealers used their bonus move to retreat into cover behind the rockgrinder on my right, leaving just a screen of Metamorphs in the centre. With most of the Cult concealed by obscuring terrain, the Alpha Legion were only able to pick off a couple of Acolytes and slightly damage the Rockgrinder. They also failed to land any charges.

 

Having ridden out the first turn in good shape, the Brotherhood went on the offensive. On the left, the Neophytes and Patriarch moved towards the lone Executioner. On the right, the genestealers advanced towards the five Marines holding the objective (then charged them). And in the centre, the Metamorphs and Rockgrinder moved up too, charging the chainsword Marines and Terminators respectively. The Patriarch dropped a super-smite and a psionic blast on the Executioner, who fell under the weight of mortal wounds. The Genestealers took nine wounds off the Marines, leaving one alive on a single wound (meaning he held the objective, but was also surrounded). The Chaplain used a stratagem to intervene 6" into the Metamorphs, but they cut five marines to pieces before the Chaplain reduced them to a fine mist in return. The Rockgrinder bounced off the Terminators, who battered it back but were unable to finish it off.

 

[By the end of the turn, I'd taken out one character, and almost half of his troops. In return, I'd lost my Metamorph screen, had the Rockgrinder knocked down to its bottom bracket, and had my Genestealers dangerously close to the bulk of the Legion force. On the other hand, the left flank was in my claws. With no points scored on either side, honours felt pretty even at this point.]

 

Turn two : 10-30

 

The Terminators fell back, shot the Rockgrinder to pieces, and charged the Genestealers (along with the Chaos Lord and a squad of Marines). On the other flank, the last squad of marines moved up to target the neophytes; and the the middle, the Chaplain headed straight for the Acolytes who were the only thing between him and the Cult backfield (where the Nexos and Magus lurked). The Chaplain swung his mace, but had a nightmare and only took out three Acolytes. The Genestealers interrupted, and in a blur of claws and teeth, cut down the survivor of their last assault and the five new marines who'd charged in. The Terminators and Chaos Lord hit back, killing four Genestealers. Finally, the Acolytes drove their drills and a bonesword into the Chaplain, just doing enough to finish him off.

[This felt pretty critical. In the Alpha Legion turn I'd lost three Acolytes, four Genestealers and the already damaged Rockgrinder; in return, I'd taken out six Marines and the Chaplain (with his two relics). The Legion were now down to the Terminators and Lord tied up with the Genestealers, and five Marines on the other flank.]

 

The Patriarch and Acolytes converged on the last squad of Marines, with both landing charges after three fell to smite and psionic blast. the Neophytes moved to cover the neutral objective close to the Cult lines. At the end of the phase, the last Acolytes appeared in the Legion deployment zone (for secondary purposes, mostly). The Patriarch diced the final Marines. With the Terminators fighting last (via crossfire), the Lord took down two Genestealers, but the rest cut him apart (for Bring it Down). The Terminators did pulp the Genestealers, but were now the only Legion warriors left on the field.

 

[Honestly, I'm feeling confident at this point. The Terminators are nasty, and I've not even scratched them so far, but they're a single unit, and surely I can work around them to play the primary and secondary games better than they can. Mind you, I've thrown away equally good positions, so...]

 

Turn three : 20-55

 

The Terminators shot down the smaller brood of Acolytes who were screening the Patriarch, and charged into him, reducing him to three wounds (after a couple of clutch invulnerable saves were made). His claws killed one and wounded another in return.

 

In the Cult turn, the combined psychic prowess of the Patriarch and Magus took out two more, before the Acolytes charged in and finished off the Terminators. The Alpha Legion had been obliterated, and the field belonged to the Red Brotherhood. Walking through the last two turns, it was clear that the Cult would easily pick up two of the next three secondaries to max out those points, and could cover enough objectives before the end of turn five to pick up 45 points there too.  

 

 

In the end, that was pretty one-sided, with turn two being the vital moment - taking out a significant chunk of the Legion force in their own combat phase was difficult for them to come back from, as they just didn't have the bodies or hitting power to take back control of the game. That said, I think turn one was also pretty important. Keeping almost everything alive and unengaged gave me incredible flexibility to hit back exactly where I wanted to, and I was able to tie up and divert the Legion front line to such an extent that they were never really able to threaten the neutral objective nearer to me, whilst much of the fighting was over the one nearer to them (meaning the primary mission was always leaning in my favour). 

 

The Metamorphs, despite all dying in turn one, were useful. They formed a good screen - hidden by obscuring terrain, and even if they had been charged, they were able to fight on death anyway. With that role complete, they could then move up and take out the Legion's own screen, contributing to the pressure in the centre and taking it away from the objectives I wanted to hold.

 

The cards fell for me, which helped, but I also managed to focus on scoring what I could whilst not over-committing to long-shots. And I felt that the dice were pretty even - we both had good rolls and bad rolls (and his Chaplain definitely under-performed), but it wasn't decided by freak luck. Which is always a good thing, no matter which way the game goes. Anyway - a big win, a warm glow of satisfaction, and a definite feel (until the next game, at least), that I'm getting the hang of this.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Rogue

[Ulfast]

Dont worry about you posting your wins. I have seen so many battlereports where GSC lose so it´s nice to read about some winning too. 

[Rogue]

It's been a while, but I've got a new blog up: https://redbrotherhood.wixsite.com/cult/post/fast-attack-achilles-ridgerunner

 

This one, as you may have realised, covers the Achilles Ridgerunner, focusing on the three main weapon options - heavy mining laser, Achilles missile launcher and heavy mortar. The short version is exactly as you might suspect: the mining laser is the best option into heavy armour, the missile launcher is the strongest choice into infantry (or anything under T7), and the mortar is a thing (and handy for indirect fire, if that's your particular tactical catnip).

 

This is another one of those results that reminds me how well balanced the Cult codex really is. So many of our units just don't have an 'auto-pick' option. Here, for example, we have three choices, and all of them have a role to play. I like that (much as it taxes me at a list-building level). 

 

Anyway. Feel free to check it out, and let me know what you think. How do you arm your ridgerunners, and why?

[Ulfast]

I saw your new post on your blog and I was wondering when you should put it up here.

 

I usually go with mining lasers on my but I would like to try out the missles too. Thinking to magneticm them now, specially after your review of them. I was thinking about your lines but it´s always nice to get the paper work on it. 

[Rogue]

If it's any help, my one and only tutorial post was on a non-magnet way to switch between Ridgerunner weapon options...

 

 

[Ulfast]

Thanks Rogue. That does help :)

[Rogue]

I enjoyed a really good game of Tempest against the Blood Angels yesterday, but with a different approach than the one I usually use. So here's a write-up and a few musings.

 

Red Brotherhood : 1000 points

• Patriarch, Preternatural Speed, Unwilling Orb
• Magus
• 10 neophytes, autoguns, grenade launchers, mining lasers
• 10 neophytes, autoguns, grenade launchers, mining lasers
• 10 neophytes, shotguns, flamers
• 10 acolytes, 4 rock saws, A Trap Sprung
• 10 acolytes, 4 rock saws, Our Time is Nigh
• 5 acolytes
• Nexos, Cranial Inlay
• Goliath truck
• Goliath truck 

Blood Angels

• Mephiston
• Chaplain, Soul Warden, Visage of -1 to hit
• 5 intercessors
• 5 intercessors
• 5 assault marines, meltas
• 5 assault marines, meltas
• 3 inceptors, bolters
• Furioso dreadnought
• Impulsor, 5++ dome
• Impulsor, 5++ dome

We played the end-to-end deployment, with an 18" no-man's land. There were four objectives, with hold one, hold more, and raze an objective for 5 points at the end. And command rerolls would cost 2CP. The battlefield isn't quite symmetrical, but we have obscuring terrain in the centre, and in each quarter, plus a few big containers scattered around. We both have a home objective, with one almost centre of the table (just the other side of the obscuring ruin, from my perspective), and the last just in front of my deployment zone (helpfully, I can just control it from the other side of a couple of containers).

 

I'm using Synaptic Resonance and Industrial Affinity again. I'm trying out Agile Guerrillas, to see how it goes. I get first turn.

 

Turn One : 7-5

 

The Blood Angels deploy behind two obscuring ruins to my left and right. On my left are Mephiston, the dread, intercessors (holding the objective), and an impulsor with the chaplain inside. On my right, the other impulsor, with the second intercessor squad, the inceptors, and one squad of assault marines. The other assault marines are in deep strike.

I have the shotgun neophytes on my far left, hiding behind crates and holding one neutral objective. Then, behind a large obscuring ruin, I have a truck full of neophytes, the patriarch, 10 acolytes (OTiN), magus, nexos (holding my objective), and the other truck (also carrying neophytes). The Trap Sprung acolyes and the 5-acolyte brood are both underground.

 

One of my initial objectives is to investigate the centre of the board. With my blips as they are, the only way I can get someone in range of the centre is to send in the patriarch (which only scores me two points, but still) - he'll be obscured by the centre ruin, but potentially very exposed; I decide to advance the acolytes alongside him. The trucks move out around either side of the ruin, allowing potshots from the one on the right at the impulsor facing it - I scratch off just a wound or so, despite the crossfire marker dropped by the nexos.

 

The Blood Angels respond aggressively. On my left, everything pushes forward - the impulsor guns down a few shotgun neophytes (meaning the rest are no longer visible), and a couple of shots at the truck bounce off. On the right, the assault marines move sideways to cover their home objective (yes, it's sticky for marines, but he's worried about acolytes just appearing on it if he leaves it unguarded. Which they probably would). The other impulsor pushes forward, and disgorges intercessors, who move onto the centre objective and into the ruins, allowing them to fire on the acolytes accompanying my patriarch - they kill three. 

 

[It's a relatively cagey start from both sides. I've not got units that can jump across the board for first-turn charges, and I'm not keen to let the Blood Angels do the same to me, and as we've both deployed slightly deep, this turn is mostly maneuvering for position. I'd not realised just how far the mounted intercessors could get, which cost me a few acolytes, but that's not a disaster. On the other hand, I've done almost no damage to the marines, and they're now much closer than they were.] 

 

Turn two : 12-10

 

Site investigated, the patriarch pulls back to the ruin to join the magus - they can both see the left impulsor, and will drop it to four wounds with a combination of smites and psionic blast. Also on the left, the truck and onboard neophytes fire into the same impulsor, but bounce, causing just a single wound between them and failing to drop it into the bottom bracket. On the right, things go little better - the autocannon completely misses the right impulsor, and without crossfire active, the neophytes manage just a single wound (with an autogun, naturally). In the centre, the acolytes move up, turn off overwatch and charge in, wiping out the intercessors. But rather than sitting pretty on the objective, they return to the shadows to avoid a hail of return fire.

 

The Blood Angels charge in. On the left, everything goes in against the truck - dreadnought, Mephiston, chaplain, intercessors and newly-arrived assault marines (their meltas both wound the truck, but roll 1s for damage). It's overkill, but means that a lot of marines are now up in my lines. Elsewhere, the other impulsor pulls back, and along with the inceptors and second squad of assault marines, tries to screen out the inevitable Cult strike in turn three. The assault marines rip the truck to pieces, and consolidate into the neophytes behind the crates (the ones holding the objective). the autogun neophytes emergency disembark, allowing the five survivors to snatch the central objective. In return, the intercessors do some Blood Angel thing and pile-in/consolidate 12" to surround them; with the chaplain following suit, my ob-sec is turned off and the marines snatch the objective straight back. 

 

[Suddenly, I feel like I've got problems - my left flank is just seven neophytes, magus and patriarch; my right is a truck and cargo, plus the nexos. And facing me on the left is a (damaged) impulsor, brand new dread, Mephiston, chaplain, and intercessors, with a second impulsor and two jump units further back down the board. Taking the first squad of intercessors off the centre objective felt like a good move, but shielding that brood afterwards has left me with almost all of my combat units off the table - turn three needs to see them doing something fairly brutal, or I'm going to be swept away. Score-wise, neither of us can contrive to hold more (tricky with just four objectives), and we both fail to score any secondaries.]

 

Turn three : 32-20 

 

It's now or never, then. I need to deal with the assault marines (who are about to kick me off an objective), Mephiston and the dreadnought, and ideally, the intercessors and chaplain in the centre. It's a tall order, but I have a plan. The psykers move up, perilously close to the marines, but making the furioso the closest target - they'll use that combination of smites and blast to drop it to a single wound, which is good but not ideal. All my reserves drop in (in my own lines, the only available option), and ready to charge. And then it all goes wrong. Despite having a Trap Sprung, the acolytes twice fail to make an 8" charge into the assault marines. That's bad. And then the other rock saw acolytes fail their 8" charge into the intercessors in the centre. That's worse. Both of my hard-hitting acolyte broods are standing around doing nothing. I do make the consolation charges, putting the patriarch into the assault marines, and the small brood of acolytes into the chaplain, but at this point, I'm thinking that the game may well be gone. The patriarch does well, and wipes out the assault marines; the chaplain intervenes and kills three acolytes, before they take two wounds off him; then the intercessors kill off the neophytes from the truck. (I forget exactly how, but holding that neutral objective (rather than losing it to assault marines) scores me two secondaries, and I pick up a third to sweep them this turn - it's a silver lining to a fairly weak turn.)

 

The Blood Angels have a poor shooting phase - the dreadnought's melta misses the patriarch, and its heavy flamer and the fire from the damaged impulsor only kills one of the two acolytes in the centre (after the chaplain falls back from that combat). On my right, the stranded acolytes hide in the shadows, protecting them from incoming firepower, but this means that everything goes into the truck and it blows up, dropping mortal wounds on the impulsor, inceptors, intercessors, chaplain (dropping him to a single wound) and acolytes. The intercessors charge the acolytes on the right; on the left, the dread charges both psykers, and Mephiston goes in on the patriarch too. Worried about the rock saws, the intercessors fight first, leaving just one saw alive (although he'll flee after killing a couple in return). The patriarch uses his preternatural speed to strike Mephiston, cutting him to pieces in short order. Finally, the dreadnought splits its attacks, killing the magus and leaving the patriarch on a single wound.  

 

[Letting the patriarch fight was probably a mistake - if either Mephiston or the dread had gone first and taken him out, I could have killed the intercessors with an interrupt, but would still have lost the magus, and the marines would still have their librarian. Keeping the patriarch alive is potentially very useful to me, and with Mephiston gone it feels like I may still be in this (especially as I picked up so many VPs this turn). Missing both charges felt bad, but at least dropping in deep in my own lines meant that the fresh squad remained untouched through the marine turn. But even so, I'm low on resources - the patriarch, rock saw acolytes and most of the shotgun neophytes on the left, a single (very lucky) acolyte in the centre, and five neophytes and a nexos on the right.]

 

Turn four : 42-30

 

The acolytes advance right, heading for the last impulsor (which is now well into my lines) and the intercessors (who are potentially threatening my home objective). The patriarch powers up - he smites the last wound off the furioso, spins round to psionic blast the last wound off the chaplain, and charges into the damaged impulsor. He rips through the transport and it explodes, killing the patriarch in return. But still, it was quite the rampage while it lasted. The lone acolyte in the centre moves onto the central objective and razes it. The acolyte brood uses Genetic Lineage to charge the right flank impulsor - they don't kill it, but consolidate into the last two intercessors, tying them up.

 

I'm a bit vague on what the marines did here - the assault marines move up (and kill the lone acolyte, preventing a last-gasp dash for the marine's home objective), alongside the last inceptor; the intercessors and impulsor continued the fight with the acolytes. 

 

[The patriarch was an absolute trump card this turn, single-handedly removing three threats in short order. Although he died doing it, he'd done so much damage that it didn't really matter. By the end of turn four, with a 12-point lead, I was hopeful that I had a chance of holding on.]

 

Turn five : 67-50

 

With an objective razed, I finally hold more; and then immediately raze the other neutral objective, having held it all game. The acolytes finish off the intercessors on the right, but the impulsor survives.

 

The assault marines jump forward, and charge into the nexos, killing him in short order and taking my home objective (so they hold both remaining objectives). The game ends with five assault marines and a damaged impulsor on the marine side, and a handful of neophytes and acolytes left for the Brotherhood. 

 

 

That was fun (and I'm told fun for my opponent too, so it's not just the victory speaking). The cagey start was interesting, with both of us more used to playing for turn one charges. And then the roller-coaster of the middle turns was intense. I forgot to bring in either of my reserves in turn two, didn't do much meaningful damage, and had a lot of angry marines bursting into my positions by the end of the turn. I was hopeful that I could pull things around in turn three, but failing those charges was painful, and I really thought that was it - no way back. But the patriarch's MVP turn was amazing; having already picked up VPs in turn one, and damaged the impulsor in turn two, he then crippled the dread, went through five assault marines, killed Mephiston, survived the dread's attacks, killed the dread, the chaplain and finished off the impulsor. It's quite a list. Without him, or if he'd gone down earlier, I think I'd be looking at a very different result. I'm stacking a lot of resources into him - he's my warlord, carries the relic, and benefits significantly from the Synaptic Resonance creed (which ties up a quarter of my creed points, but only affects two models). Today, it paid off. Not only was he pretty destructive, he was able to largely shut down Mephiston's powers without really being denied in return. 

 

Elsewhere, Agile Guerrillas didn't come into play at all. In this case, I'd rather have had Toxin Agents, which would have been handy when the neophytes got into combat. I'm inclined to give it another go, but it's not impressed me so far. Maybe combining it with Industrial Affinity is just overkill. Either way, the truck/neophyte combination was less effective than I wanted it to be. They spent a lot of time firing at impulsors with 5++ saves, which likely counted against them, and they did offer a degree of board control and survivability, so I can see why they're a popular option. Another one that's worth persevering with, I think.

 

This time, the cards weren't that kind to either of us, presenting some tricky tactical challenges, and I felt that I was having to balance scoring points against significant positional compromises - in this game, at least, holding to the general plan tended to over-ride grabbing points. In the end, it paid off, and I 'won' secondaries by seven points, but it left things in the balance for most of the game. But then, that's what makes it fun, I guess. 

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by Rogue

[Ulfast]

Sounds indeed like a very fun battle. I was suprise to read that you failed several important charges and still won. Sadly for me when that happends theen I lose those units and have a very hard time to get back. It gives me hope that it can still happend :)

[Rogue]

It surprised me too!

 

In part, I think it was because the patriarch was an absolute superstar - across turn three and the first half of turn four, he accounted for 505 points of Blood Angels (in a 1000 point game). That really helped to fill the gap left by the failed charges.

 

And secondly, I think my opponent's effective screening counted against him here. If I'd dropped in behind him, I may then have been very exposed to incoming fire from various angles. But as it was, I had to appear in my own lines - the Trap Sprung acolytes were up against my table-edge. This, combined with the more immediate threat of the patriarch and use of the Lurk stratagem on the more forward acolytes, really cut down the firepower the marines could bring to bear and probably kept both broods alive.

[Ulfast]

Intersting tactic, to not drop in his behind and instead push preassure from one front. I will try that. Surprise my opponents.

[Rogue]

It does seem to have that effect. People tend to assume that I'll use deep strike to get behind them, but that's not always the best play.

 

I find that backfield objective holders aren't often good targets in themselves - I want to kill them for objective purposes, true, but not because they're much of a direct threat to me.

 

But by turn two or three, it's often the case that any forward screening units have been removed, and my opponents big-hitters are now leading the line. I gain no advantage by charging them from behind or in the flank, so charging from the front makes no difference, and usually gives me far more flexibility in where I deploy and how I make use of cover (to negate overwatch, for example).

 

Used like this, it's maybe helpful to think about ambushing units as part of the battleline, just a part that can't be targeted or harmed until they're ready to attack. It does mean they have to negotiate an 8" charge (which isn't that reliable), but I do my best to nullify that with A Trap Sprung, a reroll up my sleeve, and not dropping in too many units at the same time.

[Ulfast]

Good tactic indeed. I will try to let it happend more often too. I would love to see the surprise on my opponents when he try to make everything safe from behind and put resoursces into it only to find out that the plan was all along to hit him from the front, which should be  abit weaker now. And ofc we can still threat them later on with some nasty surprise with our possibily to deep strike later one with a unit.

[Rogue]

Keeping the hobby ball rolling, I've posted another blog. This one covers the Goliath variants, both Truck and Rockgrinder. It's curious that the Rockgrinder wants to be closer in that the Truck in almost every situation, other than it can't carry most of our hard-hitting combat units, because it's limited to six models.

 

I've tried drawing a few more tactical conclusions for once, so I'd be interested to know what you think.

 

https://redbrotherhood.wixsite.com/cult/post/heavy-support-goliath-rockgrinder

[Rogue]

Well, the timing is pretty terrible, but here's my blog on the Atalan Jackals:

 

https://redbrotherhood.wixsite.com/cult/post/fast-attack-atalan-jackals

 

With only a few months of 9th edition left (and the codex mostly worked through), I'm not planning on adding any more Cult-specific pieces for the time being. Hopefully, the mojo will be back in time for 10th.

[Ulfast]

As always an great report and analys of the cults. I actually miss biker units and need to buy some of them. This give me some thoughts about what to give them. 

 

Sad to hear that you will not post so much more. I totally understand that but I hope you could ( only if you want to ofc) to give you view about coming thought about 10:ed.

[Rogue]

Thanks Ulfast. I'm not giving up completely on the blog - just giving it a break for a few months. There doesn't feel much point in mathing out units that are likely to have all their stats and interactions completely changed in the very near future. If I can think of more generic ideas that are likely to remain relevant in a new edition, I might do some of those, and I'm also open to suggestions.

 

Either way, I'm sure I'll drop any updates in here as usual.

[Ulfast]

I of course are looking forward to your new take when we get more information about GSC and 10:ed. But I would also like a more generell view of diffrent rules, like it seems several rules will be universal rules. Anyway, I just want to say that I do like your posts :) Thats why I want more!

[sitnam]

I'm real curious to see how some unit analysis will change between the two editions; the Metamorph vs GS vs Aberrant article in particular will be a fun one to see a revision of

[Rogue]

Hello again

 

The blog is back. As we teeter on the edge of 10th edition, I've put together a quick comparison between the combat ability of the old 9th edition Patriarch and the new 10th edition version. You can find it here: https://redbrotherhood.wixsite.com/cult/post/almost-10th-patriarch-vs-patriarch

 

As ever, feel free to comment, disagree or respond in whatever way you fancy.

[Ulfast]

Been waiting for you to show up :) Like a true cultist you attack when no one are prepared for it. Very intersting articel. Can´t wait until we see all the unitcards and points. Then the full picture will be seen.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Ulfast

[sitnam]

I wonder how the 10e Patriarch will compare to similar HQ's of his type this edition. It looks to me that HQ's in general are geared towards buffing their units instead of being straight up killy. A Broodlord comparison, for instance 

[Rogue]

New edition, new blog-post, new-ish format. I've taken a look at Aberrants, including the Abominant and the Biophagus. Slightly less depth than I've gone into in the past, but also slightly more chance that I'll get round to all the units before we run out of edition...

 

https://redbrotherhood.wixsite.com/cult/post/aberrants-1

 

I'm giving serious thought to ten aberrants and the Abominant in a Goliath truck as a counter-charge unit. Or drop the truck and go with Focus of Adoration ont he Abominant - seems appropriate, and gives the unit a free heroic intervention, should something get close but not close enough.

[Ulfast]

I think a 10-man unit of Aberrants with a character support will be a stable thing in my army. They can both tank and deal out damage. your analys shows that. Glad to have you back again :)

[sitnam]

Good to see a below performance unit get a boost. I'm curious how the comparison between aberrants, genestealers, and metamorphs plays out his edition

[Rogue]

Me too - I'm working on a Genestealer piece, and it looks like they bring mobility and horde clearance, but have lost some of their punch into armoured targets...